Hanging out with my fam in early August was a great win....loved being with Mom, Dad, Brett, Jen and the boys up at our cabin in Pine Creek Valley. Biking, bears, campfires, Pine Creek. Total win.
Can I mention that I just miss blueberries terribly?
BEARS! Blurry BEARS!
Aneesa goes to college. I got to help her move in. Total total total win. So. Very. Proud.
Another win was 2 weekends ago when Laura, Monchi, Chino and I went to Jarabacoa to visit Emma Wilde at the YWAM base there. Every time I goto a new place in this country I marvel at how very different it is. Jarabacoa is the Colorado of the DR. The mountains and greenery are spectacular and we went to two different waterfalls that just blew my mind. Plus the YWAM base is amazing in its own way....this green eden of a sanctuary that has its own chapel and cabanas and pond and palm trees all over the place. Emma is of course flourishing there (like we all KNEW she would) and it was just the coolest to see her in her element. We went out in the city and enjoyed pico pollo one night and pizza the next and reveled in a newfound place with friends.
lots of walking and hiking (and running!) in Jarabacoa. Couldn't have been more beautiful.
We hiked/walked to the waterfalls and had to walk over these rickety rope bridges to get there.
And then another intense hike through woods and mountains to find another remote waterfall. So. Worth. It. But there were over 183 steps to climb UP when we were returning. Burning. Legs.
So worth it. Did I say that already? Unbelievable.
Running. Can't decide if I put this in the Win or Loss column since it's still just so very hard for me. But yes. I'm 40 and I have to do something to fight the forces of age and stress. So I run. Right now I'm in an intense program training 2x daily. Usually. Kinda. And it hurts and my body is thrashed (THRASHED) but mentally I'm feeling MUCH better. Plus- I get to see stuff like this at 630 in the morning.
The unfortunate thing is that this is what I look like at 630 in the morning. Miserable.
The greatest win, hands down, of the past week was the Completion. Of. The. Scary. Room. Part of my job is supposed to be organizing (???) our Medical Supply Room (otherwise known as the Scary Room) and our Pharmacy. Both of which routinely get trashed, both by our American teams AND the Dominican side as well. But this past week, Monchi, Chino and I put on our gloves and attacked the room with full fervor and several truckloads of trash-to-the-dump later...the Scary Room (for the first time since I've ever been here) resembles a Medical Warehouse (kind of). We found medical supplies from 1980...... older than either of the guys, which was funny. We found a few treasures but they were few and far between. We found mountains of rat droppings and one very dead mouse. We sweated like banshees in the heat and I am more than relieved to have it finished...as well as to have the slightest idea of what may be IN the Scary Room now. When I first walked in before we started, I think I had tears in my eyes. It was SOOOOOO overwhelming and there was just stuff thrown ALL over the floor. Yesterday we had the added help of Yoscar and Rankeli, two 9 year olds (maybe?) who were looking for something to do. They tossed garbage bags and packed the pickups and happily rode along to the dump with us and they thought it was just about the greatest day known to man. And now I think there are tears in my eyes just knowing it is COMPLETED. At least until stuff is thrown all over the floor again. :)
Other wins include hanging out with my friends in Pueblo Nuevo and sitting in on English class, having dinner at Anji and Bartolo's house, visiting my friends Jarolin and Alicia and snuggling their babies, having Enma bring his baby niece over to hang out with us, driving the Pasola around town, playing dominos with the crew, working in the clinic with the incredible staff to prepare for the surgical teams, calling about 10 billion people to remind them when to come in for surgical consults, emailing various folks who are coming in upcoming groups, having "girls time" and chats with Maria Victoria and Laura, making arripitas, spending a morning in ValleJuelo Hospital with MMI to pick up some more knowledge on barrio clinics/operativo medicos, and simple stuff like sitting in our cabana and thinking about the next Big Thing that God might want to do here in San Juan.
With wins comes losses sometimes.
I lost a good friend this past month. Glenda. Not sure I have words. But such a loss. Yeah- no tengo palabras. I'm encouraged by the incredible faith I see exhibited in her family and friends...but I hurt just thinking about it. It's just so hard sometimes- living on THIS earth in THIS world.
And cancer. I hate cancer. I've got some peeps with cancer. I don't get it. It's a loss and it frustrates me. I DO feel grateful that there is good treatment available where my friends and family are...but wow. Cancer just sucks.
My house. I am selling my house. I love my house. But I love my life more. My tenant is going to have some other plans this winter and so it's time to move on. Know anybody who wants to buy my house? It scares me because of all the little pieces that need to fit together in order for me to have this life here. The house is one of them. This would be one of the reasons I am running. :)
Losses. Wins. I've got some of both. More wins than losses, Gracias A Dios. (And my 3 fantasy teams are hanging in there....as apparently are the Phillies) I'm working with God with both the Wins and Losses, trying to have that whole patience and faith thing going on. He is sustaining me, encouraging me, pushing me. I see Him around me, in Yocar's grin while he's twisting his neck to see if I'm watching him. I see him in the mist rising over the mountains in the morning when I'm huffing and puffing. I see Him in the grief and in the heartache even when I can't begin to find a way to speak it.
He's here with me in this beautiful place that I call home.
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