Michael Turns One Year Old Today!

The best laid plans of Mice and Men- in this case babies birthdays celebrations:

Prince Michael turns One Year Old today, July 18th, but all celebrations needed to be postponed as he has the Chicken Pox’s and will be in Isolation thru the weekend!.

I received a call from Potters Village that he was covered in “pox” marks and indeed he was, but now several days later, they are at an all time high, hence the pictures of Michael in his Birthday Suit ( literally ) with nothing but the radio on (ala Marilyn Monroe) and calamine lotion from head to toe-smile..

We do not immunize for Chicken Pox in this country, as we do in the States, so his being up to date with him immunizations couldn’t and didn’t protect him from the effects of being exposed to so many other little ones. But , as you can see from these photos , he doesn’t seem to be suffering terribly.

I was about 5 years old when I had them and my mother reported that I was both a miserable site and an equally miserable patient as I somehow managed to have Chicken Pox’s and Mumps together!.



The main thing to celebrate is that Michael has survived at all, let alone to “suffer” a childhood disease. Only a year ago he was born in Kisoro Hospital, where his twin died at birth and after being transferred here to St. Francis Hospital, his mother died a couple of days later. No one, absolutely no one, expected this 0.9 kg. (less than 2 lbs.) baby to make it, but God and Michael had other plans.

You .need to understand that there is no modern equipment here, only hot water bottles and an occasional nasal gastric tube for feedings. But thanks to Sr. Vastina, the Charge Nurse of Maternity and the Nursery ( a closet size room within the Maternity Ward) and many caring nurses and nursing students, Michael made it thru those first 2 months until I was told in a dream , to go meet and fatten up this tiny baby. The rest is history, if you have been following my Blogs since Sept.. and he now weighs about 16 lbs, can sit up , squirm his way anywhere he wants and has the sweetest disposition you can imagine. .

One of the Nursing Students named him Michael, after the Archangel Michael,, because of his strength against all odds .Though he is often called Professor Michael , as some believe he will be a Pediatrician , turned Professor in his later years, as he goes about telling his own personal story (smile),I wonder about potential celebrity, as all one needs to do is take the camera out of the bag and he breaks into huge posing smiles (Ha).

In any case, it is apparent that God has a very specific Plan for Michaels life, and I am honored to have had the opportunity to be a part of that Plan..

My friend Mary Johns turned me onto an author named Alexander McCall Smith, who writes thoroughly entertaining novels based in Botswana, Africa. . I recently completed one in a series of “The NO.1 Ladies Detective Agency” entitled “In the Company of Cheerful Ladies”, and eagerly await more in this series being sent to me (as we speak) by good friend (and recent visitor ) Carol Balderree.

The last paragraph in this book really spoke to me and I can’t read it without feeling it is talking about me personally and my experience here in Uganda. It reads:

“Mma Makutsi gathered her thoughts, standing before the window looking out to the trees in the distance and the evening sun on the grey green hills beyond the trees. She had so much to think about: her past and the place from where she had come: her family who would be pleased about this news, her late brother who would never know about this, unless, of course, he was watching from somewhere, which he might be, for all she knew.
She loved this country, which was a good place, and she loved those with whom she lived and worked. She had so much love to give—she had always felt that—and now there was somebody to whom she could give this love, and that, she knew, was good, for that is what redeems us, that is what makes our pain and sorrow bearable—this giving of love to others, this sharing of the heart.”

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