I realize a Happy Thanksgiving title may be a little late, however, I hope the spirit of the holiday is fresh at hand. This year Ian and I spent Thanksgiving with our dear friends Mary and Rebecca.  It was a genuine time of joy and giving thanks.  

Ian and Mary cutting the turkey

I truly enjoy spending time with them, the conversations are never forced or superficial, and often go very deep. Someone once told me that a friendships is a special soul agreement, this holds very true with them. 

As Thanksgiving and Christmas approached this year I had a lot of mixed feelings.  I think a lot of it stems from my voracious reading of several humanitarian non-fictions. I may very well be reaching DSM criteria for neurosis regarding this new obsession, but I am totally ok with that. 

Enjoying one of my books

It has become a journey for me, a real quest to do something to change the current system and to learn about what the world is like outside of my little box. 

To quote a young Cambodian girl who suffered tremendously during the Pol Pot regime,  the real measure of your wealth is how much you would be worth if you lost everything.  This really made me stop and think (and continue to still be thinking). 

Ian contemplating such thoughts on our hikes. The inspiration coming from the tea he holds in his left hand

What if I did lose it all? What kind of person would I be if I were stripped of all the material possessions that currently give me status and meaning? And, better yet, if this did happen, would I like the person facing me in the mirror? 

At a time when so much craziness (lets call it what it is) surrounds our most precious and sacred holidays,  when we kill people over a parking spot on Black Friday or fight over the latest XBox, what does this mean about our worth? 

The holidays always seem to be a let down for me. Not only has the meaning seemed to have cheapened, but almost entirely forgotten throughout much of the year. There is a ton of gifting and shopping hype for one day, a few hours even, and then the spirit is all over and forgotten for another 11 months.  

I no longer want this bipolar relationship with life. As a matter of fact, I am choosing to not go the material route anymore.  I would rather exchange a few hours of unwapping for a lifetime of true giving, to be someone who could lose it all and still gain the world. 

So, I read, I learn, and I pray.  I listen to my inner voice and I ask. Then i respond, hoping that others will share with me as well. Like Margaret Mead once said, never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens could change the world; indeed it is the only thing that has.  

We are a beautiful creation, in fact fearfully and wonderfully made. Isn't it time that we look behind our commercialized materialism and see our souls instead? 

I by no means have this journey figured out, and in some ways am more confused than ever.  But I do know that for once I am really enjoying finding this side of myself.  

It seems that each day I am more comfortable stripping away pieces of the outer shell and seeing the inner me, it all its goodness and filth.  And, with each layer that is peeled away I gain more  freedom to be what my Creator intended me to be. 

This goodness in motion carried over as I was able to share a piece of my passion with colleagues. In a few weeks I will be headed back to Nicaragua on another medical mission trip.  And like last year I decided to put on another dress making event.  

I had a great response last year. People really seemed to enjoy giving toward a cause. Therefore, it seemed very timely to do this right before Christmas. 

The dresses that I made

Today was the first day or our two day sewing extravaganza. This year in addition to the little dresses I also decided to make school uniform skirts for the little girls.

In most of the 3rd world you have to have a uniform to attend school (navy blue skirts and white collared shirts). Unfortunately, many of the children cannot afford such luxuries and therefore do not attend school. 

I thought that this would be a great way to join our talents to change lives. And, the response this year was again fabulous.  It just feels good to join together with others, man surely wasn't created to be alone. 

 Tomorrow our efforts will continue, but my hope is that those who attend will see the greater meaning of my cause, loving others as you love yourself. 

I am really looking forward to heading back on the field again this year. I have been taking  classes in preparation for a PhD in Global Health and am anxious to apply my new found knowledge to better serve in the 3rd world.  

 Each time I travel I feel I have a better understanding of what it means to live in poverty.  So often I have defined the situation through my North American eyes. Poverty = lack of food, clean water, shelter, medicine, etc and have therefore tried to muscle change through providing medical care. 

Often it just isn't enough and the problems seem so overwhelming. What I am learning, though,  is that through the eyes of the poor, poverty equals shame, humiliation, hopelessness, powerlessness, and despair. Where I once saw things as purely material, I now see them largely as psychosocial. 

Sure, they need the material, but more so I believe that they need to be validated and held worthy as citizens of this world also.  To have a voice and the power to change your circumstances is real wealth.  I am truly grateful that I have the opportunity to learn from others, to hear their stories and use my voice to help give them one as well. 

In the last year things have come around full circle for me, mostly in the pursuit of going back to school.  Ideas are now becoming realities and passions are becoming a lifestyle.  

And one thing I am really passionate about did become reality last month! 

I became a die hard Hunger Games fan (maybe even verging on a little dorky) immediately after I finished the trilogy. Some may say that is only about people killing each other (how different is that from our current world anyway) but I found a higher  and more meaningful symbology from it all. 

As a matter of fact, I see a close correlation with the movie and our current system of social justice and the great social divide.  And I proudly wear my mocking jay pin on my purse everyday (thanks Gretchen!) 

So,  my fabulous husband, Ian, bought me tickets to the Juneau premiere of the latest movie, Catching Fire. Yes, we stood out in the cold and freezing rain to watch the 12:01 am first showing with all the other 14 year old girls.  So glad that he understands me! 

But if you ask him, I think he enjoyed it also, at least he had a reason to get the movie theatre popcorn. 

I wish you all a very meaningful holiday season, and hope that your goodness, love, joy, and peace will continue through this year and into the next. May we continue to respond where we see a need and even more so when we don't. And may the reflection of our souls determine our true wealth. 

Blessings

Sarah 

It has been a while since I have updated the blog. Lots of little adventures have happened in the last month, some noteworthy, others just day to day living.  Even though I pride myself on having avoided Facebook, I have to laugh that I am a blogger. What is the difference, really? 

Hopefully, though, our message is not about romanticising our life in an array of picture showcases, but of the honest path that we are on.  My hope is that as Ian and I continue to learn about our hearts desires, it may stir yours as well. 

However, I must explain the pictures, right? In September myself and 10 other teammates ran The Klondike, a 120 mile relay race from Skagway, Alaska to White Horse, Canada.

The entire race took us just over 24 hours to complete. I ran leg #4 which was 14.2 miles. Although I am not accustomed to waking up to run for two hours in the middle of the night (at 1:00 am), running in pitch darkness and rain was actually not too bad. I would even say therapeutic. Go figure.

Like a continuous game of hide and seek the drivers would meet us every 2-3 miles fueling us up with water or snacks (or a toast of champagne at mile 6) before heading on to the next check point.  Part of the fun was scouring the road in the darkness for headlamps and flashing lights.

Afterward we stayed at a beautiful bed and breakfast located on a hillside lake ( I cannot for the life of me remember the name!) As usual, the scenery during the race and on the drive / ferry ride home was gorgeous.

Not long after my race Ian took Miles, our little, zip lining.  Almost 7 months ago Ian and I joined the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.  Rock climbing, whale watching, hiking, and cooking has kept us pretty busy.

Ian is an absolute natural with children, admittedly, better than me.  Its fun to watch him and Miles imitate Top Gun / fighter pilot, the childlike play and innocence if refreshing.

Still, some of my favorite times are being alone in nature with Ian. Some of our best talks sping from the quite stillness that nature brings.

A few weeks ago we went on a hunt for hieroglyphics tucked away on the ocean coast. After a quick hike we found the giant bolder with what actually appeared to be ancient carvings. Unfortunately my camera did not get the best picture so you will just have to take our word for it.

So that pretty much sums our recent month of adventures. Most importantly a lot has been swirling around personally.  I have been absorbed (and I mean totally absorbed) in some humanitarian novels that I have recently read. My dear friend, Laurie, sent me a book for my birthday that I have been meaning to read for sometime but was too cheap to purchase, Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder.

It is the true story of Dr. Paul Farmer and his work in Haiti. Not only was this book timely as I will be heading to Haiti next May, but it sent waves into my slowly calming ocean. And, I am so thankful that it shook things up again.

One of my greatest fears is becoming comfortable, stagnant, and unaware. I love how Bernard Shaw, the Nobel Prize winning journalist and playwright puts it:

This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one, being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish clod of ailments or grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

Life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die  -  for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake.

Life is no brief candle, it is a sort of splendid torch which I have a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handling it over to future generations.

Those three paragraphs are a pillar in my life.

I just finished a story about the Lost Boys of Sudan, the thousands of presumably orphaned children age 3-10 who were displaced by the second Sudanese Civil war from 1983-2005. Somehow they traveled over a thousand miles through the deserts of Sudan amidst starvation, dehydration, sickness, disease and attacks by animals and soldiers to seek refuge Kenya and Ethiopia.

I wept through most of this book, this could have been me or my brothers, Jason or Blake.  We are (were) the same age during that time.  And,  this kind of life is not over for most of the world. We are now living in a world where 1/6 have too much for their own good and nearly 3/4 starve for basic necessities.  Daily, wars rage endemically and natural resources are both rapidly degraded and selfishly used up.

Why is this happening? What can I do?

St. Augustine, the 4th century saint, knew the answer even back then, it is better to need less than to have more.

As we prepare to enter this material smorgasbord holiday season, may those of us in the top 1/6 become more aware of the bottom billion around us, and be moved to do something about it.  May our conscious demand us to exchange our monthly Starbuck habit to sponsor a child.

And above all, may we strive to be thoroughly used up when we pass our torches on.

Blessings, peace, and above all love

- Sarah 

p.s. If you want to sponsor a child, I have a wonderful organization that I use. 90% of the proceeds go the children for food, clothing, education, etc. For only $25 per month you can change the life of a child and their generations to come.  Torch by torch we can! 

Honduras

You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you, and allowing that goodness to emerge - A word of wisdom learned in Honduras.

Our Medical Team

Earlier this month I went with 16 others to Honduras on a 10 day medical mission.  With only 4 medical providers and a physical therapist we were able to see over 1100 people. 

The providers and our interpreters

Even though the purpose of our trip to  Honduras was to help others, I received some soul medicine of my own.  Of course there is great joy in being with a beautiful group of many like minded people. But on this trip, my experience of truth was found in the quiet solace of inner reflection within my soul.  

Rarely have I ever come home from such trips feeling like I have accomplished nothing. Most of the time I come back sharing stories from the field of the large number of patients we treated, the rare diseases we diagnosed, and the extreme poverty that we see. Although all the above still occurred,  this time I walked away with a better understanding of others and myself.  

My first sense of this awareness came while listening to a patients heart beat. The make shift clinic that we set up was extremely noisy and somewhere in between the construction crew breaking up the road outside with a jackhammer and the constant bustle of a busy clinic I heard, for the first time, the song of a heart beat. 

As I closed my eyes to concentrate on the rhythm and rate I felt with absolute certainty  connectedness to life. The rhythmic chant of the beats was the same as the several thousand hearts I have heard throughout my career, but for the first time it completely dawned on me, the striking similarity of us all. 

My new Buddy,  Ishwar.

This was not an ephemeral or fleeting moment, but a true experience.  Across borders, cultures, languages, and religions, I understood that at our core we are the same.  

I admit that much of my life prior to the last 3 years I have felt indifferent and detached from the rest of the world.  When news of conflicts in the Middle East, famines across the world, or growing numbers of refugees would come up, it would frustrate and anger me for a few moments but quickly these fleeting thoughts would end.  Throughout my "busy" life I spent very little if any time reflecting on what I read and back to into my Stepford life I would be absorbed.  And through my continued ignorance to the rest of the world, further spreading injustice. 

However, it has become increasingly apparent to me that I can no longer sit here while my fellow brothers and sisters suffer. If this similarity exists, if we are all citizens of this world alike, then I have a responsibility to learn, understand, and respond. I not only believe that everyone has a story, but that all of them are intertwined into a larger whole. 

My medical mission sisters, Kim (Pharmacist) and Debbie (nurse)

Roommates, Ashley and Kim

In the last 3 years I have started to read the world news first, opting not to fixate on what Kim Kardashian is doing or the latest Hollywood trends. Rarely do those stories ever leave me feeling empowered or encouraged anyway. I cannot say that reading about the 1 million Syrian children refugees encourages me either, but it does give me something to pray about and someone to hope for.  

Beki, one of the sweetest nurses I know. 

 It holds me responsible when I consume more than I should or waste unnecessarily,  and it re-directs my thoughts off my not so significant problems to a much greater plan. 

So I can say my time in Honduras was a blessing,  it showed me a very important truth. I hope for the day when guns are laid down and hands are held instead, when our human experiences are enriched together as we recognize the similarity in us all. 

The Niecko's

The family fun continues! Last week we welcomed the Niecko / Jacoby family to Juneau via the Holland America Cruise line.  Their cruise ship departed from Seattle and headed to the great Alaskan southeast with a stop in Juneau. Although they only docked for a short 10 hours, we were able to squeeze in a lot (literally squeeeeeze) and show them the best of Juneau.  

Fortunately for them they had a personal tour guide waiting for their arrival. If you have really good eyes you will see that the very handsome tour guide is holding up "Niecko party of 6" signs....This same tour guide was able to convince the Niecko clan into taking an all day excursion with him.  As you can see below, Niecko himself stood by as a sign of approval. 

And, the matriarch of the Niecko clan, Dianne,  seemed to warm up to the tour guide immediately.  In viewing the picture, one would sense that they went together like peas and carrots.

The first stop on the adventure tour was up the Mt Roberts Tram. As always the view did not disappoint. 

Our next stop was to the Mendenhall Glacier. It is always fun to show people this natural wonder. Ian's niece, Evian, was particularly excited about all the nature and wildlife. She is quite the little scientist and author. At the tender age of 7 she has already authored and illustrated many non-fiction books.  My inner child completely related with hers and I found myself truly enjoying our time together. If I was about 26 years younger I am sure that she would be my best friend.  

Remember when I mentioned squeeze? Well, this is how we ride in style! Our little Subi did a wonderful job carrying all of its 6 adults and 2 children around. Way to go Subi Family Truckster! Part of the adventure for me was being able to 1) fit in the back and 2) survive the odd smells coming from a certain persons feet. 

Ian had a really great time reconnecting with his mini me, Niecko. There is a really special bond between them, something that no time or distance can change. And of course, no trio would be complete without the Polish Prince, Jon. 

Perhaps, though, the best surprise was coming upon a mother black bear and her two cubs. I am not sure who spotted this first, but we all gazed in wonder at this rare opportunity to see such an adorable sight.  As a side note, we did save a lady's life as well. Wearing her headphones and power walking around the bend straight unto the mother bears path, we alerted her just in time so she could turn back.   Click play to see and make sure to blow it up so you can see the bears. For those of you a little computer challenged, it is the broken square in the right corner of the youtube screen. 

I really enjoy watching wildlife behaviors. I think that there is so much we can learn from their patterns.    Be it a flock of sea birds all waiting their turn to lift off, the sea lions frolicking together in the gentle waves,  the snow geese flying in tandem and alternating leaders when they tire, or the mothers caring for their young, I see constant patterns of love, sharing, and community all over our world.   

Sometimes I think, though, that humans are completely missing the mark.  I imagine that we were once innately aware of community and fellowship,  but somehow the "we" of our lives was replaced with the "I and me"  that so often categorize our everyday decisions.  

Thankfully, though, I often see a tender moment such as the above.  It reminds me that something innate cannot be taken away, that Love still very much exists here.  Our world just needs more flames to go out and light the fires in others, one torch at a time. 

And what family vacation would be complete without food? As our time came to a close we splurged on non-vegan wheat filled pizza. And Uncle Ian and Aunt Sarah's bowels payed for it the next 2 days.

As always, I am so thankful for my family. It truly is a blessing to know that they are not starving, in the midst of a civil war, are well sheltered, healthy, and safe.  I think of all the other mothers, brothers and families of this world who cannot say the above and it does sadden my soul.  Loving them truly helps me love others and gives me courage to live a life for change.

So thank you Niecko / Jacoby family for sharing your lives with us, supporting us, and being a constant renewing foundation for us. We love you so much!