KEEPING UP WITH JOHN............................

I was just reading this morning that God has fearfully and wonderfully made us.  And I see how true this is in our five children and our grandchildren.  All coming from the same mother and father, the same ancestors, our five children are at once the same and so different.  Cheryl, I was not sure I could take another child with as much energy and outgoing personality as you, and God sent along Debbi with a calmer outlook on life, endowed with thoughtfulness and even a bit of timidness. Then came Elin, a homebody, most content when clinging to her mom and later more attached to her dad.  And then we had John - full of energy and inventiveness from the day you were born!  We had a hard time to keep up with you, as you will read in this post.  But God gave us Mark, the child of our older age, timid, clinging, malleable and a great last child!  Each of you is very special, and it has been the delight of our lives to see you develop and marry wonderful spouses and produce such a bevy of beautiful, remarkable children.... and the line goes on, with little Levi joining the family!

But back to keeping up with John....  You were a good baby, the only one I think who would never take a bottle and nursed till you were almost a year old.  You walked early.  In the Spring before you were a year old, we made the long trek to Monrovia, Liberia, where we had rented a house belonging to Radio Station ELWA. We were going for a month's vacation there (a three day trip from Bobo - passing through thick forest country and crossing forest streams on two planks so that Dad had to be sure he had a wheel on each plank!) and it was beautiful to see the ocean spread out before our eyes and know that we had arrived, late one afternoon.  Grandpa and Grandma Kennedy were also there on vacation and had been there before us. Grandma decided to fix a meal at our house and had just put a pot of macaroni on to boil before we pulled in. After we unloaded a bit, Grandma had to run over to their little house to get something, and told me to check on the macaroni on the stove which was cooking in a pressure cooker (but without the pressure being used).  Her cooker was different from mine and when I tried to take off the top to check the pasta, a wave of boiling hot water and macaroni, rose up and inundated my whole front - from my forehead to my lower abdomen. I screamed and Dad came running, had someone turn on a cold shower, tore off my clothes and put me under the cold water to reduce the heat in the burns that covered the whole front of my body!  What a mess!  When my mom returned, she found me on the bed, naked, with Dad trying to put cold wet cloths on my body.  Debbi, you were sure I was dead and kept crying to see me. I insisted they let all three of you girls see me and explain what had happened and then you left the room and were content to play. 

The doctor came and checked me out and basically said that ice water on my burns and rest was the only cure for my painful problem!  Dad had to bring you, John, to me to nurse and hold you at right angles so you wouldn't inadvertently hurt my burns.  What a situation, and at the beginning of our vacation!

Two good things: (1) I was not in our village where I would have had company day and night and no rest  and (2) we had brought Yusufu along so he could take care of the cooking and household!  Poor Yusufu agonized over my burns - we were so thankfyl he was there!

Actually, many of my burns cleared up quickly, there were just a few really deep burns and I had scars from them for a long time - but in time they too disappeared.  After I got over the shock of this accident, I would go down to the beach and go in the water a bit, but that salt water burned the open places.  And I was still not completely healed when we had to return the three day trip to Burkina. What an experience!

To be continued.......................