We are thrilled to report that "the container" is finally in the country of Zambia! Many of you graciously mailed items to Arizona almost a year ago. Since that time, the container has been traveling around the world, on an adventure of its own. Who knows where it has been all this time!!?? It will take about 2 weeks for it to clear customs. We will keep you posted. We can't wait to see everything that all of you sent! The children of MICS and the people of Macha will definitely be blessed!
We received wonderful news the other day! Cheryl Timmermann (Darla's sister) emailed to tell us about a fundraiser for MICS, that she and her mom (Rita Jansen) had organized. They had a scavenger hunt, with 7 teams (approx 4 people per team) racing around St. Rose, IL and most of Clinton county locating/solving clues and trying to find items - all with an African/safari theme. It sounds like they had a great time. What a wonderful idea!!
The winning team, Matt and Lisa Schrage, Don and Pat Hendriks, Cookie and Jim Kuhl and Susie Willis, generously donated the winning prize back to the school in Macha. This brought the total amount raised for the new school to $700!! Cheryl and her husband Brent have offered to take the winning team out on their boat for a day, to reward them for winning and donating their prize back to the school in Macha.
Cheryl and Rita, thank you so much for taking the time to organize this wonderful event! Matt, Lisa, Don, Pat, Susie, Cookie, and Jim thank you so much for generously donating your prize money back to the school in Macha!
We have yet to meet any of you, but we are looking forward to, someday soon! We are so touched by all your effort, time and generosity...thank you very much!
I have had a couple of strange bug bites this year with even stranger reactions. First, I think I was stung by a hornet or wasp. I say I think because it stung me on my leg under my skirt while I was outside on playground duty at school. I didn't see it but there were several stingers in my leg when I checked it. By afternoon when I checked it I had a reaction ....there was a big two by three inch patch of red on my leg below the bite. It looked like a rug burn. The doctors said it was an allergic reaction and that the histamine had settled there. It took about three months to go away..... but it finally did.The good news was that the doctor was right and I did not need my leg amputated! :-)
Then a few weeks ago ...in keeping with my "For Such a Time as This" for 2007....I was bitten by a spider. I was at home and I felt something on the top part of my calf just below the back of my knee. I brushed it off and saw that it was a strange brown spider about the size of a quarter. I stomped it...... and did not give it another thought until that night when it started to burn alittle. I put my hand on it and YIKES it had a sack of fluid hanging from the bite spot.....but I did sleep fine! The next morning at school everyone was watching the sack get larger and the spot get redder. The teachers all decided I should go to see the doctor on the way home from work. My wonderful friend and Dutch daughter Dorien decided to walk me home. She knew that if I was by myself I would not stop at the doctor's house....so we stopped and talked to the doctor's wife. She had great advice, "you need to see a doctor". She then began to explain where we could find the doctor at the hospital. She said that we could find in him in surgery, as he was trying to do surgery on a woman, but they needed two units of type "O" blood or he could not do the surgery and she would die....Dorien and I both said we are type "O". Imagine that!
.... both Dorien and I were type "O". The blood bank at the hospital in Choma and Livingstone were all empty. Hospitals are not allowed to get blood from local donors any more due to all the HIV and Hepatitis....So on with the story......We went to the hospital and found the doctor. We showed him my leg and the lovely sack of fluid......yes.....I needed a strong antibiotic and he wrote a prescription quickly for me. We then said "Oh, by the way we heard you need two units of type "O" blood. We are both type "O"". He rushed us to the lab to have them check out our type and check to be sure we did not have HIV, Syphilis, or Hepatitis. No other questions were asked about medications or anything???? Imagine that?! Our test results came back quickly and we were both type "O" and were negative for all of the above by the way(-: PTL!
So then ..... it was just please come in and pull up your sleeve!! Dorien gave first and was very brave as she had never given blood or even had blood taken for tests before....she did get white lips and felt dizzy about half way through.....it got me thinking. WOW!!! What am I doing??? I have not given blood for more than ten years. Having been in Africa you are not allowed to give in the US anymore. Well, my turn then came and I stepped up " bravely"??? Guess What??? Piece of Cake!!! My blood filled the bag in record time and with no reaction!!!! 
They treated us to cookies and orange Fanta. For a minute there we felt like we were at the blood bank in the U.S.
The question of the day is, sooooooo....."What did you do on your way home from work?"
I loved answering ...." I Saved A Life".
So....you see, I know I got that strange spider bite so I would be at the right place at the right time with the right type of blood... "For Such A Time As This".
