A view of the city
Me at an overlook of the city.... after church on Sunday
The first church we ministered in, this is a view from the front steps
A line of people waiting for ministry....
Yup, more babies....
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Pictures of Honduras
Washing the children's hair
Holding babies.... they brought them to me, I love it!
This is the widow that gave all, and below is her family in the house they had. Her sons are building her a new house.
This is my co-worker Bonnie, who encouraged me so much on this trip, and Eeyore (who travels to work with me.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Gracie's Trip to the Vet
Gracie is my black cat. We found her in 1999 at the cemetery where we had just buried my mom a few weeks before. Gracie was up a tree, crying. We rescued her and brought her home. She was very sweet and wanted tons of attention. At the time our home was very small and we already had a cat and dog, so we found a home for her. After a few months we heard that the arrangement wasn't working out so we brought her back to our home. The damage had been done, she was withdrawn, skiddish, and hid all the time.
Time has passed and now she still hides from strangers, but lives in my bedroom. Periodically Gracie gets UTI's and has to go to the vet. Our signal for this is that suddenly she can pee in the toilet, my sink, and if that doesn't get my attention, my bed. Friday after noon I caught her in the toilet but misread what she was doing. She clarified it my peeing on my bed so I would understand. I made the call.
The vet requested that we put her in the carried about 4-5 hours before coming so there would be urine. I set the alarm to get up at 5am. This morning she was easy to find, I trapped her in a small room, stuffed her in the carrier. Gracie cussed at me, and unstuffed herself. I caught her again, stuffed her in the carrier. She got away. After a few more minutes I woke up Gary and got a roll of duct tape. We trapped her, stuffed her in the carrier and duct taped it securely. Gracie then began to howl.
The howling was constant most of the morning and for the 40 minute trip to the vet. She got a little sweeter when I opened the carrier and let her stick her head out, but I was really afraid it she might get away.
The vet was nice, squeezed her a bit, got some urine, shoved a thermometer into her (without introductions I might add), and gave her a shot. She doesn't have a UTI, but he suggested that she was angry with us about something (you think????). So she now has a nice pheromone collar to wear. Supposedly it will calm her down. Remind her of her mother.....
Since she looked a bit ratty when the vet saw her, I thought maybe a bath would be in order (he was concerned about her skin). So this afternoon Gracie was given a nice bath..... okay, I caught her, shoved her in a sink full of water, rubbed soap on her and rinsed her off, wrapped her in a towel and put her somewhere to dry.
I'm thinking about guarding my bed tonight.....
And the other cats are hiding.....
I've thought about making this a spiritual lesson. You know, how God looks out for us, doing things for our own good, yet we perceive this as trouble coming our way. But frankly, my only regret is that I have no pictures of Gracie getting her bath.
Time has passed and now she still hides from strangers, but lives in my bedroom. Periodically Gracie gets UTI's and has to go to the vet. Our signal for this is that suddenly she can pee in the toilet, my sink, and if that doesn't get my attention, my bed. Friday after noon I caught her in the toilet but misread what she was doing. She clarified it my peeing on my bed so I would understand. I made the call.
The vet requested that we put her in the carried about 4-5 hours before coming so there would be urine. I set the alarm to get up at 5am. This morning she was easy to find, I trapped her in a small room, stuffed her in the carrier. Gracie cussed at me, and unstuffed herself. I caught her again, stuffed her in the carrier. She got away. After a few more minutes I woke up Gary and got a roll of duct tape. We trapped her, stuffed her in the carrier and duct taped it securely. Gracie then began to howl.
The howling was constant most of the morning and for the 40 minute trip to the vet. She got a little sweeter when I opened the carrier and let her stick her head out, but I was really afraid it she might get away.
The vet was nice, squeezed her a bit, got some urine, shoved a thermometer into her (without introductions I might add), and gave her a shot. She doesn't have a UTI, but he suggested that she was angry with us about something (you think????). So she now has a nice pheromone collar to wear. Supposedly it will calm her down. Remind her of her mother.....
Since she looked a bit ratty when the vet saw her, I thought maybe a bath would be in order (he was concerned about her skin). So this afternoon Gracie was given a nice bath..... okay, I caught her, shoved her in a sink full of water, rubbed soap on her and rinsed her off, wrapped her in a towel and put her somewhere to dry.
I'm thinking about guarding my bed tonight.....
And the other cats are hiding.....
I've thought about making this a spiritual lesson. You know, how God looks out for us, doing things for our own good, yet we perceive this as trouble coming our way. But frankly, my only regret is that I have no pictures of Gracie getting her bath.
Friday, July 01, 2011
Good and Bad
Today I had a little girl I just want to remember. She came in because mom had noticed an abnormal eye movement. She's in the early elementary school age range. So PCP sent her for an MRI and today they received a call that it was abnormal.
When I first signed up for her as a patient I had heard mom was upset. I took her instead of my orientee. Went in, introduced myself to them and sat on the bed with the girl. I told her that my job was to do two things: one was to take care of her and the other was to help her and answer all her questions. The first thing she wanted to know was, duh, "am I going to get a shot?" I told her that I didn't know, but if I did we would talk about it first.
Of course the orders I got for her included a lot of blood work and an IV. I called Child Life to come and they did IV teaching with her. She was so brave, sat up on the bed and held still for me. I was so proud of her!
I explained to the parents every step that we would take, giving them all the time and attention I could. See, the thing is that this kid has something serious. This thing is probably not going to go well, and I wanted their first encounter with us to be positive, because it won't be their last.
It sucks because I want them all to walk out okay. Or at least if it's going to suck to be to loser parents and their ferrel kids. Not to these parents, not to this kid. So instead of being admitted over the holiday weekend, they are going to see the grandparents. Wise parents. Thank you to the doc that explained it to them in a way that they had a choice in what they did.
Today I'm proud of what I do. I really do have a ministry to the "least of these." And I'm very humbled by the bravery of a little girl who has parents that will walk her through the next part.
When I first signed up for her as a patient I had heard mom was upset. I took her instead of my orientee. Went in, introduced myself to them and sat on the bed with the girl. I told her that my job was to do two things: one was to take care of her and the other was to help her and answer all her questions. The first thing she wanted to know was, duh, "am I going to get a shot?" I told her that I didn't know, but if I did we would talk about it first.
Of course the orders I got for her included a lot of blood work and an IV. I called Child Life to come and they did IV teaching with her. She was so brave, sat up on the bed and held still for me. I was so proud of her!
I explained to the parents every step that we would take, giving them all the time and attention I could. See, the thing is that this kid has something serious. This thing is probably not going to go well, and I wanted their first encounter with us to be positive, because it won't be their last.
It sucks because I want them all to walk out okay. Or at least if it's going to suck to be to loser parents and their ferrel kids. Not to these parents, not to this kid. So instead of being admitted over the holiday weekend, they are going to see the grandparents. Wise parents. Thank you to the doc that explained it to them in a way that they had a choice in what they did.
Today I'm proud of what I do. I really do have a ministry to the "least of these." And I'm very humbled by the bravery of a little girl who has parents that will walk her through the next part.
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