Hello again! We have a lot to catch you up on since our last update! We have had a very busy past few months with family visits & trips!
We were so glad that we were able to take a little break and visit the nearby country of Kenya with Alaina who was with us during June and most of July. We spent about 1 week there and had an absolutely amazing time visiting one of our dream safari destinations, Masai Mara. We saw all sorts of animals - tons of elephants, giraffes, cape buffalos, impalas, a group of cheetahs, too many lions to count and so much more. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience for us all! We also were able to explore Kenya's capital of Nairobi, which consisted of feeding giraffes and ostriches, tortoises, and even playing with and touching 600+ pound nile crocodiles. We also had so much fun exploring the city center area & its many restaurants and shops.
A few weeks later, the rest of the Rhoades family joined us in Rwanda. What started as Olivia's parents, Tery and LoriLee, coming to visit, grew to Olivia's sister Elyse and her husband Chad joining the trip, and finally to Alaina's boyfriend Mark (spoiler alert: now fiance!). After their covid testing & short quarantine upon arrival, we had a nice, relaxing breakfast at their hotel. However, we did not rest for long because that evening, Mark was planning to propose to Alaina at an Airbnb we rented on a mountain side overlooking Kigali. We spent most of that day making trips around town and trying to set up the location without Alaina knowing what was going on (which we later found out she pretty much knew all along...). The night turned out amazing & we had so much fun celebrating this step in their relationship!
After our time in Kigali, we drove west to Kibogora. The third day of our trip, things took a quick turn south. We all decided to do a guided trek in the nearby Nyungwe Rain Forest to try and find chimpanzees. Due to some miscommunications, we ended up getting a later start than planned (usually, it's best to start at 6AM in order to find the chimps as they eat in the trees, rather than later in the day when they are more active). Unfortunately, we were able to hear the group of chimps but only got a short glimpse of them before they ran down into the thick forest. Since we were so close to them, our guide suggested going off of the trail down the steep slope to try and see them. Kind of in disbelief, we all obliged and started down the steep mountain as another guide cut through the brush with a machete. For about 20 or 30 minutes, we slowly made our way down, usually with at least one person slipping and falling every few seconds. It was definitely more difficult than we originally thought but up until this point, we figured it was just going to be a funny memory. Then unfortunately one slip went wrong and LoriLee fell. Pretty immediately, it was obvious her leg was broken. For roughly the next hour, we carried her on backs, up the steep hill. We switched often & had help from some other guides that came, but it was a long and difficult journey back to the trail. We managed to get back to the trail and drove to the main road where the ambulance met us and took her to Kibogora Hospital. Once we got her to the hospital and in for some x-rays, the doctors immediately knew she needed surgery. Because of the way she fell, she broke both the tibia and fibula. She had the surgery the next day to put in a rod and spent a few days in the hospital recovering. We spent the rest of the week taking it much slower and just allowing her to rest here at our home. We are so thankful for the amazing surgeons at Kibogora who were able to fix the break for her without having to travel anymore! All the staff were so helpful and kind and we are so grateful for the way they all helped us that week. Thankfully, the rest of the trip was uneventful in comparison and we were still able to do some things all together. A few days before they all left, we took them to Akagera which is the national safari park. We had so much fun exploring the park and were lucky enough to see a pride of 11 lions walk over and settle down under the shade of a nearby tree, probably no more than 25 feet away.
Even though the trip went pretty much nothing like what we had envisioned, we are still so grateful that we were able to spend time all together and to see how God had his hand in our lives even through the difficult moments. Many times through all of this, we were reminded that we are never promised good fortune or perfect health or even for our plans to go as we have hoped. However, we were so thankful to experience what is promised - God always being near to us and for inexplicable peace, strength, and perspective.
As for some updates on things we have mentioned in the past, the construction on the new maternity ward has hit a slowdown as approvals for the design have been held up in Kigali. There is also still the need for the funding of this project. If you have any interest in being a part of the future of this hospital, you can contribute through this link. Even though things are much quieter in our house now, we are still very excited for some of the things going on here! After a little break, our group of friends started back up our weekly Bible study on Sunday afternoons where we just get together and read, grow together, and discuss things in our lives and from all of our different perspectives. We are also so glad that covid here in Rwanda has improved slightly. A few weeks ago, cases were much higher than they have been which unfortunately forced a full lockdown. Even to leave your house to go to the store for food required police clearance. For many, these lockdowns are incredibly difficult as most need to work to provide for themselves and their families. We hope and pray that things will continue to improve both here as well as in many countries in this area.
As always, we thank you for your support, encouragement, prayers!
Feel free to reach out to us! Our email is go.sev@outlook.com. If you have an iPhone you can message us on iMessage using wifi. If you have Android, or if you would prefer WhatsApp and Facebook messenger, we have those as well.