Momma Bear Mode

Saturday: I LOVE Saturdays. I adore the Nyahera children. Each child is so special and so unique and so lovable in their own way.

And if anything happens to them- apparently I have a mild to moderate emotional reaction... and it may be fierce. I call it my momma bear mode.

I never had this instinct before last summer- when I was the counselor to the female service staff at my camp... aka about 17 teenagers. They were all so amazing and were so inspirational. I learned so much through observing their work ethic and love of the Lord. And not gonna lie- I miss them all extremely--- but back to momma bear mode- I realized this weird reaction when one of them was going through boy issues. I just wanted to slap that boy across the face and say- "hey now, what are you doing?" For the rest of the summer I recognized the same reaction when I found out the crazy things they were doing--- which weren't even crazy. Like when they went on the zipline- I freaked out a lot on the inside... even though I had sent campers off the zipline hundreds of times and everyone was fine.

Back to this summer- On Saturday- my emotions hit Momma Bear Mode.

Last week, little precious Julianna was sick. We talked to her brother Steven and he said that she was doing well, she just wasn't feel too well. Kids get sick all the time, right? I didn't worry too much. Now for a little more info on Julianna- she is our care & compassion patient. A couple months back, she was very down. But now, she's running around with the other children and you can hardly tell the difference between her and the other 100% healthy children. So this week, she was again sick and missed the MCP. When I saw Steven without his sister, my stomach flipped and I hit Momma Bear Mode. I talked with him and he said that Julianna is still sick. She's laying in the bed. She is getting better. She's eating. She's still not strong... I just wanted to drop EVERYTHING and run to her house to make sure she was ok. I'm so thankful that I get to follow up with her tomorrow when I do care & compassion and I just pray that her sickness isn't serious again and that she'll soon be well.

Julianna wasn't my only Momma Bear Moment- Geoffrey [eldest son of our patient Marilyn and brother to Emmanuel and Esther] had pretty bad wounds on his shins a few weeks ago. We've given him bandages and cleaned the wounds out, and they were almost healed! At the beginning of the day, I checked the wounds again and they were really just looking very good... later in the day, he was nearly curled up and in tears because of the pain of something. I couldn't figure out what so I called Lillian to translate. He was hiding his legs, and when he showed me, I realized what happened. The wounds opened back up... blame it on the futbol. Unfortunately, there was not a whole lot I could do for him, except joke around with him, wipe away his tears, and get a smile out of him. Momma Bear Mode is not pleasant when there's nothing that can be immediately done to help these children.

The one child I was able to assist in any medical way on Saturday was Emmanuel. The whole group was playing an intense game of cat and mouse... which can get very violent very quickly... and at one point Emmanuel, Steven, and Evans collided. Steven jumped up like nothing happened, Evans screamed and so Lillian took him, and Emmanuel got up wincing in pain with a strawberry on his knee. Luckily, I happened to have a Bandaid in my wallet [thanks Dad for teaching me this trick!] I cleaned of his knee with a tissue and water, and put the Bandaid on. Nearly instantly, the Bandaid used it's special magical powers and Emmanuel's teary-eyed frown turned into a big grin.


Overall the MCP was nice this week. 2 of the guys from the Netherlands came with me to Nyahera, and the other 2 went to Manyatta with Jessica. It was so amazing to see both the reactions of the kids and our new friends. The boys were able to play futbol with the Dutch guys who can actually play futbol... unlike my awful attempts. And I think it was really important for the Dutch guys to be able to see the kids and connect with them as well.


Sunday: We skipped church. Yes, we did. Instead, Jessica and I stayed home and listened to a couple sermons from Francis Chan's series on Revelations. Learning to rest is a tool that is really keeping me going while we're here, and so that's exactly what Sunday was.


Monday: We held the babies. I love the babies so much! I know I've said it over and over again, but I just really do love them.

However, the most special moment from this visit to New Life was with a little toddler named Isaiah. Jessica and I were with the babies during their "outside time." I was sitting just on the edge of the play mat when I heard a scream from the direction of the sidewalk. Isaiah had faceplanted, and as soon as we made eye contact, he came running over to me and jumped in my arms and cried until he couldn't cry anymore. It was a profound "God moment" in so many ways. Briefly, God longs for us to make eye contact with him and run into His arms in any trial or struggle or bad day. Secondly, if I came to Kenya only to be there in that place at that exact moment to console Isaiah, it would have ALL been worth it. God's timing and plan is so perfect and I needed Isaiah to need me in that moment for me to really remember that.


So then tomorrow is Tuesday and I can only imagine what lies in front of us while we work in Care & Compassion. I look forward to specifically visiting Julianna and Geoffrey, and maybe that will put my Momma Bear Mode at ease.

Mungu Aku Bariki,
Mary