The Power of Our God!

It's Sunday night and I am just chilling on the blue couch.  My roommates and I are watching Back to the Future.  It's been a pretty relaxing day.  Today, we celebrated Thanksgiving here at New Hope.  A time to come together and to verbalize both with our mouths and with our hearts all that we are thankful for.  Today, I find myself thankful for the power of my God.... for our God.  This past week was a FULL week and despite taking a few naps this weekend, I still find myself ready to hit the sack tonight.      But, before I do, I definitely want to take a few minutes to share.  To give God a Holla Holla applause.... because while He is always very present with us, this past week was full of watching Him miraculously intervene.  This past week, my friends from back in Fort Wayne were here visiting.  Kevin, Ellen, and their thirteen old daughter Lindley were visiting.  It was so great having them.  Last Sunday, we were just preparing to sit down for lunch when we got the message that there was a lady at kiwoko hospital that needed blood.  Within a few short minutes, the situation became increasingly clear.   Florence, who had just had a c-section hours earlier, was bleeding.  She needed blood.  I offered to go the hospital.  Upon arriving, it was VERY clear that this woman was critically ill.  She was barely responsive.  Going back to surgery was not an option nor was getting any type of blood product at the hospital.  They did not have any blood or plasma to give her.  For a short while, we thought we were literally going to put her in the back of a vehicle and start driving to a hospital in the capital. And before we realized it, the ambulance that we didn't think was coming... came.  After putting her in the back of the ambulance, we took off.  I hopped into the back of the ambulance, along with two other nurses.  Our only equipment was oxygen.  As we bumped along the roads of Uganda heading at an impressively fast pace towards the hospital, I prayed.  In fact, many people were praying.  I thought for sure she was going to slip away as we bounced towards the capital.  And God, in HIS mercy and power, sustained her.   We arrived at the hospital and she was hooked up to monitors.  Her pulse was near 160, blood pressure was low, and she was requiring oxygen.  Her blood was taken and we waited.  She became agitated and a check of her oxygen level showed that she was not getting enough oxygen. She was deteriorating.  She was placed on a face mask and a conversation with the doctor followed.  Her hemoglobin was 2.4!!! A normal level is 12-16.  Her blood type was A- which is a very rare blood type.  And the request for prayer warriors was put out by many.  Her vitals which had been terribly started to stabilize.  It was crazy cool!  She received the ONE unit of A- blood that the hospital had.  A second unit was obtained by a friend who came along. By the next morning, when her hemoglobin was checked, her blood level had increased to 4.4.  She received the blood beautifully and it was very safe to say that God had stopped the bleeding.  Later the next day, she received two more units and her hemoglobin increased to 6.9.  Still low, but definitely manageable.  On the third day, she received another unit.  This momma of six was able to go home!  It was a beautiful display of God's power and the awareness that He alone is the sustainer of life.  The fact that she is alive is only because of Him...  
On Wednesday night, I experienced another display of the power of God.  My friend Hannah and I were up talking when we heard the shutters shaking.  At first, we thought it was someone standing outside of the window... but the noise became louder and the house began to shake.  We were in the middle of an earthquake! The earthquake lasted at least a minute... if not longer.  There was only one moment where I think we were both a little nervous.  It subsided.  Before the morning came, we experienced a total of three earthquakes... all at varying levels.  The first was 5.7.  And as I process this past week, I smile.  The same God who can shake the earth.... literally is the SAME God who can breathe life into a dying woman.  We truly serve a POWERFUL God and I am so thankful.

Choosing to live an undaunted Life... Issue #2

the Greatness of our God.

Little Shakira was really tired this morning and it was evident that her breathing was more labored than it should have been.  After listening to her lungs, it was decided that she should go to the hospital for further evaluation.  Her little lungs were "wet" (full of fluid).  She was brave for the needle stick and sat patiently as the doctor listened to her lungs and heart.  She perked up at the end and started dancing to some music she heard.  It was hard for my heart today to see this little girl struggling.  I don't know what her prognosis is.  This little girl with absolute spunk and enthusiasm for life is really sick.  My heart was feeling the pang of it today and yet, I am absolutely choosing to put my feet firmly in the ground.  My Jesus knows exactly what He is doing with this young girl and whether or not her days are limited here on earth... has no bearing on the greatness of our God.  Holding on to that tonight as I process the day.  What a stretching day it was.... so thankful to have been able to be present with her today... and to just love on this sweet girl!

I think you need to eat chocolate three times a day....

Several posts back, I introduced you to a sweet little girl names Shakira.  She is just shy of three years old and is one of those kids that just makes you smile.  She is ADORABLE.  She is the size of a one year old.  Every day at the clinic, she greets me with either a "I'm too busy to acknowledge your presence" as she goes off in another direction or with a sheepish little smile and arms up ready to be held. No matter what language you speak to her in, her usual response a repeat of what you just said.  She is still living at the clinic with her mom and with her baby sister.  Shakira came down with malaria last week and her recovery to those little parasites has been somehow slow.  It is clear that her body is tired and that recovery takes her a little longer than it does for most.  Don't get me wrong... she still has spunk and she still has the energy around to explore, investigate, and interact.  On Friday, I lifted her up on my lap and gave her a pen and showed her how to write.  She took right to it.  I captured a few fun pictures of her.  This coming week, we will go into the city and spend the day at Mulago hospital.  There, the prayer is that, she will have a semi-complete assessment and we will have a more clear idea of what is going on with her body.  I'll keep you posted! 

"So tell me about your owie?"

"Um, I think you need to have some chocolate three times a day for 2560 days"

It has been nearly a month since I have started working in the clinic full time.  And it has been an adventure.  There have been parts of it that have been very challenging and other parts that have been absolutely amazing.  I have fallen in love with seeing patients.  Someone comes in sick... and it's a process to problem solve looking at the hints to figure out how best to help the person in front of you.  Sometimes, it's simply listening... other times, it involves acting quickly. It has been an absolute honor to take care of the individuals, both young and old, who have walked through the doors of the New Hope Clinic.  Some days, I feel as small as I did standing up against that tree.... and the reality is, I am that small.  But, the bigger reality is that my God is right there with me and as I lean into Him, He is filling me with His wisdom, His direction, His leading... In Him, I am finding peace and a keen awareness of HIS presence in this process.  This process that comes with a lot of joy and challenges all packaged together.  The challenges of learning how to work together with other medical care professionals that have learned so differently than myself.  We come with different backgrounds, yet with a strong desire to help those who come across our paths.  And while there are bumps as we merge, my prayer is that God will lead each one of us.... so that as we continue to work together, it would be the merging of a team... each learning from each other and using the different skills that God has given us.  He has brought us together, and I choose to rest in that.  Will you pray that we would become more united?  that I would know when to speak up and when to be quiet? Sounds simple enough... but it's not and I yearn for your prayers in this area.  

"For it is you who light my lamp, the Lord my God lightens my darkness." Psalm 18:28

Last month, I said hello to a friend who I first met in kindergarten and said goodbye to a friend that I met in January shortly after arriving.  Leigh came to Uganda for a conference and Anna and I were able to hop a boda and see her shortly after she arrived.  We joined up with her and her team and walked through the botanical gardens.  What a sweet time it was!  So great! Anna and I spent the remainder of the day together and then we headed to the airport.  It was hard to say see you later to such a dear friend.  We may never see each other again on this earth....but we will fo sure see each other again in heaven one day..  So thankful for that. Anna returned back to the Congo. Wherever we are, we are committed to "Live Free". 

 And since I have not been so good at keeping you all in the loop this last month (my apologies), I figure I will just keep sharing. There is so much to share and my fingers are just lining up with my soul tonight.  It's now Sunday night (writing a blog post happens in stages) and I am finishing up my first weekend of being on call.  Yep, on call.  I can still to this day clearly remember hearing the phone ring in the middle of the night at my house growing up.... my dad often fumbling for the phone... and his barely awake voice talking.  I don't ever remember him being unkind to the nurses on the other end of the phone...and having been the nurse calling the doctor in the middle of the night... I am thankful for that.  Thankfully, the phone hasn't rung in the middle of the night... yet.  It's mostly been visits to the house or phone calls throughout the day.  A cut hand, sprained ankle, malaria, and a young boy struggling to breathe.... which despite a steroid shot and antibiotics resulted in his admittance to the hospital here.  Thank you for letting me love on these sweet children and amazing staff members.  Thank you for journeying along with me.... it is a gift and I am so thankful to Jesus for His bringing me here and for walking this journey with me.  Hand in Hand.  Yesterday, as I was trying to help a child struggling to breathe with no albuterol and only steroids and antibiotics... I found my insides nervous.  If I was in the states, I would have had a doctor directing me.  The little boy would have been having breathing treatments back to back and here I was watching a young boy struggle and I was calling the shots.  The wrong shot called and the consequences could be so bad.  And as I stood beside the little guy.. I just sensed God saying, "I've got him..." And my internal posture relaxed.  I am His hands and I am not doing this alone.  He is at my side.  Thank you Jesus. 

A positive one of these.... 

usually means the person feels like this....

but with TLC and God's healing touch... the end result is usually a smiling face

It's Friday night and I am chilling.  I am watching three children tonight and have enjoyed it.  They are all tucked in under their mosquito nets getting all the sleep they need for a full day tomorrow.  It's the end of a week here and the music from the neighboring village is just now beginning to float through the air. A somehow steady rhythm coupled with different bugs competing to be heard.  Surprisingly, it's a calming combination.  The phone is laying beside me.  It's my first night on call.  Somehow exciting.  The phone has rung twice.  From the same person.  It was a really easy first call.  The man calling was calling concerning his wife.  She is seven months pregnant and is having intense abdominal pain.  As soon as he informed me of those two key points, I directed her to the hospital.  The second time I talked with him, he was telling me she was being admitted.  My prayer is that both she and her baby will be ok.  It's been a full week.  A week of saying goodbye to dear friends and a week of diving into full time  hours at the clinic.  It's been a week full of malaria, wounds, and opportunities to learn, learn, and learn some more.  There is so much learning to do.  So much.  Many of the kids from my family group are down with malaria. Today, Phionna came in with a fever, body aches, and just not feeling well.  I talked with her, assessed her, and the walked over to a bed so that she could rest.  A little while later, I brought her some paracetamol (tylenol), Lumartem (malaria treatment), and some water.  standing beside her, I put a watered down washcloth on her forehead.  I prayed for her and then assured her that I would check on her.  I checked on her a short while later.  I saw two little tear drops just hanging below her right eye.  She didn't want me to know she was crying.  I asked and then drew her near.  I just hugged her for a few extra seconds.   Thankful to be able to stand with Phionna.  And when the time is right.... to be able to walk forward with her as she journeys on in life.  She is a beautiful girl with a heart hungry to know love.  Excited to be able to love her and journey with her as she comes to know the love of our God more and more.  

Linda, me, and Phionna

I tried multiple time to upload a video yesterday... a slide show of sorts to share with you in pictures, words, and song the theme of my life over the last five months.  Despite strong internet connection, it failed to upload  Sorry! I will try again tonight.  It's Sunday morning and I am laying on a mat underneath a big tree.  There is such a mixture of sounds around me (cars, owls, birds, etc.) and I am just resting.  In a few short hours, I will hop the back of a motorbike and zoom over to a pool.  So looking forward to getting some rays, listening to some music, and thinking through the last 5 months.  I came out to Entebbe on Thursday evening and am returning back to New Hope tomorrow.  On Thursday, I graduated from the training that I started back in January.  It's the ending of one season here at New Hope and the beginning of another.  A chapter that I am looking forward to starting.  My time in the institute was stretching and good.  We were a class of twenty-two.  We came as strangers and we left as dear, dear friends.  We learned together, we cried together, and we laughed together.  We even said "Holla, Holla" together.... thanks to yours truly.  I just wanted to give them a little of my wanna be Chicago soul culture! ( c : Thank you for supporting me these last five months. The things that I have learned have been and will be used by God daily as I interact with those around me (more later on that!).  One of the highlights for me these past five months has been knowing Anna.  Anna is a young woman from the Congo.  It has been so neat watching God work in heart in amazing ways.  We both shared a love for God and for Coca Cola.  Nearly every week, we would sit together and she would just share her heart.  What she was learning, what she was thinking, etc.  She is a woman that will undoubtably be used by God in HUGE ways.  We spent some time on Friday before she left to pray together. She closed her eyes nervous and unsure and opened them up a short while later empowered, encouraged, and acutely aware that she was not alone.

   "But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel; Fear not for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name,you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you' and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.  For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." Isaiah 43:1-2

From Left:Betsy, Betty,.Anna, me

Anna Friend, you are loved and I so look forward to the day that we will meet again.  For now, little sista cling to Jesus and know that you are NOT alone.  

None of us are alone.  And that's part of the amazing gift of being able to be here and share with those around me.  Adults and children, those from the west and from Uganda... that none of us are alone.  So thankful for that! 

Give a child a camera...

Give a child a camera and you will more than surely see life from their eyes... literally.  And that's exactly what happened when I let Lawrence use my camera.  Lawrence lives in the Worcester Family.  The family group that I am coming to love more and more.  Lawrence is a young boy hungry for love.  He is quiet with a very sweet disposition.

Slashing the compound.
The most common way to cut grass is to slash it.
 It takes muscles and time.  

Kasava is a common food here.  The roots of the Kasava
tree are dug up and then prepared.  

Working hard with Harriet. It's early Saturday morning and
we are preparing the food for dinner that night.   

Peeling the Kasava Roots.  The root is then cooked and eaten.  

It's a long process and a little dirty.... but the end product is worth it.  

Edmund is on washing duty.  Handling it like a champ! 

Dishes drying in the sun.  The yellow container is called a jerry can.  This is one of the main
containers for collecting and storing water.  Children travel far to water pumps where they gather the water
and bring it back home.  It's a HARD job.  Thankfully, the water pump here at New Hope is not too far.  It is about a five minute walk.  A little longer when you have a FULL jerry can of water.  

This blue container is water is stored.  As the children bring the filled Jerry can's of water,
they dump them in the blue container.  Rain is also collected through the gutter and saved in this blue
container.  This water is NOT safe for drinking, but is used for washing and cooking.  

one of the Bandas (huts).  Anywhere from 3-4 children live in each one.  

dishes drying

Little Dan.  

Check out the clouds.  Seriously, the clouds here are absolutely amazing.

Breakfast.  porridge is a staple breakfast here.  

Little Derek... turning a tree into maybe a horse?  or a car?

The sky.... 

Thanks Lawrence for taking us all on a tour of your family.  So thankful to be part of it! ( c :