Thanksgiving in Davao

Originally I was going to only have a few days wrapping up my stuff in Davao, and getting things packed, etc. for Butuan, however I ended up not leaving until Saturday, which gave me the opportunity to not only get in a shift at Mercy--covering for another girl on BCG Clinic, but also to spend Thanksgiving with the Mercy group before heading off to Marbel again to join Jim Harris and Sylvette on their road trip up to Cagayan de Oro to help them settle in to their new home..

Boys wrestling and girls watching...just like in the US. ;) (these are 4 different families)

It was so much fun having real American food..probably one of the best, if not the best Thanksgiving meal I've ever had!!! Maybe partly too, because they had chicken instead of turkey...which I do a lot better on...

Dieneke in her Indian clothes (where her family is missionaries)

Rebecca's boys are so sweet!!

Jamie, Jane and I

 The dessert table.....one of the girls made all the doughnuts, and I have to say that besides Doughnut Holes, they beat all!!

 Our makeshift tables...the prenatal beds. ;)

It was a beautiful and memorable Thanksgiving dinner... I have SO much to be thankful for!!

1) My relationship with Jesus Christ, who without, I am nothing.

2) My amazing parents, who have supported me in all my endeavors, at home and abroad, and trained me up from a young age in the fear and admonition of the Lord.

3) My precious 8 siblings who have taken over the ranch and housework in the past 3 years so well, and who have lovingly encouraged, prayed for, and written me letters, and patiently endured all the time away from them which has been necessary in the last 2 years..and for so graciously accepting me as I am--growing in the Lord, even with all my many faults.

4) My grandparents..especially Oma, who is the self-initiated 'President of my Fan Club'..I love you so very much Oma!! Thank you for being a listening ear, and praying for me every step of the way and of my life, and being one of my role models!

5) My 2nd and 3rd families..the Gauls and Serisolas... I love you all so much!! God has so richly blessed me through you all..

6) My precious circle of friends...especially Selah, Jordan, Alyssa, and Sylvette... I love you girls!! Thank you for your Godly 'peer pressure' ;p, and encouragement to live for the Lord every moment of every day...

7) My church family, who have lifted me up in prayer and encouraged me in my endeavors these past few years.

8) All those here in the Philippines--Subait, Butuan, Marbel, Davao.....each one of you have had an impact to my life...some have been challenging, others have been just a sincere blessing....

9) The opportunity to live here in the Philippines for 9 months (total), and serve the Filipino people in such a variety of ways...

10) To see how God has provided each step of the way, and knowing and seeing that as I call on Him, He is faithful to answer me, lead me, and direct me in His paths.

There are SO many other things I am grateful for....the list is unending.. I am overwhelmed by the love I have felt by so many people, both here and at home, and for the support they have shown me in the last 2 years, during all my adventures, trials, etc.

God is faithful!!!

Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His Holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; Who healeth all thy diseases;

Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.

The LORD executeth righteousness and judgement for all that are oppressed. He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel. The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will He keep His anger for ever.

He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him.

As far as the East is from the West, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. ... But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children; to such as keep His covenant, and to those that remember His commandments to do them.

Bless the LORD, ye His angels, that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His Word. Bless ye the LORD, all ye His hosts; ye ministers of His, that do His pleasure. Bless the LORD, all His works in all places of His dominion: bless the LORD, O my soul.

~ Psalms 103:1-12, 17-18, 20-22 ~

Studying at Jordan's

First of all, this marks my 3rd week exactly since my Multiple Oral/Naso surgeries....Praise God for allowing my recovery to go well!!! I got my stint out last week (so I can talk straight ;p), and now just have elastic ligatures to continue movement, with the hopes of being finished with braces in 4-8 months!!!

Sometimes I have the chance to study my EMT Course (or Midwifery) at Jordan's house...the girl I went with to the Philippines, remember?? Today was such a day, as the kids were all at their Classical Conversations (like a co-op), and I was supposed to bring them home, so my parents could have a date night... (Well, that didn't happen, since Rebekah came down with the Stomach Flu mid-morning).

Anyway, I got a LOT of studying in, as well as some fellowship, ;p and finished up my Chapter on Cardiological Emergencies...deep stuff!!
Then Jordan and I went out to feed her brand new Nubian kids....

Boy, did that tear my heart!!! I want my Nubians back!!!!

I SO love their long, floppy ears....and their sweet, rich milk... All in God's good time... :) He had me sell them for a purpose, and there is a time for every season...including one for buying goats...and horses...

Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

~ Philippians 4:11 ~

One of my favorite verses that correlates with goats is:

The lamvs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field. And thou shalt have goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance for thy maidens.

~ Proverbs 27:26-27 ~

(Kinda looks like milk is REALLY good for girls!! ;p)

Day 61: Goodbyes, Babies, Etc.

As I said in the last post, Night Shift was dead, so out of a 16 hr. work day, I got to sleep around 9 of those hours: 12am-5am, I slept deep, with no awakenings. Then, at 5am, Lydia, Annie, and Stephanie woke me up---per my request---to say goodbye to me.

I'm going to miss these girls.....what dear friends: Annie, Lydia, and Stephanie

They have worked long and hard these last two months, and though they have learned a lot, delivered many babies, and really enjoyed their stay, they were all eager to get home....especially the Barnett girls. And no wonder either!!! Lydia is getting married in 3 weeks!!!!

Her selflessness and cheerfulness during these past couple months, as well as her amazing and beautiful testimony of her and Loren's meeting, courtship, and engagement has been such a blessing and encouragement to so many of the girls here. Personally, it has inspired me to a higher standard of living and another example of how the "pre-marriage period" can be.

This morning (after shift), I talked to my mom for 1.5 hrs, as well as my many siblings, both those at home, and the older men who are in the Midwest at an AirShow, etc.

Guess what I found out??? My alpaca-Hadassah had her baby on July 26th!!!! Her first girl (3rd baby...or G3P3L2 :D), and a dark one too!!! I'm so excited!!!

Hours old

As many of you know, one of my 'hobbies', or semi-passions, is genealogy/names. I love naming things, and pretty much everything I name (which is quite numerous now :D), has a story behind it. I love looking on BLB, and searching the Hebrew and Greek root words and definitions of words, as is evident by even my blog name!!

Anyway, I instantly decided to follow her mother's line, in something Biblically minded. Just like they did in Bible Times (and in many places in the world they still do this), I enjoy naming things after what God is teaching me. This is one of those times. I decided to name her Tekhinah Chayil:

Tekhinah is my version of 'techinnah', which literally means 'favor, supplication, supplication for favor', from the root word which means grace and mercy.
Chayil is the word used for 'virtuous' in the Bible.

In the past few weeks, especially, God has been drawing me ever closer to Him, and I am learning so much about how Amazing He is, and how we are but little ants that He loves; how Sovereign He is--All-Knowing, All-Powerful, All-Infinite, and yet, He takes time every day to spend with me!!! To talk to me, to listen to me, to chasten me, to bow me before His throne...

These verses sum up a lot of what has happened in the last few weeks and months.

Yet have Thou respect unto the prayer of Thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which Thy servant prayeth before Thee today.

~ 1 Kings 8:28 ~

And the LORD said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou has made before ME: I have hallowed this house, which thou has bulit, to put My Name there for ever; and Mine eyes and Mine heart shall be there perpetually.

~ 1 Kings 9:3 ~

Funny story: At 5:30pm, I received a phonecall from 'Jordan's Cell', and there was a Filipina on the other end, and then it was transferred to a Filipino!! They spoke 'gamay' english (little), so I went over to the Clinic, and had the guards (specifically John) talk to them, to try to figure out why they had Jordan's phone in G-Mall, and how we could get it back.

Ends up that Jordan and Chantal went window/shopping in G-Mall today, and at some point Jordan left her phone next to a Jewelry Shop. So, when they got back at 6:15pm, I told her about the situation, and we went to G-Mall together. After a good long walk from Victoria to G-Mall, more than a few spins around the 2nd floor trying to find the meeting place, a half dozen texts/phonecalls to the security guard who had it in possession, and a miracle from God, we got the phone, and headed home. Salamat Genoo!!! (Thank you Lord!) What an adventure!!!

I have Night Shift again tonight...what fun!!!

7/6: Clinicals and School Visit

Got up at 6 AM, and took a shower. They actually have running water here at the H/C!!! That was really nice, because it meant that instead of having to haul water from the village well, we could just turn on a spicket to fill our buckets. Had an Oatmeal and Milo Mash for breakfast, which was SO good!!!

talking over breakfast

Making Breakfast

The day we got here, Etienne was fixing a light (they stop working constantly), by standing on a table, and when he jumped off, broke his toe (we confirmed that the next day). Unfortunately, he's the only one who is tall enough to fix them, and as the leader, he feels it is his responsibility, so it has become a joke here.

Just Resting

Balong in his Favorite Hammock

The Health Center-Our Home Sweet Home

The view from our front door

Instead of doing visitations or clinics every day, they trade off. Today was Clinic Day, meaning we hung out at all morning, and helped any people who come by, and entertained/talked to the children. 

The Kids took this Picture

MaKayKay trying to use the stilts (the kids love it!!)

The Kids took this too (boy did they love it when I made animal sounds!!)

A few people came by for b/ps and also conducted a few prenatals. One of them was Baby Jane or "Jane". (She was the one we scheduled last night.)

Jane was 19 years old, G3P2, and 42 weeks GA, according to her dates. We did an IE, which showed she was only 2 cm, instructed and did some labor stimulation with her, in hopes that she'll go over before we leave. In past labors, her 1st was born after a 2 hr. labor, and with her 2nd, as soon as started feeling pain, the baby was born!!

They have a belief here that baby will wait to come until the full moon, and so the neighbors are pretty confident that she'll wait until the 15th to have her baby. We doubt she'll go that long though.

Going to get our lunch (see all the kids in the background??)

Siesta Time!!

Katie reading a story to the children (to get this picture, I had my finger on the button,  quickly opened the door, snapped the picture, and closed the door, so as not to disturb them. They thought I was crazy. :D)

After lunch, we took a siesta and then went to the Casiklan Elementary School, where we were supposed to show the 'Jesus Movie' (filipino style) to the kids. I have heard of people 'surrounding' people, but I have never experienced quite what I did then.... A bunch of kids (10-12 year olds) escorted us to the School, and everyone joined in....

They were asked to sit on the ground and scoot back so there was 6 feet spacing, which  they did, only to turn back around and them almost at our feet!!! :)

Originally, the movie was going to held in a classroom, but none of them were big enough for all 150+ kids, so they tried to set it up outside. When that didn't work, they decided just to show it to the 1st and 2nd graders today, and then show it to the older ones on a different day.

During the Movie

When the Movie First Started......

Starting the Second Movie...what a difference!!!

We were almost done with the 2nd movie (1.5 hour total), when a women came and informed us that there were some buntis women waiting for us at the clinic. All 3 of us midwives and Katie went back to see them, while the others stayed oversaw the kids.

There were 4 total, but only 1 had the nerve to come from the Barangay Hall (City Hall), where they were waiting. We were told that they thought that we would only see them if they were in labor. We tried to dispel this myth, but the other 3 didn't come--they were shy.

Coming Back From the School

The one that did come: Lauralen, was G4P3L4 and 40 2/7 weeks GA. Her last pregnancy was twins, which were delivered via Caesarean Section at the Hospital in 2006-nearly 5 years ago. She declared that she wanted to give birth here with us, and was hoping that she'd have her baby soon. We conducted an IE on her, and found that she was 2 cm, so we did some Labor Stimulation, and instructed her on how to continue doing so.

Unlike Baby Jane, it was kind of important that we be there for her birth if at all possible for a few reasons:

1) VBAC - PTL, it was a transverse cut instead of vertical (which means there was a lower risk of Uterine Rupture).
2) She was Pre-eclamptic with her twins, making it a higher risk for that this time as well.

3) Being her 5th baby and in her mid 30's, there was a higher risk of hemorrhaging.

4) Usually, births like this are done in the hospital, and the Helots/Volunteers had no experience with this type of birth/possible complications, whereas Makayla and Sylvette had it. 

5) (the rest we didn't know until she was in labor) :D

Originally, we were supposed to leave tomorrow morning, to go help the Subait team with their 2 days of "Tuli", and so the Casiklan Team started reading the birth section of the medical book I brought with me. But after considering Lauralen's assured oncoming parturition, we unanimously decided to postpone our departure another day, meaning we'd leave early Friday Morning. The Team was grateful. :)

We ate a dinner of Rice, Pancit, and Boiled Eggs (NOT Balut!!) :) We then had team time, and went to bed. Often, part or all of the team sleep out in the Barangay Hall in their hammocks. One of the guys always sleeps out there too, to guard them, which is a good thing.

We Slept in the Top of the Barangay Hall

Tonight, everyone besides Balong, Makayla and Sylvette slept out there. When we went out there, there were 4 guys hanging out below, and one of them had locked the door to go up above, and had to unlock it for us. 

I enjoy heights, but this??? (It was over a 15 ft. drop!!) Go Jilian!!

Katie's was Pink, Jilian's Orange, Etienne's Blue, and Mine Green

Hannah's amazing Hammock

Not that we thought we'd need it or anything, but we placed a small barricade just-in-case at the top of the VERY steep stairs: 2 huge bags of grain or something, and chairs to throw on top of the intruders at the other end. We made some jokes about it, and semi 'planned' what we would do if they made a rude entrance (which we doubted with Etienne there), and then went to sleep.

Since I didn't have a hammock, I put my pair of dusty jeans on the floor as my 'bedroll', and then slept in my mulong with some clothes bundled up for a pillow, and my lime green mosquito net above me--actually quite comfortable!! Just because, I had my cellphone set to the Torch Lite, so I could flip it on with one click of a button.

SETUP: Katie's hammock was pretty right in front of the stairs, Jilian's over the stairs, and Hannah's farthest away. Etienne was sleeping in his mulong at the other end of the stairs, and I was in between them all-central (closest to Jilian and Etienne).

Beds: Katie, Jilian, Etienne, Mine, Hannah

I slept very soundly UNTIL 12:49 AM (that became my 'line' afterwards). At 12:49 AM, I woke up--someone was trying to open the very noisy door at the bottom of the Barangay!! My first thoughts were "They wouldn't dare!! How stupid could they be?? Never in a million years, did I think this would actually happen!! What should I do God?? What is a body actually supposed to do in this situation?? This is hilarious!!! I wonder if any one else is awake?? God, I'm Yours, I know you'll help me through this!!"

Naturally the first thing to do, is try to wake up the man in the situation, and so I screamingly whispered "Etienne!!!" a few times: he didn't wake up. I thought "Oh well, I guess he'll wake up soon. Now, what should my plan of action be God?? Should I go kick the bags on them, drop the chairs on top of them, or wait here ready to torch them, and then spring when they peer through the mosquito net??" :)

Before I knew it, and without a sound, I was almost out of my mulong, with my thumb on my torchlite. I decided to lay quietly, ready to spring on my attackers. I did have a decided advantage, because there was a bright light outside a few hundred feet a way, so I could see the shadows of what was coming.

Preparing myself, I waited as they plodded up the stairs, and who should it be??? The Trio (Katie, Hannah, and Jilian) coming back from the C.R.!!!! Good thing I am a Christian and God has a GOOD hold on me, because at that moment, I wanted to annihilate; exterminate; eradicate; assassinate; mow, shoot, cut down and take out those girls for terrorizing the daylights out of me so exceedingly and intensely!!!

After talking about it the next morning, I found out that Etienne had woken up when the Trio left, but because he was expecting their return, he had no reason to wake up, until I gave my reaction to the girls' unplanned coup.

The rest of the night, I slept with both ears open, and for some reason could quote exactly when each person turned, snored, etc. during the night, though in between, I slept quite soundly. At 4 AM, the electricity went out (don't ask me how I know. ;D), and I heard an animal or person walking around somewhere in the village, and some people with a flashlite were walking to catch the Jeepneys which left at 4, 5, and 6 AM. :)

I was awake before 6, just waiting for 6 AM to come, before getting up, & found it quite funny when, within 10 seconds of my wristwatch beeping, Etienne went from a deep sleep to waking up-just like that! I asked him about it later, & he said it must be his internal clock. Wish mine was like that!! Within 10 seconds of hitting 6 am!!

What I Learned:
- Out in the Bukid, the don't care about credentials. Anything you have to offer is wanted, because people are dying daily without medical care of any sort. Even though I feel like I hardly know anything, I am referred to as a missionary and midwife out there.
- Never take the men in your life for granted...we aren't around very many of them here, and it has made all of us girls realize how special the men in our family truly are, despite their short-comings.
- Always have a plan and be prepared, just hope you don't have to always follow through with it.
- God is so good, and He is our Strength and our Rock. I think this was a testing for future encounters.

The LORD is my Rock and my Fortress, and my Deliverer; my God, my Strength, in whom I will trust; my Buckler, and the Horn of my Salvation, and my High Tower.

~ Psalms 18:2 ~