Sacrificial love

Yesterday I went to the children's hospital to visit a friend whose baby is in the neonatal ward. This young girl just had a C-section 4 days ago but insists on sitting by her baby's bed all day long so that she can feed her when she awakens. The nurses are nowhere to be found; the mothers do all the care of their tiny premature babies. My friend's baby looked very good & I have high hopes that she will come home soon. The father was an English student and has become a good friend. In the incubator next to my friend's baby, there was a baby born at 7 months. His arms and legs were maybe 3/4" in diameter. He gasped for every breath as his mother sat by his side. I watched her as she expressed her own milk by hand into a little cup, then poured it into a syringe and gave it to her baby through a tiny tube running from his nose down into his stomach. She does this every 2 hours all day long. I have not been able to get this picture out of my mind; the unbelievable sacrifice that a mother is willing to give for her child. There are few things in life so powerful. I recently heard of God's love referred to as a mother's love and that took on a new meaning today as I was reminded of what lengths a mother is willing to go to in order to save her child.

Silly in Suli

The younger members of our team finally convinced these oldies to go to the amusement park with them after our Sat. night meeting. Usually we're just too tired and would rather go home and crash than go on silly rides & play cheesy games:) Last night we decided to join in the "fun" and a group of us headed for the park. I have to admit I was skeptical that I would enjoy it at all since I was so tired & had a sore back. But it turned out to be a crazy, fun, silly night of acting like kids; riding bumper cars, playing air hockey, basketball, boxing game, riding the Ferris wheel, etc. The best part was discovering a delicious black cherry popsicle that tasted so good on a very warm evening. Kirsten reminded me that it didn't take much to make me happy; just a cherry popsicle. I guess it is nice to revert to children once in awhile and enjoy the simple things of life. It was also very nice hanging out with 3 guys that we've come to love, one of them having already joined the family and another definitely on the road. As I've said before, there's just nothing to do in this city for fun so we have to make our own and we definitely did last night!

This and That

An overview of the last few weeks:
- 7 short term workers joined us & kept a very busy schedule of teaching both
children & adult classes, morning and evening
- occupation of the new LIFE center
- renovation of this center, with the help of 3 men from Salem, OR
- vacated our old, rented facility
- left for Jordan and our annual field retreat - great refreshment & relaxation
after a grueling summer
- visited our old stomping ground in Aqaba; good to see old friends
- a few days in Amman & then back home!
- this year we'll have 4 young people living with us and helping with teaching &
other aspects of ministry; 2 guys & 2 girls.
*I hope to post pictures soon of our new center all set up and ready to go