Summertime....for now

It has been so long since I blogged. Life has been the same pretty much for me, working four to five days out of the week at Mira Vista Care Center. Eddie has been driving over the mountains to guide on the Wenatchee River with YD Adventures on the weekends. And I have been too tired to go with him. So I have been reading, reading, reading....I love missionary biographies!

Okay, the sun did come out every now and then, and very gratefully, we had a sunny, albeit, cool, Father's Day!

Laura with some buttercups she found on the trail

Grace looking at little creepy crawlies found in the stream.

At Last...Summertime!

Until last week, every day was the same grey and wet. We had an unusual amount of rain and the river was full. The sun came out around June 21st. I know that wherever you are, you are likely experiencing wild weather, or flooding, or rainy season (in Oaxaca), but the people in the Great Northwest are taking a break and having a joyous time celebrating summer!

Marilyn, Grace, Eddie and Sarah

Daddy Micah resting from long days of getting their new house ready to move into, and 21 month old Kaitlyn.

Micah, Amanda and Kaitlyn

Sarah enjoying her first S'more of the year!

Of course the best part of being home is being able to spend time with our sons and their families. We just had our first barbeque and s'mores. We have been enjoying the pool too! In fact yesterday I took my dirty clothes over to the laundermat, and swam while the clothes were washing.

Eddie spent all day yesterday babysitting Grace and Sarah, and I helped Micah and Amanda clean the new house so they can move in. I was greatly entertained by Kaitlyn's antics. When she is well fed, not tired, and not afraid that her mom is going to go away she really warms up to me.

Welcome Mercedes

Mercedes making her first S'mores.

Josh and Marilyn have an exchange student from near Madrid, Spain, a lovely girl named Mercedes. Laura, Marilyn's sister, is enjoying having someone to hang with and help her with Spanish.

Mercedes made real points with me by asking if I weren't Mexican, "because my Spanish is so good!" She sat with me in church Sunday. Though she speaks good English, she needed help with unfamiliar words like "outcast" and "worship" (Josh was preaching about the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4.)

The Gathering

We have been enjoying being a part of The Gathering. We attend two different homegroups, depending on which days I have off. Josh, has been preaching on the book of John, and I really enjoy his teaching. If you go to the website of the Gathering (in the sidebar to the right of the blog) you can listen to the sermons.

I am looking forward to the church campout in July. We are hoping that a group from the Gathering will be able to come to Roca Blanca for an outreach in November or October.

YD Adventures

Eddie at the lodge at Stonewater Ranch carrying his river gear

This was a hard shot to get, my camera just isn't fast enough, or maybe I used the wrong setting...Eddie is at the top of the photo in the yellow "coolie" hat, going through the rapids we call "Slant Six".

Eddie won't be going on the Gathering campout because he will be on the Salmon River in Idaho with YD Adventures. He also helped with the guide training this year, spending a week out at Stonewater Ranch, where we have so many friends.

Mr. & Mrs. Steven Erickson!

Last year when I was on the Salmon River I spent a lot of time talking with a young man named Steve. As we rode down the river on a gear boat he told me about his growing relationship with another YD staff guide, Katy.

It was so sweet, as it always is, to listen to the heart of a young man of God growing in love and maturity, with God, and with a beautiful young lady. It was wonderful to celebrate their wedding this summer along with their family and so many of the YD staff

Mira Vista Care Center

I have been working at Mira Vista since I was a nursing student in 1997. Mira Vista provides skilled nursing, and also long term care for the elderly. We care for more acute cases than a "nursing home" and so the work is always challenging.

I have come to recognize that caring for the elderly is a high calling. My co-workers and I do something that is often only recognized by the patients, their families and God. It is our pivilege to give dignity and value to people who are forgotten by society. We participate in some of the most intimate times of change and loss in the life of a family.

It is very hard work for me emotionally, especially as I age, and as I have lost my own mother. I am starting to care for patients my husband's age, and that is a bit of a shock....and disturbing. Still, I am able to give so much love, and it is reciprocated day by day by day.

One of the best parts of my work at Mira Vista, besides the patients, is a wonderful staff. Above all is our Director of Nursing, and our Administrator. Every year when I return from Mexico, they have done something to make ours the highest quality facility and a pleasant place to work.

With a few of my favorite co-workers, Aida, me, Lolita and Myra.

"I forgot I wasn't in Mexico"

I had a funny thing happen the other day. I had a young patient (62 years old) who suffered from chronic pain. I had done all I could to relieve her pain, including a warm blanket to her aching shoulders and ribs. When she sighed and said, "well, it's better, but it still aches so..." I just didn't know what more to do. Suddenly I found myself reaching out to lay hands on her to pray. I forgot I wasn't in Mexico!

Please understand, I have learned, and taught much about spiritual assessment, how to address patients' spiritual needs. But a nurse always needs to respect their patients wishes and always asks permission to pray.

But sometimes when you are having a tearful heart to heart with someone, you just naturally squeeze the hand and close your eyes and talk to the Father. And how good it is to bring the Lord's loving presence into that precious space.

I told the above story to one little gal, the widow of a Pentecostal pastor. She said to me, "Honey, you can pray for me any day!" And I have.

under His mercy

All our love to you all. We all are going through the days challenges learning more and more what it is to trust the Father. I have been suffering from a lot of serious knee pain these last few days. I know that many of our beloved friends are also finding the faithfulness of Christ in suffering.

As I read the histories of the modern day saints, missionaries who gave every last bit of devotion to Burma and China, and even to the abolition of the slave trade...I am humbled. I have not yet touched the full measure of suffering these mighty ones have known. Still, God does not minimize our individual sorrows, but promises to be with us and carry us!