Motherhood

There were days when I was tired of being a mom. LONG days of shelling out commands like "pick up your stuff", "stop fighting", "your in time out", and "GO TO YOUR ROOM"! I thought I would never get to the day when I wouldn't have to manage everything they did.

And now I find myself on a slippery downhill slope towards the finish line and it is bittersweet.

Galatians 6:9 says "Let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up".

We have definitely reaped a harvest of 3 wonderful beautiful grown up children and it is so comforting to watch them become the adults that we always hoped they would be. All of those silly things that we got so upset about really don't much matter now. It's funny, now, to think back over some of the things they did and I hope I can keep that perspective. Oh sure, there are still days that I feel disheartened, but I am so glad that we did not give up on them! We are all just "works in progress" in God's eyes and He never gives up on us, even when we turn away from Him. Unconditional love........from God and from Mothers.

I hope all the moms out there had a great day with their kids and for those who couldn't be with theirs.....I hope the memories and thoughts of days past comforted them. We did good.

Coincidences or divine intervention?

Many times people have happenings in their lives that they chalk up to coincidences. I wonder if they aren't really messages from a higher place. This past week I have encountered small but enlightening moments that has made me feel the power of God's presence. You tell me....coincidence or divine intervention?

As I left bible study last week I was struggling for a message to send to my fellow women since I am the person who sends out the emails for prayer requests and usually add some kind of message or quote to stick with them through the week. I usually always get something through other emails or readings but this week nothing was coming. But a song kept getting into my head about being hungry for the Lord and I realized that we had been talking about the power of song to praise God so I figured I was to send this song out to the others which I did.

I also encountered a young man trying to collect funds for people struggling with addiction and how he was transformed a few years ago through the power of God and is now studying to become a nurse! Since that is my profession I figured he was sent to me for a reason! Of course I had to give him a donation which he was very grateful.

That weekend I went to a luncheon/study on Women of Faith and there was 3 women who sang a few songs to which none of them I recognized but wondered about. The second was one about ...

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet And a light unto my path.

The jist of the speaker that day was to walk in faith 

and not in 

sight - to trust God in knowing that you 

make the plan but He directs your feet.

As I was driving home after that, I was listening to a 

book on 

tape from Amy Grant called "MOSAIC"

 (which by the way is a great read!) and at the end of 

one of her 

readings the music started to play and it 

was the same song - her song "Thy Word"! 

When I feel afraid, And think I’ve lost my way. Still, 
you’re there right beside me. Nothing will I fear As 
long as you are near; 
Please be near me to the end.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet And a light unto my path. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.
I will not forget Your love for me and yet, My heart 
forever is 
wandering. Jesus by my guide, And hold me to your 
side, And I will love you to the end.
Coincidence or God's message to me to trust in Him and he 
will teach me???
As I always pray about my childrens lives - I was also directed 
to books that day to help me pray
 for them and the decisions they make and for God 
to help me put it in His hands and not to 
worry. A quote I heard was " Worrying is like sitting 
in a 
rocking chair....you dont get anywhere 
but it  gives you something to do!" How true! I will
 try not to 
waste my energy on worrying and
place it in God's hands!
If we open our hearts and minds to Jesus and spend some 
quiet moments trying to hear 
his voice - he will give us the message! It might not always be 
the one that we want to
hear though! That is where true faith comes in.....I 
am learning to hold my tongue unless it 
is requested and it eventually I am able to get my 
point across - even though it might not be at 
the moment I want! He will tell me the time! It is an 
ongoing 
challenge though..........

A month has gone by since I have returned from Belize! It is still fresh in my mind but life goes on and new adventures await! I have been going to Bible study weekly and we are studying the power of a praying woman. Prayer can be such a comforting feeling knowing that God is listening! We might not always get the answer we were hoping for but I do believe that there is a reason for whatever happens....the hard part is - we just may not know the reason until days,months or years later! The important thing is to have hope. I have sooo many hopes for different things! First, I always hope that my family is safe from harm. Secondly I hope that they are happy! I pray daily that my son Jeff is able to fulfill his dream of being on Broadway! I pray my other son Paul finds a job that he is excited to get up everyday for! I pray that my daughter Maggie focuses on her future and does everything in her power to make her marketable for the job world in 3 months! But I also pray that they are Godly people and that there are good strong faithful people that cross their paths daily. I pray that my husband Mike and I stay healthy enough to enjoy our second half of the century we are living! We have had such a wonderful life so far and I am so blessed to have him to share it with!As far as adventures........We took a short weekend trip to Norris lake for Valentines day ! We have great friends that are willing to share it with us and it was a very relaxing time. It is so peaceful there and the air seems fresher!The following weekend we went to Charlotte NC to visit friends and watch XU basketball get another win from Charlotte! Charlotte is a nice clean town that seems newer than Cincy and it didnt hurt that the sun was out and the temperature was 6o*!! What a great way to spend my 54th birthday! Going back to work gave me a different perspective after seeing how Belize had so little. We waste so much but we have all the latest equipment to do the best we can for our people. So which is better? Wasting less but not having as much or the alternative? I would find it hard to believe that people would vote the alternative! Maybe the "going green" society would be the only ones! Until their day comes to have surgery!

WE ARE HOME!!!! Boy is it good to be back! We all cheered when the plane landed in Cincy but then we all moaned when we got off and felt the cold air! Oh well it is February after all!

After a long day of travel we all made it back safe and sound and it was nice to see our loved ones meet us as we arrived. I will never forget this trip and hope to continue to do God's work in many ways in the future. I hope to get all my pics together on a disc in the next few weeks (I tend to get obsessed with this until its done and everything else lacks behind!). I will share with anyone who is interested so just let me know! Thanks for following and stay tuned for new adventures in the day in the life of me!

FUN DAY!!!

Woke up early this morning and so did MP - she had a headache and nauseated! Oh no!! Not today! So without going into details she was able to upchuck and thought she was gonna be ok but no.....so I went up to breakfast and to look for a doc to get some meds! Fortunately I was able to find some and she miraculously got somewhat better so she wouldnt miss out on our last day! Even though she wasnt 100% at least she still got to go to the beach and relax some.
After breakfast we left for the little airpot here and took about a 12 seater plane over to San Pedro. It was a beautiful day and perfect for flying! I thought I would be scared but it was pretty cool and very smooth! Once we got there a lot of the people went snorkeling and snuba-ing on a tour but we just wanted to chill so after walking around a bit we settled on some beach chairs by the water and i read and MP slept. Ann and Cindy talked. It was heavenly! There was a nice breeze and a great time to refresh!
We were supposed to meet at a restaurant called Fido's (pronounce fee-doz) so we headed there. I had a wonderful Bailey's colada and a snapper fish sandwich - delish!!! THen we decided to walk around and shop a little. It was nice not to have a schedule to follow and just veg!
We took the plane back about 4 and shoered up and now I am here enjoying the sunset and waiting for dinner on the beach! We are having a barbecue which should be wonderful - I just hope the mosquitos arent too bad! I cant wait to see everyone - it seems longer than a week! Miss you all!

A frustrating day

Tried to find the rooster this morning to take a picture but no luck!! We really dont have much time at the hotel before we leave-by the time we shower ,eat, catch up on emails and have devotions its time to go! I have been rising early as usual but it still seems to go fast!
Today was our last day of service and I have to admit I am spent! In one of our first meetings about coming to Belize , they handed out journals and on the first page they pasted a penny with the words, " For we are God's workmanship or masterpiece created in Christ Jesus to do good works that God prepared in advance for us to do". We are pennies in God's hands - spend us in whatever way He chooses.....well he certainly did that!I have emptied my cup! Amy said it well this morning at devotions when she talked about when your cup is filled there is not enough room for God to fill in with his love, desires, and hopes so you need to empty or filter out some once in awhile to make room for the new!
I have given what I had to give and now I am ready to fill up with new adventures and ways to serve Him. I miss my family a lot and I cant wait to see them so that is first priority when I get home!
But for today - we had one more day to finish our work here in Belize. It was a very frustrating day because we had had 2 ORs to work in on Sat. and Sun. and had things pretty much running smoothly and then emergencies came up and the regular crew had to take over one of the ORs! That made us fall behind and we had to put all our surgeries in one room and alternate teams. We did a lot more sitting and waiting which is always hard when you want things to work like clockwork. But this mission is all about improvising and being flexible so we tried to keep plugging on. As it turned out we had to cancel 3 of the surgeries and have them come next week wehn the 2nd mission crew will be here because it was getting too late. It was sad that those people had to come a long way and wait just to be told it will have to be another time. But there was only so much we could do!
We finished up about 6:00 or so and said our goodbyes to all of the wonderful staff there and took down contact info from them so we could send them things throughout the year. They need so much!
It was 5 o'clock somwhere and much later than that when we reached Tony's! We had a few drinks, ate some fajitas and I did some blogtime - then off to bed about 11:30. We are all looking forward to our fun day in San Pedro tomorrow!

A different world

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to ride an amusement park ride for about 2 hours straight? Well our trip to the Mennonite village was kinda similar to that! Our whole group (40 plus people) took all the vans south to Little Belize for an adventure to another way of life! We had to take 2 small ferrys on the way - that were powered by a hand crank! Then a very long bumpy ride throught the country. You thought our pot holes were bad...I have not experienced anything this bad! But the ride was enjoyable seeing lots of things along the way! You could tell when we were approaching Mennonite country because all of the fields were very neatly manicured and there were fields and fields of pinto beans growing (and by the way they pick those all by hand!!!!!!!!)
We arrived at the clinic with several buggys parked outside and people waiting in line. We took a quick tour of the immaculately clean inside and then we began to unload and set up for the day. We brought a lot of our supplies because we didnt know what we were going to incur. The visits began with the family docs and then they would send them to the surgeons if necessary to either schedule a surgery at the hospital the next day or perform a minor one there in the clinic. They had several rooms that were equipped with beds, a pharmacy, and a back room that had a delivery table and a bassinette for the baby. It was there that we performed some small surgeries. It seemed to go really well - but most of the Mennonites speak German so there was a language barrier but fortunately there were interpreters for us!
The clinic was run by a doctor named Abrahm who lived in the house next door. He was a lot of fun to listen to and very accomodating to us and very grateful we were all there.
The kids were so adorable in ther classic outfits! Even though they couldnt speak English - their faces told us a lot! The worship team had brought some crayons and books and some bubbles and small toys to give to them and it was such a joy in my heart to see their faces light up with the simplest things! One young man about 6 years old came up to me to get some bubbles and he had a smile that would melt your heart! He got so excited to see how the bubble wand worked and it kept him entertained for quite a while!
I was asked to do some ear washings on several people that had some bad ear wax build up. I had never done that before but after being shown what to do by Laura (another nurse), she said it can be quite painful and noisy and the kids hate it. Well there is something about those children unlike most of the children we see in the US. You could tell they were apprehensive but they sat there diligently as they were told and hardly flinched. It was after I was done that some tears would fall. Broke my heart!!! But it did a world of good for them so I knew it was necessary
After things slowed down for awhile I began talking to one of the young interpreters named Henry. He was 16 and a very insightful and mature young man. He had no qualms about opening his heart and thoughts to me and I had a lengthy conversation with him. He was born in Canada and lived there for 6 years and then moved to Belize. That's how he knew English and he thought he didnt speak it very well but I had no problem understanding him
His story was intrigung because he really would rather be living in Canada. He has 6 brothers and 2 sisters and one of his brothers lives in Canada and he went there last summer to work. He would get $30/hour up there and only $4 in Belize! He also doesnt really agree with the Mennonite philosophy but is commited to his father and the family. If they leave the country and their home and move away it is considered a sin in the community.
He would love to go to college up there and his boss there even offered to pay but his dad refused. At 16, he says he sometimes drinks with his buddies, and I also saw him smoking and told him it was bad for him. He usually drinks rum and cokes but not too much because he doesn't like to get so drunk that he gets angry or fights or can't remember the next day what he did! He has also tried pot but says he doesn't like the way it makes his heart feel.
He doesn't have a girlfriend and doesn't want one! He doesn't always go to church because he says there is no love felt there - that the preacher is always talking about how the boys are bad and never about bettering yourselves and how to be a better person. And he never talks about the girls and Henry says the girls sometime drink more than the boys!
I asked if he believed in God and he said "Oh yes, - I would be nowhere without God."
I wished him well before we parted and told him to have faith that God would lead him to where he was to go in his life. I am so glad I was able to meet this young man and I will pray for him!
Soon afte we packed up and headed back for a wild (and I mean WILD!) ride home.
Ric was driving and gets a kick out of trying to see how fast he can fly over those pot holes. I on the other hand feel like I need to be in traction from all the banging around in the back of the van! At least he bought us a pina colada when we got back to Tonys!!