Starting the New Year Off with a Bang

The other night I was lying in bed reading the Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew. The part towards the end of the book when Digory, Polly, and Fledge are sent by Aslan to look for the secret garden. Upon finding the garden, Digory slowly opens the gate when the wicked Witch suddenly jumps over the wall into the garden startling Digory. Suddenly my bed violently began to shake, moving over an inch or two, and my mirror rippled from the bottom corner to the top. It sounded like a train was going to crash through my apartment building. "That was weird," I thought. It wasn't until the shaking started a second time a few seconds later that I realized what was going on. Earthquake! The floor was trembling when my feet hit it as I made a run for the front door. It felt like the apartments were going to fall down. The shaking had stopped by the time I had reached the front door. It was surprisingly peaceful outside. Nothing was disturbed.
My phone started vibrating like crazy from all the messages coming through the missionary group chat. We had just experienced a 7.8 magnitude earthquake someone said and were now under a tsunami watch. The mission is located so close to the beach that it can be seen from most of the missionary houses and the hospital and the children center is located only a few short walk from the beach. There was a few moments of panic as we tried to figure out what should be done.

Reagan and little Alison

We quickly dragged the sleeping kids at the children's center out of their beds and evacuated them to a building on higher ground next to the hospital to wait it out. Some of the kids were scared and wanted to be held, others ran around crazy thinking it was a big party, others went back to sleep on their blankets on the concrete floor. Time seemed to pass unusually slowly as we waited and watched for more warning updates.
We are thankful God's protection over the coast as the threatened tsunami waves never came and there was no damage from the earthquake. Aside from loosing a little sleep, we are all safe and sound. The clinic was open as scheduled the next day and teacher training continued. God is good! We are blessed!
Prayer requests:
The re-inauguration of the current president on January 27th will likely bring more protests and civil unrest. Pray for peace and safety

me and my Britani

waiting it out

snuggles with Miss Samantha

Alisa, Danely, and Keidy

Ashley, Britani, and Miguel

Comments

Jupiter, Saturn, Youranus

A happy baby boy whose anus is functioning very well hence his smile under that blanket Okay We're going to talk about poop. Let's be real... not being able to poop is terrible. We have all been there. Now imagine being born without the ability to poop. Yep...it's horrible. Did you know that you could have been born with one of two congenital defects resulting in it being impossible for you to poop? It's true! One condition is called Hirschsprung disease when you actually lack the muscles to expel your poop so it just stays in there and builds up over time ... well you can imagine what happens. It is not pleasant. This usually results in a permanent colostomy and much relief. The more common condition is that you are actually born without an anus. Just imagine that. In this case you would get a colostomy at birth. If you are blessed to live in America, you would possibly have the surgery to create a hole, have months of dilation of that new hole, an...

Left Behind

One of our new moms died this week leaving behind a beautiful premature baby girl. It was the first maternal death I have experienced in the three years that I have been here and quite possibly the first in the 20 year existence of the the hospital. It was tragic for all of those involved. The culprit .... acute fatty liver of pregnancy. It used to be that this condition was 100% fatal but with so many incredible advances in technology it has lowered to 18% in the United States. That is still pretty high. Acute fatty liver of pregnancy is a very rare condition that can happen toward the end of pregnancy or even up to a few days after delivery. It happens when the expectant mother has a genetic disorder that causes the "cell's powerhouse, the mitochondira, are not breaking down fatty acids that help the body process proteins, carbohydrates, or lipids(fat). This causes fat molecules to build up in the essential organs such as the liver, kidneys, and even the placenta res...

The Five Letter Word

"Quiet" ... My mere utterance of this taboo word in the hospital brings scolding from who ever hears it. The thought being that the word being spoken aloud will bring a return of the craziness. The hospital is QUIET! For several weeks now, the hospital has been in a tranquil state. Clinic has been running as usual every week day with the emergency room and labor ward being open around the clock. But it has been quiet! No traumas, critically ill patients, or babies on ventilators for weeks now. We are so thankful that God has given us some time of tranquility to rest. To rest physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually and to recover from six really difficult months. The tranquility has brought time to slow down, to enjoy time in the Word, to make cookies, to spend time with friends in the village, to get away for the weekend, to paddle out to the reef and enjoy the beauty of God's creation. Time to stop and watch in the hospital hallway as a young amputee walked...

Mending Bodies and Healing Hearts

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