Ode To A Ringworm

I've posted this before on my Kenya blog, but Steve posted it tonight...so I thought it might be worth re-posting.

After seven months in Kenya, bragging about how my DNA was so strong--both of my roommates had malaria, I did not--I found out I had ringworm...in the middle of my cheek. Lovely.

Since it was the end of the trip, Steve and the Saddleback team arrived a few days later, in the midst of my ringworm-glory...and Steve was so pleased with my disease that he wrote a little poem about it.
ODE TO A RINGWORM

There are signs that mark our journey,

As we move from land to land

Some are told and some are written

Some in ink, on back or hand

One such marking I will carry,

Of Kitale- home with me

It's a circle--it's a virus

On my cheek, for all to see

I won't cover or deny

This tiny 'O' upon my face

It will be a sweet reminder

Of these people...of this place

I will never forget this journey

Or the changes that I see

Tho' this mark will some day fade, I pray

I KNOW, that these children stay with me.

I, of course, cried as he read it to me...then I cried reading it to Connie, Katie and Jana...and cried again typing it out on my blog...

Those kids really do have my heart...and as much as I remember that silly ringworm, I love that I have that memory of having been so close to those lives, to those hearts, to those faces...