Life musings

Life musings:

I keep encountering a common theme in the past couple of months. The concept of missionary self-care. Before coming here, I don't think I really appreciated what that could me or the importance of it. I mean, I've seen how excited missionaries are to serve and get to their intended destination. I, too remember the sleepless nights I had before coming here. I was so overcome with joy and anticipation of what this new chapter would hold. Now, I wish I would have just slept more {and stored that sleep time in my 'short on sleep' tab}.

But self-care really applies to anyone who meets this criteria.

1. must be human {sorry I don't do animal self-care}
2. must interact with living humans on a daily or very frequent basis
3. proceed below :)

You can just change the title and fill in the blank (nurse self-care....mother self-care etc.) You get the idea.

Newsletter now available!

The newest edition of our Filipino Martins newsletter is now available for your reading pleasure. You will find the newsletter here. There is also a link on the left sidebar, along with previous editions of our newsletter.

When God's blessing exceeds our worth

Ya'll must think I've fallen off the face of the planet.

Well I am 13 hours of ahead of the States, but somehow manage to stay behind in proper communication. I've still got Christmas thank you cards I'm waiting to make.

But this post isn't meant to be full of excuses. Let me 'show' you some of my recent life happenings.

Happy New Year!

So it's the new year, and it's time for a new blog post. Yes, it has been a long time. Life has been a little out of sorts for me recently, meaning that I've been knocked out of my routine. I'm still trying to get back into the groove. So here's a brief rundown of what's happened in recent weeks.

We celebrated our birthdays in October because Christina had a busy schedule in November. We stayed at a resort on Samal Island for one night. The water was just okay, but the surroundings on land were nice. So then in November, we had two special Thanksgiving meals. The first was with the other girls at the clinic. Christina was in charge of games, so we did bobbing for apples. Some of the girls had never heard of it. Others, like myself, had not seen it done in years. I think I'd last done it when I was like 12 or something. But most of these girls are in their 20s. Honestly, I didn't think it would go over well. But I was wrong. I think only two people did not participate. It was a hit. So much so, that two days later, when we had a meal with the families, we did it again for the kids.

Newsletter now available!

The latest edition of our Filipino Martins newsletter is now available for your reading pleasure. You can find a link to the file here. There is also a link on the left sidebar with links to all of our previous newsletters.

Thanks for stopping by and God bless!

Char Lang!

I have a funny story to tell. It's about some stuff I said the other day, all in Visayan. I'll provide the translation in parentheses after the Visayan. So here goes...

Friday night I went to a youth fellowship gathering at a friend's house in Agdao. He works with YWAM and has helped out at the ministries I've been working with. He had asked me if I would share a word of encouragement to the kids. I agreed and went there this past Friday evening, for the first time. I don't think I had met many, if any, of these kids before.

Now that you know the setting, here's the story.

September and October 2011

So much to do...so little time. That is the flow of my days since coming back from break.

I have caught 10 babies in my time back here. I hear rumors that the month of October involves about 280 or so pregnant women who are due. :)

September and October have been stretching months for me, I have encountered tough experiences, but come face-to-face with life and death (that delicate balance), God and His sovereignty.

Some things I can check off my {100 interesting experiences before I die}

1. I experienced first-hand a bloody mess. And no I don't mean the British expression. I mean fully-soaked-front-of-my-scrubs with blood.
   {Visualize an exploding can of spaghetti sauce, close range paint gun shot...whatever helps you 'walk' in my shoes} :)
   Hence I learned CCT (controlled cord traction to help placenta out) + mom ALSO pushing = bloody mess