Did I mention...

that I am going to China in a week! Yeah, in the midst of starting a new job, learning a whole new set of skills, Chris being gone for 3 days, finding babysitters, planting a garden, and all the other every day stuff...I am going to China. I can't remember if I posted this yet or not, but my aunt won a trip to Beijing through her work. Her husband wasn't up for the long flight so I was next in line. Wheeeewwwwww! So, we leave a week from today. I will drive to Richmond on Sunday for my future sister-n-law's shower, then monday we leave for San Francisco to see my brother. We will stay 2 nights there and then leave for China. We are only staying one week, which is barely enough to get over the jet lag, but I am not complaining. It is free, and I have always wanted to see the great wall. We will actually be able to have dinner on it!! I will post pictures while I am there, so stay tuned. Mostly, I am sad about leaving India. She is going to be fine, but I am really going to miss her. Not that I won't miss everyone else, but India changes every day. I am hoping she will adjust back to nursing when I return.

these pictures were taken at a local catholic retreat center where chris goes once a month to get away from us:)

we saw dozens of deer but they were too quick to get pictures of...

In other news, I witnessed my first c-section. It was an emergency section. I was a nervous wreck. I had one great day and one not so great one last week. I hope the great days out number the other ones. I have so much to learn!! My preceptor told me that she never expects a woman who comes onto our floor to have a normal labor, because "most of the time they are not normal." I have had this in my mind all week. This myth of most women not having normal labors is the cause of the high c-section rates, the increased use of pitocin and epidurals. And leads to difficulties with recovery, breastfeeding, and mother-infant bonding. I have a long road ahead of me of biting my tongue to comments like these!! I pray that I will be able to endure it for what it is and learn as much as I can. I am so happy to have this job. I know I will have many great experiences. I am keeping a journal so that I won't forget.

Spectacular

There is nothing more beautiful to me than birth. I have had a lot of people ask me why I would want to be a labor and delivery nurse. How can I stand screaming women and all the blood and poop and stuff. I guess it is how I was made. Just like springtime brings such joy to me after a long cold winter. Just like hearing testimony from someone who has become free of a drug addiction and now lives in the freedom of Christ. Just like a flower piercing the cold hard ground to reach towards the sun in all of its glory. Seeing a baby brought into this world is the most spectacular thing on earth!!! I have given birth three times and now have supported three births. Today made me realize why I became a nurse. I knew it already, but today just was a fullness of the joy, excitement and accomplishment of it all. I thank God for this job, wherever it might take me. I know there will be frustrations, and there already are. But to witness a miracle and be paid for that. Shoot, who could ask for anything better!!

So much to write about...

It has been so long since I have posted that I am not sure what to write about. Should I tell about our first experience with PROP (paupers right of passage- a poverty simulation that we are leading through mission year). Should I talk about Alexa and Moriah's gymnastics "recital." Or our trip to Indiana. Or should I talk about my last day as a medical/surgical nurse and my new job I started as a Labor and Delivery nurse. Or should I talk about the breastfeeding class I taught on saturday morning in Kensington to hispanic women (some whom are teens) that have a desire to nurse their babies. Ok, so you know why I haven't posted in a while. I have been busy and don't even know where to start. So I will just throw in some pics of a bunch of stuff.
Mostly I feel like writing about this awesome book I just read. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. The author tells about her years experience with her family to live off of the land, only eating food that they grew or that was grown locally. I don't know why, but I have grown more and more passionate about this issue over the past year. I always knew that the produce, dairy and meats that we eat are not as good and wholesome as they were 100 years ago because of the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, and the anti-biotics and hormones. But my mind has been opened to the issue of our fuel driven economy and how much oil goes into a meal. Have you ever thought about how far your dinner has gone to get to your table. Well a typical meal travels 1000's of miles depending on what you are eating. Where do you think the blueberries or asparagus that you eat in february come from?? Eating organic isn't always the answer either since it travels just as many miles. What about the mac n cheese we cook for our kids. Look at the list of ingredients on the package and ask yourself where each ingredient comes from. We don't usually know, but this book made me wake up to this reality. We pay for that fuel in our taxes, not in the grocery stores. That's right, local farmers are struggling because grocery stores will buy up tomatoes from across the country rather than their own home town because it is cheaper for them. But we pay for that discount in taxes!!! It is such a screwed up system, and it is driven by a capitalistic mentality that disregards the health of the consumer, the welfare of the farmers, and the ecosystem that provides for us!! We wreck our soil with chemicals! We push carcinogens on the customer without the blink of an eye. How did our society get to this point. WE are destroying ourselves and our environment!
I am reading Omnivore's Dilema now. It is talking about how we got to the point of the use of chemicals in farming. Did you know these same chemicals were used in world war II to make explosives, and when the war ended, the government tried to find another use for them so that those corporations that produced the chemicals would not fall under. Well, they found another use, and farmers quickly realized these synthetic fertilizers helped them to harvest much more corn per acre, thus much more profit. There is a lot more to this, because now, most farmers spend more on these fertilizers and pesticides, and seeds than they make from the harvest. It is a complex web of capitalistic gain. I could go on about all of this and I have so much more to learn, but it has put a new challenge on my mind and plate. Seeking local produce. The whole way up to Indiana I looked at the farms and thought about what they would have looked like 100 years ago. As beautiful as those huge farms look from a distance, I found much more beauty in the simple small farms of the amish in Indiana. Seeing an old man plowing the fields with a hand plow was a striking contrast to the farm we had passed earlier in the trip where we saw a guy spraying his fields with a high tech truck. I grieve the loss of small farms in this country for all that our society as a whole has lost with it. I am not ready to become amish or anything, but I do want to make small steps. WE visited a family run honey farm while in Indiana.
We bought a lot of honey, if anyone wants some. And I will be planting more this year in our yard as well as seeking out farmers markets that sell local produce. And I want to buy a big freezer so that when I buy the local produce I can freeze it to last us longer.

you know how it is...

you know that feeling you get when your favorite restaurant closes down. if you live in philly, then you definitely know what i am talking about. well, it just stinks, doesn't it?? knowing you will never have that favorite dish again, or see those waiters/waitresses again, or just experience the smells, tastes, and atmosphere. I guess that is how i have been feeling these last few days. Chris had his procedure (you know...the one that ensures that there are no more babies.). It is a weird and sad feeling. I know how content we are with our three girls, but I also feel i need to grieve a little at the fact that i will never experience pregnancy and birth again. Also, I am, starting a new job in a couple of weeks as a labor and delivery nurse. i know i will have it in my face day after day and hopefully "get my fix." but it isn't the same as experiencing it yourself.