winds of change

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:9

Just as Ecclesiastes says, there are times and seasons for everything under the heavens... we seem to be in a season in which God is propelling us forward, reminding us that He is in control and our job is to join in what He is already doing. It is always an amazing thing when God allows us glimpses of what He is doing, and these past few months, I have had a lot of those "A-hah!" moments, as He reveals another piece of a missing puzzle, or gently directs us towards something and then blows us out of the water as He shows that He has already thought of everything and we watch things fall into place.

When I very first met the Fickers almost 6 years ago, Duane shared a vision that God had given him years before about a hospital coming to our area. What I loved most was that Duane did not then go home, sit down, and plan out how that hospital was going to happen; instead, he praised God and left it on the backburner, knowing that God would work it all out in His own time. And we have been faithful to see God move toward that in His own way, bringing certain people into our lives and placing certain burdens and dreams in our hearts. We sat down a few years ago to look at what it would really involve to bring a hospital to our area and realized that there are some basic things that need to be in place first...

First of all, we could have the most beautiful hospital building in the world, but without staff, it would be simply a beautiful empty building. Certain family members and friends mentioned to us that really one of the first things that should go into place is a nursing school, something that the very mention of made my heart flutter a little as I thought of the girls that I had already been informally teaching basic science/nursing lessons to each Saturday morning before Ethan was born.

Second of all, we felt that we would need to start small. One of the biggest areas of need here is pediatrics (children). While we are able to see children on an outpatient basis right now, many families are unwilling to make the long 2 1/2 hour trip to the nearest hospital simply to have their child stay for a few days to receive IV fluids or IV antibiotics... something that they definitely have their reasons for, but something that also often accounts for the deaths that we see in our area. (Respiratory infection and dehydration are the two leading causes of death among children here.) With Rachael here now to help, we took in a little baby a few weeks ago who came in with oxygen saturations levels in the low 60's (please go to Leslie's blog for the entire story), and while it was a blessing to have extra hands as Leslie and Rachael did every two hour nebulizer treatments, it was another reminder that if this is something that will be long-term, we will need more staffing.

Along the same lines, we have sat down and had some conversations lately about what we could offer that would help complement the services that are already offered by the Guatemalan hospitals/clinics here. Ie: the Guatemalan hospital does a fine job with surgeries such as c-sections, appendectomies, gall bladders, etc., but they do not have the staffing or physcial capacity to hold patients that need chronic care. This little baby that came in a few weeks ago is a patient that will probably need to be on long term oxygen delivery, and would benefit from around the clock respiratory care for at least a few months, but there is not a place that we know of (without paying extreme amounts of money for private care) that can provide these services. Special needs children in our area are another "forgotten" people group, and one that we have long desired to be able to help; with properly trained staff and the physical capacity, we would also be able to start to serve these children through physical therapy/other chronic care services.

However, as we started talking about opening the clinic for more services, it quickly became apparent that there was another obstacle: housing. Right now, the three rooms in the back half of the clinic are used to house teams/individuals that come to visit or stay long or short term, and are therefore rendered unusable for clinic purposes. So, we have been in discussion and prayer over land for and a dorm that could house people who come...

And it seems that when God moves, He moves! The moment that land became available, things started to happen...

We started having people come to us asking if we taught nursing classes and telling us of the need for something better to come into our area - something that offers better education, and something that offers better medical care.

So, we connected with another private nursing school in a town about 5 hours from here (they are one of only 5 accredited private nursing schools in the entire country) that is helping us understand and go through the steps that are needed to open up a school that will be accredited by the Guatemalan government. We have been able to sit down with the director who does all the paperwork for these schools, as well as some American friends who are very interested in seeing this happen, and things are underway!

We have received our first couple pieces of "seed" equipment: oxygen regulators that will calibrate low enough to deliver oxygen precisely and efficiently to little babies that will need future help, as well as a fetal monitor in which we can do non-stress tests on pregnant mamas - another form of deciding whether a patient needs to be referred or can be monitored here.

And the day after we sat down and made floor plans for what the new dorm structure would look like (a mere two weeks ago), we received a phone call stating that someone wanted to pay for the well and wall to be built - the very first steps that would need to happen before a foundation could be laid for the dorm. We also received emails from two other individuals asking if there were specific projects that their church/friends could support. As we do not believe in going into debt, we knew that it would take an act of God to see the ball get rolling financially, and we sat back amazed as God began to unfold things and put all the pieces into place!

If you would like to be involved in any of these areas, please do not hesitate to check out our ministry through the website www.adonaiinternationalministries.org or contact me directly at kseleiott@yahoo.com. There you can find ways to continue to pray for us, check out blogs from other people who serve with the ministry, or other ways to get involved more personally.

Thanks for reading and joining us in the work God is doing here! I pray that He will bless you as you bless those around you!

lately

i have spent many days over the past seven months wishing this baby "done" and into my arms.... now with the time nearing a close, i have found myself in full blown nesting mode with about seven different "before baby" lists going :) we have decided to name this little baby boy ethan, with the middle name still in the works. aaron actually discovered this name while we were in the midst of some complications and not sure what was going to happen with the pregnancy. when i looked up the meaning for the name, we found out that ethan was actually a worshipper in king david's court in the old testament and authored psalm 89.... a psalm all about god's faithfulness. the name itself means strong and optimistic, solid and enduring, or permanent.... all the same things that we had been praying over our baby... we were both pretty excited to have discovered it :)

anna continues to discover new things daily, with her latest loves involving horses and babies and helping clean the house. she amazes me with her continuous energy and drive to give life all she has, her big eyes aglow and full of laughter constantly. she has now entered the heights of toddlerhood, knowing exactly what she wants at any given moment (and willing to do whatever she thinks it will take to get that!) and wanting to do absolutely everything by herself. at a little over 17 months, she decided it was time to start potty-training, and is well on her way.... i continue to pray that her independent spirit and strong desire to help will be a positive in a few months when i will cherish the help! she gives little ethan a "kiss" almost every night (which really just turns into pressing her mouth into my belly, blowing and laughing over the noise it makes) and enjoys talking about the baby... it will be interesting to see how much she enjoys the baby after he is no longer inside of mommy's belly...

we enjoyed many visitors coming and going this summer and then were able to take a three week trip to the states in september. although we literally crossed the entire country during these three weeks (we started in arizona, flew to new york to visit my grandparents, then to chicago to visit friends there, then drove to st louis for almost a week to visit friends and family there, and then a last day in chicago to see friends at a church there before flying back home) and were on the go from the moment we arrived (something that is much easier to handle without a toddler and 7 months of pregnancy), it was a truly blessed time in which we got to connect with many people we haven't seen in years as well as new people, all of whom were an encouragement to us in ways that cannot be described in words. although we are very fulfilled in our life here and surrounded by family dear to our hearts, there are times of loneliness and isolation that times of fellowship and worship with other americans cannot replace, and it was a blessing to have been encouraged in this way.

a couple days before we left for the states, our jersey cow gave birth, and we returned home to two gallons a day of extra milk after the heifer calf is fed her portion by bottle. i am so grateful that this came before baby when i still have a little bit of time to figure out how exactly to make the most of the milk that we have coming into the house..... i quickly discovered that cheese making is not my calling or love in life, but found that butter, yogurt, and cream cheese are not only things that are relatively unavailable in our area and high in nutritional value, but are also easy and profitable ways to process the milk to sell. it has been an overwhelming, yet fun journey to have begun.

leslie and i have also started doing a monthly clinic in a village near us called cruz chich in addition to the three weekly clinics. a completely indigenous village, it is extremely large and full of need.... amazing me actually with how much need there is there in spite of the fact that they are about 45 minutes from a hospital and about 30-40 minutes from us. we often see people from this village in our saturday clinic, and i have to admit that i did not expect that there would be much need for us to start a clinic in the village in addition to the people we already saw.... however, i was wrong. we have asked them to limit numbers to 100, but have easily seen 120 people each time as they always add "emergencies" to the already sold numbers. although the days are long, it has truly been a joy to work there and get to know these people and move ourselves to reach them instead of asking them to come to us. they are a very very reserved village and do not trust many people... after about 5 months of working there, we have finally started to see women and children (it is typical in every village we work in for them to send their men to us first to check us out, and when the women and children start to come we know that steps are being made), and the malnutrition and poverty we have seen has broken our hearts. with many of the men having gone to the states and returned with money, certain parts of the village are starting to raise their standards of living, but the signs of extreme poverty are everywhere... and we believe mostly stemming from the spiritual poverty that is evident on almost all of the faces we see. in this way, it has been a joy to not only be able to offer them a lovng touch and listening ear as well as a prayer when appropriate, but we have even had a couple people come back already and tell us that they know that they received healing due to the prayers they received! i have learned to be content knowing that most often in life the seeds that we plant are never seen by our eyes, but what a joy it is to be able to witness someone experiencing for the first time the sweet joy and peace that jesus offers, especially in a land where the people face such difficult and hard lives.

thank you for sharing a little bit in our journey of discovering more of Him and His goodness to us... i pray that as you read this, He has made His blessings in your own life evident to you as well!

below are just a few pics, but if you are interested, you can find more on our facebook page under katie eleiott ficker.

here's anna playing in the river on a hot day, and below you can see our newly finished dining room and living room...

here's our jersey cow and calf, and below is our first batch of butter!

here is a little baby that came to us malnourished and dehydrated... you can see her taking her oral rehydration solution through a little dropper as her gramma helps her

motherhood... again

yes, we are pregnant again! (well, i am...). at 16 weeks, we are excited at the prospect of welcoming our second child into the world somewhere around december 4th, 2011! although this pregnancy doesn't hold the "newness" that my pregnancy with anna held, i find myself still amazed at the fact that God allows us to carry a life that He created inside of us for 10 months, even enjoying the fact that my belly has started to make room for and show signs of the little one within (despite the rising numbers on the scale!) however, if i had forgotten how exhausting first trimester pregnancy can be, i was reminded these past few months full force with a toddler in tow... hence, my current excuse for the long stretch in between posts :)

life over the past few months has been ever-moving as usual. in april, anna, i, duane, leslie, rach, grace and abi all took a few days in costa rica with hannah and matt while aaron, dave and joe headed to the states. it was great to see hannah and matt, catch up, and hang out on the beach a little. it was quite the experience for anna with an ocean on one side of the condo and an outdoor pool on the other side! i quickly learned how much trust and how little fear she has as she would quickly abandon the shallow "kiddie pool" section of the pool for the deeper end, even after a few dips with her head under... she would come up sputtering, but laughing and wanting more. we were a little more conservative with our time in the ocean as i quickly learned the equation that one 1 year old child + big waves + no fear = disaster :)

as mentioned, the guys took turns heading up to st louis to work on getting stuff together for the load, which finally arrived safe and sound (after many obstacles) in early june. (for the full story on all of those workings, please visit the ministry blog at www.adonaiinternationalministries.blogspot.com or the ministry facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Adonai-International-Ministries/152761264756336.) aaron was gone for two weeks, at the end of which i found myself with a new found respect for military wives with husbands gone all the time and a new found appreciation for god's grace over me that this is not a life that i have been called to! the load came down with a few pieces of equipment that have already proven to be quite invaluable in keeping the runway and local roads in working order during the rainy season, as well as construction work which always seems to find itself a part of daily life here. it also brought down various personal items (like furniture, motorcycles, dishes, etc.) for each member of the family, and in that way was almost like a little hint of christmas in june :)

with a new baby coming, we have also realized the need to expand our current living quarters. our little three room house (one kitchen, one bedroom, and one bathroom and alcove area for anna's room), which has worked fine for us and one baby, is somewhat resistant to another addition (even a little one), and so the remodeling has begun! our porch has been bricked in to create a living room/dining room with four large windows to still allow the light, breeze and gorgeous surrounding view in each day while still providing the homey-private feel as well as safety that walls and a door can provide with young children. this will then lead by hallway past an entryway into a new bedroom and bathroom that will become ours while the kids will take our old bedroom. all of my "inability to see things that are not actually in front of me/lack of decorating skills" have been put to the test, although with the help of those around me who can see things in their heads and some better home and garden guides and pictures, i have gone from overwhelmed to enjoying helping to plan and watch our house turn into a home a little more with each step. we still have a ways to go, and with the obstacles that often face us in our lives here, as well as the laid-back guatemalan mentality, it will be a few to several more months until we move rooms around, although the living room is steadily plugging along and will hopefully be finished shortly. pictures of all this can be seen on my facebook page (katie eleiott ficker).... please feel free to check out our home pics as well as some general life and anna pictures there.

our two jerseys have now become one, as one of them took a tumble over the side of a mountain shortly before she was due to calf. i did not realize how much of myself i had invested in little paloma (dove), whom i fondly called oma, until she and her promise of 3-5 gallons of milk a day were no longer visible from outside our kitchen window. aaron and ryan jumped into action immediately after she tumbled and passed away, even using their leathermans to perform a c-section (pretty good for two men who will not even come into the clinic on days when cconsults are in session), but the little heifer calf came out not breathing. so, after a long process of learning how to butcher (you can also see pics of this on facebook), the whole family has been enjoying her for her meat instead of her milk. i realized how much i have changed since my "coffee shop suburban college life" as i watched our dreams of a small form of income as well as the introduction and availablity of certain dairy products in our area be chopped up and placed in the freezer. however, it was also in that moment that i was reminded that God holds all life and death in His hands, and that His plans and thoughts are higher than ours...

and i have said it many times before in my life, but God continues to remain faithful and bless us beyond what we could ever deserve in all areas of life. throughout a few early pregnancy complications and some serious family health issues these past few months, God has continued to provide us with the comfort, love, grace, and peace that only a relationship with Him can bring, holding our hands and healing our hearts as He has walked through the ups and downs right by our side. i cannot imagine a life without His presence "to guide and to cheer" (to borrow some lyrics from one of my favorite hymns) each step of the way.

cut in thirds

well, i knew that it was coming... that long-awaited for day by some, long dreaded day by others... i just didn't know that it would happen so soon. yes... drum roll please... anna is now walking :)

she took her first unassisted steps at a little before ten months, and was full blown walking a couple weeks later. while i am so happy to see her happy with her independence and mobility, and while i am also so happy to not have my fingers connected to hers as i help her walk all over the property, my free time has been cut in thirds (or fourths, or fifths.... or eighths...), and my multi-tasking skills (which i have realized were never really put to practice much in my single or early married life) have been stretched quite a bit... the thought "where is anna?" seems to run continuously through my mind no matter what i am doing, and i finally can relate to all those parents that we saw in the aiport on our last trip home that had their children strapped to their arm by some long furry chain coming from some fluffly animal shaped backpack on the child's back.

after a wonderful, although quick, trip home to see my family at thanksgiving, we were able to celebrate a beautiful christmas here with the entire ficker family (including new brother-in-law matt!). as it is guatemala - and we are the only americans that we were getting together with so we could kind of do anything we wanted - we postponed christmas until the 27th and none of the kids knew any different :) chaotic is probably the best word that could describe 5 children under age five and 17 people total all stuffed onto couches and chairs and the floor opening presents all at once with more wrapping paper on the floor than i have ever seen.... it was a blast.

sally and erv york, friends of ours from quiche, sent over a pinata for the kids to break open, as it is guatemalan tradition to celebrate with pinatas. while we all expected abi to be the first to break it open, it was grace who surprised me the most, hitting the pinata hard and solid with a very determined look in her eyes... i was pretty sure she took out all the things she has ever found unfair in her life on that poor little pinata!

and for the first time since i married aaron, i was actually awake at the stroke of 12 on new year's eve as hannah, matt, rachel, aaron and i all brought in the new year with the movie despicable me, 2011 glasses, and toasts with our cups of juice held high. not quite times square, but surely second best....

the new year has so far brought much of the same as last year in the daily aspects of life.... aaron continues to work on keeping the planes up and running, and i still continue to do clinics three times a week while he takes care of anna. the other days are filled with upkeep of general ministry and personal household needs, which seem to be the lists that can never be caught up with :)

however, the new year has also brought with it a flow of friends and visitors as we find it is easier to now count the weeks that we do not have people coming and going than the weeks that we do! in febraury, we will welcome back dr malachi courtney, our friend who has been down several times before; my parents in for the brithday of their first (and only) granddaughter; dr heidi bell, who will hopefully make it out for a day or two to visit after doing surgeries all week in chichicastenango; the allisons, in for a few weeks to help out in many ways; and norm and vickie sutton who will not actually be staying with us, but will be coming back to the orphanage in san andres after a visit home for the holidays. i am looking forward to a time of catching up on each of their lives face to face as opposed to the emails and other forms of communication we are often left with being countries apart.

here's anna playing in our little miracle of the day - a puddle after a light warm rain in the middle of the dry season... rainbow included. thanks, god :)

hope

this morning we lit our second advent candle. and as i read through the reasons to celebrate advent and the scripture readings, i couldn't help finding my own heart filled with hope...

last tuesday, we had a lady come into clinic with four of her eight children. we have seen her often, and her story is sadly not that different from ones i have written here before. her husband left her for another woman, and now comes back only to get her pregnant before leaving again. we first met her when she came in with her youngest baby who we help with formula. a little while after that, we met her eight year old daughter, who is slightly bigger than her three year old daughter. after examining her, we were able to hear a slight swish with her heart beat and what we believe to be a heart murmur. although we are unsure of the exact type and size of the murmur, we are looking into getting her further testing as it is obviously affecting her growth and nutrition. so i handed this mama our last bag of food along with some milk and a protein substance for her three year old who is also showing signs of malnutrition, and knelt to pray with her. but i couldn't help but wonder yet again at the injustice and oppression that so many families here face...

yesterday in clinic, our last prenatal patient of the day was a young mama who i have gotten to know as she has come for her prenatal care. she always has a smile on her face, and her two daughters, although not richly dressed, are always clean, tidy, and happy as they bounce through the door, often singing and dancing around their mama's legs. she will quietly hush them, reminding them gently to sit quietly and wait while smoothing down their hair or patting their legs. one week she talked to me about another patient who was in distress in her pregnancy and i had talked to about getting to the hospital. this mama told me that she was a neighbor to the woman and that she and her husband worked hard, but got paid little and truly struggled to make ends meet; she told me that she helped the neighbors' two little boys with food often and offered her willingness to help however she could in getting her the care she needed. i had always assumed that this woman and her family had means, but yesterday her story poured out: she came in, pale and complaining of premature labor pains.... her smile was strained as she explained that she didn't feel well, and as i prodded a little deeper, she started to tell me how they were struggling to make ends meet and worried that they were also going to lose the house they were borrowing from a family member. their corn that they planted had all fallen over in the landslides we had earlier this year, and now they had to buy all their food and corn. with her sick, her husband had decided to stay back and help her with the chores that required heavy lifting (pretty much all of them - collecting firewood, bringing water up from the river about a half mile away, carry 40 pound bags of corn to make her tortillas with, etc.) instead of going to the coastal lands to find work. i reminded her that God has everything in His control - to which she agreed - and again bowed my head to pray as we handed her a bag of food. as i placed my hand on her belly, though, and started the prayer, i noticed the tears start to stream down her face...

and i wondered if this woman of God who has given so much to so many was now herself at a point where she wondered if her God of justice was truly big enough to take care of her and her family.... if she wondered if this God of mercy and compassion truly saw the helpless state of His poor children.... if this loving Father could wrap His arms around her and hold her close for just a minute and let her escape from the pressures that this life has piled on top of her.

because i would. and i do.

and then i read the reason for advent. the writer of the certain article i read about the place of advent in the christian calendar explained that in times past, advent has always had an element of personal repentance to it, but that the theme changed in the western church to emphasize the anticipation and the hope of the coming Christ. he reminded us of the mindset of the jewish people at that time... they were poor, downtrodden, and captives. they had a history of kings that led them far from God and made poor choices which led to enslavement, torture and death. they were crying out from years and generations of pain, sorrow, and abuse. they wanted a savior, they wanted justice, they wanted hope!!

and in the midst of that, came the promised savior. the author implored the readers to please not downplay what this meant to the people at the time. Jesus' deliverance from personal sins would come later on in the story with his death and ressurection (which we celebrate at lent), but for the moment, we cannot fail to ignore what the yearning for and coming of this savior was about; as americans, we naturally emphasize our individual freedoms -and that plays out in our faith - but these people were asking for a communal freedom, a deliverance from physical captivity, a breaking free from the oppression, justice for the house of Isreal and the people of Judah... someone to redeem them. no, it would not come in the exact way they thought it would, but that does not mean that the answer to their cries did not come! yes, later they would realize this in full as Jesus' life came to a climax in the spiritual freedom that was found in his work on the cross, but let us never forget that God's heart is also still filled with a zeal for justice, freedom, deliverance from oppression and abuse, and redemption for countries, tribes, families... all mankind.

so, i looked out my kitchen window this morning at the surrounding mountains full of people crying out for justice, for freedom from poverty, healing after years of abuse, and hope in the midst of their circumstance. people much like the people of Israel were so many years ago...

and just as hope came to Israel and all people, it comes to us again this year.... the hope of freedom, the hope of justice, the hope of deliverance and redemption.

all this realized in the birth of a little baby named Jesus.

may we never ever forget.

back to it!

in a whirlwind of events, september brought us the happiness of a wedding and new addition to the family, and refreshment with family, friends and quality times of community prayer and worship in the states.

we were able to spend the first week in houston helping hannah and matt get ready for their wedding and meeting with family and a few friends. we enjoyed sharing with them in their intimate and simple, yet elegant wedding before they headed off to their honeymoon and we all headed up to st. louis. in what seemed like it could have been the set for a new reality tv series, all three of us families (ryan, katie and their two boys; aaron, i and anna; and duane, leslie and their five children) all stayed together in the three bedroom farmhouse that duane and leslie still own in marine, illinois; ironically, with all the craziness that these trips often bring, we saw each other less than we do here in our three separate houses! anna and i also got to head out to arizona to see my family there with aaron joining us on the weekend. it was a great time, with my entire family being together and my brother chris meeting anna for the first time. aaron and i also got to enjoy our first night out alone since anna has been born... i felt like we were first dating again, holding hands without having to adjust anna being held in the other arm :)

we were also able to visit the prayer room at our home church, destiny, and also a new church, goshen fellowship. while we are able to enjoy personal and family worship and prayer times here in guatemala, i always find myself in tears during the first worship service we join in the states, as there is a deep soul refreshing found in extended periods of worshp and prayer before God in my own language and culture. a good worship leader friend of ours who also comes down to lead worship here once a year, compared us to dry sponges as we worshipped with him that first sunday home... he couldn't have been more right in my case. what a refreshment it was to "get soaked" again during that month home :)

in an uneventful trip back, we returned home to guatemala on september 24th, with a few days left to work and visit with our dear friend cali before she left to go back to the states. we started clinic the day after we returned, and they have hit us full speed with 80 prenatal patients our second weekend back and over 100 patients in both canilla and san andres for a couple weekends in a row now. and the men are back into the swing of things as well... aaron finished up the cessna's annual inspection and is focusing on helping a friend of ours get his engine put back onto his plane this week. we have also had a few little babies in and out of our lives since our return... their stories can be found in full on the adonai blog (see the link under blogs i read).

at 8 months, anna now has two bottom teeth with teething fussiness leading us to believe that the top two are not far behind! she has perfected her crawl (although she does it with her own flare, often using one knee and then one foot to kind of propel her forward faster than if she were to use the two knees) and is now also pulling up on everything. she has quite her own personality and is very aware of exactly what she wants, which usually involves standing up and being outside. she also continues to show signs of being a little social butterfly, wanting to be where she can see everything and everyone, flashing her big smiles and loving to laugh.

and after hearing "see you on facebook" at the end of almost every conversation in the states, we are now on facebook - both our own little family of three under katie eleiott ficker, and the ministry under adonai international ministries. most of the daily happenings can be found on there as well as lot's of photos... or at least we are building up the "lot's of" photos part! hope to see you there!

website

our adonai website is back up and running! please visit us at:

www.adonaiinternationalministries.org