Continued update...

Greetings! Sorry it has been a while. Tim and I have been somewhat distracted with life the last week or two.

As most of you know, we have been reminiscing the amazing times we had with our dear friend "uncle" Bob. We are still experiencing many weepy days missing our friend, but have been greatly encouraged by the legacy he has left and the response of his family. If you read the comments from the last post, you will know what I mean! :)

As our third Christmas in the Philippines approaches, I am reminded of God's unwavering faithfulness in our life here. To give you just a tiny example of a recent "faithful God sighting"....you know all the prayers I was asking for regarding taking my certification NARM exam in February....well, just two days after posting that prayer request, my plane ticket was paid for! AND, the National College of Midwifery and the North American Registry of Midwives approved my application to take the certification exam! OREGON EXAM, HERE I COME!! God is sooo good.

So February 3rd, Promise and I will leave our precious Tim and board a plane headed for Portland to stay with my parents, take the exam and head back to the Philippines February 24th. I am looking forward to Promise getting some time with her cousins and me having a latte with my mom and dad. :) I miss our morning coffee talks. Tim will be hard at work here getting the water project set for the future....I have asked a few local friends to take care of him while I am gone. :)

In Philippine news, I have delivered more babies....sutured more, inserted more IVs, did more baby check-ups....not that all this is getting old, but it has almost become somewhat routine now. Each patient and her situation is uniquely different from the last and I love hearing their stories...but what has stood out to me these last few weeks are my Bible Study patients.

Still we have had only two show up each time. I have to laugh at that....out of the 300 patients we have at Mercy per month and then some, we have just two that show up to Bible study and they are just so hand-picked by God.

One in particular tugged at my heart this week. Ann just had a baby two weeks ago and came to Bible study 90 minutes late this week to show off her precious baby girl and to tell us that she was applying to work overseas giving her baby to her extended family to care for. My heart sank. Her family was pressuring her to look to her baby's future because she has no husband and no one to provided long-term for her and her baby. Her only option seemed to be to head off to another country (most likely a middle-eastern country) to work, make big money, and come back home after two years.

This precious baby girl was bathed in prayer in our Bible study long before she was born....we prayed at length for the relationship with Ann and her ex-boyfriend....it seemed just so wrong for her to leave this beautiful baby girl to work in an unknown land with unknown scenarios and for unknown employers. I asked her if she wanted to go and her response was not surprising....like many women here who have just given birth, she shook her head no, but her mouth said, "It is for my baby's future." But what if her baby's future looks bright with money, but without a mother or father?

People live well here on a very small amount....is it better for her to mother her daughter and raise her up in God, though not wealthy or is it better for her to leave her baby to be raised by family, but have money....more money here in the Philippines means greater responsibility and added pressure from family....less money...well, depending on how much less, can mean daily reliance on God and a family working together to make ends meet. I don't know what is better....but I do know that her choice is based on fear and not on wisdom. She is fearful that her daughter will never go to school and will never have the clothes and supplies all the wealthier families have....and yet, there are soooo many Filipinos here who work somewhat low-paying jobs who are quite able to send their kids to school and they may not have the most fashionable clothes, but they are clothed and they are fed well.

I don't know which decision is best for her, but I am concerned that her fear may take over her ability to hear God....He is always faithful...and not just to me...or to the wealthy.

If you think of her, please pray that God will give her wisdom and her decision will not be based on her fear of having little and that she will see just how much she truly has.

Be blessed.

I miss my friend.

I can't be silent and not say anything about the precious man Uncle Bob was to me. Though I did not know him as long as the Stewart clan did, he was more than a friend to me...he was the closest physical appearance of Jesus that I have ever known on earth. I think Jesus was ready for his company face to face. I don't blame Him. Jesus loves him even more than we do.

He had the uncanny ability to look at you directly in the eyes and know the state of your spirit. The presence of God was so about him that even the harshest words were soaked in love. Because my family lives in the United States, Uncle Bob and Aunt Sylvia became my surrogate parents...mentors, friends, counselors, peace-givers. Being in their company filled my spirit with such peace. Spending time with them was like taking a drink from the refreshing fountain of Heaven. Uncle Bob loved me and I knew it...he wasn't afraid to show it or say it. I didn't have to be anyone but me around him.

What made the most impact on me was his deep, unchanging, faithful love for his wife. He called Sylvia his "sunshine" and you knew that was what she was to him. He honored her with his words, showed his devotion to her with his time, and you could see his bright blue eyes light up when she entered the room. They were best friends. And he also encouraged this deep love in our marriage. The two of them were living examples of what it means to "love as Christ loves the church and gave His life for her". He reiterated the importance of being one with the Spirit of God together....he challenged us to love each other unconditionally. He challenged us to be Christlike.

His strong sense of justice and his love of compassion infiltrated all his relationships. Any friendship he made was intentional and quickly became deeply relational....small talk was just a passageway into the heart of the matter. Over espresso (his taken with "sugar in the raw") and dark chocolate (though provided white chocolate for Sylvia and me), he would relay stories of God's faithfulness and intently listen to the areas Christ was sharpening us in. Like Tim shared, his wisdom was from the Lord. His generosity came in all forms....he loved freely and gave freely.

He was picky and had to have his plates heated for hot meals, and chilled for cold meals....but his quirks made us laugh and brought us calm familiarity. One never felt out of place in their home...whether their home was on their boat, in Ontario, or in Vancouver, one always felt welcome. I can remember him sitting in his stuffed chair with his silly stuffed dog, "Scruffy", chewing the fat for hours on end with Tim while Sylvia and I painted, sewed or cooked dinner. They were our best friends.

While my heart aches for my dear friend, I know the ache I feel is nothing compared to that of Sylvia who now has her two best friends walking together face to face now. I can just see Jesus and Uncle Bob in tears together laughing about Uncle Bob's journey here on earth....his mistakes...his triumphs...his joys...and I can see Uncle Bob, with humility and conviction kneel before the Lord in gratitude. Welcome home, Uncle Bob. You are missed.

We love you, Sylvia and we share in your sorrow and we share in our Saviour's joy through tears.

More On Uncle Bob

You should also read what Dad had to say here.

Uncle Bob

One of my best friends is gone. He's known me since I was a boy, and he is one of the people who helped me become a man. And now he's gone. If you were to ask me, "What do you want to be when you grow up," my answer would quite likely be "Uncle Bob".

He's been my father's closest friend since I was very young, and he was much like a god-father to me and my three brothers for more than 20 years. As boys we used to go exploring in the ravine behind their home in Ontario. When my parents were ministering out of the country, Uncle Bob and Aunt Sylv would look after us boys. We still talk of the brownie surprise ("the surprise is...there is no brownie!"), and the chocolate chip spaghetti.

We moved to another province when I was 15, and I was just a dumb teenager, so I didn't know what I was missing. I was shocked when I did the math today and realized that Uncle Bob and I have been close friends for less than four years. It was the spring of 2006, shortly after they moved to BC, that Bethany and I started spending time with Uncle Bob and Aunt Sylvia. They quickly became some of our dearest friends and life would not have been the same without such a friendship.

We had many a great walk along the river in Steveston, and many peaceful afternoons eating potato chips and drinking beer on the boat. But what I treasured most was their quiet wisdom and the peaceful prayer that was sure to come at the end of the day when the cards were put down and the espresso and chocolate was gone. I'm afraid of being without his wisdom. Yes, Uncle Bob's wisdom was from the Lord, and I know that God's wisdom is still available to me, but it was far more reassuring to know that it was just a phone call away.

If you're looking for Uncle Bob's influence in my life, you needn't look far. Two of my greatest passions can be directly attributed to him. It's no coincidence that I fell in love with photography at exactly the same time that he and I became friends. When Bethany and I were in the Dominican Republic with Impact Nations in January of 2006, we began spending time with Uncle Bob and Aunt Sylv, and he let me borrow his point and shoot camera. He showed me a few things and something inside me came alive. The next month I bought my first point and shoot camera and he started to teach me. And the rest, as they say, is history.

After hearing the news today, I found myself browsing through my old photography blog (you might be curious to wander through the archives). My first images were laughably bad, but Uncle Bob's influence becomes apparent as the photography improves. So much so, that I mentioned him often in my writing and referred to him as The Famous Uncle Robert. He was always bugging me to turn that blog into a book. Perhaps one day I will.

He has encouraged me every step of the way in my photography; kicking my ass when I would complain about crappy weather or insufficient gear, and cheering me on when I was pushing myself creatively. He got me an early Christmas present this year—a subscription to the National Association of Photoshop Professionals—with a note that encouraged me to keep pressing forward. I can't tell you how many books he has handed me to read, and their effect has been profound. It's been a long time since I went on a photowalk with him, and I cannot express how much I regret not finding time to do that when I was with him this summer.

My other passion, of course, is the biosand water filter. Did you know that he's the one who trained me in that technology? Exactly two years ago I went to learn all about it from he and Aunt Sylvia in Manila. A few weeks after that, he was helping me build our first filter in Davao. We have since built almost 3000 filters and impacted as many as 50,000 lives. None of that would be possible if he and Aunt Sylvia hadn't imparted their passion to me.

You see, that's the thing. Uncle Bob did more than just teach me these things. He instilled a passion in me to do them to the best of my ability. Some days I was working hard in the hopes that he would be proud of me. But I know he was proud of me—he told me so. Most days I was working hard because I had caught his passion.

All this has me thinking about my dad. I count my father as one of my very best friends. He and I had a good cry together on Skype today. I told Dad that he and Uncle Bob were my go-to guys for wisdom, and now that Uncle Bob is gone, Dad is gonna have to carry more of the load. Problem is, I know Uncle Bob was one of Dad's main sources too. We could be in trouble.

It is days like this when I absolutely hate living on the other side of the world. It feels awful to grieve alone. Bethany and I have been holding on to each other throughout the day, but a hug from my dad sure would feel good right about now. A beer with Uncle Bob would feel pretty good too.

I miss him a lot. I know he's with Jesus, but fat lot of good that does me. Please be praying for Aunt Sylvia and the rest of their family.

I lost a lot of my photos of Uncle Bob during a hard drive crash a couple years ago. Those that I do have, I just put up on facebook.

Tim.

It was far from here.

As the news of the recent massacre has spread, some of you may be wondering how it has or will affect us. The short answer is that it won't affect us here in Davao. We are several hours east of Maguindanao, the province where this atrocity was carried out. Davao is a very safe city that has not experienced any significant political violence for many years, so there is no need to worry.

Unfortunately, this incident may indeed interfere with portions of the water project. Maguindanao is one of the provinces that we focus our efforts on because of the intense poverty that is found there (52% of the population has no access to safe drinking water). One of our main filter distributors, Glen Achivar, has gathered his team and returned to his home in Tacurong city in the much safer province of Sultan Kudarat. Most recently, Glen was overseeing the filter installations in Bulod, Maguindanao. If you haven't seen some of his reports (there are still more to come) then I strongly recommend you visit the website.

As I met with Toti this morning, it became clear that the current atmosphere in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao will impede most of our distribution efforts. We have decided to shut down the factory for Christmas a few weeks earlier than normal. We always try to have at least 100 units in stock so that we can quickly fill large orders or respond to emergencies. This week's events meant that an expected shipment did not go out, so we now have an overflow of stock. Friday will be our last day of full operations for 2009.

If you've not heard, people have been giving water filters to Filipino families on behalf of their friends as a Christmas gift (if a $40 filter is a little above your price range, you can supply a kid in Nicaragua with a Christmas present and a meal for only $5). We are still selling the filters on our website, and Toti and Glen have assured me that they will soon be able to deliver to Bulod without risk, as it is a safe distance from the epicenter of the trouble.

This has felt like a confusing mess of a blog. Sorry about that. Bottom line: we're fine, pray for our filter distributors, and think about not giving your brother that ugly sweater for Christmas, but instead give him the joy of knowing that a family just got clean water for life or a poor child in Nicaragua got Christmas this year.

Okay, one last piece of business then I'll leave you to your eggnog. Thank you all for your prayers regarding Bethany's NARM exam application. A few of you have asked how you can help us with the cost of her flight. The easiest thing is to simply write a cheque (or a "check" if it's yankee-doodle-dollars) made out to Bethany Stewart and send it to:

c/o Christina Stewart

8433 Quayside Court

Vancouver, BC

V5P 4W1

We thank you so much for your prayers and support. God's goodness will forever overwhelm us. I leave you with a few snapshots of the Bird in her natural environment.

Cheers,

Tim.

Update on NARM prep.

Greetings! Thanks for all the encouraging notes regarding my current state of application chaos! Well, just to update you on my progress, yesterday, I spent the day notarizing important required documents, getting copious signatures from preceptors and supervisors, making photo copies of my last 2 years of midwifery training....that's over 550 prenatal exams (I stopped counting when I ran out of sheets), 77 labor assists and 70 deliveries, continuities, and well-woman exams, newborn exams, postpartum visits, the list goes on.

And then this morning, after sending some e-mails out to NARM and the National College of Midwifery, I was bewildered and in a state of panic as I read that the application was due November 1st to the National College and December 1 for the NARM exam! ACK! However, my contact at the National College said she would do her best to help me get all the needed materials to NARM in time despite it being Thanksgiving week! I was sent into a signing, scanning and filling-out-form-frenzy and at 5 pm this evening, both applications for permission to take the NARM exam were sent via FedEx....set to arrive exactly on December 1.

Tonight, I am going to try and pay the NARM exam fee by phone. Then it's just a waiting period to hear if all my papers are accepted and I receive permission to take my certification exam.

I feel as though a weight has been lifted off my shoulders and yet, a new weight has been put on...time to study and time to start praying for a plane ticket for Promise and me. In the meantime, I have shift tomorrow and Friday and life goes on.

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement....please start praying now that I pass the NARM exam....I can use all the prayer I can get!

We will post a proper blog later this week.

Be blessed.

...

Help wanted...

Greetings! Crazy things are a-happening around here.....and I am feeling a little overwhelmed.

So within the last few weeks, God has been challenging me to reconsider taking my certification midwifery board exam (called the NARM) in August. Because we took our break from life here as we know it to be with our families June-August this year, Tim and I figured we would not be able to return to the West until completing his work with the water project, which we thought would be about August of 2010. However, this deadline is being extended. While my plan was to take the NARM exam in August 2010, it would appear as though this is not an option for a number of reasons. Hence, my current dilemma.

After talking with Tim and with my director, Krys, I came to the conclusion that the only way to ensure that I get certified as a professional midwife in a timely fashion so that I can serve the women here (or anywhere in the world!) in a greater capacity is to take the exam in February. THIS February. The exam is only offered 4 times a year and only in certain US cities. My parents live in Oregon and their happens to be an exam in Eugene, Oregon in February.

Here is where things get a little tricky. While Tim, Krys, and I have a peace that this is the route that we are to take, it requires some SERIOUS prayer....
1. The application (which is extensive) with an exam fee of $725. USD is due DECEMBER 1.
2. The flight to Oregon from Manila is about $1500. CDN
3. I would need to travel with Promise, but without Tim.
4. I need to PASS the NARM exam! (February 17th)
5. Tim will be alone for 3 weeks while I am away.

In other words, I really need your prayers....for provision, for grace, for wisdom. You may be asking, "Well, Bethany, what took you so long to make this decision? You have such little time to prepare!" In all honesty, it hasn't been until recently that our plans to leave the Philippines in July or August 2010 have changed.

To leave you on a good note, today I delivered a beautiful baby boy to a dear lady named Me-Me. She was having her third baby, however, her very first baby had died just two days after birth from respiratory distress syndrome a couple years back. Since then she has had one girl and greatly desired to have a boy as she had lost her only boy. After only 30 minutes of pushing, Me-Me delivered a healthy baby boy. With tears in her eyes, Me-Me showed her gratefulness for her precious gift. She has not named her baby, yet, as she is really wanting to name him something extra special...I hope she doesn't wait too long! :) So here is Me-Me, her bana and her precious baby boy.

So, thanks for praying for us as we press forward in multiple directions and we will keep you posted as things develop. I am praying and working my bootie off to get all the application requirements completed by Wednesday, November 25th so that I can send the material via FedEx to meet the December 1st deadline. YIKES! By His grace alone.

Be blessed.