Renewed

Eeek...it's been a long time since I've blogged! It's amazing how "normal" things become here.  I forget that it's not everyday that someone sees transformation and new life like I get to see here daily.  Burned limbs released from their strangling scars;  noses, eaten away by Noma, newly formed from flaps of skin; children walking normally after "making cuts and putting in iron"-the way we explain orthopedic surgery to the patients.

Although I'm sad that I don't get to see my VVF ladies anymore (although two came to the dock yesterday looking for adult diapers!), I've been really loving getting to be a "real nurse." It's amazing how God has answered my prayer for this.  Just a few months ago after VVF ended and I felt like my job was done here, I asked God to give me back my passion for being a nurse. Somewhere between running around like a chicken with my head cut off, and trying to keep track of patients, I thought I had lost it--that love and compassion for caring for people.

One day as I was in charge on the ward, but helping out the nurses because they were busy, I had my ah-hah moment! It stopped me in my track, and I relished in that moment of "I absolutely love being a nurse." And since that moment, God has kept up the momentum. On Good Friday, the day we "celebrate" Jesus' death on the cross, I was flooded with another ah-hah moment. I was sitting with a Max-fax patient who had had a recurring jaw tumor that we removed. She had a plate put in place of her jaw bone and was recovering on the ward. As with most of the jaw patients, she drooled a lot. A LOT.  If she tipped her chin down just in the slightest, a puddle of drool would come pouring out. So I decided to get her a Yankaur suction...they look something like this:

I was sitting by her bed, and we were reading Henri Nouwen's devotional of the Lent season together (she spoke some English--soooo nice--don't ever take that for granted!), when out of nowhere she started playing the song "Hallelujah" on her phone and using the suction to "conduct" the rest of the "choir" (ie. the nurses and other patients singing along!) It was hilarious! The chorus only interrupted with our laughter...it was the perfect way to "celebrate" Jesus death, by singing Hallelujah engulfed with joy.

Something else that has taken me by surprise is my love of the peds patients! It may not surprise those who've known me since I was young, I've always loved babies. But loving babies, and taking care of them is an entirely different ball game! My friend Jill (and Jaclyn)-avid peds nurses- have been trying to talk me into switching to peds. I've been reluctant, mainly because it's sooo different and scary, but I've got to say, those kiddos are capturing my heart, one shift at a time!

the lovely Jill and beautiful Kristy

the lovely Jill

The hospital is almost closing, and things are winding down here, but my heart is quickening as I prepare to go back to the states for 6 months & I get to be a real nurse :) Thanks for your prayers during the past 8 months, I've felt God's presence ever so closely. If you are faced with change, or in need of direction rest your soul on these words:

The Lord will guide you always (continually);
He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land & will strengthen your fram.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose water never fail.
--Isaiah 58:11

and finally some words of wisdom and truth from Charles Spurgeon...

Like Enoch, walk with God, and you cannot mistake your road. You have infallible wisdom to direct you, immutable love to comfort you, and eternal power to defend you.

Thanks Charles, I needed that.

xoxox