Amazing Prayer

Today's post is reblogged from "Hope: the Anchor for My Soul" by one of the Africa Mercy nurses. . .


Apart from including God in our plans and work, we can do nothing.  Prayer has been the fuel for everything that we do.

I’ve quickly come to realize that prayer is one of the most powerful and personal things we can do as Christians.

“Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.”

– 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NLT)

I didn’t always believe this– let alone live this.  It seems ridiculous now.  I mean, who travels halfway around the world to serve God, but doesn’t realize that God answers prayer?  However, as I mentioned in my story, I’ve been working out my faith and returning to the path God has laid out for me.

Here, prayer is not just a good thing to do, it is a necessity.  It has become compulsory for everything we do.

We’re beginning a new day of surgeries– we pray.
There is an engineering issue– we pray.
We’re facing a new challenge– we pray.
We’re discussing possible solutions– we pray.
We’re spending time together laughing and learning– we pray.
Prayer is answered– we thank God and pray some more.

What once would have been, “How am I going to accomplish this?” has become, “Let’s ask God and see how He’s going to do this.”

I’ve had the privilege of working with Dr. Gary Parker, Max Fax surgeon and CMO of Mercy Ships.  One of the things that has impressed me so much about him and many of the long term crew members is their humility.  It isn’t about what an individual has accomplished or Mercy Ships has done.  It is about what God is already doing.  Surgeons from around the world have asked him, “How are you able to perform these surgeries so successfully and without greater complications than we see in developed countries?”

In my prior experience, most doctors (and especially surgeons) have a god complex.  And it is difficult not to develop one when it seems that you have patients’ lives in your hands.  Even for me, I began to believe that if I did all the right things a nurse should do and controlled all the circumstances, my patients would do better.

That is why Dr. Gary’s response surprised me.  He has said that it is only by God’s power that these patients do so well.  God asks us to use our talents and skills for Him and He is the one who does the healing.  If we try to do it by our own power, it will fail.

Here’s just one example of how this belief is lived out on board:

Someone told me that there have been times when a ship-wide announcement was made during a complicated surgery.  These announcements aren’t calling for further reinforcements to the OR, but it is a call to prayer for the patient who may not be doing well.

The truth that many health care workers, including myself, don’t want to face is, with all of our years of education and experience, we are faulty and we aren’t in complete control.  I could do all the right things and still everything could hit the fan.

Prayer is the acknowledgement that I don’t have anything under control and God has everything under control.  And here’s the kicker– God knows each and every one of our needs and He cares about them!

“Ok, He already knows.  So why do I have to pray if He knows what I’m going to ask?”  Well, think about this… what gift would you appreciate more?  A gift given by a complete stranger or your best friend?  I’m more likely to question the motives behind a stranger’s generosity.  “What do they really want from me?  Are they just trying to buy my loyalty or devotion?”  But when it is a friend, I know that their gift is given out of love– no ulterior motives. And they probably gave me a gift that I actually want because they know me well.  It might be a gift that I didn’t even know I wanted.

“So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.”

– Matthew 7:11 (NLT)

It’s even more so with God.  I’m finding that life isn’t about our destination, but our journey.  If God gave me everything I ask for the instant I asked for it, I KNOW that I wouldn’t appreciate it as much.  But when a long awaited gift arrives to me by surprise (not to His because His timing is perfect), it is the most precious thing in the world.  I can look back on my life and see how He brought me to the precise moment when I was finally ready for the perfect gift.  And sometimes the perfect gift isn’t what I originally wanted or requested, but it is exactly what I needed.

But how can I trust that He has my best interests at heart when I don’t know Him?  That is where prayer comes in.  God already knows me totally and intimately.  Prayer is the place where you open your mind and heart to what God has to say and share. In this way, we become closer to Him.  I’ve discovered that a relationship with God is greater than any gift He could give us.

Just think about this: The God of the universe wants a personal, on-going conversation with you and me– where we share our hopes, dreams, fears, worries, struggles, concerns, needs, wants, and celebrations.

My second weekend here, we held a prayer meeting at the HOPE (Hospital Out-Patient Extension) Center.

There is limited space on the ship for patients to stay long term.  The HOPE Center is a place where our patients, who travel to Tamatave from all over Madagascar, can live and recover for as long as they need.  It is also the location for our obstetric fistula (OBF) clinic and dental clinic.  Once they are fully recovered, Mercy Ships assists patients with transportation back to their homes.

For returning crew members, this prayer meeting was a celebration.  Last field service, Mercy Ships had begun renovations to a wing of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toamasina (CHUT)– the local hospital here.  With the renovations finally complete, we were able to tour the building and see where our patients will be staying before and after surgery.

(Photo Credit: Mercy Ships)

(Photo Credit: Mercy Ships)

The HOPE center has over 200 beds available– more than any other HOPE center in Mercy Ships’ history.  This means that we are able to perform more surgeries without overwhelming the Ward on board the ship.  We spent time together praying for all the capacity building projects as well as the HOPE center and all of its staff, day crew, and patients.



God has already done amazing things here in Tamatave.  Some of them small glimpses of heaven on earth; some large, completely unbelievable miracles.  And there are greater things still be done– many of which I won’t be able to witness while I’m here.  However, I have the privilege of being a “seed planter”– of being faithful in my work and committed to prayer in this temporary world so there will be an eternal impact in the future.

Someday, flowers will grow here…

“Take My Hand– We’ll Make It With Prayer!”

Impromptu Neighborhood Party!

Don't know where you were last night or what you were doing, but we had an impromptu neighborhood party, complete with dogs!  We enjoyed the view . . .

 

Politically Incorrect . . .

Sad to say, but this post will not be multi-cultural, gender fair, or disability aware.  If that bothers you because they are kind of funny stories from this week, don't read on . . .

Earlier this week, I was on the phone with my dad, explaining to him that Micah and I were going to the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf Homecoming Game in Fairbault today.  He said, "My Aunt Ella went to the school for the blind in Fairbault.  Maybe that's who's going to play - the deaf vs. the blind."  

Glad to say - that's not who they played!  But the game was called at half-time because MSAD was ahead 47-0!

Now back up to dinner last night, and Matt and I were talking about working at the Y yesterday.  Yup, more political incorrectness coming right up.  He's lifeguarding and he sees everyone.  I'm teaching swimming at the same time and I may not see anyone outside of my class.  He said, "Did you see the lady with the big thighs today?  They were like this big! I don't even know how she could get her swimsuit on!  It must have hurt!"  Glad to say, "No, I didn't see her."

The Same But Vastly Different

This post was reblogged from "Hope: The Anchor From My Soul" giving us a chance to see the OR from a nurse's point of view . . .

As I’ve written previously, I’ve been working in the OR for a little over 2 years.  It has been a wild ride learning the ins and outs of surgical nursing.  While the OR here is similar to the one I worked in before, there are distinct differences.  Since this is my first time with Mercy Ships, I’ve been learning how their operating rooms (or theatres as the Brits call it)… well… operate.  

I was understandably nervous on the first day of surgery.  Not many people know what happens behind our doors so I thought I would share what my typical day is like.  I’ll think you’ll discover, as I have, that it is anything but typical.

 

My day begins pretty early.  After doing some morning exercise (either running or the exercise class in the International Lounge), a shower, and daily devotions, I head to the Dining Room on Deck 4 for breakfast around 0700.  On Mondays, the whole ship has a meeting at 0730.  We celebrate new arrivals and say farewell to those departing.  All meetings have the potential to be boring, but we can’t help but be entertained when each one is themed.  This last Monday was Star Wars Monday and guess who wore the appropriate cap for the occasion!

No matter what day it is, we have a team brief at 0800 in our assigned operating room.  We meet together (nurses, surgeons, and anesthetists), introduce ourselves, and discuss each of our patients for the day– what their specific needs are, supplies and equipment we’ll need, how their case might be challenging.  Back home, we didn’t have team briefs and now I’m a firm believer in them.  It has decreased the potential for miscommunication between team members and it is a casual reminder that each of our patients is a person with hopes and fears.  Before you think, “Well, duh!”, I can’t tell you how easy it can be to forget that there is a human being under those sterile drapes.  I love that we start the day talking about them and then praying for them as a team!

Tuesdays have become my favorite day in the OR for one reason– weekly devotions.  After our team briefs, everyone who works in the OR (from those who wield a scalpel to those who sterilize the instruments) gather and worship together.  After we sing, one of our team members shares a devotional– something that has been on their heart recently.  This last week, Sue, the team leader for Max Fax shared how she conversationally prays with the Lord and how God sees us.  I’m going to share in a future blog all that God has been teaching me.  He is speaking and I’m finally listening!

From there, the nurses in the room split into 3 different roles: Circulator, Scrub Nurse, and 2nd Circulator/Assist.  My routine for the day depends on what role I choose.

I haven’t had any of those days on the Africa Mercy.

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Circulator:

When anesthesia says that their machines are ready, they give me the green light to bring my patient to the room.  The Africa Mercy has hired Day Crew who help with everything from cleaning to mechanical repairs to translating.  In the OR, we have been blessed with four Day Crew members who assist with translating and turnover (cleaning) of our rooms.  All of them served during Madagascar #1 and shared that their experience on board changed their lives for the better.

The OR Day Crew is the best!! (From Left to Right: Yvette, Me, Elisa, Odon)

The majority of our patients speak primarily Malagasy.  They may speak French, but that isn’t always a guarantee.  I speak neither language so that’s why I couldn’t do my job without our fantastic translators.  They help us communicate our care when we can’t.

 

The circulator and a translator goes to the Ward on the other side of the ship and locate our patient. We conduct a pre-procedural questionnaire confirming their identity and surgery.  Once all the i’s are dotted and t’s crossed, I ask the patient if they’d like us to pray for them and if so, would they like the translator or myself to pray.  Surprisingly, most of the time they choose the nurse to pray for them. They don’t care if they can understand what is prayed– they just want prayer from someone who cares.

The operating theatre hallway

We walk the patient to one of our 5 operating rooms and have them lay on the bed.  Almost all of our patients have never had surgery before.  This is a scary experience for them.  Back home I would have reassured them with my words, but I’ve had to develop my reassuring touch instead.  Once again, our translators are vital to our patients’ safety and comfort.

The circulating nurse assists anesthesia with sedating and intubating (putting a breathing tube in) the patient.  When the patient is asleep, we position and prep (paint solution on the surgical site) the patient for their procedure.  When the surgeons are gowned and gloved, we perform a time out confirming the patient and procedure again.  Another distinct departure is that some of the surgeons pray for the patient and the team before making incision.

During the procedure, the circulator charts, opens sterile supplies for the scrub nurse, and ensures all the equipment functions properly.  When the surgery is finished, we pull the drapes down and help anesthesia with waking up the patient and extubating (pulling out the breathing tube).  Do you know how confusing it can be when you wake up in a hotel room away from home?  Well, imagine what it is like for our patients!  Our translators help us calm our patients through some wild wake-ups!

We transfer the patient to a stretcher (or trolley) and transport them to the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) down the hall.  If they are a baby, we get to carry them to PACU–yes, please and thank you!

Once report has been given to the PACU nurse, we return to the room to help clean it in preparation for the next patient.  We repeat this process until all the scheduled cases for the day are complete.

Scrub Nurse:

After laying out my sterile gown and gloves, I go out to the hall to scrub my hands and arms up to the elbow.

The 5 minute scrub may seem tedious, but I’ve used the time to hum a worship song or pray silently for our patients.  There have been a few days where I can hear the Malagasy Day Crew singing worship songs to the patients on the Ward.

After gowning and gloving myself, I begin to set up my back table and mayo stand.  The last 2 weeks, I’ve been assigned to Max Fax.  At first I was afraid (in fact I was petrified) that I wouldn’t know the instruments because I’ve never scrubbed these cases before.  You may not know this, but there are hundreds of instruments and they all have specific uses and may have different names depending on the surgeon.  Although this is true here, I’ve been able to quickly learn which is which.

Is it a Senn or a Langenbeck or a cat’s paw? 

Yes.

While the circulator helps the patient on the bed, the second circulator counts everything with me. (We don’t want anything left behind in the patient.)  As soon as the patient is positioned and prepped, I begin to drape the patient so only the surgical field is visible.  We timeout, pray, and surgery begins. The surgeon asks for something and I pass it to him.  He uses it and hands it back.  He asks for something different and I pass it to him.  It sounds simple, but what the best scrub nurses learn is how to anticipate the surgeon’s needs and hand him the right instrument before he even has time to ask for it.

When the surgery is finishing, I count everything again with the second circulator and start cleaning up.  Once the patient is out of the room and on their way to PACU, I take the instruments to decontamination where they will be cleaned and sterilized. I repeat this process until all the cases for the day are finished.

The thing to keep in mind is that once you are scrubbed in, you are scrubbed for the rest of the surgery.  If a case goes through lunch time, I have the circulator set aside a food plate for me to eat later.

Second Circulator/Assist:

My first week here, I was in general surgery doing hernia repairs.  God was looking out for me because I am super comfortable in general cases– they are the type of surgeries that new OR nurses start with.  However, it was my first time fulfilling the Assist role- helping the surgeon retract (hold open the incision/cavity).  Someday, I hope to study to become a registered nurse first assist (RNFA) who helps the surgeon with performing the surgery.  This was my first small taste of it.

The last few weeks, we’ve been blessed to have two surgeons in each room so a nurse assist isn’t really needed.  The second circulator, however, assists everyone in the room.  I act as the second set of non-sterile, but clean hands.  While the circulator is focused on the patient, I can help the scrub nurse with drawing up medications and counting.

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Monday through Friday, our shift is from 0800-1700.  If we are on call and cases are going past 5pm, we need to eat dinner early and take over for those not on call.  When I’m on call, I carry a pager until 0800 the next morning.  If any patient needs emergency surgery, I might be called in to work.  On the weekends, we are on call from 0800 to 0800 the next day (24 hours!)  But it really isn’t bad– I haven’t been called in yet.

At the end of the day, I make sure my room is set up for an emergency case and the supplies for the cases tomorrow are bagged up and ready.  If I’m free at 5pm, I can have dinner and free time until bedtime.  Which reminds me, as I write this, it is way past mine!  I better wrap this up and get some zzzzzz’s for tomorrow.

Stop!  Prayer Request Time!

• Healing (both physically and psychologically) for our patients.  Many of our patients are here for face deforming tumors.  They are learning to see themselves with a new face after surgery.  Pray that they would have continued hope for their futures and to realize that there is a God who loves them no matter how they look.
• It’s a holiday weekend so most of the crew is going to be traveling in the city and throughout Madagascar- pray for safe travels and good health- no bed bugs, malaria, rabies, or sand fleas!
• God has been sharing some amazing insights with me– I hope to share some of them with you all soon.  Pray that I will know and follow what He wants me to do in the future.

Photo Credit Katie Keegan – Hospital Crew in front of the AFM

Blessings come in night shifts . . .

This story is reblogged from "Girl.Nurse.Ship.Africa.Dream Come True." . . .

I’ll be the first to tell you that I don’t rejoice when I see that stretch of four night shifts on my schedule. I am NOT a night person and I’m sure most (if not all) of my friends would know this to be true. But I’ve come to appreciate the differences that come with working at night and have counted them as blessings.

Blessings come with a slower pace of patient care and being able to take the time to read through your patient’s chart to get a better idea of their story. Blessings come with conversations with your one co-worker who is enduring the long night with you. Blessings come as snores of the pre-op patient who doesn’t sleep well because of his tumor, but knowing that in the morning the tumor will be removed.

Blessings come in caring for Haingo.

Haingo was born just 7 months ago weighing a healthy 8lbs to a wonderful mother who would give the world to care for her daughter. However, Haingo was also born with a bilateral cleft lip and cleft palate. The deformity in her face and the hole in the roof of her mouth made it very difficult for her to eat. Her mother would try to breastfeed her but with the inability to obtain a strong latch, Haingo could not get the nutrients that she needed. Her mother knew that she was struggling and did her best to care for her. She tried to supplement her diet by giving her sweetened condensed milk (a very common practice here) since the breastmilk was very minimal and formula almost impossible to come by. As you can imagine, this has led to a very malnourished, very sick baby.

Haingo was first met by our screening team last week in Manakara, a small town more than 500 miles from the ship in Tamatave. She weighed just 4.8lbs. That’s the size of a premature baby at birth..Not of a 7 month old. Knowing Haingo was in desperate need of medical care and did not have time to waste, the screening team flew her and her mother to the ship. She was admitted to our ward and is being followed closely by our infant feeding program to ensure she is safely “re-fed”, a very slow process in order to prevent metabolic disturbances that can be caused from reintroducing nutrients to a severely malnourished body. Once she has gained enough weight to have a safe surgery, she will have her cleft lip repaired, followed by her cleft palate.

Haingo’s feeding regiment involves a feeding by syringe every 2 hours that is often accompanied by weak cries in between feeds. I found myself at 3am walking the ward hallways with a bundled up Haingo pressed closley against my heart. I thought of her little life and the struggle that every moment has been. That she is a fighter, a survivor, a life that has been spared for a SPECIFIC purpose! I thought of her mother sleeping soundly for the first time in months as another person cared for her irritable baby. Of how strong of a woman she must be to love her child so deeply, yet bear the unimaginable heartache to see her baby slowly dying before her eyes and having no way to help her. I thought of the miracle that it is that our screening team found this little life and were able to bring her to our ship.

And in these thoughts, I prayed.

That He would protect Haingo. That she would gain weight. That she would sleep inbetween feeds in order to not burn calories crying. That He would give her exhausted mother rest. And in those prayers, I realized the blessing that it is to care. The blessing that it is to be awake, when no one else is, to have this moment, in the quiet night-time hallways rocking this crying baby in my arms and speaking life over her.

Blessings come in caring for Haingo.  Blessings come in night shifts . . .

"Down in the Mouth"

Reblogged from "Through My Porthole" . . .

I was that kid – the one banned from the local dental clinic. All my little friends had their pearly-white baby teeth checked at school, but for some reason the dental nurse took it personally when I bit her fingers and kicked off the drill switches!

So, of course, it was  yours-truly who was randomly assigned to head over to check out the Mercy Ships’ dental programme this week.

For the duration of each field service, Mercy Ships provides free dental care for people in poverty (pic: Mercy Ships)

I found a dental team of 14 hailing from 11 far-flung nations, and six continents -performing multiple and sometimes complex procedures for each patient. Unfortunately, the Malagasy are plagued with oral heath problems, and people of all ages are living with significant dental pain every day. And we all know how debilitating that can be, but untreated it can also be life-threatening!

A terrified little girl was in the clinic that morning with a decayed tooth that had become abscessed, and the poison had spread. Eventually the excruciatingly painful infection created two escape-holes in her jaw line. In desperation her mother brought the child, hoping for help. The lead dentist immediately performed oral surgery, antibiotics were administered, prayers were prayed, and the dire situation was relived. The poor wee thing looked pretty shattered by her experience.

Sadly, most of the 23 million people in this nation do not have access to this kind of dental care, and there is simply nowhere viable for them to turn. Consequently,  our dental programme includes mentoring and training local people for the duration of the field service; equipping and encouraging them in dental techniques that will help restore the smiles of this nation’s people.

P.S. This lovely pic is my all-time favourite Mercy Ships dental photo – taken in a previous field service in Guinea

Mercy Ships Lasting Impact

Meet Krissy Close who came to Mercy Ships from Duluth, Minnesota!

Desperate Hope . . .

This post is reblogged from "Through a Porthole" . . .

Our precious, vulnerable patients are arriving from all corners of this undulating island* seeking help for conditions sometimes shocking in their appearance. Their courageous journeys to find Mercy Ships are often epic and heart-rending. Here are just two:

Patient screening is taking place in 12 far-flung locations around Madagascar. Pic: Mirjam Plomb

Tiahana’s family is typical of many rural Malagasy – they farm in a remote area and live on less than NZ$1.25 a day for all their needs. At church they heard Mercy Ships is  providing free surgeries to help people like  23 year-old Tiahana. Her mouth is being melted away by the flesh-eating disease noma, and she could only manage half a sweet smile with what remained. In desperation, the family sold one of their precious zebu (cattle) to fund the arduous 1000 km (600 mile) trip for Tiahana and a family friend to get to the coast and find the Mercy Ship. For days they braved hot, crowded mini-buses  and the humiliating stares of strangers.

On Tuesday she shyly pulled her brilliant green scarf a little tighter over half her face,  and firmly squeezed my hand as she shared her story (through a translator.) I was totally blown away at the sheer human COST of her hope for healing.

Yesterday I met Viviabet. A couple of days ago she brought tiny Hiango to a Mercy Ships’ selection day for potential patients in her mountainous rural region. At six months , Hiango measured less than a baby’s normal birth-weight. Her bi-lateral cleft-lip and palate had stolen her ability to breastfeed. The tiny girl’s situation was so dire that the nurses asked Viviabet to come back to the ship with them on a flight scheduled for the next day.

Viviabet had walked for a few days from her even-more remote village with her mother-in-law and her three other children to get to the small-town screening location. Then she undertook the heart-rending, desperate choice to leave her other children, to go with foreign people she had never met before, to trust us to bring her fragile daughter back from the brink of death, to fly on a plane for the first time – without being able to send word back to her village. It was a life and death choice to go,  or to stay. The bravery of her decision to trust us absolutely humbles me!

*Madagascar is an island nation the length of New Zealand, but twice the land-mass. 90% of the 23 million Malagasy live in extreme poverty, 80% in subsistence farming.

Cleaning up the Closet Monster . . .

The kids at "Kids Stuff" were told this summer that behind this door lurked a closet monster and the only way to keep the monster in the closet was to feed it.  So they did.  And when we opened the door to our CPR Supply Closet this fall, we found all sorts of food, paper, game pieces, trash . . . etc. in there.  So today we cleaned out the closet and I do mean cleaned!  Kids Stuff isn't in operation again until next summer, so we moved their stuff to the Dungeon.  (There are a few interesting room names at the Y!)  And we put our stuff back where it belonged.  Trust me, there is no more closet monster or closet monster food!

First Day of Surgery!

The Africa Mercy is back in Madagascar and today was their first day of surgery.  This post was reblogged from the Cash Family Blog:

It’s a special day on the Africa Mercy! It’s our first day of surgeries for this field service! 

This morning, as a community, we stood and prayed throughout the ship - committing this Mada 2 Field Service to God and His glory.  We thought you - our family and friends around the world - would like to stand with us and pray, too…

Heavenly Father, we stand together on this first day of surgery.  We are grateful for all the ways you have shown your love and faithfulness, and how these have brought us to this moment.  We thank you for your hand of protection over us and for your continued presence by our side.  We thank you for the part you have called EACH of us to play.  Because each one of us has been uniquely gifted by you, we ask for your enabling grace in our lives, that we may be good stewards of these gifts and use them together as a community unified around you and your kingdom.  May you be evident in everything we say and do, as we work together to provide hope and healing for the people of Madagascar.  We thank you for the Hospital and the many programs through which we desire to serve the people of Madagascar.  We commit each of these programs to you now.  We ask for your protection, provision, and healing for each person who will be cared for in our Hospital this Field Service.  We pray that the seeds of Christ’s love which, by your wonderful grace, we will sow into each other’s lives, as well as our patients lives, and the lives of all those taking part in our training programs, will grow and blossom far beyond our wildest expectations.  May they bring new life and eternal transformation, not just to individuals, but to families, communities, generations and nations around the world forever more.  Now to Him who,  by his power working within us, is able to carry out His purposes and do super abundantly, far over and above all that we dare ask or think, infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires,  thoughts, hopes, or dreams—to Him be the glory in the  church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen.

And a quote from the facebook wall of our OR Assistant Supervisor, Missy Brown:

The day has arrived.....our first patients will walk into the OR this morning....for most a hope for help/surgery not thought to be possible....now a reality...hope being restored....our prayer for our precious patients....transformation of the whole person... body and heart!!! Thanks for your prayers!!!

You ask me for answers . . .

 . . . Sam and I met with Dr. Halsten at Courage Kenny Rehab today to get the results of my neuropsychological assessment.  Sadly, during my testing I ranged any where from average to superior - yup, scored a 99% on one of my tests - my brain is fine.  That's sad only because I'm still light sensitive, stuttering, have difficulty finding words and sleeping at night.  So there is really nothing they can do for me at Courage Kenny - my brain is "too good".  However, maybe an occupational therapist could help me with the stuttering and light sensitivity so now I'll contact my Worker's Comp nurse and see if there's some way I can get some help.  Of course, it may just get better on it's own - maybe by Christmas or next summer or . . . maybe I can just help me along!  Pray . . .

I went . . .

Paddleboarding and lived!

My neighbor Jerilyn took me paddleboarding for the first time ever today on Lake Marion with boats, buoys, and waves!  I now feel muscles I never knew I had. However, much to my children's disappointment, I never fell off!  Glory!
 

Sand Creek . . .

Is always an adventure!  Today I shared it with students from Carlton and an adult group from Zone 4 of CHECK (or maybe it's CHEQUE).  Either way, it was fun!  I enjoyed leading the team building and sending people up the high ropes and down the zip line - even in this heat!