| FROM “BUSH BUNNY BRENDA“ DATE: NOVEMBER 25, 2023 ESTALESIA HOME, BUT CHALLENGES REMAIN Estalesia was finally released on Wednesday this week when all her lab tests returned normal. After her 3rd transfusion, her Hemoglobin was up to a safe 10.3 from 7 (pre-transfusion). Her malaria smear at the lab was negative. Her remaining problem is her distended abdomen, which is causing pressure on her lungs. It will take time to resolve this complication of severe malnutrition. We have cut a wedge pillow from foam to help decrease the abdominal pressure on her lungs when she is sleeping. On Friday, we finally located the portable baby mosquito nets for both Estalesia and 3 week old baby boy, Milagre (the Miracle). This allows these 2 fragile infants and their Foster Mothers to be outside under the cool shade tree at House #7 in the afternoons, but remain protected from mosquitos. Temperatures are averaging 97°F/36°C daily right now, making a large shade tree the coolest place around.  Estalesia foreground and Milagre in the background. Both are enjoying the cooler outdoors and without bugs! PLEASE KEEP ESTALESIA IN YOUR PRAYERS, AS SHE HAS A LONG ROAD AHEAD TO COMPLETE RECOVERY. BBC TAKES ADVANTAGE OF DRY WEEK Reaching children for Christ is a challenge during the rainy season. Thankfully the weather held for the first part of the week and programs were held in 2 remote villages. These videos show teaching as well as enthusiastic games.  Village Bible School lesson for children https://youtu.be/xvULFEK4H4s  Girls gave a great effort, but… https://youtu.be/GEBd1acrlv8  And the girls show their speed. https://youtu.be/_QPzA2f3w7Y Thursday night’s 3‑hour rain put the BBC out of business on Friday. Carlitos and Daniel, the 2 motorbike drivers for the BBC, returned from the mountainous region with bikes covered in mud. They did manage to deliver the food to the 9 orphans living in that remote area, PTL! Keep us all in your prayers, as many challenges lay ahead with the rains coming in full force next week (4 days of rain expected). BLESSINGS, BUSH BUNNY BRENDA LANGE AND THE BALAMA STAFF |
Monthly Archives: November 2023
BUSH BUNNY BRENDA BLOG: NOVEMBER 18, 2023
| FROM “BUSH BUNNY BRENDA“ DATE: NOVEMBER 18, 2023 ESTALESIA FACING MORE CHALLENGES Due to a reaction to a vaccine, Estalesia’s left thigh became very swollen and hot, requiring hospitalization for IV antibiotic treatment. She was unable to move her painful leg for 3 days. The video shows how improved she is on her 4th day, as this is the first she has moved her leg voluntarily.  Estralesia moving her left leg for the first time since the reaction https://youtube.com/shorts/mT6rzZXRbYg We were expecting her release on Thursday morning but received bad news instead. MALARIA HAD RAISED IT’S HEAD AGAIN! Thursday a.m., Estalesia tested POSITIVE FOR MALARIA . Her red blood cell count was already down to 7 (from 10), meaning she needed a blood transfusion immediately! This is her third transfusion in 4 weeks! She is only 6 months and 3 weeks old as her birthday is April 22, 2023. PLEASE KEEP HER IN YOUR PRAYERS, AS THIS IS VERY SERIOUS WHEN ANYONE HAS TO FIGHT MALARIA TWICE IN ONE MONTH WITH 3 TRANSFUSIONS! Note: The hospital staff explained that this 2nd malaria is not a new case, but the same case as before. Seems it wasn’t totally eradicated after the last 5‑day-treatment, even though it didn’t show up on the malaria test. Round 2 of treatment is a must! That means another week in the hospital at least. HEAVY RAINS CAUSE FLASH FLOOD DAMAGE TO OUR WIDOW’S HOMES November 15 is officially the beginning of the rainy season in northern Mozambique. On November 13th, the first heavy rains were predicted, but few took it seriously, since it is usually a light rain. SURPRISE! IT CAUSED A FLASH FLOOD! (Gully washer to my fellow Texans.) Our orphan homes were prepared, but several of our widow’s homes were damaged, and needed emergency repairs as soon as the 2 days of rain had passed.  Foundation repairs done with cement to protect the mud brick house foundation of blind widow, Madelina The road in front of our church, which was rendered useless last year by flash floods, was unharmed because of a large ditch we dug the week before this 2 day rain. The large ditch extended across the road, and redirected the river of water that wants to use the road as a river bed. A road engineer taught me many years ago that a dirt road is only as good as the ditch next to it. So I learned to dig ditches BEFORE the rainy season begins. He was right, and our road is unharmed as you can see in the photo. We have filled the ditch portion crossing the road with large rocks so that our pick-up trucks can use it during the rainy season.  Church road ditch on our 40 acre mission station All construction on the 3 meter/10 foot deep septic system for the new 3 bedroom toddler home is on hold, as the hole must dry out before it is safe to go down into it. I was thrilled that the men finished digging the tank just a few hours before the heavy rains began! Rainy season and outdoor construction don’t mix. BBC SLOWS DOWN BUT NEVER STOPS! Both the motorbike and bicycle teams had to curb their village teaching programs until Thursday of this week. But were the kids ready when they did go out! Enthusiastic games and loud shout outs at devotions reveals how happy the children were to see our BBC Teams when the mud had dried up!  Short but shows the children’s excitement https://youtu.be/xS-WUcuLk_E KEEP YOUR PRAYERS COMING, FOR THE RAINS MAY DAMPEN OUR PLANS, BUT WILL NEVER STOP THEM. BLESSINGS, BUSH BUNNY BRENDA LANGE AND THE BALAMA STAFF |
BUSH BUNNY BRENDA BLOG: NOVEMBER 11, 2023
| FROM “BUSH BUNNY BRENDA“ DATE: NOVEMBER 11, 2023 PTL! EVERYONE’S HOME! It has been a super busy week, but thanks to your prayers, both 6‑month-old baby Estalesia and 5‑year-old Santos were released from the hospital this week. Santos regained his mental health from the severe malaria case he suffered last week and was released on Monday afternoon to continue his treatment at home.  Santos back to his sweet self, PTL! Estalesia was found to have a soft skull due to her severe malnutrition (not receiving milk, thus lacking in calcium). She was finally released after all doctors agreed that with good nutrition and careful handling, the skull should harden. This little girl is making a remarkable recovery as she gained from 2.5kg/5.5lbs. to 3.6kg/7.9 lbs. in the 10 days that she was in the hospital. Keep your prayers coming for her as she has a long way to go to reach a normal weight for her age.  Estalecia, after getting to her new home yesterday THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR FERVENT PRAYERS FOR OUR 2 LITTLE ONES WHO WERE ILL. BABY #28, “THE LITTLE MIRACLE BOY”, JOINS OUR FAMILY On the 4th of November, Milagre (means Miracle) was brought into this world. In severe distress, Milagre’s mother was transferred to 2 different hospitals to try and save her and her unborn baby. Only Milagre, the infant, survived. Milagre’s mother was the only daughter of a very ancient Granny, who was deemed by hospital staff to be unable to care for a newborn. There is one Uncle, but his wife has 3 little ones already, and can’t handle a newborn. The father abandoned the mother during pregnancy. So Milagre will be in our care for the next few years. Our hope is that he can be reintegrated into his family once he reaches 2 to 3 years of age. Coming to us as a 2‑day old infant, he was placed with Foster Mother Clara, who is excellent with fragile newborns. We PTL that Milagre is healthy, and eating and sleeping like all newborns do.  Baby boy, Milagre signaled that all his traveling has him tired. Time to nap.  Milagre went right off to sleep after getting to his new home. As you can imagine, this week has flown by with all this activity, but our staff has done an excellent job seeing that all the infants’ needs were met. Our thanks go out to the hospital staff for the excellent care they provide for our children. THANK YOU FOR COVERING US WITH YOUR FAITHFUL PRAYERS. IT MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE AS ONLY JESUS CAN TRULY HEAL. THE LORD JESUS NAMED US “ORPHANS UNLIMITED”. NO MATTER HOW MANY CHILDREN THE LORD SENDS OUR WAY, HE WILL ALWAYS HELP US MAKE ROOM FOR ADDITIONAL LITTLE ONES IN NEED. BLESSINGS, BUSH BUNNY BRENDA LANGE AND THE BALAMA STAFF |
BUSH BUNNY BRENDA BLOG: NOVEMBER 4, 2023
| FROM “BUSH BUNNY BRENDA“ DATE: NOVEMBER 4, 2023 BUNNY IS BACK IN BALAMA! Minus 1 chomper of course, as my troublesome tooth was broken and had started to abscess. The dentist said if I hadn’t gotten it pulled within 48 hours from my appointment date October 31, it would have caused me a world of hurt. Thank you, JESUS, for favor in getting an appointment so quickly! ESTALESIA, 27th INFANT TO JOIN OUR FAMILY Six-month-old, Estalesia (Es-sta-lee-sha), has a twin sister. Sadly, the mother rejected Estalesia. It is customary here to reject 1 twin when the mother cannot support 2 infants with her limited breastmilk, so she chooses which one will starve and which one will live. That is why our milk formula program assists mothers with twins. This mother refused to feed Estalesia even though we provided her with baby food and milk. No way to know why she rejected such a sweet little girl. Estalesia’s twin sister weighs 5 kgs/11 lbs. and is very healthy. Estalesia only weighed 2.6 kg/5.7 lbs. at 6 months of age when admitted to the hospital last Thursday. Literally starved to death, she also had a serious case of malaria with a Hemoglobin of 4! That is death’s door for anyone! We immediately organized an A+ blood donor and she was transfused twice over the next 4 days. Estalesia is very fragile, so the hospital staff refuses to release her into our care as they prefer to give her further IV medications. We have 2 foster mothers looking after her in the hospital.  ESTELESIA deemed too fragile by malnutrition staff to leave the hospital. She is doing well, just needs to gain weight PLEASE PRAY FOR ESTELESIA, AS SHE IS NOT STABLE YET, AND NEEDS THE LORD TO STRENGTHEN HER LITTLE BODY. OCTOBER 28 PROTEIN PARTY FROM CIS COMPANY IS A YUMMY SUCCESS!  CIS staff serving the children A new team of servers came from CIS including the Head Chef, who wanted to meet the children. The menu for the children included a huge chicken leg, a hotdog, rice with vegetables, coleslaw, and a cream filled cupcake for dessert with Kool Aid and bottled water to drink.  Reggie loves the drumstick the best! YUMMY was the reaction of the children! Never having a hotdog before, it opened their eyes to another new treat. THE MASTER’S TABLE MINISTRY GIFTING THE CHILDREN WITH CHICKENS Saturday is High Protein Meat Day each week! The Master’s Table, a USA based ministry, provides our children with frozen chickens every other Saturday between the CIS meals. That means that EVERY SATURDAY is High Protein Meat Day for all 56 of our children. Praise the Lord! I gave out frozen chickens today to each of our 7 homes, putting smiles on the Foster Mother’s faces. They so enjoy treating the children to meat!  Handing out the chickens from The Masters’ Table  Chickens Galore! GOD PROVIDES IN DIFFERENT WAYS, AND OUR CHILDREN ARE BLESSED TO BE THE RECEIVERS!  Please pray for Santos, 5‑years-old. Rapid onset malaria caused him to become delirious and confused. We had to drop everything to get him admitted to the hospital on Saturday afternoon BLESSINGS, BUSH BUNNY BRENDA LANGE AND THE BALAMA STAFF |