Mid-wife in the making

Last Sunday I had the opportunity to be at my second live birth, not counting my births. Nicole invited me to be at her home birth to take pictures. A few days before Logan came, she informed me that they were not going to have the nurse come anymore, it was just going to be me and Jen. Thankfully, I didn't know or ask how much Jen knew, because I didn't know until the end of the day that it was Jen's first live birth. Nicole was a rockstar! She was the most perfect mother in labor. It was one of the most beautiful and natural experiences I got to be apart of. Logan came out so fast in one push in the pool that his sack was still on his head, it actually was probably still in tack and came out in the pool. Jen is also amazing! should God allow me to have another baby, I would love to do a home birth. Nelton is not for it (at this point), but even if he doesn't let me, I want Jen to be at my next birth. She is so calm and empowering. Wow! What a cool day. Nicole had the most problems delivering the placenta. It took an hour and 20 minutes. I massaged her stomach most of that time. Before I left and after Jen left, Nicole wanted to go to the bathroom, so I helped take her and changed the sheets while she was going to the bathroom with Osmar. She said she was getting dizzy, so we took her back to bed, but she fainted! It was quite scary to say the least. When she came to, she was throwing up brown liquid all over everything. When that was done, we cleaned her as best we could, then she began convulsing. I really saw her life flash before my eyes and began to pray with all my might to God, pleading for his help. I have never been in that position before and I have heard of plenty of mothers who have lost their lives with childbirth. Osmar left me to call the nurse, when she came back to again, I was still freaking out, but staying calm and in control, that was the Lord. I got Logan dressed for the first time in his life while the nurse was checking Nicole over. It was really a plan to "hide him" from the eye drops and vitamin K shot, and cord clamping, all things Nicole was set on not doing. It was sweet to spend some precious time rocking an amazing firstborn. It was an incredible day! I got there around 5:30 a.m., he was born at 7:48 a.m., and I left around 1:00 p.m. All on a Sunday, the only reason I didn't rush home. :)

Back in Peru

We are back in Peru from our trip to the States and it is sooo obvious! Almost 6 months in the USA can almost ruin a missionary. haha. Basically, At the end of every day my body aches, my muscles hurt, and I wonder if I even got that much done. It doesn´t help having church at our house on Sundays. When I feel like I finally get somewhere during the week, as far as progress on unpacking and settling back in, I feel like it´s completely reversed by hosting the 40 plus people for the morning. Not the mention the endless steam of unannounced visitors that rearrange my schedule. Watching the girls, (or should I say raising them), doing housework, and trying to make time to really settle in again can really drain a person. I can´t say I really miss the luxeries, it´s just I´m needing strength to face another day. This afternoon I was at the end as I looked at the after church house, I asked Nelton if he could bathe the girls while I got some stuff done. Thankfully, I got most of the days dishes done before our retuine water cut off at 7 p.m. (something that´s been happening almost everynight.) And also, good thing I filled the garbage bucket in the bathroom so we could actually bathe tonight. This, of course, is me just pouring out my re-entry online. The ups are up and I feel good, the downs are down and I feel like I´m doing NOTHING! Satruday I got up from my nap, pumped to get my closet in order and my suitcase unpacked (after being home for over a week) and I woke up to a house of guests. We served them a treat and by 9 p.m. realized that we had better go find some supper too, I guess we just sorta thought they would eventually leave. A lady and her daughter ended up staying the night as they are out of town. It´s good. It´s bad. It´s both. It´s re-entry! Appreciate the prayers.

Sunday, July 15th, the day's beginning

Seeing that mischievous nephew of mine walk through the doors this morning I thought, “Even if no other kids show up today for Children’s Church, I’d better plan a quick lesson. There is no way I want to handle that 10 year old in the nursery again this week.” Truth is, I could tell him to stay with the adults, but his parents wouldn’t do anything to keep an eye on him and with me in Ky’s room with the other kids, that would mean he would be wandering around my house, unsupervised for the hour to hour and a half message. So, about 7 minutes before church started, I went into the office and gathered a few materials to keep two boys entertained and teach them a Bible story during church. I had thought yesterday to prepare a lesson and put more time into it, but after a crazy morning, neighborhood kids outreach on top of it, and putting my house back in order, I just didn’t have any “umph” left to pour over putting together a kids lesson. The service started, and another boy came, so I was relieved that had put something together. Sarah would run the nursery, and I would always do children’s church, since she always teaches kids outreach lesson. It sprinkled or rained all morning, so we couldn’t go out back for children’s church, but since Nelton invested in a speaker for the adults this week, I figured we could sit around our small kitchen table for the lesson. Four boys, nice number, enough chairs, and easy to keep them all rounded, even if two were nephews who are rather unruly when their father’s eye isn’t resting upon them. We started with introductions and then played a nice round of “jenga” for an ice breaker (time passer). As we finished the first round, Nelton paraded nine more kids down the hall to join us (I should mention, we have a peruvian partner couple that work with us. Llerlin alternates with Nelton for preaching, so Nelton wasn’t preaching today). Suddenly, my kitchen was very small and with the 23 adults in service (not to mention the 8-10 kids in nursery) we were running short on chairs. We did another round of introductions and one more game of jenga, standing around the table as Nelton scurried around the house finding or creating enough chairs for all the kids. When he got back I pulled the table to one end of the kitchen and made them all gather in congested rows on the other end and our lesson on “God’s Provision” began. This time the distraction came in kids “sneakingly” peeking into the fridge to see what a gringa eats, or just pulling at magnets that hang on the fridge. Oh, and the rain came in stronger, sprinkling the kids from behind as our kitchen window doesn’t close and has no screen. This wouldn’t be such a big deal in the States, but Peruvians have a fear or rain and getting wet associated with getting sick quick. So we had to shuffle around a few times. Our activity was to cut pictures our of magazine and create a college entitled, “God Takes Care of Us.” I only had three pairs of scissors and four magazines, so they had to take turns coming to the table to cut out their selected picture and paste it to the page. This was the most chaotic part. Turns out the kids LOVED the idea and they all wanted to gather around the table at once. I don’t know what it’s like in the classroom here, but I would imagine the teachers don’t have much order, as every week is a battle at Kid’s Outreach (thankfully, Sarah is doing a wonderful job and we are starting to see results there!). But now we have to start at scratch with the new church kids. 
 I don’t know how many times I had to tell kids, “you won’t get a turn until you are called, and you won’t be called until you are sitting, so sit down and draw your picture.” Some would be standing by the table waiting to be called, and I kept reminding them they had to sit. When they finally would figure out I was serious, they would sit down. I was thankful to God for this idea, which would only be mediocre to kids in the States, but was met with all the excitement of a two year old being given a triple-scoop ice cream cone here today. It was funny how kids would show me what they wanted to cut out, almost asking me for permission to chop up my magazines. I would respond with something like, “Wow! You found a SHARK! That’s SOO COOL! Yeah, cut that out!!” And they would get the biggest grins and start delicately chopping away at their selected art. It was very entertaining. When service was over, the house was relatively stressful. I quickly threw my baked cookies onto a tray and began serving. I thought I’d have enough for everyone to have a couple, but so many people came today, we almost ran short. But the stressful thing is that people were everywhere! A line formed outside our bathroom (which is right in the hall), kids were back in Ky’s room, some were peeking into the offering basket, in the kitchen, in the living room, thankfully, the other rooms they stayed out of (to my knowledge). It is fun though. I am glad the church is growing. But also wondering what it will be like in the 5 1/2 months that we aren’t here, but the church is still meeting in our home. At the after church leadership meeting we talked about it. I have to train in a sectary, Children’s Church teacher, and treasurer before we go. I’m most concerned about the second, for discipline and keeping order can be hard if one does not properly handle it... and the kids will be in my kitchen. Today God brought the verse to my mind, “Some plant, some water, but God causes the growth.” Please pray for all the people that need to be comfortable in their roles and that God will continue to grow Genesis church while we are in the States! (don’t have time to edit, sorry)

Sunday, July 15th, the day's beginning

Seeing that mischievous nephew of mine walk through the doors this morning I thought, “Even if no other kids show up today for Children’s Church, I’d better plan a quick lesson. There is no way I want to handle that 10 year old in the nursery again this week.” Truth is, I could tell him to stay with the adults, but his parents wouldn’t do anything to keep an eye on him and with me in Ky’s room with the other kids, that would mean he would be wandering around my house, unsupervised for the hour to hour and a half message. So, about 7 minutes before church started, I went into the office and gathered a few materials to keep two boys entertained and teach them a Bible story during church. I had thought yesterday to prepare a lesson and put more time into it, but after a crazy morning, neighborhood kids outreach on top of it, and putting my house back in order, I just didn’t have any “umph” left to pour over putting together a kids lesson. The service started, and another boy came, so I was relieved that had put something together. Sarah would run the nursery, and I would always do children’s church, since she always teaches kids outreach lesson. It sprinkled or rained all morning, so we couldn’t go out back for children’s church, but since Nelton invested in a speaker for the adults this week, I figured we could sit around our small kitchen table for the lesson. Four boys, nice number, enough chairs, and easy to keep them all rounded, even if two were nephews who are rather unruly when their father’s eye isn’t resting upon them. We started with introductions and then played a nice round of “jenga” for an ice breaker (time passer). As we finished the first round, Nelton paraded nine more kids down the hall to join us (I should mention, we have a peruvian partner couple that work with us. Llerlin alternates with Nelton for preaching, so Nelton wasn’t preaching today). Suddenly, my kitchen was very small and with the 23 adults in service (not to mention the 8-10 kids in nursery) we were running short on chairs. We did another round of introductions and one more game of jenga, standing around the table as Nelton scurried around the house finding or creating enough chairs for all the kids. When he got back I pulled the table to one end of the kitchen and made them all gather in congested rows on the other end and our lesson on “God’s Provision” began. This time the distraction came in kids “sneakingly” peeking into the fridge to see what a gringa eats, or just pulling at magnets that hang on the fridge. Oh, and the rain came in stronger, sprinkling the kids from behind as our kitchen window doesn’t close and has no screen. This wouldn’t be such a big deal in the States, but Peruvians have a fear or rain and getting wet associated with getting sick quick. So we had to shuffle around a few times. Our activity was to cut pictures our of magazine and create a college entitled, “God Takes Care of Us.” I only had three pairs of scissors and four magazines, so they had to take turns coming to the table to cut out their selected picture and paste it to the page. This was the most chaotic part. Turns out the kids LOVED the idea and they all wanted to gather around the table at once. I don’t know what it’s like in the classroom here, but I would imagine the teachers don’t have much order, as every week is a battle at Kid’s Outreach (thankfully, Sarah is doing a wonderful job and we are starting to see results there!). But now we have to start at scratch with the new church kids. 
 I don’t know how many times I had to tell kids, “you won’t get a turn until you are called, and you won’t be called until you are sitting, so sit down and draw your picture.” Some would be standing by the table waiting to be called, and I kept reminding them they had to sit. When they finally would figure out I was serious, they would sit down. I was thankful to God for this idea, which would only be mediocre to kids in the States, but was met with all the excitement of a two year old being given a triple-scoop ice cream cone here today. It was funny how kids would show me what they wanted to cut out, almost asking me for permission to chop up my magazines. I would respond with something like, “Wow! You found a SHARK! That’s SOO COOL! Yeah, cut that out!!” And they would get the biggest grins and start delicately chopping away at their selected art. It was very entertaining. When service was over, the house was relatively stressful. I quickly threw my baked cookies onto a tray and began serving. I thought I’d have enough for everyone to have a couple, but so many people came today, we almost ran short. But the stressful thing is that people were everywhere! A line formed outside our bathroom (which is right in the hall), kids were back in Ky’s room, some were peeking into the offering basket, in the kitchen, in the living room, thankfully, the other rooms they stayed out of (to my knowledge). It is fun though. I am glad the church is growing. But also wondering what it will be like in the 5 1/2 months that we aren’t here, but the church is still meeting in our home. At the after church leadership meeting we talked about it. I have to train in a sectary, Children’s Church teacher, and treasurer before we go. I’m most concerned about the second, for discipline and keeping order can be hard if one does not properly handle it... and the kids will be in my kitchen. Today God brought the verse to my mind, “Some plant, some water, but God causes the growth.” Please pray for all the people that need to be comfortable in their roles and that God will continue to grow Genesis church while we are in the States! (don’t have time to edit, sorry)

Sunday, July 15th, the day's beginning

Seeing that mischievous nephew of mine walk through the doors this morning I thought, “Even if no other kids show up today for Children’s Church, I’d better plan a quick lesson. There is no way I want to handle that 10 year old in the nursery again this week.” Truth is, I could tell him to stay with the adults, but his parents wouldn’t do anything to keep an eye on him and with me in Ky’s room with the other kids, that would mean he would be wandering around my house, unsupervised for the hour to hour and a half message. So, about 7 minutes before church started, I went into the office and gathered a few materials to keep two boys entertained and teach them a Bible story during church. I had thought yesterday to prepare a lesson and put more time into it, but after a crazy morning, neighborhood kids outreach on top of it, and putting my house back in order, I just didn’t have any “umph” left to pour over putting together a kids lesson. The service started, and another boy came, so I was relieved that had put something together. Sarah would run the nursery, and I would always do children’s church, since she always teaches kids outreach lesson. It sprinkled or rained all morning, so we couldn’t go out back for children’s church, but since Nelton invested in a speaker for the adults this week, I figured we could sit around our small kitchen table for the lesson. Four boys, nice number, enough chairs, and easy to keep them all rounded, even if two were nephews who are rather unruly when their father’s eye isn’t resting upon them. We started with introductions and then played a nice round of “jenga” for an ice breaker (time passer). As we finished the first round, Nelton paraded nine more kids down the hall to join us (I should mention, we have a peruvian partner couple that work with us. Llerlin alternates with Nelton for preaching, so Nelton wasn’t preaching today). Suddenly, my kitchen was very small and with the 23 adults in service (not to mention the 8-10 kids in nursery) we were running short on chairs. We did another round of introductions and one more game of jenga, standing around the table as Nelton scurried around the house finding or creating enough chairs for all the kids. When he got back I pulled the table to one end of the kitchen and made them all gather in congested rows on the other end and our lesson on “God’s Provision” began. This time the distraction came in kids “sneakingly” peeking into the fridge to see what a gringa eats, or just pulling at magnets that hang on the fridge. Oh, and the rain came in stronger, sprinkling the kids from behind as our kitchen window doesn’t close and has no screen. This wouldn’t be such a big deal in the States, but Peruvians have a fear or rain and getting wet associated with getting sick quick. So we had to shuffle around a few times. Our activity was to cut pictures our of magazine and create a college entitled, “God Takes Care of Us.” I only had three pairs of scissors and four magazines, so they had to take turns coming to the table to cut out their selected picture and paste it to the page. This was the most chaotic part. Turns out the kids LOVED the idea and they all wanted to gather around the table at once. I don’t know what it’s like in the classroom here, but I would imagine the teachers don’t have much order, as every week is a battle at Kid’s Outreach (thankfully, Sarah is doing a wonderful job and we are starting to see results there!). But now we have to start at scratch with the new church kids. 
 I don’t know how many times I had to tell kids, “you won’t get a turn until you are called, and you won’t be called until you are sitting, so sit down and draw your picture.” Some would be standing by the table waiting to be called, and I kept reminding them they had to sit. When they finally would figure out I was serious, they would sit down. I was thankful to God for this idea, which would only be mediocre to kids in the States, but was met with all the excitement of a two year old being given a triple-scoop ice cream cone here today. It was funny how kids would show me what they wanted to cut out, almost asking me for permission to chop up my magazines. I would respond with something like, “Wow! You found a SHARK! That’s SOO COOL! Yeah, cut that out!!” And they would get the biggest grins and start delicately chopping away at their selected art. It was very entertaining. When service was over, the house was relatively stressful. I quickly threw my baked cookies onto a tray and began serving. I thought I’d have enough for everyone to have a couple, but so many people came today, we almost ran short. But the stressful thing is that people were everywhere! A line formed outside our bathroom (which is right in the hall), kids were back in Ky’s room, some were peeking into the offering basket, in the kitchen, in the living room, thankfully, the other rooms they stayed out of (to my knowledge). It is fun though. I am glad the church is growing. But also wondering what it will be like in the 5 1/2 months that we aren’t here, but the church is still meeting in our home. At the after church leadership meeting we talked about it. I have to train in a sectary, Children’s Church teacher, and treasurer before we go. I’m most concerned about the second, for discipline and keeping order can be hard if one does not properly handle it... and the kids will be in my kitchen. Today God brought the verse to my mind, “Some plant, some water, but God causes the growth.” Please pray for all the people that need to be comfortable in their roles and that God will continue to grow Genesis church while we are in the States! (don’t have time to edit, sorry)

Sunday, July 15th, the day's beginning

Seeing that mischievous nephew of mine walk through the doors this morning I thought, “Even if no other kids show up today for Children’s Church, I’d better plan a quick lesson. There is no way I want to handle that 10 year old in the nursery again this week.” Truth is, I could tell him to stay with the adults, but his parents wouldn’t do anything to keep an eye on him and with me in Ky’s room with the other kids, that would mean he would be wandering around my house, unsupervised for the hour to hour and a half message. So, about 7 minutes before church started, I went into the office and gathered a few materials to keep two boys entertained and teach them a Bible story during church. I had thought yesterday to prepare a lesson and put more time into it, but after a crazy morning, neighborhood kids outreach on top of it, and putting my house back in order, I just didn’t have any “umph” left to pour over putting together a kids lesson. The service started, and another boy came, so I was relieved that had put something together. Sarah would run the nursery, and I would always do children’s church, since she always teaches kids outreach lesson. It sprinkled or rained all morning, so we couldn’t go out back for children’s church, but since Nelton invested in a speaker for the adults this week, I figured we could sit around our small kitchen table for the lesson. Four boys, nice number, enough chairs, and easy to keep them all rounded, even if two were nephews who are rather unruly when their father’s eye isn’t resting upon them. We started with introductions and then played a nice round of “jenga” for an ice breaker (time passer). As we finished the first round, Nelton paraded nine more kids down the hall to join us (I should mention, we have a peruvian partner couple that work with us. Llerlin alternates with Nelton for preaching, so Nelton wasn’t preaching today). Suddenly, my kitchen was very small and with the 23 adults in service (not to mention the 8-10 kids in nursery) we were running short on chairs. We did another round of introductions and one more game of jenga, standing around the table as Nelton scurried around the house finding or creating enough chairs for all the kids. When he got back I pulled the table to one end of the kitchen and made them all gather in congested rows on the other end and our lesson on “God’s Provision” began. This time the distraction came in kids “sneakingly” peeking into the fridge to see what a gringa eats, or just pulling at magnets that hang on the fridge. Oh, and the rain came in stronger, sprinkling the kids from behind as our kitchen window doesn’t close and has no screen. This wouldn’t be such a big deal in the States, but Peruvians have a fear or rain and getting wet associated with getting sick quick. So we had to shuffle around a few times. Our activity was to cut pictures our of magazine and create a college entitled, “God Takes Care of Us.” I only had three pairs of scissors and four magazines, so they had to take turns coming to the table to cut out their selected picture and paste it to the page. This was the most chaotic part. Turns out the kids LOVED the idea and they all wanted to gather around the table at once. I don’t know what it’s like in the classroom here, but I would imagine the teachers don’t have much order, as every week is a battle at Kid’s Outreach (thankfully, Sarah is doing a wonderful job and we are starting to see results there!). But now we have to start at scratch with the new church kids. 
 I don’t know how many times I had to tell kids, “you won’t get a turn until you are called, and you won’t be called until you are sitting, so sit down and draw your picture.” Some would be standing by the table waiting to be called, and I kept reminding them they had to sit. When they finally would figure out I was serious, they would sit down. I was thankful to God for this idea, which would only be mediocre to kids in the States, but was met with all the excitement of a two year old being given a triple-scoop ice cream cone here today. It was funny how kids would show me what they wanted to cut out, almost asking me for permission to chop up my magazines. I would respond with something like, “Wow! You found a SHARK! That’s SOO COOL! Yeah, cut that out!!” And they would get the biggest grins and start delicately chopping away at their selected art. It was very entertaining. When service was over, the house was relatively stressful. I quickly threw my baked cookies onto a tray and began serving. I thought I’d have enough for everyone to have a couple, but so many people came today, we almost ran short. But the stressful thing is that people were everywhere! A line formed outside our bathroom (which is right in the hall), kids were back in Ky’s room, some were peeking into the offering basket, in the kitchen, in the living room, thankfully, the other rooms they stayed out of (to my knowledge). It is fun though. I am glad the church is growing. But also wondering what it will be like in the 5 1/2 months that we aren’t here, but the church is still meeting in our home. At the after church leadership meeting we talked about it. I have to train in a sectary, Children’s Church teacher, and treasurer before we go. I’m most concerned about the second, for discipline and keeping order can be hard if one does not properly handle it... and the kids will be in my kitchen. Today God brought the verse to my mind, “Some plant, some water, but God causes the growth.” Please pray for all the people that need to be comfortable in their roles and that God will continue to grow Genesis church while we are in the States! (don’t have time to edit, sorry)

When Kids Learn to Talk...

Kyliana and starting to form more and more sentences on a daily basis. About a month ago, I was calling her name, trying to get her attention to do something. I had put on a pair of pajama pants that I rarely use, because it´s usually too hot to wear pj pants, but because of rain, it´s been cooler here than normal. I was still adjusting them as I walked into the livingroom, still calling her name. She looked up and me and says to me (with the same voice I use to praise her clothes or hair when I am trying to convince her that she doesn´t need to change)¨Cccccccccccccccuuuuuuuuuuuuuutttttttttttttteeeeeeeeeee mama.¨ I started laughing so hard, I couldn´t even remember what I was calling her to do. She is quite the clever one when it comes to getting herself out of trouble too. Sometimes she gets her hands around things she should not, such as the baby powder or something. I will say, ¨Ky, give it to me!¨ And she will maybe start to throw a little tantrum shouting ¨noooo¨ and showing obvious disapproval. At that point, I start my three count and before I reach two she surrenders it with a voice that practically sings ¨toma, mama¨ (take it mom). She does know how to melt us both. Sometimes it´s hard to carry though on discipline because Nelton and I are both trying soo hard to surpress laughter. She does have two year old whit for detouring our attention from her mistakes. I always tell Nelton she is Biblical proof of the Proverbs, ¨A soft answer turns away wrath.¨ What will the next months bring forth from her lips?