1st Anniversay (a reflection)

We had a very busy weekend. Ian was invited to participate in a basketball tournament.  He called himself "The Great White Hope" which has now become quite a joke between us. Basketball here is a huge deal and it is common to find 50-60 year old men and woman playing regularly in a league.

Great White Hope

Since Ian is athletic we both thought that his skills would make him a competitive match against any challenger. Unfortunately the street ball play found here required a lot more endurance than skill. More surprising is the reputation that Ian now has in the village. Since Ian was called to be the center for the team, word around our village is that "white men can jump."  Unfortunately they lost their first two games, but Ian won some local fans.

March 14 was our 1st anniversary, who would have thought we would be spending it in rural Alaska! I was in church this morning reflecting over the very fast last year and how blessed we both are. The first blessing was for the work that God has done in our lives. His unconditional love and devotion to us has been overwhelming to say the least. The second blessing was for the physical way that he showed this, through our parents.

I really believe that God has used both my parent's and Ian's as vessels to show us his love. I want to thank Dianne, Ian's mom, for her act of faith in bringing Ian into my life. I remember the first time I met Dianne at the Nursing Clinic. In comparison to her "Princess Dianna" like appeal, she is even more beautiful on the inside. On an unusually slow day seeing patients, she shared with me her great life story and then described her son, Ian, making for a wonderful finale.  I remember trying to see the last name on her lab coat, just in case...a girl always thinks of those things. Getting a new and GOOD last name is a big deal. And, so began the adventure of meeting and falling in love with Ian. Thank you again, Dianne, for sharing the life of your son with me!

Speaking of mothers, my own mother deserves praise for her endless hours of prayer. Thank you mom for your continual prayer for my "husband." I believe that Ian is in my life because of them. Your faith and continual devotion to the Lord manifests daily in the way you bless others. I am so proud to call you mother and best friend.

Next up are our fathers. Jon, I thank you for your example in Ian's life. Your life of charity has been passed on to your son. As little eyes watched you continally give, a man grew in your shadow. Your random acts of kindness planted seeds into your son who reflects your giving heart to this day. You didnt just give him a great last name, but a legacy of servethood as well.

And to my dad. I thank you for also being an example. Quite honestly you are probably the most faithful man I know. You endless devotion to the Lord and in following his comands set a high standard  for any man that I could marry. Through you I learned the importance of needing a spiritual leader to be the head of my household and marriage. I thank you also for your prayers in my life, and for the friendship you have established with Ian.

One thing I am begenning to understand is that God does things with purpose. There is a purpose to why one of his greatest 10 commandments is to honor your mother and father. Not just because they often know what is best, but because he uses them as vessels to bless his children.

The 3rd blessing over the last year is seeing the Niecko's, Ringenberg's, Jacoby's, and El-Shaarways's come together. I just LOVE that our mom's have become fast friends (sister-sister), our fathers share a common love for old and rusty junk (I mean things....haha), my brothers often call to talk to Ian and sometimes forget to ask about me, and I now have two new sisters to share clothes with. Through the marriage of two people came the larger establishment of friendship and love. So often the union of two people is only that, two people. Ian and I are blessed that the covenant between us really did bring together the growth of one family.

Wherever I go, there I am....

First, let me say congratulations to my sister Brianne, and Terek, who just had a baby boy!! We can't wait to meet Malek. Also, happy birthday Pappa John! You are so appreciated and loved by all your family.

 

Today the gears have shifted slightly. Sarah has differed the next blog to me. Since it has been so long, she figured people may like to hear from me. So I thought i would oblige. Since I last wrote (the first blog entry), life has happened very rapidly. I wrote this title as a bit of a twinkle in my eye, but also with hopes to get the cranks in your head turning early. So a little about the title..

I saw a trailer for a particular movie that showed a couple striving/working really hard to come to a particular place in life, one everyone else around them was looking for as well: Secure a nice suburban home, attain to a steady well-paying job, have children, and work your best to maintain it. They achieved all of this..Exactly what they were aiming for. The irony, however, was it was not like they thought it would be. The wife started to question the whole way of life, as far as the people around them were living and practicing it. She said things like, "who made these rules?" "Who said we have to do this." "This was not like I thought it would be." She was in fact questioning, in a way, not unlike Jesus, the way one lives life. A thought, indirectly related to the trailer, blazed across my mind...... Wherever you are in life, your heart will follow you. I for one, do not despise vacations or new locations, I mean, where we are now fits that bill pretty well. However, restlessness, irritability, anger, if existing in the heart, will follow one on that "vacation" as well. Jesus was telling the Jews of His day, that true kingdom people must deal with their motivations and intentions (hearts). Sooner or later, people will help you see it in yourself. They are always faithful to do so!  So this led me back to the biggie question again. What is the point in life? Just...why?

Maybe big question is not at all "how can I best be satisfied or fulfilled?" It's not that I do not believe the Scriptures address this issue, in fact, they do. But they come at it from a different angle. Jesus' sole concern was "pleasing" the Father. He wanted Him to get the love and respect he deserved from "His people." This obviously meant even at the expense of His own life. In that kind of loyalty and committment, no one experienced more of a blessed and purposeful life. The gift is open to all, a gift of grace. "Whoever drinks of me will NEVER be thirsty!" So why are so many thirsty today? Could it be because we go to everything else before Jesus to quench our thirst? Can Jesus, really, today, 2000 years later, quench our thirst? Is your cup overflowing? Are you quenching your thirst on Jesus,or are you quenching on things that appear to have life, but, as the scripture says,  in the end lead to death? I personally believe this is why Jesus says in Matt 7 that the way is wide that leads to destruction, and many (most) take it, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few find it. This is not focused on going to heaven and hell, but about who enters into the true LIFE right now. Again, the gift is free, for all who would come, but to experience the narrow way, the only thing Jesus wants in return is your full love, attention, and loyalty. The relationship is always on HIS terms, it is a covenant (marriage). Afer all, would you expect anything less from your spouse. :)

Speaking of spouses,I am so glad Sarah is back. We have now worked 3 weeks together. It is quite fun. Sometimes, I get to go to her office and tell her to change or correct something on a form. But to watch my girl in action has been a blessing. She is GOOD at her work. Of course, I know many of you who know me are inside laughing at the thought of me doing admin work, let alone in a clinic/health-care setting. I have observed, in my short life, the conspicuous absence of males in admin work, esp. in hospital/clinic settings. Not sure if this is partly due to the minimal locations I've purviewed, or something else. I suspect guys were not created for this type of work. :) I can't express how many times I've said "whoops," "my bad," or "sorry" in just 2 short months. I am surrounded by very capable women on all fronts. A little of what I do: I book travel for village to village flights, village to Anchorage, file charts, register patients, make appointments for audiology, dental, physical therapy, mammograms, optometry, even drive people sometimes. In saying all this, I may soon be transitioning to a position in behavioral health. This is what I originally applied for, but it was filled. I will talk more about this if it happens.

Here are some pics as we went out snow-machining with some friends today. Wow, the scenery on the hills was outstanding. Unfortunately, I was focused on just maintaining balance on our machine, and so I could not look as often as I would have liked. Nonetheless, when we stopped it was breathtaking, really. I even made a hobbit-sized hole in the side of the hill. 

Ian's Igloo




God is working here. Sarah was able to pray with a person with deep anxiety issues. This person felt a major relief after this prayer. He maintains Jesus kept him from further self-destruction. I have been meeting with a group of Chrisitian men every Thursday night. One guy flies his plane in every Thurs for the meeting. (haha). Thinking about flying lessons myself. These guys have me interested. We may be planning a retreat in the summer soon. Men desiring to do business with God alone and together! We all would end up flying to the location. Everyone flies!

View on top of small mountain

Finally, communication is still difficult, as Sarah and I are without internet and phone. We do our business at the clinic. Hopefully, that will change as April comes. We are open to having any of you come out and spend some time with us. We have room!


 

My First Code x 2

And so begins life on call. Last night I actually received my first somewhat emergent call at 1:00 am. After figuring out what to do I eagerly tried to go back to sleep. Unfortunately, this never fully came and I found myself eating a homemade carrot/apple muffin at 2:00 am and sitting on my couch reading. Eventually I made my way back to bed and finished the restless night.


Needless to say I was quite groggy this AM. Even though I did a few joint injections, a toenail removal, and saw countless influenza illnesses, I felt like the day was never going to end. Then around 5:45 when I was getting ready to pack up and leave two emergencies came in. My first was a young septic girl and my second was a man actively having a heart attack. Suddenly I found myself in a whirlwind of EKG's, labs, IV fluids, meds, blood cultures, and chaos. My empty ER was soon full and here I am at 9:40 pm waiting on my second troponin before I activate a Medivac.

We have been very short staffed this last week due to the flu and so both Ian and I have been extremely busy. It is amazing how much you learn to depend on people.  Thankfully tonight I had an amazing health aid (like a nurse) who was able to take care of a lot. It has been so long since I have had to start an IV or get fluids going, she was absolutely irreplaceable tonight.

Ian has also been extremely swamped in the front as both of his colleagues have been out. For a couple of days he was even the lone man in charge. There were actually a couple of nights that we both got home and just stared at the wall not sure what to think. Thankfully we can both laugh about it now.

Office Man Ian

This weekend Aniak is hosting a basketball tournament and I think we will be attending Friday night's games. It is a pretty big deal here and I am sure that most of the village will be attending (all 500 of us). The transition into the village has been very smooth and Ian is already established in a weekly men's group. I am planning on attending the women's sowing club that meets every Sunday and we have been contemplating on joining the weekly co-ed volleyball team.



Other fun news in our life is that we also got into our first ATV accident. I will not say who or how, only that we crashed and cracked the rim of our quad. Thankfully no one got hurt and only minor bruises were attained. The ATV is also fine, I think it looks loved now.

Hoppy, My NP Colleague

Another cool thing happened last week with our janitor. Without going into detail, someone anomalously gave him a little extra $$ for all of his hard work. Last week he also had the flu, but because he was concerned about not getting paid if he left,  he continued to work everyday that he was ill. When asked why he just wouldn't take the day off he replied that he wanted to be able to support his family. He has such an exemplary work ethic and such a peaceful and pleasant demeanor. When he opened the envelope of money the other night his smile was completely priceless. He then went out and bought Ian a Pepsi and a Slim Jim and gave him a hand written Thank You letter to the anonymous donor. He is such a blessing and his gracious and thankful heart was so awesome. I am really hoping that Ian and I can befriend him and talk to him about the Lord. There is a real gentleness and tenderness about his spirit that makes you think about Christ. With the little that he has been given, he is a great ray of light.

I also want to wish a very Happy Birthday to Mama Dianne! We love you and miss you!