Life in Midwifery School

So much is happening here and life is so busy, that I don't know where to begin, but I want to let you in on some of the things I'm doing, some of the details. I could never express to you everything I'm hearing, learning, doing, feeling, etc. But here's a glimpse:

- every week we study Facts for Life a textbook put out by WHO and a bunch of other groups - basically its life saving info that might be common sense to many people here, but has the power to save lives if taught and put in place throughout the developing world. So each week we topple a new topic and then take Tuesday nights to put on all manner of creative productions to teach this information to each other. We get to practice what it would be like to teach this info to a crowd. And out come skits, puppet shows, songs, mimes, game shows and who knows what is to come. This particular puppet was learning about how to stay healthy during pregnancy.
- as a part of our education we are constantly learning about the needs of the poor around the world - which at times feels overwhelming, from watching Invisible Children (please do what it takes to see this movie!!), to other movies on vaccines and world health crises, girls education, refugees, child labour, and more to come. The topics are often heavy and difficult, but we are seeing that there is a world in need of care, and that as we are trained and go out in the power of Christ can we make a difference. Today we had an excellent presentation on HIV/AIDs by a local doctor - it was very very good.

- we also take part in exercises like one last week where 10 of us girls role played as though we were women born into 3rd world situations, as we "grew up" we learned our fate at each step and waited to see if life would give us the chances to move off the road to early death. In the end 6 or 7 of us won the lottery, the others moved through life suffering at each step and finally falling victim to Maternal Death, young, uneducated, uncared for, without a fair chance. I made it off that road - but at each step as we were routing for those still walking it, and I realized that it was entirely real. Infact the odds in real life are not so good. Women and girls, do not have the care, respect and treatment they need and deserve and thousands of them are dying each year because of it!
- every week we have tests and assignments in our specialities (for me that'd be Midwifery), these are hardcore assignments! This is real school, let me tell you - I honestly lug around a entire suitcase of texts, it weighs around 50-60lbs! I'm proud to say I got my first test back today and earned a 90% - I guess that's encouragement for every other late night!

- so every chance we get we try to take a break from studying and throw some fun in - like last Saturday a handful of travelled to the mighty town of Weiser, ID and enjoyed the Fiddle-Fest, we ended up at a makeshift campground where at every trailer people were playing country and bluegrass and we had ourselves a dance - what a fantastic end to a stressful week. We also invited everyone over to enjoy a Newsies Night - we all dressed like turn of the century newspaper boys and watched the wonderful musical - Newsies.

So we keep on, today we wrote another exam and now we begin a new topic again - its feeling rhythmic already, and I can't believe how quickly all of this will pass!

Prayer Request : Clinic is Shutdown

Friends, it means so much to me to know that I am not writing these notes into obilivion, that my journals and prayer requests are not bouncing off the ceiling, but reaching your your eyes and hearts. Thank you for reading, and thanx for praying.
Rigth now I have a prayer request for you regarding our clinic in Manila. Mercy In Action has previously done all the work necessary to meet national standards for birth centers in the Philippines, and have received their licences to practice. In the past some officials have even said that our clinic is a model clinic that should set the standard for many others.
But now we seem to have fallen out of favour with what is considered the 2nd most corrupt agency in the Philippines, the Department of Health. For some yet-to-be-explained reason they arrived at our clinic a couple of days ago and shut them down. This means that all of the women already experiencing prenatal care, and all of those whose birth's are immanent, and those who show up in desperation because the hospitals have turned them away, all of these women are no longer receiving care! As well all of our midwives who are already over there serving, are now left without the ability to help, and without the ability to complete their practicums.
While this is a bit of a scare we really are trusting that God wants us there, and wants us to serve these women and that He will open up the doors for the clinic to reopen. Please pray with us for this!! Pray also for Vicki, who is our director, as she has made a really quick trip to Manila to try and work through this with the officials and the clinic staff. Please pray for the women who are not receiving this care right now. Pray that God would be protecting them, and providing ways for them to receive that care they need through this critical time.
Thank you all, I love, and I thank God for you!

Mercy In Action - 2006

Here we all are - midwives, medics, children's workers, school staff and all our familes!

In the Mountains

This past weekend our entire school (about 60 of us) took time out of studies and the city to go camping in Payette National Park. It was incredible to get out of urban and spend some time in the mountains, it has actually been years since I've had the chance! We were about 2 hours into our trip when - surrounded by the mountains I felt God's presence and realized we were on holy ground - I felt like I could actually breathe.

It was a great chance to get to know all the other students, their kids, the staff - there are so many amazing people here who have a heart for the poor and are getting ready to head out into mission work, are or being a part of this school as they are on furlough. There are some BIG dreamers here and I am so inspired, I feel so comfortable to explore where God may be leading me.

On Saturday we took off for a quick hike to a mountain lake - but we did not find it! After a couple miles (yes, that is miles not clicks, I'm temporarily converted), most folks headed back, but about a dozen of us kept on breaking trail and fjording mountain rivers in search of the elusive lake. We never found it - but we managed to reach a beautiful alpine meadow, rest and go back to camp having had a fantastic adventure. All in all I think we completed 14 miles - a great day!

And that is what I have to say about camping. Above is the view from the bus on our way up, and then I have a couple pics from our hike: me in the beginning, and a medic student mid-river (so cold!)!

Week One: Owe, Birth Art

I don't really know where to begin in explaining to you the depths of pain caused by Tuesdays physical training (ie: 7:00 am military style calisthenics). Today is Wednesday night almost 2 days later, and the worst pain is hitting now. And I thought I was in decent physical shape! All of us are limping around shamefully, we seriously consider whether or not we really need to go up those stairs!
But thankfully, our academic and spiritual classes are not causing that much pain. We have begun all of our classes now, we are covering everything from mercy and justice to the science and details of childbirth to the basics of health education. There is so much to be learned!
Today a thought hit me - that I am so incredible grateful for this gift that God has given me in becoming a midwife and going to serve the filipino people! I was just overwhelmed at points with gratefulness for this calling.
Today we did an exercise in Midwifery class where we painted pictures of our feelings/vision/beliefs about birth. After we painted we each got up to share, and it was interesting to see all the different ideas and art. My painting is in the picture above. For me birth is this incredible moment when all kinds of love are mixing together to create this new and amazing being, and redefine a family. And so the love of the parents, of the mother for her child, of Father God for us, are swirling together in grace and intricate beauty. To me the white represents the innocence of babes and the natural power of birth. The blue represents beauty, and the spiritual reality so present in birth. The yellow is the glory of God so undeniable in the plan and design of human life - who can know birth and not wonder at the Creator?

Prayer Request - Lost Little One

Friends I'm going to ask that you'd be praying for one of my new roomies - Hannah is already a good friend, but early this morning received a call with some really bad news. Her dad and step-mom were expecting and the baby was due any day, last night her step-mom went into labour and delivered, but the baby lived only a few minutes. Apparently the baby swallowed some meconium while in delivery.
It is very sad and completely unexpected. Hannah is really handling it well, and knows that God has called her to be here - right now, so she is staying. Please pray for comfort for her family right now, pray that she'd be able to focus as she begins such a heavy workload and one that is so focused on babies and childbirth.
Thank you all for your continued prayers - I can already see that God has been preparing each of us students, and preparing this time for us. I feel different than I've ever felt in any missions/school experience and I keep questioning if all of this could really be real. Leaving was hard, but being here is a great, great gift!

Home and New Beginnings

Today began the pattern of life as a Midwifery student. After a couple days to move in, go to church and meet each other we are now in swing - with a full day of orientation today and classes and physical training about to begin tomorrow. MIA (the school/organization) really wants to send us well-rounded disciples of Christ and no part of our training seems to have been forgotten, something which I am really impressed with.
Ou schedule for the summer is going to be completely booked, we have so much to cover, more than I could begin to express, but hopefully you get a feel for it as I write these next 3 months. On top of our full-time studies we have daily work duties, service in the local church and city and living with 14 roommates to fit in! The summer will go so fast!
The home for all single midwifery students is far beyond any of our expectations - perhaps nicer than most of the homes we've come from - except that we've crammed 15 girls in it! And our neighbours have a pool, we might have to make friends!

Arrived!

I have arrived! Well I have been in Boise for 1 whole day! I got in last night after 3 flights and a bit of a throbbing headache - too many emotions and altitude changes. But after a good night's sleep I was ready to face the world.
We had a fun day here - I'm staying with friends until the school starts on Monday, so I'm catching up on news, hanging out with their kids and helping run errands. It is good to be here and know that I have a home base while I am here. Even if I won't be living with my friends.
I will be moving into the Midwife student house on Sunday, and I finally get to meet everyone, and have this journey officially begin. I'm glad for a couple of days as respite from life, and prep for the hectic pace of my next few months (I hear even my bathroom breaks will be scheduled, haha).
I look forward to reporting on more and I'll have pictures as soon as next week. Thanx for all of your love and your prayers. Oh by the way (this is for you Northerners), Boise was 29C today. Not too shabby eh?

God Speaks Through Philippians

At church today we had Mr. Bruce Kuhn give a dramatic monologue of the book of Philippians. That sounds really uptight-fancy I know, but I say it like that cause I don't want to make it sound like he just read the book in front of everyone. It was really good, it wasn't a play or anything, he just spoke the words as if he were Paul actually saying them to the Philippian church.
Here's what the Spirit was pointing out to me - saying "this is for you"...

• "...you must live in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ, as citizens of heaven."
• "...glory and praise to God." "...to the glory of God the Father." More and more I hear this, I know it and I begin to realize that all of life, all of missions, all of creation is for this purpose: the Glory of God. One of my favourite quotes is from a Moravian missionary leaving home (to sell himself into slavery in order to reach the slaves). As the ship pulled out of port he yelled back to his family, "May the Lamb who was slain, receive the reward of His suffering." I can only hope that I go with the same attitude, and that it centers me in those times when I am lost in selfish ambition, homesickness or petty conflicts.
• "Hold tightly to the word of life..." This goes with the above (they all start to connect), scripture has always been such a source of life for me. I've gone through spurts where I have just reveled in it, running lines all over my pages to pull out my favourite verses. And then I have what is most of my time, where I don't read God's word enough, and I feel it. I need to hold tight to His word through all of life and especially as things get busy, tough, emotional, international!
• "Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again--rejoice!" As above, I need the joy of the Lord, I need to be rooted in Him.
• "Let your gentleness be known to all men." Coming out of this year of work, I have found that my sarcasm has returned, not that I want to discard my sense of humor, but I want to keep it in check. I want bless people and encourage them. I never want to offend anyone. I want my gentleness to be known to all.

And so with 2.5 days left in my Canadian pre-Midwife life this is where I am at: waiting, praying, goodbye-ing, crying, packing, dreaming. The goodbyes are awful. They started in earnest tonight, and even still I just don't let myself think about them, I mean I even feel responsible because people are going to miss me. It feels awful. These next 2.5 days will be busy and they will be hard, but I want to cherish every moment with those I love!

"May the Lamb who was slain, receive the reward of His suffering."

More Than I Could Ask For

I finished work yesterday - the end of another era in my life. Yes it has been 4 years that I have working on and off with Pembina Pipelines in 3 different towns, and now, with any luck, I will not work for them again! Pembina has been good - fun people, comfortable job, good money. To be honest I'll miss my FSJ/WC/GP work buddies, but I am thrilled to be finished! I never want to hear the words "Micro Main" ever, EVER again!
But I must report on a bit of the fun that I've had this week. Every so often something special happens that makes your week. Well, to be honest this week I had about 6 special somethings, pretty lucky if you ask me.

1. Sunday was a beautiful start to my week. My BBQ blessed the socks off me, I hope you all realize that. If people think its just about the fact that I raised more money then I could have ever hoped that isn't it. It was that God moved in people to give, He was working in them. It was that people were saying to me, and demonstrating to me that they love and trust me, and see God working through me. Wow.
2. One of my work buddies (he's over 50, don't worry) decided he'd miss me (or maybe was just really happy to see me go) and celebrated with giving me roses! I may be shallow folks - but flowers do make me happy. They just make me smile. What a sweetheart!
3. I also found out that my folks are going to splurge for the digital camera I've been dreaming of, Nikon D50 here I come! This is an SLR camera like the one I own, but digital. Although I really love traditional cameras, I am so thrilled that I won't have the costs or restrictions of film. This means a million more pictures, better pictures and easier sharing right here for you!
4. On Wednesday night one of the bosses at work and I took her 2006 Ford Mustang convertible out to a nearby religious colony (just a random detail) for dinner. The food was good, the company was good, a great time. But did I mention that I got to DRIVE her brand new 2006 Ford Mustang convertible (top down) on the highway! Woohoo!
5. A couple months ago the WC office gave me a gift certificate as my going away gift and they told me to use it towards an iPod, something I was happy to obey. So I told my new boss that he needed to match it (as a half-joke), and well - he did! So yesterday I had the fun of picking up my very own 30GB iPod. Now I can take my music/pics/videos with me to any corner of the globe!
6. Yesterday came and went and it was my last day at work! The FSJ office gang were just as sweet as the WC crew. I received a donation for midwifery school, a card and cake! As well as the offer (threat), that the guys could line up for kisses, it was really funny, but you probably had to be there.

It has been a really special week. I look ahead though and there are only 5 brief days left here in this place that is my epic-center, my home. Despite what my passport might tell you, leaving here is hard. It is something that makes me feel kinda cold inside, anxious, ick. I'm choosing not to think about it, I love travel and missions and all of these things I'm blessed to be a part of, but God has planted me here at home. Not that I need to stay - but I know and feel my roots. This year has been one of the best of my life, Pembina included. God has helped me step back from the last few years and put in place the things I learned, and learn some of the things I missed. Leaving my friends and family has never been harder.