The Chair...

So we have always had this little red chair that sits in our Baby House clinic room.  It was the perfect size for all little tikes who needed to take a seat while they waited for their favorite nurse (or needed to be held down by their least favorite nurse).  Anyway, it cracked.  Sadly it was on its last leg.  So, Tracey (the amazing missionary who runs the Baby House) bought us a new one.  It was yellow and working out great.  But it was determined unfit for the larger kids.  I'll say I agreed...it was a flimsy for the 6 year olds who sometimes ended up in it.
Turns out a few weeks ago we ended up with another new chair to try out.  Take a look...

Adorable right?!  Who wouldn't want to come and have a seat on Micky and Minnie?  It was metal...more durable and a bit larger.  Perfect for those 6 year olds causing us an issue!  So we all thought until our first little patient came to take a seat.  I can't recall who it was...but they came in and took a seat and much to everyone's surprise the chair squeaked!  Not just a I'm a new chair squeaking because you sat on me squeak...oh no.  This was a squeaker toy, REALLY loud, obnoxious, long, drawn out squeak.  I just started laughing.  I mean the Baby House is ALWAYS loud.  If no one is crying, it's a miracle.  If only one child is yelling your name at a time, it's been a good day.  So I had to laugh at the idea of a chair that SQUEAKED adding to the overall noise of our lives.  What else could you do but laugh??
Well, this little patient was attended to and went to leave.  And much to our surprise as he got up to go toddling off to play there was another LOUD SQUEAK!  Yep, it's squeaks when you sit down and when you get up...RIDICULOUS I tell you!  We all decided we'd give it a shot and it brought joy to many little faces as they realized they could make it work by sitting down and standing up as fast as possible before Mana Meghann was ready to see them.  Hilarious really!  Even more funny were the little guys who were scared to death of it.  They would happily walk with you to the clinic room but as soon as the saw the squeak producing chair they would stop in their tracks and refuse to come any closer.  They are TOO funny.  So I let many take a seat on the floor and didn't traumatize them with the squeaks!
Well it didn't take long before the older Baby House boys (all about 4 years old) began to say that's the chair that farts.  Can we make it fart?  What can you do?  Just laugh and tell them sure, sit down and it will make noise.  They LOVED it!  Everyone (minus those who were still scared) was "very sick" for a few days because they wanted to try out the chair.  So funny!
Sadly...or maybe not so sadly...the bouncing up and down on the seat to make it "fart" was a bit to hard on the squeaker.  It makes a fast little squeak now sometimes but nothing like it used to be.  I have to admit I'm relieved.  It was funny but it also was a bit rough hour twelve of your day to hear SQEAKKKKKKKKKKK each time a child sat down or stood up to leave.
So there you have...the story of our little red chair and the many laughs it caused!

Tchau :(

I have had to say goodbye to some pretty amazing missionaries the last few weeks.  First came Heather or Mana Eva as the kids call her.  She is one of my close friends here on the center and maybe the most positive person I have ever met.  She has been here over 2 years overseeing the girl's dorm of 67 girlies.  Can you imagine??  Living and working with 67 girls ALL the time.  She is miraculous and did it all sharing the love of Jesus.  Heather know you are missed and that often I walk over to the girl's dorm and am sad not to find your smiling face among them!  I do pray God makes this transition back to England for a season simple and directs your every step.  Know you are loved by your family here in Moz!

Last week we also said a sad goodbye to Clifton, Pauline, and Rebecca...or the Lee family!  Pauline was a nurse here several years ago and came back with her husband and fantastic daughter for 10 weeks.  It was SO amazing to have them among us.  They brought fresh eyes, new ideas, and just a wisdom we were lacking as a team.  I know God started amazing things through them and in them while they were here.  Know I am praying for each of you.  I pray God reveals His dreams for your family and holds you each close as you find your footing in the States again.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you did while you were here and for all the love you shared.  We are going to miss you!

Tons of Updates!

I've been promising updates...so here it goes...

#1- There have been MANY medical staff changes.  To list a few:

-Iara and Marcia left.  They are two amazing Brazilian women who have been working in our clinic for close to 10 years.  Iara was the head nurse, and Marcia dealt with all the finances and buying.  They are truly missed!

-Pauline joined our team for 10 weeks!  Pauline is a nurse from New Zealand, who now lives in Texas with her husband and gorgeous daughter.  Their family joined our long term team for some time.  Pauline worked here several years ago and was instrumental in getting our clinic off the ground in the beginning.  She was a HUGE encouragement to our whole team, especially me.  She opened my eyes once again to the need around me and re-sparked my flame!

-Sheri took on the overseeing position in the clinic from Iara, but only a few weeks later left for a few months to be with family and friends back home.  So we have all pitched in to cover this large position while continuing on in our normal roles as well.

#2- In all of this change, my official job is overseeing all the medical needs of our 55 youngest kids, including the Bercario (nursery), Baby House, and Tracey’s dorm (the transition dorm from the Baby House to the older dorms).  But, on top of this I am the one with the most current experience living on the base at the moment, so the other two nurses come to me often with questions, concerns, and issues.  So in reality I have my hand in all areas of medical.  This has meant long trying days filled with answering questions, feeling inadequate, and constantly looking to God for the wisdom and direction to get through the day.

#3- We also have coped with Mozambican staff changes as well.  Aurora (our Mozambican nurse who works in the Baby House) has been away on holidays since the beginning of April.  I for one cannot wait to welcome her back the beginning of May!  And due to scheduling, legal, and ability issues for the moment we are again without an afternoon nurse in the Baby House.  We worked on training up the two nurses for a few weeks, but it has not worked out.  There is still hope that one of them may be able to cover an afternoon or two a week for us, but that is still undecided.

#4- In the midst of all of those changes, the babies have made it through some rough sicknesses.  After the crazy sickness of late February passed and I got better along with all the babies, we were hit hard in the Bercario (nursery).  Several babies got a respiratory virus that caused them major issues breathing.  I ended up with one little 6 month old on oxygen at 4am praying she would be healed so I would not have to bring her to the hospital.  They each slowly improved but only after days of me and the other nurses making trips up to the Bercario all day and night every 3 hours to check on them and give them breathing treatments.  It was certainly a trying week or so.  Other than that, there have been the normal ear infections, continued issues with pink eye (me included), and a chest infection here and there.  Plus now the temperature outside is beginning to change.  It is much cooler at night and some days are cooler as well.  This always brings about a bout of runny noses, colds, and coughs.  But no one has been hit too hard yet.

#5- And to update you on Shelton, the little boy I e-mailed and wrote about, who was brought to the hospital the beginning of March.  He is basically back to normal!  Praise God!  His swelling has gone down (his abdomen and face were swollen before) and he has been generally healthy for the past month.  I pray God’s healing in him comes to completion!  He is a sweet little boy who loves the Lord!  And because he is doing so much better, he got to spend a night with his grandmother this week during school holidays!  She doesn’t have the means to take care of him full time but was delighted to have him for a night!  Again I say, praise God!

#6- Our clinic was inspected by the ministry of health.  This was a HUGE deal and has brought about lots of protocol changes in the clinic.  We are still working to get in line with all the things they told us about.  Please join us in prayer for God's hand of protection over our clinic, that it may continue to be a blessing to all who enter!

I think that's all the work updates I can come up with for now.  I have tons of other stories and things to tell you all but will do that through other posts!

Impact...

The last few weeks I have consistently been thinking about my impact here in Mozambique.  Have I faithfully served in the capacity God asked me to?  What impact have I left thus far?  What is my role and I am living it out?  How do those around me perceive my actions?  Am I loving with my whole heart?  Am I sharing the love of Jesus?
These are the BIG questions I've been asking myself during this super busy season when I spend most days running from place to place on base, frustrated by all the tiny details, annoyed when things don't go my way, writing lists and checking off the important things each day, all to make it home in time for my head to hit the pillow just to do it all over again tomorrow.
The last 4 weeks, we have been going out into the community every Tuesday on medical outreach.  I will share some experiences/pictures from these days in another post.  But before I do, I want to share with you what one of our center youth said to me yesterday.  We arrived at our location, a small children's center (home to about 20 children) run by one of our Iris Ministries pastors.  We all piled out of the car where I'll be honest I was a little car sick and immediately were met by many children most of them up to my waist or a bit higher.  But, I gravitated to the ones who were closer to knee or thigh height.  In less than a minute I had hugged several and had one on my hip.  As I toted him across the sand over to where everyone was standing, one of the boys from our center who is 19 and was with us to help with translation looked at me and said, "You love little kids don't you?"  I looked up and said, "Yes."  I was thinking to myself...of course I do, why else would I have uprooted my life and moved to Africa to live at a children's center.  He looked at me and said, "At the center whenever I look across the playground and see a missionary holding a child or carrying a baby somewhere, I always think, oh that's Mana Meghann.  You always have a child or baby with you."
On the surface not a very profound statement.  But, I don't know this youth personally.  He is one of my gardeners but this is my 7th gardener in my time here...in my 4th house.  I've given up trying to get to know them.  I've given up attempting to get to know the youth because they are rarely sick.  They ALL know my name and sadly I still couldn't pick most of them out of a line up.  Not true, I know their faces.  I know who lives here and who doesn't, I just can't keep all of their names straight...and it's a bit too late to start asking and learning because as I said, they already know me.
So a boy I have barely had a conversation with previously was able to label me as the missionary who is always holding a child.  I was blown away.  Some days I feel like I have run all day and missed the point...loving the child in front of me.  But I was reminded that somewhere in the midst of my stress and my to do lists...God is shining through.  His love and passion in me is being seen!  Within minutes after this simple conversation, this photo was taken of me...

 

I'm humbled.  God gives us each a passion...mine is adorable, annoying, lovable, sweet, tender, temper tantrum throwing, snotty nosed, messy, innocent knee nippers, tots, kiddos, peanuts, youngsters, rug rats, and tykes.  I LOVE them.  Of course there are some who grind my nerves, but overall they bring me to life.  They are my passion and it is encouraging to know that one youth here at the center can see that through my actions.  It didn't take one conversation; it didn't take an explanation.  It took God's love for the least of these spilling out of me.  He is so amazing!

A Trip to Swazi!

This past weekend I snuck away...Praise the Lord Jesus!  Two other missionaries and I took a little trip to Swaziland.  I'll admit now that I have been wanting to go to Swaziland for over a year.  A year ago I found out about a place called Swazi Candles and ever since have wanted to go.  Everyone who goes to Swazi says it is GORGEOUS, PEACEFUL, SAFE, FRIENDLY...basically everything you could ever want in a vacation!  So finally I got the opportunity to check it out for myself.  I have gotten a tease of Swazi before through border runs (those crazy times I have go out of Mozambique just to come back in again to fulfill my visa requirements)...but this time I got the real experience.
We left Saturday morning and arrived at an adorable farm a few hours later.  That was after we were welcomed into Swaziland at the border...


And after checking in and discovering the cooler weather that I so love, I found out this was the few from our front door!  Breathtaking!


The next two days we spent rainy days relaxing under the best blankets in the world!  Between the rain showers we did go on some adventures around the farm property.  We strolled with the puppies, played in the corn fields, met an adorable baby cow, and just enjoyed the outdoors!  Take a look!

We also enjoyed and picked some gorgeous flowers!

And I have to say one of my favorite parts was the fact that we got to watch them milk their cows and then come back to our little chalet to drink the milk!  AMAZING...made for the best tea and coffee I think I've ever had!

Then our last day I got to go to Swazi Candles...take a look at the amazingness! 

 

I know, I know...you want to go...you are thinking about coming to visit me just to take a walk in there and watch this adorable man make you an animal-shaped candle right before your eyes!  Come on...you're welcome any time!

I was SO blessed over these 3 days.  There was actually silence during daylight hours.  There were green trees to walk under.  There were great chats between friends.  There was a cool breeze that blew while rain fell all around us.  It was gorgeous and peaceful just as everyone had described to me.  It was exactly what I needed to jump back into the chaos that is my life here in Mozambique at the center.  Of course there is chaos with 250 children running around all the time.  All of that to say I was blessed, and I am thankful for the time away to clear my head and get back on track!

And, I think I would go to Swaziland every weekend if I had the chance...

Before and After!

(I promise to update you on the last weeks very soon...but for now I just took these pictures today and you have to see them!)

So I introduced you a new member of the Baby House...Manuel 1...in May 2010.  He was VERY underweight and small for his age.  Here are a few of the pictures of him with Dionisio who is 6 weeks younger than him.

 There was a staggering difference between them...especially in height!  Manuel 1 was basically skin and boys under those clothes, unable to stand on his own or walk.  But, from day one he was full of joy...smiled easily and attached well to those around him!  I loved him from day one...I mean who wouldn't??

Today...almost a year later Manuel 1 is a walking talking miracle!  Today I had a little photo shoot with him and Dionisio again to show you the extent of his transformation.  Just take a look!  They are both happy, healthy, and HUGE!

 

These 2 little boys make me smile often.  They are full of funny things to say and LOVE to be the center of attention!  They are full of smiles and joy as well.  Dionisio had a huge fight for life when he was young...so to see the two of them, friends, full of love, and healthy is an abosolute miracle!  Praise God for these gorgeous little boys!

Jumping!

This is a continuation on my thoughts and feelings behind last night's post.
I was given an amazing book by some very good friends (I LOVE you Holli and Christopher...and miss you so much) for Christmas.  It is called Sun Stand Still, written by Stephen Furtick (who I have heard speak several times...and many of you NewSpringers will know of).  And, yes just now I have found the time and energy to open it and start reading, and I'm loving every page.  If you know me, you know I'm not a reader.  Ok, I'm getting better...but still I'm not a sit down devour a book in a day kind of person.  But this is a book I'd suggest to anyone who is looking to figure out where God wants them and why certain people see God do the impossible in their lives while others sit complacent waiting on Him to show up.  This is the quote and concept that has me thinking today:
"Remember this: God doesn't just show you which wave he wants you to jump next.  He also positions his strong arm underneath to sustain you every step of the way.  He knows every fear you're facing.  He knows all the uncertainties you're navigating--only they're not uncertainties to him.  Your perhaps isn't a perhaps from his perspective.  To him, it's more like an opportunity for faith formation.  And it's not just your faith he's building.  If you'll go out deeper, he will use you to set people free all around you.
Be honest about your perhaps--with God and with others.  Acknowledge, assess, and deal appropriately with your fears.  Approach your impossibilities with confident humility.  Pray that God will give you assurance of his presence and clarity in every decision you make.  Through faith in his promises, keep yourself tightly connected to him.  Be assured that he's got you in his grip.
And when the wave of fear or doubt crashes in...JUMP."

Just like I said last night...I want to be someone that lives by faith (or audacious faith as Stephen calls).  I want to jump!  I don't want to let fears, doubts, uncertainties, darkness, and perhaps this will never happen moments stop me from seeing my God do the impossible in my life and those around me.
#1- "Your perhaps isn't a perhaps from his perspective."  Truth!  I pray God gives me eyes to see from his perspective so I am able to change my doubts and my thoughts of perhaps that will never work/perhaps that will never happen into trust that my God can do absolutely anything!
#2- "And it's not just your faith he's building.  If you'll go out deeper, he will use you to set people free all around you."  Exciting!  I have seen this, and I pray I see it more and more.  I want others to know that me being here, doing what I'm doing is not to lift my name high but instead for me to become less so He can become greater!
#3-"Approach your impossibilities with confident humility."  I have more impossibilities (or things that feel impossible) than I can begin to explain at the moment.  So what is confident humility...for me it is admitting that in my own strength I can do nothing and instead choosing to stand confident in the Lord and his strength!
#4- "Pray that God will give you assurance of his presence and clarity in every decision you make."  At the moment I am the person people are running to to help with medical decision making...many days I am reminded I am a 24 year old girl with less than 2 years of nursing experience in a culture I'll never understand fully being asked to speak my second language (which is constantly a struggle).  I have been humbled these last few weeks.  I have looked at many and said...I just don't know.  I have always been a confident person, able to answer questions diplomatically, able to exercise wisdom when making decisions...but I'm in over my head.  The good thing is...God isn't.
#5- "JUMP" I want to know what this means.  I remember when I was deciding to come to Moz originally it felt like I was jumping off a cliff and wasn't positive God would catch me.  I knew that I knew I was suppose to come (ok I was as confident as a person can be).  But there were still constant doubts and fears about moving to a new place, disappointing everyone around me, being extremely inadequate to do the job I was being asked to do...but when I look back I know I was in God's grip.  He placed me here...on the opposite side of the world...to do just what I'm doing for now.

So that's that...today I'm choosing to JUMP.  Now maybe in a few hours when I've been knocked down a few times by the world around me, been found without the answers again, gotten frustrated by one thing or another, been overwhelmed by my insecurities or uncertainties I'll feel differently...but for now I'm JUMPING!

20 Days...

The power just went out...this happens here often...usually it only stays off a few seconds or minutes before our generator kicks on and provides us with lights again.  But no matter where you are in the center...if it's night and the power goes out you can hear the children's screams.  Not just one or 2 babies...all of the kids (about 300 voices)...together in unison until the lights come back on.  I cannot explain why after years of living here and knowing that when the power goes out it will come back on they still scream.  Is it a fear of the dark?  Is it a habit they have adopted from those around them?  Is it the thought that this time the lights may not come back on?  I cannot explain it.
I can however compare their screams in a way to my feelings the last 20 days.  It has been 20 days since I wrote.  It has been 20 days since I had the time to reflect on the world around me and put words on paper (or my computer screen) to make sense of it all.  It has been 20 days of getting to my house each night with the intention of sharing something of my day with all of you at home and flopping on my bed too tired to answer important e-mails (including you mom and dad) not to mention write a blog post.  20 days of VERY long days, and some long nights as well.  It has been 20 days of screaming...not literally of course...but in my head and heart I have been screaming at the top of my lungs.
Why, you're asking?  Because I have forgotten what it's like to have the lights on in a sense.  I have forgotten that even when things seem impossible as if we are walking in the blackness of night with no light to lead us, no visible way out...there is a light!  I have been under a whole lot of stress...some of it self-induced...some of it just because of my surroundings...some of it expectations of others on me...some of it because many of our babies have been sick.  For these 20 days...and probably even a bit before that I have felt like the center kids standing in the dark when the power goes out...not sure when or if the lights will come back on.  I haven't seen a way out; I haven't seen a light to lead me (most days at least).  I have kept going...I have kept working...I have made it through.  That is not the point.  The point is in the midst of these hard days (this stressful season) I feel like I've lost the plot.  Maybe I'm being hard on myself.  Maybe it would happen to anyone who is being pulled in 85 directions like I am...but I want to remember that the lights will come back on.  There will come a day when things are less stressful, when I feel capable of handling life again. 
But, more importantly, even now when I feel like the lights are off, that is a lie...the truth is God is always in the darkness to lead us.  His light is there to guide us on His path!  Now my job is to stand faithful remembering He is leading me.  He got me here, and He will guide me through.
I'd love your prayers...in the flesh I don't see the stressful nature of this season passing soon...but I am doing my best to trust that God has a plan.  He knew before I was born I'd end up here in Mozambique, understaffed, with sick babies, running into possible issues with the license of our clinic (I will explain later), trying my hardest to train a new Mozambican nurse to help in the Baby House, feeling powerless and exhausted...and when He called me here I was not promised an easy road...I was promised His presence and strength.  So now, in that I will stand strong believing that He is guiding my ever step and teaching me more of His faithfulness through this season of struggle.