# 10

(this is a clue in an amazing race that we are holding in davao for our volunteers here)

Go down to the shoe Ukay-Ukay dual sa Gaisano mall. Find Ramil and buy a pair of shoes from him for p50 or less. He will give you your next clue after you purchase his shoes. The pair of shoes you buy will have to be worn by a team member at the end of the race.

be sure to buy your shoes from Ramil since he is the one who will have your next clue.

God's Blessings

Ofelia and her family are an extra special blessing from God. She is the sister of one of my former patients' Mildred. Mildred delivered at mercy at the end of 2006. I saw Mildred in the clinic a couple weeks ago. She was accompanying one of her friends in labor. God really used Mildred's birth to bless me. I have written about her before. Her mother prayed over me as I was delivering her grand baby. That was so powerful to be prayed over while delivering a baby. Since her birth their family has always been special to me. When I saw Mildred a couple weeks ago she asked me if her sister could have her baby here at Mercy. She was already late in her pregnancy and couldn't deliver at Mercy unless I decided to take her as my own patient. Well I did of course, and God has blessed the situation. Ofelia and her family have just moved back to Davao from Bohol. Well this last weekend when I was in the clinic with another one of my patients, I saw Ofelia's mother there. She was there with her grand daughter in labor. This was her first great grandchild to be born. So Mildred was also there. Her granddaughter had an amazing birth. Many prayers and tears. This birth made me even more excited to get to deliver Ofelia's baby. She is due at the end of September. I saw Ofelia for a prenatal this last wednesday. She was such a blessing. After I finished praying for her, she prayed for our clinic and for the Filipinos in Davao, that they would come to know Jesus and be touched when they come to Mercy. When we were finished praying be both opened our eyes and said thank you! Please pray for this special family.

Jackie

This is Jackie Lou. She just delivered her second baby Sept 2. Jackie is very special too me. I was her midwife with her first baby in March 2006. This last spring I also was her sister's midwife. I was excited when I found out that Jackie was pregnant again and planning to have her baby at Mercy. She came in at 1 in the morning and labored throughout the night and delivered baby Rey Aldrin and 10:49 this morning. She came back to the clinic today for her 1 day checkup. That is when I snapped this picture of the whole family. They are very happy to now have a daughter and a son.

This is a picture that I took of Jackie in March 2006 after her first baby.

Babies!

Hey there my friends!

I have a lot to say. I have been back in the Philippines for a little over a month and have dived right in. This little girl that I am holding in the pic is Sabina. She is a baby that I delivered this last february. Her father is a friend of mine. He brought her into the clinic for a visit. I had not seen her in 4 months. So I was pretty excited to see how beautiful she is. I don't often see babies that I deliver after they are 6 weeks old. So this was a real treat.

Right now at Mercy we have a bunch of intern midwives from the states here helping out over the summer months when we are short staffed due to students being gone. We have a lovely bunch here this summer. We are getting to the end of the intern season. On september 7th our new students will arrive. We have a class of 12 starting this September. I am really excited for this class. 9 of the girls are going to move in the student dorm. The other ones are married and are already settled here in Davao.

This is a picture of Inday when she came for her 3 week visit. She is doing great! Her baby Kian is growing just as he should. She has been a blessing to me the last couple weeks. Inday is a good mother.

Today I had another patient deliver. She had a wonderful birth. I also dleivered her first baby, so this delivery was extra special to have that connection. She had a little boy that they named Rey after his dad.

Life is hopping around here. Very busy in the birthing business. I am just so blessed to be here. God is teaching me so much. I am humbled that he would keep teaching me and changing me in the ways that he is.

Lechon!!!

My friend Lois and I were on our way to the post office today to pick up the clinic mail. On our way to the jeepney we ran into some of our neighbors roasting lechon (pig). They were roasting it alongside the street. It was quite the site. When they saw that I had a camera they got all excited and were calling out at us to take a picture. So of course I obliged them, and then on the way back home a took a few more.

I have been back in the Philippines for a little less than 2 weeks. It feels a lot long than that. I am blessed to be here and get to serve in the clinic again. This morning I had a prenatal clinic. We had 70 women show up for checkups.

Baby Christian Aya-ay!

Early this morning I got a text saying that my friend N-day was at the clinic in labor. I have known N-day from when I was here in 2003 as a student. I took responsibility of her care and was her midwife for her first baby. This last spring I found out she was pregnant again and decided that I would love to be her midwife again. The only problem was that she was due just around the time that I was planning on coming back to the Philippines. There was a big possibility that she would deliver before I got back. Luckily she waited for me to return. She arrived at the clinic at 5am in good labor. She delivered a little after 8am to a cute little boy. They were really excited, their first baby was a girl. Everything went smoothly. I was so blessed to be able to share this experience with her. What a cool way to jump back into life here! I found out after the birth that N-day and her partner had a wedding date today for 11am. Unfortunately they were not able to make it to their wedding, it made for good laughs though.
I am adjusting well to being back. Tomorrow night I officially jump into things with working the night shift.

I have completed my journey back to the Philippines. I got in last night around 7 in the evening after 45+ hours of traveling. It is great being back. So much has changed since I have been gone. New house, new roomie, the clinic is rearranged, and some of the girls have moved on, aka graduated. I woke up this morning at 4am which is to be expected with jet lag. Today my goal is to unpack and try to find places to put all my stuff. I am pretty intimidated by the task at hand. I start work in the clinic on the 8th. That gives me a couple of days to get situated. I want to thank those who were praying for me on the journey. I am in a peaceful state. My verse for today is Psalm 16:11
"You will make known to me the path of life; In your presence is fullness of joy; In your right hand there are pleasures forever."




These are pictures of my travelings this past week. The one on the left is in Portland OR, and the one of the left is in the bay of Portland Maine, on a 90 ft sail boat.
God bless