Pool party on the roof

Today was a glorious spring day and Bruce decided to invite us to the roof for a pool party. He blew up the pool and filled it with water and we all showed up with pizza & soda & ice cream for a wild party on the roof. Only Bruce and Olyvia enjoyed the rather cold water but the rest of us had fun sitting in the sun and sharing the beautiful day together. I think we do a pretty good job of making our own fun around here.

This is what you get when you pay money!

I was recently introduced to a very nice, upper-class, well-known family here in our city. They own a huge supermarket & apartment complex. Their son & wife were expecting their first baby and a friend from another company asked if I'd be willing to help this young girl deliver her first baby. I met her last week and went over the basics of natural childbirth. She was a sweet 24 year-old girl without a clue as to what she was getting into. I figured I'd meet with her once a week from now until she delivered. I was surprised to get a call yesterday saying that she'd gone into labor and asking me to come quickly. I got dressed and flew out the door to their house. Upon arrival at the house, I knew the girl was nowhere near ready to deliver so we sat and talked for awhile and I kept a close eye on her progress. It was 9AM when I arrived at the house. That stretched into quite a few hours of sitting at the house, having lunch, many cups of tea and coffee and finally about 3PM I deemed that she was getting close. We went to the private "luxurious" hospital where you actually pay for their services. I was anxious to see what that would be like compared to the gov't hospital. Wow! As soon as we arrived, the mother gave the cleaning ladies some money so they'd take good care of us and make sure things were clean. At one point I mentioned about the squeaky delivery room door and within minutes someone was there putting Vaseline on all the hinges and no more squeak! I guess the main advantage is that there was only one woman in the delivery room and as many family members as wanted to could come in. At times it was an absolute zoo; I even had to chase everyone out at one point because I could tell my patient was getting very annoyed. I was especially excited because I succeeded in getting the father to attend the delivery, something I was told has NEVER happened in all of history here! He thanked me today for making him go in and take part. He was a huge support and really beautiful to watch him with his wife. The labor & delivery itself went like clockwork, sometimes intense at the end as this was a first baby and we'd only had one lesson together in breathing and pushing techniques. Fortunately the girl spoke a bit of Arabic and some English so we were able to communicate quite well. As usual, I was exhilarated by being in the delivery room. The facilities were absolutely wretched. No lights in the bathroom, a wrinkled doctor's coat thrown over the table for a sheet, no stirrups, no frills of any kind, but very competent midwives and everything came out just fine. In fact, 2 hours after she delivered she was home in her own bed. And I still had an hour to run home and get a shower and make it to my English class! Amazing what you can pack into a day.

Does it look like all we do is party?

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm always up for a party. I believe the success of a strong team is not only to work hard together but also to play hard together. Our rather fun-filled weekend started on Thursday with a team dinner to our favorite (and only) Italian restaurant in town. It was Bruce's birthday and since he is SO special to all of our team, we decided to do it up big for his special day. Part of the team arrived early and put up banners and balloons. I had sent along a cake also and the restaurant owners even got in on the party and went out and bought other decorations! By the time we arrived with Bruce, everything was ready and the fun began. After a wonderful meal we came home to get ready for our "movie night" at the LIFE Center coffee shop. The next day was Friday and we continued our fun by going bowling. We invited several friends from here to join us and really had a very fun afternoon. We even took in the "Scary Cinema" where you wear 3D glasses and the objects jump out at you. It wasn't very scary but we sure made the most of it! Can you believe how dorky we look with those glasses on?? By the time we got out of the scary movie it was pouring rain so the party moved to our house. More snacks, sandwiches, drinks & fun. Saturday is our normal "church" day and afterward many stayed and played games, some of us until 10PM. Don't know when I've laughed so hard! If laughter is the best medicine, we should be a pretty healthy team because we do a lot of it together!!

what's so hard about painting ONE wall brown??

I just moved my living room into the former classroom and the dining room into the former living room. I was excited to paint, decorate and fix things up a bit since it looks like we'll be staying in this house another year. My dear husband offered to go and get me chocolate brown paint to paint ONE wall of the living room. He came back with a gallon of paint that said "chocolate" on it and we all trusted that the label was correct. (first dumb mistake) I woke up early this morning to start painting. When I opened the can it looked very red to me but I figured that's the best they can do here and I'd just have to be satisfied. I "cut in" all the edges and was quite proud of how much I'd gotten done by 7:30 this morning. When Darrell got up and inspected, he realized it was oil-based paint, although he'd been very careful to ask several times if it was water-based. By then, the tray, brush and everything had to be thrown out because nothing would remove the dark red oil paint. When the stores opened up, he went downtown to another store to see if he could find true water-based, dark brown paint. He came home with a bucket of salmon-colored paint! I was horrified and said it was unusable. He said that's the darkest they had. The second trip downtown, I went with him (which is what I should have done in the first place)and chose another dark brown that looked more like what I wanted. After mixing it, the guy opened the lid and it was purple! Come on, this was becoming a comedy show. Then Darrell asked if he'd mix some brown into the salmon-colored paint and see how it looked. After adding brown three times, it came out quite dark and somewhat to my liking. Now I discovered that I'm going to need another gallon because it didn't cover very well. The guy gave me his number and told me to call him and he'll have another gallon ready for me. He wrote down what he did with the first batch and I'm holding my breath that he'll get the second right! Only problem is that it's Friday and everything closed at noon so I'll have to wait til tomorrow. Maybe I'll post a picture of the finished product when it's done.

A hero of mine...

Many reading this blog may know a man named John Stumbo. I have always admired him for so many reasons. Over the past 2 decades that I have known John, I have often been awe-struck by his brilliant mind and his deep spirituality and humility. I love to listen to John preach. Recently John was struck with a strange & brutal disease that has wracked his body and left him weak and unable to function in so many ways. A team from his church were visiting our home this week and showed a video of John talking to his church, his wife by his side. I would hardly have recognized him if I hadn't been told it was him. This cruel disease has robbed him of so much including the ability to swallow. Subtitles were included in the DVD because his speech was sometimes so slurred you couldn't understand. But every word that he spoke was like gold. I can't stop thinking about it. How can a man in such agony have such profound things to say? The things he writes in his blog are so rich; I have truly been blessed & challenged by what he's written. In all of this, his theme is the goodness of God. Yes, he has wrestled with God and cried out in despair to him but he always ends by saying that God is good and he does all things well. I'm not sure, in fact I'm pretty unsure, that I could ever respond with such dignity and grace in the face of what John has had to deal with. His wife has to feed him through a tube in his stomach, he carries around a machine that cleans a large wound in his thigh and he can't even swallow his own saliva. Yet he writes the most incredible things...I'm including a poem he wrote recently, called "The Dance".

Dance upon my window

Dance upon my soul

Dance throughout my spirit

Come to make me whole.


Darkness stalks about me

Weakness lurks within

Sadness lies in shadows

Wearing resolve thin.


Holiness holds position

Forgiveness stands in place

Passion still arises

Calling out for grace.


Come, Delightful Healer

Come, Mysterious Dove

Come, Maker of Music

Dance your song of love.

As you read this blog, will you take a moment to cry out to God on behalf of John Stumbo, a hero of mine? And as I pray for John, I pray for myself, that if God would ever call me to suffer even a portion of what John has, that I would allow him to use the suffering, as John has, to bring much glory to Himself.