NEver thoughts....

Well I am getting ready to leave. I have not packed and we leave tomorrow morning.. umm good thing it doesn't take to long to shove the little that I have in that big backpack...

I am headed up north in India to participate in a program called simple health. It will be a three week seminar teaching local Indians about simple health and supplying them with all the resources they need to go back and teach in there cities, villages, ect.

I am excited to be apart of the seminar because it is something that God has put on my heart for being involved in next year.

I have been having very funny thoughts lately about my living situations over this past year or so. Things that I never thought I would experience, things that I said I would have rather died than do.

1. Never thought I would use a squatty potty - done

2. Never thought I would take a bucket shower (if you don't know what this is... haha.. then be blessed, don't ask) - done

3. Never thought I was eat things that I didn't know there origin - done

4. Never thought I would take as many cold showers (bucket) that I have this year. - done

5. Never thought I would go without eating meat for months on end. - done

6. NEVER thought I would be cool with cockroaches.... we are friends now, we live together - done

7. NEVER thought I would be okay with spiders (still hate hate hate them but I can be in a room with them now.. this is huge progress) - done

8. Never thought I would have to go to bed soaking wet, so that I could be comfortable and sleep through the hot hot night. - done

9. Never thought I would share a bathroom, let alone with 6 girls - done

10. Last but not least, Never thought I would wear a scarf in 100 degree wear. - done

Okay this is not complaining but merely me looking back laughing on what the Lord can do in your life...=)

I will be traveling by train for the next two days with no AC.. pray for me if you think about it.. I will update more later!

You are blessed to be a blessing!

Feeling the heat...

It is hot here in India. I feel like all I ever do is sweat and it isn't even full blown summer yet! Don't worry the heat is not keeping us inside.. we are still very much so involved in hospital and city work...

We have had several visitor come and go in the last couple of weeks. One of our visitors is a woman who was a speaker on our school when we were back in Perth during lecture phase. She is a midwife and so amazing. She has so much knowledge to offer us.

I have to share this story of a deliver that she was apart of. This woman was giving birth to her first baby. One of the other students, katie, was attending the delivery and I was moral support for the mom. Once the baby is delivered we place the baby on the moms stomach to dry him/her off and let the mom see her new little one and just allow for a moment or two of bonding before the baby gets swift away to the nursery.

Well this mother delivered her baby and katie put the baby on the stomach, this mom was horrified. This was her first baby and I am not sure she knew that this little wet squirmy thing had just come out of her. She wouldn't touch the baby and she looked so scared. Are visiting midwife friend took just five minutes to help this mom. She leaned in with katie and myself and we were able to shield this woman from everything else that was going on in the room. We were able to almost hid her and her baby so that she could take the time to realize this was her baby. The woman had time to looked at her baby, then slowly we helped her start to touch the baby, then she held the babies little fingers and toes, and then she was finally comfortable enough to just rest her hand on the babies back and support the baby. It was the most beautiful moment of connection between this mom and her new baby. She was becoming a mother in that moment. She was allowed to bond and start loving for the baby before it was swept away, and you could just see the love being grown. In five minutes this mom went from being horrified, mainly because she probably didn't know what was going on during the labor, to being a protector, a comforter, a provider and lover to this little one.

So it was my encouragement for the week. We are able to create space and guard the little precious moments these women need with there new little ones.

It gets a bit hard some weeks. Praying, working, living in community, going to battle spiritually, and I realized this week that I have been trying to do a lot of it on my own. A girl on my team got this picture during a prayer time. A cable that is plugged into a power source but there is no power coming from it. I realized immediately that was me in the past week. I was plugging into God by praying, having quiet times, and ect. But I wasn't depending on His power. I looked right but wasn't turing on the power source. So this weekend and this next week I am ready to turn on the power! I realize very quickly I can not do this on my own, but I am not asked to do it on my own! Praise the Lord for His grace and strength that come new every morning!

You are blessed to be a blessing!