It's not a party til somebody's pushing the bus...

So below is a video representing our week in the barrio clinics.   It couldn’t have been more fun...we had to get out of the bus and push or walk no fewer than 10 times.   And watching Perdomo herding the oxen to pull our bus out of the creek bed/hole was classic.   

I don't always have my own pictures of myself working but my friend Chris North hooked me up with a bunch.  So here goes- here’s what I do when I’m not helping in the clinic or the schools or organizing stuff around here.    We were with a bunch of great kids from Ohio and then Ohio Northern University over the last three weeks and I’ve seen some beautiful country.    We’ve been up in the mountains and in some locations with no electricity.   I’ve learned that water is power.  With accessibility to water...you can have a garden and grow food.  You can have cows and goats that produce milk.    It makes a huge difference.  So it was interesting as Chris interviewed folks and checked out our locations and we noted the change in places with constant water flow (the aqueducts are sometimes complete works of art here) versus those with little.   I felt like I got yet another glimpse into the real life of the folks here.   And of course there are the patients who will stay branded into my mind forever.  The 16 year old with the heart condition.  The man with a Parkinson’s-like disease who invited us to his house where we sat under a beautiful grove of mango trees.    He told us that all of his children had been in the Child Nutrition Program years ago and were healthy adults today.   It made me cry a little bit when I was talking to Perdomo about it.   The woman with the baby with probable pneumonia.     The woman with a 4 year old with severe self-mutilating and violent behavior issues who cried when I pulled her aside to pray for them in the church.    That beautiful little girl had such amazing light-brown eyes...so full of darkness...so full of pain...crying...sobbing.    We tried to speak truth into her...tell her how beautiful she was...how God had a plan for her life.   Que pena.  What pain.   Her mother suffers alone...trying to keep her from hurting herself and others.   And what do we have to offer...except to hold her hand and pray.   

Okay it's not work but these shoeshine boys/street kids are just about my favorite thing.  I found these two in the back of my truck when I was driving through town.  :) You can see that I can't keep a straight face while I'm trying to yell at them.

Eating rice and beans in the barrios.

Can I keep her?  Cuz seriously- could she be any cuter?

patients in the barrios with Dr. Omar and Dr. Perdomo

takes a village (and some oxen) to get to where we are going sometimes....Hooray for Monchy!

And hooray for Perdomo and the oxen pulling us out....

shelling guandulesssss

lunch break in the barrios and ummmmmm... playing dominos

folks waiting in line to be seen in the barrios (wait, does anyone see a line?)

NEW LIFE...it just never gets old!  We love babies!

hanging in our favorite neighborhood Corbano Sur...and ummmmm...playing dominos!  :)

Still here! I mean it!

Well it IS an absolute disgrace that I haven't written but ummmmmm...well, there just IS no excuse.  I don't think I've gone this long EVER in the Nik Eby blogging history.    But anyhoo- stuff HAS been happening.    The whole month of July will NOT escape undocumented.   The life and times of Nik Eby plunges on full speed ahead.

When last seen, I believe I was talking about my trip home and then returning to San Juan.   I stepped back into some  busy weeks.   I got to hang out doing surgery in the clinic with two OB GYN girls and their crew.    We had two weeks of the Brookside youth group in town, which involved me spending time TWICE in Bastida, where I got to see Baby Nicole (YAYYY!) AND Julian again (precious gifts!)

We had a Baby Shower in the clinic, which was a first that I know of).   It was awesome, involving about 30 people (doctors/nurses/ and other crew from the clinic) crammed into a patient room, lots of yelling and balloons and games and chocolate cake and running to find prizes.  Complete bedlam and possibly the greatest baby shower I've ever been to.  Dominicans are just the kings of enjoying parties.  Kari and I both just loved being there watching everything unfold before our eyes and trying not to get run over.

After 3 weeks of teams, Laura and I accompanied one of the groups to the capital and then headed to SAMANA which is definitely one of my favorite spots on this island.    It's the original birthplace (we think)  of Jenny Dog as well, which led to wonderful sentimental memories of when we first got her.   I almost wished she could have come with us but things just didn't work out.   But I thought of her when Laura and I were walking by the beach....I remember Jenny running there with Kari and I, waiting for us every morning outside our room.   So funny.  And now she's a little part of our family.   Samana hasn't become a total tourist trap yet..so there are these serene nearly-abandoned gorgeous beaches where you can sit and read and swim and stare at the waves for hours on end.   And of course thats after you drive through a stunning tropical-ish forest surrounded by palm trees and scenery out of a movie.   I so wish that I could post some pictures to do it justice...but wow- nothing can demonstrate how pretty Samana is.   Perfect.

One of my favorite things that happened in July was more clinic "stuff".  We had a Nurses Meeting that led to some total and complete organization of some of the "treasure"- filled rooms in the clinic.  I have discovered that I am a person who loves meetings.  I love hearing people talk about their visions for things, information sharing, and sitting around tables with folks.   Yup- I'm a meeting kinda gal.   And after the Nurse meeting, we kicked it into "ORGANIZATION MODE".   We now have a Wound Care/ER room and 3 private consultation rooms that just look SOOO awesome.  Plus, it seems to give a real sense of pride to the staff having special rooms prepared and ready.   We found a WORKING fetal monitor which brought great joy to my Labor and Delivery heart.  I had to practice and listen to fetal heart rates on just about any and every pregnant lady who was willing to come and let me put the monitors on her.  Never gets old...... AND we were able to pack some supply bags to give to the 4 hospitals from our NRC (Neonatal resus classes) which had some OB and general hospital supplies.  It felt so good to be able to do that.  And I loved watching Livida search carefully for our surplus items to share with others.   Since the NRC class, Ive had a real appreciation for the supplies that our clinic has available to them because some of the local hospitals are LACKING a lot of things.    All of this means that when the clinic is bien organizado  (HA!) I will need to move AGAIN to the Scary Room and begin the torture process of organizing up there again.  YIPES.  

The clinic staff was also given a Weekend Retreat at a resort by the Solid Rock jefes.  I got to tag along and just GRIN as I watched them lounging in the pools, chasing their little ones, and just enjoy enjoy enjoy to their hearts content.    What fun to watch!   For some of them, this is one of the only opportunities that they will have to enjoy a beach day, fill up plates at a smorgasbord, and splash in a big old pool.  You can imagine the exuberance on their faces and the excitement when they got to the Dining room.  One of the staff was eager to report to Cora that she got to have THREE GLASSES of milk with her breakfast.  She was overwhelmed with the richness of it.  

The next highlight was having Emma Wilde arrive.  Emma is going to be here in the DR for 5 months in Jarabacoa through YWAM but she arrived here in San Juan first.  It was the BEST having her.  Her heart for the DR is just so obvious and we know that God has big big things for her here.  It was exciting getting to watch her take everything in again and get psyched for her next big thing.

Another week found Laura, Emma and I accompanying Tammy and Cora and their youth team to El Cercado for a 2 night stay to provide Barrio Clinics and perform dramas at a few different churches.  As you should all know by now....any chance to be in El Cercado is exciting for me and I LOVED staying with my host family (who is just FAMILY anyway to me by now) and meander around town and listen to these phenomenal youth use their talents to encourage and minister to the folks there.   And of course we were in some beautiful areas doing the clinics...like La Colonia and Vallecito.    One of the days after the clinic Laura and Emma and I walked to the river and got to bathe like the locals in this amazing (and kinda cold!) fresh water.   The team LOVED it.   It's moments like that, splashing in a river with Grecia and Morales with soap in my hair and broken flip-flops and screaming teenagers laughing all around us...that I have to grin inside at my rich rich rich life here.  

And now I'm in the midst of 2 weeks of barrio teams with ONU group, a great college group who is doing a bang-up job at loving on folks in the barrios and providing them with great medical care.  I sit and watch sometimes and see them asking good questions and becoming friends with our friends and translators and working on their spanish and carrying the beautiful babies around and holding hands with the little old ladies coming in and studying carefully everything that the doctors are teaching them.  It's amazing.  It really is.... how all this stuff comes together.    They are absorbing EVERYTHING and I pray that it makes a difference and gives them this love to serve and love on people who are different than them but who still have dreams that are important.    Sure looks like they are.    Sure looks like they are living out loud...taking it all in.    And I....I don't want to take for granted that I get to watch this all go down.    I want to remember again how I got here and what a privilege it is to see God's hands and feet in action....and His heart aching for those who have or don't have.    There are still cases that keep me up at night- that 16 year old who will die of a broken....broken... not functioning heart... that 2 month old baby with the weird lump on her back (is it spina bifida?  oh man...- we don't know but her 16 year old mama is going to try to follow up....)... all the diabetics who don't have the means to follow up with their sugars... the out of control blood pressures and stroke victims.  Wow.    And the list goes on.  And I'm learning...learning....learning.

Some of it reminds me of some lyrics I used to recite in college....

Hold me gently..take me through another day..
however hard I try...I crawl when I should fly
I wander through my days, pulled a million ways
Help me feel the forces I can't touch
I'm reaching out- help me learn until I know too much.

Hmmmmmm....... keeping on over here in San Juan.   Grateful for what I have.  Praying for those who don't.  Knowing there are folks struggling both near and far.  FEELING the burdens of my friends.  Celebrating their joys but wow- spent some time recently HURTING for some who are in tough scenarios right now.   I am reminded of how hard it is to have faith but also how hard it is to NOT have faith.     One of my favorite things about doing the liturgy with Kari and Laura (and Emma too!) is when we do Prayers for Others.    It's good for me to remember that, for us to pray TOGETHER for folks..... and not stop petitioning God.  He does hear.  He does answer.  We have to remind each other of that ALOT.

Anyhoo- some pictures below and oh well- I'm going to get my act together for August and try to update more often.....

One of my favorite things here is getting to see folks meet their sponsor students.   Look at this BEAUTIFUL picture of this El Rosario family with their sponsor.....

This is so out of order but I'm terrible at these things.  Nearly abandoned Playa Rincon in Samana.  Heavenly.

BABY SHOWER!  That rocks!

Dominos.  An oldy but goody.   I think I remember that Monchi and I DESTROYED in this game.  But as Dan reminds me....I'm still pretty streaky at dominos.

Playita in Samana.  Just no words.

Here's how I feel about vacations.........

On the road to glory where the story never ends... okay maybe not but I WAS running toward the beach.  Doesn't that count?

Resuscitation

After a beautiful three weeks in good old PA....I arrived back in the DR on June 11th.   Flew in on a late Monday night and caught a bus to San Juan on Tuesday.    Ahhhhh back in the saddle.   The mangos are flush.  And I mean, there are mangos everywhere.  Little boys are running around with bandaids on their heads from throwing rocks up into trees trying to knock them down and ending up with bruises from the rocks falling back on their noggins.   My teeth have been naturally flossed from the mango "stringy-ness".  There is a smell of sweetness (and of rotting fruit)  when we run on the backroads from all the mangos on the ground.   Everyday it seems that someone shows up with a bag of mangos for us.    And this morning I threw some in the blender with some guineos and ice and uffffffffff mango smoothies for breakfast.    Sweet.  Messy.   Like the life is down here.     It's hot and sticky and oh-so-lush.
And coming back.... there was some catching up to do.  Visits to be made.  Babies to be cuddled and friends to be hugged.    The pharmacy to be cleaned up a bit.   Prep for the teams arrival.  Rice and beans to be scarfed down like I haven't eaten before.  Oh and yeah- the need to be running because somehow the trip to the States involved eating at every restaurant on this side of the Mississippi and therefore an extra 10 pounds found their way to me.  Oops.   But onward we go.
Last week I was able to spend some time with the Sam and Terry Wellman team doing something I haven't done here before.   They (a team of 2 nurses, Sam and Terry, and a formula rep) travelled to 4 hospitals here close to San Juan and held Neonatal Resuscitation classes.     It was an amazing thing to participate in.   I've taken NRC multiple times...but I've never seen such excitement...such a desire to LEARN..from folks.   I can't exactly quote the maternal/infant mortality rate here...but after seeing what is AVAILABLE in some of the hospitals- I am humbled.   One of the nurses told me that they have a lot of babies die "on the way..." to another hospital where they might have supplies/equipment available.  Not all of the hospitals have fetal monitors (or dopplers or fetoscopes!).   Sometimes they don't have oxygen available.  One of the hospitals doesn't have even a single laryngoscope.   OR a warmer/incubator/heat lamp.  They don't have ET tubes or umbilical catheters or bulb syringes.   And yet....they use what they can.  They do mouth to mouth resuscitation sometimes with a piece of gauze as  protection.    They eagerly participated in mock codes with us.  They asked tons of questions.  They asked how things are done in the states....they asked if we could leave our "practice" supplies with them to use.    I can say without a doubt that this is single-handedly the greatest thing I have participated in during my time here.    I feel like it will SAVE lives.   I feel like education is the key and it was exciting and thrilling and humbling!   And one of my favorite parts is that was a SHARING time.  We took some valuable information from the hospitals and we were able to impart some valuable information as well.    I felt like it wasn't us coming in and announcing to folks how they had to do things.  Instead, it was a time to see what was working for them, review some new information and practice saving the lives of babies.  Phenomenal.
It made ME hungry to learn things again.   I met a midwife in San Juan at the hospital there and she said I could come spend the day with her.    It reminded me of how much I LOVE labor and delivery and watching new life come into the world.    We talked "shop" for a while and I was entertained to hear things from her that I would hear in the States....... deliveries, babies, stories stories stories.  I love it.    I think there were stars in my eyes.  
Anyway- all of these things are rolling through my head.   How lucky I am, again, to be here.  How good God is.   How Labor and Delivery comes around and reminds me that God calls us to many many things.....and even when I think that one part of my life is kinda put to rest...He brings it back again.
Oh and how much fun did I have with this group too!   Visiting sponsor families,  spontaneous Zumba classes in the kitchen,  laughing and telling stores,  squishing into a guagua and then piling out for the 2 flat tires,  having OUR Dominican clinic nurses (and Doctor Sandy too!)  participate in the classes and hang out with us, eating cinnamon rolls from the Mennonite bakery,  baking cookies with Terry late at night for snacks for the classes,  hearing first timers talk about getting their lives rocked, watching them leave with tears in their eyes, watching 8 year old Dawson grab onto "big brother" Monchy and not want to go....oh all of these things.     Reminds me of the lyrics of some song...How beautiful is the body of Christ.
And so it's Sunday morning.   Me and Laura and Monchy went to church at Central last night.  The youth service.  And I'm so not a youth but how can I NOT go....  we were singing and I was watching these kids raise their hands and sing their hearts out and share their lives with each other and us and listen some intently as Ronny spoke about being a Christian ISN'T about appearances as much as about our HEARTS.   And my heart was full.   Full like it might burst....might blow up into a million pieces.... that it's NOT how I appear (me and my extra 10 pounds and disastrous self esteem!)....it's how Christ IS in me.   Folding me up again and again and again in those brazos fuerte....  Cual grande.   Gonna stick with it.   :)

Home

Home.   And it's beautiful.

The funeral was beautiful.  The corn fields are beautiful.   My friends and family are beautiful.  My new baby cousin is beautiful.  Wow- I forgot how GOOD it is to be home.  

But of course I have two homes now.   And my two worlds came together really BEAUTIFULLY this trip, which is just fabulous.    The first two days of viewings/funeral are kind of a blur right now...but I think by Tuesday the 22nd I was almost speaking in complete sentences.    And since then it's been a  roller coaster of driving to visit pals and chilling at home and getting mammograms (boo!) and paying taxes (super boo!) and eating the most delicious food on the planet.  Strawberries,  sharp cheese, pretzels, STEAK, bloomin onions,  turkey hill chocolate ice cream, grilled asparagus (!!!!!), greek yogurt, sushi,  blueberries, kiwi,  buttercream icing on homemade cake...oh my gosh- I'm eating my way into oblivion.   And it's sooooo worth it.  I missed blueberries somethin' fierce!   Spring is the best time of year in PA; mom's flowers are jumpin and so are mine.   Peonies, delphiniums (sp?),  lilies,  hydrangea, cilantro, mint...all the herbs.... and oh the list goes on.  SPRING.   So glad I came.

Ahhhh the most beautiful girl in the world.  Going to her senior prom.  How cool to watch her get all prettyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy...  She's going to graduate in like 5 minutes.  WOW.

Playing with the nephews.  Me and Donavon are equally obsessed with BabyMac.   :)

Landon and I on the kitchen floor.  Planes, trains, and automobiles.  

Me, Zack and Ezra at the Phillies game.  We were not letting a little rain get in our way of having fun!  

And the beat goes on.   I spoke in church today and shared some stuff.   The biggest news...to those of you who may or may NOT be surprised... is that I'm headed back to the DR for another year.   I love it.   And it's my other home.  And I'm just feeling beautiful about it.   

Here's what I said in church today..... (have I mentioned how BEAUTIFUL my church is....those folks are the face of the Jesus for me!)  I did okay til I got to the end and talked about how I love how God is unfolding Himself to me.  Then I kinda snotted all over the pulpit and got wail-y.  But it's all good.  I DO love how God is unfolding Himself to me.  

sooooo I’m Nicole Eby and I’ve been serving with Solid Rock International in San Juan de la Maguana, DR for the last 10 1/2 months.   Hopefully the video gives you a little bit of an idea what I do.  

I’d first like to thank all of you for supporting me in this endeavor adventure.   I am forever encouraged by you guys praying for me, sending such positive letters and notes, and doing things like donating medical supplies and vitamins to our clinic.   On my birthday, when I received the card shower from Cathy Case and this church, I was forever reminded that I am not alone in this calling, that we walk together as believers in this world, and that it is an INCREDIBLE blessing to have a church that loves on me like you do.  THANK you for that.

I’ve learned a lot over this past year....some tough stuff and some easy stuff.   I’ve learned that I’m JUST starting to unpack some of the culture and way of life that I thought I knew.  I’m JUST starting to get the inside track on stuff.     I feel like I’m just starting to know what I think I should be doing.    I love working at the clinic.  I love going out to the barrios and seeing the patients where they live and work.   I love working with our 6 schools, looking for student sponsors and helping our sponsors meet their kiddies.    But my most favorite thing is just doing life with the people.    It’s hard for us as Americans not to be defined by our accomplishments and everything that we are able to achieve.   But I am learning.... in the face of difficulty and sadness and celebration...that sometimes it’s more important just to be there.  One of my friends says “it’s more important that you are HERE with us....than anything you could give us”.   And that is humbling.  

It’s not that there aren’t needs that we are trying to meet, via surgeries and handing out meds, and trying to round up school supplies and focus on education.    We are DOING these things and always trying to do more.  But it HAS become more about building relationships and spending TIME with people, and PRAYING with people, as well.    In the DR there aren’t the safety nets that we have here in the United States....we can’t refer people to counselors as easily as we can here.  We can’t always produce the medicines they need.   Sometimes we have to tell people that things aren’t going to go as planned... or that we can’t help them.    Heartbreaking.    But what we CAN do is pray with them in the clinic, visit them in their homes,  talk to them about hope in Jesus.     Recently we had a patient who nearly died in our clinic.  And I was sick, kinda hysterical, nervous, so fearful.  Understandably so.   But I watched the Dominican nurses pray with her, before surgery and after surgery.    I watched the patient herself assure me that she was going to be fine, that she was in the hands of Jesus.   I FELT the prayers of everyone on our team as I scrubbed into that surgery.   My friends and coworkers came out to the clinic at 10 at night to pray for us and support me.   And the next day, when I kept visiting the patient to verify that she was INDEED going to live, possibly driving everyone else insane... the Dominican nurse Lilly put her hand on my shoulder and reminded me “Nicole, she was always in God’s hands... you have to have more faith”.    

It’s just not easy.   We are such broken folks, aren’t we.... struggling along in our insecurities and sin.    I thought if I was a missionary, it would be easier.  But living in the DR is teaching me, poco a poco, slowly slowly... to have more faith.    When Jesus is really the ONLY hope-  sometimes it’s easier to turn to him.   When life is wondrously messy, and it’s super messy there, it’s a beautiful thing to know that He really does have the whole world in His hands.   I need and receive constant reminders of this, of His grace for me and for what we are trying to do.    I believe it is Jamie The Very Worst Missionary who recently said something like “ If you sell people on the false idea that Jesus makes life perfect, then when their life falls apart (and it will!), so does their faith.   Jesus doesn't take away our burdens - He teaches us how to carry them gracefully.  “

And so I’m going back.   I’m going back on the 11th and I’m going to stay another year.   I’m going back to the heat and noise and motos and garbage.  I’m going back to help carry burdens and hold peoples’ hands and pray that God will sustain us together.  I’m going back to dominos and bachata and platanos.   I’m going back to Baby Nicole and Dan and Kari and Laura and Monchi and Chino and Nef and Margo.  I love it.  I love who God is unfolding Himself to be to me... in the DR... and sometimes I love how I am unfolding too.  

Thanks guys....

Grandpa

So my Grandpa died this week.   He was 92.   Paul Eby.  He was a force.  Devoted Christian, husband, father, farmer, SS teacher, Amish driver, cemetery walker, auto parts deliveryman.  He was lots of things. But to me, he was Grandpa.

He died on Wednesday morning while I was more than 3000 miles away, getting ready for barrio clinics. He died less than two weeks from his 93 birthday, while one of his daughters had just become a grandmother to a new grandson, one is battling cancer, and while my dad was kinda far from home too.  And I haven't actually really processed it at all.   I've been in the midst of barrio clinics with a phenom group of students from Utah that have thrown themselves full heartedly into caring for and loving on the people here.  Cool to see even in the midst of thinking and worrying about stuff on the States-side.     And Joe and Shannon, the jefes on the states-side, were in town this past week and it's amazing to share the vision that we all have and are psyched about for Solid Rock and our lives here.  

But on Thursday Monchi and I snuck away to Bastida on our lunch break at the barrio clinics.  And Baby Nicole is WALKING.   I saw her before we stopped the truck and she was toddling around outside laughing and staggering and she was BEAUTIFUL.   And she even let me snuggle her a little bit before she started whining and sniveling.  And she reached her chubby little hands out to me.   And I thought again how precious is this life...and how quickly it can come and go.   How it melted me last weekend to be with my cousins via Skype as they welcomed my adorable new cousin Caleb into the world.   How precious a moment!   Caleb won't grow up and know his Great Grandpa Eby.  But he WILL grow up to know Jesus...because his parents do...... like my Grandpa did.  And THAT is a legacy that we will all carry carefully in our hands and hearts and remember.  

And I booked my flight QUICKLY to come home and I'm not quite ready... in my soul and heart and with my lack-of-sleep-schedule.   I don't even remember what I may have packed in my final frenzy trying to prepare yesterday and get all my ducks in a row.  But I WILL be ready.  We did all my favorite things last night in San Juan.  Hung out a little, rode the pasola to a ball game and stopped for chimis on the way, played dominos and danced a little bachata on the street corner (just for a minute),  ate M&Ms and drank chinola juice,  laughed, prayed together (out loud in spanish- holy cow), and cried a little bit.   And Laura and I talked for a long time sitting on the bathroom floor like we do sometimes.    I'm ready to see my family and friends that I love so much.    I'm just not ready in a put-together-way yet.    But it's okay.    We are going to celebrate 92 years of Paul Eby tomorrow and Monday.  We are going to remember him and tell stories and laugh and cry and maybe even sing a little bit.   

Life.  Wonder.  I believe.  

right now

Right now I'm laying here in my bed counting the billions of blessings that are mine.  Right now.

I get to live in this fabulous place surrounded by fabulous people.   I eat the most fabulous food ever invented.  Rice, beans and carne really can't be beat but let me just tell you that the aripitas (spelling?  who knows?) tonight were possibly the great thing I've eaten in a long time.  Aripitas are fried yucca and i watched the hijos make them (after phone calls to mothers and girlfriends) and it was worth every second that I almost helped them.  :)    It works kinda like this.  First of all, a patient's family brought me the yucca which kinda about made me cry.  Because this patient was REALLY sick and ended up getting 4 pints of blood, which miraculously was provided by our surgical team who MIRACULOUSLY had at least 6 people who matched this patient's blood type perfectly.  There's a God thing for ya!   So anyway, yeah- the patient is doing great right now (thanks be to Jesus!) and brought me yucca and grandules today.   Oh and then Santos, one of my favorite kids from the streets who stops in on weekends sometimes to grab a bite to eat since he is almost always hungry......he stopped in today not to ask for food...but to hand me a huge sack of mangos.  Ahhhhh humbled.  Humbled beyond belief.  Just freakin humbled.

Anyway, back to the aripitas.  So- you take the yucca which looks kinda like a long black root ...and you scrub off the dirt and then hand it to Monchi- who peels it...and then hands it to Emmanuel, who starts shredding it.  And when I'm finished washing them, I grab the other shredder and start shredding too.  Then Emma calls his mom and Monchi checks in with his girlfriend and they verify everything we need.  And we take the shredded yucca and Emma adds ani ( not sure what it is..but some herb...maybe anise?)  that we call Yeltsin to bring and he shows up and starts helping.  We add the anise and then 2 eggs and some salt and butter and a little bit of milk and sugar.  So it kinda looks like a thick batter.  Then you heat up some oil, and drop big spoonfuls of the mixture in the boiling oil and fry it.  On the other side- I'm making hummus in the blender,  Yecco and Monchi are working on some milk with lime juice and sugar, and Emma is now frying the aripitas AND the chuletas.   Oh and the macaroni salad is waiting in the frig that took me a while this afternoon to pull together.    And I cut up some carrots and cukes although i know I'll be the only one to eat them.

So it was a feast, a veritable feast.  I STILL can't walk.   But I'm thinking about how those folks came and brought me that food.  That patient.  And Santos.  How it never ceases to remind me how I got here and how open the hearts are of the people we take care of.    How these hijos mio help wash dishes after eating and scrub the sinks cleaner than I do.   How Margo and I sat and talked over coffee for a long long time today.    How freaking SCARED I was when that patient needed blood and needed it NOW.    How I have had the greatest meetings with my boss this week on Skype and never fail to appreciate the amazing people who support and guide us down here.   How this past team was here for the first time, every single one of them...and how EXCELLENT they were caring for folks and dove down into life here and threw down dominos with us and took it all in and hugged and kissed their sponsor kids.    How I rolled into a cockfight this past weekend and literally could FEEL the adrenalin pour out of my ears for the 2 minutes that I made it in that arena.    How it STILL feels like the greatest feeling in the world speeding home on the pasola after running at the track or on the way to Mogollon towards the mountains with some dembow blasting in my ears.    How we spent time at the most beautiful river in the world a few weeks ago and ended up winning at dominos over some locals there.    How people at church here know my name and always ask about Kari or Laura if they aren't with me.   How the blue truck usually has at least one flat tire and it took us 3 gas stations to day to find one with an air hose that worked to fill them up.     How we watch the Phillies online and talk trash while we whip up dinner together.    How I get invited to folks houses to visit and eat and end up lounging on their beds watching Prison Break in spanish with their entire families.    How the fantastic nurses in the clinic scrubbed instruments and wrapped them for me all last week so I could scrub into surgery and assist.    How Lily gently touches my shoulder when I'm stressed or worried in the clinic and reminds me to trust Jesus, trust Jesus, trust Jesus.....(and I watch her hold hands with our patients and pray with them before surgery).. All this love.....all this life together....

Right now.  I'm laying here right now thanking God.   Right now.  

milk with lime juice and ice and sugar.   Who knew?  It has a name but I forget what.

Aripitas!

More aripitas!

Me killing some aripitas!

Chuletassssssss

a little homemade hummus with some cukes

the limes we used for the milk and the hummus.

phillies online is a beautiful thing!  Thanks Dan for making it happen!

a feast!  

And then there was April

Sooooo we have some time off until the next team comes at the end of April.  I have exactly 1 week to whip the Scary Room into shape (a priority) and work in the med room and clinic as well.  But I'm feeling GOOD.   The two weeks spent with Bud and Sue Eby were heavenly.  They finished up their weekend in San Juan with a bang and then we headed to Juan Dolio where I showed them the Capella, which is where our teams often stay.   It was cool to see how my folks just integrated their lives with our lives here- I feel like they could really experience WHY I love it here and that was a neat experience to have.

Bud setting sail to tour San Juan by pasola...

And Sue fearlessly tackling a pasola as well..

My folks at the gorgeous cathedral downtown.

Me and Laurita en caminooooo

My parents haciendo gira with mis hijosssss

Out for ice cream

Apparently during Semana Santa it is completely acceptable for grown men to sit in kiddie pools fully clothed and imbibe adult beverages.  This frequently occurs in the middle of the streets forcing all drivers to drive AROUND them.  I couldn't help but roar with laughter EVERY time I saw it.  Hilarity.

Jeff and Kamanda with my folks.  AWESOME

So it's been an excellent break for me, vacation time with my parents and then an awesome time with Jeff and Kamanda visiting....and just some general DOWNTIME has been heavenly.  There's been dominos and baseball and reading.   I've been trying to soak it in.  

And I've been challenged too.  Lately I've been challenged on some spiritual stuff that is kinda kicking my butt.   Luchando a bit with it.    Wishing I was just that super-disciplined person who stuck with stuff better.    Trying to be defined by how God sees me.  Wishing I could stay complete in Him alone.  You know.....all the stuff I always am luchando about.   Poco a poco.   One would think that at 40 years old I would have some of this figured out.  But nope-  it always comes back to me on my knees admitting I'm an idiot, that I'm clueless, that I wish the same stupid sins wouldn't slay me,  that I really am lost without Him.    There's this Hillsong song I keep playing like a billion times that possibly is driving everyone else here completely bananas.  It's the spanish version of The Stand.  And I don't EVEN understand all the words in spanish- I'm just not there yet.  But what I DO understand is this:

¿Qué puedo hacer, qué puedo decir?
Te ofrezco mi corazón completamente a ti.
En tu salvación camino, tu espíritu vive en mí,
declara (¿?) en tus promesas, me acerco a ti.

Aquí estoy, con manos cansadas vengo,
Pues tú todo lo diste por mí.
Aquí estoy, mi alma a ti entrego,
Tuyo soy, Señor.

So what could I say?
And what could I do?
But offer this heart, Oh God
Completely to you

I'll stand
With arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the one who gave it all
I'll stand
My soul Lord to you surrendered
All I am is yours