A Lightning Storm and other things

This past week, a long lightning storm passed over the city. We stood on the deck, watching each strike ripple across the sky.
It was absolutely majestic!
My camera didn't quite capture it but here are a few pictures. Note that without the lightning, it was completely dark outside.

As we watched the sky light up again and again, we started singing....
"O Lord, my God, When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works Thy hands have made
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, how great Thou art,
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art"

"Summer and winter, springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above, 
Join with all nature in manifold witness,
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love" 

"This is my Father's world,
And to my listening ears,
All nature sings, and round me rings,
The music of the spheres.
This is my Father's world,
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas,
His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my \Father's world,
Oh, let me ne'er forget,
That though the wrong seems oft so strong
God is the Ruler yet,
This is my Father's world,
Why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King, let the heavens ring,
God reigns, let the earth be glad."

 

 This one is my favourite....

Can't believe I haven't posted since before Jer came to visit. Nevertheless, we had a blast!! This picture, one of many pictures we took, is him and my fourth baby! 

This dear lady, Ma'am Stef, is my assigned supervisor at the clinic, so I work with her a lot. She has taught me so much, she is fun to be with, and has a beautiful heart both for us and for the patients.
She has been a great blessing to me - and I owe so much to her as far as my growth as a midwife thus far! :)

This past weekend, thanks to my mom, and her connections at the mall, I was able to Skype into both Roland and Elizabeth's wedding, and Rachel's Profession of Faith. :)
Both were so much fun!! It was almost like being there with everyone again, which was amazing!

 

Forgive my tardiness in not posting sooner... I shall try to do better! :)

One last praise item, before I sign off...
Yesterday I booked my ticket to come home for the month of August!!!
I am soooo excited!!! 87 days and counting! :)

That's all for now!
Love you all! See you soon :)
~Becca

I Will Praise You

"For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well."

- Psalm 139:13-14

[A newborn exam: Within a few hours of a baby's birth, the midwife does a newborn exam, a complete physical examination, to make sure everything is normal, that the babe is healthy, and on the lookout for problems or abnormalities. Over the last few weeks, I have learned to do these myself, and it is now one of my favourite jobs. Every time I get to do one, I am reminded of how amazing our God is! Each part of the new baby is specifically designed for his life right now. Every intricate detail, down to the creases on his feet or the pulses in his femoral arteries.]

Hard bones, wet hair, soft grooves between the bones. The little head is designed in such a way that the bones won't fuse together until he is a few years old, so that now as he must squeeze through the birth canal, the flat bones can slide over or under each other to make room.

"You knit me together in my mothers womb,
you knit me together in my mothers womb.
I praise you, I praise you.
You knit me together in my mother’s womb."

My stethoscope on his little chest, babump, babump, babump. Open, fill with blood, squeeze, open, fill....144 times in a minutes.His little heart will beat 150,000 more times today, 35 million times this year, 2.5 billion times before it finally stops, never taking a rest, never missing a beat until then.

"You knit me together in my mothers womb,
you knit me together in my mothers womb.
I praise You, I praise You.
You knit me together in my mother’s womb."

His small chest rises and falls, sometimes evenly, sometimes irregular, each breath getting easier - the hardest breath he'll ever take is his very first, as his lungs stretch out for the first time.

"Because I am fearfully and wonderfully made,
because I am fearfully and wonderfully made
I praise You, I praise You
because I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

He cries, and he doesn't even realize that in his distress and discomfort, every deep breath fills his little body with oxygen, and he visibly turns a bit more pink.

"I praise you, I praise you.
You knit me together in my mothers womb."

- Steve Green
 

When I stroke my fingers across his palm, he squeezes down tightly - the Palmer Reflex - our Father designed him with this, so he will instinctively cling to his mama. Then if I startle him a little he flares out at first, then pulls his little arms and legs in tight - the Moro Reflex - again an instinct to cling to his mother. This also tells me that his nervous system developed properly. The Moro reflex requires complex control from his brain stem, and therefore proves that it is working as it should.

A straight spine, a soft abdomen, a lovely nose, a strong suck...
Someone once said "You cannot buy happiness, happiness is born."
They were right.

A Little Late...

...for a Christmas post, but better late than never.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!
We certainly had a lovely Christmas here, although it was quite different than what I am used to!

" My soul is filled with joy
As I sing to God my saviour:
You have looked upon your servant,
You have visited your people.

"And holy is your name
Through all generations!
Everlasting is your mercy
To the people you have chosen,
And holy is your name.

"I am lowly as a child,
But I know from this day forward
That my name will be remembered,
For all will call me blessed.

"And holy is your name
Through all generations!
Everlasting is your mercy
To the people you have chosen,
And holy is your name.






I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!
We certainly had a lovely Christmas here, although it was quite different than what I am used to!

A few of my housemates made us a fancy dinner...

(Yes, our 'dining room table' is outside on the porch :)

"I proclaim the pow’r of God,
You do marvels for your servants;
Though you scatter the proud-hearted
And destroy the might of princes.

"And holy is your name
Through all generations!
Everlasting is your mercy
To the people you have chosen,
And holy is your name.


Sadly, we had no snow, no ice, no -10°C weather, and no real pine trees.
However, we rustled this up, not necessarily a real tree, but good enough to make it feel like Christmas :)

We had lots of fun doing a gift exchange, topped off with eating lots of yummy snacks and desserts

"To the hungry you give food,
send the rich away empty.
In your mercy you are mindful
of the people you have chosen.

"And holy is your name
Through all generations!
Everlasting is your mercy
To the people you have chosen,
And holy is your name.


     I was delighted on Boxing Day to receive the package from you ladies at church! Believe me, it made my day!!! I am so thankful for each of you!
      Sometimes, it can be easy to feel alone here and very disconnected, but as you all remind me in your cards and notes, I am not alone, and I know that you all are praying for me, and that is very comforting! I treasure that more than you know!


"In your love you now fulfill
What you promised to your people.
I will praise you, Lord, my saviour,
Everlasting is your mercy. 

"And holy is your name
Through all generations!
Everlasting is your mercy
To the people you have chosen,
And holy is your name." 

-         "My Soul is Filled with Joy" - The Song of Mary

My favourite Christmas song

Love you all and miss you all!!
Love, Becca

Home Again!

     November was possibly the hardest month of my life. So many small things that came together and piled up and forced me to turn to the One who doesn't change, even when we live in constant transition, and the One who doesn't leave even when we feel like everywhere we turn there are new people.

      Most of the time we were there, we got to visit house to house, and experience true Filipino hospitality! We would take blood pressure, do a small maternal survey, then share our testimonies, pray for the family, and even do simple bible studies. It was really neat to get to know the people and see how they live.

A few highlights:
       We had the opportunity to build relationships and friendships with a whole group of youth! ((Like the group in the bottom left picture above)) This was super neat. Many evenings were filled with bible studies, singing, and playing games.

       We also got to know lots of kids, who, although overwhelming at times, were so much fun to chat with and play with. Over a series of mornings or evenings, we did a bunch of bible stories with them. After each bible story, they loved to draw out what they imagine the story looking like, as in a few of the pictures above.
    Below is our depiction of David and Goliath. CristyJoy, somehow so tall, made a very good Goliath, and on the right you can see Bekah, posing as David, ready to slay the giant! :)

Playing 'Pin-The-Tail-On-The-Donkey' in the top left of the picture below. And the bottom left, we invited a few of the kids who lived farther away to stay for lunch!

 Honestly, whats not to love about these faces??!?!?

 A few of the animals we saw...
The geese in the bottom right did try to attack me at one point. Thankfully, I escaped that, albeit narrowly!
For those of you who have seen the movie Seven Brides, doesn't the calf in the top middle look just like Annebelle??? Pretty cute!!

We had some chances to go a little ways out of the village, and see some of the rural areas, including this dam, where we even went swimming.

      We got to do fun stuff like pail in all our water, cook over an open fire, eat rice almost every meal, deal with mosquitoes (lots of mosquitoes!), and take bucket showers.

      One of the funnest things I got to do was ride a carabao!! A carabao is type of water buffalo. The farmers use them to plow their fields, to pull wagons, and any other type of farm work. Almost every villager owned one or more. I found out that they are the national animal of the Philippines. This kind old man was very happy to take the 'Amerikana' for a ride. :)

     We got home this past Monday, and it felt great to sleep in my own bed again. :)
I was tickled to come back to a stack of letters from home, and a package from my mom. Honestly, hardly anything beats mail from home!
      This week, we start our first 'real' shifts in the clinic, so please pray for us, as we begin this new chapter here!
      Also, when we got home, we found out that we had all been approved for our 2-year visa!! This is awesome news! Not only do we not have to deal with the hassle of renewal again next year, but we also got our full money's worth! This is definitely something to praise God for!

That is all! Until next time!
Love, Becca

Off for a month!

Hey everyone!!

Just a brief note, before I sign off for a whole month!

This week was wonderful. We all got to work an extra shift in the clinic, which meant that I got to watch this little girl enter the world!

We also had our Mercy retreat this week! It was a super fun time, hanging out in the cooler weather (up in the mountains), and getting to know some of the staff we will be working with.

The big news is that the six of us girls are headed out into the province for a month!!!

We are leaving tomorrow, doing a few days of orientation on Samal, the nearby island, then off to Butuan (pronounced ‘Boo-twan’) for three weeks. Butuan is roughly ten hours away by public transportation.

We will be learning more of the language, getting a better understanding of the culture, helping with or leading some healthcare teachings, as well as visiting people in their homes, doing a small maternal demographic survey with them, and just chatting. This visiting will hopefully open the way for us to talk about the gospel with them, and pray with them. We have been told that we will likely be cooking over an open fire, sleeping on mats, and bathing and washing laundry in the river. It will be an adventure!

So, please pray for us, as we head out for the month of November, that we will be incredibly blessed by this opportunity and also that we will be a blessing to the people we are working with!

Pray for safety as we travel up there and while we are there, for strength and courage, and that each of us would be stretched and challenged and would really grow in our faith.

Also, this week I had the opportunity to visit the OB ward of the hospital where we take patients who have complications during labour. It is the government-run hospital, and sadly, it is very under-staffed, and although they do the very best they can, there isn’t enough supplies or enough space for the amount of patients. This means that the patients are crammed, and it is hot, and not very clean. It is a sad situation.

So that is a prayer request, that the patients there would still get good care, and that if possible, conditions would improve there. My roommate and I went to visit one specific patient, ‘Julia’* who we had taken there the day before. She had had a C-Section. She was incredibly brave! Prayer requests for her are that she heals well, that her baby is and stays healthy, and that she was blessed through the care at the clinic, even though she wasn’t able to deliver there.

I miss you all very much! I am excited to read plenty of emails and letters when I get home! (*hint*hint :))

Talk to you in December!

Love, Becca

*The patient's name has been changed to protect her privacy.