Cheryl

Sparky

2010-11-06T16:36:00.002-04:00

Sparky Anderson died this last week. It's not the end of the world. It's not even really the end of an era (he retired from coaching a long time ago), but it sort of feels like it.

I grew up loving to cheer for the Detroit Tigers, and just loving sports in general. They won the World Series in '84. I still remember that year as being a favorite. I loved the 4th grade. Our family had a great vacation in Florida for Spring Break. The Tigers won the Series. The Raiders beat the 'Skins in the Superbowl. We all love to hate the Skins! The Olympics were in LA. Mary Lou scored her perfect 10. Dad and I stayed up til unreasonable hours to watch the women's volleyball team kicking a lot of teams butts. The Georgetown Hoyas, including Patrick Ewing, had a great run during March Madness. It felt like everyone I cheared for that year got the job done.

I'm sure there was corruption in professional sports back then. I know there was. I was too young to know it, though. All I knew was that Sparky took a bunch of non-all-stars and put them together to make a great team that was a ton of fun to cheer for. I remember my cousin Tobey having most of the play-by-play of the series that year memorized. He could qoute minutes of it at at time. As cliche as it may sound, it just felt like a good time to be alive if you were a sports fan. I was and am.

I'm not sure if it happened in '84 or another season, but I remember going to a game in the now flattened Tiger Stadium. Sparky was at the wall giving autographs to a bunch of kids. I got in line. I waited and waited. Finally, I was the next in line and was so excited I could barely stand it. With great expectation I held up my baseball to have him sign it. He smiled kindly, patted me on the head, and said, "next time kid". That was it. Nothing. No autograph. All that time I waited, and all I had to show for it was a memory. When I told my dad what happened, he pointed out that I would probaby have lost the autograph, but would always have that memory. You know what? He was right. Lots of people get souvenirs. We lose them over time, but I still rememer exactly where I was standing in Tiger stadium and can still hear his voice.

No, Sparky wasn't a god. He was a good manager, and was well respected by many, even his opponents. I was giving some ribbing to a patient who was wearing a White Sox hat this week. I told him he was not allowed to hassle me because Sparky died and he had to admit that he probably liked him too. He agreed.

We hear it in stories all the time, the idea of going back to a simpler place and time. Hearing of his death, took me back. Tiger Stadium was torn down last year. I love going to Comerica Park, but The Corner will always be the home of the Tigers in my mind. We lost 2 of the most loved faces/voices in Tigers history this year, Ernie Harwell and Sparky Anderson. Like I said, it's not the end of the world, but it sure feels a little sad to see an era moving on. I finally realized, I think I'm glad I didn't get that autograph. Dad was right. I'm glad for the memory.

For Sarah

2010-10-23T20:57:00.000-04:00

Here you go, my friend! So as to not plagiarize, I want to be clear that this is from Anointed, Transformed, Redeemed ~ A Study of David. It's suggestions made by Priscilla Shirer, not me.

1. Print a scripture verse or two in a large font and tape it on the bathroom mirror to meditate on while brushing little teeth and washing little hands. Use this same scripture for 7 days.

2. Pray breath prayers-sentence prayers as they come to you throughout the day.

3. Intentionally play worship music to contemplate while folding clothes or doing other tasks.

4. Wake up before the family and go for a walk or jog. Use this time not simply to exercise the body but also to talk to God and listen for His voice.

5. When outside with the chlildren, ask them to point out a specific aspect of nature and what it might reveal about God's greatness to them. Pray with them in thanksgiving for God's creation.

6. Before getting out of bed each morning, offer yourself as a living sacrifice to God and ask Him specifically to make you aware of His presence throughout the day.

7. Every time you feel anxious or the need to worry, take that as a cue to offer the situation to God in prayer.

These sound like pretty simple things to do, but they sure do make a difference in a day!

Too good not to share

2010-10-20T22:31:00.005-04:00

The hiatus is over. What a long hiatus it's been!

I've gone some places, done some things, spent time with some people. It's too much to try to catch up on right now. Maybe I'll try sometime. I'm not really sure I will though.

To put it simply, work has been work lately. It's draining physically, emotionally, and mentally. I'm grateful for my job. Don't get me wrong. I really am. It's just that we've been very busy, had more responsibilities added to what we already had, and then some people were let go, thank you to the lagging economy. It makes each day feel a little like we're cooking out of the More With Less Cookbook.

As a result, I find life tiring right now and like it's just tough to keep up. I have a new schedule, which I love by the way (four 10-hour days, no Mondays), but it often stretches into much longer than 10. We've all been working a lot of extra hours. Good for the paycheck. Not good for the tiredness scale.

Here's the skinny. I've been asking God for help. I tend to find myself crying out with a quick prayer in the morning or just before bed. It seems like I'm too tired to really find the time I need to give him each day. I've decided I'm too tired not to. There are several changes I'm making in each day's decisions that are helping. It's not like I just drank 10 cans of Red Bull or anything (never tried the stuff), but it's helping in small bits. The other thing is God showing up in the small bits to let me know He's there and has my back. I already knew that, but sometimes it's nice to see it practically. I asked for prayer at small group Sunday evening for God to help give me His joy throughout the day each day and to be aware of his Presence. It's working! I'm not surprised, but I'm sure pleased as punch that I have such a cool God. I have to share a couple of the examples.

1. We're doing a new Bible study at church. Our pastor has been preaching about the Holy Spirit. He didn't read the Bible study, but the text and what he's said go hand in hand. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to get through our days and to live the lives He has for us. With salvation we have the anointing of the Holy Spirit giving us the power to do that. Don (the pastor) and the study are saying the same thing.

2. I've been looking at some practical ways to destress, shift my focus on God throughout the day, and get more rest. The study today offered 7 practical ways to incorporate a God-consciousness into the regular rhythms of our day. Do you remember that I just said I asked for prayer about that on Sunday? He doesn't waste time messin' around!

3. One of the group discussion questions in our study asked "what represents God's presence to you?" One thing I thought of was light. I love that when you fly high above the clouds on a stormy day, the sun is still shining above the clouds. Even on the dreary days, I enjoy knowing the sun is still shining. There are oodles of verses reminding us that God is Light. This morning the moon was glowing like a big gorgeous pearl in the sky. It was so big and so pretty it looked fake. I even thanked God for it in my facebook status. Within a minute or two, there was a song on the radio that talked about the fact that He puts the light in the sky to let us know He's there. Here's the link. Hmmmm.......didn't I just write that as an answer for how he shows us His Presence?

4. I don't usually think that I have a gift of words and encouragement. Yeah, I can write decently (when it's not too late at night:) And I often send a card or email to a friend that I know is going through a rough time. I feel like I know so many other people, though, who always have just the right thing to say. Much more than me at least. A friend of mine recently had a very sudden death in the family. She thanked me for the words of encouragement I shared with her. She told me that it's a gift I have to make a person feel comforted and at ease. I smiled, said I was glad it was a comfort, and then told her there are a lot of other people who have just the right thing to say more than me. She started with "no, Cheryl, it's a gift" and then pointed out that she knows I have a close relationship with God, so when I share encouragement or say that I'm praying, she knows it's true. Well.......that night I opened my Bible to read before bed. I didn't have a destination in mind, just opened it up. The first page my eyes fell on had Isaiah 50:4-5.

                                 The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue,
                                 to know the word that sustains the weary.
                                 He wakens me morning by morning,
                                 wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.


Whoa! Talk about feeling like you just got hit in the chest by a big rock! I had underlined this verse a few years ago. The prayer I penned in the margin........Lord, give me the grace to look like this. I'm not telling this one to pat myself on the back. Like I said, it's not necessarily the way I see myself, but I am going to boast in my God who heard a prayer I wrote years ago and answered it. If I hadn't had the conversation with my friend, I probably would have moved on from that page with the underlining and not even noticed it. Two pieces of confirmation in the same day made me stand at attention and listen. This isn't something that I'm saying is me at all. I'm saying this is that my God is good. He really is. All the time. Even on the rotten days that it feels hard to be who He wants me to be. He showed me that He's going to help me be who He wants me to be.

See, it's not any one HUGE instance, but He's showing up each day and letting me know that He's in control. I'm so glad that His ability to be faithful doesn't run out!

Note ~ I posted this with the thougth in mind that about the time you open your mouth, that's when your mouth gets you in trouble. Sure enough it did :( Boy, am I thankful that we get to start every morning fresh. And for co-workers who are still good to me even when I'm not perfect.

Whew!

2010-04-19T20:37:00.000-04:00

The last 5 weeks have been a lot of fun, but very tiring as well. I feel asleep on the couch watching TV yesterday. I'm ashamed to say how long I slept. No I'm not! I was tired and it's a day of rest. Let's just say it was decadent. Anyway, I was out of town most or all of the last 5 weekends. I had missed church at Central the 3 Sundays preceding yesterday. (I was accused of missing 2-3 months, but that was a stretch:) It was so good to be back. I'm certainly not complaining about the things I did, though.

I'll try to do a little show and tell of my travels. There was nothing as exciting as Scotland or Liberia, but still good times spent with people I love. One of the weekends was just to pick up a car that I bought from my mom's co-worker. Now that's the way to do it. (By the way, I have a used Saturn for sale if anyone knows of someone who needs a used car that gets great gas mileage!) Cindy's husband is a bit OCD about caring for cars, so I managed to pay for a 3 year old car that feels brand new. Nice! I love a good deal.

Easter weekend I went to Virginia with my parents. If you've ever read my blog or FB profile, you know what little girl I was excited to see! It was a lot of fun. We did the usual walk to the farmer's market downtown. The picture above was a little hard to focus as Grandma (my mom) was confused about the fact that it wasn't a race to the market.

Just because one feels compelled to post a photo of those amazing eyes!

Sometimes Grandma finds it more ergonomically correct to turn the stroller around and tip it backward. It seems to be nearly more than Katie Grace can take! There was another picture that showed her holding onto the upright bars for dear life! No babies were harmed in the taking of these photos, but I'm sure it felt a little awkward.

The next weekend was a visit to Chelsea, MI to see Beth, one of my best friends from high school and her lovly new daughter, Kate. Katherin/Kathryn in it's many forms seems to be a popular one this year! Let me tell ya, being the aunt and holding sweet babies is HARD work! I'll have you know I willingly took one for the team! Well, I didn't literally take a baby, but you know what I mean.

Here's the beautiful baby Kate and her mama.

On the way back to Ft. Wayne, I went to Sturgis again for the Eichorn (mom's side of the family) Easter. What a fun time! The egg hunt only included 440 eggs, the woods, a field, and a farm. Just a small affair:) Then we played the Amazing Race. Let me just say my cousin Cathy is creative and a lot of fun to have around. Thanks to her and her mom, Chris, for all of their hard work!

I pretty much have a crush on this little guy, Grant. He's my cousin Jayne's youngest.

Please don't tell Grant, but I also have a crush on Carter. He's Brian's son.

I'm pretty sure my cousin Ellie, Scott and Becky's youngest, enjoyed having the attention of TWO of her big brothers pushing her on this swing!

This last weekend I went to Lansing, MI to see my aunt, Phyllis, and share a bit about my trip to Liberia. It was a women's ministry dinner, international theme, amazing food! The spring fling dinner with the women at her church was fun, but I just thoroughly enjoyed my whole time there. We sat up gabbing until an obscene hour. It was great fun, and I didn't regret the lack of sleep in the least!

That's Phyll in the middle on the trip to the BWCA a few years ago. Wow, 5 years ago already!

It's been a great 5 weeks. Whew! I'm tired!

Awesome Editor

2010-04-11T11:14:00.002-04:00

Hettie is a very good friend of mine from my time with Mercy Ships. She is currently with the ship, caring for people in the West African country of Togo. Looking at the map, it's seems it's just a narrow strip of land, nearly lost in the many along the southern coast of West Africa. Believe you me. It is not lost and it is not forgotten, at least not in the eyes of the Awesome Editor of Life!

Hettie writes newsletters periodically to friends, family and supporters around the globe. She usually asks me to edit the letters before she sends them out. My editing skills are by no means perfect. I do, enjoy doing it though. I probably should have gone to school for english lit or something like that. Since I don't get to read and critique books for a living, I just help her out when I can. Last night she sent me a letter to edit. It was a fairly short one. Here it is.

I posted this in a hurry. Please don't critique my editing skills:)

Obre is a baby who has a bilateral cleft lip and palate. He was referred to the Infant Program by a pastor from Benin. When he arrived he was 4 months old and weighed 2.81kg (6.2lbs). He did not register on any of the growth charts. He had a tube down his nose, put in by a local hospital to feed him. He was tiny for his age but alert with a lusty cry. We sent him home again, giving teaching to the mother on how to feed Obre with formula and an appointment to return to the ship in three days. On his return he had pulled out the tube in his nose,and had a fever. The doctor assessed him,and it was decided he could stay on the ship so that we could monitor his condition. He slowly began to deteriorate. He was having a progressively more difficult time breathing,and his heart rate was going up. It was a gradual progression,but we were giving him oxygen by mask,and he was struggling for life. It was that night that I decided I was going send out a letter in the morning to ask everyone to pray for healing for Obre. During the night, however, his breathing continued to be laboured,and his heart rate continued to increase. The doctors decided if Obre would have a chance for life they would have to put a tube down his throat to help him breath. The medications were ready and everything was in place to put the tube down. Before they began the procedure Dr. Parker said "Let's pray." While they were praying his breathing became less laboured,and his heart rate came down. The nurse that was taking care of him said that in her fourteen years of nursing she had never witnessed a life saving miracle.

He is now still here with us on the ship. We are slowly feeding him again. His mother loves Jesus,and is often praying over his tiny form.

I pray now he will continue with good health,and gain weight so we can operate to fix his cleft lip.

What an awesome Editor God is! I read through this letter feeling sad and even a little bit cold. When I went to Liberia a couple years ago I foolishly assumed that we were just doing surgery and people would all get better, be healed. Not so. There were patients that came to the ship with all sorts of illnesses. Some had to be turned away because they were to sick to bring into a relatively closed environment, risking the health of the patients already there. There were others who had all sorts of tropical diseases, most of which I had never heard of, lying dormant, but reared their ugly heads once the patient's system was weakened by the surgeries we did. More than one patient died while I was there. It was tough. I have several friends and acquaintances that blog and are still with Mercy Ships. It's not all the time, but there have been several stories of patients dying, both young and not so young. It seems that there have been a lot of little ones who have gone to meet Jesus because their little malnourished bodies couldn't handle the strain of surgery. (They do have a feeding program on the ship to strengthen them before surgery, but it's not always enough or their are other complications. Hettie is actually the coordinator of that program right now.) Anyway, I read this story sure that it was going to be another sad one. They would do all they could. It would not be enough. The staff and the family of the baby would be heartbroken but comforted that the little one was with Jesus. I nearly shouted out loud when I read this. Isn't He amazing! What an awesome Editor of that little boys life! How great is our God that there is a little man named Obre sleeping to the rumble of the ships generators with his Heavenly Father beaming over him!

Blessings and Babies

2010-03-24T17:03:00.001-04:00

Here I am again trying to look back over nearly 2 months to try to chronicle a bit of what has passed. I'm not sure I'm even going to try. Tonight is the first night in a full week that I've had the opportunity to just be at home with nowhere I needed to be, well, except a trip to the grocery on the way home from work.

As always, there have been a lot of things going on and a lot of things going through my head. I got a chance about a month ago to go to Virginia to celebrate my sweet niece's 1st birthday. It was a lot of fun. My sister, Laura, went along, so it was a good time to get to spend with her as well. Once I finish writing I may post a photo or two from that weekend. If things go my way, I'll get to go again with my parents over Easter. My little brother is preaching at his new church on Easter morning. That just feels a little odd to go listen to your little brother preach. I enjoy it, but it does feel a bit odd, nonetheless.

She may not appreciate me for this one day, but I love this baby with the crazed look in her eyes!

A little blurry, but still very cute. It was tough to get a photo of these two ladies without Katie Grace trying to grap my camera, so it's taken in the mirror, me standing beside them.

Katie Grace's first birthday cake. An ice cream cone, with many scoops. Ran a close second to Nottawa, for those of you who know what I'm talking about. For those of you who don't...you're missing out!

Not exactly a photographic masterpiece, but I still like this one.

I think I may have mentioned the possibility of working on a Master's degree in my last post. I don't remember and I'm too lazy to go look. That's still a pretty strong possibility. Another suggestion came up for next year, so I really need to do some serious praying and thinking about the 3 year plan.
A line from a song we sang at church a few weeks ago has planted itself in my gray matter. "We'll be tested by the blessing." That's all I remember. I know I could figure out the song if I wanted to, but there's really no need. That's enough for now. It's still challenging me. I think it's something that challenges most of us in the Western World. We have so many blessings, at least physically and materialistically. We certainly face difficult times. Life is not always easy, but compared to the extreme poverty and lack of basic provisions (water, food, sanitation) that many endure, we have a lot of "blessings". I'm not sure that it's always a benefit.

When I sat down to start typing I was pondering two topics I wanted to touch on. As my fingers started tapping, it hit me that the other topics ties in seemlessly. I was recently telling someone that my first priority in life is my relationship with Christ. After I said it, I had to stop and think. Yes. It is my first priority. But do I live each day in a way that makes that obvious? No. I'm not sure why that particular instance spoke so strongly to me, but it did. There are so many things that can distract. Many of them are things we view as the "blessings" the line in the song hints at.

Work, errands, meetings for church, emails, facebook, our favorite shows, coffee with friends, upkeep on homes/cars/property, reading for pleasure, shopping, blogging. None of these are inherently wrong. Many of them have extremely high value. Some of them are very important. That does not mean, though, that they should replace time with my Best Friend. For me, lately, it seems there are plenty of distractions that have received more priority than my time with Jesus. It's tempting to say I'm not in a bad place, just a bit of a complacent place. That may be the worst place of all. It's easy to cruise along looking like things are just fine. They're not when you're not spending the time with God that He requests and is IMPERATIVE for us. Today begins the change. Ironic that stating my priority made me realize it was not where it should be.

This And That

2010-02-06T01:02:00.001-05:00

The wind is howling outside. I love the snow! I love hearing the wind and knowng that my Great Big God is in control of it. It's really just a tiny example of the HUGE power He has! I like knowing He's in control and still bigger than the wind. Most would smack me for saying this, but I wish there were more snow coming down as the wind swirls around, making my windows shudder a bit. My little brother lives in Virginia. I live in Indiana. It's crazy that their snowfall this year has been much more than ours. I'm jealous! For now, I'll just sit inside in the warmth, writing a bit of randomness.

I frequenty say this on here, but life seems busy lately. I guess it's good that I am able to take notice of it and attempt to take measure to focus where I need to and take time to rest and recharge. Even though I've been busy lately, I'm feeling a little charged about school. I have not made any firm decisions, but I'm thinking pretty seriously about grad school. I've said for a long time that I'd like to go back to school, but was not sure what for. I think I may have found something appealing. Nursing/Healthcare informatics. It's a blending of computer geek and nurse to boil it down to the simplest description. I also enjoy teaching. The thing I think makes this appealing is that I could have many job opportunities with informatics, but it would also likely afford me the option of teaching as well if I have my Master's. I'm not sure where it will all lead, but it's an exciting prospect!

In January I read a couple books that made me think a lot about perspective. I think as humans, maybe even moreso as Americans, we find it very easy to live life in our own little bubble, not really aware of what's going on around us or where people are coming from. We can try. I'm not saying that we always fail, but it's not such an easy task to put yourself in the shoes of another. The two books were Charleston by John Jakes and Eyes at the Window by Evie Yoder Miller. Miller just happens to be the mother of my freshman roommate in college. My book club picked that book for this month. Both books cover quite a span of history. Charleston begins in the early days of the American Revolution and concludes several years after the Civil War, the bulk of the story involves the years leading up to and including the Civil War. Eyes At The Window is about the murder of an Amish baby that occurs in 1810, but the saga drags on for 50 years before the identity of the killer is revealed.

As I read Eyes At the Window over Christmas and listened to Charleston on CD while driving it struck me that the two stories were both factually based, occuring roughly at the same time. Other than the fact that they both take place in the US, the similarities stop there. One takes place in Amish settlements in Pennsylvania and Ohio, the other in a southern coastal town. The Amish strive to live a life of simplicity. Charleston before the war was a city of lavish extravagance. The Amish worked extremely hard for the simplicities of life - food, shelter, clothing. The south was fighting in many ways to preserve their pampered life, which was made possible by the hard work of the slaves. In fact, at one point in Eyes, it talks a bit about the fact that there were rumors of a war, but was so far away that most of the characters in the story had little grasp on the details of what was going on. Ironically, there are some Confederate soldiers that spend some time in an Ohio prison near Erie, which means that the two stories intersected geographically to a degree. The people in the two stories, though, had little idea of the existence of the others. I could probably ramble a while with the compare/contrast theme. It's funny that I hated those assignments in high school, and now I'm enough of a nerd that I'm doing it willingly. It's interesting to me, though, and when you're updating your blog at 1am, that's what happens!

Photo Game

2010-01-17T22:04:00.001-05:00

It's been so long since I last posted that I almost feel like I don't know where to start. Since I was last on blogger, way back in October, the toolbar has changed. For some reason, my photos below are centered, and even though I've asked the computer quite nicely, it does not seem to want my text to justify left. Ah well, I guess we'll get over it. My cousin Mary did a post about a photography challenge she decided to take on. I thought of several photos I could use, but once I got going realized that some of the ones I was thinking of were on an old film camera. I don't have a scanner, so I used the best I had. Not quite as good, but fun, nonetheless.

Interestingly enough, I stood in my parent's dining room to take this photo. Mom was in the kitchen doing the dishes. I liked the faces she was making at me while I tried to get a clear reflection. The irony didn't hit me until I loaded this. She's washing the dishes while there is a china cabinet full of them in the photo with her.

Family Christmas in St. Augustine,FL last year.

On the way to and from Florida, we listened to Marley and Me. Nice story. It's always hard to listen, read or watch when you know sadness is on its way. The journey was worth the result though. Anwyay, this little guy came up and decided to be friends with my mom. He really liked her for some reason. What an adorable puppy! This isn't a great shadow shot, but I can tell you that's the only time my legs will ever look that long!

Not sure what else I'll have to say anytime soon. It feels like life has just been ho-hum living the day to day, but it always feels good to get back at this blogging thing! As much as anything, I enjoy keeping up with friends and family and hearing how they're doing.

Scotland

2009-10-22T23:27:00.002-04:00

My brain is a bit full right now. I find that happening too often, which tells me that I need to be journaling more. When I take the time to sort out my thoughts enough to make complete sentences, then I feel more ready to act on them or move on, having processed all I need. Putting things on paper seems to make more sense, and as things are resolved I have something to look back on.
I feel like I need to go backward to be able to catch up and go forward. That might take a bit. I'd like to say I'm going to write every day to catch up. I may not get that done, but I'm going to give it a go anyway. That means I need to go back to late August when I went to Scotland. I put some of my pix on facebook, but not nearly all of them. Thanks to the fact that rearranging them on here isn't always that easy, I'm going to put one of my favorites from each stop I made. Well, even that's not true, because some of them were on the move. This one will be the longest. How do you squeeze 10 days of travel into one post?

Wait. Before photos, it's necessary to give a bit of background. In 2007 I went to Liberia to live on a big white hospital ship. Most that read here know that. One of my six cabin mates is from Scotland. After several date changes and not really all that much planning on my part, I headed off to Edinburgh, where Shonagh lives. That's her right there with the pretty red hair and big dimples.

I left Detroit Metro on a Friday and got to Edinburgh, via Amsterdam, on Saturday morning. The first thing on the list was a trip to the grocery then to Shonagh's flat for a wee nap. Saturday evening we had dinner with Shon's friend Copper Karen (becuase she knows a lot of Karens and this one's a cop) then went to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. I didn't know what I was in for, but was VERY pleasantly surprised! It was a lot of fun. Exchanging Pounds Sterling to US dollars meant that it was not a really cheap event, but I'm so glad I went. It was great! If you're in Edinburgh during the festival, it's a must see.

Sunday we bought a package deal that included entrance to several venues and also a tour bus around town. Here we are riding around. I've not see tne movie, but the sports field just beyond the trees is where some of Chariots of Fire was filmed.

I fell asleep sitting up on the bus. Jet lag will do that to a girl. So.....we headed to the Royal Yacht Britannia, but stopped for "refreshment" at Starbuck's first. It's amazing what coffee and caramel shortbread can do for jet lag. Mmmm.....perfect. The RYB is Queen Elizabeth's yacht. It was retired in 1997 and docked in Edinburgh to be opened for special state events and tours. It was impressive. There was no good way to get a view of the whole ship, so I have none. Instead I took pictures of many rooms, decks, etc. on her. For whatever reason, this portrait of Princess Anne, Charles' sister, really stood out to me. I don't now much about her, but she's striking, isn't she?

Below is the one o'clock gun at Edinburgh Castle. It's a big deal. All the tourists go. It's a great way to make one involuntarily go in their pants when they don't intend to. Man, is it loud!

Next we strolled down the royal mile, a Scottish mile stretching between the Castle and Holyrood Palace, the home of Mary Queen of Scots. Photos were not allowed inside the palace, but this one below is Holyrood Abbey ruins. It's interesting to me that the skeleton of a building can be so beautiful.

Tuesday it was on to the Falkirk Wheel, an "engineering masterpiece!" That's what Shonagh kept telling me. It is actually quite impressive. This big clawed thing turns and lifts boats from the lower canal to an upper one. It used to take traversing 11 locks and half a day. Now it takes a matter of minutes.

One of the highlights of the trip was seeing Moira, another friend from Mercy Ships. She just happens to live in Stirling, only about 30 minutes from Shonagh. We had a great time at lunch adn then shopping. This photo does not do either of them justice. Goofy is as goofy does. That's why we has so much fun together!

Wednesday morning Shons and I headed out on holiday. We first drove through Inverness. This photo is taken on a footbridge crossing the river. We ate lunch at a lovely little cafe along the river walk, then headed out of town to keep making time as we saw as much of gorgeous Scotland as possible.

Loch Ness. We've all heard about the monster. I never really knew that much about it. I knew the loch is deep, but I had no idea that it would be quite so beautiful. Or long. We drove alongside Loch Ness for quite sometime. I think it was 23 miles long. We did get to see Nessie. She had us for tea; baked us a cake. She really is quite the hostess.

There is no shortage of water in Scotland. Not only were there lakes, lochs, and rivers everywhere. There was also an abundance of "liquid sunsine". Let me tell you, it's drippy, that liquid sunshine. Below is Neptune's Staircase. This is a series of 8 locks near our bed and breakfast and behind the hotel where we had dinner. This was a great little village, not to mention the fact that it was an amazing meal. If you ever get the chance to sample sticky toffee pudding, do it. It's not pudding. It's cake. With caramel drizzled over, soaking it. And a dollop of ice cream on the side sure doesn't hurt.

Below is Eilean Donan Castle. It's on it's own little tiny island. It was in Made of Honor as well as several other movies. It's been sitting there for hundreds and hundreds of years. It was a gray, rainy day. Eerie, really. (funny...I just looked up eerie to see if it's spelled correctly. It's a Scottish word. Makes sense. The gray skies, rain, clouds, and endless rolling hills define the word.) I loved it.

After Eilean Donan, it was on to Oban to drive onto the ferry and make our way to the Isle of Mull. We spend the night on the island in Tobermory. Anyone in the UK has heard of Tobermory because it's the sight of a children's show. I had never heard of it before making plans to go, but I'm so glad we went. Tobermory is a picturesque little fishing village on the island. It's perfect. Walking the entire main street maybe takes 10 mintues.

There were other pictures that were prettier, but I like this one. It just looks cold. We were chilled to the bone, but hated to go inside the ferry because it's not every day you get to see the sights on the way to the Isle of Mull. Notice Shonagh did try to ward off the chill with a cup of coffee.

Here it is. Tobermory. I tried the panorama view with my camera. It's a pretty good example, but still does not capture the charm of the village. In reality, the houses on the left end actually face the houses on the right end. The harbour is a "u" shaped space that rises and falls quite significantly with the tide. Ours was the red one near the left end. It was next to the Tobermory Chocolate Shop, the blue one just to the left. Nice planning on my Scottish friend's part.

Do I need to explain the picture below any more?

On the passage over we really were not sure how the front end was going to open because we had driven onto the ferry on the stern. To me, it looked like the ship was opening its mouth to vomit the cars to make room for more. It was fun riding on the ferry bcause it had many features that were very similar to the ship we lived on in Africa. Both of us missed the Africa Mercy as we wandered around the ferry.

Below is Duart Castle, one that we saw from the ferry. It's also in a movie ~ Entrapment.

This is one sweet lady. Shonagh's Granny. After disembarking the ferry, we headed cross country to Dundee to stay with Granny. She did such a nice job spoiling us. It was fun getting to know her and hearing more about their family. It's always nice to walk into someone's home and be treated like family immediately. What a lovely lady!

Glamis Castle. Home of the former Queen Mum, Queen Elizabeth II's mother. We went to a fair here. It was really like any fair here at home, other than the fact that it had rained for 3 days before. Sorry, there was liquid sunshine. At any rate, it was a muddy, mingin' mess. Most everyone else was in Wellies. My Chacos just had to trudge along. It was still great fun. We went to the fair with Euen, Shonagh's brother, his wife Janet, and their son Ian. It was a fun day.

The finale of the trip was the finale of the Edinburgh Festival as well. Fireworks at the Castle, accompanied by and orchestra and choir performing pieces from Handle's Messiah. It was overwhelming. The setting, the beautiful music, the company, the fireworkds timed to the music were nearly perfect. Shonagh looked over to ask if I was glad I had come. I was actually welling up just because it was so impressive. Am I glad? How could I not be? The whole trip was a chance of a lifetime! Sadly, there were some trees in the way, so my photos of the fireworks aren't great, but they still capture the effect to a degree.

Last, but not least, I came home to my parents to spend time with all of my family, who had gotten together for Labor Day weekend. This is a wee highland wool dress I got for my favorite little girl. Don't you think she looks like she's excited to try it on?

And Seamus, the highland sheep that came across the big ocean for her as well. You can't forget him. What a sweet way to top off a great trip! Great travel and then some cuddle time with my girl.

Now I have evidence of why I've put off doing this post for so long. It was fun. There are so many fun photos. There's really no way to concisely put it all into one post. Ah well, it's done now. I'm sure you're a bit happy about that.

Rhaya's Birthday Date

2009-09-27T17:46:00.000-04:00

One of my best friends has 3 kids. Since they have no relatives in Ft. Wayne and neither do I, I'm Aunt Cheryl to all of them. It's a title I enjoy immensely!! Rhaya is the rose in the between two thorns. Actually, that's not true because her brothers are not thorns, but she is the middle child. This last Wednesday she and I went on her birthday date. We talked it through and decided that this was the fourth time we've gone on our date. Hers is usually several weeks after her actual birthday because she managed to enter the world over Labor Day weekend. I've managed to be out of the country twice over her birthday. Now that's just not fair.

Anyway, four years ago I was just not sure what to get her for her birthday. I decided rather than wander around for a long time trying to decide, I'd take her to dinner wherever she chose, and then take her to the store of her choosing to spend an allotted amount of money on her gift. It was a hit! I had no idea what a hit it would be! I'm not silly enough to think that the "things" are not a big draw, but I think all 3 of the kids really enjoy the chance to go out with an adult all by themselves as well.

Other than one visit to Pizza Hut and one visit to "Chicken and French Fries" (translation Micky D's) for her brothers, Steak 'n Shake has always been the eatery of choice. This year Rhaya decided that she is now tall enough to sit on the bar stools.

Hmmmmmm........what to eat? Really, the option is still always the same.......chicken and french fries.

Aunt Cheryl these chairs are so cool! They spin! I'm sure the lady behind the counter was only praying that there wasn't a cracked skull in the process.

This little girl is a bit of a dichotomy. She is rough and tumble, not afraid of mud, ready to jump right into whatever adventure presents itself. She'll give any boy, even if he's quite a bit bigger, a run for his money in most any sport. At the same time, she is all girl. I have never seen her go to Steak 'n Shake without getting a strawberry shake. I know she likes strawberry, but it's mostly because it's pink.

Notice, that she chose her outfit, a very cute dress. When she was about 3, she would wear 3 Disney princess dresses and a Cinderella nightgown all at the same time. If you feel pretty in one, why not 4 at once? There's a reason she also answers to Princess or Diva.

Good to the last drop!

I'm not sure what she was looking at as we left, but she stood there awhile. I like this picture. Liked the way the sun was shining on her back. Too bad the pole is in the way.

This photo leaves no doubt as to the store of choice to spend the birthday money.

What girl can go to a store without checking out the shoes? Actually we did need to make a side trip to pick up a pair of school shoes, but one pair was not enough. What girl wouldn't want to at least try the pink Hello Kitty boots?

This is my favorite, not because of the quality of the photo, but because of what was going on. For those of you that have kids, you'll know that this aisle is quite far into the toy section at Target. By this point we had checked out every thing in every aisle between the baby toys and here. That's a lot of things that make a lot of noise and do a lot of cool stuff. I was thinking, "honestly, child, you're not going to buy cars with your birthday money are you?" I pointed that out, a bit more kindly than how I just wrote it. She said she was thinking of one for each of her brothers. I then pointed out that they would each have their turn on their birthdays, and we were going to get some ice cream for them as a bedtime snack. Rhaya put her hand on her hip, made a face at me, and politely dropped two cars in the cart. Boy, was I impressed! She's not my daughter, but as the honorary Auntie, I was still proud as punch. That was such a sweet, thoughtful thing to do! I gave her two reasons why it was not necessary to spend her money on her brothers. She still wanted to do the thoughtful thing. How sweet!

Here's the final loot tally. Well, that, a pack of pink bubble gum. "I love this kind of gum, Aunt Cheryl, because it's pink and it's stickier!" Ahem, it has more sugar. Notice the common denominator. PINK!!!!! Remember what I said? A unicorn and a soccer ball. She runs the gammut. The stick unicorn was something she's "always dreamed of having, Aunt Cheryl!" (hee hee) We also got 6 mini-cartons of Ben and Jerry's to take home to share. Now those things are entertaining. They have their own spoon and only about 3 bites, but kids sure do like having their very own carton of ice cream.

I'm not sure who has more fun, them or me. We always look forward to the birthday dates. This one holds a bit of special fun for me because she's the best hugger in the whole world. I've told my sister about it. A few weeks ago, Laura was with me at the Johnny Appleseed Festival. We ran into the little Princess. She came running at me full force and took a flying leap, knowing that I would be ready to catch her. She wrapped her arms around my neck, her legs around my waist, and squeezed with her whole self. Who wouldn't want to spoil a sweetheart with lovin' like that? My sister just grinned, and stated that she finally understood what I mean when I say I know the best hugger ever.

Fatherhood

2009-07-17T22:54:00.011-04:00

I've been thinking a lot about this subject lately. I'm honestly not sure what got me started. It began before Father's Day. I suppose it's presence on the horizon was the trigger. Not really sure.

My father was in Virginia over Father's Day, so I didn't see him. That's OK, though, because that means he was with his granddaughter. I'm pretty sure her presence is more preferable to my parents than me right now:) I'm just fine with that. She is pretty sweet. More than that. Just darling, but then again, I'm prejudiced.

On Father's Day one of our elders at church shared a lot about fatherhood, more importantly, being a Christ-like father. That's a tall task. Many don't come anywhere close to measuring up. Others do quite well. It is NOT an easy job. I know that he's passionate about men and their relationship with their Heavenly Father. In turn, their relationships with their families are improved. I have a lot of respect for that because I feel the same desire to see women grow closer to their Maker and each other, mostly through their time in the Word.

After the sermon there was a response time. Father's were encouraged to ask for prayer, pray with their familes, pray by themselves, whatever they felt led to do. There was one particular guy that got up to go speak to his son who was sitting with the youth group. I don't know what was said. All I saw was a man walking toward his son with an "I'm on a mission" look on his face. He leaned over, spoke into his son's ear for just a bit, then hugged him and walked back to his seat. Obviously I'm not privy to what was said, but the message of love was still evident in the body language. It was also evident in the fact that after Dad sat down again, I looked toward the son to see him unashamedly wiping tears off his cheeks. His buddies were sitting near him, and there was not a hint of embarassment about the fact that he was crying because his Dad loves him. It was really beautiful. I wonder if anyone else got to notice it.

I've been reading a book with other women from our Bible study. I honestly can't say that I've been much of a reader lately, but there is one line in it that has stuck with me. It says, "...Jesus Himself pursued relationship with us so we could come to know and trust Him." We have been given free will. It is our choice to choose to become a disciple of Christ or not. He cannot make us. He can, however, doggedly pursue us. I realize that Jesus is not the portion of the trinity considered "The Father", but the point is still there. Discussing the theology is not important here. We were created with His desire being that we would choose to accept the gift of being adopted into His family with all the privileges and blessings included in the family trust. We have to make the choice and He pursues us relentlessly, doing everything in His might to draw us to Him, into a place of eternal security and earthly peace. That's an even more beautiful picture of the love of a Father, that he does not give up.

The final picture of fatherhood that is the most recent to present itself to me is this.

This is Lars. I know him as Alek, only because it's easier to say. He and his wife, Hanna, are from Sweden. We all worked together as nurses on the Africa Mercy. They are both lovely people. I thoroughly enjoyed their humor, kindess, and desire to show Christ's love to the patients and crew alike. Yay!!!!! They just had a son, Alek, Jr. I'm very happy for them, and I'm also happy for him to be born to the parents he's been blessed with.

Look at it again.....a little bigger. Take in the details.

Little Alek is bundled securely near his Daddy's heart. It's obviously a peaceful place to be. Notice he's sleeping without a care in the world. In the meantime Lars is protecting his son while proudly letting the whole world know that his son has arrived! The title of this photo on FB was titled "Fanfare for Alek Jr, our firstborn!" I just love it! I'm amazed that Alek is sleeping so soundly while that trumpet is blaring. That makes one think he must have heard it a time or two while he was in the womb as well. It's a song only for him, the shouts of the trumpet joined with the steady beating of Lars' heart.

When I asked Lars' permission to use this photo, he shared with me that Alek's arrival helped him understand just a bit more the love our Father feels for us. Since I'm not a parent, I can only imagine. The pride in this photo, though, is more than obvious. Just think. If he feels just a taste of what God feels for His children, how much more must our Father love us and feel pride in us. That says nothing of his desire to hold us close to His heart. Take some time to soak that up.

How to spend a lazy summer afternoon

2009-07-04T10:04:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was perfectly delightful. It all started with an email from my Aunt Phyll a few weeks ago. She was wondering what my plans were for the 4th of July weekend, and did they include time at the lake? She knew most would have a 3-day weekend, and wanted to spend some time at Grandma's house. Before I go further, let me say that our family has been spoiled for a long time. My grandparent's built their house on Perrin Lake about 50 years ago. Since then innumerable people have enjoyed time at their house. The house is nice, but the yard and the water are really where the party's at. Literally. There have been quiet afternoons with only 1 or 2 present, summer days spent swimming to the point of being waterlogged, family reunions, holiday parties, baseball end-of-season parties, youth group initiations (now there's another blog or two:), nights spent sleeping on the pontoon in the middle of the lake, and many other long-forgotten excuses to enjoy the company and the surroundings. Few places, if any, rank higher on my list of favorite locations to while away the day.

Yesterday included my Grandma, my Mom and I, Mom's sisters ~Phyll, Chris, and Becky ~ Phyll's son James, several of Becky's kids, and random others that showed up here and there throughout the day. The only planning that really happened was preparing for lunch, which was delicious ~ a few salads, deli-style sandwiches, and lots of fresh fruit. Mostly the plan was to spend time in the sun and with each other. The plan came off without a hitch!

For any that have read The Five Love Languages, quality time is at the top of my list. Activities are great, but I just dearly cherish spending time with those I love the most. Grandma's yard is a great place to do that. It sort of has an upper and a lower portion. The lower part of the yard is by far bigger. That leads to the lake, has a picnic table, a fire ring, and much more space. The upper portion has the porch swing and smaller grassy area. When we got there a few were already sitting on the swing. Rather than move down to the larger area, we just brought the lawn chairs up and sat there. Other than when a few swam out to the middle of the lake and when we ate lunch, we never really moved. We were too busy talking. I've spent countless hours lying in the sun at Grandma's house. I don't think I've ever done it in the yard right beside the garage, but that's what we did yesterday. We were simply too busy talking and soaking up the sun to be bothered moving down to the area where we usually sit.

Life is too busy. We don't often enough just spend time with each other, as families, as women, and generations. When I was a child I remember my Mom and I semi-regularly getting together with the women in my Dad's extended family. I thought it had a name, but I don't remember it now. That group consisted of some Amish women and some who were not. They usually quilted while the kids played. There was always a mouth-wateringly delicious lunch, then we'd all head home late in the afternoon. I don't remember a single one of those quilts. I have no idea who they were for. What I remember we kids having a ton of fun, and the women talking and laughing, buzzing like a bunch of bees. It was time to catch up, share stories, ideas, and much more.

Every time I spend time with women, be it at church, Bible study, a sewing bee, or near the swing at Grandma's house, the concensus seems to be that it is a refreshing time that should happen more often. There's a reason families are designed the way they are, generationally. Really we had 4 generations present yesterday. Grandma, her daughters, my generation, and then the little girls. The little girls are my cousins now (yay for adoptions:), but Zoe is 5 and Ellie nearly 3. (Soon the ages of my Grandma's grandchildren will range from 3-40) Since I'm, well, much older than 5 (not the one almost 40, though:), it's almost like they're nieces, not cousins. There is so much joy and insight to be gleaned from all of those generations. We're all at different places in life, but still had so much in common. Even James, who was the only male a good bit of the day, seemed to thoroughly enjoy lazing the day away with us. I can't say the conversation was particularly profound. At points it consisted of intestinal issues, physical changes, eye infections, and funky toes:) It wasn't really the conversation, though, that was important. It was the time together, and lots of laughter.

My time yesterday only solidified my interest in continuing to make time with my family important. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to spend the rest of the day with my Mom and Dad.

Giddy-Up God!

2009-06-28T21:56:00.007-04:00

It's been so long since I've had much of anything to say. Other than going to Virginia to visit family about a month ago, I've just been working a lot and trying to spend time outside soaking up some of the gorgeous sun. Bring on the vitamin D! I have so many cute pictures of my niece, but posted some of my favorites on Facebook, so I feel like it's redundant to make people look at the same ones here. Sometimes I have posts that share my ponderings, but it's felt like the muses were working overtime. The only problem is they're in a jumbled mess that would only show up here as a confusing sort of rambling.

In the last couple days, I've felt as is my train of thought took me from one bloggable moment to another. There were no depots in sight for miles. Now I have more stops than I'm sure I'll be able to keep up with.

First on the list of things to share is two enjoyable evenings this last week. Wendy is one of the very special people in my life. We met nearly nine years ago. I had been volunteering at The Power House Youth Center. One of the directors asked me to think and pray about the opportunity of mentoring a particular girl who was a member at the PH. We had developed a bit of a relationship. After considering, I decided to agree. When I said I'd do it, I was told that they had decided on someone else instead. It was Wendy. I knew who she was, but didn't really know her at all. That made me feel a little uneasy. I had no idea what she was like, whether we would click, what we might have in common, what we might talk about, or if she would have any interest in spending time with me, for that matter. I went with it anyway, and I can't tell you how many times over the years Wendy and I have laughed about how right the choice was. We certainly have differences, but we have so many things, besides loving Jesus:), in common. There are things, such as a love for words, that we both implicitly understand about each other. When we tell others, they look at us like we just might be from another planet. The wondering what we might talk about? Ha! Quitting talking is usually our problem.

My friendship with Wendy has been an amazing experience. One of the adventures that I treasure most thus far. I don't have children of my own. She's too old to be my daughter. That's honestly not what a mentoring relationship is anyway, but I feel just a bit of the pride in her that a mother does. It's been my privilege to share in the last nine years of her life. I look forward to many more.

Fast forward nine years. Wendy has recently finished her Victory Lap. She's done a great job supporting herself, living on her own, and paying for school. The last year and a half many of our conversations have centered on the economy, unemployment, the vast array of jobs available or not to people with a business degree, and what in the world to do once graduation arrived. Graduating from college is an exciting time. Graduating from college in a rotten economy and thousands of dollars in loans is a scary time. We've been doing a lot of praying. Wendy found out last week that she had been hired for a job in Macon Georgia. I forgot to mention that once she was old enough, she quit being a member at The Power House and became a volunteer as well as employee. She is now the coordinator for a volunteer program at Wesleyan College. While I'm sad to see her move far away, I think this is a very good move for her. She lived in Macon for one year during school, and loved it. I'm just so excited for her! All those months of concern over how to find a job were taken care of only a month after graduation. I pointed out to her that it was nearly 6 months til I found a nursing job after school. In this economy, a job after only a month can only be seen as a HUGE answer to prayer!

A week ago she and I had dinner at our favorite pizza place. We said our "see ya laters". I figured that was it for quite a while. A going away party was scheduled for Friday, so I got to see her again. Saturday evening I went to church with her, and then to a cookout where we were going to stay for "a little while". A little while after midnight we finally left:) It was a very nice evening. The weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cold. The s'mores were delicious. The company was even better. I felt like it was stolen time with my girl. The two evenings made my weekend completely delightful. I'll miss having Wendy around, but I'm so excited to see what the next stretch in the road holds for her!

Side note: Just before we left church Saturday evening, the daughter of a friend found a large paper with a picture, apparently of Jesus on it. The adults were chatting and heard Vanessa in the background proclaiming, "God! I have a picture of God! I'm taking God home with me!" She really caught our attention when she raised the volume and proclaimed, "Giddy-up God! I'm riding God!" We turned to see her with the large paper rolled and tucked between her knees, "riding" it like a stick pony. How many times do we as adults wish that we could say "Giddy-up God!" I've been chuckling about it all week long. I guess He did giddy-up in finding Wendy's job.

Still among the living

2009-05-31T21:27:00.002-04:00

I'm still alive! I have been busy, busy, busy. Blogging, apparently, is the thing to cut out when you can't keep up, at least it has been for me. I got a call today from a sweet college friend. She was my first roommate, other than my sister growing up. Anyway, she has been checking here recently and has seen nothing new. She called just to check in and make sure I'm OK. Yes! It really meant a lot to me that she was considerate enough to check in. I doubt that there will be much more in the next week or so, but I'll do my best. Sarah is not the first one to drop the hint that I've been neglecting this site. I do check in long enough to catch up on others, I've just not taken the time to write. I'll work on that. Thanks again for the notes reminding me that it's time to get back at it.

Baby Mary Janes

2009-03-20T23:44:00.008-04:00

As promised, I'm finally getting around to showing off my latest sewing project. That makes it sound like there's been a long string of them. There has not. I'm honestly not much of a seamstress, but after seeing a couple samples on Mary's blogs, I felt inspired. When I saw them I began hoping my brother and sister-in-law would have a girl because these were just too cute. Actually they could easily be made for a boy as well with the right fabric, but who can pass up a pair of pink Mary Janes? Especially considering the fact that I'm not much of an accomplished seamstress, I was quite pleased with how these turned out. I'll admit there were actually 3 made, the first being unintended practice as I found flaws and learned how to improve the process. Katie Grace's mama, Mindy, always says pearls go with everything, so the buttons were a no-brainer. The first link above gives details on information needed to learn how to make them. Here are some photos of the process and finished product. The bag was a last minute thought that kept me up 'til 2am on a work-night, but I felt like it was worth it when it was done.

The crooked seams in this picture were what finally convinced me that this one needed to be a practice rather than the final product. I've discovered I'm a bit of a perfectionist.

Still a little too big, but I just love her little toes peeking through.

Meeting Katie Grace

2009-03-18T21:38:00.006-04:00

Last week, Wednesday through Sunday, my parents and I went to Virginia to meet Katie Grace. She was 2 1/2 weeks when we finally got to say hello. I'm biased. There are plenty of precious babies in the world. For right now, though, she is definitely the sweetest one I'm related to. I don't necessarily have a ton to say, but please indulge a proud auntie as I show her off.

This is she and I getting some bonding time while her mama tries to catch up on some sleep. Once we went to Mindy's parent's house, where my parents were staying, then my mom soaked up lots of Grandma time. That meant Katie Grace and I getting our bonding done when everyone else was asleep. Fine by me.

Little missy just loves kicking for all her nakie self is worth. She's also good at peeing when there's not a diaper around, so I indulged her freedom while still leaving the diaper where it could help.

Katie with mommy and daddy........sadly watching Michigan State lose to Ohio State. Mommy tried not to rub it in to daddy too much, but daddy and I were both a little bummed. No worries. The important tournament starts tomorrow!

Daddy thought it would be fun to give Katie a fauxhawk. Judging by the look on her face, I'm not sure she thought it was a good look. haha

I liked this one. She looks so tiny with her daddy's hand coving her whole torso. Such a precious little bundle.

I didn't pinch her. Honest.

I had to get in all the kisses I could until the next time I see her, which by the way, will be the wknd after Easter. Anyone that reads this that is in the Sturgis area, there will be a welcome party for her on Sunday, April 19. Let me know if you're interested in details.

Just hangin' out with Dad. This was the day that Michigan State did win. I think she's trying to wave at the camera.

Thanks for letting me show her off. I've not met a baby yet that wasn't sweet, but I happen to like this one even more than most. It's a little strange to watch my little brother being a dad, giving baths, changing diapers, and pretty much turning to mush when she's around.

Soon to come is another post showing off the piece of apparel I made for Katie Grace. In the meantime, though, I need to get off this computer and into my bed.

Katherine Grace

2009-02-24T16:58:00.004-05:00

The last month or so has just felt blah. Not really down, blah, just nothing interesting to say or report. February tends to be that way. Well, I finally have fun things to say! My sister-in-law, Mindy, delivered a new member of the family yesterday. Katherine Grace Schwartz was born to Matt and Mindy. Sounds like she's going to be known as Katie Grace. My Grandma Schwartz was a Katie. I certainly approve.

Here 's Katie bonding with Mindy. I hear she has quite a lot of blonde hair under than little pink hat.

Daddy's learning to multi-task. That's good. I'm sure he's going to need to do lots more of that.

The whole family......after a night of rest. Labor started around 10pm Sunday night, but Katie Grace didn't show her face until 7:08pm on Monday. Long day! Needless to say, Mom and Dad were ready for a night's sleep.

I'm looking forward to making a trip to meet her soon and to give proper congratulations to her parents!

In other news........I had to make a quick trip to Sturgis this morning. I got lucky enough to downstaff from work, so that's why I had the time to go. I went through town a different way than normal. I'm glad I did because I saw an amusing sign. Here it is.

We're doing the Biggest Loser at work. First place wins just over $1000. I'm thinking that stopping in for this "meeting" might be a little counter productive. Do you suppose many people went for the weigh-in then stuck around for lunch today?

This is a bit on the random side, but on the way back to Fort Wayne, I saw this truck. My first thought was that it was a very bright green. Then I realized that with a little imagination, it looked a bit like Shrek rolling down the road. I don't know. My imagination was working overtime. I had a lot of time in the car to get bored. Yes, I realize I could get in trouble for taking this one while I was driving. :) I was at a stoplight when I took the one of the sign. I sure do like having a camera small enough to keep in my purse.

Finally.........there aren't little people in my house to provide a quote of the day, but I have a new word for the day. The bulk of my day today was spent gathering supplies needed to make a gift for Katie. I'm not the best seamstress ever, but I'm going to give it a shot. My cousin Mary is quite possibly the best seamstress ever. I have called and emailed her more than once already today asking questions. At one point I wrote that I was confused. As I read back through to make sure my question made sense, I realized that I had written that I was confusted. What's that? Confused, frustrated, disgusted, it's a bust? Not sure, but I decided that maybe it makes the point more clearly than intended.

Family Christmas Gatherings

2009-01-13T22:27:00.006-05:00

These pictures are long overdue. They are also in pretty random order. I put quite a few on here, but wanted to share plenty for a couple cousins that live far enough away that they didn't get to be there. You were missed!
We start with the Schwartz Christmas.

Aidan Hasbrouck, 2 yr old. "Mmmmm......homemade ice cream that Papa Schwartz (Fred) made. Gotta get this stuff to my.......
......mouth! Yep. I did it. Notice no drips of this stuff landed on my shirt! Yum!"

Nathan, Merlin and Gina's youngest. What a little cutie!

Merlin approves of the look Aidan has going on.

My sister Laura.

Emily Mast, one of many cousins to follow. Gotta say I'm pretty impressed with her camera.

Rasika Keely taking a break from her self-appointed job of expediting the white elephant exchange. I don't think she realizes yet that she's just beautiful.

Singing a couple Christmas carols. This was just before everyone old enough to remember Grandma Katie was crying as we sang Silent Night, her favorite song. I like knowing that she heard us from heaven. She sure is missed!

Cousins

And more cousins!

So many little cousins, otherwise known as great grands, that it's hard to keep track of which ones belong with which older cousins.

Two of my uncles, Fred, Merlin, and a couple grandbabies.

And now a few of the Eichorns. I'm not quite sure why, but I didn't take many pictures that day. I think it's probably because I get to see them more often.

Isaac Miller and Joel Eichorn.

Honey

2009-01-11T22:52:00.003-05:00

Boy do I have some catching up to do! There were a couple family Christmas gatherings that I should post some pictures for. I made promises about one of them that I haven't kept yet. There was also a trip with my family to St. Augustine, Florida, a generous gift from my parents to their 3 children, spouses, and one soon-to-be-born grandchild.

For now, though, I'm still putting that on hold. I've only been with my church family once in the last 7 weeks or so, I've lost track. Obviously the trips mentioned above had something to do with it. They were all very enjoyable, but I also miss Central when I'm not there. This morning was such a good morning of worship and Word. There were a lot of things that just seemed so profound at the time. I honestly can't remember them all. I guess it's good that we have a week to ponder before we have more to digest.

I learned a long time ago that there are times when I need or want to pray, but I just can't find the words. Other times I may feel frustrated enough about a situation that if I allow myself to pray complete thoughts, I begin to wander back to frustration rather than handing it over to the One that can do something about it. Jesus. That's where I need to start. There's one song that comes out most of the time. It's "Holy and Anointed One". The link isn't necessarily the best version I've ever hear, but this girl is singing alone, without assistance or anyone else around. That's often the case when I sing it at home, so I felt like it fit. I also sing it a lot on the mornings I sing with the worship team because it helps me prepare for worship along with warming up my voice.

This morning we sang this song. Usually the part that sinks in the most is simply the word Jesus. We can't think on Him too much. The notes accomanying the Word ring sweetly in my ears. Today as we sang I got stuck on the phrase, "Your Name is like honey on my lips". Obviously, honey is sweet and most people like it. As we sang, other uses for honey came to mind. (After singing it during practices then through a couple services, I had a lot of time to consider all of this.)

Honey is a natural antibiotic. I don't know a lot about the details of that, but I've read a little on the net. In 2007 when I worked on the hospital ship, we used purified honey on patient's wounds. Let me tell you, that just didn't feel right the first time I did it. You don't put food on a wound. I can say, though, that I watched wounds heal faster with honey, and prayer of course, than I've ever seen them heal on their own or even with antibiotics. They could shrink by as much as half an inch, sometimes more, in 24 hr.

Remember the song, "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down"? Well, honey does the same thing. I've recently been trying ginger tea. It's supposed to have some good anti-inflammatory properties as well as being good for the stomach. It's not so good for the tongue. Tingly doesn't begin to describe it. Talk about zing! I discovered putting 1/2 tsp. of honey on my tongue and swallowing part of it coats my tongue and throat enough that I still get the benefit of the ginger without quite so much kick.

Jesus is the same, but with so many more "beneficial properties". For years, I've sung that song thinking about how sweet He is. It's true. He is. In many ways. Not only is He sweet, He is balm to an open, seeping wound. Life isn't always easy. Facing it with Him helps filter some of life's zing. It doesn't mean the zing and the wounds won't occur, but He can ease them and take them away.

History

2008-12-17T16:59:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking a lot about history lately. I'm not really sure what got me on this line of thinking, but it's lasted a couple months now. My sister, Laura, and I have been having an ongoing converation about it. There's been opportunity to reconnect with a few different people that I've known most of my life. We aren't necessarily in touch with each other frequently, but even after years have passed, we just KNOW each other. That's so valuable.

Many of the people I've reconnected with have been through Facebook, but certainly not all. One of the ones that's been the most entertaining is my friend Beth from high school. She and I had so much fun together when we could see each other every day. She's pointed out that being in touch every day again online feels like home. I couldn't agree more. Most of our senior year, we spent every evening together as well. She hurt her back in tennis, and couldn't go to school for at least a month. I became the "tutor". I don't know that I was much help, but it was lots of fun. As a result, her family became my second family. I don't get to see them very often, but I still think back with a smile at the fun times at the Critz house.

My cousin Katrina and I are only a month and a half apart. Due to our close age, the fact that she doesn't have other siblings, and my next sibling waited 5 years to show up, she and I have always been a bit like sisters. The last few years we've had fun shopping the day after Thanksgiving. Here's a secret. I really don't like to shop much. I also don't like crowds a whole lot. Even so I love going shopping with her on that day because it's something we always do together. This year her daughter came along. We had so much fun talking about crazy things we did together as kids and the fun we had listening to Katrina's Chipmunks tape. I'm sure Ashley thought we were nuts, but we still enjoyed it. There are few things about each other that we haven't known over the years. Having someone to share that with is a little like a favorite pair of jeans. It's just right. I've often thought about the fact that as a young girl I was blessed with so many great cousins that I didn't understand or feel the need for other friends. I know people who have no cousins. I'm convinced I get to the better end of the deal.

In contrast, Laura and I are 7 years apart. There is just something that sisters share that you can't really explain. We have very different memories about our growing up years because of the age gap. There were many phases to our relationship. She's been a cute baby, bratty little sister, high schooler that I visited when I came home from college, and now dear friend. Even though our memories don't all match, we still have so much in common. There are the obvious things. There are also the parts of us that are ingrained, but can't necessarily be explained. At one point we had 5 pairs of shoes that were identical. We had only bought one of the pairs with the knowledge that the other had some like them. Usually I can shop for gifts for her and know what she'll like. She also tends to make jewelry for me that is just the piece I needed or wanted. We have some opinions that differ, but sometimes when we talk it's surprising, even to us, that we each have some values that may differ some from the mainstream, but we just happen to agree with and understand each other completely. A friend and I were talking lately about the fact that we feel sorry for girls who don't have a sister and guys who don't have a brother. it just is what it is. There's just a bond that is stronger than DNA.

Despite the things I said about the bond sisters have, I also love the history I share with my brother. Matty and I both inherited this ridiculous ability to store useless trivia in our gray matter. We got it from our Dad. We can spend a long time one talking about old episodes of Cheers or Seinfeld. We're also both big baseball fans, so we also have fun discussing the Tigers. As we've gotten older, I enjoy our conversations about faith, the Bible, church, and how a person's history helps shape their feelings on those topics.

There is a couple that go to church with my parents at the church where I grew up, Locust Grove. Jim was the pastor when I was young. He and his wife Faith spent quite a few years in Alaska, and are now back in Sturgis. They have spent a lot of time at Locust Grove again, and are also working with the IN/MI Mennonite conference, networking with other churches in Michigan. They are the most technologically advanced pair of their generation that I know. I think Jim assists a lot of people with their tech questions/issues. Both are very active on Facebook, connecting with new people, relatives, and many that grew up knowing them as the pastor and wife when we were just children. Their gift of hospitality, compassion, and joy is so special. I don't get the benefit of spending a lot of time with them, but just love hearing about their adventures and seeing their pictures online. I think a lot of people have had a sense of homecoming since Jim and Faith came home to Michigan. Jim always thanks people for being his friend on Facebook. I don't know anyone that wouldn't want to be his friend.

My sister and her husband attend North Main Mennonite church in Nappanee. Their pastor, Ruben, and his wife Idella are another example of people I don't remember ever not knowing. We always went to church with them. In the 5th grade our family and theirs built houses just down the road from each other. We went to school with their kids. I can't tell you how many times we rode our bikes to Nottawa for ice cream. (Anyone that doesn't know about ice cream in Nottawa is definitely missing out!) They moved away to Kansas and then Iowa, but our families stayed in touch. Kevin, their son, and I even graduated from college together. Who would have thought when they moved away from Michigan to far away Kansas, that Ruben would one day be my sister's pastor in Nappanee? Their friendship has always been such a comfortable one. When I go to church with Laura, it feels like I'm visiting an aunt and uncle. They know us. We know them. Even if we tried, we can't get past that fact and the closeness that it brings.

I looked up the word history. It means ~ a past notable for its important, unusual, or interesting events. That definition certainly applies. I would suggest, though, that it also has to do with the unimportant, mundane, day-to-day, simple bits of life. While there are so many noteworthy memories in a person's life, there are far more days that are just ordinary. The people that we share them with are forever woven into the fabric that becomes pieces of a quilt. It's full of color, texture, symmetry, assymetry, mistakes, and beauty. In the grand scheme of things I'm really not that old. As I've been thinking, though, over the last few months, the history that we share with those we know is a thing to be treasured. Sure. There are parts of our history that we remember vividly and love. There are other parts that we would like to forget. At the same time, we share the threads of our lives with the threads of theirs. I have a picture in my head of a series of afghans that are each their own, but also have parts that are woven into other blankets around them. All of those people and memories help make us who we are.

A couple weeks ago Beth and I were IMing. It was late. She pointed out that I've always been able to stay up late. I honestly thought that was a disease born of too many 3am nights in college and then working nights for 3 years after college. Turns out, I've been staying up late since way before college. I needed someone who knew me 20 years ago to remind me of that. As a friend once told me, I'm glad I have someone who knows me. New friends can be fun. Getting to know someone and what makes them who they are is often an interesting process. There's something to be said, though, for the people that just know you. I so value quality time with those I love. Looking back over a cumulative sum of history that you share is a gift I'm happy to have.

The Winner!

2008-12-14T17:43:00.004-05:00

Rosetta is the winner! Rosetta, I'll get ahold of you to find out your address so I can put the package in the mail either Monday or Tuesday. I hope you enjoy it!

Merry Christmas!

This is the day the Lord has made

2008-12-08T22:55:00.007-05:00

Mondays are probably my least favorite day of the week. I know. Everyone always hates Mondays. The Mamas and the Papas sang a song all about it and its woes. "Monday, Monday. Can't trust that day." There's one thing that I can seem to trust about Mondays. Along with the normal reasons that most people detest Mondays, it seems to be a more than normal day of frustration at work. It's not so much the work itself as some of the intricacies of working with people. I'm not going into more detail than that.

Monday evenings I have Bible study at church. There are countless reasons why that should be a good end to a frustrating day. Often, though, the day has worn me out to the point that I just feel grumpy by the time I need to head to Bible study. I honestly wish it could be some other night of the week, a lot so I could head there not feeling drained. That's the night that seems to work the best, so I just get over it.

Yesterday I got out of work about an hour late. (I guess that made up for the hour I missed early in the morning getting a new crown at the dentist:) After work, I still had some preparation to do before Bible study. That meant that I didn't even get time to eat dinner before I went. On the way I was listening to a book on CD. (Marley and me. Funny book. I think it's going to be sad, but well worth it so far. Looking forward to seeing the movie around Christmas time.) I decided I wanted to listen to music. I couldn't find the CD I wanted, so I quickly put in a mix my friend originally made for her sister. The first song was Psalm 118 by Shane & Shane. Here it is. Tell me. How can you sing the words to that song, the words of the Psalm, and not be revived? When I stopped and really thought about the words I was singing, almost without thinking because I've heard them so many times, I couldn't help but stop and smile. What a great God I serve. He answers when I call. He is my salvation. His love endures forever. FOREVER. He is my strength. He is my song. I've included a few of the verses from the Psalm below.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.
I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation.
This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

On a side note, but still related to music, the CD I mentioned here was A Cathedral Christmas ~ A Capella. Some of you may know who they are, but probably not all. The recording is from 1985. Not everyone is necessarily a fan of quartet music, but this CD is pretty special. The vocals are so rich that it's almost not noticeable at first that they didn't need the addition of instruments. My family listened to this tape so much that we wore it out. I've now sent copies to both of my siblings as well as my parents. Each one smiled as soon as it started playing. We also had a mix with the Muppets singing The 12 Days of Christmas with John Denver. Yep. That's pretty dated as well. What can I say? Sentimental value trumps being outdated.

I'm thinking it's time for a small gift basket. I got the chance to take the day off work today to make some caramel. One of my co-workers wanted it badly enough for her husband that she's paying me very well. So....leave a comment. I'm interested in hearing your favorite Christmas CD/song, and also your very favorite holiday candy/dessert/treat, whatever. A random winner will get a sampling of my favorite Christmas candy and music.

Too many to count

2008-11-25T18:59:00.002-05:00

I know it might be the "thing" to do this week, but I'm feeling thankful. For the last while I've been thinking about it a lot. I'm sure that the upcoming holiday season has a lot to do with the course my thoughts have followed. We all know that we should be thankful all year long. That's so very true. At the same time, it's been on my mind a lot lately, so I'm going to spend at least one post, maybe the whole week listing things. It's going to be big things, little things and things in between. Then...when there are days that don't seem like so much fun or tempt the ungrateful thoughts to prevail, there's a list here ready to be referenced.

Here are just a few of the things I'm grateful for-(in no particular order, other than the very first)
~salvation.
~family. I'm grateful for all of them. Parents, siblings, siblings-in-law, great grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. I have a lot of family and wouldn't choose to have it any other way. They are a blessing, each and every one of them.
~my bed.
~humor.
~water-for drinking, cooking, cleaning, watering plants, bathing, swimming, running through when it comes out of a sprinkler, playing in when it drips out the clouds (boy do I miss the warm rain in Liberia right about now), listening to as it flows and falls over whatever course it may.
~air.
~the ability to be in touch with/reconnect with people online.
~my job.
~a raise at a time when many get none, take a cut, or are losing their job.
~God's Word.
~the opportunity to eat every day, not to mention the luxury of more than one meal a day!
~Perrin Lake.
~books.
~carpet.
~a home.
~weather in all it's beauty.
~the ocean.
~friends-new friends, old friends, friends all over the world, friends right down the street, friends that love you even when you show your bad side, friends that know just how to make you laugh when you need to and are happy to hold the Kleenexes while you cry.
~differences of opinion.

Well, I can see I'm just getting started. I have to pack so I can leave for Michigan for the holiday weekend right after work tomorrow. That means I need to take a break from the attitude of gratitude and pack.

Christmas before Thanksgiving

2008-11-22T20:02:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I went to the post office. For several reasons, a few moves a couple years ago, leaving the country for 3 months last year, etc, I use a PO Box rather than a physical address. It's also handy because I don't need to check my mail every day or worry about theft. There's also the fact that the post office is right next to Target. Need I say more?

The holiday season has begun at work. Toward the end of the year a lot of people tend to have extra time off work. They've also frequently met their insurance deductibles, which means that it becomes a good time to get that nagging knee, shoulder or carpal tunnel taken care of. That means that during a time of year when most people are getting time off from work or school, an outpatient surgery center kicks into high gear. It was a long, busy week. I got off work yesterday and was just worn out.

Before going home I decided I should go to the post office to see if there were any bills that needed tending. I had also placed an order or two, so I was curious if they had come. It felt like Christmas had arrived early!!! Well, at least the opening packages part of Christmas. That really is not what Christmas is all about. Maybe I should say it felt like my birthday had arrived early. Anway....there were no bills! Not one! There was one letter with some results from bloodwork I had drawn over a month ago. The results were good. That was the first part that eased some of the fatigue of the week. Then came the packages....

I got a new bathing suit. Let it suffice to say that I'm pretty excited to say that I've been swimming laps enough this year to wear out a bathing suit. If the new one took too many more days I was going to get removed from the Y for indecency. Next in the bos was my brother's birthday gift. I'm pretty sure that I'm as excited about his gift as he will be. The next package was a CD. There was a Christmas tape our family had when I was young. I've made at least two copies over the years because I loved it so much that I didn't want to be without a copy if the tape ever unraveled. I had looked online and even called the number on the website for the recording. "Sorry. You can only purchase that recording as a cassette or an album. We've had requests for CDs, but we will not be making any." Poo! Well....a week or so ago, I was looking for something else on Amazon and lo and behold, there was my Christmas CD. I don't know what made the difference, but apparently they finally got around to changing their minds about making a CD. It cost $23.99 for that CD. I'm certain I've NEVER paid that much for a CD. I wasn't sorry a bit. I figure if we work lots of extra hours around the holiday a treat is warranted. My family doesn't know it yet, but their copies are on the way to their houses!

Thanksgiving is coming. Yesterday it felt like Christmas had come before Thanksgiving this year. Not only because I got a few packages, but also because I love the carols on the CD I got. By the time my trip to the post office was over I forgot all about my tired feet and need to unwind. I love that little things can still be such a boost. I saw a quote a couple days ago that said that happiness is enjoying the little things. It's true.

I Quit!

2008-11-11T22:37:00.002-05:00

Believe me. I say that in the best way possible! In a time of economic uncertainty, I'm more grateful than ever for my job. In fact, we had a staff meeting at work on Monday that was prefaced by a visit from our company's CEO. More than one person was a little nervous that there would be downsizing. Not so. He had some interesting things to say- about the economy, the state of our jobs, and even some investing tips.

Let me begin by saying that I'm not normally a quitter. I can't even quit reading a book once I begin. I feel an overwhelming compulsion to finish what I started. I don't necessarily mean in one sitting, but I can't just put it aside. Ask my Mom about Anna Karenina. The quitting had to do with the conversational French class that I've been taking. I was in way over my head! The hint about a "conversational" language class is that it assumes that you've already studied the language and are just needing a brush-up. Oops! That wasn't real clear. I have taken a beginning conversational French class that was painfully elementary. Seriously. A third grader would have been bored. Apparently the jump to intermediate was bigger than anticipated. Last time I went to class we had "graduated" to an entirely French speaking class. Haha...when the professor speaks for 10 minutes and you understand 2 words, that's the first clue that you should just quit wasting your time and go to the Y instead. That's what I did this evening. It was so liberating!

My last post talked about the fact that I was barely treading water. Let me say the next part loud and clear. God is Good! There have been lots of bits of scripture that have spoken volumes of encouragement and blessing. For numerous reasons, things are looking up. That's a great thing to be able to say since the beautiful leaves of Autumn have fallen away, it's getting dark earlier and earlier every day, and the thermometer currently says 37 degrees. Probably all 3 people that read this will want to smack me, but I'm one of the crazy people who is actually sincerely enjoying the drop in temperature. I love winter! Bring it on.

Treading Water

2008-11-05T22:25:00.003-05:00

That's what I feel like I'm doing this week. I wish there were a way to type while I'm driving because that's when my thoughts have been the most organized and decipherable. Life has simply caught up with me. By the time I'm done with work and the expensive errands (dentist-need a crown; garage-brake service, oxygen sensor , oil change, yada yada yada) I've been running lately, I come home and am ready to fall into bed.

My cheerfulness has nothing to do with the election. I'm honestly just glad it's over. The ads, arguments on facebook, heated conversations in the break room at work, and constant news coverage were just a tiny bit excessive. Not a whole lot, just a little. I was pretty upset with the fact that my vote didn't seem to count due to a clerical error. Apparently I voted by absentee ballot even though I didn't request, receive, or complete one. Hmmm.....I filled out a "provisional ballot", but the guy that "helped" me was so scatter-brained and unorganized that I sincerely doubt that my paper ballot will even make it to the election board let alone get counted. I'm going to follow up in the next couple days as soon as I have time at work or get out early and don't have to go spend $300 at Saturn of FW. Convenient that the hours to call with questions re: my ballot are 8-4:30.

So...I've not posted much lately. This is not exactly an upbeat few paragraphs. It's just honest. I'm worn out and not doing a good job of catching up. One of the best things I've read in the last couple days is this.

"I will lie down in peace, and sleep;For You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.Psalm 4:8"

That's what I need to do. Go to bed and sleep in peace. Thank you, LORD, that You have a brand of peace that has nothing to do with the economy, jobs, leaders, or any sort of stress life can throw at us. In the morning I'm going to find the right side of the bed, make a list, and tackle things one at a time. That usually works best. Do what you can. The rest will be there tomorrow.

raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...

2008-10-18T22:14:00.003-04:00

So I've been tagged to share a top 8 list for a few different topics. Here goes. The order they are listed is not necessarily in ranking order.

8 things that happened yesterday
1. Ruby (the dog I'm watching) did NOT wake me up to go out at 3:30am.
2. I took a dog to the groomer for the first time in my life.
3. I went to work.
4. None of my patients passed out. (We had quite a week, let me tell ya!)
5. My car got vacuumed.
6. My tires were checked and filled with air.
7. I spent 45 minutes leaning on the jewelry counter at Wal-Mart while I talked on the phone with my brother who lives in Virginia.
8. Once again, I managed to stay up way too late even though I had to be up at 5am on a Saturday.

8 favorite places to eat
1. My mom's kitchen for breakfast on a Saturday morning.
2. The Cheesecake Factory.
3. Munchie's on Taylor.
4. A restaurant in a castle ruin on a mountain overlooking the wineries of the Rhine River valley.
5. Jamaal's Pizzeria in Monrovia, Liberia. (For Lebanese food, not pizza!)
6. The dining hall on the Africa Mercy. (more for the company and the view than the food.)
7. Somewhere in the woods when I'm backpacking with family or friends, especially Mom and Laura.
8. Italian, most anywhere. Carraba's and Casa's rank high.

8 TV shows I love to watch
1. Bones
2. Jeopardy
3. Magnum PI
4. Wings
5. Baseball (if the Tigers happen to be on)
6. I Love Lucy
7. CSI
8. Amazing Race (I'm not a big fan of reality, but I get sucked in b/c I want to see what's going to happen)

8 things I'm looking forward to
1. Having eyes that can handle seeing God's Glory.
2. Going to Florida for a week after Christmas with my family.
3. Going to bed in a few minutes.
4. ?Coffee with Mary and Heather if it works.
5. My next trip to who know's where.........San Francisco, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland. Plans to be made!
6. Being an aunt in February!
7. Celebrating the 60th birthday of a friend's mom who has stage 4 cancer.
8. Church tomorrow morning.

8 things on my wishlist
1. I wish I were fluent in at least one other language.
2. I wish I could return to the Africa Mercy.
3. I wish I could be in touch with one of my patients from Liberia. I still wish and pray for healing for her almost every day. I don't wish that my heart didn't hurt for her b/c I need to be reminded to keep praying.
4. I wish I were married to a Godly man.
5. I wish I lived closer to my siblings and/or parents. I miss them.
6. I wish that I would more consistently see people the way Jesus sees them.
7. I wish we had politicians that I could vote for and feel good about it.
8. I wish my dad felt better.
I have to admit I have more wishes, but I don't want to stray from theme.

8 friends I tag
1. Sarah Daphne
2. Sarah Jane
3. Rosetta
4. Mary
5. I wish I had more blog friends who hadn't already been tagged!

If you're not a blogger yourself, feel free to put your answers in the comments section. I'd still love to hear what you have to say.

I'm still here!

2008-10-17T22:35:00.002-04:00

So...even though my cousin Mary just moved and has 3 little boys, she's been finding more time to blog than I have. I was kindly informed that tomorrow marks 1 month since I've posted. This will meet the requirement, but not really say whole lot.

I've just not had much to say lately. It's occurred to me that I have not been writing much, but the inspiration has just not been there. I'm going to Bible study at church on Monday's. Since I help lead a group, I think I maybe spend a little more time preparing for that than I would if I just attended. I'm also taking a French class that's kicking my derriere! (That's not a word we've covered in class, but it definitely has French flavor.) I'm also dog-sitting for 2 weeks. That doesn't really sound all that time-consuming, but I was signed up to take Ruby (that's the dog...Cairn Terrier.......same kind of dog as Toto....hence the name Ruby......as in, the slippers). Anyway...I had to take her to the groomer, and have had to do a few other things that have required more time than usual, not to mention going back and forth to my house b/c I keep forgetting things that I need to take with me to Ruby's house.

All this to say, I really don't have much to say. Sorry for the drought. Sometime this weekend I intend to tell you all 8 things. I've read a few of yours and will work on my own, but I have to get to bed so I can get up at 0500 to go to Chicago tomorrow. Long story, really more of a necessary trip than a fun trip, but it should still be a good day.

Back to the 8 things. You know, I've gotten 4 different emails with the get-to-know-you theme going. Now I've been tagged to list my 8 things. It seems like we crave time with each other and more intimate knowledge of each other's wishes, hopes and dreams. I like the idea. I wish, though.....here comes one of my wishes.......that we could sit down over coffee a little more frequently and just talk with each other rather than type out our 8 things. Don't get me wrong. I like the idea. I enjoy them, and I plan to participate. I just crave the quality time (yes, I've read "Five Love Languages"), and think it would be more fun in person rather than bonding with my laptop. That's one of the things I miss about the Africa Mercy. There was more time to just be with people.

Thanks for checking in Mary.

My Faith Shall Be My Eyes

2008-09-18T22:42:00.005-04:00

Heaven has been on my mind a lot lately. I have three friends who are all observing the anniversary of their mother's early death. Two, not related, each lost their mamas 20 years ago. I knew one of the mama's. The other one I did not. I also have a friend in the UK who lost her mum 10 years ago. I can't pretend to know how it feels. I have not lost a parent. My Dad has struggled with poor health pretty much all of my life. Considering the fact that I'm pushing that mark between 30 and 40 (notice I just didn't really want to type out the actual numbers:), that means he's been struggling for a long time. It's still not the same.

I may have said this on here before. I can't remember. Other than salvation itself, one of my favorite "perks" of following Jesus is the knowledge that our loved ones who also know Him will join us in eternity. That's such a comforting thought.

Please, know that I am in no way downplaying the hurt and sadness of missing someone you love while you remain here on earth and they have gone before. I'm sure it's a pain that's there for the rest of your earthly days. I think it took 10 years before I finally quit picking up the phone to let Grandma Katie know some piece of interesting news. Literally. I picked up the phone, dialed a couple numbers, and then realized she probably wasn't going to answer. Missing a parent would be more far more acute, I'm sure.

I'm going to share a very personal dream I had when Grandma died. For a few days we had all been spending time together waiting for the funeral. There was an extra day of calling hours as we waited, in part to allow time for a family member to return from another country. As some of the cousins reminisced, we speculated about whether she could see or hear us. The night before her funeral, I had one of the most vivid dreams of my life. Grandma Katie was talking to me. I could see her face as clearly as I had my whole life. I asked her about the questions we had considered. She said that it wasn't all the time, but if she really focused in, she could see and hear whatever we were doing. It was clear that she wasn't omnipresent as God is. She could only focus on one at a time. Her final words in the dream were the most profound. She gave me one of her wide grins that lit her entire face and said, "but I can reeeeally hear you singin'!" You see, Grandma loved to sing and to hear her family sing. She would slide from alto to soprano and back again. Often she wasn't exactly on key, but she let it rip! Of course that's what she would focus on if she had the ability. Often when I sing, especially when it's about Heaven, I smile with a tear knowing that she's listening. Granted....this was a dream. I feel, though, that it was also a gift. When I shared it with my other grandparents, my Grandma Eichorn quickly agreed it was a word from the Lord. I tend to agree.

So....like I said, I've been thinking about it a lot lately. Without any searching on my part, two forms of media have really struck me this last week. One a poem, the other a song. If you at all have time after reading this long post, listen to the song, but also walk away pondering the poem. It's true that Heaven will be a joy that we can't imagine. As the poem points out, though, we aren't there yet. We can long for it, but I've been very challenged this week with the fact that while we long for the peace and freedom from heartache that is Heaven, we still have work to be done here.

Here's the song. The poem is below.

Breathless Tales

I would rather

clutch my invitation

and wait my turn

in party clothes

prim, proper

safe and clean.

But a pulsing hand

keeps driving me

over peaks

ravines

and spidered brambles.
So, I’ll pant

up to the pearled knocker

tatteredbreathless
and full of tales.

by Janet Chester Bly

Senses

2008-09-14T22:06:00.003-04:00

A couple days ago I decided to go for a bike ride after work. It was one of those days that had been long and tiring. I didn't really feel like riding, but knew it would be good. After 9 hours on your feet, sometimes exercise of a different form, makes your tired legs feel better. I didn't really have much time, but I put a few books in my backpack to return at the library and set off.

Usually when I ride I take my iPod along. I did the same this time, but decided that I didn't feel like using it. You know those days when your senses just seem to be heightened? We've all had times like that. Last Wednesday was one of them for me. It seemed like my eyes, ears, and nose could barely keep up with everything they were taking in.

As I leave the complex where I live, there is a group of kids that are always playing outside. They were there, just like clockwork, laughing, shouting, cheering, mocking, singing, all of the things that kids do with each other on a late summer evening when they're soaking up the last of the warm weather.

Down the block there was a man pushing a lawn mower. There are few smells I like more than fresh-cut grass.

A block further, I found a father and son laughing as they rode their bikes in the other direction. It's not very often that one sees a father and teenage son just spending time together, but it's refreshing to see.

On the way to the library there's a 4-way stop that's a bit annoying to get through. There's a shortcut through a school parking lot, that I like to use. I still have to cross the same busy road, but there is traffic from only 2 directions rather than 4. So there I stood, straddling my bike, waiting for the traffic to clear. After I waited a couple minutes, a big white truck on a lift kit with a roaring muffler rolled to a stop in front of me. The diesel fuel was noxious and the muffler grumbled so loud it was hard to hear myself think. He sat there in the middle of the road like he was turning into the school parking lot. I moved over to be sure I didn't get run over and waited. There was no oncoming traffick, but still he didn't turn. I looked up to see if his turn signal was on and finally looked up at the cab. He was waiving for me to go. Here I had been thinking he was paying little attention, only to realize that he had stopped a line of traffick to let me through. A night in shining white armor?

As I cut behind the grocery store, the odor of the newly sealed asphalt was so strong it nearly burned my eyes. I'm pretty sure the gummy tar left some residue on my tires as I squished across the parking lot.

Just as I was thinking about the variety of things that I had smelled in just a short ride, I nearly spilled my graham crackers (that's a polite term for losing your lunch, for those of you that don't know my cousin Mary:) as I rode past a wall of dumpsters. Go figure. I'm sure a grocery store can work up a pretty good stink when they throw out expired wares.

The next thing I smelled was high on my list of favorites. Books. Old books. New books. Used books. My nose is happy every time I walk into the library. The only thing better is Barnes and Noble where they combine 2 favorites, books and coffee.

On the way home, there were some leaves blowing across the road. I don't know why. Fall has not fallen. Few leaves have even turned. Maybe they were there just for me and my olfactory delight. If they would have been burning, I would have had to slow down to take it in longer. Stop and smell the roses.......stop and smell the burning leaves.

Finally, I got home, put my bike away and headed out again for a take-out hawaiian pizza at B. Antonio's. (Our church's school was having a fund-raiser, so I had to do my part:) Mmmmmmm.....what better way to top off the afternoon than with ham, pineapple, bacon, and cheese?

Sometimes all it takes is the simple things to take your mind off a less than perfect day. God knew what he was doing when he gave us multiple senses. I tend to use them without consideing their value. Every once in a while, it's good to be reminded.

Help

2008-09-04T22:37:00.004-04:00

I could use your help praying for several people I know. Some of the situations are pretty sensitive. Some would just feel conspicuous if they were mentioned by name. Let it suffice to say, I can quickly list off unneccessary drama, illness, marriages in need of Divine Intervention, parents hurting terribly for their adult children, big decisions to be made, and people just plain hurting. The list is a mile long and probably none of us need to walk a mile to find the same situations in or near each of our own lives. Some days are easier than others. Some days you just need to let people know you could use your help. Today it's not so much me that needs the help but lots of people I care about. So......thanks in advance.

Psalm 59:16-17
16 But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.
17 O my Strength, I sing praise to you; you, O God, are my fortress, my loving God.

Salsa

2008-08-30T09:48:00.004-04:00

This past week while at work I got a call from someone at one of ONE's other offices. She said there was a delivery there for me. Since I was obviously not at the same place, she'd send it to the surgery center where I work. I was so confused. The person on the phone did not identify herself or her location. I only knew it was the southwest office because the caller ID told me. When asked if it was personal or for the surgery center, she said personal and mumbled the word cousin. Now, my dad's cousin also works at ONE. She has a bit of an ornery streak in her sometimes, so I figured it was from her. The rest of the afternoon, I was looking over my shoulder, but no delivery ever came.

Tuesday morning I got up and swam at the Y before work. I even had time to go to Panera for a souffle' and some time for devotions. It was a good start and I was determined to have a good day at work. (Let it suffice to say that was tough a couple days this last week.) After about a half an hour, someone asked if I had gotten my bag at the front desk. Bag? What bag? Oh! The delivery! I walked up front, still perplexed. Here's what I found.

Several of my co-workers walked up and said, "OH! You got a candle! Who's it from? It's not even your birthday!" Nope, it's not a candle, it's salsa from my lovely cousin Heather. I was the lucky winner on her blog. How lucky am I?! It made my day! Look closer. Not only did a get a jar of homemade salsa, there's chocolate. How can a girl wrong with so much chocolate?

Now really, is salsa really that big of a deal? No. It's the thought. How many people get a homemade jar of salsa (with chocolate) packaged in a cute bag delivered to them at work? Not only was it delivered, but poor Donovan went to the Southwest office first and then brought it to the surgery center. Heather said he had appointments all over town, but still......it's a 20-30 minute drive depending on the traffic. I knew I had won, but expected to get it in the mail. That would have been fun all by itself, but this just made it that much better.

Apparently I'm pretty easy to please. Sure, big expensive gifts are sometimes nice, but really the small, thoughtful ones mean so much more. It really made my day. The rest of the week was a tough one. If that bright spot hadn't been there, the week would have felt like more of a total bust.

Thanks again, Heather and Donovan. Hopefully it works out to actually get to see you next time. I'm looking forward to breaking into the salsa with some chips and a good movie sometime in the future!

Self-Consciousness

2008-08-22T19:13:00.002-04:00

Come unto Me." Matthew 11:28

God means us to live a fully-orbed life in Christ Jesus, but there are times when that life is attacked from the outside, and we tumble into a way of introspection which we thought had gone. Self-consciousness is the first thing that will upset the completeness of the life in God, and self-consciousness continually produces wrestling. Self-consciousness is not sin; it may be produced by a nervous temperament or by a sudden dumping down into new circumstances. It is never God's will that we should be anything less than absolutely complete in Him. Anything that disturbs rest in Him must be cured at once, and it is not cured by being ignored, but by coming to Jesus Christ. If we come to Him and ask Him to produce Christ-consciousness, He will always do it until we learn to abide in Him.

Never allow the dividing up of your life in Christ to remain without facing it. Beware of leakage, of the dividing up of your life by the influence of friends or of circumstances; beware of anything that is going to split up your oneness with Him and make you see yourself separately. Nothing is so important as to keep right spiritually. The great solution is the simple one - "Come unto Me." The depth of our reality, intellectually, morally and spiritually, is tested by these words. In every degree in which we are not real, we will dispute rather than come.

This was the August 19th entry from My Utmost for His Highest. It's been on my mind a lot the last week. There have been times in the past that I kept up with Chambers' devotional for a year at a time or at least pretty regularly. I can't say that I've been so diligent in the last while. That in itself isn't bad, but I honestly can't say that I've been consistent with studying the Word the last several months. Whether it's with the guidance of some sort of devotional, studying a theme or book of the Bible on your own, or just opening It and reading every day, I'm convinced that it's imperative to spend time in the Word every day.

The above paragraph sounds good. I believe what I said. I mean what I said. I've not been living what I said. My brother and I have talked several times before about how much we enjoy Utmost. Oswald Chambers is deep. There is a more recently edited version that is slightly easier to read. Being a lover of words, I like the original version. Many times as I've read it, I've been amazed at the fact that a particular day's entry appears to have been written just for me. That was once again the case on the 19th of August. I've not been spending the time in the Word that I should. My relationship with God has been coasting, which always translates to skidding backward.

The above entry was a good smack in the head. I needed it. It's easy to come up with many excuses for the leakage that Chambers mentions. I like that description. It makes sense. It's true, what he says, that there is nothing more important than keeping right spiritually. Coming up with a myriad of reasons for allowing the leakage, or not even noticing the early stages of the trickle that quickly become a hemorrhage would be easy to do. It's a slippery slope to be avoided. I knew I was skidding a bit, but probably not being honest with myself about the current status. Reading this entry brought things back into perspective. Repairing the leak is not always easy. It is, however, quite simple. There's not a complicated formula to be followed. It's time to shore up the leak and move on.

What a good weekend!

2008-08-10T21:20:00.005-04:00

I had such a rejuvenatinng weekend. I just realized, though, that before I say anything about that, I need to add the pix from the 4th of July that I forgot to post a couple weeks ago.

That's my "little" brother fishing on the end of the dock. It's been a pretty dry summer. As a result it took him over an hour to find a worm. I think he maybe gave up and just used a lure. heheh.....he took some ribbing over that! The kayaks my aunt and uncle have been storing at Grandma's are providing hours of fun this summer!
This was the first of a couple races. The course goes around the neighbor's buoy and back. The first one past the dock is the winner. I love the bright colors in this pic. From far to near, the kayakers are Luke Eichorn(one of my cousins), Matt (my brother), Joel Eichorn (another cousin), and Mindy(my sister in law).
Matt won! But it wasn't without some real grit and determination! The next pic shows my mom grilling. Note there are a few after. In all of them the women are hard at work. Isn't this a holiday? A day of rest? Just wait until you see the men hard at work as well.

Notice the women had two grills going to feed everyone. Vicki and Fran are doing a good job of setting out the rest of the non-grilled items.

And...........as promised.....the men at work!

Doesn't it look like Matt's asking for another drink?

Hahaha....it was a good day, but it cracked me up to watch lunch being prepared. I always thought grilling was looked at as men's work. Apparently not so much.

This last weekend was a good one. I went to my parent's in Michigan to enjoy more time at the lake. How could you not want more of what's in the pix above? There weren't so many people, but it was nice to relax.

Friday evening we enjoyed watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. I was definitely impressed with the detail and precision that went into such a show! I had to wonder, though, about all of the talk of harmony and unity, thoughts of China taking steps toward opening their doors to the world. At the same time they didn't allow Joey Cheek's visa because of his stance on what's going on in Darfur and China's involvement. I need to educate myself about the whole thing a bit more, but it smacks of hypocrisy a bit. Also, I was chatting online this evening with a friend who's working on the Africa Mercy. She said that she loved the opening ceremony, but was also bothered by the expense of it all. One of the Liberian translators on the ship pointed out that Liberia could be rebuilt for the cost of the opening ceremony. Hmmmm...food for thought.

Saturday we slept in, ate a yummy breakfast, hung out by the lake, reading and resting, and then had some fresh sweet corn and burgers on the grill. What a restful day!

This afternoon after church my sister, Laura, and her husband Jeremy rode their cycle up from Goshen. We spent the afternoon at the lake getting sun and kayaking.

I just love time with family and rejuvenation at the lake. There's nothing like time spent near water to just make things seem right in the world. Not all is right, but it feels a little closer after a rejuvenating day.

While there are issues with some of the things going on in China, I still love the Olympics. I LOVE them! That same friend on the AFM said she'll take the Olympics over sleep any day. I agree! I'm looking forward to the next two weeks!

Time to catch up

2008-07-28T19:20:00.008-04:00

So I'm finally getting back at it. The last month or so has been busier than I expected. Needless to say, I haven't taken much time to blog. The first week of the month I spent with family. Matt and Mindy, my brother and sister-in-law were in Michigan where we grew up for a week of vacation. It was fun to spend time with them and catch up. Twice a year is definitely not enough! I miss them a lot. Not all of us went both directions, but two of the days included riding the Kal-Haven Trail. The sunset pictures in this post were taken off the lighthouse pier in South Haven. There will be more pix from the 4th of July another day.

Two of my very favorite people!

I like the cloud in this one. It looks like it's at the beginning of a road wandering off to who know's where. Maybe the road they take when they ride off in the sun set, literally.

This water lilly is in the lake just off the dock at my Grandma's house. Some see weeds, some see beauty. The lilly pads may grow a bit faster than desired, but the flowers sure are beautiful! For me there aren't many things more entrancing than watching light dance on water.

The following weekend I spent some time at my sister's house watching girlie movies and enjoying some DeBrand's (notice this link is brown for the chocolate:) If you like chocolate and have never had DeBrand's, you're missing out, let me tell ya!

This last week, my mom bought herself a new knee (refer to previous post). She told me on Saturday that the pain afterward was worse than birthing me. Granted, I was only 5lb. 13oz. but I was her first, so I'm sure it was no picnic. I'm happy to say it's much better now. She's home and recovering nicely. This last weekend I got to go be nurse, cook, gardener, physical therapist, and dictator. That last description was hers. I think deep down, she appreciated it, but she came as close as my mom will to cussing at me once or twice when I was helping her with the physical therapy. I called her today to check in. When I called today, she said she hadn't done her exercises this morning because she had to go to the hospital for routine post-op blood work, and then to see a friend at the doctor's office. I told her I'd give her a reprieve, but she better do them after lunch. She just laughed and said, "I thought you went back to Fort Wayne". She was quickly reminded that if she doesn't want my "encouragement" she should not answer her phone;) I'm glad to know her pain is better, and she's actually moving very well.

I'm going to end on a pretty sad note. Tomorrow is the first anniversary of the day we, as crew on the Africa Mercy, lost our mate, Colin. He drowned in the rip currents off the Liberian beach just 2 days before his 22nd birthday. I didn't know him well, but I had friends who did, one in particular who was at the beach with him that day. Would you please keep his family and those he left behind in your prayers?

Tell you what. That is a sad note, but I'm not going to end there. If you read this post and respond before I leave for work tomorrow, I'll send you a sample from DeBrand's. Your comment needs to include your favorite kind of chocolate! (This is really just an excuse for me to go to DeBrand's, don't be fooled!!! hahaha)

Don't give up on me!

2008-07-27T21:29:00.002-04:00

This is going to be a super short post. Don't give up on me, all 3 of you that read this blog! Somehow between work and trips out of town, life has gotten busier than I expected in July. I have a few things to add, it's just not going to be for a few more days!

Holes-Editing Note

2008-06-21T21:27:00.002-04:00

I'm laughing as I type this. To fully appreciate this short post it's necessary to first read Holes, the post just below this. I talked to my Mom this evening. I had emailed her telling her she might want to check my blog. We talked a while and then she said that she had read the blog. She thougth it was nice, but she had a correction. Ardi wasn't the one that crawled up on the roof to take the pictures from above. She did that too! I forgot to mention in the original post that she is buying a new knee July 23. She used her left leg to do the climbing, and then pulled the right one up. What was that I said about stubborness? I think a little bit proud of it too, as well she should be. Makes me look bad that I chickened out and then my Mom who needs a new knee did it. You win some, you lose some.

Holes

2008-06-18T23:28:00.008-04:00

I've had a few things I would like to write about, but I've been without the pictures that I needed to give impact to what I wanted to say. Here's one of the posts. Hopefully 1 or 2 more in the next couple days.

About a week ago my mom called to ask if we've ever watched a movie titled "Holes". We sure have. She then asked what it was about, so I told her. If you haven't seen the movie or read the book, it's pretty entertaining. Actually I haven't read the book, but we all know it's usually better. I'm usually more of a realist. There is some definite fantasy, but I still like the story. Here I go wandering from the point. After I told Mom about the movie I asked why she was randomly calling to ask about it. "Well, I've been digging so many holes, I finally remembered the name of the movie".

Here's what happpened. My parents have had some plumbing work done by a friend. He asked when the septic tank was last pumped. Ummm......never. I think their house is about 22 yr. old. So it was time to dig to find the top of the tank. Mom and Dad discussed where it was, and came to a consensus. Quite a few that regularly stop here to read know Dad. For the few that don't, he's blind and his health doesn't allow him to help with things like digging. (Side note...he could sure use any prayers you're able to lift for him. His health has been far from stellar. Feeling awful all the time has been very exhausting for him.) So Mom dug in (pun intended). After a little while my uncle showed up and helped for awhile. They worked a few hours on Saturday morning with no luck. The following Monday another family friend (Thanks Sam) came over and helped look some more, using the tricks he had in his bag. Still no tank.

I think Mom called with her question on Wednesday evening. She had dug and dug to no avail. I suggested that she follow the pipe from the side of the house, but knew that would be the long way around the house to get to the barn, so to speak. A day or so later, she decided that even though she didn't really want to go that route, it was not looking hopeful just digging in the places they thought the tank was.

Here's a picture from the roof, taken by same uncle who did some of the digging. Thanks Ardi! I tried climbing the antenna to get to the roof, but chickened out. I think my legs must have gotten shorter because it sure was a lot easier when I was 10. Hmmm. You can see a pretty definite line of holes, following the pipe.

These are some of the more random holes where we were all sure the tank was. I wish you could see them up close because they look much larger when you're standing right by them. The ones following the pipe are each about 18 in. wide by 2-3 ft. deep. Thats a LOT of digging.
This past weekend, I was in Sturgis on Saturday to celebrate Father's Day with my Dad because I had to be in Fort Wayne on Sunday. Friday evening out she went again determined to find that tank. I was doing the dishes and then heading out to help. Determined she was because about 10 minutes later she came back inside just bursting with pride. SHE FOUND IT!!!!

I have to say I'm pretty proud of my mom on this one. My Grandma Eichorn said it well. "She just doesn't give up easy, does she?" Sometimes a stubborn streak needs correction. Other times, though, you just have to respect it. Who ever thought so much work would be involved just for the privilege of sucking poo from a concrete box?

Here's the theme song from the movie. Needless to say I played that one for Gerri a time or two.

Just What I Needed

2008-06-05T23:09:00.004-04:00

My cousin Mary recently wrote a blog titled Beautiful. That almost fits, but not quite, not to mention the fact that even though I like the way she thinks, I don't want to steal her work.

Today was a rough day. Thursdays are typically the roughest day at work. We have 2 surgeons working on Thursdays that are both very good and they both have a lot of experience. That means they are very efficient, which translates into the ability to do a lot of surgeries in a short amount of time. If you're working in the recovery room, the buck stops there. Patients need time to recover. That process can be expedited to a degree, but facts are facts. It takes time. It's true. Sometimes people are interested in staying all day to be pampered. (Ever see the video titled "Man Cold" on youtube? Men tend to be the campers in recovery:) When there are only so many beds and only so many nurses, there comes a numbers problem. The surgeons are fast. The patients can only be ushered through so quickly without the nurses being rude or uncaring. As the nurse, I must admit, you sometimes feel forced between a rock and a hard place. Today was made one worse by the fact that one of the small number of nurses was ill and not able to be at work. Ugh! Good morning, aren't you glad tomorrow's Friday? Anyway...you get the picture. I ran my tail off at work. The humidity has not helped. It managed to seep into every nook and cranny of the day, causing all of us at work to find our clothes sticking to us and wishing we could all sit with a personal fan. (hahaha...I thought I left the humidity in Liberia. Rainy season has started again there. Indiana still doesn't compare, but today and tomorrow, if Curtis Smith is right, are going to do their best to compete with West Africa's rainy season. Really...if I'm going to have rainy season, I'd like to be able to see my ladies, go to the market, and eat some monkey fruit!)

You know it's bad when you're working so hard that your patient whose blood pressure was uncomfortably low and was horribly nauseated is apologizing to you. She told me she was sorry that she was causing so much extra work for me, and felt bad that I had to do more charting because of her. When she said it, I apologized thinking maybe I had done something to make her feel like she was a nuisance. She assured me that I had not. She just said that she and her husband had been watching the staff all day and didn't know how we had been able to keep up the pace we were. She noticed that no one really disappeared long enough to have gone for lunch, let alone a coffee break. She was simply voicing her appreciation. It was nice to hear, but I hate the days that you can try all you want, and you still just don't quite achieve the gracefullness to run full tilt and make it look like you're strolling.

By the time I got off work I was starving, tired, hot, ready for a shower, and my legs were just plain aching. My first thought was that pizza or maybe chocolate would make it better. Instead, I went to Pizza Hut and got salad carry-out. Let's be honest. I made the healthy choice, but I was ready to let someone else do the cutting and chopping. (Good deal by the way....a large salad is HUGE and it's only $5.50) I then went home, ate, watched the news, and checked my email. While I would have loved to just sit right there on the couch and be a zombie the rest of the evening, I made myself get up and go for a ride on my new bike I got a few weeks ago. It wasn't all that far, but I rode maybe 5 miles or so, pushing it fairly hard. Finally, I came home, put the lovely Norah Jones in the CD player, showered, and then listened to George Winston while I spent some time working on a Bible study I recently started.
Here's a picture of my bike, a stimulus check at work. Actually, I had saved $ for it a year ago, but then went out of the country, so I put it on hold and got it once the weather started getting nice. Still sure doesn't hurt the economy and is a whole lot cheaper than gas!

Yes, the pizza, diet pepsi, and chocolate would have been lovely. No, a sit on the couch after a grueling day would not have been out of line. By the time I got home from the ride, though, my legs were no longer achy. I felt like I had sweat the stress of the day away. I know that doesn't paint a pretty picture, but you know it helps! I was just in a better frame of mind. Goodness knows time in the Word only improved things. Don't you love how That Thing is truly living and breathing?

Well...that's it. Around 11am, if you would have told me that I'd be sitting here at the computer tonight thinking about what a good day it was, I might have thought about taking a swing. It was good, though. All of my patients lived. (That sounds cold, but sometimes when it's rough, that's the goal. Ask another nurse.) My patients were very appreciative and sweet. All of them. If they had felt like I was rushing them through, they would not have said thank you. As I realized several weeks ago...I've not had a workday yet that has not ended. That was true again today. It's unbelievably muggy today, but when you ride your bike, the faster you go, the stronger the breeze. The salad was DELICIOUS! There are so many truths in what I've read in the Bible in the last few days, that I would have to write a long time to process it all. I'm so glad our God is bigger and more multi-faceted than we are. It started out rough, but it ended up being just what I needed.

Side note...I added a link to MLB, major league baseball. I've been a Tigers fan since I was old enough to know what baseball was. It's painful again this year, being a fan of theirs, but I'm not going to be fickle, just because it's another lean year. Been meaning to add it for a while, and finally got around to it.

I CAN'T HARDLY TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!

2008-06-03T20:50:00.004-04:00

The title in all caps is deliberate. When it was said, it was with such passion that there's really no other way to convey it. The statment has been made many times, but the time worth talking about was this last Sunday immediately after church. Grant Delagrange said it. Quite a few of you reading this know Grant. For those of you that don't, it's your loss. I'm not sure how old he is, but I'm thinking around 17. Grant has Down's Syndrome. That's not really the important part of the story. The only reason it's relevant is that often I think that those with Down's tend to be a little more forthright than some of the rest of us.

Here are a few things about Grant that are important. He loves Jesus. He loves music. He loves to worship. He loves being with his church family. I think that he would be hard-pressed to answer whether he loves Doug Hood or Jeff Eager more. (Doug's our worship leader and Jeff is the drummer) It's always a treat singing with the worship team for more reasons than one. One of them, though, is that you always know that at least one person in the congregation will be right up front worshipping with their whole self. That's Grant. This last Sunday we had a great time of worship together. The service was switched around a bit. We did almost all of the singing after the sermon. The last song we sang was "I saw the Light". It's a great song. My favorite part of the whole service was Grant's comment at the end. He walked past the front of the stage with a huge sigh, sounding like he had just run a few miles. He breathlessly exclaimed, "I CAN'T HARDLY TAKE IT ANYMORE!"

Why aren't we all like that? Yes, it's because he likes Doug and Jeff, and they were playing the song. Yes, he likes singing. Yes, he was probably even more charged because a few of the guys put their shades on near the end of the song as they sang about the Light. But really, the reason he could hardly take it anymore is because he loves to worship. He LOVES it. He loves his Jesus and wants to let him know. He was so full of passion that he literally could hardly take it anymore. He's not ashamed to let anyone know that. We could all take a lesson. Too bad only those of us still on the stage got to hear it. I appreciated the sermon, the choice of songs, and the sharing time, but the thing I appreciated most Sunday was Grant's challenge. He didn't realize he challenged me, but I've been thinking about it since.

I'll think about that tomorrow

2008-05-26T22:26:00.003-04:00

I'm feeling pretty reflective this evening. Actually, I'm feeling pretty tired. I ought to be in bed, but after being busy or out of town for the last 4 or 5 days, I've been catching up on emails and news online via blogs, facebook, etc. Even though I don't live near family, I enjoy the opportunity to keep up at least a little bit thanks to this web we rely on so much.

I have so many things on my brain that there's no way to sort them all out. I'll have to work on that in the next several days. I haven't felt much opportunity to do that over the last week or two. I'm not complaining, though, because I love having family and friends to occupy my time with. It's much more enjoyable than hanging out with just myself.

The things to think about.

My friend's mom is living with terminal cancer. How can I make the road just a bit easier considering their family is somewhat spread out? Her mom just moved to Fort Wayne this weekend, so it will be an adjustment for all. I think it will be a relief, if for no other reason than the price of gas.
Last week I heard a good sermon about Daniel in the lion's den. We've all heard it before. The main point this time was that King Darius decreed that all people would worship Daniel's living God. He's a living God, and still lives today. He's there for us and will not let us be eaten by the lions. This Sunday I heard a sermon from Isaiah 49. The Lord promises that it's easier for a nursing mother to forget a newborn than it is for Him to forget us. That's a promise we can hold in our fist and never let go of. Satan does not get permission to pry our fingers loose on this one. There are days it's easy to believe, and other days not so much. It's there in black and white, though. I LOVE it when God teaches me the same lesson in several ways, from several people, over time, from different parts of His Word!
Today is Memorial Day. I grew up with a heritage of non-violent resolution to conflict. At the same time, we all get the day off work to honor those who have died fighting for our freedom. How do you reconcile that? This is an issue that I've spent a lot of time thinking about over the years. There are questions that each person has to answer for themselves according to what scripture says. I must say I am grateful for the freedoms I enjoy!
What a busy weekend with helping with a move, bike rides, babysitting, church, lunch, installing doors, installing an air conditioner that didn't want to be installed, canoeing, visiting, grilling out with the family. I don't know that theres's much of anywhere in the world that's better for my soul than time spent on Perrin Lake.
I've received two, maybe three different emails with a link to the same 8 minute video about laminin. I filed it away for future viewing the first couple times, knowing there was a good chance I'd never get to it. I finally watched it this evening b/c it occured to me that maybe if it's showed up 3 times, I should listen. It was interesting. Christ, and what He did for us on the cross and then the resurrection, truly needs to be the glue that holds us together. It is already, but we, I, need to be more aware of it every minute of every day.
I've read a blog lately that has addressed the manner in which some people approach missionary work and the people that are being served. There's a bit of irony in what the person is ranting about and what she, herself, is doing. It's not my battle, but I'm closely enough involved to feel quite offended by it. It's been bothering me for a week. I've come to no resolution, but it's still peeking it's ugly head into my brain several times a day.
My friend's Grandpa died a couple days ago. I just learned about it today. As I was talking to a family member on the phone this evening she shared about how much she's learned about him in the last few days. An accident, health, and probably difference in age have all had an effect on how much she got to know the real Willie. We've always thought he was a pretty quiet man. Turns out he was quite a pal in his younger years. Why don't I take the time to get to know people on a closer level? A large percentage of the time, I'm the one who's missing out, especially with those who have decades of wisdom to be tapped.
My friend and I have been holding each other accountable to memorize scripture. We started with Ephesians 1, struggled with some of the repetitive phrases, moved to Psalm 103 (which I love, by the way!), and have returned to Ephesians 1. This week we will complete it. There is a lot of valuable stuff packed into those two chapters. I listened to an audio Bible some while I drove to MI and back, practising the complete chapter. I've read and listened to the chapter at least 50 times over the last couple months. After all of those times, the last verse hit my like a two-by-four out of nowhere.

That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

We are the church. I'm the church. You're the church. What does it mean to be the fullness of Christ? How are we supposed to help Him fill everything in every way? What does that look like? Are we getting the job done? Wow!

So there. Now you know what's going on in my head. I should read through this to see if any of it makes sense. Remember what I said at the beginning? I'm tired. I need to get to bed. I know that while I was driving there were even more things going on in my head. I can't bring them all to mind now. This is enough. My brain is full and needs to rest. My heart is full with the time I got to spend with people I love. As Scarlett O'Hara said..."I'll think about that tomorrow".

A Walk to Beautiful

2008-05-12T19:13:00.004-04:00

This post is one of the nearest and dearest to my heart. Each of these ladies pictured below carries a piece of my heart with them. I will never get those pieces back. I can honestly say, though, that I consider the giving of those pieces one of the biggest privileges I will ever have. If we had a couple hours I could tell you lots of stories about each of them. For now, though, let it suffice to say that they were all patients that I cared for and fell in love with in Liberia last summer.

I'm not going to write a lot because I don't want you to get bogged down in the text and miss the point of this post. There is a documentary on PBS tomorrow night, Tues. 5-13-08, at 8pm. It's titled A Walk to Beautiful. It tells the stories of some of the patients at the fistula hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. That's not where I was, but it shares the stories of many women just like the ones below. The documentary is very moving. Be prepared to be sad and enouraged at the same time. I only saw 10 minutes of it, and I was very moved!

Here's the link. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/beautiful/

The kicker? This is going to compete with American Idol. I know that's tough for a lot of people. I can tell you that the hour you spend watching will not be a waste. Maybe you could tape one and watch the other. Just an idea.

I tried to add a few more, but the image upload quit working on me. I just lost electricity, so who knows, maybe this won't even post. Sure am glad I have a membership to the Y so I can get ready in the morning if it doesn't come back on!

Deck 8

2008-04-28T14:29:00.007-04:00

I really should have posted this yesterday while it was still fresh in my mind. Actually, if I were as tech. savvy as my friend Mary from work, I would have had my laptop in church with me to take notes, and could have written in the moment. My memory is still pretty good, so I think I'll be fine.

We sang Glory in the Highest yesterday in church. You can listen to it here if it doesn't pop into your head. I don't know about the rest of you, but every once in a while a wave of emotion hits me more quickly than I know how to handle. I nearly had to sit down in tears, happy ones, not sad. That's what happened during worship. I love that song. You know how sometimes a song, or a smell, or a taste takes you right back to another time and place? All of a sudden I found myself on Deck 8 of the Africa Mercy. I'm here now, and I know I'm right where I'm supposed to be. I'm not exactly sure why, but that's for my Father to know and me to trust. Sometimes, though, during worship, He takes us back to other sweet times with Him. Deck 8 is one of those times/places for me.

Deck 8 is one of the few places one can go on a ship with 350-380 crew and a hospital full of patients. For single crew members, the only place you can really call your own, is your pillow. Even then, if you're on the bottom bunk, you cabin mates may use it for a sofa. Needless to say, some days you need some alone time. I was sad to realize when I sat down to post this that I don't have any good photos of Deck 8. At the end are a few to try to give you an idea. It's the very top of the ship. There are cranes, storage for old resin lawn chairs, the bridge (where the capt. and officers sail the ship from), extra small freight containers, AC vents, lifeboats, and a lot of machines that look like things that someone with no sailing experience should leave alone. The other thing that is to be found there is a lot of open space and solitude. Especially if you're wise enough to go there around 1 or 2am, you feel like you have the whole ship to yourself. It's a great place to go to pray, sing, be still, read the Word, or listen to your iPod.

At least once everyother day I found time to go to Deck 8 to get away from it all for a little while. During the night you could see the stars, hear the waves, watch the UN guards patrolling the dock (or budding romances that weren't yet ready to expose their relationship to the grapevine;), smell the saltwater, not to mention the funk coming from water in the bay that wasn't fit to swim in. You could also look out over the city. It naturally brought me to prayer, both for the crew and patients in the 7 decks below me, as well as the people of Liberia that I know He loves and wants to draw to Himself.

You don't need to be in exactly the same spot every time to replicate sweet times with Jesus, but when a memory hits you so hard, it's hard to not want to return. Yesterday as we sang, that's where I was. The beauty of Deck 8 is that between the roar of the diesel engines and the wind, I could listen to that song over and over on my iPod, singing as loud as my lungs would take me. Even so, the people on the dock rarely heard, or at least were kind enough not to jump off the dock in misery:) I love to sing in the car and the shower. I love to sing with others too, but it's fun to let it rip when no one else is listening. (I know y'all know what I'm talking about.) More than once one of the ship's Nepalese guards came around the corner of the funnel to find me belting one out all by myself. hehe
This isn't a great picture of Deck 8, but you can see, on the ship on the right, that there is a lot of busyness going on on the top of the ship.

The side of the funnel. Every time I looked at the funnel, I had to think of Loveboat.
The Peet family, from England, was living in the city, and then came to volunteer on the ship. Much later than expected, their pool that they had ordered finally arrived. To the benefit of the crew, it now sits on Deck 8. This is a recent photo of Sally trying it out.

Oh yeah, you can watch some amazing sunsets from Deck 8 as well. I never tire of the beauty of water, clouds and light! Thanks for letting me ramble and reminisce. Hopefully we all can find our own Deck 8 from time to time.

Spring Cleaning

2008-04-26T16:27:00.009-04:00

A photo doesn't really do it justice, but I wanted to show off a couple paintings that I bought in the craft market in Monrovia, and just recently had framed. This is my first venture in having something professionally framed. Not cheap! I knew that going in, but still.....come one. It's salty to say the least. I have to say I'm very glad that I only paid $22 for both. I had a hard time deciding between the 2, so the vendor gave me a deal on the pair. I love blues and greens and that was what really drew me to these 2. They're each about 2 ft. by 3 ft. so they look much smaller in the photos than they do in realy life.

It's been a pretty ho-hum sort of week. Work has had it's annoyances, but the work week is over! Actually several weeks ago we were having a particularly trying work day. My friend Michelle and I were talking about it. Before I had really taken the time to think through the comment, I pointed out that I've not had a work day yet that has not ended. Good to know. Some days you just keep plugging through with the mere goal of surviving. This last week felt a bit like that, but the work week ended just like every other one always has. Thank goodness. The good news is that we only have one surgery that will require time in the recovery room, so several of us got to be downstaffed. The reward for trudging on was a 3-day weekend. I love it!

Another bonus at the end of the week was renewed faith in the fact that good things come to those who wait. It's not anything major, like my ship coming in or anything, but I felt like I won something. I've been thinking that I'd like to replace my computer chair. It's really not a computer chair, it's a VERY old dining room chair that my parents bought used when they got married. Anyway...I've looked at new ones, but was reluctant to spend the money. For some reason they decided at work that it's time to replace the board room chairs. They're nice. High- backed, swiveling, reclining, telescoping based, leather chairs with arm rests. Really I don't know why they need to be replace. They look like new. Just as I was leaving work I happend to run into my supervisor in the hall. The old chairs were only being given to the supervisors. She said that she doesn't want hers, and that I should go take it if I could use one for any reason. Hmm......glad I didn't buy one last weekend when I was looking. This one is much nicer, and it's free. I LOVE free!!!!!!!

I'm going to mention this at least once more, and I may even send out an email. Remember to watch PBS on May 13. "A Walk to Beautiful" will be airing. It's a documentary about VVF. I'm excited for others I know to get a little bit better opportunity to see first-hand what the lives are like of the ladies I cared for last summer.

Well, the title said spring cleaning. That's ultimately my goal for this weekend. I was supposed to be doing that when I sat down to check my emails and blogs. Now here I am writing rather than cleaning. Gotta get back to it. Hope you're all having a good weekend.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

2008-04-12T14:34:00.005-04:00

What a dreary day! Yesterday it was 69 degrees here. Today it feels like 34 with the wind chill. Yes, I said wind chill. What's the date? April 12. We should NOT have to be dealing with wind chill in April. I would much rather be dealing with humidity, and I don't even like humidity. After an experience of being lost and thirsty to the point of real concern once while we were backpacking, my sister and I have become good at reminding ourselves that it's all in perspective. We were on our hands and knees drinking water out of a tiny stream only about one half inch deep. We stopped to pray for direction and over the next hill we again found the trail. See.....it was all in perspective. We felt hopelessly lost and yet were so near wheere we needed to be. My dad is in the hospital. It looks like he's going to be alright, but it's been a pretty crappy week, literally. My friend's mom that I mentioned several days ago has learned that she has stage 4 cancer in at least 3 areas of her body. It's all in perspective. Yes, today is a lazy, gloomy day, but the sun will shine again. Until then, I have decided to take the day to take it easy, look at some pictures of rain that's worse than it is here, and days in the last year that have been much nicer than today.

These are push-carts that can be rented in Monrovia. Very few people own vehicles, so when they need to get a large item from A to B, they use one of these. It gets tipped upright, much like a wheel-barrow, the item is strapped to the bars, and off you go, pushing your cart through town.
Our roads have suffered through this long winter. It's nothing compared to what it could be. Here are a couple pictures to keep it all in perspective as far as what bad roads really look like.

This is Jamaica Road. It's one of the main roads in Monrovia. It would be comparable to Anthony or Lima Rd. in Fort Wayne. In one of my earlier blogs I wrote about walking to church on Jamaica Road. This is taken on the way to church.
Just to keep things in perspective, now we're going to reminisce about prettier days. The first full day I went was in Liberia we went to Cece Beach. These are some examples fo different days there. Yes, the life of a missionary is a lot of hard work and difficult experience, but let me be the first to day it's not all bad.

A reminder that there's still a lot of work to be done cleaning up after the war.

If you were lucky enough to be the first ones at the beach, this whole area was swept smooth with palm fronds.
We had some of the most adorable children living on the ship with their families. It was nice having all age ranges represented. The youngest was months old and the oldest was 72. You're never too young or old to serve.
This is Libby. Her name is Liberty, and she was an orphan in Liberia. Her adoptive parents are from the UK. She was definitely my favorite person on the AFM. The first time I met her, she was very annoyed to be forced to be friendly to yet another new person. After I had asked her name a couple times and her mum gave her no choice. She put her hands on her hips, rolled her eyes, and said, "I'm Wibby!" She prompty stomped off. It took another 2 weeks to get her to respond to me again. I LOVED her!

Now, we're going to Miami. I had a free airline ticket to use, so my sister and I went for a long weekend the end of January. The first one is Southbeach. The great thing about going to the beach there is that no matter what you do or wear, you will still not be the oddest person people saw that day.

Just a few reminders of the fact that teh sun is, in fact, just beyond the clouds. Still keeping it in perspective.

Psalm 103

2008-04-07T20:10:00.002-04:00

A friend of mine, Hettie, and I have been memorizing scripture together. Each week we add another 3 verses to what we have already stored away in our gray matter, and then type it in an email and send it to the other. If we remain on schedule tomorrow we will complete Psalm 103. Before that we had been working on Ephesians 1. I love Ephesians, but if you look at the first chapter it's a lot of phrases that sound the same all repeated over and over. We were both struggling so we set it aside for a short time. I had been studying Psalm 103 on my own and when I told Hettie to choose a passage that's the one she chose. Hmmmm....maybe God had that worked out already?

Tomorrow is a big day for several people I know. I have a relative going to the doctor to learn biopsy results. A dear friend who was adopted into a loving family over 30 years ago is having a conference call with her biological father who only recently found out that she even exists. Another friend is having a second interview with a missions agency, which may lead to an indefinite placement somewhere in Africa. Finally a friend's mom is going for a PET scan to see if/how far her cancer has spread. You know what I have to do tomorrow? Go to work. It's even only expected to be about a 1/2 day. This evening all of these people that I love have been on my mind a lot. I'm not worrying, just thinking. As I said in my last entry, sometimes you want the words to say and they just aren't there. As I've been thinking about it, though, there are promises in Psalm 103 to cover nearly every step in life's journey. He promises that His love is always with those who fear Him. He heals all of our diseses. As Heather wrote in her blog, sometimes that can be done in a variety of ways, but He does promise it. I don't need to come up with the words for any of these people, I've already been memorizing them!

I've come to the conclusion that it's not an accident that it looks like I'll have a short day at work tomorrow. We can pray as we go about our day, but it's also nice to be able to set aside dedicated time for it as well. One of the best places I've found to pray is the pool at the Y. As I swim from wall to wall looking at the tiles on the floor of the pool, all I have to do is pray or sing in my head or think. I think I'll go in the afternoon so I don't have to get up at 0500. When I go in the afternoon, it's usually an extended workout. Perfect! Good exercise and great prayer time. Won't you help me if you happen to think about each of my dear ones throughout the day?

The gift of surgery doesn't always feel like a gift

2008-04-06T19:36:00.005-04:00

This is a long one, so come back later if you only have a couple minutes. Sorry-O! (In West Africa, we add O to the end of many words.) I'll get around to explaining my title, but first I thought I'd take time to share a few more pictures. Take time.......that's a very African thing to say. We use it slightly differently. There if you're walking down the street too fast, eating too fast, talking too fast, basically going through life too fast, a West African will tell you to "take time". Translated to American english, it means "slow down". Take time to smell the roses. Anyway...there may be a few random thoughts thrown in this one. You just never know.

This first picture is of one of the wards on the Africa Mercy. Private rooms? Private toilets? Think again! We are used to so much pampering here. There were 4 wards. Two of them have 20 beds. This is half of one of the wards. There's a wall separating the two sides, 10 beds on each side. There's one toilet for every 10 beds. Actually this particular ward has 15 beds and only ONE toilet. Remember that most Liberians aren't accustomed to using toilets so even though there's one there to be used, you may not want to. I'll get around to more of that in a bit.

This is the other half of the 15 bed ward, Peace Ward. That's a funny name considering it was typically the pediatric ward, so there was often not a lot of Peace.
Below is an example of the pictures that hang in every patient bathroom. Like I said, many Liberians don't have the benefit of using toilets. They squat where they have opportunity to relieve themselves. I'll explain that again in another post when I share more pictures of the city. Use your imagination until then. Anyway...these are examples of things not to do and ways to use it. Just because you usually squat, do not stand on this bowl and squat......good way to fall in. No, the nice white bowl of clean looking water is not for laundry. The final two are pretty self-explanatory. Finally, remember to push the button on the wall to empty the bowl when your finished. When I first saw these pix I was very amused until I worked my first shift. I was trying to think of new pictures to add for issues these didn't cover. What an education!!!! My first shift the ladies forgot about pushing the button and we nearly had a flood. Needless to say, with a less-than-perfect plumbing system to begin with, the poor plumbers were called more times than I care to admit.
This is Dr. Steve Arrowsmith, a urologist from the American Southwest, New Mexico, I believe. He's affectionately known on the AFM as Dr. Steve. The world does not have very many VVF surgeons, because VVF is not an issue in the developed world. Here is a brief explanation of VVF. One day if I see him again, I'll have to ask how he came to do what he does. He spent at least 12 weeks of 2007 in Africa doing surgery for free. In this picture he is sporting a hat made by one of his grateful patients. This man is a teddy bear in the purest sense of the phrase. He cares so much about each of his patients. He rejoices when they do well, and takes it extremely hard when they do not. I could share much more about Dr. Steve, but that will have to suffice for now.
That brings me to the final picture of this post. This is Fatmata. Her friends call her Fata (sounds like gotta, not fat). I was privileged to be one of thse friends. Patients are typically admitted the night before their surgery and have their pre-op. That's pretty much the same as surgery here at home-an IV, a bowel prep, etc. I admitted Fata and went through the routine. There is always a mixture of excitement, apprehension, and fear of the unknown. I have to say it would be very intimidating. For most, this is the first time they've been on a ship, been in a hospital, or had surgery. Add to that the fact that yes, most Liberians speak English, but their English and ours is not the same. It would be a scary experience. There's also the desperate hope that this leaking will stop. In Fata's case, this was not her first attempt at a VVF repair. I'm still not sure, but I believe this was actually her third. It would be hard to allow yourself to hope.

I was still getting used to the fact that it's completely acceptable to ask your patients if they want you to pray with them, but just before she settled in for the night, I asked just that. We sat together on the edge of her bed and I prayed. I had to wonder how much she understood, but I was grateful for the fact that God is big enough to hear us in any language. She thanked me. I gave her a big hug, and tucked her in for the night. I knew that night that Fata was going to be someone that would stick with me for life. I was struck first by her beauty. She has gorgeous milky skin, strong cheekbones, and eyes that speak volumes. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. There is a book in her eyes. We are close to the same age. I sensed that in a different time and place we may have been very good friends.

The next day Fata went off to surgery. One of my roommates was an OR nurse, so we often ate lunch together and talked about how our days were going. She talked that day about a very difficult case that did not go well. There was not enough tissue to perform a repair. It happens more aften than we would like that there is too much damage, but Shonagh said that this was one that Dr. Steve was taking very hard. It was not good news to hear, but it still didn't hit me until that evening when I went to work I learned that the difficult case was Fata. At the beginning of evening shift Fata was still pretty sedated from the anesthesia. I'm ashamed to admit that I was relieved to not be assigned to her because I was so sad for her that I just didn't know what to say or do, so I was glad to not have to interact. I remember later talking with Jo, another one of the nurses, and she said that when she broke the news to Fata she sat down on the bed next to her and just cried. She said that she has not cried many times while she's been on the ship, and she had been there for a year or so. As she described it, she just said that Fata's story broke her heart the tears came before she realized what she was doing.

Many times if the surgery was not successful the patients would recover for a couple days and then go home, still leaking. In Fata's case, she had an RVF, which is a rectal fistula as well as the vaginal, so she was also leaking stool. That was able to be repaired so she remained for about 2 weeks as she recovered. I'm ashamed, once again, to say that it was not without relief on my part that during those two weeks I was gladto not be assigned to her again. That's not to say that my heart didn't break every time I was in the room with her. She was so sad. It goes so far beyond a bad day. She barely spoke in those two weeks. Her bed was beside a wall, and she faced that wall all the time. As I learned more of her story through other nurses, I learned that she had been on the Anastasis the last time Mercy Ships was there. I believe she had also been done earlier in the year as well. That made this her third try. During that two weeks I found it hard to even look at Fata because my heart broke for her and I just didn't know what to say or do to make it better. Remember that VVF patients are treated like the lepers in the Bible. It felt like we had failed her and were sending her home to the wolves.

Toward the end of Fata's recovery period I knew that I had to spend some time with her. It was eating me up inside that just because I didn't have the words to say or anything to fix the problem, I was doing nothing to provide this dear woman with even a modicum of comfort. Through Clemetine, our ward chaplain, I learned that Fata was having thoughts of ending her life due to her deep disappointment. Clementine had also said that Fata was not a Christian. I prayed first and then went to the ward. It was uncomfortable. I was not working. I was just there to visit. After a couple minutes I sat on the edge of Fata's bed and made a bit of small talk. Due to the difficulty of speaking, small talk was no small feat. I quickly got down to business. Still not sure how to go about it, I simply told Fata that I knew that she must be feeling very sad and disappointed. I told her how sorry I was that her surgery was not more successful, and that she would be in my prayers. I got about as far as "I'm sorry" and she began crying silent tears. It was then that I realized that words were not what was necessary, just presence and love. I wrapped my arms around her and we just both cried for a bit. Shortly afterward, we went out into the hall to have a little more privacy. Sometimes those 20 bed wards can make private discussions difficult. She shared more of her story with me. She lives with her uncle who doesn't want her and is not nice to her. I got the impression that he's abusive, but I was having some difficulty understanding her. She said that her mother died in the war, she has no sister, and no aunties to help her. I asked if she goes to church and has any friends there, but she said that she's isn't able to go because of the leaking. She has no living children. I asked her if she knows Jesus. She shook her head and seemed to not be willing to broach that topic. She told me she was going home the next day. I promised to visit before she left. I then went to my cabin, lay on my bed, and cried harder than I have in a very long time.

I wasn't in my cabin long when the phone rang. It was one of the nurses in the ward, saying that Fata was asking for me. It had been decided that she was going to home a day earlier than expected. I walked down the hall. (I lived only about 50 steps from where I worked.) This time Fata and I found an empty room and talked. There were many more tears. We spoke more about Christ. She told me that she knew and trusted Him. I still had my doubts, considering what. I already knew, but I had to go on what she told me. Clementine and Esther, a translator and assitant to Clementine, came to drive Fata home. Usually the patients went by cab, but Clementine had been keeping close tabs on Fata for the last 2 years. Obviously Fata is dear to her as well. The four of us spoke a bit and then they drove her home. The picture above was taken just before Fata walked up the steps to the gangway. It's interesting to me that she's the one suffering and I'm the one with the bloodshot eyes. I promised her that day that whether or not we ever meet again here on earth, she will be in my prayers for the rest of my life. I've kept that promise. Barring a miracle, the leaking will be for the rest of her life. I wonder about her so often. Has that miracle occurred? Does she know Christ? Is she still leaking? Is her family caring for her? Is she getting enough to eat? Is she sleeping on the ground? Does she feel safe? Does she have even one friend? Does she feel Christ wrapping His arms around her? Clementine said that only the Holy Spirit could say the words to truly change Fata's heart. In the meantime, she said "I'm going to keep checking on the is one". When I first learned that the AFM was returning to Liberia, rather than Sierra Leone as originally planned, the first thing I thought of was that there could be continued follow up with Fata. The fact that I don't get to go visit Fata is the source of some of my deepest disappointment in not being able to return to Liberia. I've tried, without success thus far, to get in touch with Clementine by email. I'm going to keep trying. Until then, maybe longer, I will keep praying. Every time I pray with the desperate hope that if not on this earth, that Fata and I will be able to spend eternity together, worshipping with all of the might we have in our bodies that don't suffer with earthly hurts.

The Africa Mercy in all her glory

2008-03-30T20:23:00.002-04:00

Here are a few pics of the Africa Mercy.
This a view of the ship from the end of the dock.
The laundry. Pretty self-explanatory. Remember, though, that because of water restrictions we only got to do one load a week. It's hot and muddy in Liberia, which means your clothes get pretty dirty every time you walk off the gangway. That load also includes scrubs for work and any clothes you wear to work out. Thank goodness for Febreeze!

Mmmmmmmmm....Starbucks. It's closed in this pic, but still provides plenty of tables to hang out. There was always black coffee available in the dining hall 24 hr. a day. Another small thing to be grateful for.

The internet cafe. There was also wireless available in the midships lounge and the dining hall.
A portion of the midships lounge. This is sort of the family room of the ship. We used it for watching movies on laptops, emailing, reading, devotions, playing games, Bible studies and just hanging out.

This is the Africa Mercy on the right and the Anastasis on the left. The Ana sailed away about two weeks after I arrived. She was sailed to India and sold as scrap after many years of service. She was originally a beautiful cruise liner and then when she was old and worn out, she was rehabed to become a hospital ship for many more years. The ship has nearly 25 Land Rovers as well to navigate the roads and country side. I'll add some pics of the road another day. I'm proud to say that this picture was taken by a fellow crew member from Michigan.

The last 2 pictures are the berth I shared with Kassi, from Canada. I was on the bottom. Take not of the fact that this was all of the space the two of us could call our own. Really the only place each crew member could consider their own space was their bunk. Even then, mine was Kassi's stepstool to hers. Also note the fact that it's so small that I was standing against the far wall of the hallway in our cabin and still had to take 2 pics to get the whole space in b/c it was too small to get a full view in one shot. We each had one side of the closet.

Long Overdue!

2008-02-23T07:45:00.007-05:00

After many requests, I'm finally getting around to an update. This post has been a long time coming. I had originally started this site because I figured it would be an easy way to share my experience in Liberia with those still at home. Well, now I'm home, and still occasionally get requests for updates. I've procrastinated, mostly because I figured if I'm not in Liberia any more, I don't have that much to say. That may be true, but I suppose I can find something to talk about. Life still goes on, it's just changed in many ways.

Seven months ago I thought that by this point, I would have already been back on the Africa Mercy, looking toward at least a year of service there. It's a Sunday evening, and I'm sitting in Fort Wayne, Indiana. So here you go Nicole.........

I really don't know what the plan is from here. As I said, the plan was to go back to Liberia. I read a sign recently that said, "Want to make God laugh? Tell Him your plans!" Apparently, He's having a laugh. I don't think it's a spiteful laugh or a cruel laugh, it's an "I want you to hold onto Me, and nothing else" laugh. I don't know if/when I'll be returning to service with Mercy Ships due to some health issues. It's nothing life-threatening, but I'm not sure that I will be able to return, at least for now. It's taken a while to be OK with that and really trust God on this one. You could probably tell from my previous posts that I loved being in Liberia and what I was doing there. He's faithful, though, and it's time to readjust and go from here.

For now, I'm still working at Surgery ONE and living life. I've been out of town a LOT in the last 2 months, at least on the weekends. I was at Central, where I go to church, this morning for the first time in 3 or 4 weeks. It was nice to reconnect, even though nearly half of the congregation seemed to be in the Sunshine State today. Hmmmmm....just a bit jealous. I did spend a long weekend in the Miami area 2 months ago, though, so I certainly can't complain.

As I was telling Nicole, I feel like I don't really have much exciting to say lately. I just realized, though, that now that I have a faster internet connection, I could share some of the pictures from my time in Liberia. As I think back, there are so many patients that I fell in love with and would love to share. So many of you that read this can enjoy it as well, knowing that your prayers and support helped make it all possible. I'll try to do a few pics and a new patient's story each week for a while.

I also wanted to get word out that there is going to be a show on PBS in May titled "A Walk to Beautiful". I saw a portion of it while I was on the AFM. My primary assignment was caring for VVF patients. You can check out some of my earlier entries to understand a bit more about VVF if you're not familiar. The movie is about a fistula hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The documentary is very well done, and does a wonderful job of explaining the shame and suffering that the women go through. As of now, it's scheduled to air on May 13, 2008 at 8pm. I definitely recommend it!

Faith

2007-09-29T21:53:00.000-04:00

Last Sunday in church Pastor Don and Troy used the sermon title "What's in Your Barn?" It was a fitting sermon after the last three months. I can say that I have seen first hand how truly wealthy we are here in America . I can also say that I'm not sure that we're happier or more fulfilled. In fact, I think I've seen that the more we have the more we want and the less content we are. I don't know how to say it more concisely than that. Monrovia is the capital city of Liberia . Still, 3 years after the war, there is no public water, electricity, sewage, or acceptable roadways. The capital city! We get so upset if we go without electricity for 12 hours and they've gone years without it. Still I found so many people there who are wholeheartedly assured that the only course of action is to trust God. Many of them know that He is the only answer, they're just still waiting to see the practical responses to their prayers.

This is always interesting to me. Where do you think their deep trust in God comes from? How do you think they are so patient in their faith? -- is it cultural? different religious practices? And are there tangible ways that you see Monrovians faith where it is absent by Americans? I’d love to hear your answers if you are able to write about it. I think these are important questions to think about/discuss/implement.

The first paragraph above is part of a newsletter that I wrote after returning from Liberia. The paragraph in red is a repsonse from a college friend. The remainder of this entry will be my attempt at a response.

In the Western world or developed nations, we have so much. Even the poor have so much more than what is needed in many cases. There are those struggling to make it from day to day, don't get me wrong, but the vast majority in the U.S. have food, shelter, clothing, utilities, and we're all entitled to a free education. In fact, if we qualify, we even get free or very inexpensive health care. Not only do most of us have the majority of our needs met, we have abundance that is not even able to be comprehended by many in the world. I don't know all the statistics, but in the sermon I mentioned, one of our pastors gave several statistics regarding wealth. I think he said something to the effect that if you own a book you're among the world's wealthiest 5%. (Forget owning that book. Being able to read it is wealth we don't understand. So many of my patients just laughed at me when I asked if they had any education.) There were several other examples that he used. I'm sure they're available online. The details aren't my point. The point is, most of us have some sort of education and therefore, earning power. Many of us also receive some sort of wealth from our families such as free educations, inheritance, assistance over the years, etc. Even if we don't have much, most of us have the means to obtain life's basic needs. There are many social work agencies available to provide assistance for most of those that look for it. Sadly, we find it easy to rely on our possessions or means of obtaining those possessions. If we're sick we go to the doctor. If we're hungry we go to the grocery. If we want something new to wear, we go to the mall. If we want a bigger house, we take out a bigger loan.

For much of the world, our reality is an unheard of phenomenon. As I observed in Liberia this summer, there just aren't means for all in the world to obtain the basic needs of life as easily as it is here in the West. Like the first paragraph noted, there is not public water, electricity, sewage, or even acceptable roadways. If simple things like disposing of trash, sewage, and providing clean water are not a possibility or a reality, then other social programs are obviously far on the back burner, years in the future as the rebuilding process continues. When you hit rock bottom and have nowhere else to turn, what do you do? For centuries, the world has sought some sort of "higher power". There are many "higher powers" to be tapped into. This summer I became much more aware of the fact that Africa is a very spiritual continent, much moreso than most Western countries. Romans 8:9 says, "if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ". So there are millions in Africa who either don't know Christ or have chosen not to follow Him. That means that they are worshipping, trusting, and being controlled by many spirits that are of Satan. It's a matter of, if not one, then the other. So...many turn to evil spirits, but there are also many who have learned of the blessings afforded by the Holy Spirit.

It's easy for us to assume that blessings refer to material possessions, but that's not even the beginning of it. There are the blessings of salvation, faith, healing, hope, family, beauty in nature, felloship with other believers, the Word, and so many others. As we begin to realize and appreciate them, we begin to find joy and peace in the midst of tragedy and suffering. Those, especially in Africa, who have learned to rely on the Holy Spirit, rather than evil spirits realize that they have a hope that cannot be taken away by poverty, death, hunger, pain, or any earthly power. The Holy Spirit affords a power we can't imagine if we only allow Him. I think that's where their patience comes from. I think that's where their faith is rooted. Most, in Liberia, at least, have no other choice. They can't go to a shelter or social work agency to obtain the help they need, in most cases. They have tried the worship of other powers that are not of God and they don't help, don't help for long, or bring harm. Any other "faith system" or "higher power" they might deal with worships a being that is dead. That's not the case for Christians. For those in Liberia who know Christ, knowing that He is alive and has not forgotten them is everything.

I have to say a bit of the patience is also cultural. Life moves at a much slower pace in much of the world. I have heard so many go on short-term missions trips and come home referring to Mexican time, Indian time, African time, etc. People frequently have to wait in long lines for any sort of service or event. It's not a big deal to them most of the time. If you apply for some sort of government service, it takes much longer than would be acceptable to us. That's usually dealt with patiently. If you come for a free surgery and have to sleep outside the night before and then wait until 6pm the next day to be seen by the doctor, it's still looked at as a privilege to have been cared for at all. So...if God doesn't answer your prayer as quickly as you would like or in exactly the same way that you like, you're ready to keep waiting.

I may have written about this in one of my letters, but it's worth sharing again. At one end of the ward in the hospital there was a map of the world with pictures of the long-term staff. Many times I walked by that map and patients would be there looking at it. There was more than once that I'm sure I was showing a patient a map of their country for the first time! Their eyes grew huge with amazement as the began to see how Liberia compared with the size off the entire world. One of my favorite things about my time on the ship was when a patient would look at the map, see where Liberia is, see how many other countries the staff had come from and then just look at me with tears in their eyes. "You mean you're not all from America?" I'd assure them that no, we had come from more than 30 countries. "God brought all of the necessary people here at the same time from many places to help Liberia, to help me?" Yes, with a smile, I would agree that God had quite a schedule to juggle. "OH! My God! He heard me! He knew I was suffering! I knew that it was good that He healed me, but I didn't know He did all this just for me!" More than once all I could do was stand there with tears in my eyes as they laughed or cried with joy. What a privilege it was to be God's hands and feet, to get to be the tangible resource to remind someone that, no, God has not forgotten you!

You know that when God speaks to one person suffering like that and He hears and answers that cry, that person is not going to be quiet! One of my patients told me that she was going to go home to tell all the Muslims in her village that they better wise up because their prophet is dead and her Jesus is still alive. I think that's what it all boils down to. When you believe that Christ is alive and loves you, how can you not find some strength in that, even when today looks hopeless?

1 Peter 5:10 says, "And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast."

Coming and Going

2007-08-02T11:00:00.000-04:00

It's been a long time since I've been able to write here. First I was too busy at work to be able to blog, and then over the weekend the satellite was turned off. I'll put more about that at the end of this entry. Still no luck uploading pictures. Sorry. I guess I'll have a lot to show when I come home!

As is the way with life, there has been a lot of coming and going here on the ship over the last few weeks. We tend to only have any particular surgeon here for a few weeks at a time, so the types of surgeries we're doing changes frequently. We finished the first round of VVF surgeries. All of them went home. Many went home with successful repairs, but not all. Some will return in the fall for another attempt. It's humbling to see some of those with enough damage that they couldn't have a successful repair still going about the work of being an encouragement to each other. I'm pretty sure I would not be as strong. One who had a successful repair returned to the ship a couple days ago because of an infection. I think she'll be OK, but it's scary for her. I have to admit, that as you get to know the ladies you can't help but love them. I was sorry to see Quita have an infection, but it's nice to see her beautiful smile again for a while. We are also doing quite a bit of orthopedic surgery right now. The surgeons that were here the first few weeks of ortho are pediatric surgeons, so we've done a lot of kids. I like the kids, but I can't say that I enjoy taking care of them. I'm much more comfortable caring for adults. It's a growing experience!

We have also been doing a lot of eye surgeries. There's a fairly constant influx of outpatient procedures, like cataracts, but we've had more inpatient eye cases lately as well. Many come with all sorts of traumatic injuries to their eyes. Often (I put that word there for you, Marley:) the eye has been injured for so long that it's pretty grotesque to see. I can't imagine how uncomfortable it would be to have your eye swollen and knotty for more than 10 years let alone not being able to see. Many of those patients come hoping to have their sight restored. That's just not always an option. It's not fun to do pre-op teaching and have to make sure that the patient understands that after their surgery, not only will they not have full sight, we will be taking the eye out to prevent infection or other complications. It's a huge disappointment to them. It's somewhat the same with the dental clinic. There are some things that they can do to help people and preserve their teeth, but as a general rule, people come with teeth that have been in bad shape for a long time. A lot of what the dental team does is simple extractions. At home, just going without a few of your teeth would not be an acceptable option, but here it's better to lose your tooth than it is to have an infection that becomes systemic and kills you.

For the most part the last couple weeks had been pretty routine day to day stuff, work, hang out, watch movies, and go to Monrovia. Sunday changed the experience for many. One of our crew drowned at a local beach. The satellite was turned off until his family could be properly notified without it getting to them through the grapevine before someone was able to tell them in person. He was a 21 year old from Texas. Yesterday would have been his 22nd birthday. The rip currents here are incredibly strong and sadly on Sunday the sea won. It's not fun to be one of 400 people wandering around a ship not sure what to do with themselves. Three people that were at the beach with him have flown to Texas to attend his funeral. One of the three is my roommate. Another one of the three got the news that her grandpa had passed away the next day. Please keep them and his family in your prayers. It has hit all of us quite hard, even though many of us didn't know him very well. I can't imagine the shock, for his family, of receiving that news at home.

So...as I said, many comings and goings. I certainly never expected the kind of going that we had on Sunday. I knew before I came that this is a place that you're always meeting new people and saying goodbye to friends who have finished their term. I guess I didn't think much about how much it would also be difficult to say goodbye to the patients after getting to know them. It's fun, though, to get to know the new group of patients coming in. We have a file on the computer that the communications department is constantly updating with pictures of the different outreaches on the ship. It's quite impressive to look back at them. Since I've worked mostly with the VVF ladies, they are the ones that stand out to me the most. It's an encouragement to look at the pictures of them when they first arrive for screening and then see pictures or remember their faces when they go home. When you look back at the fear and sadness in their eyes when they arrived and see then see joyful pictures of them as they depart or remember their bubbly personalities that came out as they were here, you can't help but feel blessed with the privilege of getting to see that process. One encouraging thought is that you never know who's going to walk up the gangway tomorrow. You have to say goodbye a lot, but a dear friend may be walking up the gangway tomorrow if you're willing to take the time to get to know them. There is risk involved because you know that they or you will be leaving sometime in the probably not so distant future, but so often the reward is worth the risk!

Independance Day, Republic of Congo

2007-07-14T08:45:00.000-04:00

This is slightly old news, actually, 2 weeks old, but it's still a fun story to tell. A couple weeks ago, I was sitting in the midships lounge, the living room of the ship. A friend of mine from Nigeria stopped by. Turns out there are a couple people here on the ship that are from the Republic of Congo and that day was their equivalent to our 4th of July. They had invited my friend to go to the Congolese Embassy and then my friend invited me. I had no idea what to expect, but who's going to pass up the opportunity of a trip to the embassy? That was 3:30 and we were supposed to leave at 5pm. I got to my cabin and all of a sudden realized that I had no idea what to wear. It was probably very naive, but the only thing I could picture was something very formal and grand, a little like some of the scenes in "Coming to America". All I have are clothes that make me look like a missionary, long skirts, solid-colored t-shirts, and sandals, definitely nothing formal. I tried a new skirt my roomate bought that is some gorgeous african fabric. The problem is, it's a big tube skirt, sort of like a wrap to wear at the beach. You tie it in a knot and hope it doesn't fall off. That was not going to do for an event at the embassy. I finally settled on an outfit and off we went. That's not quite true, because we had to wait a while for the taxi. Jean-Claude, the guy who is from the Congo, has a taxi driver that he knows and calls when he needs a ride, but that's still on different time than we would expect at home, so we actually left around 5:30.

I had not been to the part of town where we were going, actually I hadn't seen much of Monrovia at all, so it was fun to get out and see the town I call home for the summer. We went past the University of Liberia, the former presidential villa, and the UN headquarters. The area where the embassy is has many embassy buildings in the neighborhood. Many of them looked like they had suffered a lot of damage during the war, so I began to realize they may not be as nice as I was thinking. When we arrived at the Congolese embassy I got out of the car and across the street was the Liberia Mennonite School. I was a little bit proud to notice that it was in better repair than most of the buildings I had seen. I would like to try to stop by there sometime if I'm in that area again.

The embassy was the size of a very large house in the U.S. The celebration was in the back yard. I was expecting a very formal affair inside and it turned out to be a big barbecue on the lawn, just like a wedding reception or graduation party at home. We found out, though, that there had been some sort of miscommunication. We had understood that the party was from 5pm to 8pm. No, it started at 8pm, so we just all sat in the yard, talking, listening to the music that was playing, and talking. It was fun getting to know everyone. It's a little tricky because French is the primary language in the Congo so Jean-Claude and his wife, Anastasis (yes, the same name as the ship that just left), speak english, but with a very strong french and african accent. The other complication was that the people preparing for the party had already set up the sound system. It was a lot of fun dance music, but it was loud enough, that it was hard to hear each other, so we did a lot of just hanging out, drinking diet coke (mmm) and watching the preparation. After sitting there a while, I realized that that was the first time that I had seen a lawn since I've been here. It was nice, it felt like a little bit of home to sit in the yard in a resin lawn chair under a rented tent.

There was a man in one corner of the yard grilling. The grills were a series of 50 gallon drums with fire pits in the bottom and then a grate stretched across them with several large things being grilled. After a while the lady that seemed to be in charge came over and told us that once the food was ready we could feel free to help ourselves. There would be grilled goat, sheep, and chicken. That was when I realized that I was seeing a nearly whole animal on one of the grills.

Around 8pm people started arriving. We had decided to stay until 9pm, but the party was just nicely getting started, so we stayed a while longer. The food wasn't ready until around 9:30. Jean-Claude and Anastasis had been invited by someone else and she didn't want us to leave until we had eaten, so we extended the time. Taxis sometimes become a bit of an issue because they aren't always readily available, and they may already have 7 people in them. Jean-Claude finally ended up calling the driver to come wait and eat with us, so that we were assured of a ride home. I thought that the driver seemed a little bit annoyed at the inconvenience, but when we got back to the port, he refused payment in thanks for future business and the meal. Things definitely work differently here than in other parts of the world.

The party consisted of a bunch of Congolese people that are currently living in Liberia, lots of UN people, and people from other NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations, humanitarian aid organizations. Mercy Ships is an NGO, just also a Christian organization which is a bit different than some of the others.) There were a lot of people dancing to the music, which to me sounds a bit like Reggae. It's not the same, but still similar. We finally got in line to eat and I had some of each of the meats, rice, cassava, plantains, and french fries. It was all very good, but a lot of food to eat a 10pm!

All in all, it was a very fun evening. It was nothing like "Coming to America". It was, however, very much like a 4th of July party in America. It was nice to go since I wasn't at home for the 4th of July. I just celebrated on the 30th of June. It's not every day that you get to go to a celebration at the Congolese Embassy in Liberia. It was definitely an experience I felt privileged to have. My roommates were pretty jealous that I got to go and they didn't.

Korto

2007-07-13T20:58:00.001-04:00

She has totally stolen my heart. She's a 40 year old VVF patient who has been here on the ship now for 3 weeks. She was here for a week and a half before she even had surgery. There were about 5 ladies from a couple hours away who came for the screening, driven by their pastor. For some reason, he left them here, so they stayed in the hospital as hotel patients for a while before they actually had surgery. Most of them speak Liberian English as well as their own tribal languages. Korto only speaks her tribal language, so she just looks at you and starts talking, but none of it makes a bit of sense. To talk to her, I have to have one of our translators talk to another patient, have that patient talk to her, and then back through the 2 again. It's a job. Most of the time, she just looks at you, waves her hand, and laughs. I've been pretty sure for quite a while that she thinks I'm crazy. You have to wonder what these ladies are thinking. Many of them have never had any sort of medical care. They don't understand a lot of what we say to them, and I think a lot of what they learn as far as what's going to happen during the course of their stay is by observing what happens to the ladies that have surgery before them, moreso than understanding the details we tell them.

So at the end of day shift, it's the responsibility of the day nurses to take the ladies outside. It's definitely the highlight of working day shift. They sit in a big circle and sing for an hour or so. I'm pretty sure that that hour does more for them than all of the care they receive the other 23 hours of the day. After the surgery they've had, stairs are not a good plan, so we take them from the ward, which is on deck 3, up to deck 7. It's sort of like the front porch of the ship, it's just on the side, not the front. There is a roof over it, so you can go up there even when it's raining, which is pretty much all the time. We take them to deck 7 on the service elevator. It says on the door that there is a maximum of 10 people. I had never operated the lift, which is what the rest of the world calls an elevator, but how hard can it be? Shut the door, push the right button, and off you go. Well, that was true, but only to an extent. We got in, 9 patients and I (remember only some of them even speak Liberian english, which is still VERY different than American english. Swallow every consonant, speak with a lazy tongue, and you start to get close to what it sounds like), and headed up to deck 7. We got to the top and Korto was clinging to my shoulder, rolling and crossing her eyes, and moaning. She still managed to laugh the entire way. She is always laughing and smiling. For someone who has lived such a difficult life, she is very joyful. Well, we got to the top and the door slid open. There's a sliding door, but also a very heavy door that swings open. I was just turning the knob on the swinging door and all of a sudden the sliding door slammed shut, just missing my arm. Down we went. We got to the bottom, I started to open the door and the same thing happened. All told, we went up and down 3 times! It took no time at all before I looked around and noticed that there were 9 terrified women, who have never ridden in a lift before and they were all looking to me to figure out how to make the world stop jumping up and down. Here we are in a small metal box, moving up and down, getting dizzy, and they're not really sure how to understand that we leave one place and strangely show up somewhere else. Looking around in desperation, I noticed that there was a phone, so I called reception, hoping to have them call the ward and send someone down the hall to get help for operating the lift. Finally after the 3rd trip, we stopped and someone still at the bottom opened the door. It turns out that one of my co-workers had not waited long enough when we got to the top before she called the lift back down. By the time we stopped, the lift was offset from deck 3 by nearly a foot. Needless to say, as soon as the door opened, Korto nearly dove out of the lift and into the hall. I was amazed that she actually agreed to get back on a few minutes later. During the time we were going up and down one of the electricians showed up and told us that we really should only have 5 people, not 10. Lesson learned!

I said earlier that Korto always looks at me like I'm crazy. I've tried talking to her several times, but it's so complicated that it doesn't usually work very well. They way she just flips her hand and laughs, I figured she must be nearly exasperated. As I've spent more time caring for her, I've decided that even though we can't communicate with words, she's decided that we're pals. We use a lot of sign language. She does know a few english words and uses them as much as she can. One day a couple people were sitting talking. I walked over and just stood listening in. Her bed was already full of people sitting on it. She kept trying to get the attention of the lady in the bed beside her. Finally she did and motioned for her to move. The lady looked confused but moved anyway, then Korto patted the opened spot and looked at me, motioning for me to sit. When I did, she smiled a big smile of satisfaction, apparently happy that she had been able to make me welcome. The day we had the whole episode on the lift, ,on the way she was walking ahead of me and turned, calling "mama". That's the name used for nurses, mothers, grandmothers, anyone who is any sort of female caregiver. I walked up to see what she needed. She held out her hand so I held out mine. She took mine in hers, smiled an adorable smile, and continued walking down the hall holding my hand. Frequently at work if she notices that I'm not busy, she will call out Mama, and then pats the spot beside her, motioning for me to sit, and then just sits there smiling and talking. In my rough Liberian english, I tell her "no undertand". She just smiles and keeps talking anyway, often patting my back or knee. How can you not love a sweetheart who just wants your company even when you can't really talk or get to know each other on a deep level?

Yesterday when I worked it was beginning to seem as if her repair was failing. She had a little leaking starting again. I've not seen her look so blue before. She didn't sleep the entire night and could not bring herself to smile. She knows painfully well what it means to go back to the leaking. I think that it was just due to a spasm, but how do you do sign language to explain a spasm? After a while, I sat beside her, and just said "I pray?" With a very somber look she nodded her head. I prayed in english. I know she didn't understand a word I said, but from some of the conversations I've heard through the other ladies, I believe that even though we don't speak the same language, we both trust the same God. I guess she could tell by the tone of my voice when I was just about finished, because when I said Amen, she said it right along with me and gave me a look of gratitude. I'll have to check in on her today or tomorrow, just to let her know she's being remembered.

Dress Ceremony

2007-07-05T07:00:00.000-04:00

My heart is so very full today and at the same time broken. I'll write about the fullness first. I've just come from the first Dress Ceremony on the Africa Mercy. Three women were presented with new African dresses just before going home, now 2 weeks post-VVF repair. I happened to walk into the room where they were getting ready and they were all putting on their dresses and head wraps. At first I thought there was something wrong and then realized that it was squeals of delight I was hearing. It sounded like girls at home getting ready for the prom.

All of the staff and other patients gathered in one of the wards and the drums, singing and dancing was started down the all by the princesses for the day. They paraded down the hall dancing and singing with bright smiles on their faces. Once they got to the ward the party really started and there was a long time of singing, dancing, and praising. Nearly everyone in the room was either beaming with delight or moved to tears and unable to sing. Each of the ladies then took the opportunity to offer their thanks to God for His faithfulness after many years of living in the condition that they were. I have to say that is definitely the most fun I've ever had at work, and it wasn't even my shift! To hear their stories is such a humbling experience because of the emotional and physical pain that they've endured makes any complaint I could come up with pale in comparison. That brings me to the broken-hearted part.

About 10 minutes before the ceremony started I had to go to the ward to look something up, and I ran into Jianjay, who had the second VVF repair here on the ship. I asked how she was feeling and with a smile she said that she feels well, but the urine still keeps coming. I had no words to say to comfort her other than how terribly sorry I am. I know from things that she said in the ward that she trusts in God, but today my heart felt so heavy for her. When I went to the dress ceremony, she was sitting there on the bed of one of the other patients, still finding a way to smile and singing in worship. Even though she did not have a successful repair, she's still grateful for the things God has done for her. Some days it's just so hard trying to reconcile the happy and the sad.

Two Weeks!

2007-06-29T11:51:00.000-04:00

I've tried several times to add some pictures to this post, but apparently it's not going to happen today, so I'm posting what I have to say and hopefully in the next couple days I can add more pics.

I can't believe I've been in Liberia for two weeks already! In some ways it feels like it's been months and in other ways, it seems like I just got here yesterday. It's funny how you feel so new and confused about ship-life, and then within a few days you're the one showing your new cabin-mates around. It feels a little like being in a time warp here on the ship because we're not only removed from home, but we're also somewhat removed from the people of Monrovia, living just off the dock. Compared to home, it would seem that coming here to serve is definitely "roughing it". When you go out in the community, though, it's painfully apparent that we on the ship are still living like royalty! It's a bit difficult to justify both perspectives and figure out where you fit or exactly what your purpose is. There's no way that we on the Africa Mercy can even make a dent in the struggles of this country. It's obvious that all we can do is try to share God's love with those that we come in contact with and then let Him do the rest! To be honest, it's so devastating that I'm glad it's ultimately His job and not mine because I would probably give up and not try.

Surgeries have gone well this week and I'm starting to get the hang of working in the ward. I still have a way to go, but it gets easier every time you go to work. It's a foreign experience to have one of the biggest challenges be communication. We have translators that are very helpful, but not all of the patients and translators even understand each other. We have one lady in the ward who only speaks Mandingo and there are no translators that do, so she just smiles and follows along with the rudimentary sign language we try to use. How incredibly intimidating and scary it would be to be in such a strange place, having surgery, feeling pain, and not be able to speak with those that are caring for you. One of the ladies that came to the ship earlier this week had never left her village, never ridden in a car, never slept in a bed, never walked up stairs, and didn't believe her granddaughter that there was actually something as ridiculous as a floating building! Almost all of the patients have to have lessons on how to use a toilet and be reminded that they're to flush. It's a concept most of them have never encountered.

Life on the ship is going well, too. It's fun getting to know people from all over the world. I love hearing different accents and expressions. Sometimes the expressions that different people use can be quite entertaining because what may be a comman phrase in one country may be pretty crude in another. I hear about bits all the time. My roommate, Shonagh, is from Scotland. She fell up the stairs a few days ago and bruised her knees. She called them her rude bits. She also gets bits (stones) in her shoes. When she got a sunburn she had to put sunsreen on her red bits the next time she went out. It's fun learning from each other, both phrases, nursing practices, and perspectives on life.

The Anastasis sailed away today, on her way to India to be scapped. It's a pretty sad day for a lot of people that lived on her for many years. I never lived on the ANA, but even so, it looks a bit sad when you look out the window. Before, when you looked out the port side windows you saw a beautiful old cruise liner. Now the dock almost seems off balance, only seeing a ship on one side. Even though it's sad in some ways, the new ship is a blessing in the fact that the capacity of the hospital has nearly doubled! The opportunity to be able to reach that many more people is defnitely a good thing!

Jamaica Road

2007-06-22T17:38:00.000-04:00

The pictures above have nothing to do with the rest of what I have to say, but they're a couple good shots of the Africa Mercy on the day she arrived in Monrovia. In the sunset picture, the one on the left is the Anastasis, the ship that's being retired.

I've been meaning to write about last Sunday for the last few days, and I finally have time. I really had no idea where to go since there are a lot of options. I also had no idea what to expect when I got there. Jamaica Road is a church that's only a mile and a half or so from the ship, so that sounded like a good option to me because I could walk in the neighborhood a little bit. As I've said, it's rainy season, which is the "cool" part of the year, but we were all roasting in the short walk there. The temperature isn't terribly high, but the humidity is incredible.

Once we got to church we had to wait a while to go in until Sunday school was over because the building is only one room. I learned that compared to several churches in the area, this one is a pretty nice building. They actually had a roof, block walls, and a cement floor. There were no doors or windows. A friend of mine went to a church that had a roof and a little bit of the framing, no floor or walls. Everyone was so friendly and welcomed us in right away. Shortly after the service started, the lady leading the service asked all visitors to stand. ( I appreciated the fact that during the walk to church someone had warned me about what was coming.) As soon as we stood she had us all come to the front of the church. The congregation proceeded to sing a song of celebration and dance to the front to greet us one by one, shaking each of our hands. After that first time, you are no longer a visitor, and become one of the ones that gets to welcome new people next week. The worship time was wonderful! We sang and danced for quite a while, dancing forward a couple times for the offering. (and I thought the walk to church was warm!) I'm told that most West African churches collect 2 or 3 offerings, dancing forward to give for each one. They may not have much, but they're thrilled to be able to give what they do have.

I'm discovering that I don't necessarily like being far from people from home, but I do love being a couple time zones ahead. It's cool that even though we don't all "do church" the same way, we're all worshipping the same God. As I worship with people here in Monrovia, I get to pray ahead for those in Indiana, Michigan, and Indiana that still haven't started their days! (Except maybe the pastors doing final sermon preps:)

The Africa Mercy

2007-06-22T06:37:00.000-04:00

This is a picture of a few of the girls that I arrived in Monrovia with. Kassi on the left is my roommate. Behind us, you can see the back of the ship. I've had lots of questions about what ship life is like, so I'll try to describe it. There are around 450 of us living on the ship. There are 8 decks. Decks 1 and 2 are the engine rooms and off-limits to the rest of the crew. Deck 3 is the hospital. They're still putting the finishing touches on it, but hopefully it'll be ready for surgeries at the beginning of the week. I also live on Deck 3. Deck 4 is housing. Deck 5 is a dining hall, reception, the ship shop and snack shop, offices, and Starbucks. I guess one of the big wigs on the Starbucks board is also on our board, so all of the coffee onboard is free from them. There's a big open staircase that runs between Decks 5 and 6 near the internet cafe and Starbucks. I hear a lot of people calling that the town square. It's almost like it's a little city. Also, the gangway enters on Deck 5 beside reception. Deck 6 is the International lounge, which is where we have all of our community meetings, and then some family, VIP, and guest cabins. Deck 7 is more offices and then an open area where you can go "sit on the porch". Deck 8 is the top and is a flat deck that you can walk around on some, but right now there's a bunch of stuff still up there that was strapped down during the sail here from England.

I'm living in a cabing that has 3 berths, 2 people/berth, so there will be 6 of us total. Right now there are 4 and our 5th arrives this evening. She's also from the States, but I don't know where. So far I like the girls I live with. I share my berth with a girl from Canada. The other 2 girls are from Canada and Scotland. We have a bunk that folds against the wall, a narrow closet and two shelves. Backpacking in the past was good preparation for packing light and making do with not so much stuff. We can only do laundry once and week and can only take 2 minute showers. That means you have to get wet, suds up, and then rinse off. No 30 minute steaming showers, or you run out of water to drink! Sometimes they have to go on water restrictions, so I'd rather conserve than do competely without. It's not bad, but it is different getting used to things. Most of us came to Africa expecting to be very hot. That's true outside, but inside there are places on the ship that get very cold! I think the hospital will be fairly warm because the Liberians won't tolerate the cold well when they're used to tropical weather.

We start surgeries this coming week once the hospital is completed. The first surgeries will be VVF(vesico-vaginal fistula) repairs. These are women who have tried to deliver their babies at home, which is common practice. (Actually they are considered weak if they go somewhere else to deliver.) For various reasons the labor goes poorly and they are often in labor for 4-5 days. Obviously the baby dies, and the mother is left with terrible tissue damage. It forms a fistula, or tunnel, between the birth canal and their bladder, so then they leak urine all the time. Of course it smells and they become outcasts. Usually their husbands and the rest of their families want nothing to do with them. Having the repair allows them to return to life with the rest of their community. I think the plan is to also do some eye cases and orthopaedics over the next couple months. I'm nervous because the work will be very different than at home, but I'm also excited to get started.

Here we are...happy landing on a chocolate bar

2007-06-16T08:46:00.000-04:00

Angie, that title's for you.
It's amazing to finally be able to say that I'm in Africa. It still doesn't seem real, but when I look out the window, I'm sure of it. The flights went well, and I'm pleased to say the jet lag has not been too bad. The time difference is only 4 hours. I'm hoping to be able to post pictures sometime soon, but it was dark when we arrived at the ship last night. When we landed, the pilot said that the Liberian government will fine people taking photos in public places. I think that has to do more with govt. and UN buildings than in public, but one of the people on the ship said that taking photos in public is also a good way to get your camera stolen, so we'll see how it goes.
There are so many things I could write about. I'll try to share some of my initial observations. The first thing was that I've always thought of Africa being mostly brown. Parts of it are. We flew over the Sahara and it was like an ocean of brown. Liberia is lush green with lots of tropical trees. It's rainy season right now, so I'm sure that makes everything more green. The hottest part of the year is our late fall and early winter. I can tell you thouth, that rainy season is still hot and very humid. For those of you familiar with Harrisonburg, the view from the plane looked much like standing on the top of the hill at EMU. You look across a very flat expanse to a range of mountains. Beautiful!
When we arrived we had more than an hour drive to the ship, which by the way, looks much larger in person than it does it pictures. I think that there is a more affluent part of town, but we sure didn't see it. Just on the drive here, you have to be amazed at how many people there are with so little. We are so rich in the U.S. The airport was an intersting experience. It was very hot and humid. Baggage claim was an experience! (the good news...7 of us were on the same flight and we all got all of our bags!) As we were going through immigration the officials were very stern , but then every one of them said, "Oh! Are you with Mercy Ships? You're our favorite group. Go on through." They didn't even ask to see our passports or anything. It's nice to feel so welcome.
One of the more amusing things I noticed was broken down vehicles. It wasn't so much the vehicles, but the flares that they used to alert on-coming vehicles. Ours are like an orange flame or sparkler. Here they pull a big clump of weeds, roots and all, from the ditch and then put several of them in the road behind the car. Not high tech, but it gets the job done just as well.
Right now I have 2 roomates, but I think we're supposed to get three more in the next few weeks. The cabin is split into 3 different smaller rooms that are partitioned off. It's a little tight, but not so bad.
Surgeries will begin in a week. The transition phase from the Anastasis to the Africa Mercy is still going on. Some departments have had more difficulty than others. That's something to continue praying about. It seems like there's a lot to be done in the next week to have the hospital fully up and running. It will be nice to soon feel a little more comfortable with where everything is on the ship and then to actually get working and taking care of patients.

The Journey Begins

2007-06-13T20:06:00.000-04:00

Well, it begins! I'm leaving tomorrow for Monrovia, Liberia on the west coast of Africa. I'll be living and working on the Africa Mercy, a hospital ship owned by Mercy Ships that provides help and healing to the world's forgotten poor. The opportunity to help reach out to those who would probably not receive care otherwise is an honor. I don't know exactly what my role will be other than working in the ward, but I look forward to the experiences of the next 11 weeks.
It amazes me to look back at what the last 16 months has held. I went from thinking in early 2006 that I would probably leave the country in a couple months to thinking in early 2007 that this whole thing was not going to happen at all. As I look forward and look back, it excites me to see how God has worked out this whole time of service. For the better part of a year, it looked like a mess that He didn't plan to work out. I had prayed and wondered for quite some time. Finally I decided that if I had not received an acceptance letter by Feb. 28 of 2007, then I was to move on. Guess who e-mailed me on Feb. 28?! There was over a year of wondering and waiting and now the last 3 months have been so amazing to see how even the littlest detail worked out. It's been great confirmation that this is the path I'm supposed to take right now.
I said earlier that it begins, but the beginning was actually a long time ago. I don't think it was a coincidence that during those times of doubting and waiting I did the study by Beth Moore entitled Believing God twice. I guess I needed a lot of reminding that I needed to believe Him even when it didn't make sense. It was a tough year wishing that I knew the timeline, but now it seems to be coming together better than any plans I had on my own. The prayers, encouragement, gifts, and financial support have been so greatly appreciated. Thank you!!! It has been been pointed out to me that I'm going for a lot of people, so the ways that you have supported me, will be reaching people in Liberia even though you don't meet them. I'm excited to be the hands and feet for a bunch of people. So...the journey began a year and a half ago, but now the travel portion of this adventure begins. I'm excited to see where it goes from here!