We Ran!

This is my amazing running partner!  Prior to April 14, 2017, she ran with me three days a week - never complaining about how long we went or what the weather was, ready to go at a moment's notice, giving me hand warmers on those cold winter days!  

On April 14, she got her torn ACL fixed.  We knew going into surgery, that she would never run again.   

Two weeks after surgery, we did the happy dance!  The vet said the surgeon said no more running to retrieve toys, but a straight run while on a leash would be fine - beginning July 1st.

We went early.  We ran today for the first time!   Annie did so well and looked so very happy.  It was the "starter's run" - run for a minute, walk thirty seconds, run for a minute . . . but she hasn't limped all day.  She's doing great!  I, on the other hand, sucked air!  You'd think all that swimming would have kept me in shape!

The Image of God

Today's post was reblogged from Beth Kirchner's blog, "Twinkly Twins", simply because the truth she wrote about was once my truth. 

"Then God said, 'Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness'" 
                                                                                            - Genesis 1:26

Before going to the ship, I remember watching video clips of the work Mercy Ships does and, quite honestly, I remember turning my face away or closing my eyes sometimes. Some of the patients were just plain hard to look at. I'm a fairly squeamish person and I wasn't sure what it would be like when I actually got to the ship and saw people in real life, not just on a screen, with bowed legs, huge tumors, burns and other disturbing maladies. I am here to tell you that although I admit to turning my face away from the videos, NOT ONCE did I ever feel the desire to turn my face away from an actual person sitting next to me or in the hospital bed in front of me. That HAD to have been Jesus giving me His eyes. There's no other explanation. It should be harder to see it in real life, but the opposite was true. It was impossible to look at these people and not see the beautiful image of God in them. So, I want to share these beautiful faces with you in hopes that you too will catch a glimpse of the image of God; in hopes that perhaps one day you too might consider volunteering onboard the Africa Mercy where you will have the privilege of standing face to face with people like the ones who are shown here and bask in the beauty as God leads your eyes past all else to look on His children who He loves and created in His image.

Thankful Thursday (Comes Early)!

I started work at 10 this morning at Sand Creek.  The closer I got to Jordan, the more it poured.  The more it poured, the more I prayed.  I did NOT want to work in the rain today!

It is with a thankful that I share that by time my group of twelve second through fourth graders from River Bend Nature Center arrived at 10:30 a.m., the rain was just a drizzle.  And by the time we finished up at the low ropes course, it was history!  

I am also thankful that we had a glorious, successful day.  They were able to master two of the elements on the low ropes course which wasn't easy because they were so tiny.  They enjoyed a segregated lunch - girls at the picnic table, boys anywhere else.  We did two elements on the high ropes course and then ended with a zip.  It was good.

But the best news of all - how could I forget this yesterday? - I found out when I got home from work Tuesday.  I am ever thankful that God has provided in full the amount of support Micah and I need for our time serving with "No Longer Music" in Ukraine this summer.  To God be the glory!     

The Day That Kept Getting Better and Better and Better . . .

Today was one of those days that just kept getting better and better and better!  I got up early to swim at the Y and got a chance to spend some time with my friend Dawn, hearing about her triathalon attempt last weekend that included two flat tires - at two separate times!  Then I got to swim with my friend Carla.  She's an easy person to share a lane with.  Things were going well. 

I had enough time at home to have breakfast, braid Micah's hair and fold a load of laundry before I headed off to Sand Creek where . . .

My boss handed me a $50.00 bill - our tip from Thrivent last week.  Things were going great!

We had two groups for the day - the Farmington High School girls basketball team and a group from St. Paul College.  I lucked out with the better half of the basketball team - we randomly divided them and I won! 

It was a gorgeous day working with great people, coming home $50.00 richer!  Oh, yeah . . . 

Benin Field Service Overview

Prayers for Keith.

We met Keith on the Africa Mercy in 2007 while we were in Monrovia, Liberia.  Mutual friends from New Zealand had asked us to give Keith their love while they were at our home visiting before we left for the ship.  

Last year my Bible study prayed for Keith's nephew, Jeremy, as he battled lung cancer.  We prayed for him again this spring as the war continued in Jeremy's remaining lung.  

We heard from Keith this morning.  Just as the ship set sail from Benin, he received a call from his dad.  His mother was dying.  Could he come home?  Sailing somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean off the West Coast of Africa, Keith made plans to return to Indiana.  When the ship docked in the Canary Islands, he flew home.   

His mom has Alzheimers and didn't know him, but he was able to says his goodbyes.  He was able to play with his nieces and nephews, encourage Jeremy, and visit with his brothers and dad.  

It can't be easy to be Keith right now.  If you would, say a prayer for him.  He plays an important role on the Africa Mercy, yet he is at home where he needs to be.  Thank you.

Duct Tape.

I know that there are those duct tape affectionaido's out there who will use duct tape to fix any and everything!  Yesterday took the cake!

We went down to see my Dad for Father's Day - just a week late.  When I had talked to him earlier in the week to tell him we were coming, he asked if we could go shopping for sheets while we were there because his bottom sheet had a rip and it was being held together by duct tape.

Honestly, I thought he was joking.  Seriously, he was not.  Fortunately, he slept with freshly washed new sheets last night. And the duct taped ones?  In the trash!   

One Little Piercing.

Since we discovered that Micah has rare O- blood, the Red Cross has relentlessly pursued her.  I mean, she could have given on June 13 (but there were no openings left for red blood at the site we wanted) so she was finally scheduled for today, along with her common, ordinary A+ mother.  In between, we got at least a daily e-mail asking her to give (not me!), along with several phone calls.  

You know they took my blood this afternoon.  They generally always do.  But Micah got her ear pierced last Friday, June 16, at Claire's.  Claire's does not clean their piercing gun after every use - like scrub it down and thoroughly disinfect it!  Had she gone to a tattoo parlour and had her ear pierced with a needle, she could have given, but due to the "unsanitary conditions" at Claire's, she won't be able to give for another year.  Their loss . . .

Thankful Thursday!

I met my friend, Ann, for lunch yesterday.  Not only was I thankful for our time together, but I am so thankful to God for His faithfulness in answering my prayers for her son while he was in Air Force Boot Camp this spring.  It was an amazing time of God's faithfulness.  I am so filled with joy when I think about men coming to Ethan's cot after lights out to study the Bible.  Can you imagine?  To God be the glory!

Only at Sand Creek . . .

I had the absolute best day at Sand Creek yesterday.  We had a group of thirty-some from Thrivent Financial out.  In that group, five people from the same department had requested to be together.  I got that group, with three additional people.  They were amazing.  After the first element and our first discussion, they became a team of eight and conquered the low ropes course.  I have never had such a successful group!  It was so excellent!

I also learned how to lead the "leap of faith" where you climb a telephone pole and jump off the top of it onto a trapeze bar.  Fun?  From where I was standing it was great!  Not that I'm ever going up . . .

As I drove to Sand Creek this morning, I thought absolutely nothing could top yesterday.  Was I ever wrong!  We had two groups today.  I got to work alone with seven  sixth and seventh graders from River Bend Nature Center while the rest of the staff took on a group of seventy kids from a Methodist Church in Edina.

We had so much fun!  I can't even begin to describe . . . I learned to belay on the incline log, we played great games, we had fun team building, and of course, we had to zip at the end!  After they left, I launched the other group on the zip line. 

The best news?  I have the next five days off!  Glory!

The Numbers

I've taken this information from my friend Jodie's newsletter.  Amazing things happened with Mercy Ships in Benin this year! 

Whilst the statistics are impressive, it is important to remember that behind every number there is a life, a life that has been restored and where hope has been made tangible. We may not all work in the hospital but we are one body and we have all contributed towards the radical change of nations whom much of the rest of the world has forgotten about. We strive to give our all, to the glory of God. We are not perfect, we are humans, broken and weak, but God has chosen us for such a time as this, to help provide holistic care, body, mind and spirit for the poorest of the poor.

Total number of potential surgical patients screened: 11,536
Unique dental patients: 6,942
Twenty Ponseti club foot corrections
Palliative care provisions for 26 patients

An exciting development within Mercy Ships, in the past few years, has been the dramatic increase in Medical Capacity Building. What is Medical Capacity Building (MCB)? “Mercy Ships healthcare training program aims to enhance the standards of care within the surgical ecosystem in partner hospitals or other healthcare institutions. With this objective in mind, the organization has developed practical and relevant healthcare training projects that demonstrate and impart knowledge, skills, and a compassionate, professional attitude to each participant. These training opportunities include structured observation, courses, and mentoring.” (MCB Home page Africa Mercy Navigator) Mercy Ships has offered a number of MCB courses and educational opportunities throughout our field service in Benin. Some of the courses run include…

* Neonatal Resuscitation
Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) is a neonatal resuscitation curriculum created for resource-limited circumstances. It was developed on the premise that assessment at birth and simple newborn care can improve chances for survival. (MCB Home page Africa Mercy Navigator)

The course utilizes the brilliantly designed NeoNatalie kits which include crucial learning tools such as breathing masks, stethoscopes and mock syringes. The life-like doll is an invaluable teaching aide. A pump can be attached to make NeoNatalie “breathe” and to give her a “pulse” that can be checked through the umbilical cord or by stethoscope. The chest visibly rises and enables students to practice giving chest compressions, which click when done correctly.” (Grace Antonini, AFM Writer)

* Primary Trauma Care
“The Primary Trauma Care (PTC) course was created to offer training to trauma response physicians and nurses in low resource environments, and is intended to provide basic knowledge and skills necessary to identify and treat those traumatized patients who require rapid assessment, resuscitation, and stabilization of their injuries. This course will particularly highlight the need for early recognition and timely intervention in specific life-threatening conditions.” (MCB Home page Africa Mercy Navigator)

* Essential Surgical Skills
“The Essential Surgical Skills Course (ESSC) is a two-day course designed to introduce surgical trainees to use safe surgical techniques that are common to all forms of surgery. Students learn a wide range of surgical skills – everything from sterile gowning and gloving, knot tying, and instrument handling; to excision, debridement, and bowel, tendon, and vascular repair, using pig tissues for practice!"

“When asked about what changes they will make as a result of the training, one participant noted,” "We have to be careful about being surgically sterile which is very important in the emergency services, different kind of sutures with tissues, also the surgical knots." (MCB Home page Africa Mercy Navigator, Krissy Close MCB Blog Navigator)

* Sterile Processing
“The goal of the sterile processing program is to impart knowledge, skills, and a compassionate, professional attitude in sterile processing to the technicians and nurses in a way that will lead to transformational development in local hospitals in the Mercy Ships target region. “(MCB Home page Africa Mercy Navigator)

As well as…
Participants in MCB Mentoring: 88
MCB Renovations: Facility at Centre de Sante de Zogbo for Dental Clinic and facility at Centre de Sante de Missessin for HOPE Centre
Mercy Ministries partner visits: 269

Family!

We have the "Zupke Family Gathering" coming up over the 4th of July.  Debbi asked us for to send a family picture for the photo board.  Our neighbor, "Bird Man Bob", gave her three choices: 

Andrew.

Andrew came to Sand Creek today with a group of men celebrating a July 1 wedding.  My first run in with him came on the high ropes course.  Due to our influx of people, we were running with minimum staff so I was both launching and removing people from the ropes course.  Not only did he fail to stand where I asked him to wait, he went and tried hooked himself in.  When I came back to the launch station, I simply said, "We like staff to hook you in.  I'll need to check that for you."

My next run in with Andrew happened on the zip line.  I was launching once again and this massive man who looked like a football player blocked me with his elbow and tried to hook himself in.  Once again, I said, "We like staff to hook you in.  I'll need to check that for you."  "Don't worry, darlin', I got it."  

I chose not to have a third run in with Andrew as he drank his Coors beer while waiting for his friends to take their gear off at our alchohol free facility.  Technically, he was not on the course and definitely, I was not his "darlin'".     

When Trollhaugen Closes . . .

We discovered just after lunch today that when the Trollhaugen Zip Line closes, they send people our way!  Which took our afternoon at Sand Creek from pleasant to WILD!!!  And we still all enjoyed every minute of it!

Thankful Thursday!

Yesterday was our final day of teaching seventeen thirteen-, fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds how to be swimming instructors at Falcon Ridge Middle School.  We had first aid in the morning and Ashley made sure they all knew that the clips we were watching could be considered graphic.  As she was showing them on the computer, I was packing away some of our equipment.  When i came back into the room, she was helping Lili stand up, only Lili couldn't stand.  She was truly one limp noodle.  It took both of us to get Lili out of the room and into the hall where she collapsed.  The splinter in the eye did her in!  I was quite thankful Ashley was there and she was equally thankful I was there.  And we were both thankful that within a half an hour, Lili was fine!  Lovely day of teaching . . . 

Kidnapped!

Matt came home from the Y on Monday and said, "Mom, what are you doing today?"  I knew the answer to that question - "In forty minutes, when I'm done baking we can go get our hair cut."  Correct answer.  From there it was off to the post office and on to the library.  Driving around, Matt said, "I want to get an industrial piercing.  Do you want to come with me?"  My brain said, "No!  I have too much to do!"  My mouth said, "I really don't want to."  The third time he asked was the charm.  We went.  It was fun to be together.  He took me out for a coke afterward.  I can't say I like it, but he does.  That's what's important.  We both agree smaller beads on the ends would be nice.  That won't happen for two more months as it will take that long to heal.  This is what it looks like:  

Awkward

As many of you know, Micah and I will be going to Ukraine next month with a group from Berean.  Last night we had a team meeting and our missions pastor asked me to bring along a team building activity so I brought "Mystery Squares."  I thought Tim was going to lead.  He let me lead.  

Think of a checkerboard.  As the leader, I had a map through the "checkerboard" mat that the team had to figure and get everyone through.

Tim got an absolute "I-have-to-take-this" phone call as we began so that left Micah and three other team members to figure out the maze.  They went after it whole hog - those three other team members, totally ignoring Micah.  When Tim got off the phone, he saw what was happening immediately and he got Micah to join in.  Note:  she is the only "child" in our group.

As the team leader, I got to lead the discussion after.  Awkward.  Because I got to point out what was so obvious to me - they had ignored my daughter and broken my mother's heart.  They were so bent on figuring out the solution that they didn't work as a team.  You could have heard a pin drop.  

As I talked to Tim afterwards, when every one else had left, he said I was gracious and correct in what I said.  And he said it probably made a bigger impact coming from me than it would have coming from him.  Which made me feel better, but it was still  . . . awkward.  

Thankful Thursday!

Today I am thankful for the power of prayer.  

I received a text late yesterday morning asking for prayer from a friend who is currently in Ireland singing with a Bethlehem Church Choir.  They were going in to a dicey situation to sing and they wanted to be "covered".  So I prayed, I'm sure alongside multitudes of others and this was the text I got before I went to bed last night: 

"Oh, Margo!  I have no words.  There wasn't a dry eye in the place.  I don't know exactly what happened . . . lol . . . God happened!!!"

Today I've had the privilege of praying for a friend's husband who is in surgery.  My last text from her was at 10:20 a.m. this morning and already God is in the process of healing . . . so I don't feel so bad about Him waking me up at 5 a.m. to begin praying.

To Him be the glory!    

Three Things I Learned About Ramadan

I had the privilege of teaching "Women Only Swim Lessons" at Falcon Ridge on Sunday afternoon.  One of our women didn't want to put her face in the water.  When I asked her why, she said she was fasting for Ramadan - and that meant no water.  She didn't want to accidently drink any.

THING ONE:  When she fasted during Ramadan, that meant no food or liquid from sunrise to sunset.

We kept chatting.  She was very open to my asking questions - so I did:

THING TWO:  At her house, they ate one big meat at 9:00 p.m. and that was it for the day.  I'm not so sure I wouldn't have tried to squeeze in one more meal before sunrise!

THING THREE:  The imam can change the times of the fast.  For instance, somewhere in Germany right now, when there is far more daylight than night, they were approved for just a twelve hour fast.   

I'm sure I could have googled this information, but it was far more fun learning it in person. 

Zip-A-Dee Doo Dah

"Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah,
Zip-A-Dee-A !
My, oh, my, what a wonderful day!
Plenty of sunshine heading my way -
Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah,
Zip-A-Dee-A!"

We could not have had a more perfect Saturday at Sand Creek!  The best part was - guests kept coming early!  Given the option of touring with a small group or making them wait so we could mulch the low ropes course, I zipped four times on tours!  It was fantastic - and cooling!

Will someone say, "Amen!"?

"My favorite Jesus followers

are those who are so busy loving and serving

they haven't got time to argue about religion."
Erin Kirk

Thankful Thursday!

How is it that one person can have so much to be thankful for while teaching three classes at the Y?  

My first two classes today were from Sterling Academy.  They had asked me last week if they could get prizes for their last week of lessons.  My first class was seven fourth-sixth grade girls and my second class was four fourth-sixth grade boys.  I decided since their school did not allow the students to swim together, I could have timed relay races and let their teacher know who the winner was - boys or girls!

Joining me in laughter was the MS (Multiple Sclerosis) class on the other side of the pool.  I had the kids race using a large turtle floatie and it was a hoot!  Technically, the boys won the relay by five seconds; but the girls were definitely better treaders as we treaded water.  We also had to go off the rope swing.  Lucky me - I got to go once with the girls and once with the boys.  They did offer me more swings, but I politely declined.

In the end they got their prizes - Y tattoos!  They loved them - the same tattoos we've been trying to get rid of forever!  And then we added a Papa Murphy's coupon for $2.00 off a pizza and a free cookie pizza because, trust me, a Y tattoo is NOT a prize!

My last class was four preschool boys.  The absolutely most challenging boy of all brought me the most lovely gift today because I am his very favorite teacher.  Understand that this can only be Jesus in me because I can not tell you how many times I was ready to do something awful to this child, as he bit other students, spit water at them or splashed them.  I was given a box with two different hand soaps in it that said, "Hands down, best coach in town".  I am thankful that the Jesus in me loves the unlovely and I can make a difference in that life . . .   

Cultivating the Cultivators.

I didn't come up with that catchy title.  This post has been reblogged from Will and Brianna Morrisons' blog, "Morrisons on Mercy Ships."  I like it because a good friend of ours, Keith Brinkman, overseas the agricultural program.  Before you read it, say a prayer for Keith's sixteen year old nephew, Jeremy, who is battling lung cancer.  He had one lung removed last year and he's having surgery next week to remove a portion of his remaining lung.

At the root of many of the medical conditions we see on the ship is lack of proper nutrition. Besides filling immediate healthcare needs by providing surgeries, we hope to build capacity in Benin so that more people can eat healthfully and avoid diseases brought on by lack of nutrients.

Mercy Ships agriculture program focuses on training individuals from local charitable organizations to grow nutritional crops in an effective and sustainable manner. These individuals will then go on to train others in the same practice. When you focus attention on development and building capacity, you can help many more people in the long run. But, development takes time. By training the trainers, hunger and poverty issues are addressed long after the Africa Mercy departs from Benin.

Eliphaz, Agriculture Program Manager for Mercy Ships and native of Benin, showed-off his students’ progress during a visit. Along with the students’ test plots, we saw where they were learning about composting, animal production and safe food preservation (canning). The students had all already been out in communities across Benin, teaching what they had been taught, leaving a last impact on environment of Benin and the nutrition of her people.