How did I become Mom…wait, now Grandma!?

This has been a long running joke in our house for a little over a week now and more and more people are becoming aware of it. There may even be a certain co-worker, who calls me Marco (*cough, cough* Rachel *cough, cough*), who freaked out and thought I needed to be 302’d and put in Spruce. She even offered to take me to Tomcat café before committing me. I told her that I was having a great time and I love her, but no. I’m staying in Guatemala for the duration of my trip. (For those of you who have no clue what I’m talking about: being 302’d is when someone petitions for you to be put in for a psychiatric evaluation for a certain amount of time and Spruce is the name of the psych place in Reading. Tomcat café has the most amazing breakfast place ever. Come visit me once I’m back in Reading and eat there). When we returned home from Manos, Yelsi was mentioning that the guy who is starting a transition home for teenage boys is single (I have known this for years). Without missing a beat, the boy staying with us for the month says, “Yeah I need a mom if I’m living with him [after this month]!” Um, what!? Then I figured out the math…and technically he could be my son if I was 17 when I had him. Scary thought. So that night, everyone was joking that “Mom will tuck you in tonight and pray with you. You’re going with Mom to clinic tomorrow and then she can help you with your math.” Then all of a sudden, this kid started calling me Grandma. Ok, I’m old enough to be your mother, but your grandmother? Absolutely not. His reasoning: “You don’t look like me, so you can’t be my mom. But if you’re my grandmother, then you don’t have to look like me, but we’re still related.” Ok. So I’m just going with it. I’m his grandmother. He continues to call me Grandma and I call him my grandson. So don’t be concerned if you hear about my grandson. I don’t need to go to Spruce.

This week went by so fast. Actually, they all have been. I’ve been having a great time with the family I’m living with and our growing household. We currently have 10 people in the house. We have 2 boys with us now who are here for healing and change before their court appearances that will determine where they go in the future. One is my “grandson” and the other is a boy who is no longer allowed at a local children’s home. We’ve had some intense games lately: air hockey (all but got a bloody knuckle), apples to apples (I won the card that said painful by putting down the card that said daughters. I could just hear my dad yelling, “AMEN!” to that one), dutch blitz (Isaiah and I ended up tackling each other while attempting to put down the red 2, as Moses threw the one across the room), hungry, hungry hippos (mine kept getting food boluses in his throat. He seriously needed some IV glucagon), and Candyland (I had flashbacks of when my niece, Kaylee, and I had played before she was in school and I played with her and blue blankie. Yes, you read that correctly. Blue blankie played. Blue blankie was a girl. So don’t insult her. Well, blue blankie got the ice cream right off the bat and jumped the whole way to the end. Are you freaking kidding me? A BLANKET was beating me! And yup, blue blankie ended up winning. Kaylee thought it was the funniest thing ever).

Along with working at the clinics, I’ve been busy trying to take care of others who haven’t been feeling so hot. Between the norovirus at Casa Shalom (shudder. Been there, had that a few years ago. No cool. I debated putting in my own IV with our supplies at the farm. Would have if we had semi-sterile tubing and not the same one that we’ve used for every cow for years. And when my oldest sister asked me if I needed anything after my millionth trip to the bathroom while we were clipping, I said, “Just a skin graft for my butthole from wiping so often.” Yeah, she didn’t know how to respond to that. With norovirus, you legit puke and poop every 5 minutes for days. Don’t recommend it), coughs, fevers, thinking passing out is an appealing option (pretty sure he was sick of me telling him to drink more water), horse bite, rose thorns to a face while attempting to get the dogs out of the garden, ingrown nail, swollen lip, and a broken elbow, I’ve been busy to say the least. And fyi, none of these happened to me, before you all spaz.

Last Tuesday, Micah, Angel, Saul, and Yelsi tag teamed and graded all of workbooks and tests for the boy that is staying with us for the month. That was an intense day for everyone. I made brownies for them to eat while they spent hours going through books. On Wednesday, we went to clinic. It was technically pregnancy day and we see only the pregnant women in the 3 villages, but there were a lot of sick kids that day. So I ended up seeing most of the kids, while the doctor saw the pregnant women. We had a lot of kids with cough, fever, and diarrhea. Karen and I went to visit a man in his 30’s who is now blind after having a brain tumor removed and is taking seizure medications. His young daughter, who is about 5 years old, is caring for him and her little brother, while his wife and newborn baby go into the city around 3:45 AM to sell vegetables. When we visited him, he did not go for his xray a few days prior because he was feeling too weak for the last few days from diarrhea. At first, he was saying he always had diarrhea, but then said it was just straight water for 15 days. We got him medications for his diarrhea and stressed the importance of needing to get his seizure medications, since he was out for 2 days. We prayed with him and he was trying not to cry while we prayed. But, I can’t even imagine going from being completely “normal” to now being blind, on a ton of meds, and relying on your little children to care for you. As we walked back to the clinic to get the meds, we brought back the two children at the house since they had really bad coughs. When we arrived, there were 2 girls getting their feet washed. After that, the nurse was going to look at their feet to see if they had parasites that embed in their feet, go to the bone, and the only option then is to amputate. Thankfully, they only had really bad dry skin from last time when the nurse pulled out the parasites.

As we were getting ready to leave, a 3 day old baby came to the clinic with a fever of over 103. We called an ambulance to transfer her to the local hospital for sepsis (infection in the blood) that she more than likely got from her mother, since she needed IV antibiotics. In the village, the mothers don’t leave the house for 40 days and don’t name their babies until after that time period. So the baby’s aunt had to run back to the house to get the mother since she needed to come along to the hospital. We had already called an ambulance for a boy who had hydrocephalus and his shunt wasn’t working. So we had two ambulances coming to the clinic to pick up both kids. That afternoon, I went over to the house that Peter’s house sitting to hang out since he was threatening that he was going to have to go back home soon. I had dumped to him about how this past year has been for me and he wanted to share his story. We had a great time talking, eating brownies (I added peanut butter to the batter…why have I not done that before!?), watching I Love Lucy and Mom’s Night Out (hilarious movie).

Thursday consisted of quite a few interesting conversation topics. The boy staying with us for the month decided he was going to ask me random health questions while he was supposed to be reviewing his school books from the previous month. We talked about diabetes, amputations, phantom pain, constipation, foods that make you constipated, puberty (He was stuck on that topic for quite a while. At one point, he asked me what peach fuzz was), worms, parasites, the importance of taking a shower especially after clinic days, and we already a conversation about the female reproductive system multiple times because of the picture hanging up in the room we see patients in at the clinic. Despite all of the random conversation topics, we did get a lot done. He was understanding his math and English better. Although the one answer, I laughed so hard. He was supposed to put a name of a country and he wrote down farmer beside the word country. (We’re working on the importance of reading the directions…). I told him that the answer is wrong, but I’m pretty proud of that wrong answer. I made slow cooked southwest chicken for dinner. In between school, he played the piano and worked on learning how to play new worship songs.

On Friday, I started working with another ministry as well. We went down to the dump near the coast, set up a tent for the medical clinic and had a soup kitchen set up beside that. We had arranged “an exam room” with bedsheets around a quarter of the tent to try to keep it semi private if there was something we needed to look at. This place is ready to start building an actual building for the clinic. But in the meantime, they are doing a great job with the resources available. We saw a bunch of kids with cough, fever, pneumonia, and diarrhea. There was one girl who came with a burn on the back of her foot. We attempted to debride the wound, gave her soap since she didn’t have any at home, and had her use triple antibiotic ointment. Considering she walks around barefoot, she was doing a fairly decent job at keeping it from getting infected. At the end, we had a father approach us with his son who had scabbed over areas all over his body. It almost looked like a cross between the yellow scab from impetigo, but he didn’t have it on his face at all, and bug bites that he scratched open. A lot of kids came to be seen by themselves or with other kids and they like to just hang out with you and help be a “doctor.” The soup that they made that day was amazing. I have no clue what all was in it. Rice, garlic, spices, veggies. Just freaking good. I had been warned before I went to drink lots of water and you won’t have to pee since you just sweat it all out. Yeah, they’re not joking. It was just really humid. I didn’t need to pee til that night and that was even with drinking a decent amount of water. When I got home that day, I jumped straight in the shower. My skin was blackish brown from the dust, smoke, and sweat. Lovely. That evening, we played soccer on the roof and celebrated Carla's 18th birthday

On Saturday, I helped Cindy and Yelsi get food ready for the baby shower we were having for Deborah (Mom of the house out by the lake, Manos de Compasion, where I was last weekend). We cut up veggies and fruit. I already had the whoopie pies made from the previous week. Drew brought over a bunch of the boys from Casa Shalom to play at our house and I made Amish Oatmeal cake for them to enjoy before lunch. That night, we played games as a family and I finished making the mac and cheese for supper. Moses (4 years old) came into the kitchen and said, “Oh, THANK YOU!! That is my FAVORITE meal! Oh, thank you!” 

Sunday, the plan was for the horse to get castrated since he was a little on the snippy side and bit Cindy's leg the previous day. But when the vet arrived, he said it would be better for us to trade and get a female. So we did a horse swap before church. After church, we went to Karen’s house for the baby shower. We all piled in one van (around 30 or so people) to go to the house. I was the 2^nd to last to get in the van and had to climb into the back corner…in a skirt…that was entertaining to say the least. I was tripping over my skirt, climbing over seats and kids, and then sat down in the back seat, with a toddler on each leg. We had 7 of us in a seat for 3. It was a fun time! I love that family and all those kids! Mateo climbed right on my lap when I sat down and then I had Mynor on my other leg. We were rocking out in the back to the music and were doing some good old air guitar. We had a great time together. Amazing food. Awesome friends. Games that I could handle. (I’m usually not a huge fan of the showers because of games that can be quite painful). They had bowling for the little kids to do, using baby bottles for the pins. We wrote notes on diapers, so it will be a little more interesting changing the baby’s diaper.

Last update, I had asked for you guys to pray for an 8 month old that we sent to the hospital who was about ready to code in my arms and we weren’t sure he was going to live. Well, his mother came into the clinic yesterday with him! I could have cried from happiness! This kid looked amazing compared to the last time that I had seen him. We’ve all been praying for him and his family all week, even though we had no clue if he was even alive. Well, he pulled through and was discharged after a 6 day stay in the hospital. We had a bunch more kids come in with cough, fever, diarrhea, and a few who still had the chicken pox. We had a one month old with a low grade fever, cough, and decreased appetite, and a six month old who was in mild respiratory distress, vomiting, diarrhea, and cough. After we saw all of the patients, we went to an elderly lady’s house to give her medications, clean water, and wash her laundry. She had broken her hip a few years ago and has since been having trouble getting around. No matter what she is going through, she is always so happy when we’re there and thanking us up and down for everything. Yesterday, I felt like I pretty much hit every part of my life: nurse at the clinic, baker as I made a new recipe for pumpkin cake with homemade icing, and farmer as I drilled into concrete to put Yelsi's mirror back up in her room, and attempted to put fly spray on the new horse and make a halter out of rope. I did a little of everything. 

We’re starting to run low on some medications. Zithromax for adults, Augmentin for children, Children’s Tylenol, nebulizers, etc. So if you would like to donate money so we can go out and buy more medications, please let me know. I had posted the links on facebook and for those of you who don’t have facebook, just let me know and I’ll get the links to you so you can donate. These meds are literally saving lives. That baby we had last week would have died without it. But because we were open that day, we were able to get him the help he needed and now he looks great! Another need is for old phones. So any old iPhone 5 or whatever you have when you decide to upgrade, even if it has a broken screen, send it my way and they can fix them. Thank you so much for considering!

Last night, I had a dream about Jo. It’s been a while since I’ve had a dream about her. I dreamed that she was lying on the couch and I went to go check on her. She asked what I ate and I said something with chocolate in it. She looked at me and said, “No, silly. I already ate it all.” After I woke up, I couldn’t fall back asleep. Half was excitement that I saw and could hear her again and the other was the wave that hits all over again that she’s not here. I know she’s healed and in Heaven. And a lot of times, I feel half guilty that it hits that hard since she wasn’t my child. But, I legit see that family as my own and feel like I lost a niece. As I was attempting to fall back to sleep, the song “Tell Your Heart to Beat Again” by Danny Gokey played through my head. So for any of you struggling, trust in God and continue to give it all to Him, no matter how tough it is. He can put all your broken pieces back together again in His time. And especially to Jo’s family, I’m sending you my love and lots of hugs from Guatemala!

You’ve shattered

Like you’ve never been before

The life you knew

In a thousand pieces on the floor

And words fall short in times like these

When this world drives you to your knees

You think you’re never gonna get back

To the you that used to be

Tell your heart to beat again

Close your eyes and breathe it in

Let the shadows fall away

Step into the light of grace

Yesterday’s a closing door

You don’t live there anymore

Say goodbye to the where you’ve been

And tell your heart to beat again

Beginning

Just let that word wash over you

It’s alright now

Love’s healing hands have pulled you through

So get back up, take step one

Leave the darkness, feel the sun

Cause your story’s far from over

And your journey’s just begun

Tell your heart to beat again

Close your eyes and breathe it in

Let the shadows fall away

Step into the light of grace

Yesterday’s a closing door

You don’t live there anymore

Say goodbye to where you’ve been

And tell your heart to beat again

Let every heartbreak

And every scar

Be a picture that reminds you

Who has carried you this far

‘Cause love sees farther than you ever could

In this moment heaven’s working

Everything for your good

Tell your heart to beat again

Close your eyes and breathe it in

Let the shadows fall away

Step into the light of grace

Yesterday’s a closing door

You don’t live there anymore

Say goodbye to where you’ve been

And tell your heart to beat again

Your heart to beat again

Beat again

Oh, so tell your heart to beat again

 

1 Month...already

Well, as I type this, I have officially been in Guatemala for 1 month, pretty much to the minute that I landed. Seems so much longer than that, but not nearly that long all at the same time. I have had nothing but amazing experiences so far. Seriously, teary thinking about how far I’ve come in just 1 month and how much has happened and continues to happen. I had yet another awesome experience just this afternoon. I just felt like I needed to call and talk to Josie’s family. Just missed hanging out with them. So I decided to call and figured I’d probably get voicemail and just leave a message. Well, I lost connection as I was dialing inside the house. So I went out to the porch and called again. Apparently, Alissa just felt like she should see who was calling, saw it was me, and answered. Oh man, it was so great to talk to all of them! I was wearing my green shirt that I had made for the show last year for showing Jo’s calf, Madelyn. And right when I had been talking about Jo and all the reminders I’ve been seeing of her, a little blue hummingbird comes right in front of me to the flower and hangs out for a while. I’ve been at this house numerous times over the past 2 years and have never seen a hummingbird. Until this afternoon…while talking with Jo’s family. It was amazing. If I wasn’t using my phone to talk to them, I would have quickly tried to get a picture of it.

I have been hanging out with some awesome friends. Yelsi, you have amazing friends and I’m so thankful that you have pushed for me to meet them! I seriously love them all! I haven’t laughed or just relaxed like that in a long time. Normally, I don’t just open up and dump all my emotions out so quickly. Most of the time, not at all. But certain friends who I just met have been amazing support. I’ve just been pouring my heart out and we can laugh in the midst of everything. And even with their reading partner, Juan. (inside joke…only about 3 people are going to get that one). I just can’t imagine leaving them in about 1.5 months. And all of you in the States, stop freaking out. I am coming back this time.

So after we got back to Belize, as a family, we decided to accept a 12 year old boy who had been struggling at the home he was in and we prepared a “boot camp.” We came up with a level system for him to work on while here and if and once he graduates, he can transition into teenage boys home. The plan was for him to be with me in the mornings, working at the clinics as my translator, and then working on school with Yelsi in the afternoons and I would help him with his math. The room we had available in the house for him to sleep in was a large room for storage from the people who own the house who live in the States. So after some crazy rearranging, scrubbing the floor and walls to clean it from mouse diarrhea, the room was ready for someone to live in it. (Side note: the mouse diarrhea…yeah. I sent Edna (awesome housekeeper on nights) a message and told her that I was thinking of her as I scrubbed and it felt like I was at work when I’d always steal their mops to clean up messes myself when they were busy. I thought for sure a mouse was going to jump out at me while I was moving stuff around. But didn’t see a single one). That night, the boy arrived and we helped him move in. The following day, we stayed at the house and worked on his math and chores all day. Oh man, let’s just say, it’s been a while since I had to find common denominators for fractions. We got through all of it just fine until we hit finding the square root of decimals. Seriously, that’s when a calculator is used. The one german shephard pretty much took me for a walk at the end, down a really steep hill that first day. I went sailing into a ditch as she charged for a neighboring property, but was determined to keep holding on to the dog as she was barking at another dog. I felt like I was halter breaking 4-H heifers again and you just don't let go...ever. We now have a horse to care for since Drew and Cindy are starting Equine therapy with children. The boy who is staying with us is adjusting well. The first night, he knocked on my door and I wasn’t sure what time it was. So I looked: 4am. He was having trouble sleeping. So we talked and prayed and then he was going to attempt to sleep again. For whatever reason, the nightshift in me kicked in and I was wide awake after that. Guess when you’ve worked it for over 6 years straight, you don’t just go back to “normal” sleeping that easily.

That weekend, I drove for the first time in Guatemala. Not too bad so far. Just no rules really. But people aren’t distracted by texting and driving like they are in the States. That part is nice. Carla (transition girl living at our house), Yelsi, and I went into town to walk around for the day as a girls day out. We ate some awesome Guatemalan food and I accidentally rubbed it in to a friend who was stuck in traffic…and hungry (sorry). That evening, Yelsi and I went to a friend’s house for a bonfire with friends, hung out for the night, and then went hiking at a national park the next day after church. At church, we sang the song "You Never Let Go" by Matt Redman. That was the song that Dorothy had clung onto after Sara's diagnosis with stage IV liver cancer that had metastasized throughout her body. It's been amazing how each week I'm here, I have been getting so many reminders and able to use my experiences over the past few months for God's glory. The park we went to was absolutely beautiful! Tons of trails, open areas for picnics, playing soccer, zip line, and swings hanging from tree branches that swing over cliffs…yup, pretty flippin' sweet! I had such a great time with new and old friends, just laughing, talking, and exploring new places: the park…and the underground tank trying to find some sheet metal for our bonfire. I think Peter and I would be the only ones who would actually open up this metal lid and assist so he could go down and find some sheet metal, while I held open the lid, held the phone for light, as he climbed down steps that were like the outside ladder of a silo to enter into this dark, water tank…ish thing. (Clearly, we really didn’t really know what this thing was exactly. Just that he made it down and back up safely). It was a great weekend to just unwind and not feel like I’m on a schedule for once in my life.

Sunday evening, Yelsi and I returned home and we had a bonfire on the roof, grilling hotdogs and corn on the cob. Earlier in the day, Isaiah (son of the family I’m living with) had dropped a toy on his big toe and it instantly went black. During the night, Cindy (his mom) knocked on my door, said he was having pretty bad pressure in his toe, and the motrin wasn’t really helping. So we cleaned off a needle and made a hole in his toenail to drain some blood out. Isaiah was a champ through the whole thing. I think he should come to Reading and show them how to be a model patient. On Monday, we started working at a clinic that I had helped at on previous trips. The boy staying with us was my translator and we saw majority of the children who came to the clinic that day. Pretty much every kid we saw had the chicken pox and a few had pneumonia. Tuesday, we worked on school work with the boy staying with us. I made 56 whoopie pies for a baby shower we’re having this coming weekend, started painting Yelsi’s bathroom, and played apples to apples. Sabra (a friend who stayed over that night) put down the card that said “men” for the green card that said “awful.” I’m sorry, but that was hilarious. The following day, we continued to see most of the kids at the clinic and pretty much everyone had pneumonia and diarrhea. That afternoon, Sabra went with me to navigate through Antigua (a local town) for the first time in order to fill out paperwork for the organization that I’m going to be working with on Fridays who run a clinic at the dump. That night, I finished painting Yelsi’s bathroom and we made awesome pupusas for supper.

On Thursday, I helped with school and then went 

out for the afternoon with friends to go play paintball, zip line, and drive go-carts for Sabra’s birthday celebration. Peter got some hilarious videos and pictures of us on the zip line. The zip line has its own stop and sends you sailing sideways. It was pretty hot with all the ridiculous gear on for paintball. I could not get the blasted helmet on without help since my glasses couldn’t slide in. I had to put my glasses inside the helmet and then slip the helmet on without poking out my eye with the arm of them. But, we had good time overall, especially once we had some water. Afterwards, we went back to Sabra’s parents’ house, played scum (They call it President. I just kept thinking about at the show how we call the titles supreme champion, grand, reserve, etc), and had an amazing dinner and cake…and there were some random comments made at the table that I won’t publicly write. But man, did we laugh so hard. Thanks for that, Sabra!

We had another good day at clinic on Friday with more kids who came in for pneumonia and diarrhea. Once we finished seeing all of the kids, we did preg tests for some of the patients the doctor was seeing. My 12 year translator got a crash course on what negative and positive preg tests meant. Friday afternoon, I nailed together banana crates and started painting them to make shelves. That night, Jeny, Yelsi, Carla, and I went to youth group and I felt like I was at Messiah College again at powerhouse. Such a great time of worship and time with friends.

The following morning, Drew, the boy who is staying with us, and I traveled to Manos de Compasion, the home by the lake with kids I talk about all the time, especially Mateo. (Pretty much anyone who I have worked with over the past year should know who I’m talking about). We had such a great time out there. The boy staying with us stayed with the person who is starting a transition program for teenage boys. Drew did one on one counseling with some of the kids, had lessons about temptation and repenting, and the kids loved coloring pictures about the memory verse. I had a great time spending time with the kids, playing, teaching the younger ones the Bible verse we were learning, leading games, and catching up with old friends. I listened to a bunch of the kids who had nasty coughs and had had fevers before. Then they all lined up to listen to their own hearts. I always love the look on their faces when they hear it. Their eyes always get so big and they break out into a huge smile. It was so great to see little Jeni and Mateo doing so well. Jeni had meningitis and TB at the same time a while ago and is now deaf, has seizures, and really struggling to walk. She is doing so much better since October and is now walking with assistance, making eye contact (never really did would before), smiling, and would laugh a little at times. She seems to have really improved. I got to see firsthand how much of a special connection she has with Martina, the girl who was badly burned as a child and is nonverbal and has seizures. Jeni was walking past her with me and Martina giggled. So I put Jeni on the side of Martina's wheelchair and Martina was smiling and giggling. They kept looking at each other and giggling. So awesome to see it! And then there’s my little man, Mateo. We all know this kid, especially, stole my heart a while ago. And now here he is about 16 months post op from open heart surgery looking great! He’s no longer blue, out of breath, or about passing out just trying to eat. It’s always so hard leaving that home. I love all those kids so much and have watched most of them grow over the past 3-4 years that I’ve been going out there.

Today, at clinic, we had the boy staying with us help with the activities for the kids (coloring and playing games). He did great with the kids and kept them entertained throughout the day. At the end of day, a baby about 8 months old came in at the last minute with a fever of 103.8. He had been having diarrhea for a while, along with a fever. Mom had been dealing with it a home and didn’t want to come in to the clinic, but Grandmom made her come in. Thankfully, she did. I heard the kid was pretty sick with dehydration and a fever. I peeked around the corner and saw this kid working to breathe. Like seriously working. Any co-workers reading this now will know exactly what happened next: I went into overprotective ED nurse mode. The mom needed to go home and pick up her national number before going to the hospital since the hospitals will refuse you if you don’t have that number with you. As we were driving on the bumpy dirt roads, this kid continued to breathe 80-90 times a minute, had every kind of retraction possible, grunting, and was just staring. We were praying for the baby. I was able to get him from mom after we convinced her that I didn’t care if he peed on me. I just want to do everything possible to keep this baby alive. Once I was holding him, I could keep a better eye on him and try to keep him in the best position possible for him to breathe. Talk about feeling helpless while in a truck, holding this baby, with not much equipment other than my stethoscope and pulse ox. Pulse ox was 71%. I believe it. He was blue and pale. (Normal for babies is about 97-100%). His lungs sounded course. Skin so hot. We had a cool rag on his head and thing to try to cool off his neck. I was just praying that this kid would keep on breathing the whole time we were driving. I could do CPR in the back of a truck, but just wanted this kid to keep fighting and hanging on until we could get him to a hospital. Out of instinct, I was looking for IV access…not that I had anything to put one in. But just to see if they were going to struggle at the hospital or if it would be fairly easy. (He had a semi-decent one in the left hand. Alan, wish you were here to help! Between the two of us, we could have handled it quickly!). We got back to the clinic, and while waiting for the ambulance to arrive, gave the baby a neb treatment. The ambulance arrived and asked if the baby needed oxygen. YES! And they answered that they only had stuff for adults. I can only pray that they did the best they could to get that baby oxygen while driving to the hospital. Been praying hardcore for that baby and his family. I’m used to being in the ED. We stabilize and either admit or send out to a local children’s hospital. It was hard for me to send him, not follow along, and take over in the ED once the resources were available. I was running through it all in my head what we would be doing in the States to help this kid. I’ve seen kids this bad before and he was minutes away from just totally crapping out and needing to be tubed or just flat out coding. But I think we did the best we could with the resources available. And that’s all you can do and that’s some of the hardest things to stomach while working in a third world country. So say a prayer for this kid and his family. Last I heard, he was still alive. So keep on praying, please. Again, thank you to everyone for their support, love, and prayers while I'm down here. You guys are amazing! 

Palcencia, Placencia, Placenta...where are we going?

Well, I feel like I just finished with the last update and now it’s time for another one. Time really seems to be going fast. I just submitted my work schedule for June (don’t have too much of a celebration with that, Reading!). I know many of you wish I was on my way home already. But to be honest, this trip has so far been amazing and exactly what I needed, minus the sunburn. I could have done without that. Belizean sun is a whole different ballgame compared to the States, even compared to Oklahoma when I got scorched and looked like a lobster. Pretty sure I looked like an even darker lobster this past week and there’s no chance of not peeling afterwards. Even Yelsi, a Guatemalan, burned and everyone with spf of 45 got burned. There was no hope for my ridiculously white, never see the sun, night shift skin.

So on March 20^th, we left around 3am to start our 16 hour journey to Belize for a missionary retreat. We drove about 10 hours that day and stayed on an island, Flores, in the northern part of Guatemala. Absolutely beautiful. We had a room on the 3^rd floor with a balcony overlooking the water. We went swimming for a while as a family, took naps, took a boat ride across the water, and then walked around town and ate in one of the restaurants by the water. During the boat ride, it was starting to get dark and we could see the whole town lit up with lights and at one point a tiny little fish jumped into our boat. The water was a bit choppy, but the driver was great and made the ride as smooth as possible. The town was packed with people. It was the beginning of Holy week and people had off school and work, plus there were a bunch of tourists. We played apples to apples that night and then continued to Belize the following morning.

It took us about 6 more hours to get to our destination in Belize. At the border of Guatemala and Belize, we had to go through the process of getting stamped on Guatemala’s side, walk across the border to go through customs on the Belizean side, take all our bags out of the van (for the guy at customs to chuckle and say, “They’re all yours? Um, yeah, I’ll just spot check 2 bags.”). The van had to go through a car wash to spray for bugs and we had to buy an insurance type of sticker for the van. As we were driving through Belize, I felt like we were in PA on a hot, humid day. Rolling hills, pastures everywhere with cows and horses, saw the national 4-H center, everything so open, rather than fences, barriers, and guards like they do in Guatemala. A lot of Belize has jungle and then all of a sudden we were at the beach. While we were driving, the water was on both sides of the road, fairly close. The place we were driving to was Placencia, Belize. But none of us really knew how to say it correctly. Palcencia….Placencia….Placenta…where are we going? Even the person in immigration at the border said it wrong. So the joke the rest of the week was “what is the name of the town?”

The first 2 days we were there, it was really cloudy. So the temp was wonderful and the Caribbean sea felt like bath water. It was great! When we arrived, we were greeted by the wife of the couple running the retreat. When I said my last name, she said “Oh, that sounds like a name from Souderton.” Um, yup, born there. Once we were settled, we jumped into the water. Families started coming from Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize for this retreat. One was wearing a Phillies shirt and we got to talking and quickly realized they were from my hometown and had support coming from Rockhill Mennonite Church, the church where we were originally from and where a lot of my relatives still go. Another couple came and said they don’t see too many Penn State shirts around here and asked where I was from. So I told them near Raystown Lake, but on the Blair county side. He asked if we were near Martinsburg. Yup. He said he’s driven on Clover Creek road before and probably has driven past our farm before. Other families continued to come that first day and most were from PA and a lot near Lancaster or Philly. Small world. It felt like a PA reunion, honestly.

So morning and evening, we’d have worship and a teaching time. Yelsi, another couple and their daughter, and I were in charge of the 14 children. We played games, did activities, and had plenty of time to play outside in the sand, sea, and pool. There was one kid I just absolutely loved. Don’t get me wrong, they were all great. But there was this one kid who cracked me up. At one point, Cindy said to me, “I can see why you 2 get along so well.” So at one point, while he was coloring, I asked him how old he was and he said 5. I asked him how old he thought I was. He stopped coloring, squinted his eyes, and said “Six….seven….NO! ELEVEN!” I laughed and said nope. Another girl guessed 20, 23, 25, 29. When I said, “Yup, 29,” the boy stopped coloring again, looked at me in all seriousness, and said, “Whoa! That’s A LOT!” On Wednesday, it was sunny and we were outside with the kids literally all day. That’s when I got fried. I had a great time with the kids and hanging out with that same boy in the sea, riding the waves and keeping him from going under for a while. I finally went inside in the late afternoon and knew it was too late, that I was scorched. That night, I didn’t feel so hot. Out in the sun and didn’t drink enough water that day. So after getting some good sleep that night and pretty much most of the following day and drinking a ton of water, I felt ok again. I had a great time with those families and made a ton of new friends. Our room had a good night of playing dutch blitz and getting to know each other better.

   

We started our trip back to Guatemala and made a pit stop in northern Belize at the couple’s house who did the teachings while at the beach. The next morning, we drove to the northern part of Guatemala to stay at a couple’s children’s home that they just built. This place is absolutely beautiful. Out in the middle of nowhere with huge mountains and hills surrounding them. The house is just amazing. I felt like I was living in the States in a brand new huge home. The couple are amazing. They are just waiting for last approval from the government and then they can start to take in kids. On Sunday, we went to their church and then met up with a family who was at the retreat in Belize who live in the same area. We had a good time all hanging out together. Drew and Cindy did a training for the staff of the home we were stay at on Monday and then we traveled back to San Lucas (our home) on Tuesday.

It was so therapeutic being at the beach. I haven’t been there since some of our family vacations years ago. We all know that part of the reason for this 3 month leave of absence was for me to pull my crap together and heal from so much loss over the last few months. The one family who knew people from Rockhill Mennonite Church were friends with Glenna. It was so great to be able to talk to them about her. And being at the beach gave me so many reminders of Jo. She loved the beach. It was so peaceful. We drove on Hummingbird highway to get to the beach and passed a store called hummingbird furniture. I found a bunch of seashells, had a hummingbird all but fly into me as we were packing up to leave, and just felt so at peace and not stressed about anything. It was wonderful. I had a co-worker tell me that she could see in the pictures I’ve been posting on facebook that she hasn’t seen me look that relaxed and happy in a long time. I knew I looked pretty rough for a while, but didn’t know it was that bad! Haha. I feel like after this week away at the beach that I feel ready to go back into doing medical stuff again. It was a much needed break and now I’m ready to hop back into it. I’m excited that we’re back home in San Lucas and I can start to help at medical clinics in the area. When we returned home Tuesday and were trying to unpack and get back to our normal lives, I was sweeping off the steps of the house and the whole time had the song “When peace like a river” (It is well) playing through my head.

When peace like a river attendeth my way, 

when sorrows like sea billows roll; 

whatever my lot, 

thou hast taught me to say, 

“It is well, it is well with my soul.”

For those of you who don’t know that song or the back story of it, it was written by a man whose business was ruined from the great Chicago fire and he decided to travel to Europe with the family. He sent them ahead on a boat, which sank and all of his children died. He traveled to Europe to be with his wife and wrote this song, saying that no matter what happens, God’s got it under control and it is well with his soul. Well, I feel like for the first time in a long time, that I’ve hit that point. It is well with my soul. 

3 more hours

Warning this is going to be a long one! Most posts after this probably aren’t going to be this long. And it might take you 3 hours to read all of this! Lo siento. 

What a week it has been. Holy crap, it went so fast, yet seemed like we were all together for way longer than 1 week. I got to spend the week with some old friends and made new friends who now feel like family to me. They’re all awesome…and hysterical. I haven’t laughed that hard for so many days in a row in a long time. It’s been way too long. By the end of our 13 hour trip back to San Lucas on Friday, we were all punchy, overly tired, and cracking up over everything. On the way home, one of them had to go to the bathroom. Someone may have said, “Well, just stick it out the winda.” I laughed so hard. Her husband said he couldn’t believe she just said that. Her son said, “I can.” So can I. The husband then told her to behave and she responded with, “Oh, I hate when he says that!” You legit just don’t know what’s going to come out of their mouths. This is why I feel like I am a part of their family. This will totally be me in my 70’s. Psh, I’m already there for the most part. I don’t even remember what all I was laughing about this week. Really wish I could have written it all down as it happened or just taped it. Oh my word, just hilarious. Between watching a rooster running beside our van, his legs going out from under him, he wiped out on his butt, and he slid down a hill, to Angel realizing that we’re going to be together for much longer than 3 days and saying he’ll just turn his underwear inside out (He claims he did bring enough underwear and socks…), to Yelsi running on her bed trying to find her cell phone case and saying, “Oh man, I hope the day I get married, I don’t lose my husband!”, to Glenda turning around in the van and saying her “seat end needed a different perspective” and then yelling out the window at the guy who was trying to pass us on the right in standstill traffic “NO! BACK OFF!”, to me putting food on my plate that was still turned over, to laughing so hard over who knows what that my face was beat red (You all know you’ve witnessed this before), to Peter being convinced that I have a cow in my profile picture and realizing that that’s actually my little sister, to talking about ED and farming stuff over breakfast, to Peter telling me by the end of the week that he was intimidated by me when he first met me, but now he realizes I’m just sarcastic and laugh a lot when tired. Oh man, there’s just too much to talk about that was hilarious and “had to be there” moments.

So now I’ll start from the beginning. So I landed on the 11^th and met up with our team leader, Tony. He started telling me who all was coming and I soon found out that I was already friends with almost all of the translators who were coming along. We met up with the rest of the group (well, most of them. Flight issues. So some came the following day a little later than us). They were joking that I didn’t actually have a group to go with, but that I just wanted to join their group since they looked cool. The eye doctor, Rod, was from Colorado and the rest were from Texas. We traveled to a hotel in San Lucas for the night and then met up with the rest of the team that morning to make the trip out to Jacaltenango. 11 hours later in a jam packed van and amazing view of mountains, we arrived. During the drive, people kept asking how much longer and it seemed like every time the answer was 3 more hours. We felt like even though we were driving, we really weren’t getting anywhere. That night, we were all pretty tired, but a certain rooster right outside our window decided to crow…all night long. I think he was a night shifter.

Sunday morning, we drove out to a tiny village crazy high up the mountains. We were driving on dirt roads along a cliff, over 12,500 ft up and that was just the altitude only part way up to where we were going. Amazing drive and thankfully it wasn’t raining or else that drive would have been a bit more interesting. We split up into 2 rooms: one for the eye doctor and one for the 3 nurses (Karla, Reyna, and I). We had a great day and saw 43 people in the medical clinic and many more in the eye clinic…and did a ton of ear washes and quickly found out that Anita and Peter were not fans of it. (Sorry guys. It’s like a nurse thing that if we find out you’re grossed out by something, we’re going to bring it up). The chunks of black wax that we got out over the past week was crazy. These people would come in and say they couldn’t hear…yeah, no kidding! We gave Courtney a crash course on taking vitals and had a good system going. Reyna had a little boy who had a large tumor on his foot and the family said they know it needs to be removed, but they don’t have the money for it. That was difficult to stomach. At times, we had 2 different translators going for one person if the patient only knew a different dialect and didn’t understand Spanish. So we’d translate from English, to Spanish, to the dialect, and back all the way to English again. The construction guys were working on making a house for a woman in another village (the same village we all went to the following day).

Monday, we went to the village the construction crew was at the previous day. We set up the medical clinic in a church and the eye clinic to the side in a smaller room. We saw 66 people that day in the medical clinic. Yelsi (my translator) and I got through 36 of them. This is where Reading ED full waiting room experience came in handy! Seriously though, our team was amazing and we couldn’t have seen all those people without teamwork. Reyna was a queen at cleaning out ears and Karla kept getting all these complicated situations and handled them beautifully with Anita translating. Karla would ask for my opinion and we’d go from there and she handled it with such compassion. There was one elderly man who had pancreatic cancer that had metastasized to pretty much everywhere. The family knew but didn’t tell him what was going on. So they kept going from doctor to doctor “getting better,” when in reality, he’s dying. He already had his abdomen tapped (fluid builds up from his liver not functioning and he had the fluid drained out of his abdomen), but his abdomen was distended again and he was really short of breath. So Karla and Anita talked to him and the family and told them the importance that the patient understands that he’s dying. His lungs were filled with fluid. His abdomen was grossly distended. It’s going to come soon and it was only fair to the patient that he had a chance to give his life to God before it’s too late. They all talked with the pastor and prayed with him. I had these 2 kids who had pneumonia. The baby was having a great time and looked happy as could be even though he really couldn’t breathe and his pulse ox was crappy and the older brother just looked miserable with a fever of 103. He laid his head down on his mom’s lap and the baby brother started smacking his head. He felt so awful he didn’t even care. When we asked if he had diarrhea or noticed worms in his stool, he looked up and said, “Yeah, it feels like something’s walking all over in my stomach!” I have to say, it was a little weird treating people for things that you know would be easy admits in the ED in the States. But here we are giving them the best meds available to us and praying it works.

Tuesday, the place we were at was much cooler for the medical team, but pretty hot for the eye doctor. The medical clinic set up on a covered soccer field and we set up with our backs the sun so that in 2 hours, the sun would be completely out of our area. We again saw a lot of patients and had a good flow down to see everyone. This one 15 year old boy that I saw had pneumonia and he seemed nervous about being there. I asked how much he weighed so I could figure out his dose of antibiotics and he said he had no clue. Courtney joked that we’ll just have to pick him up by his ankles and guess his weight. Once Yelsi translated that to him and we were all laughing, he got this look of “oh crap!” on his face and starting spitting out random weights. I just laughed and said we were all kidding! After we explained the antibiotics to his mom, she says “oh and he’s been having stomach pain…and he had this thing a few years ago…called hepatitis c or something like that.” Once his mom brought that up, the kid really looked freaked out. But his pain was worse after eating and felt like a burning in the epigastric area, and his RUQ (right upper quadrant) didn’t bother him at all and his skin wasn’t jaundiced (yellow). So we gave him some meds and a teaching sheet about gastritis. Then he relaxed. We had another 15 year old girl who had a cough for 6 months and mom said she's been on a bunch of different antibiotics, but isn't getting any better. After asking some questions, mom said that it looks like she's been coughing up blood. So we explained to mom that she may have tuberculosis and needs to see the doctor to get the right treatment for that. That night when we were back at the hotel, we were having devotions and as we were wrapping it up, the eye doctor passed out. He had been having diarrhea that day and the room he was in was really hot. Between us 3 nurses and our great team, we were taking care of him, praying, got a town doctor to come, and got him some meds and drinks to try to rehydrate him throughout the night since he did not want to go to the clinic or hospital. I offered to put the IV in the hotel room and give fluids if they’d give me the supplies. (You know me: love putting in IVs and don’t want to get rusty while I’m gone). Throughout the night, he continued with diarrhea and vomiting and ended up having to stay back and go to a clinic to get IV fluids and meds on Wednesday. Courtney was absolutely amazing and stayed with Rod at the clinic along with a local pastor to help with translating.

We went to the same town on Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday, since the eye doctor was sick, we set up the tables with glasses from weakest to strongest prescriptions and had people coming through the lines to try them on until they could read as clearly as possible. While we were waiting for Tony to come with the truck full of our medical supplies, I was able to watch the joy on these people’s faces when they put on glasses for the first time and could see! They were so thankful and happy. It was amazing to witness it. The people who had been working with it all week kept talking about it, but it was great to actually see it for myself. We may have started the medical clinic part off a bit late, but we still were in full swing and worked until almost 4pm that day. I had one pregnant woman who said she was having contractions and back pain. I told her to call the midwife and tell her that the baby was going to be coming and to be ready. At the end of that day, we all got together for prayer and the construction team joined us after moving a lot of rocks
and concrete. The one guy looked absolutely wiped out. He had been having issues with diarrhea as well. We made sure he had a ton of water to drink. But during prayer, he started to sway. We quickly sat him on a chair, gave him water, put a fan in front of him, and got him feeling somewhat better. On Thursday, the whole team was together again, working. The eye clinic was in full swing (with some short breaks when the doctor took a little nap) and we were seeing people for the medical part all the way to the very end, even once we were starting to tear down our setup. Karla and Anita had a woman who had a goiter for the last 11 years and they prayed with her. The passion that woman had while praying…wow. Yelsi and I had a little 6 year old girl who had Giardia and pneumonia and while we were explaining the meds and how to take them, the little girl was repeating everything back, “So, I take these 2 medicines. And I take this one like breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Yup. Ok. I got it.” Another woman came in and said she was really thirsty all the time and urinated frequently. I asked if she knew if she was diabetic and she said, “Oh, yes.” I asked if she was on medications, “Oh, no. I ran out of that 3 months ago.” Well, her glucose was 468. Angel (16 year old translator) walked by, saw it, and asked what normal was. When I said roughly 70-100, his jaw dropped. So after a lot of teaching and explaining that she needed to follow up with her doctor to get medications, she left giving us hugs and kisses. (Pretty much everyone did). We also had woman who went blind suddenly about 4 years ago after someone was doing witchcraft around her. Since then, her husband has left her and her mother has to take care of her and the patient’s children. Later that night at devotions, Peter mentioned that quite a few of the patients in the eye clinic said that they saw black holes in people’s eyes and scratches on people’s faces. That village especially could use prayer. People said they were coming from over 2 hours away to be seen at our clinic. The pastor told us about how he came to that village years ago, started a church, and said he wanted 10 people to come to know Christ and he got 20. The next year, same goal: 10. Got 20. Now he’s going for 60 this year. Can’t limit God in any way.

Morning and evening we’d have devotions (and amazing food! Those fajitas….holy crap. Amazing!). I went into this trip starting to heal from losing 3 friends within a few months and was a bit of a mess. But we all shared our experiences and how we’ve all been a mess recently. Thursday afternoon on our drive home, the one cloud looked like a hummingbird. And the 2 days we were at that same church, there was a bird that sat at the one window for hours. I was thinking especially of Josie all week and those 2 reminders hit. We shared our struggles and pain and used it to help each other heal and to help the people in these villages to heal. We were able to share our past experiences with these people and give them a glimmer of hope that they can get through it too. God will be by their side the whole time no matter what. We talked about how waiting is our calling and a blessing (we all groaned when Anita read that to us). We shared our testimonies and how far we’ve come and how this trip fell right into place and couldn’t have been more perfect. We all gave this trip to God and let Him take over. I had this song in my head most of the week and it was perfect:"I don't want to miss this day cause it's a gift. I can't miss a chance to leave it in Your hands. I don't know what tomorrow holds. I'm learning how to let it go. Jesus, You are in control of my tomorrow, tomorrow. Come and take the fear away til there's nothing left but faith. I know You will help me face my tomorrow, tomorrow. It's only when I seek You first, seek You first that everything falls into place. It's only when I trust Your word, trust Your word, that every fear is washed away." -Unspoken "Tomorrow"

Then that brings me to the end of this week: we made the 13 hour trip back to San Lucas, said our goodbyes, and went back to the house where Peter is staying. Of course after talking about brownies all week, I had to make some. We had a great evening relaxing, enjoying brownies, and chatting. 3 more people came throughout the night. When Yelsi and I woke up, we were talking and I was telling her about a memory of Josie and when I looked up at the wall, there was a picture of a hummingbird. I literally stopped midsentence. There are reminders everywhere and I feel so at peace. At one point this morning, Yelsi yelled “YAY!!!! NO ROOSTER!” Apparently they could hear us downstairs and asked if we were having a party.  Well, it sure looked like they were having a nice wrestling party going on when I went downstairs. Teenage boys. What are you going to do? (Ha! I may or may not be known for joining in. I refrained this time though). We all traveled to Antigua for breakfast, walked around for most of the day, randomly bumped into our group that we said goodbye to the previous night, and said our official goodbyes to them. And now I’m “home” with Drew and Cindy, unpacking and repacking for our 9 day trip to Belize! Can’t wait! All I’ve been hearing is about how beautiful it is…and how jealous Peter is that we’re going.

Sorry, that was legit long winded. But there was too much awesomeness in there to not put all that! And there’s so much that I left out. I don’t have everyone’s pictures yet, so this really doesn’t do it justice. But here’s a few just to give you a taste.