calfies and clinics
"for My power is made perfect in weakness..." sometimes we purposely put ourselves in situations where we are weak, knowing that this will force us to rely on our God. other times it seems like weakness is the only thing we have to cry out to our God from.
the house has somehow become full of babies... from little enrique to josey's "clan" of 11 puppies and the seven chickies pecking at the feed in the rabbit pen to the new calf born yesterday morning - as grace calls it, the "calf-y." it does seem that wherever you look, we are full :) benny - also called rotten ricky by some - is usually full of smiles and has shown himself to be a pretty low-maintenance baby, although always wanting to be in the midst of things and watch what's going on. the little calf has brought with it the promise of milk straight from the backyard (as soon as she is weaned from mom), and it has been fun to watch her and abi and grace as they are all smiles and laughter watching her learn to walk and nurse.
and once again, this weekend consisted of clinics mostly filled with prenatal patients. the very first patient that walked in yesterday was a woman who was 17 weeks pregnant and bleeding. now i know that even in the states this is a situation where there are very very few answers, and so i - even more so - was left with no explanation or answers. as i looked this lady in the eyes, which were filled with questions and fears, i knew that the only answer i had to give her was to pray and wait.
and, while this again does not involve babies or clinics, it has been hard in some ways to be physically removed from our country during the elections... the emails and responses that i get down here are a wide range, from fear to tears of joy. i admit that i am not sure what to think, although i know that no matter what changes our country will go through, bad and good, we continue on seeking our God and praying for His will to be done and His grace to allow us to help carry it out.
and sometimes, like yesterday morning, it seems like all the situations over the week where you cannot answer questions and you are confronted with your own inadequacy seem to build up and create a type of exhaustion that seems to stem from the very real awareness of your own weakness. and i am learning that this is the time when God comes in - if you so allow - and reminds you that His strength truly is made perfect in your weakness... even when you are ready to cry in frustration over not being able to get an IV in on a baby that desperately needs it... or you are at the end of your ability to figure out what the little old man in front of you may need... or you have no answers to give the lady wondering whether her baby will be born a healthy little infant in six months or not make it to next week.... or you are unsure of what the future holds. thank God for His grace that reaches all of us and His power that thrives in the midst of our weakness.
the house has somehow become full of babies... from little enrique to josey's "clan" of 11 puppies and the seven chickies pecking at the feed in the rabbit pen to the new calf born yesterday morning - as grace calls it, the "calf-y." it does seem that wherever you look, we are full :) benny - also called rotten ricky by some - is usually full of smiles and has shown himself to be a pretty low-maintenance baby, although always wanting to be in the midst of things and watch what's going on. the little calf has brought with it the promise of milk straight from the backyard (as soon as she is weaned from mom), and it has been fun to watch her and abi and grace as they are all smiles and laughter watching her learn to walk and nurse.
it has been babies and the promise of babies in clinics as well:
tuesday, we had a little boy come into chiminisijuan very dehydrated. he had been vomiting and with diarrhea for about three full days, and couldn't keep anything down, including the sips of oral rehydration solution that we were giving him. after unsuccessfully trying to place an IV in a few different locations, we told the mom that her child really needed to be in the hospital. after she explained to us that all the men in her family were working in the coast right now and there was no way that she could make a trip to the hospital, we told her that we could take her over there with the plane if she needed. she hesitated for a moment, asked for some more oral rehydration solution and then said she would go talk to her mother. she never came back.
although not a baby, we have been seeing an old man in chiminisjuan who first came to us completely swollen, with 4+ pitting edema up to his knees and ascites everywhere on an ultrasound of his stomach. after trying different treatments for about a month with him continuing to get worse, we finally decided to treat it as an end-of-life care type situation and gave him some ensure-types drinks and a bag of beans. two weeks later, he walked through the door with about 2+ pitting edema and about half the amount of ascites on ultrasound. another two weeks with ensure and beans and he came back with no signs of any fluid retention! we now can see that it was a form of severe malnutrition which is treated with high levels of protein.
and once again, this weekend consisted of clinics mostly filled with prenatal patients. the very first patient that walked in yesterday was a woman who was 17 weeks pregnant and bleeding. now i know that even in the states this is a situation where there are very very few answers, and so i - even more so - was left with no explanation or answers. as i looked this lady in the eyes, which were filled with questions and fears, i knew that the only answer i had to give her was to pray and wait.
and, while this again does not involve babies or clinics, it has been hard in some ways to be physically removed from our country during the elections... the emails and responses that i get down here are a wide range, from fear to tears of joy. i admit that i am not sure what to think, although i know that no matter what changes our country will go through, bad and good, we continue on seeking our God and praying for His will to be done and His grace to allow us to help carry it out.
and sometimes, like yesterday morning, it seems like all the situations over the week where you cannot answer questions and you are confronted with your own inadequacy seem to build up and create a type of exhaustion that seems to stem from the very real awareness of your own weakness. and i am learning that this is the time when God comes in - if you so allow - and reminds you that His strength truly is made perfect in your weakness... even when you are ready to cry in frustration over not being able to get an IV in on a baby that desperately needs it... or you are at the end of your ability to figure out what the little old man in front of you may need... or you have no answers to give the lady wondering whether her baby will be born a healthy little infant in six months or not make it to next week.... or you are unsure of what the future holds. thank God for His grace that reaches all of us and His power that thrives in the midst of our weakness.
posted by katie at 10:18 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home