"Bring life to this gentle, neglected place. No, merely join the life that was here, unmistakably, in the ruin and desecration." - The Beloved Invader

They started by teaching them an English worship song- "I've got joy, I've got joy, Rivers of living water in my soul. I've got joy, I've got joy, I've got my name written in the book of life, Got my name written in the book of life, Hallelujah."

Some of the kids at the orphanage we have been visiting on Saturday mornings joined in with our hand motions. A vision team from Holland was visiting the ship for the week and had come with us that morning to sing for the kids.

We tried the song in French. With half of us singing in English and half trying to learn a new song in French, well you can imagine how that went.

They performed "To Make You Feel My Love"; the children politely listened, but they were starting to stir in their chairs.

Maybe one of the children wanted to come up and sing a song for us? With a little bit of encouragement, one of the girls stood up in front of us all. She began to sing. Another boy had run inside and returned with his djembe and begun to drum, with that innate skill and rhythm all our African friends are blessed with.

 

The guitarist from Holland, gifted with an ear to add harmony to her melody, joined in. She glanced at him quickly but continued her song. When she was finished, she was loudly applauded, maybe for the first time in her life.

They were eager to perform after that, each hesitating only a moment before jumping up to take center stage.

"Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh- the lion sleeps tonight"

A girl named Smith began her song and I leaned back to listen to another off-key French song. It took me a moment, but instead I heard in broken English-

"Alleluia. Alleluia. Holy, holy, are you Lord God Almighty. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. You are holy















We listened for a moment, then we joined in her singing. For that is what we are doing here. Joining in their singing, joining in their games, their dancing, their play, their worship. Joining with the Father to show them love He longs for all of His children to know.

 

Fruit Pizza

This weekend was wonderful. I have quite a few pictures to go through, so there will be a series of posts about the events of the weekend. It included, but was not limited to, breakfast from street vendors, orphanage visits, bonfires on the beach, ward church, baking, sunsets, soccer games, goodbyes, and friends.

Here's a little glimpse of the beautiful sunsets we are enjoying now that 'rainy' season is approaching. I couldn't pick just one picture....

 

This is my friend Kacie. Yes, that is a spare
trach in her hand. Because we take 2 day
post-op trach patients to church :)

Ward church is one of my favorite parts of the week. Our patients are always excited to leave the ward to sing, dance, and worship. They start getting up and ready long before it starts. We move all the patients that are able, which basically includes anyone who is not in the ICU or on isolation precautions, to one of the bigger wards and the chaplaincy team leads worship and gives a message.
















Day workers, nurses, patients, caregivers, and kids stand and clap to the beat of the African drums and Congolese worship songs. I think this may be what heaven will sound like. There is nothing like it.

Sunday we made lunch instead of brunch. It was super delicious. We had soup and sandwiches. A spicy Asian beef and noodle soup and Spicy Coconut & Pumpkin soup. Surprisingly delicious.

I made dessert. Surprise. Saturday morning when we were out in town, we stopped at some of the roadside markets and bought some fruit to top it with. We also hoarded some from lunch and dinner...

Fruit Pizza

- 1 1/2 C sugar
- 2 1/2 C flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs

Frosting

- butter
- powdered sugar
- milk/cream
- vanilla

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Add the vanilla and eggs.

 


2. Mix the baking powder, salt, flour and add to mixing bowl. Mix until just combined. Chill the dough.

 

3. Preheat the oven to 350*. Roll chilled dough into one big cookie and place on a round baking sheet. Bake 17-20 minutes (will be a little underdone!). Let cool; chill in refrigerator.

4. Cream the butter and add powdered sugar. Add vanilla, then milk/cream until frosting reaches desired consistency.

5. When cookie is chilled, spread frosting over top, then top with fruit!

 

**Ideally I would have made a cream cheese frosting for a little less sweet/buttery taste, but this was still good!**

To prove to you your destiny, it calls for us to chose this day

I start my shift in 30 minutes. At home, I would be making my lunch, brushing my teeth, and trying to get out the door in time to miss the parking garage backup. Here, I am lying in bed, not dressed for work, starting this post. I still won't be late. Benefits of living where I work.

Life has settled into a semi-routine here. Bootcamp in the mornings, crew meetings, work, dinner in the café, bible study Sunday nights, hospital education meetings Wednesday nights. Amidst all of that is time spent talking with friends, occasional outings off the ship, and trying to make my way through my endless reading list.

One of the things I had the hardest time adjusting to here was the pace at work. The patients here are much less critically ill than those at home, sometimes requiring little more than a few days of Tylenol after their surgery. I struggled with this being 'all' that I was called to here. As I voiced this in my quiet times, surrendering this desire to be needed, I was able to see the days were so full of moments that I have been called into.

It's walking down the hospital corridor on my night off to see where the drumming and singing is coming from. Then scooping up a baby and joining the dance party with 20 patients, their caregivers, nurses, and day workers as if this is normal.

It's watching a scared 4 year old transform from hiding under the covers in her bed, screaming whenever you come near, to the one who bursts into a smile and runs to you with arms up, ready to be held.

It's watching a patient see herself with a smile that looks like everyone else's after 24 years.

It's seeing Emmanuel's momma out on the dock at his follow up visit. Unable to understand each other, but her smile and her hug where communication enough. (Emmanuel was MIA, because he is a very busy, happy, healthy 3 year old now)

It's a team of nurses, who have only known each other for a short time, helping each other out and being there in those more critical moments (because we do have some of those).

It's that giving Tylenol around the clock after a cleft lip/palate surgery not only means a restful night, but is part of the start to a new life. A life where this small one will never know that they are different, will never be made fun of by their friends or punished by their teachers for talking funny, and will be able to go to school. And their parents will no longer carry this burden.

It's an email from a friend at home describing her recent hospital experience. How she saw Jesus, not in the critical tasks that the nurses were doing, but in their faces, in the moments that they were there to reassure her and comfort.

It's choosing each day, each moment, wherever I am to be all there.

"For we should rejoice in being seen, needed, loved- but it's not the foundation on which to build a life."- Melanie Benjamin

These are the moments on which to build a life.

Grace and Ebenezer are looking great!

 

Cool selfie with a roomie, Naomi,
before going out for a
Congolese dinner! Fun times :)
 

"The Best is Yet to Come" - Sevenglory

Come on down, down to the river

Last week, my ward was abnormally empty of patients, so I was floated down to the plastics ward. Generally, I am not a huge fan of being floated. It's out of my comfort zone; I don't know the people, the patients, or the routine. Here, flexibility is one of the lessons I am learning.

In this place, you are not left to figure it out on your own. It was a chance to get to know more of the fantastic nurses in our hospital and get to take care of another group of patients. Most of the plastics patients are burn contracture releases, though there are a few others such as syndactyly releases and debulking of tumors. Cute kids were everywhere in B ward. Some are the patients, but there are also little brothers and sisters of patients always underfoot, arms up wanting to be held. It is lively, with a teenage boy who insists on being called Michael Jackson, moonwalking down the aisles, dancing to Thriller, and ending every sentence with a wink.

This little lady occupied my lap for
an entire hour of ward church on
Sunday- she can dance :)

Saturday a group of us went to ride down the Kouilou-Nairi River that is not far from us. Several groups had done this before, so we made our reservation (and by we, I mean someone who actually speaks French, I was just along for the ride. Again, literally), convinced our friend Andrew to drive a Land Rover full of girls, and headed out to the river. We arrived at 10:30 for our 11 am reservation. We met the 9 am group that had yet to leave. TIA (This is Africa). Soon after, a third group arrived.

Of course, a group of 30 people wanting to ride down the river was "No problem, no problem" for them. After several rounds of boat shuffling, we were seated and waiting to go.

Our ride. And our chairs

 



The other boats chairs...

 



This was taken just before this boat leaned too far
to the left and almost got a bit wet...
they changed boats after that

For the first 30 minutes or so, I felt that any wrong move would tip us. After a while, the rocking and swaying became less threatening and the scenery was beautiful. The banks were lined with lush greenery, spotted with small villages of huts, with children standing on the banks waving. We stopped in one of these villages to walk around and we all got a chance to try sugar cane! It's....interesting.

 

Don't let those cloudy skies fool you- though I applied sunscreen, I still have a really nice tan/burn line from the tank top I was wearing!

 

 

Sunday afternoon we went out with a couple of our day crew members to a beautiful beach, farther than we would have ventured on our own. We walked along the rocks, which were black from all the oil, down to where several ships were wrecked along the shore. After we walked back, we were treated to mango juice in a café on the beach.

 

 

 

There is beauty in this place. Not only in it's beaches and landscape, but in it's people. The ones who want to show this place to us, who patiently correct our French, who care for the people they didn't know yesterday on the wards. Cette vie est belle

 

"Down to the River to Pray" - Allison Krause