Where else but Sand Creek Adventures can you spend an afternoon with two pharmacists from HCMC on the high ropes course and then send them down the zip line? Or laugh with a family from Shakopee on the low ropes course during pouring rain because everyone's phone app says it's not raining?!? And seriously, anywhere you look - there are blue skies, except overhead because it is truly a soaking rain! Only at Sand Creek can you spend a day with not one, but two bridal parties, at two totally different times and have fun with both! And, of course, at Sand Creek you might just find someone from Iowa who works with someone from your home town! And to think they pay me to be there . . . absolutely awesome!
Some days it is just so nice to be thankful for the little things . . . like meeting a set of twins named "Winter" and "Storm" at Sand Creek yesterday. I'll bet you can guess when they were born! Obviously during a winter storm . . . Or - seriously - being the ONLY person in the lap pool this morning when I arrived at the Y! Of course, that didn't last and I ended up sharing a lane somewhere on my second mile . . . but what a great way to start the day! Or thankful for a husband and daughter who helped me clean this morning - what will I do when they go back to school? Or maybe I'm most thankful that I have today and tomorrow off of work and it's not beastly hot! Glory!
Lord, we have seen the rising sun, awakening the early dawn
And we're rising up to give You praise
Lord, we have seen the stars and moon, see how they shine
They shine for You and You're calling us to do the same
So we rise up with a song
And we rise up with a cry
And we're giving You our lives
We will shine like stars in the universe
Holding out Your truth in the darkest place
We'll be living for Your glory
Jesus we'll be living for Your glory
We will burn so bright with Your praise O God
And declare Your light to this broken world
We'll be living for Your glory
Jesus we'll be living for Your glory
Like the sun so radiantly, sending light for all to see
Let Your holy church arise
Exploding into life like a Supernova's light
Set Your holy church on fire
Like the sun so radiantly, sending light for all to see
Let Your holy church arise
Exploding into life like a Supernova's light
Set Your holy church on fire, we will shine, yeah, we will shine
We will shine like stars in the universe
Holding out Your truth in the darkest place
We'll be living for Your glory
All our days Jesus we'll be living for Your glory, oh
We will burn so bright with Your praise O God
And declare Your light to this broken world
We'll be living for Your glory
Jesus we'll be living for Your glory, oh
So we rise up with a song
And we rise up with a cry
And we're giving You our lives
Jesus we'll shine
It is indeed a thankful Thursday when you are able to schedule your daughter's wisdom teeth extraction knowing that insurance will cover it in full. And, it is indeed a thankful Thursday when your doctor decides that PT is the best option for your daughter's knee rather than surgery. Indeed it is a thankful Thursday when your son announces that he has an interview to be a head guard at the Y on Monday morning. And indeed, the most thankful thing this Thursday, is having spent a week at Vacation Bible School in the "Hall of Truth and Justice" with your husband and daughter, starring your hub Sam as the "Prophet Samuel" . . .
Every year on 18 July — the day Nelson Mandela was born — the UN joins a
call by the Nelson Mandela Foundation to devote 67 minutes of time –
one minute for every year of Mr. Mandela’s public service – to helping
others, as a way to mark Nelson Mandela International Day. Our
volunteers, of course, dedicate more than 67 minutes of their time to
serve others but as we honor the service of all who are called to work
with Mercy Ships we take a moment to honor Nelson Mandela and express
gratitude for his endorsement of Mercy Ships in its desire to bring hope
and healing to those who most need it in Africa. One patient at a time,
one procedure at a time, one smile at a time- we do indeed hope to make
this world a better place.
“I applaud Mercy Ships in their
efforts of transformational development as they make a lasting
difference in a world of need. Mercy Ships has committed themselves to
the vision of an African renaissance in their vision of bringing hope
and healing to the continent of Africa. … I salute the vision and
mission of Mercy Ships and ask that you join me in supporting their
noble work and contribute to make this world a better place.”
- the late Nelson Mandela, Former President, South Africa.
Today's post is reblogged from "Through My Porthole". Enjoy!
If there was a collective noun for people healed from goitres,
it would have to be a chatter. Imagine having a huge growth on your
neck that effected your breathing, your speech, and the way people
treated you. Now imagine the growth disappearing within hours, with
little evidence remaining that it was ever there. Here is Lalao’s story.
Lalao’s and her husband struggle to make ends meet. Five of their six
children live in with them in one-room in Madagascar’s capital city.
Lalao’s husband travels to work on a rice farm, and Lalao helped support
their family by working in a small local eatery.
The ever-cheerful Lalao set her hands to work at whatever came her
way; washing clothes by hand, toiling in the fields – earning less than
one dollar a day. Exertion made it difficult for her to breathe.
As the swelling at the front of Lalao’s neck grew, so did her
anxiety. Sometimes she awoke during the night choking and gasping for
breath. “It affected my breathing, in the beginning that was
frightening!” she recalls. “If I lay flat my breathing was blocked. I
had to make sure my head was upright, and I woke two or three times
every night.”
A friend received a text message alert advertising that Mercy Ships
was screening patients for problems like hers, so Lalao went along. She
received both a diagnosis and a solution.
Lalao & Serafine; a friendship forged through adversity. Pic K. Keegan
Mercy Ships could remove her goitre, but it requires pre-operative
monitoring of hormone and blood levels. So Lalao and half a dozen other
goitre patients would make the trip to the hospital ship on the coast
every month to have their check-ups. This made it impossible for Lalao
to hold down regular work. Reaching the goitre clinic involved six,
nine-hour return bus trips for Lalao, and the family’s finances were
stretched to a critical level. “I had to travel so many times, and it
costs a lot,” explains Lalao. “It was really difficult to lose my job
and the money. It was hard for my family to pay for my travel. I did any
work I could get just to help.” She even borrowed from her neighbours
who encouraged her to continue with her treatment.
When her surgical date finally came, Lalao sold the last four family
chickens and bought a bus ticket to take her once again to the Africa Mercy.
Lalao looking awesome a few days after surgery. Pic Justine Forrest
Lalao’s transformation was immediate and complete. Surgery was a gift
that removed the goitre which had plagued her for 13 years. “I feel
really free!” she declares. “ I don’t need that scarf (to hide my neck)
any more. I will give to my mother!”
Where else but Sand Creek Adventures can you spend an afternoon with two pharmacists from HCMC on the high ropes course and then send them down the zip line? Or laugh with a family from Shakopee on the low ropes course during pouring rain because everyone's phone app says it's not raining?!? And seriously, anywhere you look - there are blue skies, except overhead because it is truly a soaking rain! Only at Sand Creek can you spend a day with not one, but two bridal parties, at two totally different times and have fun with both! And, of course, at Sand Creek you might just find someone from Iowa who works with someone from your home town! And to think they pay me to be there . . . absolutely awesome!
