Good News!

It's time for a quick blog update, I'm thinking! I'm not exactly sure where the month of March went...? If someone could grab it and bring it back, I'd be grateful. Thanks. While the clinic has been slow, life has still be relatively packed and there is one specific story I think you may all enjoy...

but FIRST - Happy Easter!!

He Is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed!

It has been a wonderful Easter Sunday starting with a pancake breakfast with friends and some time to reflect on the resurrection of Christ and the freedom that that brings for us. The Easter story can be told over and over and over, yet the wonder is never lost. The grave could not hold him. He defeated death. Nothing is too big for our God. Gosh, how much would change if we really walked in that truth?

More good news!

Back in May of 2014, I had the joy of helping Mae Dianne make her appearance into extra-uterine life. She was born with a cleft lip. Thankfully, she had few troubles breastfeeding and has grown to be quite the healthy little girl. We have been in contact with her mom over the past months in hopes of arranging for Mae Dianne to have surgery. Last week, we went to visit the family at home to check in on things and arrived to see this:

See that little scar? This little beauty is healing from surgery that was done on March 7th. We are so thankful to see that she is doing well and that her family was very motivated to get this done for her. She will need on more surgery that they hope will be done in June or July. She is thriving, smiley, and such fun to be around.

These moments bring indescribable joy to my life. If anyone tells you that midwifery is all about catching babies, please tell them they are so very wrong. That is such a small part of things. Midwifery is about relationships. It's about empowering women. It's about transformation. It's about community. It's real, it's raw, it's hard, and it is so very beautiful.

But then there are also some real, raw, hard, but NOT so beautiful moments... such as:

The adventure of donating blood. I picked a tame, blood-free picture for you all. Truly an adventure, as is anything in this place it seems. Thankfully, Bina was up for the adventure and so we made our way to the hospital, armed with our own sanitizer, to donate some blood for one of Bina's patients. It seems that Bina and I have a habit of getting poked together now. We learned IV's on each other, so why not let them "bleed" us together. After this experience, I can honestly say that I have never had SO much fun donating blood. When people say "it's more fun in the Philippines", I promise you that is not just a slogan. IT REALLY IS!

In other news:
A dear midwife friend of mine, Lee, is visiting for the month of April. It is so great to have someone from home come and experience the life that I love here. I have wanted so much to share it, and now I can. Plus, we get to do the whole midwife thing together! So fun. Next week we will head up to Bugnay for a couple days and then the rest of the time will be spent around the clinic here. Prayer for a busy month at the clinic would be so appreciated!

This is a bit of a shorter update, but the beautiful rainy evening and a cup of tea is distracting me. Time to go enjoy that :)

Much love from this side of the world,
A