M&Ms

Wow- so I've got some friends from the hometown church in town AND one of my favorite teams was here this week.  So I got inundated with the greatest coping mechanism EVER- plain chocolate M&Ms.   Ahhhhhhhhh it's awesome!   And I am feeling BETTER and more ready to face the world!  Thanks everyone- for all your prayers and for your M&Ms too!  

After two great weeks in the barrios I was in the clinic this past week with an amazing surgical team from Georgia.   We did lots and lots of tonsils/adenoids and a bunch of thyroids and general surg stuff too.   It always starts off crazy on Mondays with the 8 billion consults that roll in but it's just the coolest to see these guys do what they are so good at doing.   And I learn a lot too.  I got to help place an LMA and see the new laparoscopic tower in use and watch Miss Ani round up and run her group with grace and fierce organization.   Oh and I went for another tour of the local hospital with Wild Bill and some others.  We got to see Labor and Delivery this time which pulled a little heartstring of mine.  It was toooooo coooollll!   On the men's ward we interviewed the first 8 guys in beds there.  Guess how many of them were there due to motorcycle accidents?  SIX OUT OF EIGHT.  Yipes!

It was also great to meet up with friends from home who are in town helping out in Pueblo Nuevo.   It's been 6 months since I've left home and what a welcome sight it is to hug my dear ones and catch up with them.   Lots and lots of laughter!   Laura and I visited on Sunday morning, caught up with them at baseball on Tuesday and then again Thursday night.    

After a rough couple weeks earlier, I had some time (not a lot but a little bit) this week to think and dwell on life here.   I also took more time to focus on Jesus Calling in the mornings and just try to start off my day with more Jesus in it.  One thing that is apparent to me is that Jesus has called me here and that He wants me here.   I find an incredible incredible joy in participating in life here.  It gets hard and messy and frustrating sometimes....but there is also a very strong sense of BELONGING that I have here.   Since I'm seeing some of these teams for the second time, it feels good to recognize faces and hang out and be an established PART OF THINGS.   And that goes even MORE on the Dominican side of things.   Although my spanish still BLOWS...it feels amazing to be able to make a phone call and schedule something or communicate (nearly) successfully with someone.    Laura and I were in El Cercado yesterday for the First Annual (well, for us anyway) Child Nutrition Program fiesta.   All the kids in the Nutrition Program were invited for a meal and some charlas (talks) and a little gift bag (toothbrushes, etc).    We introduced ourselves again and then Ruth and Dr. Perdomo spoke to them.   As I looked around the room I recognized a LOT of the little people and it felt good to know that I have been to a lot of their houses or seen them in clinic and could give hugs and ask them how they were doing.   That contributed to the sense of  BELONGING.   And then Laura and I and Chino and Angel and Victor and Ruth and some others worked in the little kitchen there making plates and serving them and it just felt GOOD to be on that side of things.   To help with projects, to be on the presenting side, to work TOGETHER with an amazing Dominican team who is making a major difference in the lives of little kiddies in El Cercado.  And we got to see W the 8 year old and also Baby Girl (who was 11 pounds at 14 months).   Baby Girl looks about 10 billion times better.  She still is scared to death of me and wails when she sees me.  But she has definitely gained weight and I was thrilled to see her mother participating at the clinic.  On the other hand, W looks awful.  He has been very very sick and Laura and I are very concerned for him.  Please pray for him.  He's the greatest kid EVER and does look a bit better than he did a week or so ago when we visited him at home.  But something is still not right there and I'm a bit afraid that it might have nothing to do with malnutrition.   It's situations like this...when we follow up with kids...when we share in the triumphs AND the scary times...that also make me feel a sense of BELONGING.   For the good AND for the bad.

And on a personal major major achievement, Laura and I finished up our day in Cercado by WINNING 3 games of dominos.   While 2 Americanas winning in itself is a huge plus- two WOMEN beating the fellas is an enormous opportunity for trash talking.  We gloated for hours.   In fact, we are still talking about it.   I'm afraid it may never happen again but oh well.   We will bask in the moment.  

So here we go again.  I'm still crashed in my bed because it's SATURDAY and it's my only day to sleep in (okay, well...to get more than 6 hours of sleep).   We will have another team here in less than 8 hours and one that left yesterday morning.  Oh madness.  It's madness.   Laura and I will soon stumble to the kitchen, fill up the soda frig, make sure the water things are full, tidy up outside and inside, pick up the dog poop, unlock the rooms and turn on the fans and open up the windows, cut up the fruit and veggies if they have arrived, get out the leaf blower and blow all the leaves off the sidewalks/cabana,  and try to generally be ready for the next folks showing up.  If it was a medical team I would spend the rest of the hours in the pharmacy putting away the meds and scrubs from last week.   Oh and I would have to set up for surgery in the clinic.  AND there is still an entire CONTAINER of stuff to be put away in the clinic and scary room.  But it's NOT a medical team so I work on that on Monday.  Whew!   Oh and we'll have to clean OUR room and do OUR laundry and try to catch up on our personal lives too.  Like, I think I need to dye my hair today.  And possibly scrub out the bathtub.  And it's been a long time since my eyebrows have gotten any attention.   But I'm typing this with a smile on my face because I know that I love it.    And the adrenalin will kick in (any minute now!)....and the coffee will perk in the greco....and the dogs will stop barking like idiots (soon I hope!) and the sun will continue to beam down upon us.  

It's life in the DR, folks.  I BELONG here.  Shaggy eyebrows and all.  :)