2 years later.

I think the honeymoon of ship living is beginning to fade, not entirely but the normal realities of living are coming back into play. The difficulty of finding a place alone to relax... The reality of work which can sometimes be so that you feel like you've just ran all day from one thing to the next.. The reality that if you eat too much you do gain weight (known as the "Mercy Hips" - the food here is really good and generally in abundance..), the reality that sometimes when you want a friend to do something with they are otherwise engaged.. like working or something. And please tell me, why is it that ANytiMe Amber Dennis would like a cup of tea or urgent pick me up coffee... that is the time they are washing the floors in the dining room, with the barriers up, that truly you're not allowed to cross... please, tell me.. why! : ) I smile, but these are the little things out of my control.
These are my main miseries of week number 4.
I dropped in on 'Toast Masters' group tonight, to fill some social need, and the Zumba class to help the feelings of fatness begin to fade : )
That's one cool thing about living in this ship community, is that there is something on almost every evening if you wanted. Tomorrow night is Drum class if you want and ladies B-study by Beth Moore, currently studying 'James' which happens to be titled "Mercy Triumphs". Wish I caught it from the beginning but came in part way through, so only a couple weeks left til it's through.
Wednesday this week is an inservice on Malaria, by our one and only Kirstie, who also hosts Wednesdays 'Breath', a get together for nurses where we celebrate all the joys, victories, stories, etc that have happened this week in the hospital or our personal lives.

Let me just tell you one quick story from last week's breath... (even tho I'm typing on my phone! : )
I believe it was 2 or 3 years ago that a lady came to a screening day due to some sort of a tumor. It was definitely worthy of a Mercy Ships operation and qualified for the surgery, all except one point... She was pregnant. And she was too early on for them to do the type of surgery she needed, so they said yes, we'll do it, but please come back in 3 months. The woman was beside herself, for fear that she may not get the surgery. She said 'I'll get the baby out, please! Just do the surgery!!' She was serious, and desperate. She left that day, not knowing wether she was going to take the babies life or even her own life. That nurse never saw her again...
Until this week. She recognized her and confirmed that it was her and beside her was an 18 month old baby boy. That nurse has plead with her that day not to have an abortion and not to take her own life. It was pretty heart wrenching for her to run across this lady so long later, on a separate Mercy Ships visit to Togo, while she is just here as a caregiver for one of her other children.
Its a small story, but really cool and encouraging to us and I hope to you, that when you fight and advocate for someone's well being or even someone's life, you may get the reward to see it come true. she got that seeing the 18 month old sitting there next to it's mother.
So often lately I have heard about the reward and joy that comes from serving others. Even here sometimes I can be generally self centered, but the glimpses I get of this joy in serving others is beginning to take better shape. Please don't take this as just some religious talk because I am just as sick of that as you. Please try and just see it as life's truths.

Thanks for reading the 'Amblog' and staying tuned with happenings here on 'The Mercy Ship'
Love,
Am