Family, friends, and blessings galore...

Greetings! Here we are with our second week in North America....still adjusting. The jet lag has passed and each day is filled with home visits and planning of home visits! Little Promise has developed the "Complete Works of Snot" and her cough is getting worse. Sad sad girl, but what a trooper she is! Still smiling and greeting so many new faces, she has been graciously adjusting to life on the other side of the Pacific.....and of course, everyone loves her to bits!

This passed week, we had the privilege of meeting with some old friends and enjoyed the company of our home church, The Life Center. We were quite surprised at how much at home we felt entering the door. After a year and a half, we were greeted by our church family with open arms and excited kisses for The Bird. Our pastors were so loving to us and gave us an opportunity to share what God has been doing in the Phils. We felt totally supported and loved. What a privilege to have a church family to come home to. :)

Everyday has yielded amazing provision from the Lord from financial blessings to delicious dinners at friends' homes. We've even been given coupons for things like diapers and clothing! Cool, eh!?

Today, Tim, Promise, my mother-in-law, and I got to go to IKEA and then to Granville Island (one of my favorite places). Though I really dislike shopping about as much as eating creamed brussel sprouts, walking through IKEA was refreshing! I found Promise a bib that actually covers her (the only one I'd brought wasn't doing the trick) and she found a little stuffed bird....very appropriate for The Bird....I found exactly what I was looking for and as we stood in the check-out line, I felt a twinge of envy. Envious of having my own home to decorate....a place where I had the choice to hang cool light fixtures and eat off my own dishware....a place where I could finish with matching linens and warm wall paint....a place to have hanging plants and candles....a home that was "mine". I remembered our apartment in the Phils...how everything in there was once another family's....how instead of choosing the decor, I just "made do" with what was inherited....how many of the items were broken, worn and full of holes...and when we leave, none of it can be taken along with us to the next "home".

It wasn't that I was feeling sorry for myself, well maybe I was a little, but rather I was struck with the Scripture from Matthew 6:19 that says, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

This reminded me of what my purpose is and brought me to a place of recognizing that all of those fringe "treasures" I want will only be more responsibility and bind me to feeling "in need" all the time...."I need new curtains....I need new sheets......I need to renovate....I need pretty light fixtures". Yeah...I want those things, but God has not called me to that life. He called me to serve in the Philippines. IKEA won't fit in my suitcase and it certainly will not fit my budget or free me to serve the poor.

I was convicted again to ask the Lord to be my treasure...so that my heart will be there also...satisfied, content and always thankful for what He has so graciously provided for me and my family. Staying at that place not only brings me peace, but makes me more effective in the place of His calling.

Well, I guess you could say that's where I am at this week. I think I am processing a lot these days. My pastor here, Ernie, shared a very thought-provoking quote Sunday morning that I've been rehearsing in my mind though I can't remember it word for word, so here it is paraphrased: "We write our accomplishments in the sand, our failures we chisel in marble, our faults we carve in brass, and God's deliverances in water."

I am learning, hoping and praying that I will chisel my God's deliverances in marble by repeating them here over and over again. I serve a faithful God.

Be blessed.

Below are some pics from today's trip to Granville Island, including a rather odd street performer.

Jet lag: Day 3.

Greetings! You'd think I was writing this from Davao...considering it's 3:52 am Vancouver time and 6:52 pm Davao time. But alas, jet lag has claimed another victim....Me. All things considering...a jet lagged baby, traveling non-stop and adjusting to Western life for 11 weeks, we're doing pretty well!

The flights over were great and Tim and I were so thankful to have his parents along to keep the Bird occupied and comforted. She did awesome! We arrived in Vancouver with our dear friends, Heidi, Kate, Danielle, Uncle Bob and Aunt Sylvia holding up signs and making obscene noises with dollar-store noise-makers....They even made signs in the shape of appropriate individual interests! For Promise, they made a bird, for Tim it was a water filter and for me, well, I got the placenta...complete with cotyledons...I have very dear nursing friends. :)

The hardest part of our journey was the ride home....Promise had to sit in a car seat for the very first time ever in her very first mini-van. It did not go over well. She screamed for the restraints to be lifted and reached out to be held by mommy. I tried to be a law-abiding citizen and let her cry all the way to Grandma Stewart's house. She was pretty traumatized. Over the next few days, I tried to get her comfortable in this new environment we call "safety", but alas, riding on the back of a motorbike in a sling on her mother's hip is far more "safe" in Promise's eyes. She misses home. I don't yet.

However, as I went through Superstore this morning, I was taken aback by the "unfriendliness" of Canadians. It was refreshing to see the vast array of cultures represented...the Sikhs, Chinese, Afro-Americans and the like, but gosh...they looked so sad....no one smiled when you made eye contact. No one. There was no, "Morning, sir! Morning, Ma'am" or "What you like, Ma'am" or "Can I touch your baby, ma'am?" Nothing. Weird. I must've seemed odd to them, too because I was saying good morning and "Maayong Buntag" to every Asian that passed. Ooops.

Maybe it was the jet lag....or maybe I am just that friendly. I missed my smiley Filipinos. 

And the COLD!!! It's like 22-26 degrees C here and I have long pants and a coat on while my fellow Canadians bask in the sunlight in shorts and sleeveless tops. Poor Promise was an icicle the first day! However, a hot shower with REAL hot water did the trick. :) And her uncle Jeff bought her a hoody to get through the next 10 weeks. Nice uncle. :)

And the quiet! No car horns, Balut-selling, traffic noise, ice cream man, diesel engines, engine brakes, cockadoodle-doos, barking dogs or cats in heat....silence. I could barely sleep it was so quiet! And no mosquitoes, cockroaches or ants....NO ANTS!!! We ate chocolate in our bedroom and left the wrapper on the floor just because we could! Eat your heart out Filipino ants! 

Promise had the opportunity of meeting her Stewart cousins....all 4 of them. She especially like Hope who is just 6 weeks older than her. They cooed and screamed at each other with wild expressions. Hope is very close to walking and so Promise has been ramping up her crawling to keep up. Despite all her new experiences, she has her moments of complete and utter exhaustion where she throws herself in a crying fit not knowing what to do with herself. This land is strange and foreign to her. 

We've been incredibly blessed to spend time with the Stewart family this week....and have been blessed with dear dear friends that have poured encouragement into us (which I must say has been much needed) and have been so well provided for. Not have a dime when we arrived, we had a friend buy us a box of disposable diapers, an uncle that bought warm clothes for Promise and another that bought Promise a well-loved and entertaining toy, not to mention the housing and food prepared by Tim's mom and the great company of others. 

Tim continues to work hard on the water project meeting with board members of Impact Nations and picking up some photography work to earn some money while we are here. Pray for him. I think he is overworking himself and needs some time for actual furlough. Meanwhile, I am spending my days being a FULL FULL time mother. Promise is with me from start to finish....I love it. And I am seeing her grow leaps and bounds with each day....she's great. 

So, that's it for now. This week will hold more visits and a bit of work. Still adjusting to the culture...it is a quite a shock, to be honest. I've only been gone 1 1/2 years, but I feel like it has been a lot longer...I hardly know what to do with myself.  I don't know where 'home' is.

Will write more later and include better pics, but for now, here is evidence of Promise's first plane adventure. :)

Be blessed.

It Is Finished

48 hours from now, my family and I will be making our descent into Manila. I'm anxious to get this trip underway, but I've got way too much to do between now and then. Despite Bethany's gentle reminders, I've yet to start packing and I've still got loads of work to get done in preparation for my 10 week absence. Toti will do a great job of running things while I'm gone, and I will continue to do a lot of my work from North America via email and text messaging. But 10 weeks is a long time to be gone, and right now it's got me stressed out.

Bethany graduated last night. I know I've said this a few times before, but I am just so proud of her. They did a great job of honoring her last night, mentioning a few times the amazing feat of passing the program while being pregnant, then raising an infant. She didn't just pass, she managed to get an average above 90%, and she had the second highest average grade for all of her assignments. That's my girl.

They honored the husbands last night too, which I thought was a pretty classy thing to do. The ladies do all the hard work—you'll never catch me studying—but I suppose we've sacrificed too. Sure, there was a time commitment once Promise came along, but the biggest sacrifice was having to hear the word "placenta" on a regular basis. Never mind the nasty diagrams found in open text books on the kitchen table.

I can't believe her two years are over already. I can't believe we've been here that long. It seems like just yesterday that we dragged our jet-lagged bodies to the 2007 graduation. Since then, Bethany has studied her brains out, had a baby, and ministered to countless women. I've learned all about water filtration, found a wonderful friend in Toti, and he and I have watched nearly 2000 filters go out to 12 different provinces. It's been a busy couple of years.

Speaking of the water project, that grant money came through last week. I went and purchased our new truck (it's fun writing a cheque with all those zeros). It's got a 19'x7' bed and the biggest engine available in that model. Once we've outfitted it with a new steel bed and reinforced the suspension, we'll be able to carry at least 50 filters at a time.

Toti is up in Manila right now, enjoying his two weeks with Mum & Dad and the whole JOC (Journey of Compassion) team. They're seeing some awesome healings, and I've heard that Toti has been serving as the translator for some of the crusade meetings. While in Manila he'll be working on scheduling a training session for a group of pastors that want to start their own water project.

I need to go, the Bird is completely covered in some sort of squash goop and if she doesn't get a bath soon, it may permanently stain her skin orange. I leave you with a snapshots from last night, one of our new truck, and a practice pic of Promise. I'm still working on the high contrast black and white technique. I like the blown highlights, but cant seem to figure out how to get a smooth transition out of them. If that doesn't make any sense, don't worry about it.

Cheers,
Timmy.

WAHOOOOOO!

GUESS WHAT!?

Yes, it's true....God knew all along, but we sure didn't...it's pretty RAD! God is faithful!

Ya know, when we're desiring to please Him (even when we fail, but the desire is there), He always takes care of us!

So...you ready for this!?

Promise's muchly coveted provisional temporary passport arrived last night by courier to our home in Davao!!!! YEAH FOR CANADA! With 7 days to spare before we take off for furlough, God answered our prayers and Promise can now leave the Philippines legally! YAHOOO! What a miracle!

Another miracle...today I took my last and final midwifery exam for school. At 1 pm, just after my day shift duty which started at 6 am, I started the loooong exam....high on 3 cups of coffee. I was the first one finished, so that either means I knew the answers quickly or I failed miserably and guessed quickly! Ha ha ha. We'll see. There was a big portion of one section that was on circumcision. Unfortunately, I did not spend much time studying that....felt pretty unsure about that. I came home and poured over my textbooks to find that indeed, I missed a few of those. I hope I passed!

To celebrate, I went and made another pot of coffee...but not for me. For these guys pictured below.....

For those of you that have visited us, you may recognize them....they are our favorite "hobble-hobble" (motorbike) drivers, Kuya Chris and Kuya Ray. They LOVE the Bird and requested that before we leave for Canada that we take a picture or two. They crack me up. We've debated on running a corner business with them-- "100 pesos for a picture with a puti (white) baby!" Haven't tried it, yet. :) We didn't charge them for this one. Ha ha ha.

Kuya Chris and I have had sooooo many talks about Jesus and about the state of the world. He maintains the idea that he deserves to go to hell and therefore, he will go there despite Jesus. Most of the time he is joking around, but I know he has some faith...in what, I am not sure. God has been working on him for some time, though.

So today, we shared a pot of coffee and some cheap Filipino chocolates.

We also took some pics of the construction on our street. It's pretty obnoxious. For those of you who visited us, you remember our lovely sewage ditch? Well, it finally clogged up to the point that the city made a decision to re-dig it. Apparently, our neighbors down the street own a chicken farm and would slaughter the chickens dumping all the waste products (use the full extent of your imagination) into the ditch...the nastiness would heat up in the hot tropical sun and "bless" us with the most fantastic stench known to man. It was enough to make you gag on your way out the door, accuse the person in front of you of cutting the cheese, and vow never to breathe deep again. In fact, Tim and I decided that as soon as the Filipino "summer" started, we would shut all the anterior windows and run the aircon exclusively just so we had some form of air purification. When it came to choosing either a soaring electricity bill or clean air, clean air was the superior choice.

The ditch looked even worse than it smelled, if you can imagine.

Yes, here is a pic of our apartment building (we're up top on the right) with our pleasant ditch and Filipino workers galore. We are kinda situated on a mote now. With only a wobbly wooden bridge connecting us to the rest of Davao, crossing to the other side is always an adventure with Promise in tow.

Next week is graduation, a busy and full week of birth shifts and Friday, a flight to Manila....wow...feeling so...ummm....giddy... :)

Meanwhile, Tim is finishing up water projects to prepare for furlough and setting up new projects for Toti while we're away. Toti is up in Butuan this week for Impact Nations' Journey of Compassion and absolutely LOVING it.

The Bird is great and growing soooo very fast. This passed week, she had her first swim in a pool at our dear friends', Darrel and Shannon's place. She LOVES the water like her daddy!

That's about it for now....Until later....Be blessed!

Bathroom birth.

Ya know, it's probably not a good thing to have your baby in the bathroom. Between the unsanitary conditions and the fact that your child may have difficulty sharing their birthday story with others....can you imagine when asked, "Where were you born?" You'd say..."In the bathroom of a birthing center." Maybe a little embarrassing, eh? 

Well, little baby Mark will have just that story to share. Wednesday's birth shift was quite the crazy adventure. We had planned on a dead shift as the intake board was pretty much empty...but by 6:30 am, my fellow peer, Holly, had received a patient fully dilated and wanting to push. We all gloved up and headed to her birth cubicle. She was definitely ready to have her baby....but just as the head was coming visible, another labor walked in and made a bee line for the CR (bathroom). I was up next, so I kept my gloves on and followed behind her to the bathroom. She had just closed the door when Lumen (my other peer) and I heard a huge gasp and a giant SHRIEK! The door swung open and there Rose was holding her baby's head in...I fell to the floor in catching position, Lumen supported Rose and she lunged into birthing position spewing amniotic fluid all over my head and all over my scrubs...some would considered themselves blessed....me, I was not particularly "blessed". Thankfully, the amniotic fluid was clear and had no signs of meconium...that would just be so nasty. :)

Baby boy's hand reached out to grab mine followed by a very big head and a slippery purple body. Baby caught. Rose's bana rushed to her side after hearing the commotion and I handed Rose her crying, freshly dried baby in towel, picked up her legs while Lumen and Heather (my supervisor) positioned her in the wheelchair. I heard another baby cry....Holly's baby had just been delivered with Brianna (my other peer) at her side. Wheeled to the birth bed, Rose got situated, still connected to her baby by the umbilical cord. Baby immediately started to breastfeed and Rose's placenta came out shortly thereafter...NOT on the floor. :)  

Baby Mark, 7 lbs 4 oz. was healthy and strong.

 

Next came in copious amounts of baby checks, prescriptions to fill, and newborn screenings to do....then we heard another abnormal sound...yelling and honking from a vehicle just outside the door! The five midwives dropped everything and ran outside to discover baby out in a Multi-cab! Seems she had been laboring in a tri-c-cab and a Multi-cab driver had noticed her laboring while waiting at a gas station and offered to take her to Mercy. Well, little did he know, but her baby was coming too fast for his speed and she delivered a baby boy in the back of his multicab....delivered by her father and younger brother. Crazy. We got her into the wheelchair and wheeled her in. Everyone had a different position...I assisted the baby and the bantays, Heather caught the placenta and was her midwife, Holly made sure supplies were ready and at hand while charting the "birth", Lumen wheeled her in and Brianna assisted Heather. Meanwhile, another fully dilated labor walked in for Brianna. 

Yes, four babies were born and three more labors were walking in by shift change. What a day!

And today, I was on prenatal duty. I love prenatals. I had a very interesting conversation with a patient in English today. After talking to her in Visayan as I began her prenatal, she says in perfect English, "I have no idea what you are saying!" Ha ha ha...Apparently she speaks no Visayan as she is from Manila and only speaks Tagalog and English. I had a great time doing my very first prenatal in PURE ENGLISH! What a different experience! Ha ha ha.

Then my last patient was an interesting case. She was one of 3 wives of a Muslim man. She was sharing with me that though she was converting to Islam she was professing to be "Christian". I asked if she was Catholic and she said, "Of course!". So I asked if she believed that Jesus was the Messiah to which she replied, "well, yes." I asked if she believed that Jesus was God, she replied, "Well, not anymore because I am converting to Islam." I asked why she was converting if her beliefs were so very different and she replied that she loves her husband. I was reminded of Luke 14 that states that unless we hate our families, we cannot be disciples of Christ...no this does not mean we hate people, it simply means that if we do not love Christ MORE than His Creation, we cannot be His disciples. Though I did not share this with her, I couldn't help but realize what she was forsaking by converting to the Muslim faith for the love of a man....a man who already has several wives, several children and will most likely forsake her in some way. I convicted to love my Jesus more. She was headstrong and determined to convert to Islam so I just simply asked if I could pray with her. 

Unfortunately, this scenario is all to common here. Faith goes only so far as tradition and ritual. Nothing seems to transform life or bring joy. My heart aches to be a light that shines brighter than the alternatives. I am praying that the truth of Christ and His unfailing love will penetrate her heart before the completion of her conversion. Though we may pray to the same "God", my Jesus spilled His blood for her and made the pathway to peace with God accessible....for this I owe Him my life and so does she.

That's about it for now. Fourteen days until take-off. Finances are scary right now and things are somewhat bleak, but alas, God has been uber faithful....we will finish the race and look forward to our rest.

Be blessed!

Greetings! I had a great day yesterday.
On Thursday, my continuity, Irish, came sharing that she was only having a few contractions and was doing great...I asked when she thought her baby would come to which she replied, "Saturday morning." I said, "Okay, we'll pray for Saturday morning!".
Irish was having her second baby and seemed very "in tune" with her body, so I didn't fret or push any ideas on how to get the baby out on Saturday, we just prayed and I waited for her text.

Saturday morning arrived and at 8:00 am, Irish texted. "Ma'am, sakit." She was coming to Mercy. I gave a quick kiss to Tim and the Bird and headed to work.

Irish came in looking in pain, but coping really well. I did an internal exam....5 centimeters dilated. She would have her baby on Saturday, just as she hoped.

Her bana and I chatted a bit, ate a bit, joked a bit and waited for baby. Around noon, Irish was very active, though you wouldn't know it! She used the birth ball (a giant exercise ball) to rock back and forth between contractions and then breathed deeply and focused during the intense times. She was AWEsome. Seriously, I have never seen a woman labor better. She was peaceful, focused, and driven. My job was simply to ensure normalcy, which honestly didn't take much.

Around 1 pm, the baby's heart tones started to drop and I thought Irish was close to full dilation. The heart tones dropped a bit more, but seemed to respond well to position changes. We continued to monitor them. I asked Irish if she wanted to rest and lay down...she rolled over on to the bed and closed her eyes between contractions.

No more than ten minutes later she announced, "Ma'am...I HAVE TO PUSH!" Sure enough, head was visible....she was ready to rocket launch the baby's head out into the world, but I quickly and firmly said, "IRISH...HINAY, HINAY!" In other words, "SLOW, SLOW!" We caught each other's gaze and she literally blew her baby out staring into my eyes...I wasn't even looking at her baby sliding through my hands, I could not take my eyes away from her gaze...slowly, controlled and without a tear, her baby slipped through into my arms. Her little baby girl, Angel Beige, arrived after only 6 minutes pushing. She had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck which accounted for the drop in heart tones. Perfectly healthy and 7 lbs, Angel Beige is beautiful.

The best part was watching Irish talk to her baby...they were deep in conversation for quite a while after birth. She breastfed immediately and lost only a tiny bit of blood. It was the best birth I have ever had the privilege of attending. We cried. It felt like a Holy moment. I know Jesus was smiling. I was, too. So here above and below is Irish. Her bana, Bernard, was amazing and Angel Beige is doing fantastic.
And above is Ivy and baby Xaviar. They came for a visit this passed week and we had a great time of prayer together for her baby. She prayed to Allah and I prayed to Jesus that the jaundice would disappear in Xaviar. She is an amazing woman and though this is her first baby, she seems so mature in her parenting.

And, did I ever tell you about Lenita, Rex and baby John? They came in for their 3 week (or s0) check up and things seem to be going great. Lenita is just getting over an infection in the cesarean incision, but other than that, they are doing well. Please pray for them, as Rex's job requires him to travel quite a bit, so Lenita is home with 6 children! She is amazing. Tim and I are hoping to visit them in their home in Calinan in late August. :)

And once again, the Bird accompanied me to work for a while this week, as Tim was swamped with meetings. The Lady Bird LOVES babies and is quite the social bird. Ate Estef and Kinshasa were happy to entertain her while I checked in a labor. We had an interesting shift! A birth in the CR (bathroom) and a host of labors walking in at shift change.
So that's just the Reader's Digest version. A busy week. I had to take my CPR training once again and received my updated certification, had quite a few busy work days full of hospital transports and complications. Alas, the week has ended and I am so looking forward to a break! Only 3 more weeks until we leave for Canada.

That leads me to a prayer request. Thank you all for praying for the immigration situation...please continue to do so...we haven't heard anything for a few days....please also pray as finances are pretty rough right now due to some promised funds for the water project that haven't arrived yet and we have yet to secure someone to stay in our apartment while we are away to help pay for the cost of living here in the Philippines while we are staying in Canada. God is always faithful and despite the added stressors, we are not worried.
Thank you all for praying! We'll see what God does next!
Be blessed.

Yesterday Bad, Today Good

Yesterday really, really sucked. I mean the colossal kinda suck. Like somewhere between your peppercorn steak being consumed by the neighbor's evil dog, and your new laptop being run over by an unnecessarily large SUV. Ok, so I've had a bit of Coke today, and I'm currently suffering from the shakes and some sort of dementia.

Yesterday, poor Bethany awoke to the sound of her mild mannered husband gesticulating wildly and cursing bureaucrats of all stripes. I had just received an email from my contact at the Canadian embassy in Manila, and the news was not good. She was telling me not expect a passport for Promise until July. This was in stark contrast to the information she supplied me with two months ago.

I tried for hours to reach somebody, anybody at the embassy. Each phone call ended with my anger level climbing to new heights, as I sat listening to that incessant ringing that would later haunt my dreams. I then discovered that I was being charged a ridiculous amount of money for each unsuccessful phone call. Awesome. Ironically, it was an American friend of mine who later reminded me that it was Victoria Day in Canada, and thus the embassy would be closed. Super.

Once I understood that the embassy was closed I calmed down a bit, but the damage was done. I wanted a mulligan. I wanted to undo my expletive riddled wake up call that had left me feeling guilty and ashamed. I wanted to get up on the other side of the bed (figuratively, not literally—Bethany's side of the bed lacks the charm and nuance that comes with laundry and old receipts strewn haphazardly upon the floor).

I moped for much of the day, feeling sorry for myself and wondering if I had screwed up the entire citizenship/passport process somehow. I have since determined that I played my hand as best I could, I just had lousy cards. I worked late because productivity makes me feel good and was my drug of choice.

Today didn't suck. I feel pretty good about today. I had Coke, so that kinda skews the suck-o-meter, but I'm confident that upon sober reflection I will still judge this day to be one of the better ones in a while. I received an email back from Manila at 10:30 this morning which gave me a glimmer of hope. The lady asked me to send her our travel itinerary, which she would forward to the powers-that-be in the hopes that it would bump Promise's application up on the priority list.

Long story short (19 emails to be exact), by 4:30 this afternoon I had been informed that we had received the initial citizenship approval, and we were welcome to send the passport application. I am told that if we have the application in by Friday, we can be assured of a passport by June 12th. We are scheduled to leave by June 14th, so while this is cutting it close, it is definitely better than the prospect of waiting until July.

I would love to tell you that I underwent some profound spiritual renewal in the last 36 hours. I could give you some nice little sermon about how I trusted in God and laid down my burdens, but it would be a load of horse manure. As Bethany has reminded me, I need to give this stuff over to the Lord. I've been waking up routinely at 3am every morning. The mature response would be to get up and pray, but nobody ever accused me of being mature before. Instead, I lay in bed listening to old episodes of The Shadow and Dragnet, trying not to think about my stress.

Oh God, help me to ask for Your help.

There, that's a start, yes? In the meantime, thank you all for your faithful prayers. I'm sure they helped to solve my problem much better than me cursing at the air and leaving stern messages for unsuspecting bureaucrats. Please continue to pray that I am able to complete the passport application and all it's requirements by the end of the week.

Don't pray about my Coke addiction. I'm not ready to give that up yet.

Cheers,
Tim.