Fungal Fighter

I need YOUR help. Yes, you. AHOPE is a place in Ethiopia that cares for children with HIV. I took this little blurb directly from AHOPE's website: "As we move towards our tenth anniversary, AHOPE for Children and AHOPE Ethiopia are at a cross in the road. When AHOPE started, we were fundamentally a hospice – where children would be cared for in the time before their death. But with the advances in HIV treatment, PEPFAR, and the increased sanitation measures in Ethiopia, our children are living and it is our responsibility to give them a future. We have adapted from our early hospice days into so much more."

AHOPE is currently caring for 205 children. Yesterday, they put out a call for help with a supply drive. These kiddos live in close quarters. They inevitably get things like cuts and scrapes. They share their toys, which means they share other things like colds and skin fungal infections. AHOPE for Children is in need of anti-fungal creams. It is my goal to collect 100 tubes of Tinactin or Lamisil for AHOPE. I need your help!

1 tube costs about $9.50. I already have 4 on their way from a couple of lovely women, so I only have 96 to go! Would you be able to help? You can leave a comment with your e-mail address. Let me know if you want to order some Lamisil or Tinactin on Amazon and have it shipped to me and I'll give you my address. You can use paypal and send me a few dollars and I'll purchase the tube on your behalf. You can mail me a check. You can pray that I can accomplish this, because I struggle with failure. I'm a bit of a control freak. I'll take any help I can get. If you can't afford a whole tube, but want to help, just donate $5. I can add that with someone else's $5 and purchase a tube that way. 

Seriously... these kids are worth it!

Baptism

We traveled over this long weekend for Cupcake's baptism. We decided to have it in a location closer for family to travel to, because it was so important for us to have them there to share in the day. I have a WONDERFUL sister-in-law (I recommend everyone get such a selfless person in their lives. I need to remember to give to her instead of always taking from her, but she makes it so darn easy because she is so loving and selfless). I love my brother, and the best decision he ever made was asking her to marry him. She set up using their church on a Saturday afternoon, and at my request she even arranged for her parents to make the trip so her dad could perform the baptism. He baptized 3 of my nieces AND he baptized ME when I was a 5th grader, so it meant a lot to me to have him there for Cupcake's baptism. He was wonderful. He had me crying in the first 3 seconds of talking to Cupcake. He told her, "You don't know me, but I know you. I know all about you. I know that you are a brave and smart little girl. I know that you are loved and that you are an answer to prayer." That is some serious truth right there. If I have ever questioned the faithfulness of God (which, let's be honest... I totally have), I need to go no further than Cupcake's smile, her sneaky shenanigans, the way she SCREAMS the second her daddy opens the door when he comes home from work, and especially her need for snuggles when she falls off of something she was warned MULTIPLE times not to climb on...all that, was an answer to our prayers. Then, he talked to her/us about God's love and grace for her. I was sniffling so loudly I couldn't hear all of the words... 

Then, we had cake and little tastes of some Ethiopian food. I think the berbere spice and injera won over some of the family. Nice! We took some pictures, but :::ahem::: I look like a complete knob in all of them. I had a bit of a toothache that started last Tuesday. It was the kind of thing that made me stop and think, "I have a dental cleaning in a couple of weeks, I'll have to mention that I have some soreness in my front tooth. Same thing on Wednesday. Late Thursday morning, I was experiencing some pretty righteous pain and my brain finally kicked in and told me to get a dentist appointment. Well, I couldn't get in until the following coming Tuesday. At the time, it was a bit of an annoyance, but Ibuprofen took the edge of pain away and I figured if I just continued a steady diet of that, I would be fine until my appointment. Oh, dear. I was wrong (this is what I get for getting frustrated with my mother who told me I needed to push the issue with the dentist and get in right away. I told her to quit treating me like a child. Will I NEVER learn?) Starting Friday night, my lip had become a tad swollen. It still wasn't completely unbearable, but I looked a bit goofy. No big deal. Saturday morning, the swelling had increased, hence looking like a knob in all of the photos. We took to calling it the "stroke lip" with nothing offensive meant toward anyone who has actually suffered a stroke. It was the only way to describe my brain not being able to get the left side of my mouth to smile. HOLY FRUSTRATING and a bit painful. Let's just end the 'tooth story' by saying I did end up trekking the ER because it was the only thing open on a long, holiday weekend. I got some antibiotics, then when we came home I went to my dentist appointment, had some pus drained (ew, sorry), and then I visited an endodontist (sp?) later that day for my very first (and hopefully very last) root canal. Let this be a warning to you, dear reader(s): diet coke is not a substitute for water, and trauma to your teeth 8 years ago can still cause problems years later (ask me about the pool and dumpster story sometime). I really, really felt the need to get that story out there, because really, I was happy in the photos, it is just difficult to tell!!!!

My cutie pa-tootie wearing a dress (the shoes I bought) and she is walking now! I'm going to start calling her Curlz

My happy place is anywhere tropical. Cupcake's happy place? Daddy's arms.

She thought the whole water part was pretty fantastic...

We had her change out of her Ethiopian dress, because if she would have accidentally spilled on it, I would have cried.

Good shot of the 'stroke lip'

 A huge thank you to all of our family members for coming! They are my every day heroes and inspiration. Also, a huge thank you for the baptism gifts. We raised about $200 for FOVC!