A special gift for Friends in Africa missionaries

We actually celebrated Mother’s Day on Saturday so that one of my sons could be with his wife’s family and my wife could be with her mother on Sunday. The day wasn’t that important, but the celebration was. We had three of my five kids and three of my six grandkids … not too bad for this mobile society we live in.

We were at the farm and the men were all supposed to serve our wives. So we did with paper plates, plastic cups, etc. And we filled them with hearty venison burgers and veggies from the garden as fresh as could be. And then we topped it all off with a rum cake, ice cream and whipped cream that one of my sons had made that morning. It was delicious and has become a family favorite (an excuse for Baptists to imbibe?).

At the end of the meal we tried to give my wife her Mother’s Day gift, a new picnic table that was supposed to be delivered in time; we’re still waiting for it even as I write this on Monday morning. But my wife was very understanding and was elated over the idea of a new picnic table. I’m sure she’ll soon fill it with wonderful meals.

She was happy to “get” the table and to have most of her family together, but a bit sad not to have heard from them all … until, she got a call from our daughter in Connecticut. The call itself was wonderful. To be remembered on Mother’s Day by your only daughter and to be told what a great mom you were and are. There is no substitution for that annual reminder, is there? But the African gift she described was even more priceless!

The call from my daughter represented four of five kids (three here and her in Connecticut). That left my youngest son, who is in Ft. Hood finishing his final training for his deployment to Afghanistan in just a couple weeks. We hadn’t heard from him, but my daughter had. And here’s what made it special. He called her to make a donation to FIA, Friends in Africa, in honor of his mother. More about FIA in a minute but when my wife got that news, she was blown away. He couldn’t have chosen a more appreciated gift!

FIA is medical mission that my daughter and son-in-law head up in Senegal, Africa. She organizes teams of mostly local medical professionals four times a year to provide free, life-saving healthcare and feeding programs in areas without access to medical care. Sometimes they see as many as 2,000 patients during a two-day clinic.

To get this all started, about seven years ago my daughter and son-in-law were commuting to Africa as we might drive to Atlanta. I am proud of them for their work there in Senegal and also proud that my son, getting ready to deploy in service in Afghanistan, chose to honor his mom by blessing the poor, sick and starving people of Senegal, Africa in her name. It doesn’t get any better than that!

To learn more about FIA, go to: FriendsInAfrica.org.

See you next week!

Bill Milby, CSA, is a Certified Senior Advisor and a Director of Visiting Angels® of Macon, a non-medical, living assistance service for seniors. If you have questions or comments about this column you can reach him at william.mercylink@gmail.com or search for us at www.facebook.com/VisitingAngelsMacon.

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