Nik@nite: March 2012

My mom is here and it's kinda the best thing EVER.

We are hanging out with the Rhodes team from North Carolina going to the barrios this week and it's just been awesome. I mean, I am a little tired since this is our 12th team in 13 weeks but overall feeling pretty darn grateful that I get to be here and do this. Last week was the Nelson team going to the barrios as well and before that...an AMAZING week of surgery with the one and only Greg Pomeroy and his fantastic ortho crew. I think I am still spinning from the wealth of knowledge that I garnered on foot and ankle surgery!

Anyway- it's been a great winter. I look back and wonder exactly what I have done. Not sure. I've seen lots of surgery, I've been to lots of barrios to help with clinics, I've folded lots of scrubs and reorganized the med room a few times (:)). I've held hands and wiped noses and written vitals and made kajillions of copies of charting forms, barrio intake forms, etc. It's just part of my life here. Really...what I've done is had the opportunity to participate in watching lives change, whether through a life changing surgery...... or a life changing mission trip... or maybe just watching a really cool nurse love on some new nurses and teach them how to start IVs safely. Being part of the stuff that happens here is the best!

Speaking of cool stuff- Mom and I (and the team) went to a concert at Central Mennonite here in San Juan on Sunday evening. The worship team (who are AMAZING) was working on a demo CD and taping the concert there ,etc. Nef sang with them and from the second they started singing...I think I was transported to one of those rare moments in which you just are seriously WORSHIPING for real. And feeling like you and Jesus are just RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER. I loved it and I'm still humming the songs that they sang. There WAS a mime, which was a bit scary since mimes just WIG me out. Mimes are an essential part of nearly every church production that I've have attended. Dominicans love mimes. And I am frightened by them...but growing accustomed to it by now. Mimes and clowns and puppets. Completely utilized whenever they can be. It' s just good to have a heads up that there COULD be a mime when you show up for a service.

Yet other cultural stuff I am learning about..... If you have enough swagger, you can certainly wear socks with your flip-flops and be cool. If you are bathing/showering with warm water, you really aren't clean. You have to bathe with COLD water to be clean (I'm still trying to figure this out?). You should NOT drink milk at night, that is ridiculous. If you haven't eaten rice for lunch... you really haven't eaten. You should shower BEFORE and AFTER working out/running. You should NEVER eat and drink together. Drink AFTER you finish eating. All the juice that I make (me..personally) is only good for diabetics and NEVER has enough sugar in it. Oh and all homemade juices should have vanilla added ("do you mean you don't KNOW that?"). You throw water on people on their birthdays and sometimes even flour and eggs. You should NEVER call someone a clown (in spanish) to their face- it's super offensive (oops!). And the list goes on and on. It's actually hilarious.

So I am working on the running too. Trying to keep up with the old exercise since ya know, I'm 40 and all and basically falling apart at the seams. I think 5 minutes after I turned 40, I talked to the orthos who were in town and we figured out that I have bursitis in my left shoulder. Ummmm hello- I turned 40 and got like an old person problem. BURSITIS? What is THAT? But I do my exercises and got a steroid injection and I will march onward. But the running...ufffff. The running. I run with Monchi and we plug in my earphones together ( one in his ear and one in mine) and run in sync and that is how I do it. I kinda can't do it without either of those things and while it isn't getting one bit easier.......I MIGHT be whining less.... maybe. I watch his feet and heave and plod and try to stay in pace. And then I fuss and sniffle about how I'm probably dying and can't go on another minute and all that. And there is some gentle (and ungentle) encouragement and pulling and pushing. And then jumping up and down with joy when it's over "you did it you did it you did it!!!!". And then a stretching routine and then home, sweaty and happy. And I am grateful. Grateful for this "Dominican hijo mio" who helps me out without a whimper, grateful for the mountains around us as we head for Mogollon in our "ruta", grateful for the waving and cheering (maybe sneering?) as we pass by, grateful that I get this opportunity. Just grateful.

Hanging out at the park last weekend, I learned a couple other phrases of Dominicanisms. Coolness- I love learning stuff like that. But the one that stuck with me is something that I like to say in English too. I like to say "but then again, we are always on the journey". And basically Chino told me the same in Spanish...that folks can say "siempre la historia continua"...that things keep going on. And I love it. Feeling like I'm IN that, the story that always continues. And I love my story (for the most part) and seeing where Jesus and I are going. And here's a shout out to those who are and have been praying for me....THANK YOU! With Jesus, siempre la historia continua....

Running around. Haciendo gira. Feels like that.

When teams are in town the days blur together and I can't seem to remember what exactly I've been doing. But for sure I've BEEN hacienda gira and it's all been good. I did indeed turn 40 and since then, it's been all downhill.

Last Friday (the 3rd) Dan, Kari, Laura, Monchi, Chino and me piled into the gray truck and drove to El Club, outside of Las Matas to celebrate 40 years en serio. El Club is the Mac Daddy pool experience. There is a monster pool, a playground, restaurant, dance floor, booming music, stunning gardens, view to kill for, and DOMINO tables. We had chicken fights in the water, played dominos, lounged by the pool, threw tennis balls at each other, ate ice cream, took underwater photos, and generally carried on like 4 year olds. When we got home, we put on birthday hats and ate birthday cake. It was epic.

And on Sunday I was invited to the front of the church and serenaded by Nef and my sweet little congregation. Have I mentioned how much I like my church? To be quite honest, I'm not even sure what the name of my church is. I just tell folks that I goto Nef's church. My church is made up mostly of sweet little ladies, unruly children, and other folks who genuinely love Jesus and each other. During one of the songs of worship, we get up and go around hugging EVERYONE else and wishing them God's blessings. It feels good. It feels right. And I'm starting to learn some of the songs in spanish.

This week was full of busy surgeons performing tonsillectomies and hernias and all that jazz. I love when there are ENT's in town because we have lots of kiddies. I must admit, I was nervous because we were scheduled to have 3 DIFFERENT groups in town this past week, 2 barrio teams and 1 surgical team. I thought we'd get our butts kicked...and maybe we did... in a way. But I saw Jesus in huge ways this week. I saw lots of Americans get their worlds rocked. I saw them soaking in this life, sharing with the gente (people) here, coming ALIVE, pouring themselves into serving. It made me relive my first mission trip again...seeing how big our world is....how insignificant we can be..and yet.... how God has us all in the palm on His hand. As Kari said.....we were CREATED to do this stuff, to love each other and Him...serving, going wide open. I loved it. Took me back to a little girl in Haiti...Milla with fathoms of stories in her eyes... a little one who grabbed my heart...an experience that planted a love for international missions in me. I remember feeling the way that lots of these guys feel... like I never wanted to leave and that I was DIFFERENT because of this experience. It was just cool. I think all 4 of us were reliving stuff through them. And we were sorry to see them go and hoping to see them again, just like we are every week when the teams pack up and leave us.

And I remember the patients. I remember little K. K was 4 and from the Haitian border, speaking more Creole than Spanish. His parents showed up on Monday afternoon, when our schedule was already booked for the week. But he really NEEDED to have surgery. And I looked at them, so hopeful, and I just wished we could do something. And lo and behold, someone cancelled for Tuesday afternoon and I ran out to the waiting room and they were still there. So I asked them if they could find a place to stay in San Juan, that maybe K could be our first patient in the morning. And they beamed and thought they could. So Tuesday morning bright and early, K was our first surgery of the day. And he didn't just need his tonsils out. He also had a boil on his face that the surgeon was able to open up and treat. And then after his surgery Dr. Sandy saw him in his office and treated him for the hongos (fungus) that he had all over his head. And I stood in the office and watched his Dad struggle not to cry and say "I just don't know how in the world we can ever thank you". I share these things because I want you guys to know what you are doing when you support me and the rest of the folks at Solid Rock. It's because of K that I want to be here... K and all the others that I love. I doubt I'll see him again but I remember him and his Dad and Mom. I remember the patient we took care of that probably has lymphoma and might not get better. And the woman who came in from the campos to have a horrible lesion removed from her face. I remember our kind doctors who take TIME to talk to these guys, who offer them hope and a kind hand. It means a lot, ya know. I am always honored to work with these folks...who take a week off from their lives in the State and come down here to sweat and search for the right surgical instruments and take cold showers and eat lots of rice and beans and work their butts off.

And this weekend Laura and I basically gutted my room and did a massive cleaning/reorganizing. Sue Eby will be here in less than 3 weeks and my room needs to be TIGHT. :) Curtains washed, floor scrubbed by hand, drawers reorganized, lots of stuff chucked or "redistributed". Sick amounts of laundry completed. And a bit of clean up around the Guesthouse too. And then tacos with nos hijos Friday and some dominos throw downs. And Saturday..well, Saturday was a quick visit to Baby Nicole who is ONE YEAR OLD. Holy buckets. She's still petrified of me, shrieking whenever I get too close and clinging to her mama. But she's more beautiful than ever. And her ornery older brothers are the cutest things, shouting "Nicole!" and "Laura" when we pull up next to their house. And we sip juice with them and talk with the crew and her mama and hear the neighborhood news. Back at the Guesthouse at 4, Chino and Monchi show up and we start working in the med room, putting away about 120 pairs of scrubs, hanging out more laundry, reorganizing a bunch of meds and prepping for the next barrio trip, making a run to the dump, cutting up fruit, getting ready for the team coming tomorrow. And ohhhhhh I made hummus for dinner which was a big hit. Egg salad, hummus, fresh veggies, avocado, some really good pumpkin cake dessert thing that Laura whipped up...... delish.

And of course the newest member of our family was running around at our feet the entire time. Pipi the peep has joined the Solid Rock staff here. He was a gift to Kari from Wilmer our neighbor friend...and while we aren't sure how long Pipi will last with two dogs on the grounds, he IS really cute. Monchi built him a house out of a cardboard box but Pipi isn't a big fan of his own house. He just likes to run around the kitchen and squawk and follow Laura around. He's enamored with Laura and sits on her flip-flops whenever he can. We continually yell at each other not to step or stomp on him and I'm not exactly sure what we will do with him when there are teams here but he's had a great life at least for 2 days here.

So here's to chickens and kids with boils on their faces and huge tonsils and eating hummus and seeing Jesus in all of it. Here's to dancing bachata in the kitchen and hearing Happy Birthday at my church and holding hands with some folks who we can't fix. Here's to praying with our patients and crying with our friends and watching some wide eyed college kids CHANGE right in front of my face. Here's to watching Dan and Kari and Laura love on each other and me. Here's to folding scrubs with Monchi and Chino and here's to my parents showing up here in less than a MONTH. Here's to my LIFE- it's so full I can hardly stand it.