Worship Wednesday - Give Me Your Eyes

This song by Brandon Heath is so dear to my heart because the second I start to hear the introduction I am taken back to Tanzania, Africa. This song sums up my experience in Africa like no other journal entry or conversation can. Love for the Humanity encompasses the simplicity of what that medical-mission trip was all about! 

Looked down from a broken sky
Traced out by the city lights
My world from a mile high
Best seat in the house tonight
Touched down on the cold black top
Hold on for the sudden stop
Breath in the familiar shock
Of confusion and chaos
All those people going somewhere, 
Why have I never cared?

Give me your eyes for just one second

Give me your eyes so I can see

Everything that I keep missing

Give me your love for humanity

Give me your arms for the broken hearted

Ones that are far beyond my reach.

Give me your heart for the ones forgotten

Give me your eyes so I can see

Yeah

Yeah

Step out on a busy street

See a girl and our eyes meet

Does her best to smile at me

To hide what's underneath

There's a man just to her right

Black suit and a bright red tie

Too ashamed to tell his wife

He's out of work

He's buying time

All those people going somewhere

Why have I never cared?

I've Been there a million times

A couple of million eyes

Just moving past me by

I swear I never thought that I was wrong

Well I want a second glance

So give me a second chance

To see the way you see the people all along

2 Trips {Tuesday Topics Link Up}

I'm linking up with Lauren @ Life, Love, Lauren for a Tuesday Topic. My choice in 2 trips is very easy! My most memorable trips are to Australia my Sophomore year in College and Tanzania the summer after my Junior year in College. These trips are so memorable and filled my digital camera up with many photos! Lets go down memory lane and half way around the world to remember these once in a lifetime adventures!

Australia - May 2008

Beautiful scenery!

At Morningside College you are required to take a May term sometime during your four years there. My friends and I chose the most expensive May term that Morningside had to offer because we knew we wouldn't have the chance to go on a trip like this again! I went with my close friends Kendra, Bailey and Kelli Down Under to Cains (near the Great Barrier) and Sydney, Australia. I remember the day we packed our luggage onto the bus because it was on my birthday. We were headed on a 10 day adventure with about 30 other college students from Morningside. Our trip was jam packed with stuff to do each day and really was the best way to see the country because our itinerary was full. 

What we got to wake up to in Cains!

Bay and I in Cains, Australia

 

Enjoying drinks at the bar in our hotel.

One fun thing besides being in a beautiful country was that the drinking age is 18 there so since most of us weren't legal in the US we could get a feel of being a legal "adult" by buying fancy alcoholic drinks. We sure did take advantage of that ;)

 

Kendra and I after the boat tour.

Aborigine face paint with Bay and Kendra

I can't even explain to you in detail all the places we went just because it would be such a long post but we spent several days in Cains, stayed a few nights in a rain forest, then took a small plane to Sydney. In order to get the credit for the class we had to talk to local businesses while we were there and also did research of various tourist attractions prior to our flight. I really like knowing about a place before I visit it so that was something that was no problem.

Kelli and I - Roomies!

Holding the squishy sea caterpillar at the Great Barrier

There was no language barrier of course so that was nice! We all fell in love with their Australian accents while we were down there. The people are so nice and so funny! We got to feed kangaroos while we were there and even held a Koala. Unfortunately Kelli got bit by the Koala!! Surprising huh?? I guess the Koala was sick of all the photos and cuddling.

The Barrier reef is so breathtaking! There were tons of fish with colors as vast as the rainbow and the coral was quite the site! We went snorkeling all day and even went on a guided tour farther from our boat which was awesome!

Swimming in ice cold water on on of our hikes

Kelli and I in downtown Sydney

 

Tasting the local food - I think one was crocodile

Visiting the 2000 Summer Olympics location

Us girls with the Sydney Opera House in the background

At the famous Bondi Beach

Bay and I trying out surfing at Bondi

The whole Morningside Gang

The group that we went with made the trip even that much more memorable.

"Did you say Didgeridoo?!?!"

 

Tanzania, Africa - Summer 2009



Wilson our awesome Tour Guide / Brother to STEMM

I can't believe I am writing about both of these long trips in one post but it is great to have an excuse to document them and share them with you! This is a trip I have wrote about before because it was changed my life and my outlook on life so much! I had always wanted to go to a third world country like Africa on a mission trip and when I had the opportunity to go in college and get nursing experience I knew that God was pushing me to go. I listened and I have never ever had any doubts! This trip opened my eyes to extreme poverty, gave me a new found hope in this world and made me realize that even if you have so little, you still have so much to praise God about! I went with an organization called STEMM (Siouxland Tanzania Educational Medical Ministries) that was founded by an orthopedic surgeon who has gone to Tanzania over 20 times. You can hear more about my trip by reading this post.



My favorite picture of the Trip. Little girl at The Plaster House

 The Plaster House is a place children go after they have surgery. They can't go back to their mud huts with casts on so the Plaster House is a place to go in between surgery and home. Dr. Meyer assessed kids there that were planning on having surgery and he would try to do as many surgeries as possible on his 3 week stay there.

Breaking ground for the STEMM Children's village - a new orphanage

Breathtaking Mount Kilimanjaro - Tallest freestanding mountain in the world

Amanda Sarah and I ready for surgery!



Their smiles are just the best :)

Had to bring the baby along! Sleeping quarters under the radishes

On the trip we helped in several orphanages. One of which was called Huruma Orphanage and the little girls I met there just melted my heart. "Huruma" means Compassion in Swahili and after returning from Tanzania I had the word Huruma tattooed on my foot with a cross.


The whole gang on the safari

Children of Tanzania

Beautiful Whitness at Huruma Orphanage

 I was also able to scrub in on orthopedic surgeries (weird because now I am an orthopedic nurse!) When I was in surgery the power went out and we had to just wait and pray for several minutes waiting for the electricity to come back on. We also did HIV/AIDS education in 2 schools there and were able to take in the beautiful sights on an Africa safari for 3 days!



Amazing picture of elephant reflection!

 

Simbas!

I picked up on a little Swahili while I was there and mama Gayle (our trip coordinator) taught us a lot of phrases. My favorite is Bwana Yesu Asifiwe which means Praise the Lord! These wonderful people sing their hearts out for the Lord and I have never felt so close to God or so moved by the Holy Spirit as I have while in Tanzania!

 

Battling With Contentment while my Heart is in Africa

A word that has been coming to my mind lately is "content" I know there are many people that struggle with the concept of contentment due to relationship issues, career goals or even while battling addiction. Contentment does not mean everything is fine and it doesn't even have to mean everything is okay but it does mean making peace with where you are in your current situation. Thankfully I am blessed with a wonderful home, loving husband and steady career which leaves me very content however there is always a yearning for ONE more thing! And that is Tanzania!

 See I went on a journey in 2009 that forever changed my life, every future goal and pulled at my heartstrings. I fell in love with a country and the beautiful people of that country!

I feel in love with giving and honest compassion for others. I feel in love with the smell of Africa, the fresh air at the base of Kilimanjaro, and the sweet, contagious smile of the African children.

 I had the pleasure of going with a great group of people, one of which I now call Mamma Gayle! I went with an orthopedic surgeon, two nursing students from Northwest college, a pre-med student and grad student that was on her second trip to Tanzania. I was really lucky to have a great group of people to go with and to share this amazing experience with!

When I went to Africa there were 3 phases that I noticed myself going through

1 // Shock - You can't imagine what you are seeing and all the devastation from being in a 3rd world country. You want to help out around the clock and feel like your efforts will never be enough

2 // Absorb - You truly feel like you can't absorb enough of it. You want to remember every minute and every second! You don't want to ever forget the faces of the Tanzania people and you just can't seem to fathom loosing that feeling of being amongst the most special people on earth!

3 // Breaking Away - You don't want to leave. The trip to the airport on your last day brings tears to your eyes because you don't want to leave this beautiful land and you know that it is so unsure as to when you will return...But you MUST return! Your heart can't find that sort of set on fire, free, overwhelming love anywhere in America.

There were times after I returned that I would just cry. I would be frustrated that I wasn't back in Africa. Angry at how much it would cost to return again. And confused as to how my friends and family could never understand how I felt while I was in Tanzania. Every story I told just couldn't express how I felt and I couldn't "bottle" up the emotion enough to explain that it was truly where I felt God's love the most!

But then my sister went to Tanzania on the same Medical Mission trip that I went on! Finally someone to talk about the Tanzania people with! Finally someone that understood what I felt and what I saw! And we made a promise to each other that we would return again to Tanzania but this time we would go together!

So that is why my heart is yet to be content. Because there is a piece of my heart that is in Tanzania! I'm glad I have the warm memories and hundreds of photos to keep my heart steady while I wait for a return trip to that special land unlike no other.

I'll leave you with this. It is from the blog A Holy Experience

You have got to use your position inside the gate for those outside the gate – or you’re in the position of losing everything. There are a thousand ways to be the living dead.

If you have any food in your fridge, any clothes in your closet, any small roof, rented or owned, over your head, you are richer than 75% of the rest of the world. We are the Esthers living inside the palace.

If you have anything saved in the bank, any bills in your wallet, any spare change in a jar, you are one of the top 8% wealthiest people in the world. We are the Esther’s living inside the gate.

If you can read these words right now, you have a gift 3 billion people right now don’t, if your stomach isn’t twisted in hunger pangs, you have a gift that 1 billion people right now don’t, if you know Christ, you have a gift that untold millions right now don’t. We are the ones living inside the gate.

http://www.serenitynowblog.com/2013/06/weekend-bloggy-reading-link-up_21.html#more

Nursing Funnies & Random Thoughts

I have updated my #shereadstruth page...so check it out here: http://somethingbeautiful19.blogspot.com/p/shereadstruth.html


So I had to share a few things I found humorous at the beginning of my shift. I went into a patient's room to introdue myself and he had a pretty decent sized beard. I told him my name and he said "I have been here for awhile, I didn't have this beard when I got here!" Oh that made me chuckle :)
The second story was a joke from my patient's friend. She isn't "all there" so I figured the joke would be a little odd ;) She said "I was riding in my car with my friend and we saw a house that was on fire, and then a lady came out of the house that was on fire, so I turned to my friend and said - "This ..Girl ..is on Fire.." (in the tune of Alicia Keys song)" Oh Wow! never a dull moment in the life of a nurse!






__________________________________

And now for the serious stuff. I was catching up on some blogs and found a post that this mom wrote concerning why they don't allow their children to say "I'm Starving". Her husband went to Africa and has seen "starving" first hand. She describes how it is ok for your children to say they are hungry or that they would like to eat something but starving is a whole different thing. Starving means that you have not eaten in DAYS. This is a lesson I would definitely like to teach my children when they are old enough to understand and I can explain how their mom went to Africa and saw children that were very hungry and didn't have the proper nutrients in their diet. I will explain what those kids had to eat and that they were most likely always hungry. Here is the link to her post http://themarathonmom.com/why-we-dont-allow-our-children-to-say-theyre-starving.htm
I really need to also explain this to Alex because most of the times when he gets home from work he says that he is starving and that really isn't the case.