What I love....

I love Jenny.  She's kinda weird and dysfunctional and strange and funny...and she loves me too.   She "speaks" with her ears.  Odd.   

I love Dominican food.  I love locrio....

and I love watching folks cook it.

Yum.   This meal took Chino about 2-3 hours to cook.   It was DELISH.

I love F.  I love visiting patients in their homes, however tragic their stories.  I love how they run for chairs for us to sit on and hand us limes and almonds and sugar cane from their trees and gardens.

I love the crack of dominos on the table.

I love the view from Room 16 at the Guesthouse.  It's MY view.

I love REAL chinola juice (and I love the concentrate too).

I love the beautiful little kids at our schools and how they want EVERYONE to take their picture.

I love the mountains in El Cercado.

I love Laura and Monchi and Chino.  They are my peeps.

I love the adventures we have.

I love Baby Nicole.  I LOVED the day she was born.

I love arripitas.  And I like the way Emma and Yeco make them.

I love clowning around in our kitchen.   I love wearing my Eagles keychain wherever I go.  

I love bathing in rivers with lots of folks that I don't know.

I love little guys with heart problems that our teams/groups find and then make ways to get medical care for them.

I love watching the Dominicans care for each other.

I love Y.  I love how Chino cut his hair.   I love how he BEAMED in his new get-up-and-go "look".   I love how Margo found a new outfit for him to wear too.  

I love my family in El Cercado.  I love sitting on the patio there.

I love our rocking chairs in the cabana.   So does Diego.  :)

I love where I live.  The Casa Huesped (Guesthouse).

I love Dominican baseball.  I love seeing the dream wind and unwind and gleam.

I love watching the little guys watch the big guys.

I love playing dominos by the river.  Oh..and I like winning too.

I love Dan and Kari and how we do life together.  DE LO MIOOOOOOOOOO....

I love finding stuff in the clinic.  It's kinda a miracle sometimes that I actually DO find stuff.

I love watching new teams check out the OR and unpack their stuff.

I love San Juan and where our clinic is located..by the bridge over the river next to the checkpoint in Cepilla, Corbano, San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic.

I love going out to Bienvenida Restaurant with our groups on Wednesday nights.  I love how the owner gives me avocados.  

I love the stunning city parks in San Juan and the beautiful cathedral.  

I love visiting patients with Dr. Perdomo and taking tours of the public hospital.

I love going to the barrios to do Operativo Medicos (mobile clinics).

I love how folks hustle to get in line wherever we are for our barrio clinics...in churches, schools, houses...and sometimes..under mango trees.

I love the unbelievable beaches of Samana.

I love fresh fish by the sea.

I love looking at the world through a window and someone else's eyes.

I love riding on the back of a moto.

I love working with our translators.  They are the BEST!

Even after long days and exhaustion.

I love dancing bachata with Monchi.

I love visiting folks and checking on their kiddies.

I LOVE Juan Ulise.  Always have.

I love my room with my Chooch poster and flimsy closets crammed with extra medical stuff and referrals taped to the wall.

I love MLB.com

I love the churches that we go to, especially the Saturday night youth service at Central Mennonite.

I love watching and participating in surgery.  I get to work with the best of the best... and they have the most caring hearts and phenomenal attitudes.

I love sitting by the road and watching life go by.

I love bonfires in the streets where we drink hot chocolate from an open fire and dip bread in it.

I LOVE watching Baby Nicole grow up.

I love hoping and hoping and hoping for her future.

I love watching the groups get PSYCHED for their week during orientation.  ( Don't they look psyched!)

I LOVE my life here.  God is good.  

Boundaries and then some....

Sometimes one of the things that I struggle with the most here is boundaries.  Saying no.   Pulling back.  NOT getting over involved.  Keeping my mouth shut.   Being alone.  NOT giving what I want to.   I write this because over the last few weeks we've had a 9 year old visitor almost every day standing at our gate waiting for me.   And I know him from before, sweet little Y.   He used to be in Pueblo Nuevo when I visited and I wonder why he's not there now.   He's usually filthy and alone, although he's got a few older brothers that I greet in the streets.  The last time I saw the oldest one he reminded me "Nicole...we're hungry out here".   And I always wonder what is the right thing to do.   Y knows he's not supposed to come in the gate unless he's invited.  But he will wait outside for HOURS.   He'll climb the fence although he KNOWS he's not allowed to do that.  He drives Jenny Dog insane by teasing her and making her bark at him.   He'll call to me or Kari "Can I come in now?  Hey, can I come in yet? Hey...guys!!!".   We've had several talks with him about appropriate times to play and visit.  But he comes almost everyday anyway.  

This past week he invited me to his house to meet his mother.  So I drove over with him on our Pasola and spent a bit of time with his family.   I drank coffee with them and they told me he talks about us all the time.   There are 7 siblings I believe.   In a tiny little house with dirt floors on a corner in Corbano.  We've fed him lunch a few times and he's helped in the Scary Room and this past week Kari had a water gun fight with him and the grin on his face was contagious and enormous and the sparkle in the eyes might STILL be there.   And on Friday I promised I would play with him and we went to the river at 4 with Kari and Chino and Monchi and splashed and played volleyball and let the sunlight warm us while the palm trees waved overhead and the skinny Dominican boys hooted and talked trash over our volleyball skills.  It was a gorgeous moment.  One in which I close my eyes and thank God for my strange little family here.  Y and the boys and Dan and Kari and Wilmer and Laura and the odds and ends of all of us.   When we came back Monchi put him in the shower and made him scrub from head to toe and I smelled his head when he came out and reminded him of how handsome he is.  He has the absolute worst fungus on his head that I've ever seen.   Sigh.  Hygiene lessons.  He would like me to put medicine on it every day to help it go away faster.

What do we do?  How do I let him stand outside the gate hour after hour during the day smelling our lunch cooking and watching the Americans type on their iPads in the kitchen?    Boundaries are tough, man.  

The other night I saw one of the older boys dragging him through the streets screaming and crying.  His brothers told me he doesn't want to go home, he wants to sleep in the street.  I wonder what is happening in that house that makes him think he would be better off sleeping in the streets.  I wonder what is up with the scars on his arm and the pretty fresh cut on his chest (says he fell???).    I wonder lots of things.   One of the little boys at the river who was talking to him later said to me "Is it true that he lives with you at the clinic?".  Ummmm no.   "Well, is it true that sometimes you give him food?".  Ummmm I gave him some crackers today.

Boundaries.  I'm not good at that.   I just know I love him.

I have grown accustomed to seeing poor folks.   Downtrodden.  Hurting.  But there are always some that stick out a little bit more.  And I can just see Y's grin and beaming eyes while he fires away a water gun at Kari...and his skinny little naked self propelling quickly through the river holding onto our giant pink volleyball.   He's one of the faces of Jesus for me.   There are many here.  

I was singing last night (loudly) in spanish at the Central youth church service.  And for the first time in a long time...I found myself crying during worship.  FEELING the Holy Spirit come down on all of us together.  We just stood there for a long time, listening to the music and swaying, holding hands.   More faces of Jesus all around me, crying out together for the Kingdom to come NOW.... that He is WORTHY...this God of ours.   Reminding me that I am not here alone, I am not here of my own doing.  

Wins and Losses

There's been some wins and losses in the last month or so.   Thought I'd throw some up on the old blog...since I'm not doing the greatest at updating it regularly.  

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.  

.  

Update Newsletter! (oh and fundraising toooooo!)

One year is up and I’m still here.   And still sending out the Annual Newsletter/Fundraising Update.   I suddenly realized that perhaps I should share in greater detail a bit more of HOW I LIVE or WHAT I DO.   I live and work in San Juan de la Maguana, which is located in the western half of the Dominican Republic about an hour and a half from Haiti.  I work for an organization called Solid Rock International (check us out at solidrockinternational.org) and my title is Medical Coordinator (I am also a Sponsorship Coordinator but we can talk about that at another time).   I live at a Guesthouse (upstairs in dorm room number 16!)   which is located adjacent/on site to a CLINIC where I help with American medical teams that come to volunteer/serve here.  We sometimes define my job as a “bridge” between the Dominican staff that always work at the clinic and the incoming American teams that come for one week at a time to perform needed or specialty surgeries.   I work with 3 other Americans here; Dan and Kari Straley (Guesthouse administrators) and Laura Demastus (social worker).     I work in the clinic with the surgical teams, organizing and coordinating with consults and patients and sometimes transportation and surgical prep.   Sometimes I scrub (hand over instruments).  Sometimes I circulate (assist in the operating room).  Often I am calling the patients to assist in preparing them for surgery.  Most often I am found running from room to room looking for needed things or people.   Sometimes I run the autoclave (yipes!) and sometimes I make the beds.   MEDICAL COORDINATOR is a title that possibly means many different things to many different people.  One of my favorite projects this year was helping to organize several “junk rooms” into usable (and almost pretty!) consultation rooms, one of which currently has a fetal monitor and ultrasound machine (JOY to my obstetrical heart!).   

I also travel with our mobile medical clinics when there is no surgery.  This is what we call our Barrio teams.  We head out to different, sometimes remote locations with doctors and a mobile pharmacy to see/evaluate/treat people who are often unable to receive complete medical care.   I love going out to little towns and seeing where folks live and work and struggle and triumph.   It’s a great mix for me to be able to work between the clinic and the barrio teams.    

So yeah- one year and I’m still here.  And I want to stay.   I want to commit for another year (ummm I kinda already have) and see what God has next for me.    It hasn’t been easy- there have been lots of tears and “why am I here again?” and cultural and language struggles and frustrations.  But there have been intense joys and triumphs and shared moments and just…well…there has been lots of love too.   I love it.  I feel like God is working DESPITE me (J) and that He has more for me here than I ever thought.  

So along with that…I’m asking for support again.  Prayer AND financial.   It’s the same deal as before and I don’t like this part of it but here it comes.   I can’t quite do this without the prayers and finances which come from folks who believe that God is doing Good Things in San Juan de la Maguana and that Nicole Eby gets to watch and cheer and maybe even participate in those Good Things.    I can tell you that your help makes it possible and that is incredibly appreciated.   I work for Solid Rock International and your donations/support can be sent to Solid Rock International, PO Box 20867, Indy, IN, 46220 OR you can check us out online at solidrockinternational.org and support me through the website (which is a really awesome website too!).    I also have a blog- phillynic.blogspot.com where I TRY to update  “kinda-regularly” the life and times of Nik Eby.   I also update another blog via the Solid Rock International site at www.solidrockinternational.org. 

Soooo yeah-  I want to say THANKS again for your prayers and lovin’ encouragements.  I know that I always say that I can FEEL your prayers but it’s true!    Recently I was feeling down and kinda blue about the WAITING sometimes that goes on in life….. how our timing is rarely God’s timing and how frustrated my impatient self can be with that.   One of my friends reminded me (in Spanish!) again of my favorite verse, Jer. 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you….and tell you new and unsearchable things that you did not know”.   Still new…still unsearchable.  Still on the journey.    THANK YOU for riding along with me.