An Announcement!

Something big is happening.  So big, in fact, that I’m going to start a whole new post category for it! (It’s kind of a big deal.)

Suffice to say that today my dad bought three plane tickets to Uganda.  One for me, one for him, and one for his brother Bill.  We’re going to fly down to Uganda on 29th July, and stay for about a week and a half.  While there we’ll be travelling all over the whole country visiting new church plants and looking for more ways to come alongside Pastor Hummer and his ministry there.
We’ll also be in Kenya for part of the trip as well, which I’m excited about.  I’ve never actually been to Kenya before, so I’m looking forward to a new adventure.

We’re not yet sure about where we’ll be staying or any of that, but since it’s only three of us rather than a whole team, we’ll be able to stay flexible.  We’ll definitely be roughing it, but we’re up for the challenge.  I for one am thrilled.

It’s been a year and a half since I’ve been in Uganda, so I’m bouncing off the walls with excitement to get back there.  I’m really hoping for the chance to see my sponsor child Jessy again, but I’m not sure what his school schedule will be like or if I’ll get to see him in person.  I’m hoping to at least write a letter to have delivered to him if I don’t get to see him myself.

So that’s coming up fast–it was a bit short-notice and will probably continue to be that way, so I’m just along for the ride.

Nursing Application Update

Ok so we have a team coming in in a few hours, so I don’t have time for a big long blog post, but suffice to say that I just got my answer and Piedmont has accepted me into their Nursing program for the Fall 2013!
I did some crazy stuff to make this happen, even as far as flying back to Virginia just to take a measly exam, so I was really hoping I’d get in and all that would be worth it.  I’m so relieved and thankful, and excited too.

Just call me Profesora…

I have some exciting news!  I’ve been wanting to teach an English class since before I came here, and it’s finally going to happen!  So far I have three students.  A class of three will be nice because I’ll be able to invest more time with each of them individually, but also if more people sign up I’ll be excited for that too.  So we’ll see what happens.
We’ll be meeting each Thursday afternoon for one hour (though I’m looking into moving the class earlier so we can have more time if need be) starting this week.  My three ladies have absolutely no background in English, so we’ll be starting with the alphabet and going from there.

I’m working with the organisation Lifting Hands, which is a volunteer-based organisation that started very shortly after I came down here.  More info is on their website, but it’s all in Spanish…so to sum it up, they use our church building during the week to give free classes to nearly 200 students from Los Anonos.  English, computer, math, tutoring, even a boxing class–they do it all.  So I’m excited to be a part of that.

I’ve never taught an English class before, so I’m not quite sure what I’m doing…I guess we’ll all be learning as we go.  But it’s something I want to do, and I’m super excited to get started.  It’s great because I’m (obviously) a native English speaker, so that’s something valuable that I can share.

Anyway, we’ll see what happens.  I’m sure I’ll update more as we go.  So stoked!

I went back to the States…again.

Yes, it’s true.  It was most definitely not in my plans or budget, but it had to be done.  I struggled a lot with it, because that’s a lot of money and I was simply not planning on any more trips to the USA before I go back for good in June.

But see, I’m working on applying to my college’s nursing program for this Fall semester, and the deadline is February 15th.  And there was an entrance exam that I hadn’t known about, and I had to take the exam before the application deadline.  I spent an entire day calling and emailing and researching to see if there was any way I could take the test from Costa Rica since it was an online test, but they said no.  So I was forced to go back.  With less than a week’s notice, I flew back to Virginia on Sunday and took the test Monday.  I did quite well on the test, so I feel confident about being accepted to Nursing…I won’t know for sure till April 15th, but it looks like I’m pretty safe.  I’ll let you know when I find out for sure, though.

Anyway, it’s good to have all that off my chest.  I’d been agonising about it way too much.

See, my dream is to become a doctor.  A surgeon, specifically.  And I was planning on pursuing that.  But the more I thought and prayed about it, the more I began to feel like that wasn’t for me–at least, not at this point in my life.  Maybe one day…because I do want it badly…but I just feel like God was telling me to become a nurse now.  For one thing, I had already taken all of my nursing program prerequisites before I came to Costa Rica, so that was all lined up.  For another thing, nursing will take way less time in school, so I can get out onto the foreign mission field (coughAfricacough) much sooner.  Also, it’ll be less demanding so I can be a wife and mother sometime down the road.  That’s not to say that doctors can’t be mothers, but…well, suffice to say I feel like I need to go the nursing route for many reasons.
It’s not necessarily my dream, per se, but I feel confident that it is my calling.
And it feels good to have that decision made.  It was plaguing my mind and keeping me up at night.  It was just a really heavy thing to carry, and I was putting a lot of undue pressure on myself.
So I’m all set now.  Decision made, application submitted, now all that’s left to do is wait till April to find out if I made it!

So after the business part was over with, I enjoyed the next three days with the family, which was simply nice.  I didn’t over-fill my schedule, I just hung out.  Then today I was up at 3 am to head back to Costa Rica.  This trip was so fast, but good.

It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon

after a long, hard, good week, and I’m sitting here with my laptop bawling my eyes out.

A team from my USA church, The Summit, is in Uganda right now.  And I’m being torn in two.  Because I’m so grateful to be here, living the dream as always, and my heart is here.  But it’s killing me to not be in Uganda, and my heart is there also.  And so since I cannot be in two places at once, I don’t know what to do with myself.

Good news, though–the Uganda team got to see my sponsor child!  That’s what really set off the sob-fest, this picture of my Jessy and my dad.

I wrote a post about Jessy a while back when I received an email update from Uganda.  You can read that here.  But he’s changed so much from the little guy I fell in love with a year ago!  I barely recognised him!  But I know that precious face…

I miss that kid.  My relationship with him is special, because he is deaf.  So I can’t talk to him or he to me, and yet I feel like we’ve shared so much.  He would come to me and we’d sit, just sit there together quietly, but it meant the world.  And then there were the tickle fights…oh, the tickle fights.

This is a picture of him when we first met, cutie pie.

Anyway, that’s what’s up.  My day has been made because they got to love on my baby even if I can’t.  I’m so overjoyed.

P.S. Just want to give a shoutout to my wonderful friends Rob and Dannielle (Dannielle is in Uganda now and is the one who took the first picture) because they are helping me to sponsor Jessy since I’m here in Costa Rica without a paying job.  So thanks guys for making this possible…I love you!

All in a day’s work…

What a day.  Whaaaaaaat a day.

This morning I had a meeting with Sonia, the director of the Niños Sin Fronteras clinic around the corner.  It’s mainly a children’s medical clinic for the community, but it also does other various classes and activities for the children.  And it’s so close to my house…it literally takes me about one minute to walk there.
Anyway, so nine o’clock this morning I went over there.  I was expecting a short meeting to discuss volunteer opportunities for me while I’m here.  Maybe like a half hour or so, talk about our options, and set a date for me to come in and work.
Well, that did happen, but then I ended up taking Sonia and Daniel (the new nutritionist) on something of a tour of this side of the river, visiting people’s houses to get an idea of the medical needs of the community and to spread the word of the nutrition classes that will be starting soon.
After the tour, it was back to the clinic where I spent the rest of the time designing and printing flyers to advertise all of the activities going on.  Pressure!  I have no experience doing stuff like that, especially when everything is in Spanish and I haven’t a clue what I’m even supposed to put on the flyer.  But I did it and they loved it.
So what started as a short meeting turned into a four-hour work shift, but I was glad to be of help.
And tomorrow morning I go in to actually shadow/work with the doctor.  Excited!

Also, buying scrubs here is stinking expensive…I wish I’d brought some from the States.  Oh well.
And Sonia told me my Spanish was really good!  Little things like that make my day.
So this is a super exciting opportunity and I can’t wait to see how it pans out.  Living the dream (:

After I finished at the clinic at around 1:00, it was back home.  I had the house to myself, so I ate some lunch, made a big old pot of gallo pinto, and Skyped my mum, and then just as I was about to sit back and relax after a crazy day, I get a message that I’m needed for childcare down at the church.
And that’s when things really got crazy.
So I headed down there and did my thing, entertaining the kids while their mothers went to a two-hour crochet class.  Let me just say that two hours is a very very long time when you’re dealing with crazy wild children.  I love those kids, they’re the sweetest things, but they are wild.  I mean, you can’t even imagine.  They’re not like any kids I’ve worked with before!
Anyway, though, for the majority of the two hours, we did fine.  We kicked the football, we played with stuffed animals and mega blocks.  But near the end they decided they were done playing nicely and decided to go crazy.
The youngest (probably about 2 years old) threw the tantrum to end all tantrums, so his mother came and got him, and I assumed he was going to sit with her.  But he did not sit with her, he ran wild.
I went out to see what he was doing, and I rounded the corner just in the nick of time to find him hanging like a monkey from the bathroom sink, and the sink had come free from the wall and was currently in the process of falling.
It was like slow motion; I lunged forward and grabbed the boy just as the sink crashed to the ground and shattered, water was spraying everywhere, and the kid was just watching with this blank stare.  So I shut off the water and shooed him away so I could mop up the now completely flooded bathroom.  I was soaked.  The sink was broken.  I was trying as hard as I could not to be angry.  But I’ll admit, I was.  I wanted to cry.  I just wanted to hide in a corner and cry.

But hey.  This stuff happens.  Unfortunately.  And it is what it is.  Two year old boys will be two year old boys, and I will learn to be patient, because I have no choice, and whatever happens I will not cry in front of the children, I will wait till I get home.  And God will help me because I cannot do it on my own.
When I got home tonight after all of this, my roommate Jessie asked me how my day was, and I was laughing and crying because I was so upset I couldn’t decide which to do, so I just laughed and cried and told her everything and now I’m okay.

Anyway, this is just another day in the life.  Mondays are supposed to be my day off, but today was possibly the most crazy day yet (or at least in the top five).  So much for a day off.  But it was good…mostly.  You know, except for the shattered sink and the flooded bathroom and all that jazz.  Minor details, right?

Here, have a funny picture that Jessie took of Kevin and Chino and me.  Just for the sake of ending this post on a good note.

 

Mold Scrubbing, Races, and Other Tomfoolery

I’m sitting here at my desk with a nice cup of coffee, breathing many sighs of relief.  This weekend did me in.  In a good way, of course.  But it was crazy.
Yesterday we spent all day doing housework down at Rodney and Cindy’s, because they get back from their visit to the States on Tuesday, and then our next team comes in Friday.  So there was lots of work to be done, and still is.  Yesterday was mainly dedicated to scrubbing thick green and black mold off of the patio, sidewalk, and walls.  It’s a never-ending job here during the rainy season.  This rainy season hasn’t been as bad as in the past, so the mold wasn’t as bad, but it was still mind-blowing.
I have to say, though, that scrubbing mold is very satisfying.  Here I am, on my knees in a puddle of moldy bleach water, throwing my whole weight into scrubbing, and when I rinse away the bleachy green sludge, a clean grey sidewalk greets me.  I get dirty, I work hard, and I get to see results.  That’s the kind of job I like.
Also, this job is great for character building and lesson learning, as demonstrated the first time I did it.  I highly recommend it.
Now my hands are utterly torn up.  I guess my rock-hauling calluses have worn off, because I’ve now got blisters galore.  But hey, that means I did something.  Battle scars, if you will.  That sounds more intense and dramatic, because that’s how I roll.

We called it a day when it started to rain, and I headed back up to the house to get ready for music practice.  Saturday afternoon practice used to be one of the most stressful times for me, but every week it gets better and better and now I’ve started to really look forward to it.  I didn’t cry or even feel like crying even one time yesterday.  It’s crazy how music can be such a passion and delight for me sometimes, but then at other times it can drive me to my knees in frustration.
But it’s getting better as I learn the songs and get used to playing with a new group of people.  I was feeling discouraged for a while, but I’m getting over it and remembering that yes, I really do love music and it’s a huge privilege to be able to do this.
So that went well.

That was yesterday.

Today, I woke at 5:30 to dress and grab a snack before heading out into town for the Caminata Contra el Cáncer.  It was my very first race in another country, which was exciting.  It was also my first 5K.  It’s funny because I’ve done all these things like obstacle races and even a half marathon, but I’ve never just done a regular old 5K.

So I’m somewhere in that throng.  My roommate Jessie and I ran it together.  We also had some friends running, but some were faster and some were slower.  Jessie and I keep about the same pace, which is nice.  We run well together.  Our time ended up being 35 minutes on the nose.  Which, believe it or not, is considerably faster than I’d expected to finish.  I’m a very very slow runner, so my goal was actually to get it below 45.  Well that was a piece of cake.  I underestimated myself.  And when I finished and saw my time, I was thrilled–I’d exceeded my expectations by a long shot.  35 may not be amazing, but I’m proud of myself.  And I had fun too.  And now I know for next time that 35 is my time to beat.

After the race Jessie and I walked back home (It was a nice long cool-down walk–half the length of the race itself!).  We hit the showers at the speed of sound and hightailed it down to church just in time.  I helped lead worship and had expected to have to teach a children’s class as well, but we ended up with only a handful of children so we kept them in the main service.  Which was a relief, because leading worship and teaching the children in the same day is always crazy.

Oh yeah, prayer request time.  So one of the ladies in the church told us that her son was diagnosed with dengue fever this week, right here in the community.  So please be praying for him, for healing from the pain and the fever and the virus that’s taken over his body.  Dengue can be very serious, and even if it’s a mild case, it’s still pretty unpleasant.  So pray that his case won’t be serious, and that he’ll heal quickly and have minimal discomfort.
I’m going to be totally honest and say that I’m scared.  I thought I was safe from dengue in this part of the country.  But not anymore.  And if I get it again, there’s more of a likelihood that it will be very severe this time.  So I’m a little worried now.  I know the chance of me getting it again is slim, but it’s there.  So also be praying that the virus won’t spread, that our household and the community will be kept safe from it.

Anyway, now I rest.  Usually by the time Sunday afternoon comes round, I’m beat…and this week, even more so.  So this afternoon will be nice and slow.  Tomorrow as well, which is good because from Tuesday onward, this week is going to be packed.  We’ve got our new intern, Lindsay, coming in Tuesday, as well as Rodney and Cindy returning.  Then we have a couple of days to get everything in order for a team from Michigan to come down for ten days and work, followed by one from New Hampshire, and all the while we’re preparing for a trip to Nicaragua in November!  Things are about to get crazy again!
The month of September and this first week of October were nice and laid-back.  That’s about to change.  It’s funny, it seems like every time we get used to a new normal, it changes again.  There’s no such thing as normal here.  But it’s all good stuff, and every change brings with it new excitement.  Here we go!

photo by Lester Palacios (: favourite!

I’ve never been so happy about an email.

Yesterday I received the best email in the world.  It was from Christine, one of the ladies who is in charge of the Uganda end of our sponsorship program with Ray of Hope orphanage.  The subject line said, “Report on Jessy” and I immediately got so excited…I love hearing news about my sponsor child.  So this is what it said:

May the Gracious Lord that we serve, the God of all things are possible reward you for your generosity, dear beloved of God.
Beloved  of God Debbie,i would like to bring to your notice of the acknowledgement of the $150, the funds sent to Jessy Opoi Pirwoth for his support. we were so much grateful and the aunt (an usher) in church screamed with joy for the support the boy got, and she commanded me to communicate to you that you my send her  GRATEFUL APPRECIATION to Shannon for having such a generous heart, God will never forget you.
I together with the aunt took the boy to school (the school of the deaf) in the boarding section, cleared allhis school requirement andhis tuition. w also got him clothes and shoes to push him on while at school. so he i to be in school for 3months fully, though w have to keep paying   him a visit once in  a month.
May God bless you dear Shannon and may He multiply according to the desires of your heart.
thank you.

“The aunt screamed with joy.”  That just made me cry so much when I read it.  Five o’clock in the morning and my day was already made.  Heck, my whole week was made.  My whole life was made.  This is really what it’s all about.
When you sponsor a child, it’s easy to just send the money and feel like you’re not really involved, you’re just some stranger across the ocean sending a monthly check.  But that’s so not how it is.  Every penny I send makes a real, tangible difference in the life of a darling little deaf boy who would have no future otherwise.
He sent me a letter a couple of months ago, thanking me for the support, and he signed it like so: “Love, your son Jessy.”
And I love him.  I personally love him with my heart, a genuine love that I can feel beating in my heart when I think of him.   He’s not just a picture sitting on the shelf in my room.  He’s not just a kid I met one day when I travelled to Africa.  He’s not a stranger receiving a monthly check from a stranger.  He’s my love, my son, receiving a monthly check sealed with love and kisses and thoughts and prayers.  And there isn’t a single day that goes by that I don’t wish I could hug him.

Heh, I sense that I’m getting all sappy now, so I’ll wrap it up.  But anyway, I just wanted to share this because there is no feeling like making a difference in a child’s life.  And as I make a difference in his, he makes a difference in mine in a way I never could have thought.