The last month

Well, it's been almost a month since I last posted....somehow I don't feel like I have much to contribute here, but I owe it to everyone supporting and praying for me to update you on what I've been doing.....besides just adjusting.

I spoke at Pendleton United Methodist Church and shared about what I had been doing in Moz since my last visit, why I'm giving my life away to serve His people, and what I'm up to for this next year.  PUMC is always a joy to go visit and speak at cause it's the church I grew up in since I was 2.  My parents and sister still attend there and in typical small town church fashion, I know the majority of the members.  For such a small church, they support me in a big way and for that I'm blessed and thankful.

A few weeks ago I got to speak at Fellowship Bible Church here in Nashville.  They are my home church and have supported me before I left and continue to support me.  I love the heart of that church!  I was blessed to get to speak in a capacity I rarely get to speak in....they asked me to speak to the 1st grade classes during their 4 services as they had been doing a whole unit on missionaries, other countries, and God's heart for missions.  So I prepared a small slide show to visually show the kids how the life of the kids in Moz greatly differs from their own lives here.  Then I shared the heart of God for their brothers and sisters in Christ and encouraged them to find their own mission field here in Nashville, in their own neighborhoods and schools and to live out this verse (one of my favs):

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of the destitute.

Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

-Proverbs 31:  8-9

As far as speaking engagements go...I have 2 more pinned down in September in Auburn, AL....one in a cultural class back at my old nursing school at Auburn University and at least once at the Christian fellowship group I was part of while in college, the Auburn Wesley Foundation.  I'm super excited about both of these opportunities and will give you more specific details soon when they are nailed down a bit better!

I started work 4 weeks ago and it's been good....ok not the 3 adult floor shifts I was forced to do (we all know how i feel about big people patients), but it's good and I'm excited about working there.....you wanna know 2 good reasons....a-FREE parking in downtown Nashville less than a block away from work....shut it!  I used to pay a ridiculous amount to go to work everyday.  Stupid big cities.  b-their mission statement is THIS: 

Rooted in the loving ministry of Jesus as healer, we commit ourselves to serving all persons with special attention to those who are poor and vulnerable.

Our Catholic health ministry is dedicated to spiritually centered, holistic care which sustains and improves the health of individuals and communities.

We are advocates for a compassionate and just society through our actions and our words.

And it's not just written down some place, or plastered on their walls, or put in pamphlets, or posted on their webpage (although you can find it in all of those places)....it's what they LIVE OUT and encourage you to LIVE OUT.  And in this day and age as a healthcare worker in a hospital setting, being able to openly ask my patient's families if i can pray with them is incredibly FREEING and exciting!

School started this week and is kicking my BUTT!!!!!  Ok, it's just going to take a bit of getting used to but, it's seriously a full-time job (think over 40 hours a week) and it's stressing me out a bit!  But I know this is God's plan and it's why I'm in the States for this season and I'm excited about the classes I'm taking.  So, I'm attempting to make the most of it.  The classes are going to be a huge blessing and are so applicable.  This semester I'm taking 4:  Environmental health in resource limited environments (all about water and sanitation and stuff like that); Nutrition in resource limited environments (how nutrition affects disease processes and how to be nutritious in places where food is severely lacking); Maternal child health (pregnancy and children in developing nations); and Refugees and internally displaced persons' health (topics especially related to this special population)  Prayers over the next 8 weeks as I finish this round of classes would be much appreciated....especially when I start working night shift and more of my time is eaten up by work and sleeping!

I know I say it often, but it's because it's true.....thank you for all the support and prayers ya'll give me. I am truly blessed and cannot thank you all enough!

The last few weeks

Well, I've been home for 7 weeks now.  Where has the time gone?  Yikes!  So WHAT have I been up to?  Well......

• I'm mostly moved into Court's house in Nashville.....
• I'm starting work on August 2nd at Baptist Hospital!  YEAH!
• 2 weeks later I start (scary) graduate school
• I (finally) started and completed my video covering my 2 years in Moz.....I'm pumped to share it with you cause it's all about God's love and His heart for missions and why YOU should be fired up too!, but you'll have to wait till most everyone that'll see it in person gets to see it first!  so there.  invite me to come see you and you'll see it a heck of a lot sooner!  (hint hint) ;)
• I'm speaking at Pendleton United Methodist this Sunday
• Next Sunday, I'm excited to be sharing with 4 services of first graders on the heart of missions at Fellowship Bible in Nashville 
• I've been to a wedding shower, bachelorette party, and I'm going to a baby shower tomorrow
• I've struggled with finding and deciding upon an individual medical plan which has litterally eaten up DAYS of my life that I will NEVER get back....but I think it will be settled by Monday.
• I'm slowly processing the events over the last 2 days and mourning the loss of the closing of one chapter of my life and what now and the future are going to look like.....it's a process, a very slow process.  Thanks for bearing with me.

Well, it doesn't feel like a lot but it is and it's kept me busy, but I've been able to rest too!  I'm blessed and miss everyone and everything back in Moz, but I'm happy here too!  Thanks for all the prayers.....stay in touch!!!!

 

Follow You

You live among the least of these

The weary and the weak

And it would be a tragedy

For me to turn away

All my needs You have supplied

When I was dead You gave me life

How could I not give it away so freely?

And I'll...

Follow You into the homes of the broken

Follow You into the world

Meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God

Follow You into the world

Use my hands, use my feet

To make Your kingdom come

To the corners of the earth

Until Your work is done

Faith without works is dead

On the cross your blood was shed.

So how could we not give it away so freely?

And I'll...

Follow You into the homes of the broken

Follow You into the world

Meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God

Follow You into the world

And I give all myself

I give all myself

I give all myself to You

-lyrics by Leeland

Undeniably Blessed

So, ya’ll are probably wondering what other things have worked out since I’ve been home and updates to all my plans.  Since I finally have officialness on my details, I can reveal them.....because God is so good and I am so immensely blessed.  It is truly overwhelming and I am daily amazed by all the details He has so perfectly orchestrated. 

I will be starting orientation for my job August 2^nd, a bit later than anticipated, but I know this is His perfect timing.  It is a wonderful job that I am so excited about.  I will be working per diem, picking up shifts as they need extra help in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Baptist Hospital in Nashville.  One of my old assistant managers from when I was working at Vanderbilt is now the manager of the unit and I LOVE her.  They have a brand new, updated, gorgeous, and bigger unit with more beds.  And the best part?  The hospital is built on Christian principles.  Their value and mission statement are focused on serving the poor and needy and spreading God’s love.  You are welcomed and ENCOURAGED to pray with your patients and their families.  When I worked per diem there for 5 months in 2007 I was overwhelmed with the environment.  The nurses and respiratory therapists and secretaries and anyone working that shift would gather together at the beginning of every shift morning and evening and hold hands and pray.  There were prayer cards at each bedside.  The staff shared prayer requests, praises, and answered prayers with each other in the break room!  Such an inviting and encouraging place to work and help heal.  Even better?  God is using this to bless me financially.  The pay is 2x what I used to make as a staff nurse and while I won’t be able to work full-time because of grad school, I will still be able to pay off graduate school (all 26 out of state hours) in full while putting some away for retirement and savings (which I haven’t put one penny into either in the last 2 years).  Ya’ll have blessed me by stepping up and out in faith and obedience of God and continuing to support me while I’m home.  I still have 2/3 of my normal support, which will perfectly (and I do mean perfectly) cover my living expenses while I’m home.

I will start my online graduate certificate program in Global Health through the public health college at University of Alabama mid August.  And it’s looking more and more like I will be home till the end of July 2011.  Why?  Well, truly, God only knows, but also, because the way graduate classes are falling it would be practically impossible to take them while overseas.  After talking with many different programs and many people in online graduate programs along with acknowledging that the internet in Moz is at best, worse than old school dial up, and the fact that I want to finish these programs in my lifetime, coupled with lots of prayer, I’ve seen how God knew what He was doing with letting me think I’d only be home till January.  I might not have ever left Moz.  ;)  So I’ll be able to take 8 hrs this fall, hopefully 7 in the spring (including starting my certificate in Maternal Child Health), and then 6 in the summer.  By the end of July 2011, I will have finished my UAB certificate in Global Health and only have 5 hrs to take the following summer to complete my Maternal Child Health.  So I’ll be ready to go back on the field for 10 months, before coming home for a break and my last summer of classes!  Did I mention that thankfully God didn’t allow my car to sell 2 years ago when I put it on the market?  Well, it didn’t and I still have my car which is making this whole thing even easier.  I don’t know what I would have done for this season without a car!

I miss Mozambique terribly.  Some days it’s unbearable.  But God is carrying me through and I’m excited about this season and all the things He has for me and Mozambique in the future.  I cannot say enough how truly blessed I am.  With June completed, I have started looking at dates to speak with churches and groups so please contact me again if you had said you’d like for me to come so we can lock in dates and details.  I think you’d be blessed to see the faces of the people you have blessed by giving so much of yourselves to me!  I have so many stories to tell of His faithfulness and where I see Him leading me in the future.  Thanks for praying and walking this journey with me. 

Nashville bound

It's been 5 weeks since I've left Mozambique.  Some days its easy to forget that I spent the last 2 years of my life there.  Some days are hard and I miss everything about being there.  Someday are even harder.  But it's been a good transition so far, and I've spent the last month with my immediate family in SC and extended family in LA.  It's been such a blessing.  While I've gotten tons done, I've also rested and attempted to process a bit.  But just a bit (I'm a GREAT avoider/procrastinator).

So now that I've forwarded my mail, changed my address with the banks, renewed and changed my address for my TN driver's license, reactivated my TN nursing license, changed my address with my voter registration people, updated my address for my CA nursing license, applied for a per diem nursing job, updated my resume, created my CV, and applied to graduate school......it's time.......to move back to NASHVILLE.

I'm excited about being back to see everyone.  On Thursday I'll have an interview for the job I applied for....and I should start graduate school (online) in August.  I'm still working out tiny details.  Scratch that.  God's still divulging all the tiny details He's already worked out.  So I'll let everyone know more when I do, but I can't wait to be back at my church and fellowshipping with my friends who I have missed terribly since being gone! 

I'm super pumped, too, about living with Courtney!  She assured me multiple times, that my new room is completely barren and undecorated minus the mattress and box spring.....to which I replied multiple times that all I need is a bed and a room and I'm golden.  After all, I've spent the last 2 years staring at pretty barren cement block walls day in and out.....I think I can get through the next 6 months or so without needing all the extras.  After much thought, a few tough days, and an amazing 50% off sale at an already amazingly cheap store.....I decided to pick up a few frames and print some photos to place around on the walls to remind me of where I've come, why I'm here for the moment, and where I'm going!

Also, I'm starting to look at nailing down dates to visit cities and speak with groups.  If you've already talked with me about making plans when I'm ready.....well, I'm ready.....so email me back and let's find something that works for everyone!  If you haven't already contacted me, think about it, and let me know.  I can't wait to visit with everyone that's been faithfully supporting me over the last 2 years and share what God's been up to and where I'm headed.  Prayers for everything is appreciated!