Yokosafati had a busy morning! After his second surgery last week, he's been having some pretty bad headaches, so nurse Julius wheeled him over to our CT machine to get a scan. Yoko was pretty unhappy about the scan, but he did think that the wheelchair was pretty cool! The neurosurgeons will review his scan later, but for now, it looks like nothing serious is going on, so he'll continue with tylenol and rest in the ward. The CT room is one of our few rooms at CURE Uganda with air conditioning, so Yoko thought it was freezing, and afterwards told his mom that he needed a jacket! She tucked him in with some extra sheets and we encouraged him that he'd warm up soon - and, we managed to get a smile! Thank you for praying for Yokosafati and his mom - they are both being very brave in the midst of a new environment and a lot of big changes!

Well our little friend has had a pretty intense week!! After having surgery on Wednesday, he developed severe headaches and a CT scan showed that he had too much fluid building up in his brain. This is called acute hydrocephalus, and it can be a complication of the original surgery he had. Dr. Justin explained that it's like his body had the fluid balance figured out, and then it was thrown off by the surgery. The surgeons performed another operation yesterday to make a small hole in Yokosafati's brain, which should help things balance out again. As you can imagine, two surgeries in one week is a lot! But we're thankful that his headache and vomiting have stopped, and that's a really good sign. The ICU nurses and his mom are taking great care of Yokosafati, and we encouraged his mom today that lots of people all over the world are praying for them!

Yokosafati had his surgery yesterday! Dr. Justin Onen and visiting neurosurgeon Dr. Bui Khuong Duy from Vietnam worked together to repair his myelomeningocele. He's now recovering in our ICU with his mom. He has a bit of a fever and is having some problems with recurring vomiting so our nurses are keeping a close eye on him! Thank you for praying for him and his mom as he continues to recover today.

Yokosafati cracked us up this morning! Yesterday someone had given him a little shark stuffed animal and apparently it plays the "Baby Shark" song. When we visited during morning rounds, he was listening to it on repeat. Seems like that song is catchy all over the world. A friend of his explained that he didn't realize it played music, so when the song came on the first time, he was so surprised he jumped up and ran away - but now he really loves it, of course. He is having his surgery today, so please be praying for him! (and now we have the Baby Shark song stuck in our head: "Baby shark, do do do do do...")

When we visited with Yokosafati this morning, he wasn't feeling too excited about smiling. But, he did let us take a photo of him with his coloring book pages! On the back he had drawn some pictures of home - houses, people, and even chickens. We do have chickens here at CURE Uganda, so maybe when he's feeling a bit better we can show him around - maybe meeting the chickens will make him feel more at home here. Would you pray with us that he will feel cared for and welcomed as he waits for his surgery?

Yokosafati was feeling a little shy this morning, but he laughed in surprise when we turned the camera around to show him a picture! In all of the fun, things got a little out of focus. But, we loved Yokosafati's expression so much that we're sharing this photo with you anyway! We're looking forward to getting to know this shy one even more during his stay at CURE Uganda and hope that he feels the love of Christ from everyone here! He and his mama, Gertrude, are having a quiet day in the ward as they wait for the surgeons to complete their evaluation. Thank you for praying for them as they wait!