On the humdrum

It has recently come to my attention that I usually try to make my blog entries kinda interesting.   I think that is completely normal- HOWEVER- I need to be honest that my life in the DR isn't always wide open and fascinating and so emotional and full of spiritual mountains.   Sometimes I do laundry too.

So here it is.....an affirmation that not all of my life here is thrilling and "missionary-ish".

Almost every weekend before the teams arrive,  Laura or I pick up dog poop here at the Guesthouse.  And that stinks, literally.   We also "open the rooms" meaning we unlock the doors of the rooms that have been prepared for the teams, open the windows and turn on the fans.    Yippeee for excitement, eh?

As noted above, of course I do laundry.  Yup.  Surprise.  And our washer or dryer occasionally leaves weird marks on my clothes and they seem to be destroyed much easier than in the States.    Right now I have about 6 dresser drawers that need to be organized.  And then I have a bunch of medical stuff in my room that I have to go through and determine if it needs to STAY in my room or I can punt it somewhere else.   Booooorrrrrriiiiinnnnnnggggggg.

I have to sweep out my room almost every day because it's so DUSTY here and there is dog hair all over the floor.    Same for dusting.    Bathroom is the same-  dust EVERYWHERE.   Sometimes I think the cleaning is oh-so-futile.  

Bill paying by computer.  Ugh.  Mom and Dad help me with lots of paperwork stateside but I still have to stay on top of that stuff.    Also- continuing education credits for the nursing licenses and staying on top of my CPR, NRC, BLS, etc.     Really fun when the WIFI goes in and out and I lose credits that I PAID FOR.   Grrrrrr!

Plants.  I have some basil and palm and other "plant friends" that I am trying to keep alive.  I'd like to add tomatoes to the mix but that hasn't happened yet.    I fail miserably at watering my plants but fortunately it's the rainy season here.

Email.  I spent lots of time emailing incoming teams/my boss, etc.   Also very fun when the WIFI isn't exactly dependable.

Med room/pharmacy.  Every week after/before a barrio team I have to clean up after the week (even if we don't have a team in there are many folks who use our pharmacy) and organize it  for the next folks.   That includes ensuring that we have enough intake forms/paperwork, etc.   And Scrubs.  I fold scrubs and put them away in the pharmacy too.  Ugh.  This week I bet there are 100 scrubs waiting for me in the laundry room.    Glamorous, isn't it?

Scary room/clinic.  There are about 6 suitcases and one random stack of PVC pipe that need to be organized this week in the scary room.  I also noted at least 5 suitcases in one of the closets in the clinic that need to be unpacked and put away.

Relationships.  Just like at home- folks need quality TIME and conversation.   One of my dearest dominican friends lives within walking distance of this clinic and I bet I don't see her more than once a month.   Boo.   And I'd love to get out to the orphanage more than every 8-9 weeks.  

Church.  I go to church on Saturday nights at Central Mennonite here and I love it.   But hey, english is still my first language and sometimes it takes intense concentration to understand the majority of the message.   I'm usually pretty tired after church because it takes a lot out of me.

Food.   I'm the first to admit that I kinda loathe the kitchen work (for the most part).   But when we don't have teams here, we still eat.  Keeping the kitchen clean with food in the frig is something we have to be intentional about.    I WILL say that my little basil plant has created my favorite meal- tomatoes/basil/cheese/olive oil salad and I can eat the same thing everyday very happily.  Our local Dominican friends find it disgusting.   :)

Jesus time.   I'd love to be that disciplined person who says they have devotions and prayer time with Jesus every morning at 5:30.   But I'm not.   I wrestle with it.

Nicole time.   This is not a country where being alone is encouraged.  Alone time is an anomaly.   Laying in my bed on a Sunday morning sleeping past 6:30 is a crazy gift.   Being able to think and process and dream- wow.  

Meetings.  We don't have a lot but we DO meet as house staff.   I am actually one of those peeps who LOVES meetings.   We have a meeting with our translators this week that I am really looking forward to.   Meetings, yay!  Is everyone jealous yet?

Support/counseling.  I meet with one of the pastors at our church (and sometimes with the pastor in El Cercado as well) occasionally for counsel and support.  It's been very positive and I'm so grateful to have had these opportunities.  

These are just some examples of the basic or "humdrum" aspect of life here.   I do want to be open about the fact that it's GREAT and I love it but I still make my bed in the morning and don't always feel like "Miss Sally Spiritual".   It's still LIFE after all.    I wonder if because I work overseas at a ministry folks suppose my life is straight street evangelism or watching miracles in the clinic every day.  Not quite.  But sometimes I see Jesus in the humdrum laundry days too..... or picking up dog poop.  It's not glamorous- but He's with me nonetheless.   And I'm grateful.

Raining and Growing and reaching for the skies....

MAY 14 2013by nicole_eby

It’s the rainy season here in San Juan but I don’t mind.  Although it’s steamy sometimes in the afternoons, everything is so GREEN.  The crops in the fields were so thirsty even a month ago and now it looks like everything is sprouting and crawling up walls and reaching for the sky.   The mango season is finally starting and they are so sweet, running down our mouths and sticking in our teeth.   The mosquitos are swarming and the basil in my little pot is ecstatic and smells so good outside of my door on the sunny balcony.

It’s a barrio team season as well.  Over the last month or so we’ve had wonderful and crazy experiences with the Blankenship team, the Rhodes team, and this week the Southern Uah and Cleveland State teams.   I love the watch the first-timers gape at the scenary and gasp at the chubby babies and get teary eyed when they leave.  And I love to watch those who have been here before grin when they see their Dominican friends again and roll their eyes when the power goes out as the rookies shriek until the generator kicks in. Although it was a bit scary slip-sliding in the mud, I loved climbing up the terrible road to Montecitos to see patients who were oh-so-grateful to see us.   I loved watching my mom help out in the barrios with the Rhodes team, carefully preparing vitamin bags in the pharmacy to hand out to the families.  I loved watching one of my oldest and dearest friends arrive about a week or so ago and take in everything here with wide eyes and open heart.   I love watching 48 (more or less…..) college students unpack and listen intently and LOVE on the Dominican kiddies.   

And I had a grand visit with my mom for 3 weeks.  Sue Eby is a pro here and also has the organizing gene and therefore she sorted and packed and organized and labeled and all KINDS of super helpful stuff in the kitchen and pantry and pharmacy and wow- when can we turn her loose in the Scary Room?  We spent several days in the pharmacy going NUTS on the shelves and container bins.  And then to have Venus here for a week was just the icing on the cake.  Giggling like old times and hearing her throw out sarcasm in spanish has to be a huge highlight of the YEAR, not just the week.   It’s so amazing introducing my two worlds and having them LOVE each other.   We spent a day in Barahona on a vacant beach, spent time visiting and delivering meds to F in Las Charcas,  spent an afternoon eating crabs and fish soup in Bastida with Baby Nicole and her family, spent evenings hanging out with my crew and friends here but mostly  we just spent TIME together, which was heavenly.

And now we’ve got 5 barrio teams (kinda) in 2 weeks which means pharmacy and paperwork and watching and taking blood pressures and crowd control.  I dig it.  Its cool going to these neighborhoods and seeing where people LIVE and how they wrestle and keep going and are just-so-grateful that we even ARRIVE where they live.  I am constantly humbled.    I’m working on a presentation that I sometimes do in the barrios about parasites.  It starts off talking about parasites and how they are treated and obtained and how they “eat us from the inside” and steal our nutrients from the inside,etc.  But then I talk about hatred and jealousy and envy and pride and how these are spiritual parasites which ALSO eat us from the inside.    And today I talked about how even though I’ve been a Christian fo a good long time now…I still struggle with these awful spiritual parasites…and how great would it be if only one little pill could cure all the ugly things inside of me.    But instead we continue on, begging God to help us evict these parasites that threaten to eat us from the inside, knowing that only He can do it.    And it’s a challenge for me, doing these little charlas (talks) to a bunch of folks that I don’t know, fumbling and bumbling through my spanish hoping I’m not offending anyone with elementary or wrong words.     But the message never gets old for me.   It reminds me that EVERY day I’ve got to watch out for parasites.  Just like cooking my meat well and avoiding unwashed fruit and always washing my hands, I’ve got to be on board to avoid pride and jealousy and envy and rancor and all the rest of them.   Daily struggles that will always be there but are meshed together with the beauty of the love of Jesus and the mangos and the basil and the goats that skip down our rocky roads.

I want to thank again those who pray for me…and those who support me.  Of course I could never be here on my own and it’s ever clearer that God has an army of folks who stand behind me holding me up in prayer and sending me money and cards and M&Ms.  Thanks guys- I feel loved.

Yesterday

6:15 alarm goes off...snooze for 10 minutes. 6:25 hit the showers. 6:45 downstairs for group breakfast- make my coffee. 6:50 Haul my laundry down to kitchen and start the most enormous loads that I can possibly cram into our washers. 7:00 back to my room waiting for students to come check out students on Urgent Needs List. 7:15-7:35 Help student sign up to sponsor student. 7:38 Email Director of school to inform her that we have a sponsor for her student and would like to see this said student Thursday night. 7:40 Head outside to help organize 3 buses for barrio teams. This takes at least 20 minutes and involves changing buses, locations, personnel and asking a billion questions to a million people. Give hugs to bus drivers and discuss plan for day with head translators. Review plans with Bienva and coordinate. 8:00 Print out waiver form (this also takes at least 15 minutes) and find student who needs to sign it. 8:30 Realize I have actually not eaten breakfast or packed my lunch. Run to kitchen, pack lunch and sip a bit more coffee. 8:35 Flip my laundry out of washers and throw everything together in the dryer. 8:40 Jump in bus and head to a campo of El Cercado with the great group of nurses/PA/students. 9:20ish Stop at Mennonite bakery to order some cinnamon buns for our return ride. 9:35ish Arrive to El Cercado clinic for potty break, clinic tour, check- in with Dr. Perdomo, hugs and kisses and lovin' on the kids waiting to see Dr. Perdomo who are in the Nutrition program, and meeting up with Edward, the guy who is going to accompany us to the barrio clinic. 10ish: Set sail for Los Campeches. 1020ish: Arrival to Los Campeches but bus is unable to climb very muddy hill with all of us inside. Climb out of bus and walk up small hill with chattering locals to a local school. 1020-1049ish Help set up barrio clinics, make announcements, unpack, organize. 1049ish- 12:15 Translate and help WONDERFUL provider see patients. 12:15ish: Perdomo arrives at the barrio clinic- move to assist him seeing patients and helping in pharmacy. 1:00 Lunch time- some dear kind soul has brought us rice. Heaven. 1:35 Start seeing patients with Dr. Perdomo again. 2:30 Perdomo leaves, assist with barrio clinic, receive bag of mangos from adorable 11 year old that I know and love from the clinic. Give some hugs to the cutest kiddies out there and sweet kisses from the dear old ladies that remember me from the last time. 3:05 Load up bus and leave Los Campeches. 3:15 Listen to our group sing in the bus, smiling widely, remembering the amazing patients. 3:30 pick up and eat cinnamon buns from Mennonite bakery. Delicious. 4:00 Receive message that another team member has fallen and is hurt and a translator is vomiting on another bus. 4:05 Make at least 4 phone calls to figure out problem, attain another vehicle, get an order set for an X-ray, discuss plan of care, plan to update Dr. Canario on situation 4:20 Make announcements on bus as to the plan for the evening. 4:30 Arrive at our clinic. Unlock pharmacy door and head in to catch up on hurt team member situation and update Dan. Drink delicious chinola smoothie that Dan is in the midst of making. 4:35-5:00 Catch up on emails, social media, etc. 5:05 Receive information that a team member is feeling terrible. 5:15 Visit said team member and he is indeed ill. Check in with group leader, meds given/injected. 5:18 Next team arrives home. Translator is indeed still vomiting- IV found and delegated to fabulous nursing group. 5:20 Get truck from Kari and put said team member who fell into the truck. 5:30 Set sail for an xray at Clinic across town. 5:35 Arrive at clinic- finally attain wheel chair. 5:35-6:00 Xray paid for and attained, thankfully no broken bones, return to clinic. 6:10-6:25 Check on puking translator- IV in place, stable, taken care of by Dominican doctor. Retrieve requested meds for Dominican doctor as well as one of our guards who has a cold and wants some cough medicine. Check on "feeling sick" team member who is also asleep. 6:25 All team members who have not fallen or are vomiting leave to eat out at the Dominican restaurant 6:30 Check on team member who has fallen- currently sleeping in her bed. 6:35 upstairs to finish emails. 6:45 Check in phone calls. 6:48 Heat up leftovers. 6:50 My friend P arrives who needs help with typing a paper for her class. 7:00 Two other friends arrive, one teary eyed from losing his grandfather today. Hugs. Sympathy. Empathy- realizing it's been about a year since MY Grandpa died. Sadness. 6:55-10:20 Type 10 page paper for P, with small breaks allowed for checking on now-vomiting team member who receives an IV at approx 7:30. 7:38 put on Phillies game that I know I won't be able to watch. Also retrieve my somewhat damp laundry from dryer at 8:00 and throw everything on my bed while I finish typing. 10:20 Put laundry away while P proof reads and check on both team members a few times. 10:30 Organize my desk/table and "sweep" my dusty floor. 10:45 Print out 10 page paper and change IV bag for sick team member. 11:00 Give P and M and W a ride home. 11:15 Arrive back in room. Put on jammies, plug in phone to charge. 11:30 Start thinking about my day. Smile. I am blessed. Start typing this stuff up. 12:04 laying in bed still smiling. I love my life. 12:08 Here we gooo..... Good night!