Yesterday was one of those days! First thing Josh went out to go to the HIV/AIDs clinic and quickly learned he had no brakes in his truck. He made it down to the closest garage and they were able to help him right away. Then we had some issues in our Growing Hope team that took some serious conversation to sort out. And then after lunch I was home with the kids and Noah’s finger got caught in the hinge of one of our windows. I didn’t see that he had his hand in the hinge and I pulled the window shut crushing the tip of his pinkie finger. He started screaming and there was blood everywhere and right away I could see he was going to need stitches.
But in the midst of all these circumstances I know that God was with us. The owner of the garage asked Josh a lot of questions while he was waiting for the truck to get fixed about why he is here in SA and what he is doing. Then when it came time to pay the bill which was about $75USD he told Josh not to worry about it. That it was his way of supporting our ministry! This was a huge blessing to us!
The issue in our Growing Hope Team has brought us to a greater place of honesty and understanding with one another which is always good.
And even in the midst of Noah’s hysterical crying I was grateful because I knew God was with us even in that situation. The first amazing thing is that yesterday my maid, Maria, who only comes one day a week was here when Noah got hurt. She was so helpful and amazing. Nathan was walking around in just his diaper and I said to her we have to go now. She scooped him up and got some clothes on him in record time and we were running out the door together. I called Josh and he was about 40min away looking at a new community for some gardens. Maria held Noah in the car keeping pressure on his finger. First we went to the closest doctor to us. He was out to lunch and his nurse told me I had to take Noah to the hospital because just normal GPs don’t do stitches here in SA. So we all got back in the car and headed to the local government hospital. I was just praying the whole way there that there would be a doctor there and that we would be able to be seen right away. The government hospitals can really be a hit or miss type of situation. There are very few doctors and if they are busy or out the nurses handle almost everything. You can end up waiting a very long time for someone to help you.
We pulled up to the hospital and ran inside. Noah was still crying a lot and we went right into the ER. Thankfully it was practically empty. Maria stayed in the waiting area with Nathan and a nurse came to help us right away! And then the doctor was there and he looked at Noah’s finger and said we were going to have to give Noah something to make him sleep for him to be able to stitch it up. Noah was pretty out of control. He doesn’t like doctors anywhere near him on the best of days so you can only imagine. At one point I was trying to calm him down and I said, “Noah, it’s ok. Its not hardly even bleeding anymore.” He sort of stopped crying and just looked at me like I was crazy and said, “Yeah, but what are you gonna do about that huge crack in my finger!” The doctor gave him a shot and he faded off to sleep. Josh arrived right as Noah was going to sleep. Finally we could actually get a good look at the finger. Basically the top of his pinkie was just hanging on. It was cut all the way down to the tip of the bone. It took about 6 stitches to get it closed up. Then they wrapped it up and we just waited for him to wake up. His waking up at least provided come comic relief. He was totally out of it and kept saying things like, “Wow, I feeeelll beetterrrr.” The doctor said he will be fine and the stitches can come out in 10 days.
We were just so grateful that we were able to go in and see a doctor right away. He was really good and took time with us and Noah. Just after he finished with us he had to go and do some operation and was out of the ER for about an hour. If we would have been just a few minutes later we would have had to wait all that time. So in the midst of it all we knew God was with us and even experienced his favor. And for that we are so grateful!
after the stitches and bandages were done. Still totally out of it.
at home. feeling back to his old self.
The Davis Family 