amen

Balkissa is back. When Sally, our speech therapist, saw her at a session recently, she found that Balkissa's tongue had split open again, making her look more like a snake than ever, since now the two halves were neatly delineated by what should have been a line of sutures. We spoke to the new surgeon, the one who's only got three more days of surgery for the outreach, and found her a place in his schedule.

She went to the OR today, but not before spending all morning hanging off my body and attempting to run loose down the hall. It appears that she has not lost her spirit, and her little voice rang out loud, if somewhat garbled, after we prayed at handover. Hallelujah! Amen, and her little hands swished underneath her headscarf as she twirled in a circle and came to rest against my chest.

Amen, she said again, quieter this time, and I echoed her.

Yes, God, let it be so. Let this child come to know You in all your Love and all your Beauty. Let her see herself as a reflection of You, no matter what happens in this second surgery, the last we'll be able to provide, successful or not.

And as we sat in our leadership meeting at ten in the morning, I flipped over my schedule to see that the back was empty. We had just assigned the last beds to the last patients we'll treat during this outreach, and my heart caught in my throat as I saw their faces in my mind. The man with a keloid scar hanging down below his shoulder. The woman recovering from yet another VVF surgery, her baby climbing all over her, a testament to her hope. The man with a tumor on his jaw that we're planning to remove and the hernia we might not be able to fix. Please, he begged. Leave the thing on my jaw. It does not look good, but it is okay. Please fix my hernia, because I work on a farm. I work slower than the others. Please.

And little Balkissa, recovering in her corner of B Ward tonight, wrapped in her blankets and the love of the nurses watching over her.

There are only three days left. I pray that we would use them wisely, that we would be faithful, that we would not grow weary.

Amen.