Brynne's 4!!

There you have it... Our "baby" has turned 4. Where has the time gone?? She was pretty proud and excited about the event! We had a little party with about 10 kids, give or take... Most from her preschool class. Including one boy so that Marc would have a buddy to play with. And they did, completely ignoring the girls... Brynne is on the photo with her best friend "E". They simply love to play together and wail and make a rather loud fuss when it is time to part ways.

In other news, Ritha has malaria. She had a few days off school due to Idul Fitri, the M*slim holiday celebrating the end of the fasting time. So she came in on Tuesday and worked but towards the end of the day told me that she was feeling like she had a fever and her bones hurt so I immediately made up a blood slide which I brought to the apotik (pharmacy) later that evening. The results were positive. As she has symptoms we treated as though the lab results were correct. This pharmacy has an accuracy rate of about 50%.... There is a better slide reader but she only works in the afternoons for a couple hours and never on holidays. Ritha is having a bit of a rough time as of late. Her mother is continually bothering her. She keeps accusing Ritha of poisoning her brother and sister and not treating them well etc.... The brother and sister have no desire to leave Ritha's house and go live with their mother, who has never taken care of them. She lives with another family in a house barely larger than our shed with about 10 people. Then the biological mother of Ritha's older daughter has been threatening to come and take her back. They live in another city far away and are quite wealthy. She gave up her daughter at birth and all legal documentation has Ritha's name on it. But that's not enough from a legal standpoint. Ritha is very very sad about this. She considers the girl her own daughter as she has cared for her for over 10 years now. Please pray for Ritha as she deals with these difficult issues.