Almost Christmas

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It is the Friday before Christmas and all through the hospital not a creature has been stirring only a few rats…No ZESA for 5 days and we wait with baited breathe for that flash of light to tell us Father Christmas has blessed us with a cold fridge that will hold all that Christmas dinner!

Last week we saw Rick and Sue Hahn off on Sunday from Harare.  We went in on Thursday night and had an African adventure to get to Harare.  We got as far as Magunje (on the tar road) and had a flat tire—a tire that was supposedly “fixed” before we left.  We quickly changed it and when we put the spare tire on-it was also low.  We rushed to Karoi (30 kms away) to get the tires fixed and found out the spare did have a puncture too!  So we waited while they hand repaired both tires—then we were on our way to Harare!  We got there at about 10 p.m. and fell into bed!

Friday night 12 of us went to the annual Christmas pantomime.  This is a Christmas tradition here, put on especially for kids.  They have the female main role played by a male and the male lead role by a female.  There is a lot of local humor and they give out sweets and things to the audience.  We had a great time.  Major and family and their cousins, Dr. Kajese and wife, Rick and Sue and Cheryl our friend Sylvia from Harare and me had a great time.

We then spent the rest of the weekend shopping and eating out!  What fun that was!  We had left Chidamoyo with no electricity for 5 days and it finally came back there Friday night while we were gone. 

On our drive home on Sunday we hit heavy rain and one of our nearby townships, Mudzimu, was like driving through a rocky river bed it was so flooded!  It took us almost 3 hours to drive from Karoi to home!  When we got near home it was dry and dusty!  We were so disappointed!  Then it started to rain that night and we have had good rain every day all week.  Thanks for the prayers!

Since the rain started Sunday night it knocked out power during the night.  We can’t seem to have rain and power at the same time!   So this week I haven’t been able to do laundry or much to catch up for Christmas.  We called today and they thought they “might” get the problem fixed today!

Since it has been raining there have been less patients in the ward and outpatients and people want to be discharged for Christmas—so we will do major kicking out today! Everyone is anxious to work in their fields and get planted now that the ground is so wet!

Wednesday night we had our Christmas caroling and we had a big crowd—we spent 2 hours going through the hospital wards and outpatient housing, waiting mother shelters and staff housing, singing our Christmas carols in Shona. We gave out sweets and wished everyone a Merry Christmas!

Hope to be cooking tomorrow and preparing for Christmas Eve snacks and presents with Cheryl and the Mereki family.  Christmas after church in the morning we will have dinner for 12 people at lunchtime.  I have a big ham ready to go!  No turkey here!  Then we collapse and the 26th is a holiday too—yeah!

We are planning a trip to go away around January 1-5 with the Mereki family.  They all have passports now so we are thinking South Africa or somewhere outside the country—we will see!  The kids are excited.  Michael awaits his A level results.

Some sad news has developed over the last couple of weeks that my oldest sister, Carol, has been diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer.  She is very ill and hospice has been called in.  We are thankful to these dedicated nurses who help families in time of such great need. She lives in Reno, NV.  Please keep her and her family as they deal with this, in your prayers.


Dr. Kajese celebrating his 29th Birthday!
 Denise saying goodbye to staff
Rick and Say saying goodbye to staff

Michael, Nancy, Christine and Carolyn at the pantomime
Rick eating lunch before leaving with a monkey overhead
 
 
Good rains ahead!
Caroling at hospital and around
 
 
A very Merry Christmas for all of you!  I pray you will have a great time celebrating the birth of our Savior so many years ago!  Glory to God in the Highest and Peace on Earth and Good Will towards all mankind!

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