Hey Everyone,
This is a just a quick post to request some major prayer!
Oliver had a bad fall more than a week ago, and broke his two front teeth. The injury was so traumatic that he is scheduled for a root canal on both front teeth this coming Friday. They will have to sedate him and do the best they can to save the teeth. If the root canals are not successful, he will need to have both of his front teeth removed, leaving him toothless until his adult teeth come in years from now, potentially affecting his speech in the coming years.
It has been so hard watching him go through this pain and discomfort. After some looking around, we found an good dentist. But this was the first time I really felt “stuck” here in Uganda, knowing that we cannot leave to get him treatment outside of the country. And it made me think that if something worse happened to him over the next year or so, that we wouldn’t be able to leave to potentially get him the best treatment possible.
This was the first major incident with our child that we have experienced as parents, and it has been traumatic for us too. We didn’t think we would feel so much pain seeing this happen to our child. My dear friend put it so well: “Parenting is the scariest job. Part of your heart is walking around in the world, and it hurts so much when we can’t prevent every pain from reaching our kids!”
It’s been a rough start to 2019, to say the least. Our Christmas was wonderful and super special, but as soon as January hit, so was our family! I spent January 1st overnight in the hospital with serious food poisoning. Josh and Oliver came down with a bad flu. Then Oliver had his fall and Josh also had a dental emergency where he had a very painful tooth extraction done and is recovering from that. None of us have been “good” at the same time since January began.
Please pray for a break for us as a family.
Please pray for Oliver, that he’ll feel back to his old self soon. Please pray for him this Friday as he is sedated and the procedure is done. And please pray that ultimately his teeth can be saved!
Thanks team!
Nadine Guenther
josh & nadine in Africa 
Hi Nadine – I heard about this from Cory when it happened, and I’m so sad to hear that it’s progressed to something so much more difficult. We love you guys and will pray for you in this. I’ll pass it along to staff to pray as well.
Just read this morning from Isaiah 48:21 – “They did not thirst when he lead them through the deserts; he make water flow from them from the rock; he split the rock and water gushed out.” I feel this is for you today … God DOES lead us through deserts in life but he PROVIDES what we need in those places. He is working and will work good things for you, Josh and Oliver through this … he is with you, even in the difficult stuff.
I know what it’s like to see one of my kids hurt and to long to take it on myself rather than having them have to deal with it. So hard, and yet this is where God has taken you. I pray for deep and abiding confidence that God is walking with you, cloud by day, fire by night, that he’s caring for you. God is a good parent and YOU are good parents.
We will pray,
Jeremy
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Just said a prayer for Oliver. Thinking of you guys! Sending love from California.
On Tue, Jan 15, 2019 at 9:25 AM josh & nadine in Africa wrote:
> Josh & Nadine posted: “Hey Everyone, This is a just a quick post to > request some major prayer! Oliver had a bad fall more than a week ago, and > broke his two front teeth. The injury was so traumatic that he is scheduled > for a root canal on both front teeth this coming Friday. ” >
Oh man i really feel for you two and Oliver.� So sorry to hear of his teeth issues…..hopefully at his age he will not have the memories that I have still……as I have had everything bad possible that could happen to one’s teeth.
Was thinking of you two last week as I met up with Andy Agaba (Hiinga – Uganda Micro Loans).� He thought he had met you (Josh) last summer. Interesting guy – would be interesting to hear from you thoughts about Hiinga at some point (heck – would be great to see all of you sometime soon!).
We trust you are well and will certainly get through this challenge. We’ll pray for all 3 of you.
All the best,
Mark
**some belated Christmas cheer attached 🙂
josh & nadine in Africa wrote on 1/15/19 9:25 AM: > WordPress.com > Josh & Nadine posted: “Hey Everyone, This is a just a quick post to > request some major prayer! Oliver had a bad fall more than a week ago, > and broke his two front teeth. The injury was so traumatic that he is > scheduled for a root canal on both front teeth this coming Friday. ” >
I’ll be praying for you all! God is with you and has promised to never leave you. To God be the glory great things He has done and will do!
Hi Josh and Nadine. We are praying for Oliver that the surgical procedure will go as well as God has it planned and Oliver will not Lose his baby teeth and will recover fast We will also be praying that Mom andDad will put their faith into Gods hands completely and know that whatever happens God is completely in control of Oliver’s health and future. He put Oliver into your hands to be cared for so that is proof that Oliver is in Gods hands with Gods “life plan” for as long as he lives . As parents it is our role to always trust Gods plan no matter how hard that is and how unfair things look like for our children and grow our faith in gods faithfulness regardless of how unfair things seem for our children ! Being parents is the best thing that can y to us. But it can be the toughest Faith walk we ever do. To completely trust Gods answers to our prayers for our children. Thanks for your Christmas letter. We are in Spain for a month with friends celebrating Iola birthday and our 50 anniversary! We will continue to pray for Oliver and both of you and dr. Keep us posted. Love ❤️ and Blessings. Joe Iola Sent from my iPhone
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Praying! Bless you three. Love from Burundi!