Friday morning started with quite the excitement as we took our dear Maasai sister, Nanyu, to the clinic to have her baby.  Nanyu is a dear friend and sister in the Lord and my girls are very close to her as well.  Nanyu really wanted a girl, she has one girl who is older and married and she also has three boys.  Nanyu’s faith has been an encouragement to me for quite some time and we love cutting up together.   So, as we took her to the clinic you can imagine our excitement.

Around 1:00 I received a phone call from another dear friend and she said that Nanyu had delivered and the baby died and please come to help Nanyu because she’s not good.  My heart sank.  I gathered my things, gave instruction to my girls and I headed out, SarahB was with me.

When I arrived at the clinic the labor room was full of mamas, the baby was laying on the table under a blanket with her tiny feet showing and Nanyu was still in the delivery room recovering from a long hard delivery, including 50 minutes of trying to get the placenta out, which ended in the doctor reaching in a getting it.  The placenta was rotten and resulted in the death of the sweet baby girl.

I went to Nanyu who was laying on the table shaking and I prayed with her and encouraged her to keep her eyes on Jesus.  The delivery room was full as well with the mamas from our church and the next hours disappeared as we all stood around loving on Nanyu.  The scene of Christian community was intense and it’s something I will never forget.

After a while, a decision had to be made about the baby.  The father decided he would dig a grave near their hut and that Nanyu’s younger brother would carry the baby as I drove the four wheeler.

After a short time it was apparent that Miamusi, the brother, was not going to be able to carry the baby. Some of the ladies and I talked and one of them said they could do it.  Then after some time they said that none of them could do it, they were scared.  I said, if it’s ok I will carry the baby and Sarah can drive.  One lady said, "My dear sister how can you do this?"  I said, "God can give us the strength to do anything."

When the time came I talked to the doctor and we wrapped the baby up in some cloth.  She was perfect and looked just like Nanyu.  My heart was pounding and I asked God for strength.  I climbed on the four wheeler, with Sarah driving and the father on one side of me and the Uncle on the other.  After what felt like forever, we arrived to place the father had dug a hole, it was only 12”, I said, "It has to be deeper."  As I stood there for the next 20 minutes holding this lifeless infant my heart was pounding and I began to cry.  A dear lady, Mama Daniel stood next to me and wiped my tears and told be to be strong and keep trusting God because He knows all things.  She wiped my tears again and told me to push through. I straightened up and began praying in my heart for the father, who is not a believer, and was there digging his daughter grave.

The time came for the baby to be placed in the grave and there for a moment I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to do this, but then our Great God gave me strength and as I walked toward the hole the father knelt down and I handed him the precious girl.  He laid her in the 3’ hole, very gently and then placed a piece of cardboard on top of her and then put all the dirt back.  Then we prayed. May God’s name be glorified and the gospel be heard clearly by this father who just laid his baby in the shallow grave.

The lady that had been standing with me said that she had the strength to do this because she has buried 6 of her own babies.  Then she comforted my sweet SarahB who was crying, she held her and told her to cry, that it’s ok.

We all stood there for a while not saying much then we headed back to the clinic to be with Nanyu.

As of today, Nanyu is home resting and gaining strength.  It was hard bringing her home with empty arms, but God is good and has given us all amazing grace through all of this.

Please pray for my dear, sweet sister in Christ.  May God be glorified through it all!