Saturday, November 10, 2012

Blessings

Over the last bit I have been thinking of all the blessings in my life.  There are many, too many to share but I wanted to share of the blessings of kids.
Actually, first of all, I need to share of the blessing that my husband is.  Next month we will celebrate 17 years of marriage.  I don’t know where the years have gone.  It hasn’t always been easy but I couldn’t ask for a better partner in life.  Many of you know that I was just 18 yrs old when we were married.  I know now for certain that besides love, I married Chuck for security.  He has been that security for me all these years.  I am truly blessed by a man that loves me with all he is, despite who I am.  But more than that I am so thankful that Chuck came into my life to show me my need for a Saviour.  Without God as the center of our marriage we wouldn’t have the wonderful marriage we have.
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I also have 7 other blessings—my children.
Coming from a small family, then meeting Chuck’s large family, I knew that a large family was what I wanted.  As we began our married life together we felt that the Lord would have us have 6 children.  Less than a year later we were expecting our first blessing.  I was very excited to be having a baby but still very young.  Just 6 weeks after Elijah Matthew Francis was born, we headed to Bible school.  What an incredible challenge that was for me as a young first time mom.  I was so very overwhelmed with all that I had to do as a wife and mother.  Those first 6 months were very difficult.  Eli was a good baby and eventually we all found a routine.  I was also blessed with many experienced mothers around me to give me guidance and direction.
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July 1997                                         July 2012
Just 18 months after Eli was born, we welcomed our second blessing, Hala Anne-Marie.  Many have asked about her name.  Before I became pregnant with her I started looking at baby names, for whenever we had another one!  I came across this name.  It means “unexpected gift.”  Having anther baby was not unexpected but having a girl as # 2 was totally unexpected.  Chuck’s parents have 6 kids.  They had to wait until baby #6 to get a baby girl.  I figured that I would be just like them.  So I figured that if God so blessed us with a little girl before #6, then she would be unexpected.  And God gave her to us second!  I remember how tiny she was and how much hair she had at birth.  Chuck was often teased about how much more hair his daughter had than he did.  Hala has had many challenges in her life so far.  At 3 1/2 years old, we learned that she has VCFS, a genetic deletion on chromosome 22.  For more information about VCFS, you can check out www.vcfsef.org   It has been a long journey for her over the last 10 years but what a blessing she has been to our family.
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January 1999                                August 2012
Another 20 months after Hala was born, came Kyle Andrew Paul.  For most of my pregnancy with Kyle I didn’t feel blessed.  I felt very overwhelmed with all that was going on in our lives.  Being pregnant seemed to just make it worse.  I was very excited to be able to have a home birth with Kyle at my parents house though.  I thought about how easy Hala’s birth was and thought that it would be just as easy.  Well it wasn’t!  It was not how I thought it would go.  Finally after labouring all day, he was born 1 minute to midnight.  Then I began to bleed.  It didn’t want to stop.  My midwives were doing all they could to get it stopped.  They were minutes away from calling an ambulance.  In the midst of all this, Chuck called his dad to tell him of Kyle’s birth and also asked him to pray that the bleeding would stop.  Moments later the bleeding stopped and we did not have to go to the hospital.  The challenges didn’t stop with the birth of Kyle.  I found him to be a very unhappy baby.  He didn’t sleep well and fussed a lot.  Plus I had 2 other kids 3 years old and under.  I was exhausted.  The next 2 years didn’t seem to get better either.  Then just days before the birth of our #4 blessing, I noticed a change in Kyle.  He had become a mellow, sweet little boy.  Kyle became the most loving, gentle and humorous little boy I knew.  He is still that same person but just not so little anymore.
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September 2000                              August 2012
Blessing #4 came 2 years after #3, Charlotte May.  She entered our family at a very busy time.  We had just learned of Hala having VCFS and we were trying to go to the Philippines in a year’s time.  I think for the first few years of Charlotte’s life she was the spoiled baby in the family.  She was easy going and quick to learn.  She always just went with the flow of the busyness of our lives.  As the years have gone on, her easy going nature has caused her to be forgotten.  She is so quiet and easy to please that we often don’t hear her in the midst of our noisy family.  She is so very smart and has recently been showing her sensitive side.
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September 2002                         September 2012
Blessing #5 arrived 5 years later, Sophia Irene.  Sophia was born while we were in the midst of Tagalog language study.  From there we returned to Canada for 9 months and then spent 18 months transitioning into the tribe.  Sophia is a creature of habit.  All those changes that happened in the first 3 years of her life did not help her or us one bit.  Sophia is a feisty, strong willed little girl.  I never thought that after 4 kids that we could have one that is so….challenging.  She knows what she wants and lets everyone know it!  As time has gone on, she is beginning to mellow, or maybe we are just getting soft in our old age!  She is learning to settle faster and learning how to show her love to us so much more.  She loves being a big sister to #6.  I love watching them play together and become close sisters.
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October 2007                             October 2012
Blessing #6 arrived 2 1/2 years later, Jenna Lee.  Jenna has been such an easy going little girl from the start.  She was happy and content even with all the changes going on in her little world.  I remember being surprised at how tiny she was when she was born.  With each little girl we had, I had been hoping for a little girl with red hair.  Once she was born it appeared that she was going to be blonde like her daddy and the rest of her sisters.  She had the least amount of hair of all the girls at birth.  And it was/is very slow growing.  As time went on, sure enough, Jenna had/has red hair!  Sometimes it is more red than other times and it is not as red as my hair was as a little girl but no doubt about it, she is a red head!
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April 2010                                           September 2012
At this point we had OUR number!  There was a slight sadness saying goodbye to babies in my house and a pregnant belly but I was able to look to the future and think about how many grandbabies I would have on day.  I also looked forward to watching my kids grow.
Just as I was about to start potty training our last child, God showed us He had other plans for our family.  As time went on after Jenna was born, I would find myself dreaming about the “what if’s” of having another child but even with those dreams I found peace and contentment with the 6 blessings I had.  I never prayed that God would allow us to have another child.  I never talked to anyone about those dreams.  How come I was so surprised that God would see those thoughts of mine and chose to BLESS our family again?!  First there was shock and then there was sadness.  Why was I so sad?!  Children are a blessing.  For those of you know me, I am a planner.  And well this little person didn’t fit MY plan!  It appeared to mess up MY plans, our co-workers plans, Chuck’s parents plans, Chuck’s sister’s plans and many others.
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As the days went on, and we shared our news.  And we heard the excitement in the voices of family and friends (yes there was some shock there too!)  I started to think and pray about this little one.  I was reminded of the blessings that my children are to me and how this little one will be a blessing to ME, to us, to others and to God.  We don’t know God’s plans for this little girl but we do know that she was in HIS plan all along.  I feel truly blessed that God has given ME this special gift, a desire of my heart, that only He knew about.  How awesome is our God!
God also makes us laugh with the number of little girls we have.  After thinking that I would end up with 5 boys, we are going to have 5 girls and 2 boys!  Yes, we are going to have another little girl.
These days I dream of what she is going to look like, what colour hair she will have, what her personality will be like.  Each of our children are different and yet they have similarities.  What traits will she have from each of her siblings???
“But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord, I say, “You are my God.” My times are in Your hand.” (Psalm 31:15, 16a NASB)
“May He grant you your heart’s desire, And fulfill all your counsel!” (Psalm 20:4 NASB)

Missionary Medicine Intensive

Last month I had the privilege of going to North Carolina to attend a missionary medical course.  In the 18 months that we have lived with the Ga’dang people we have seen the need to help them with some of their medical needs.  They can get to town and back in a day if they need medical care but often times they won’t go to see a doctor because they don’t have the money.  So sometimes they wait until they or their child is really sick before seeking medical help.  Something that could be cured quickly can become very serious if not dealt with sooner rather than later.  Another reason we have felt the need to help with some of their medical needs is that it is a wonderful way to show the love of Christ to them.  It shows them that we care for them.
Much of what we see is minor illnesses.  Children often get fevers and colds.  Adults have body aches from working long hard days in the fields.  We also see diarrhea, cuts and other illnesses.
I have no medical training, just some books and a mothers experience.  For the first 9 months we lived with the Ga’dang, Christina had dealt with most of the medical issues that came our way.  She had done some training for a few months with a doctor in Manila.  When she left for home assignment, taking care of the medical needs fell on me.  I felt like some things I knew what to do with them and others I had no clue.  I felt very inadequate to meet the needs  of our friends.  Then I learned of a nurse that went on a course to help her as she did some short term mission trips.  I inquired to her about the course and learned that it is for missionaries with or without previous medical training.  I knew for sure that this was what I needed to help our family and the Ga’dang people.
I was also blessed to have our new co-worker to join me on this medical course.  So September 15th we left for North Carolina for 12 days.  We had 12 days without husbands or kids!  What a treat that would be.  We were actually a little nervous as we usually fly with our husbands and kids.  But it was just us two ladies!  Praise the Lord our flights went smoothly, just a little delay but we made our connections with no trouble.  We even rented a van for the first time!  And drove in a state the we were not familiar with.  We praise the Lord that we had no problems with all our travels.
So what did we do for 12 days?  The course ran from Monday till a week Thursday.  Each day we started breakfast at 7:15am.  Then we had chapel from 8-8:30 am.  From there we started classes until noon.  From noon till 1 pm was lunch and then the afternoons were either homework or more classes.  We then went into town for dinner at a local restaurant.  From 6:30 pm till, well late, we spent working on homework.
I haven’t sat in a classroom all day for quite a few years, so it was exhausting.  They told us at the beginning that the course is “intensive” as is in the name of the course.  And it was true.  My brain was worked every minute of the day.  I also slept better than I had in weeks too!
So what did we learn???  We learned the basics first.  We learned about the different systems of the body and how they work.  We learned how to take a medical history and do a physical exam.  We learned how to figure out correct dosage on medications and ORS.  We learned how to insert feeding tubes, and how to give injections.  We learned about dislocations and broken bones, and what to do for them.
One of the main parts of the course was to learn how to use a set of books.  Village Medical Manual was written by a doctor who has been working overseas for many years.  She uses her knowledge of medicine and her experience in these books to help missionaries, whether trained or not, to know how to treat the many medical issues that might come your way.  These books show how to do many procedures but most importantly they help guide you to a diagnosis.  We spent many hours working on case studies.  These case studies included a medical history, and information from a medical exam, plus other details like pictures.  From there we had to use these books to see if we could diagnosis the problem.  Sometimes it wasn’t too hard, other times it was very challenging to figure out what was wrong with the person.  We had 2 attempts at a diagnosis.  If we were wrong on the second attempt we had killed the patient!  As much as it was not a real person, it showed us that if we are not careful, we could seriously harm someone.  The books also show you the correct treatment, with alternate options if possible.  It also says when you need to seek more specialized medical treatment.  Thankfully I did not kill any of my patients!
I left the course with so much more knowledge than when I started.  I think it also showed that I can trust the books and the knowledge that I had and now have.  I look forward to putting into practice all I have learned when we return to the Philippines next year.
One very important thing we learned or where reminded of on this course was the importance of no matter what we do as we serve God, the first thing we need to remember is, “God’s Glory!”  If what we are doing, even if it seems good, doesn’t give God glory, then it is not worth doing.
If you are interested in attending this course, here is the link to their website.  https://www.equipinternational.com/
Here are some pictures from our time.
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Chapel
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Our class of 18 students
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One of our instructors- Anna
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Learning about dental care
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The room Valerie and I shared
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Putting a splint/cast on an ankle.
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Valerie showing off her “broken” wrist!
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Valerie and I…we survived!
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Another instructor- Larry.

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We finished our trip with a wonderful blessing.  When we travel, we always travel with children.  The benefit of traveling without kids, is we got moved up to 1st Class for our last flight!  We enjoyed the extra snacks and drinks in glass cups instead of plastic.  Plus it was much more quiet.  There were a lot of kids in the seats around where we were supposed to sit!
Thank you to all who gave to help pay for this trip and course.  Thank you for all prayed for Chuck and kids as we were away.  They all survived too!