Auntie Quarrie

I was trying to think of some clever line to start this blog off with, and I have nothing except that this has been a great week! I celebrated my 26th birthday last Sunday, June 6th. I am going to be honest…..this wasn’t a birthday I was super excited about; however, it ended up being such a great day. Saturday we took the kids to the Botanical Gardens to feed the monkeys. I have always somewhat dreamed of having a monkey as a pet (I don’t think I actually ever would), so this idea of feeding monkeys in Africa seemed like a perfect adventure for my birthday! We got to the park, and after walking around for about an hour with no monkey in sight, we gave up and just played in a field by Lake Victoria. I took a break and sat down next to our driver, Kenneth (aka Kenny “The Man”), and he found out that I had not seen any monkeys so he took me, Catherine, Tori, and Mason down the road where we interacted with six monkeys. I would love to tell you that they were all cute and ate out of my hand, but they were crazy and I ended up throwing food pretty far away from me so that I wouldn’t feel like I was about to be attacked. They were cute, but definitely not cuddly, if you know what I mean. Sunday (on my actual birthday) we took the kids to church at Watoto South, ate a delicious lunch, had birthday cake, and then we went to dinner at a restaurant called Café Roma. It is probably my favorite place to eat here, especially since it’s Italian and that’s one of my favorites. So my birthday was a huge success and I wouldn’t have wanted to spend it anywhere else. There aren’t that many people who can say they have celebrated a birthday in Africa, so I am very thankful that God decided to bless me with this!!!

Our goal for this week was to get all 17 children to the doctor for a full check-up. We spent all day Wednesday and Thursday in the doctors’ office with groups of 5 kids coming each visit. I say “we” sounding like I was there both days. I wasn’t. Wednesday was the first trip and it included Catherine, Motto (Uncle Julius), Vanita (the oldest girl), Mercy (the youngest), Victoria, Waiswa, Ivan, and myself. Vanita was taken back first because she had to get IV fluids for tonsillitis that she had been diagnosed with they day before. She asked if I could come back with her and so I did. After watching the nurse mix the antibiotics that were about to be inserted into her IV (by the way, they kept the main part of the IV in her hand for 3 days wrapped in an ace bandage) and then watching the nurse extract blood before injecting the medicine, I got quite light-headed. I stuck my head out of the room and told Catherine that I wasn’t feeling so well and that I was afraid I may pass out. I’m pretty sure she thought I was kidding, but I came out anyways and found the nearest chair to plop myself into. After sitting for about 2 minutes, going back and forth, I finally passed out, hitting the ground pretty hard and knocking the chair completely over. Over the years, my embarrassment radar has gotten more sensitive. So I was extremely embarrassed. Here I am with five kids having to get shots and their blood taken, and I am the one who can’t handle it! Catherine and I got a good laugh out of the whole experience after the fact, especially because all the doctors and nurses came out with water asking if I was OK. Needless to say, I did not end up going back to the doctor. I really wanted to, but just didn’t think that was wise. I’ll end the story with this: because our God is so fantastic and His hand is so on Sozo, all 17 kids were HIV negative (which really is a miracle considering most of them are orphans), typhoid negative, and malaria negative. Praise the Lord of Lords for this wonderful blessing!! (I’m sure there are a bunch of “Amens” right now!)

The kids are all very familiar with us by now. “Carrie” is a hard word for them to pronounce, so my name at Sozo is “Auntie Quarrie.” I am going to video this, because it is precious, and somehow figure out how to put it up….at least I am going to try. We spent all day Saturday at Sozo with the kids. The boys got two roosters the day before and the plan for Saturday was to video the killing. I do not participate in this nor do I watch this but I am not against it. I thought I was in the clear when I left the house to get a crate of sodas, but as I approached the front gate, I looked to my right and saw the body of one of the chickens doing flips. I thought it was just acting out because they were trying to catch it, but after looking closer (not sure why I felt the urge to do this) the chicken was headless!!! I was horrified and again glad that I had made the wise decision of not watching the actual killing. We ate these chickens on Sunday; however, the image of the flopping headless chicken kept haunting me so I only ate rice. On a different note, the World Cup started last Friday! I have never been a huge soccer fan, but since I am in Africa, it has become something I enjoy watching. We watched the American/England game Saturday on a huge projector screen outside, while sipping on African Mt. Dews, and it was fabulous! I really got into the game too and am looking forward to June 18th when we play again. Sunday we again went to Watoto South with all the kids. Sunday is probably my favorite day of the week and the worship at Watoto has been wonderful. I love music and I love to worship and since Watoto is an English speaking church, all the songs are familiar. I really like it and the kids love their service as well, so it couldn’t be a better match for 6 Americans and 17 orphans! Allen was next to me on the taxi on the way home and pointed out something underneath my chin. I had not seen it but since most of the kids were diagnosed with worms, he knew what they looked like and said that it looked like ring worm. We went to the pharmacist and she diagnosed me. Here in Africa, many people think it is an actual worm…but is isn’t! It’s a fungus (which of course, still grosses me out), but because they think it’s a worm, I had to get de-wormed. That was fun (sarcastically typed). The only positive about being de-wormed is the fact that I now know that there are no live worms inside me! So as you can tell, this week has been a full one. Full of fun, praise reports, doctor visits, chickens, paint (we have been painting at Joel’s school), bowling (we found an awesome place to bowl for $3), fellowship, talks, prayer, worship, and more. If I have learned anything this week, it’s the fact that lack of trust will prevent God from giving His best. I’m reading through Hebrews and today I read Hebrews 3. I thoroughly enjoy Hebrews every time I read it because I find something different speaks to me each time. As I stated in a previous post, I have been stretched spiritually in the past 3 weeks in ways different than ever before. I’ve learned that salvation is not based on us having faith that is unwavering and always firm, but instead in the hope we have in Jesus. This proves our faith is real. This proves that He doesn’t look for people to be perfect before He can use us. He wants us just how we are. Serving Him, Loving Him, Trusting Him, Choosing Him. This is what faith is all about. There will always be highs and lows along the journey. It is the courage that we gain and the hope which we live for that pulls us through. Perseverance produces character. I have never been more aware of this truth as I have been for the past week. It’s been a good week, but it has also been a trying week. The enemy is still fighting. I have had to put my armor on more thoroughly this week. Even in the midst of fun and great times, there is a battle to be won. I know who is victorious and I’m glad He is on my side.