On the 11th of March, Phylis went to Jos to be near the hospital to wait for Charlotte’s arrival. Dr. Harris gave her injections of iron and other medication to build up her blood. He said that she didn’t realize how tired she was. During this time, I was left behind at Zambuk to do some trekking, finish building a school, and do some dry season repairs. On April 15th I left for Jos to be with my wonderful wife.

Phylis started labor and went into the hospital the evening of April 25th. She slept better that night than I did. Anyway, Charlotte made her presence known at 7:38 AM on the 26th. Phyls had an adherent placenta, so she had to have a D&C to remove it. While Dr. Harris was waiting, and wondering what to do next, another mission doctor just happened to drop by the hospital and was able to help. "Just happened to drop by"—later a lady in Michigan [USA] said that on the day this was happening the Lord laid Phylis on her heart, and she did a lot of praying for her.

I had a lot of trouble with my throat since arriving in Nigeria, and I went into the hospital shortly after Phylis did, and delivered twins—one named "left tonsil," the other "right tonsil." This was my second operation of this nature.

While Phylis was at Miango gaining her strength back, the mission sent me to Zobolo, 20 miles from Jos, to help the Christians put a new roof on their church. I had to supervise and help in putting together the A-frames for the building. It took us a week to complete the job. Two lady missionaries there kept us well fed, and kept bringing cold orange juice to us as we worked in hot sun.

Charlotte was five weeks old when we returned to our mission station. We had a crib ready for her. It was one that was left behind by former missionaries. We had it cleaned and painted. Charlotte had a lot of trouble with diarrhea and fever during teething. She finally got her first tooth at nine months. At six months Phylis took her to Jos to see the doctor. She had her small pox vaccination at this time.

The Africans were delighted to see a white baby. Many of them had never seen one before. For some reason they all wanted to touch her, or hold her hand. Some of them may have just wiped their own baby’s bottom, and since they wouldn’t think of washing their hands, Phylis felt nervous. After they left she would immediately take Charlotte into the house, and wash her hands and arms.