Fiesta

This week there is a Fiesta happening here in Tabuk City. There was a parade where they did native dancing, it was really neat! I probably added to many pictures, but I just couldn't decide what ones I liked best :)

We also decided to face the heat and attended the first ever Tabuk City rodeo today. It was being held at 1pm and boy was it HOT!  We only stayed long enough to watch one small calf get roped and then had to retreat to find shade.

I enjoyed shopping through the many neat booths that were selling various crafts and treats. One booth was selling fresh sugar cane juice, yum! Thankfully the booths were under shade trees.

Enjoy the pictures!

Email updates

For those of you who are interested, I want to let you know that besides from sharing stories on my blog, I also send out email updates. My email updates are often a bit more personal and have different stories that I don't want to share with all of cyber space. I try to send out an email update every one or two months. I also try and send out a snail mail update twice a year.  If you would like to be added to my email &/or snail mail update list just comment on this blog, let me know who you are, what update list you want to be added to and give me your email/snail mail address :)

A village birth

This is blog attempt #5 in the past few weeks. When I would sit down to write a new blog post I could find no inspiration to be found. Every attempt sounded bland and who wants to read a bland blog post? While I can't say I am feeling completely inspired at this moment, I am feeling more inspired. So, heres a little story for your enjoyment and maybe with one post written it will inspire me to write more...

Last month for the first time since arriving to Tabuk I went to one of our neighboring villages where we do outreaches to pick up a mother in labor. The village is about a half an hour drive from the clinic and being that it was the mother's 8th baby I was pretty sure that we wouldn't actually make it before the baby was born. I prayed silently as we drove through the dark stillness for a safe delivery no matter where it might take place.

When we arrived the mom was squatting just inside the door of her house with the baby laying behind her on a fleece shirt and the placenta under her. Both mom and new baby girl were just fine. I quickly cut the baby's cord and we covered her with a clean blanket. After seeing mom and baby happily nestled together with the baby nursing we continued to help with the immediate postpartum care. In just over an hour we were driving through the darkness on our way back to the clinic. The new family contentedly snuggled in safe and sound.

This experience is etched in my mind, the picture remains clearly to me even now over a month later. I can see the mother,  her new baby, two of her now 8 girls, and the grandmother. The two girls were  sleeping sweetly on a matt just near by,  oblivious of their new little sister. I can see the grandmother's wrinkly skin, her bent back and her smile light up when we ask her who caught the baby and she rose her arms and proudly said "I did". I feel like I was given a gift, to be able to share in a small way, the birth of a beautiful new baby girl.