Adventures, Fundraising, and Faithfulness

I'm sitting here with a blank mind, staring at my computer screen thinking "where on earth do I start?". I guess this should be my lesson to not leave so many weeks between blog posts : ) The past 6 weeks have flown by, as per usual. March brought the excitement of the birth of my beautiful niece Charlotte, a twin birth(so amazing!), a trip to the beach with the whole gang, one of our staff midwives giving birth to her first baby, and our longest assignment yet! April hasn't slowed down much either as we have been busy with fellow classmates from Davao visiting. After spending time in Davao, it's really exciting to have girls come up here too and get an idea for how we live. We may all be learning the same things, but our day to day lives are very different.

Maybe pictures will be a better representation of the past 6 weeks...

Aisling and I thoroughly enjoying the beach! (Thanks to Ashley for sending the best sun hat to me! xox!)

 

Everyone at the beach!





My continuity patient with her newborn son. (Sadly, I was away in Bugnay when she delivered)

One of my two Easter babies, little Valerie. She is wrapped in one of many blankets
that came in a wonderful box from Canada this week.

The twins, Irish and Iliza, their parents, and some of the Abundant midwives.

The beautiful girls on the night they were born. Both so healthy!



It appears we have a new mascot! A little goat was waiting for Edol, Rebekah, and I on our nightly walk.

While two of the Davao students were here, Danielle and Tori, I had the opportunity to take a couple days away with them and head up to the clinic in Bugnay. I hadn't been back to Bugnay since the first time in September, and I was thrilled to go! While we were there, we spent a day driving/riding motors/hiking to a more remote village called Loccong, to do outreach (devotion, pre-natals, and health teaching). The trek there didn't go quite as planned, but it turned out to be even more fun in my opinion. The girls from here kept talking to me about our options to get to Loccong in the week leading up to the trip. It was (1)Drive a bit, hike the rest of the way, hike back, or (2)Drive a bit, take motors, hike back. Obviously one option stood out to me more. The motors. The motors would be way too scary, I was told. Perfect. Loved that option even more. Unfortunately, option 1 was chosen. Sunday morning came, and we began our drive up to Butbut Proper, the village from which we would hike to Loccong. About 10 minutes from Butbut Proper, we hit a snag. They were doing construction on the road and had decided to lay concrete... right in the middle! This left us with one viable option (one option was walk...), wait for motors to come pick us up. Needless to say, I was thrilled!! Let me tell you, the girls were right when they said it was scary. If you have seen the series Long Way Around or Long Way Down, try to picture the off-road conditions that Charlie and Ewan always complain about. It was worse. And on a huge incline. And with a sheer cliff on one side for a good chunk of the ride. But gosh, it was awesome! It's moments like those where I stop and think "Is this really my life?!". I feel immensely blessed to be able to experience little adventures like that, while on the way to visit pregnant moms and love on them. It's a life richer than I could have imagined.
Here are a couple pictures from that weekend:

Waiting for motors to come and pick us up

Demonstrating positions for delivery - such as Hands and Knees

Tori, myself, and Danielle with some of the mothers in Loccong

The beautiful rice terraces hiking home :)

Quick break on our hike!

We made it... such a fun day!

When I think back to this time last year, it's amazing to me that I was just starting to fundraise and plan for the excitement ahead. And exciting it has been. It's crazy that I get to come home soon for a break, and then come back in my second year! The home stretch. It is also crazy to me that it's time to start fundraising again for the year ahead. I can't lie - this part is hard. It's so challenging. You think that it would get easier, and maybe it does, but I haven't experienced that yet. However, through the challenges, I have grown and learned lessons (well, I try to learn them anyways, but sometimes it takes a couple tries!). Important lessons about God's faithfulness. About how I can trust him completely. About how he brings things to completion. About how his plan is so very good - so much better than I can plan myself. I'm sure life would be easier if I just learned all these things the first time around, but what can I say - I'm human. I know that while the number may seem great and the task too much to bear at times, He has conquered it all already.
With that being said, this is where I am at:

• Many of you probably do not know yet that I will actually be here until sometime in October of 2015. While I was supposed to be finished in early August, some things were switched around with our class such as getting an extra month off in the summer, which means that we are needing to stay until a little bit later. Due to this, my budget has increased slightly. Very slightly.
• For the next portion of my time here (Aug to Feb), I am needing to raise $8,000. This amount includes all of my clinic fees, as well as a small amount for living expenses. These fees are due on August 1st.
• Raising this money, while still challenging at times, has taken on a whole new life to me than last year. Last year I could only imagine how far this money would go. This year, I can see it with my own eyes. It has been absolutely amazing to be here, working with these women day in and day out, and seeing the benefit of supporting this clinic. It truly makes such a difference. My clinic fees go directly to ensuring that Abundant can continue to provide women with highly necessary maternity care, in a faith and care centered environment. I have always thought that midwifery was such a practical way to be the hands and feet of Christ, but over the past year, the truth of that has really been brought to life. And I am so thankful.
• When I fundraise, I'm not just asking you to believe in and support the journey that God has me on, but I'm asking you to support the ministry of midwifery that I have the privilege to be a part of. My true hope is that you will look beyond me, and see the babies and mothers that we serve here at Abundant. It's about them. Not me.
• If you want to read up more on the work being done here, check out www.gthemidwife.com

How can you help?

• One-time donations, monthly donations, bi-monthly donations - really whatever suits you!
• Every $ goes far. Feel like donating $30 a month for 14 months? We can set that up!
• If monthly isn't your thing, your one-time donation of $5-$500 (or whatever works for you!) is so welcomed.
• Pray. Prayer is key. Pray with me that these finances will be provided so that I can continue my work here. Pray that we will continue to see growth and blessing over the clinic. Pray for our patients.
• Have questions or suggestions? Please contact me! I would be so happy to chat with you!

Thank you for supporting me in everything thus far. It's quite awesome to look back on all the things that have been provided in the past year that have allowed me to actually be here! I was able to raise enough for my entire first year, and then also received such generous support when some pretty large financial issues (needing a new computer and the visa process being much more than originally planned) came up. God is so good and I have no doubt that provision will continue!

Thanks for reading, friends! See you in Canada soon!!

Much love,
A