Matoch Adapting Well

Achol made it back to Sudan safely and I'm sure she is happy to be back at home. We have had a great time with Matoch since Achol left. We were worried about him missing her a lot and crying when she left, but he was completely fine. He is blending in well with the Kuj kids and enjoys playing with them. He has also sat in on some of their school lessons. It's cute to hear him sing along with the teacher. Yesterday we went to Grace's house to look at her piglets. Grace is the housekeeper that comes three times a week. Suzy thought about bringing a pig to Sudan, but seeing the size of that pig may have deterred her. It was HUGE. Grace's pig recently had a babies and they are so cute! Matoch enjoyed seeing them.





Today the Kujs added a member to their family...a puppy! We went to a house in Nairobi where they picked out a Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy. The puppies were born a week and a half ago so we can't take it for another month. They picked out a girl and have tentatively named her Honey. I think the experience was strange for Matoch. He was a little nervous being around the dogs. Dogs in Sudan are despised and abused. I saw him swat at the dogs a few times and had to tell him no. He probably thinks it's strange to see people be kind to dogs. Tonight he experienced another first...a bath! He probably just bathed in the river at home. He and Jed had a great time playing in the bath. Jed calls Matoch "his new brother."









Matoch is such a sweet boy. It is a blessing to have him here. He needs prayers for sleep. Matoch and I share a room and he has had trouble sleeping. I think he must be having nightmares. A couple times each hour he screams and cries out. He rubs his head and face as well. He usually won't stop until I go over and talk to him. He's half asleep when it happens, so I don't know if he knows what is going on. He may be having flashbacks of when he got shot. Unfortunately I can't ask him about it (due to the language barrier) and the only thing I can do is pray over him. Please ask the Lord to remove the memories of his attack and give him peaceful sleep.

He goes to the doctor for a check up a week from today. If all goes well then, he'll go home the following day with our clinical officer, Dennis.