Haggis & Malaria: Date Night!

Thanksgiving was a fun festivity with all of the foods we wanted.  The kids had a great time and we were happy to see so many people show up at the gathering our friends and MAF teammates hosted (over 60 people!).

Friday was a normal work day, well, it was scheduled a normal work day.  But, it was a challenging day and Matthew didn’t get home until 7pm.  He wasn’t feeling well, but we attributed it to a long (13 hours gone!), stressful day, without much to eat.  A good dinner and a night of sleep would fix it.

Saturday was Matthew’s first Saturday not working in some capacity in over six weeks (we lost track of when the last Saturday he hadn’t needed to be out of the house for work but we could recount the last six)…so we were excited to have him home.  Except he woke up like death.  Except not death…malaria.  He had the classic symptoms: headache, nausea, back ache, fever, and feeling like death.

We pulled out the local cure: a three day pill pack that is especially effective against the local strain of malaria.  It is, literally, a lifesaver.  And it is only around $7 ($3 for the children’s dissolvable ones).

Matthew took the first pill and pretty much alternated between only feeling mildly deathly and sleeping soundly.

That evening we had planned to go out to a lovely event put on by the club at the British Embassy.  The second pill had been consumed and Matthew insisted that he was well enough to go.  No skipping date night here!

Our fabulous friend showed up after the kids were in bed and away we went.  Malaria and all.

The British Embassy has a lovely club, run by a sweet Scottish couple, who planned a Scottish Ceilidh (I don’t know how to pronounce it, either), complete with Scottish folk dancing, whiskey tasting, and traditional food.  So, we danced, we got to meet interesting people, we ate haggis and other tasty foods and malaria only made Matthew sweat a lot.  The dancing was super fun, much like the dancing we did before we were married (we met at a folk dance – this story is better in person).  The international crowd is always fun.  The British Ambassador gave a funny speech about St. Andrew, who the party was celebrating, and he and his wife danced – good sports, I’d say!

It was a lovely evening and a great date night before Matthew headed out early Sunday morning for a week away at another MAF base in south Congo, in Lubumbashi.

Pray for his time there, that he is able to accomplish all he’s down there to do.  And praise that the malaria meds worked and he is all well!  And, of course, pray for me and the kids here at home by ourselves.  We have lovely neighbors and a strong team support system, but the days can be trying without Daddy coming home to break up the flow in the evening.