Baby Valor

Earlier this Spring my sister Kara came to visit me at college for the weekend and told me that her and her husband of five years was pregnant. That was the good news. The not so good news was that her due date was September 28th, which was while I was going to be in Africa. 

Last week Kara began having intense abdominal pain. Her husband Nick took her to the hospital. After hours of confusion and many tests she was finally diagnosed with appendicitis and was schedule for an appendectomy. Due to her ruptured appendix and complications during surgery, one of her ovaries, fallopian tube and part of her intestine had to be removed. Kara and Nick have spent this last week in the hospital where Kara has been slowly recovering. Yesterday afternoon baby Valor’s heart rate dropped into the 60s three times and an emergency C-section had to be preformed almost four weeks before his due date. Today I am so happy to say that a beautiful and healthy baby boy was brought into the world Tuesday, September 2nd at 2:45pm. Our itsy bitsy baby weighs 4 pounds 14 ounces and is 19 inches long.

While I wish that I could be with my family during this joyful time, I couldn't wish for anything more than a healthy baby and mama. I was able to facetime with Kara, Nick and Valor this morning! Praising God for good internet in Zambia. 

Now, here is the part of my post where I spam you with photos of my precious nephew. I dare you not to smile :)

Mommy and Valor. She's doing well!

Proud daddy 

Papa, Daddy and baby Valor

Grandma and Valor

Happy family

Meeting Valor this morning through FaceTime! 
I was and still am smitten.

Hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I do!

Weekend in Lusaka

This has been an amazing first weekend in Zambia! We have eaten Zambian cuisine, been to an up-scale mall and went to the market. The market was a really awesome but a slightly overwhelming experience. The venders would call you over to their shop and stack numerous items in your hands in hopes that you would purchase at least one of them. And let me tell you, it worked. When the team got back on the bus we all had so many bags full of our new African possessions. 

 The market

 Zambian money - Kwacha. This 150 kwacha is equivalent to about 25 dollars.

One of my favorite buys! Made out of a Zambian coin.

Sunday morning we attended church at Munali Pilgrim Wesleyan Church. This is the church that our school is affiliated with here in Zambia. I cannot even begin to tell you how full this body of Christ was with the Holy Spirit. The worship team had about ten members who were all so musically blessed. They sang, clapped danced and shouted praises to the King. It is so amazing that these people across the globe worship the same God that I do in the States. The Pastor spoke about how God brings showers of blessings out of storms of adversity. He spoke about Paul, Job, Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego to show examples of blessings from storms. The pastor spoke with such passion and love. During the message I was struggling with the fact that these people living Zambia are praising God for their storms that are most likely much more difficult and serious than mine. If they have the faith and trust in God to overcome their storms then shouldn’t I be able to praise Him through mine? After all, adversity is the making of miracles.

Today (Monday) we got the awesome opportunity to tour Beit Cure Hosptial. It is a pediatric hospital that is completely free of charge for the patients. It is such an amazing place full of loving nurses and other staff members. There are many different units including the children's inpatient ward, a children’s clinic, physiotherapy, and X-ray lab, ENT and audiology. My heart broke so many times as I looked at the beautiful of the sick and hurting children, but I guess a lot of that is still to come as our clinicals begin. 

Children's In-Patient Ward

 The Cure Family Tree - Shows different locations of Biet Cure Hospitals around the world. Such an awesome organization!

I thought this mirror in the hospital was so sweet.

One of the precious little girls in the hospital - Don't worry, there aren't any HIPPA laws in Zambia! 

 These are correction device shoes made for children after club foot surgery.

  And here is the man who makes them all.

So to end I thought that I would show you some photos of where we are staying here in Lusaka. We will be here until Thursday and then we are off to Choma!

The compound

 Our meal area and homework spot

 My view every morning. Learning to like mosquito nets!

Until next time!!

Joy

We Made It!

One inspiring commissioning service, a tearful prayer send off, a two hour bus ride, three plane rides (one being a whopping 18 hours, yikes!), four airplane meals, and one more 20 minute bus ride, we are finally in Zambia! I cannot even begin to tell you how excited we were to see African soil after being in the air for so long.

3 months packed up into 3 bags

My lovely friends came to see me off!

Team selfie on the way to the airport!

For the next few days we are living in Lusaka, Zambia's capitol. We are staying in a very nice guest house/compound. Here is a picture of one of the rooms! They are easing us into the Zambian life, ha! We even have good internet here and I have yet to see a spider in the house!

Our guest house hosts are preparing breakfast for us in the morning and then we are heading to an upper class Zambian mall then on Sunday we are going to the market! We are trying to pack this weekend with some fun activities because classes start on Monday. 

I can't wait to see what is in store for our team during the next eleven weeks. We have great team, awesome professors and an almightily God who will protect us and guide us through it all. Well that's it for tonight! I will try to post as often as the internet allows!

Cruch Time (written on August 13th)

In just five days I will be heading to campus for a week of preparation for our three months in Zambia. During this week we will be beginning out classes (Community Health Nursing, Leadership Nursing, Transcultural Nursing and Professional Transitions, an NCLEX prep class). 
Along with our studies we will be taking personality test assessments, engaging in team bonding activities, learning how to place IVs (on each other, YIKES), taking Tonga classes (the native language), having sessions with Indiana Wesleyan's Dean of Chapel about the spiritual and emotional aspects of the trip and so much more! 

But before I can even being to think about next week I need to finish packing! It is so difficult to put three months worth of necessitates into one 50 pound bag, a carry on and a backpack. At this point it seems impossible! Packing isn't the only preparation I have been focusing on though. Over the summer I have been praying for our team. We have such a great group of students and professors traveling with us. God is going to use each of us in such a special way and I cannot wait to experience it! I have also been praying a very difficult prayer that is allowing Christ to break my heart for what breaks His. In Africa I am going to be introduced to some sights that I have never seen or even knew existed  I am going to see a entirely different realm of pain and suffering. While this prayer scares me and opens me up to a world of hurt, I have such a desire to see and love others like Christ loves them. We are all His precious and beloved children. 

God uses the willing, not the qualified.

Growing up in Wheaton, Illinois, I did not have much knowledge about the brokenness of the world that we live in. My Dad was involved in short term missions at my church and would travel to different countries once a year. When he would come home he would show me photos from his trip of famine, disease and homelessness. I remember looking at the photos and taking it all in. I could not believe that there were people, just like me and families just like mine that were living in such terrible conditions. Yet, I did nothing about it. 

When I was 17 years old I went on a two week missions trip to Honduras with my youth group. There I was introduced to some of the sights my Dad had shown me in his photos. This different way of life started to become more real to me. Now as I prepare for three months over-seas in Zambia, I often find myself thinking back to those photos. Seeing the faces of the children in the laying in hospital beds, the people living on the streets and the families who did not know where their next meal would come from. 

Part of me thinks that because I have this foreknowledge that I will be slightly prepared for what we see in Africa. But then the other part of me feels completely unequipped. The latter makes up most of my thoughts these days. I recently received a letter in the mail from a friend and previous Zambia abroad student. She told me that she had some of the same feelings the summer before she left for Africa. She also told me some of the best advice I have received thus far about the trip. God uses the willing, not the qualified. I am so thankful for that trait of God. 

My prayer is that over the next few weeks and during the course of the semester in Zambia, God will allow me to gain knowledge through my classes, clinicals, the other students and every day situations to better prepare me for the trip. However, God has hand picked every single person going on this trip. He has chosen us not because we are qualified, but because we are willing. 

First pair of Chacos! These shoes will take me to some pretty amazing places. Counting down the days until we leave for Zambia! (It's 50 by the way!)

Psalm 31:5 Into Your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me Lord, my faithful God.

I commit my spirit. What does the word commit actually mean? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines commit as to put in charge, to trust or to pledge oneself. Dictionary.com says that commit is to entrust something to someone for safekeeping. And once again, the Oxford Dictionary says that to commit is to bind to yourself to another. All definitions are saying that to commit is to give up willingly with full trust. 

As I prepare to travel over 8,000 miles to a country, let alone a continent that I have never stepped foot in, I have chosen to commit my spirit, my trust and this trip to my never failing God. In 90 short days I will fly out of the Indianapolis International Airport with 15 other nursing students and our leaders: professor, clinical instructor and resident assistant. 

During our three months in Zambia we will be traveling to three different towns: Lusaka, Choma and Zimba. Along with our 12-15 credit hours of nursing classes, we will be working in the local clinics, hospitals and orphanages. These hours will be spent along side doctors, nurses and Zambian nursing students as we give Christ-like care to our patients. (I heard that a few of the students who went to Zambia last year were lucky enough to help deliver a few babies!! Fingers crossed!)

In this blog I will write about the trip, post photos and maybe even videos for all of you back home to view. Because we will not have phone service in Zambia, this will most likely be the main source of communication.  I will try as hard as I can to post consistently, however we may not always have internet, so you may need to be patient! 

My hope is that you will be praying for our team as we face poverty, AIDS, malnourishment and death in Africa. Please pray for God to strengthen and use us in order to fulfill His plan. In the book of Jeremiah, we are told that God knows the plans that He has for us. I believe that the Lord has hand picked each of the students going on the trip and He knows what we will be facing. As we leave the comfort of home and travel across the globe, I would love for you to follow the blog and leave comments and encouragement during the three months that I will be in Zambia!

To God be the glory now and forever. Amen.
Joy