Following the Father

Ok, so we've jokingly said that this state has the strangest weather in the U.S. as it can change from the 70s to 30s almost over night, but everyone seems to claim that about where they live!  So now that we're in about a foot or  more of snow and it's almost April I'm thinking I should write a poem about this!  The drifts that we've collected around our house are completely shocking!  You can't see the railing on our deck.  It makes it very hard to try to estimate the actual amount of snow fall we are having.  Thankfully though my parents were out in this yesterday because of a doctor's appointment out of town, it was early on enough that they could get home.  It was slow going though, and they were diverted off of the interstate because of accidents from the ice.  Here it is snow, wind, and more snow, but not really any ice.

I'm now about 3 weeks into my apprenticeship with the midwife M.  She's amazing at what she does, and I feel very priveledged to be able to watch her and learn from her.  I know now that this is a much better first step than training at a birth center or pludging into a medical program.  I've been to 3 prenatals and postpartums at her place where all her ladies come for their appoitments.  I also have been to 2 births, both ending up on the same day.  We were at the one laboring mom's place for about 12 hours before she finally had her baby the next morning.  She was a trouper and has a healthy baby girl now.  The other mom also had a baby girl, but we were only there for the evening, and not all night for that one!  I thought the long one was a great first time for me though.  That's midwifery for you, you stay with the mom for everything, not burst in to catch the baby when it's "time!"

Though we were hoping to go visit my uncle, aunt and cousins today, obviously with them living 3 hours away that's not going to happen!  We're postponing the trip to next week when hopefully we won't have blizzard conditions stopping us!

~Elizabeth 

I'm trying yet again to update on some recent things that have been happening with me in regards to my desire to learn midwifery.  I tried multiple times yesterday to post something but kept being interrupted for many reasons, and then so many things would happen before I'd get back to it that by that time things had changed so much that I needed to rewrite the update!  Then when I finally did finish typing something current last evening, the computer froze up and the server timed out on me when I tried to post it and I lost the whole thing!  So... I gave up.

Here's the bullet points of this week's major happenings for myself, starting Tuesday.

Tuesday:

I spent alot of the afternoon researching midwifery internship/apprenticeship possibilities.  It was hard to find anything that was near us, and even if I was willing to go the distance, it was very pricey and the people in charge were not Christians and the theology that you feel on their website was questionable.  God then prompted me to specifically google midwives with our state name, and see if I could come up with a list of certified midwives in our area.  Though I didn't find a list, I did find a midwife's profile on a website giving a bit of information about herself.  She's a Christian, has a large family, and has been practicing for 22 years.  When I was reading about her she sounded familiar and I vaguely remembered some friends mentioning her several months ago.    I excitedly e-mailed her explaining who I was and asked if she had any suggestions of where would be a good place for me to start and if she knew of any people I could contact.

Wednesday:

I got an e-mail back from her which said to call her so she could set up a time to meet with my parents and I.  This wasn't the response I expected, it was much better!  I called her later that day and talked with her briefly.  She said she'd call me back to set up a time since she was rushed at that point because she was in a class.

Thursday:

The midwife called that morning and we agreed that Mommy and I would meet with her at her house later that morning.  So that's what we did, and we talked for a good hour and 45 minutes.  We were encouraged by that meeting as it is obvious she is a solid believer in Jesus and his importance in every part of our lives and we gained alot of information about her and her midwifery practice.  The end result of that meeting/interview was that I will do a trial apprenticeship with her for a couple of months, and if we both still feel that I'm called to this area we'll continue from there.  My first step will be going to her house next Tuesday to meet some of the mothers she cares for and watch her do prenatals.  (She does prenatals every Tuesday in her home, but the births take place in the family's home)  I'm still trying to catch up to all this!  I went from dreaming about this hopefully happening some day on Monday, to being an apprentice on Thursday!

After getting home that afternoon from that meeting we started trying to think through the details of what needs to happen for this, and one thing that is extremely obvious is that I need to get rid of my permit and move to my license already!  You wouldn't believe the challenge it is to get the required hours for a permit in a small town.  Especially night hours, as I don't go anywhere at night without my big brothers being home!  But I finally had them so we called the DMV to see when would be a good time for me to go in for the test.  They said better do it today or it won't happen for a couple of weeks as one of the employees will be gone for the next week at least.  SO... my dad called work and got permission to come in late, my mom took care of Baby B. for me, (he came earlier that afternoon after we got back) and my dad and I hoped in the smaller van to rush to the DMV!  We actually only had a small wait compared to when I’ve been there before.  I took the test, passed it, and now I have my license!!  Alot can happen in one day!

Friday:

I'm just trying to process all that happened yesterday and this week in general.  Obviously God has this already mapped out.  I just need to keep taking one step at a time!

~Elizabeth

We'll that last post is pretty old news now.

Let's see if I can bring everyone up to date.

*Grandma's Alzheimers is obviously progressing into a later stage.  It's getting much harder for her to be up.  She's always wanted to stay in her bed in the mornings, but now it's all the time that she seems to rather be in bed.  She still has great motivation to get up on Sunday though, she loves going to church.  She gets flustered pretty easily, but she still knows where she is.  She never calls me the name of a childhood friend, and she knows she's in our house and where we live.  Her short term memory is getting worse and worse though.  We're thankful that God lets her Alzheimers progress relatively slowly, it gives you time to prepare for each stage.

*I'm still doing school work and working on my junior year in high school.

*I'm doing child care mostly just for one family on a regular basis now.  I'm enjoying that.  I like having a regular schedule, and taking care of one family's kids regularly so that the kids get to know me well and I know them.  Hayden and Emily are a great pair to take care of.  I'm at their place right now.

*I finally have a vision for schooling.  I've never been interested in any college before.  I've always thought that if they don't help me pursue my vision of having my own family that loves and serves the Lord and taking care of orphans and mission work, then why waste the money to go to college just because everyone else is.  My parents didn't mind this attitude at all, as long as I was careful and open minded to God's leading.  I am not being rebelious, I just don't have that strong desire to pursue a degree that would take 2 years to get if it did not help God's work.  If I want to be involved with medical missions than I need schooling in the medical realm, but I've never wanted to become a doctor or nurse.  Just have enough knowledge to take care of children and  babies.  Well, I discovered something that would be quite useful and I am interested in.  I've met several online friends, almost all I've gotten to know because of their similar interest in overseas missions, children, and specifically Liberia.  Some of their families have adopted from Liberia, or are in the process of.  Well I've also gotten to know a couple of people who have applied or are going to Newlife International Midwifery school.  I looked at the website and was absolutely blown away by it!  It's awesome!  It is now my dream school and here's why.

-Frist, their school is IN the mission field.  You serve in the Philippines while you train and get your schooling.

-Second, I've always loved babies and have always thought the way a woman brings new life into the world was fascinating.  When we were in Ghana we had a Where There Is No Doctor book.  I would look through that book quite a bit not minding the explanation of how medical things worked but mostly looked through the birthing section and was absalutely facsinated by it.  I would love to be a certified midwife.  It is extremely useful in the mission field, and the knowledge is valuable throughout life.

-Third, I know that there is a reason that God has made me desire this and stumble upon this school through other people.  I look forward to seeing if God might have something more in store for me in this area in the future.

*Ben had shoulder surgery and is now on the mend.  He wears a "sling shot" almost all the time.  He's healing fine but will be a a sling for several weeks more.

*I'm recruiting people and organizing a project/contest that I'm entering in.  It's run by Christians and is for high school students.  It's in honor of the 200th anniversary of the abolishment of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade and William Wilberforce's help with many other issues of that time.  Click here www.thebetterhour.com/contest to read about what the contest is all about and what the contestants are trying to do.  My theme that I'm entering with is to raise awareness of needy and orphaned children especially in Liberia.  Also I will be raising money for different projects to have to do with this and providing info on adoption and sponsoring a child.

Ok now I have 2 kids crammed on my lap here and I'm typing around them.  I need to go and play hide and seek and then get the rest of my math page done.  Monday is math and child care day for me.  I take my math books along to the family's house whose kids I care for and work through the pages inbetween other things.  If I just devote the afternoon to those two things it can work pretty well... but not always!

Write later!

~Elizabeth