Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for my beautiful niece, Etta, on her 10th birthday. I praise the Lord for her everyday! Etta is such a beautiful little girl who is turning into a lovely little lady :) I can remember waiting for her the day she was born and knowing when I first laid my eyes on her that love at first sight is possible. I love you Etta and miss you every day! Happy, happy 10th birthday! xoxoxox and a wedge too :) Love, Aunt Tianne

Loving horses  

Summer fun with Romeo 

Hugs from my nieces, the best thing in the world! 

Beautiful young lady! But still my little Potato Bug ;) 

Yum, Lizard

This big lizard was caught  in the rice fields by the clinic

A big whack on the head with a 2x4 was what it took to capture him 

Sara, loves lizards 

He was pretty long! 

The mighty hunter 

He gave us some to try after cooking it up

Tt was surprisingly really good, I would defiantly eat it again

I am not sure what this is, but I tried it... maybe a testicle or???
What do you think it is?

Lizard skin! Ok I didn't really eat it :)

It was kind of stretchy and thick

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for the beautiful flowers that God has so wonderfully made. Thank you Lord for your wonderful creation! 

Easter blessing

I love catching babies on a holiday. This makes a day that can often be sad, lonely & long into a blessing. Sometimes God answers prayers just how we pray them, this was the case with baby Justin Leo's birth. I had asked God to let me catch a baby on Easter and that she would arrive in the morning and deliver in time to go home that night.
My labor text in advance notice, I changed into my scrubs, made the bed and ate lunch before she arrived. When talking to Sara, I stated that as long as she delivered by 1pm and had no problems she would be able to head home that night (if they stay over night we have to check on them every 4hrs and discharge in the morning).
She arrived about 12pm and gave me a strained smile. I introduced myself, took vitals and asked questions about her labor. This was her 2ed baby, her first was born in 2006. I asked her as I went to check the baby's heartbeat before doing the i.e. if she was scared of the pain, she said yes. I tried to assure her that she was very strong & to focus on the fact that very soon she would be holding her baby boy in her arms. She smiled.
Between the time it took me to do the i.e. (I found 6-7cm) and my supervisor to follow me up she had already dilated 2cm. She cried to her mother during contractions and I worked on helping her breath through them. Laying on her side because the heartbeat was a little low, she tried not push during each contraction. Pretty soon I saw slight vaginal opening and my supervisor told me to let her try pushing.
Rolling over on her back and giving a push, her bag of water was already 5cm visible! A moment later it burst open, revealing moderate mac staining. The mother had a strong, push, but listened well as I instructed her to breath, ha ha, through crowning. I have read that this part is called the ring of fire, maybe you mothers who have done natural births would agree?
Little Justine's head was slowly was born, as I was assisting with the birth of the rest of his body I noticed a nuchal hand (where the hand is up by the face). This was a first for me and thankfully in my inexperience I did not cause her to tear. The sweet little Easter baby was born covered in vernix and amniotic fluid at 1:02pm and gently placed on his mothers bare belly.

Happy midwife, happy mama & sweet baby

Justine Leo

Proud Grandma

Little Justine Leo, weighted 3.5kg (7.7lbs) and let his feisty personality shine through by screaming through his first bath and I mean screaming & making a fuss if he couldn't latch on to the breast quickly enough :) Please pray for mamma, baby, & big brother as they get use to life together. Praise God for His blessings of new life!

What in the world am I doing Lord?

I go through fazes where I miss home, my family & my friends more keenly then other times. Lately I have been a bit more homesick than normal. It is during these times that I start to ask God more often, what in the world I am doing.

My friend Kim Davey still works in the Didinga Hills of S. Sudan where I lived, served, and feel in love with the land and the people. Didinga continues to be a hard place to work with lots of spiritual warfare and challenges. This past week Kim wrote me an email about a birth she had witnessed. This is a bit of the story:


 "A pregnant woman had been taken down to Chukudum (a 12 mile hike) because she was bleeding, to the point of death. There were no doctors at the clinic there and the bleeding had seemed to stop so her family brought her back up the mountain.


I Found her at the clinic a week later, bleeding, with her placenta half out. She had been bleeding for a week and was quite anemic.


Her mother, aunts and the local midwife worked hard, broke her water and pulled the woman's daughter from her. The baby had been dead for a while.


It was hard to see, hard to hold her down, see her pass in and out of conscienceless, see her pain, hear her say she was dying and ask if her baby was dead... 


It was a miracle that God spared her life. I am thankful. Medicine says she should have died, but she lives."


That is why God has called me to become a midwife, so that these hands of mine can show His love to women like this young woman. While I know that I will probably still see women with empty arms or babies with no breast to feed them. I also know that with my training and God's help, when I return I will be able to help keep women's arms full. It is not an easy calling and often I am afraid of what the future will hold. Yet, God is faithful, He will carry, guide and help me.


* Please pray for the Didinga people. Pray that they would turn and follow Christ
* Pray for Kim and the other missionaries as they work & live to share Christ in this difficult place
* Pray for me, that I would learn, learn, learn all that I can while in school, so that I will be well prepared to return to S. Sudan to serve the Lord there.   
* Pray that I would not grow weary in doing good.
* Pray that I would keep my eyes on Christ and find my hope, peace, and joy in Him alone

Thankful Thursday

Life gets going so fast sometimes that I forget to stop and count my blessings. I have decided to pause on Thursdays and praise God for His blessing, little & big. I hope that you will pause today to count your blessings too.

Today I am thankful for my friend Hannah. We meet in 2007 at a Bible study, both shy, both loving dogs and violin music. She started out giving me violin lessons but, we ended up talking instead. We are as different as can be and yet our love for the Lord brings us together. I am thankful that God gave me such a great friend in Hannah. Happy birthday beautiful Hannah! May God bless you today and always. Can't wait to eat Chinese food and talk and laugh with you again.