Category: Around the house

My Hat in My Hand

A Jon Post

There are a few things running around my mind. I’ve decided to make a blog out of it.

Layne is traveling this week, I’m at home with my three girls, Casa Ahavá is empty, two of the most recent four have transitioned out.
Inês finished her treatment and is with her family, hopefully, with cancer in remission.
Pedro… well… if you’ve read the last few posts you know a bit about his story. He’s home, still alive, still paralyzed on his right side, still smiling. His newborn son has a name; Marcos Pedro Mavango. Pedro is in a good place.
Campande and Sara are both visiting their families between treatments and will be back tomorrow.

There was some work that needed to be done on the Casa Ahavá rooms that was easier done with no one in there (re-laying broken concrete and tile, re-painting the kitchen floor, etc). We spent some money on some nicer counters and cabinets for Casa Ahavá’s kitchen and are very pleased with how it came out.

And so here I sit, home with my kids, mind spinning, thinking about washing diapers, washing kids, washing dishes, washing my sins, washing my wife in the water through the word (whatever that means), washing Casa Ahavá’s floors, washing my kitchen floors (I knocked the toaster over a couple days ago, you know how all those toast crumbs get in the bottom of those things? Yeah… ALL over my kitchen).

I’ve also found myself thinking a lot about money this week. Money I spent on Casa Ahavá (paint, tile, grout, cabinets, toilet cleaner), money I spent on my family’s groceries, money I spent on a plane ticket to send Layne to America. We’ve written on here about how we’re in need of support, how our expenses are higher than our income. How does it then follow that I flew to America last month for a wedding, and that Layne flew to America this week for a birthday trip? How do I look supporters or potential supporters in the eye and say we need more help? I know that you all have entrusted me with these resources and I feel that it’s important to be honest and open about how I use them.

I went to the USA last month to be Javan and Holly Mesnard’s best man at their wedding. The plane tickets from here to Phoenix were paid for by a generous person who wanted to make sure Javan was blessed. No donated money was spent on that travel.

Layne is in the USA right now. Last year in January I decided I wanted her to go on a “girls trip” with her sisters, mom and niece for her 30^th birthday which is this year the same year has her mom’s 60^th. We’ve been saving a little bit of money every month since then to pay for this trip.

We do take vacations from time to time. We do try to rest from time to time. We feel like it’s important to find time and memories outside of our full time ministry at the hospital and Casa Ahavá.

This week, while the other two girls were sleeping, Anaya was playing with her stuffed animals. She held her stuffed bird in her arms and said in a pleading and mournful voice, “Don’t die birdie. Don’t die in my arms. Just don’t die yet. I love you birdie.”
Anaya is 3.
This not an uncommon way for her to play. She often plays at dressing bandages, helping her sisters and toys while (pretend) sick and vomiting.
Jovie often pretends that Chauncey, her stuffed elephant, is sick and needs to be rushed to the hospital.
Jovie is 2.
These are the things that keep my mind spinning and my heart questioning about how we’re doing as a family. I don’t think it’s bad that my 3 and 2-year-old are so familiar with death and sickness. But I don’t know if it’s healthy for my 3-year-old to be pretending to have a seizure (like Uncle Pedro) while she’s lying in her bed.
And so I pray.
I was in church recently and there was a guest speaker talking about the dreams God gives us and what He purposes for us to do. He started walking around the room, asking people what they wanted to be. He didn’t come to me but when I started thinking about how I would respond to that question the answer was immediately obvious. I want to be a loving husband and a righteous father. That’s all I really want. Those two things are much more important to me than Casa Ahavá.
So, we take Sabbaths. We take times to rest away from sickness, pain, and death. We try to give our daughters a world full of life and joy mixed with the pain and sorrow they see every day.
That may be hard for some people to support. Some people may prefer that I spend more time and effort on Casa Ahavá than I do on my wife and kids. That’s really, really, really fine. There are lots of missionaries and ministries around the world who are doing INCREDIBLE things for Jesus. They need your help too and I’m sure there are plenty that share your values.
For those of you who are on board with me, please don’t be offended if I splurge now and then for my family. I can’t work a few overtime hours to make some extra spending money so I can take my family somewhere nice for the weekend. I can’t work towards a promotion and the extra money that comes with middle management.

I live with my hat in my hand, hoping that my priorities are straight, that my wife feels loved, that my kids are fathered well, and my patients are served with all that’s left over.

My Kids

September 7, 2014

Jon

Around the house, Things we're dealing with

9 comments

Surrounded by Strength and Courage

A Layne Post

“I was told this medicine kills. No one wanted me to come. I heard only 2 people have come back alive. My husband was scared, but I would have died had I stayed; I figured I would come and die here,” Sara said without flinching. Courage radiated. “Look at you now. Look how strong you are!” I encouraged. A little later I asked, “Back home, did you work?” “I worked in the machamba (farm). We plant rice and sweet potatoes,” she replied. She laughed about how spoiled her son is and how he won’t eat rice from the stores. She told me about when it is time to harvest the sweet potatoes they have piles and piles – they have so many the kids just start throwing them around like toys. The rice harvest was a bit small this year because she was here, but her 15 year old daughter harvested 9 bags. I told her someday I’d like to go to her machamba and help her out a day. She laughed and laughed saying no one would believe a white lady getting dirty in the rice field. I do hope that can happen someday.

I sat next to Inês in the day-chemo room meant for those who live nearby and can come and go. She leaned her head against the hard wall as we waited for her last bottle of Chemo to finish. The television showed women dressed in traditional fabrics dancing. I peered at Inês and asked if she could dance like that. She tilted her head down and laughed. She insisted she never could dance, but she could sing. And then we sat some more. By the time we exited Oncology it was dark outside, and we both knew there would be a lot of traffic on the way home. She hopped in the back and assured me she was fine. We waited in a long line up a hill, tail lights screaming the presence of so many cars, and she quietly told me she needed to vomit. I turned on my hazards, pulled out of line, and opened the door. She went to a ditch, threw up a few times, rinsed her mouth with water, and I asked the Lord to help calm her tummy, to help her make it home, and to miraculously transport us past the slow traffic. We were not transported, but her tummy did remain calm. When we got home she headed to her room, again assuring me she would be just fine – and she would be. She is one of the strongest women I’ve known.

“I was married for a long time before we had kids. I prayed and prayed, asking the Lord for a baby. I finally had a baby. That child died when it was 10 months old. I had five other children. One died when it was two weeks old. I now have four.” “Sara, that is so hard. I am so sorry.” I whispered. And few minutes later, “You were pregnant and delivered six times? You are so strong!” She laughed and heartily agreed it is not easy to be pregnant or have kids.

“Sara! A Bible name,” I smiled. “Do you know Sara was Abraham’s wife and that God called Abraham to a foreign land and Sara went with him? Ah! And Sara you are now being called to a foreign land; you are coming to live with Americans!” She giggled. “We are strange, I assure you, but we do care and we want to take care of you.”

These women. They are strong and courageous. So full of story, so full of life – the beauty with the pain. What a privilege for me and my family to share in their stories, if only for a few months.

Please pray for Inês as she will be having an X-ray, sonogram, and blood test to determine if she is finished with Chemo and can return home. She is so ready to be home.

Please pray for Pedro as he had an MRI this week to determine the next step with his large head wound. The results should be ready in about two weeks. We hope they will be able to do a skin graft and surgery to close the wound. His wife is also due with their 4th child any day.

Please pray for Sara as she is supposed to start treatment next week. Last month her blood levels were not adequate and her treatment was delayed. Pray with us for good blood tests this week. Any delay is more time away from family, which is just difficult.

Please pray for Campande as he, too, has blood tests this week with hopes of starting treatment next week and last month he was a bit anemic and his treatment was also delayed.

We love and cherish your support.

July 19, 2014

Layne

Around the house, Casa Ahava

7 comments

People Come with Stories

A Layne Post

People come with stories.

Some will make you laugh.

Some will stir rage.

Some will make you cry.

And slowly unveiled amid warm afternoons passed under shade cloth, surrounded by giggles and cries of three little girls, they begin to unfold, these people, these stories.

And we find, not to our surprise, they are so much more than a cancer diagnosis.

And so we minister, as desperate people serving desperate people in need of Savior.

And it isn’t grandiose.

In fact, it seems small this “ministry” we do.

Sometimes it may be a morning spent at the beach, or a few new colorful skirts bought solely for pleasure.

Sometimes it is tossing bean bags into wooden holes.

Sometimes it is singing along with the strum of a guitar.

Sometimes it is sitting on tree stumps bearing souls and airing hurt.

Sometimes it is a big stinky dog catching slobbery toys thrown to-and-fro.

Sometimes it is watching television with the air conditioning on.

Sometimes is is plate of fried chicken or the cooking of comfort food.

And then in the quiet stillness found at the end of the day, we find ourselves drifting to sleep and thanking God for these stories collided into ours, and begging His smile as we try to love those He loves.

Thanks for being a part. Thanks for seeing people and loving people with us.

April 24, 2014

Layne

Around the house, Casa Ahava

4 comments

Things I am Praying for in April

A Jon Post

These are the things I’ve found myself praying for this month:

Trust

That my faith would grow as strong as my obedience and that my obedience would grow as strong as my faith.

That Casa Ahavá’s ministry leader would teach me to follow Him closely and that I would never think I’m leading it.

Brave

That Anaya would always trust her daddy.

That I would always look to be the servant of society, not its leader.

That Jovie would be brave.

That my beard would look good with a little grey in it.

That my knees and back would hold out a few more years.

That Christy would remember her husband well and that her children would find their heavenly daddy while they miss their earthly one.

Mending

That my gratitude would always come before God’s provision for my family and my patients.

That Layne would always melt when I hold her

That my dog would stop making such a mess.

That I Anita’s broken heart would mend.

Pirates

That my hands would stay strong enough to catch my daughters when they fall, soft enough to hold my wife when she’s weak, skilled enough to make nice things for my patients and tender enough to hold theirs when they are sick.

That my kids would be able to memorize and sing the pirate song with me that Tigger sings in Winnie the Pooh… “IIIIIIII love to live the piraty life, sailing the seventy seas…”

That I may continue to learn about self-sacrifice and servanthood from the way Layne serves me, my kids and my patients.

Teaching

That we would keep getting to know Anita and Inês as they continue to know and trust us and our family.

That Layne would always believe how much she captures me.

Strong

That Karasi would be strong.

That Christ would redeem and have mercy.

That I could learn from Inês’s years and scars.

That my children would not grow so used to death that they don’t mourn those who die and that they would not be so broken by it that they cannot find wholeness.

Scars

That Layne’s eyes always find mine.

That no one in our home would be afraid to live or scared to die.

Melt

April 12, 2014

Jon

Around the house, Casa Ahava, The Kids

3 comments

New Patients at Casa Ahavá

A Layne Post

Casa Ahavá currently has two patients – Anita and Inês. Just typing their names and thinking about them gives me a warm feeling in my heart. I am really enjoying these two ladies. So here is a little about them:

Anita is the Mama of 4 girls. She is very active in a Baptist church in Beira, Mozambique. She loves the Lord and the members of her church with a passion. Sometimes when I knock on her door to give her some news or information about doctor appointments, I find her sitting on the floor reading her Bible. Back home she worked for a day-care/preschool at her church and had begun learning sign language to work with deaf students. Lord willing she regains her health, she would like to continue studying sign and have the ability to teach others. She is wonderful with my girls! I love hearing her call them into her kitchen and my girls run in and out giggling. Anita is extremely responsible and independent, an absolute joy to have here at our home. She is currently at the hospital receiving a Chemo treatment and then, so long as her tests come out clean, she only has one more chemo course next month before returning to her family.

Inês is a great-grandma! You would not believe it seeing her because she is so lovely and still strong and lively. Her family is her pride and joy. She loves to talk about them, and I am often confused as she tells of so many members – I get lost! As soon as she arrived at our house, she took Karasi out of my arms and placed her on her hip. Karasi was at ease with this well experienced avó (grandma). She speaks Portuguese, but definitely as a second language so I feel like we are often losing some things in translation, both ways! But she is gracious and has an awesome smile and laugh that just makes it all okay. Her family has a large dog at home, so she surprised me when she had no fear of Gasher. I often see her roll her eyes at his annoying ways and pat his head. Because she has only been here a week, we are still getting to know her, but she is already well loved. She should start her second of six rounds of Chemo next week.

Our family had the most wonderful time camping. It was refreshing and rejuvenating, making us well prepared and ready for this new season and community at Casa Ahavá. Jon’s weeks have been full of early mornings and lots of time in traffic to and from the hospital. The staff have been so helpful in our partnership, and we continue to stand in awe of the Lord’s favor He grants to us as doctors and nurses shift schedules and fit our patients in, making appointments happen.

On my drive home from the hospital yesterday I was reflecting on my girls and their adjustment to new people in their space. They don’t skip a beat. It is normal and natural for them to have new Tias and Tios come stay in the rooms at the back of our house and to play in the afternoons. I am so grateful they get to grow up this way. My heart just melts when I hear Anaya tell me her stuffed duck Katy is a little sick and at the hospital, but that she is going to go visit her and make her smile. May the Lord have my sweet girls’ hearts and may He always mend them when they break on His behalf – loving the sick and dying alongside their Mama and Dada.