Greetings!  This is Bwame' Ottumbwa writing.

I hope this finds all of you in the very best possible health.  As for me, I finally got my prosthetic nose and cheeks.  When I wear it, I look almost normal, and I have since learned to speak with the trache tube in my throat.  Granted, my speech isn't anything like it was, but it is better than nothing.

I will need this tube for the rest of my life.  It is aggrieving to think of this, but at least I can still breathe!  It is much better than the alternative! :)

I am still helping out my friends at the homeless shelter every week.  I look forward to seeing them; they have accepted me better than mainstream society ever could.  In addition to this, I go to church twice a week (Sundays and Wednesdays); I get so much out of seeing my church family and hearing the pastors deliver their sermons!

We have had some bad weather here in Nashville lately, but it's since quieted down.  We even had the threat of tornadoes, not once, but several times.  There were warnings at times (the sirens sounded their song) and it was truly frightening, but there was very little in the way of damage.  An answer to prayer!  :)

I will probably need some more surgery in the coming months, but compared to what I had already gone through (back in Africa as well as here in America, where I now make my home), what I will face in the weeks/months/years ahead will be a breeze.  My face (or what is left of it, anyway) has healed well; I am most pleased at the hard work the doctors have done in order to try to repair it.

I am very excited, not only about my prosthetic nose or seeing my friends at church, university, or the homeless shelter:  I am excited because my dear Mamma back in Africa is coming for a visit in a few weeks!!  She will be so surprised when she sees how good I look! I know she will probably cry buckets of tears (as will I)!  I haven't seen her since I left Kenya to go to school here and more importantly, to try to have the doctors attempt to fix my damaged face!  It will be so good to see Mamma again!!  I have missed her so much!!

In a few weeks, I will be moving back to my old house on Division Street.  I had been living close by Nashville Memorial Hospital, so that way I could have easy access to my appointments or scheduled surgeries.  I will have some of my friends help move my belongings, and they will, in kind, meet my Mamma.  So big, new, and exciting adventures are ahead for this intrepid explorer/lover of life!  :)

I pray the blessings that God has bestowed upon me continues.  I am very scared of losing everything; that is one of my biggest fears, but as long as I continue to trust in my Lord Jesus Christ, then I should not worry.  I am a very happy person, and it doesn't take much for me to smile or appreciate the things I do have.  So many others have it far worse than me, and when I am trying to have a pity party for myself, I need to remember this at all costs.

Well, I have to go to my first class at eight, so I have to get ready and go to university.  I will be there all day; today is my long day of the week.  I will probably then come home and do homework before retiring to my bed for the night.  Until later, this is Bwame' Ottumbwa saying so long; may God bless you as much as He's been blessing me!

~Bwame'.  :)

~To be continued.~