Post 25!!!

My 25th post wow how time flies, it does not seem so long ago that my sister and I sat in a Starbucks coffee shop and she helped me set this blog up for me! Is it really November 17 now!? craziness!! time goes by so fast it is hard to keep up with it but here we are nontheless with less than two months left of 2015.  lots has happened since my last post so I will waste little time babbling on and on and get to it

A trip and a bit
As a treat Georgia help to finance a special trip for us missionaries, Keri, Jess, Ellora and myself at the end of October/begining of November.  It was a really great time together and we had a lot of fun. The first day we traveled to Bugnay (which if you remember from a previous post is a mountain village where Ellora and I spent 2 weeks a year ago.

After we arrived we spent the afternoon and evening visiting with one of the midwives that was working at the maternity clinic (which is where we stayed) that day and just taking it easy, we even pulled together and made a Filipino dish of lumpia (spring rolls) which tasted quite good!

The next morning we hiked up to Buscalin which is a beautiful village set among the rolling Kalingan mountains and rice terraces.  We met some tourists from manila and had some great conversations, Keri loves to pray for people so we prayed for several people while we were there, including a local lady who invited us in for coffee.
We made the beautiful hike down that afternoon, Keri and Jess went down into Bugnay to visit some of their friends that they made while they were staying in Bugnay last summer, while Ellora and I had a nap and a relaxing evening of heartfelt talks and then made a supper of spaghetti.

The next morning we caught the local transit (a jeepney) which took us to Sagada the famous town where a lot of tourist find themselves.  It is a great place! we checked into our guest house, and then had an amazing lunch.  The town is famous for many things, one of them being yogurt which we all had took part in for our lunch and it was so good!!! We hung our for the day, exploring, having coffee and cake and each getting a full body massage which was amazing!

The next day three of us (as Jess stayed back due to a fever) went to do some caving.  Sagada is also famous for its caves and guided expeditions.  We chose a cave that we all felt we could handle (that didn't involve anything too physical) and headed out.  It was AMAZING we headed into the depths of the mountain where except for our guide's lantern was completely dark, we saw rock formation and took our shoes off so we could easily tread through the streams and pools of water and climb over rocks that you could pretty well scale with your bare feet due to its texture.  It was a great experience and amazed me at how amazing our God and Creator truly is.

That evening we went on another tour of the area, and te next morning we were taken to see the sunrise.  Sagada is one of the coldest places in the area and that morning it was about 15 degrees,  i had not been anything that cold for about a year and half, and I was not dressed properly so it was very cold, but it was also very beautiful. After that our tour guide took as to catch out jeep but we missed unfortunately, but our was guide was very nice and took us to the next town where we were able to catch the bus that would take us all the way back to Tabuk city.


and now for some photos....

                                                 making supper all Filipino like

                                                     Before our great hike

                                                  The Philippines really is beautiful!

                                                        Trails

                                                      Yogurt with wild honey in Sagada at the "Yogurt House"

                                                    Sunrise in Sagada

Medical Mission
After the trip we then drew our attention to a medical mission that was coming from Canada with Sameratins Purse. It was a group of nurses, doctors, an eye doctor and dentists.  All of the staff at the clinic had the opportunity to join them whenever they could.  They went to a different tribal village every day and offered their services.  Many of the people they saw had never been to eye doctor or dentist before.  People who needed them received a pair of glasses that allowed them to actually see! hundreds of teeth got pulled and a ton of fillings were done.  Many people got to express their medical concerns to the doctors and receive advice and medicine to help their various ailments.
I was able to go for three of the days that they did their mission. The first two days I mainly just escorted people from point A to point B and helped in the flow of traffic.  The first day I realized how much Illocano I could speak as I was forced to use a fair bit, however the local language is different than Illocano so it was still a challenge.

The last day I went which was also the last day of the mission I helped in the pharmacy area, where I helped to fill out prescriptions and got to mix up cough medicines which was fun.  In the afternoon I got pulled into the dental area where I held a flashlight for the dentist while she did fillings.  It was incredible to watch her work, and see what really happens when you get fillings.  I watched as she turned blackened teeth into pearly whites as if there had never been a problem.
That night we had a party at the last village; Pakak which is a personal favorite of mine among the villages.  The children preformed a traditional dance, people sang and then we ate, it was all so good!! After the meal the adults preformed a traditional dance, which was simply amazing, I even got to get up and dance for one of them. it was all wonderful experience and lots of fun

Sunday night there was a final party that they mission group put on for everyone who helped, it was at the really nice hotel in town, we swam, visited and ate more good food and then said our final goodbyes. They really are a great group of people and I sincerely hope that our paths will cross again in this world.

                                                      A day with the Medical mission team

Clinic life
the clinic has been busy! the day before we left on our trip there were 4 births within 12 hours.  One woman was pushing as I arrived on shift, after she delivered I was helping with another labour, then another woman starting pushing I went to go help with that labour, an hour or so later the third starting pushing which we all helped with, her baby got stuck on the way out so it was good we had lots of help.   The baby girl came out safe and sound but a little help to breath at first but she cried showing off her lungs.  She was such a cute little thing.  In the midst of all these babies another woman came in with labour pains, she delivered later in the afternoon.  That was just one day! Just yesterday I was unable to finish this post due to them needing an extra person in the clinic since there were two ladies pushing at the same time, Then I was on night shift and there was a another labour which I continued with until after the shift was over which resulted in a very tired midwife who was very eager for nap this afternoon :).  I have been able to help with many births the last few weeks and it has been really grand; I am learning lots for sure!

The other day we had our well-baby seminar and the subject was family planning (birth control methods) I had the privilege of teaching on Intrauterine Devices and Condoms.  I actually managed to get through the whole condom explanation and demonstration (with banana) without blushing.  Sorry I hope this isn't too much information. I am  talking more and more like a midwife every day!

Teachings
God has been working lots on my heart of late, well actually  I think He is always working on me, I just feel it more times than others.  He has definitely been teaching me about humility and how to let go things.  I am also learning that I need to give m fears over to Him.

I have discovered that I struggle with being confident in who I am and who God has created me to be.  Often I look at Christians and think that I ought to be like them, that they have it right and that I am failing in the areas where they are strong.  All though I believe it is important to admire people's strong areas and look up to certain kinds of people, God has brought the verse from Romans to be me saying "the thing molded will not say to the molder "why did you make me like this?" will it" (Roman 9:20) I realize that I often I have done this, sometimes wishing I was made a little bit differently.  But God has been showing me that He has made me as I am and although of course he will keep molding me and forming me I have to allow God to use me as He made me and try and be like someone else.   This is something that I never realized that I struggled with until I came here where people think differently than I do an the environment is different than what I grew up with

Missing home but happy to be here
This is the time of year that I miss home the most why? the snow of course! this will be the second year in my life where I will not see snow and I miss it so much and all that it comes with....fire places, snow men, sledding, skiing, clear night ske ect, ect.

Of course that is not the only thing I miss, I miss my brothers an sisters (that includes all me in-laws ;) and all the people in the North Thompson Valley,  I miss the sheep and the boarder collies, horses and milk cows.  The interesting thing is that despite missing all this so much I am in no rush for my time here to end.  The longer I am here the more relationships I build, the stronger friendships form and the more I love the people.  I am not necessarily saying that I will stay here forever, but it is becoming a very special place in my heart.  It is such an interesting emotion to miss home so much but also feel at home away from home

Prayer request
Fear:  I tend to be very afraid of making mistakes or messing up, I have found this fear is a tremendous obstacle in being able to care and love the patients. It causes me to be so nervous that it gets in the way of being to be the midwife that I want to be.
Skills: I won't go into detail but their are certain skills that I have not overcome yet and in order to be a better midwife I really need to get a handle on them,  of course I  always have a supervisor near to preform them when I cannot but it is something that I need to learn.
Rain: these last few months are supposed to have been the rainy season but there has hardly been any.  On top of that there was a big dam that broke which has left a lot of the rice farmers without their irrigation.  The rice farmers therefore have not been able to harvest as much rice as they would usually be able to which is going to make for a difficult year for them as it is going to be challenging to make any profits. Please pray for rain, and for the rice farmers.
Grandma: my grandma just recently underwent surgery and is recovering please pray that she gets better soon!
A baby on the way: one of our supervisors is expecting her first baby very soon, please pray that the birth goes well and that she will have strength and joy bringing this baby into the world, we are all very excited!!!!
Computer charger: yep you heard right, I am still having computer charger problems, turns out the one I bought is a bit of a dud so now I am going to have to pay another 30 dollars for yet another one and I have been having problems being able to order it.  Please pray I get a hold of one soon and that it will be the last one I will need to buy.  Also that my old laptop will keep on keeping on!

Well I think that is all I will go into today, but it has been a pleasure, I hope this post has found you all well, until next time my dear family friends!

Enter October

Greeting friends and family, I pray this update finds you all well and that you all had a wonderful thanksgiving

The month of September brought, joy, tears, new experiences and transitions.  The beginning of the month saw Ellora and I starting a new assignment.  We  had some buisy days in the clinic and many babies entered the world creating new moms and dads.  I met some new people and tried some new things.  The main theme of the month however was the bold awareness that it was the last month of having Bina and Alex with us.

New experiences 

The girls and I have started attending a new church, it is only five months old and part of the Victory Church which are all around the world.  The sermons are in English which is a bonus and the pastor and his wife are a wonderful couple who have an amazing vision for this area.  So far we are all really enjoying it so I think most of us will remain there for a good while.   

One Sunday after attending the church and after Ellora and I had a wonderful afternoon visiting, we found ourselves out in one of the rice fields playing tag with the local kids, now every time I walk down our road the kids know me on a first name bases, they are a great group of kids and a lot of fun to hang out with.  

The following day I experienced something else for the first time. I went to a birthday party with Alex and some of the girls (no a birthday party is not the new experience) and I sang Karioki for the first time! Yeah I know 23 and have never sang karioki pretty sad.  Anyway I discovered that it was a lot o fun (even if I am not all that good at it).  It was a very enjoyable afternoon eating a ton of food, meeting and talking with new people and hanging out with friends while singing to a video karioki machine.

Clinic life
There are several women that I have been following through their pregnancy since they first came into the clinic.  They are such wonderful ladies and it has been an incredible joy to watch their babies grow inside them, watch them as they get excited about becoming mothers and be able to pray for them each visit.  this is my favorite part of working here; being able to build relationships with the women and get the opportunity to love them and strive to allow God's light to shine through.

There is so much to learn in the clinic but by God's grace he is leading me and providing me with skills and experiences as I know He sees fit.  The clinic has been quite busy the last few weeks with sometimes two or three labours at a time.  The other day we had a woman delivering a baby while other women were coming in for prenatal checks, and then several ladies coming in with signs of early labour.  Fortunately the other volunteers came down to help.  In the end, a beautiful baby came into the world, all the women got excellent care during their prenatal checkups and we got the other women in labour settled in.
                                           
                                                 

Academics
The book studying is going well we are always learning so much.  We recently completed an assignment about postpartum care and it has been great being able to apply our book knowledge to the practical clinic world.  We have now started our assignment on family planning which so far has proved very interesting

Goodbyes
Well the big event since my last post was saying goodbye to Edolbina her husband Andrew and their  little son Ari  and also to Alexandra. Alex and Bina (as we tend to call them)  have been our senior missionaries in our program and started one year before us.  Alas it was time to throw them their big party, say speeches, cry and then a week later say goodbye as they headed back to Canada

Their party was held on the clinic roof covered with colourful tarp and decorated with Christmas lights, we ate delicious food, hung out together and proceeded with a fun and heartfelt program.  We all preformed a zuba type dance with steps that all involved midwifery care.  The very end of the dance had the grand finale of acting out delivering baby.  Ellora and I preformed a song titled "When can i see you again" by owl city and presented Alex and Bina with homemade lanterns made by a guy in the market place to symbolize how they will shine their light for Jesus no matter where they go.  The evening ended with everyone taking a turn at the Karioki machine that was rented for the night, it was a lot of fun.
                                                             
                                                         Ellora and I singing our song

                                                          at the party on the roof, Ellora, Bina, Alex and I
(the hats are part of our gift to Alex and Bina to help prepare for Canadian cold)

A week later it was time to say goodbye and send them off.   Ari was born here in the Philippines so it was a big deal for everyone saying goodbye to him as the girls here have watched him grow since he was still inside his mom.  And everyone had come to love these individuals.  I wept as I hugged these two wonderful women that have become such good friends and have helped me through so much this past year.  It was very hard to say goodbye and I miss them terribly but I know that God has great plans for them wherever they go from here.

Adjustments
So with saying goodbye to people, comes adjustments.  Ellora and I are now the most experienced foreign volunteers here which is a little intimidating for both of us but I think it will teach us a lot.  I know that I often feel that I should be a certain way have a certain set of skills for this title and so forth but I need to remember to not get caught up in that and just let myself be just where God wants me to be

Pinkeye 
Right at about the time we were all getting ready to say goodbye to Alex and Bina the staff here at the clinic all started getting pinkeye (called sore eyes here) it is crazy how contagious it is.  Pretty well everyone got it who live at the clinic save about three or four.  In the end I think it was less about who was exposed as compared to who had the stronger immune system.  I was one of the ones that got it and spent most of that day putting compresses on my eye, turns out green tea begs are very effective!

Thanksgiving
I did a thanksgiving meal for everyone here at the clinic on Sunday,  I even found a turkey which my Filipina friend went with me to buy.  We bought it live, brought it home and the guys "did him in" the next morning.  There was definitely more bone on him than meat but it was still really fun to have turkey. We also had stuffing, sweet potatoes cooked with sugar and butter, green beans (which were pretty stringy) and Jess (one of the American volunteers) made mashed potatoes and Gravy, so good. For dessert we had pumpkin shakes, made from homemade pumpkin puree, bananas, ice cream, spices and what not.  It was really nice to have a meal that tasted like a Canadian thanksgiving

                                                    our Turkey dinner!

On another note
So I have a technical prayer request (literally) my computer charger is dying, I am currently charging my computer by jamming the charger into the computer via holing it against the wall with my foot while I type (I know it is not very good for my computer but I have no other choice) Ellora's charger has also died so we have been frantically trying to get a hold of two new Lenova computer chargers. we are going looking again today, so if you could pray that we successfully find a way to each get one that would be wonderful!

Thank you all so much for your love and support
Many Blessings
Vienna; the sheepishmidwife

September: 1 year in the Philippines!

So this is a special blog as yesterday September 1st (Philippine time) marked a full year since Ellora and I arrived in Tabuk city.  Two weeks before we had spent 10 days in Davao city for orientation but the arrival into Tabuk city truly marked the beginning to a new chapter of our lives. 

 Since my arrival!

Since my arrival I have learned much and experienced plenty.  There have been tears and there has been joy.  There have been babies, mothers, new friends and new food.  And I am becoming half decent at washing my clothes by hand.

I now have a year and half left until the end of the program and I am in no rush for it to end.  I am reminded of this as our second years Alex and Bina prepare to depart from the Philippines and head back to Canada.  I can see how hard it is for them to leave and i cannot imagine how difficult it will be to say goodbye to the people here when my time comes,  but that is still a little ways away I must not dwell on that now.  It is not that I do not miss home and my family and friends because of course I do but I have also grown to feel at home here and of course it will be hard to leave, but as I  say I shell not dwell on that I am still not even half way through yet and despite my full knowledge of how fast time flies I am determined to say the phrase "I have lots of time".

About this month

So on to what happened this month.  It was a very good month with lots of wonderful moments. I got to be involved with some wonderful births.  There was one birth where I was in of which I was so grateful that the skill of the midwives, It was their skill and experience saved a particular baby's life.  The baby and mother are now safe and sound.  

During the second week of August you may have heard about the meteor shower that was expected, some of you may have even been able to witness it.  On of those nights Alex and three of my Filipina friends here at the clinic laid out on top of the clinic roof with blankets and pillows and watched the stars fly by.  The first shooting star we saw was huge, red, and lasted for a good 10 seconds.  As it shot across the sky we all pointed and screeched with delight.  It was such a beautiful night and it filled me with so much joy.  

IV's were another lovely experience this month! After Ellora came back from her break in the U.S. we practiced giving each other IV's. Ellora's first IV was inserted into my hand, and she did a very good job!  I have to admit it took me a few tries to successfully get an IV in my fellow missionary.  And it took three willing and very obliging volunteers for it to be a success but as you can see I did manage to do it with the careful guidance of our head midwife.  

My last blog I know expressed the difficulty that I was feeling with my first few weeks back.  Through prayer and the encouragement of family and friends I have been able to not only see God's hand in Him bringing me here but also that I am meant to be here.  I still have so much to learn and that is a definite prayer request that I will become more and more skilled in the practical aspect of clinic life. 

 I admit that volunteering overseas in a midwifery clinic involves many things that do not come naturally to me.  But then I have found that when I am learning new things; often they do not come naturally to me. I do not really know why, I think it has to do with how my brain works and processes things, maybe its Dyslexia, or Irlen or maybe it is some un-discovered learning difference.  I do not know for sure.  I do know that often God seems to call people to things that they are not always natural at.  Gideon, was an unlikely candidate for his calling as he came from a small family and he was absolutely terrified at the notion of doing what God asked him.  Scripture seems to indicate that Moses was not a fan of crowds but he did become a great a leader and God gave him the resources to do it.  Louis Pasteur was never good at academics and his greatest skill when he was younger was tanning yet he became the greatest Chemist in History.  

The very fact that things do not come naturally to me he here just shows how much I need to lean on Jesus and trust Him that he will carry me through, and that when I get through it will not be my own doing but my heavenly Fathers.  The one thing that does come naturally I will tell you, is how much I love the women.  I was not expecting such an overwhelming feeling when I arrived concerning the love for love each woman that I have the privilege of helping during their pregnancy and labour.  

1 year anniversary

As mentioned before, September 1st marks one year since our arrival to Tabuk so Ellora and I celebrated the occasion by baking a cake and serving it to everyone here at the clinic.  It has been a great year, not always easy but then I understand that most great things are not always easy to achieve.   I want to thank all of you who are praying and supporting me through this journey, it is an honor to work with these fine midwives and women and to help where and when I can with these woman and babies that pass through these clinic doors! Also thank you again for your prayers concerning the patient and her baby whom both had dengue and are now better.  Until next month, over and out, the sheepishmidwife! 

a prayer upon a prayer request!

Just want to send a quick prayer request out. In my most recent post I mentioned that there was a patient who was confined in the hospital with Dengua fever.  I got word today that her newborn baby has also come down with Dengua fever and was taken to a nearby city for treatment.  Please continue to pray for this woman and her baby, for privacy reasons I will not include their names, but I just ask that you lift them up in prayer.  For a complete recovery, strength and peace.  As I mentioned before Dengua has been known to be fetal.  So this can be quite scary.

July has flown by....

wow...it is already the end of July, it seems just like yesterday that i arrived back from Canada and here I am almost 4 weeks later.


A taste of July
I cannot claim that lots happened this month but it has been busy non the less.  Ellora and I started on our assignment titles "Well-woman" and no it does refer to the woman at the well.  It was a very interesting assignment but kept us very busy.  I got to be involved with some more births, which as always wonderful, amazing and nerve wracking.  We also have two interns from Austria staying with us and it has been great getting to know them, especially since they are from Vienna! Ellora has headed off for her four week furlough in the states, and tomorrow the new girls head to a mountain village for four weeks so I will be the only white person living the house for the next few weeks.

Alright, so I am not going to lie, my return here to the Philippines was a little more challenging than i was expecting, not for any one reason in particular, but I was definitely pretty home sick the first two weeks back.  I had just finished getting over the real big bout of homesickness back at the end of April so it was a little unfortunate to have to go through it again, but then I suppose it shows just how blessed I am to have such a great family.  Sometimes I find myself disappointed with how slow I seem to be in getting the hang of things.  I will be honest I did not realize that this journey would be this difficult. I have had many good people in my life however that have been encouraging in addition to this I was reminded of something the other day and was actually able to put it into words while writing a letter to a friend.......

Dancing through the thistles 
Some of you know, that I love to go places barefoot.  On the ranch during the summer months I rarely wear shoes unless there is a real reason to.  The thing with going everywhere barefoot however is one often runs into thistles and thorns which do not feel so great on the feet.  Whenever I encounter these thistles that tend to disguise themselves among the grass so that often I do not know that they are there until I step on them, I am faced with three choices, 1) I can turn back, and miss out on what is on the other side of the thistle patch or 2) I could run through as fast as I can but then I would have so many thorns in my feet that I probably would have problems walking any further or I can choose 3) slowly moving around, over, side stepping and maneuvering through the thistles.  I tend to pretty well always choose option 3.

I feel like the challenges we face can be like that.  When we encounter struggles and hardships we can turn back and miss out on what God has for us (although sometimes it is God;s leading that we choose a different route) we can force our way through but then cause more harm to ourselves than good or we can let God lead us in a dance through the thistles.  It is usually a slow dance and it takes time, and even when we are careful we will still get thorns in our feet, but by the time we get through and are on the other side, we can look back and realize that God turned the thistle patch into the dance of our lives.

Other things
Anyhow that is my sentimental moment for this blog post.  Last Saturday we had our labour and delivery seminar and I had the task of teaching on the second stage of labour.  I had fun explaining the different positions that one can use while in labour and the benefits of each.  It was the first time that I did a teaching with a crowd since being here.  I have done a few devotionals but not a a teaching.

Since the two new girls have arrived four of us Americanos have started our own little church service Sunday afternoons, we have not done it every Sunday, but we get together in the evening sing songs and share something.  Recently we all told our testimonies which was pretty cool,  we had to divide it up throughout the week however and give each one of us her own night.

Prayer needed
The  clinic has been busy and we have had many wonderful women and babies pass through the doors.  I do have a particulate prayer request for one of the patients.  She recently delivered a baby last week but a few days ago she was confined in the hospital due to a fever.  It turns out that she has Dengua fever and a Urinary Tract Infection.  Thus she has to be separated from her baby and is not able to breastfeed him.  The baby is staying with her family and is doing well, but their whole family could use prayer.  Dengua is a very unpleasant illness and in some cases it can be fatal, but she is in good hands now with a very good doctor, please pray that she recovers soon and will be able to be reunited with her baby and family.

To close
With this I shell leave you for another month
other prayer request in addition to the above include continual learning, joy, confidence and humility
For the new assignment that I have started which requires a a lot of research!
Also for my Grandma who is recovering from a burst appendix In Canada.  I am told that she is doing a lot better and I am hoping to skype with her soon so that I can see for myself.

As always I thank you for your prayers and support during this journey

There and Back again: A Furlough Tale by Vienna Moilliet

Well as the title of this blog indicates (in addition to my obvious appreciation of Middle Earth books) I am back again after four weeks in Canada spent with family and friends

the trip back to Canada went very well, April and Anker picked me up in Vancouver, which was a real treat, it was so much fun coming out into arrivals and spotting April, running towards her as we both squealed in a way only sisters can do.  After a lovely cup of Starbucks coffee we headed east! we made a stop along the way and visited these old railroad tunnels, it was a lot of fun and felt good to be among Canadian forests again.

                                              Sister fun on the way back!

That evening I had supper with my brother and sister-in-law and of course my wonderful nephew whom has grown up so much.  It was so good to see him!!! then my mom and dad stopped in which was a wonderful a reunion.  Later I went back to April and Anker's where I slept very soundly

The next morning held a lot of biter-sweetness.  Sweetness because we went to a Breakfast place (still in Kamloops) where I got to see two sets of aunts and uncles, and nearly all of my siblings (one of them had to stay back and look after the ranch) it was so good to see them and I was nearly bursting with excitement I even got to see my soon to be sister-in-law.  The bitterness of this morning however was that the reason that so many of my family were in Kamloops this day was due to the fact that a dear friend of the family (mentioned in my last blog) had  unexpectedly died and his funeral was being held that day.  It was a very sad day as we said goodbye hugged his family members; he was only in his thirties.  Thank the Lord however that he had the Hope of Salvation and that he is the arms of Jesus and we will soon meet again.

That afternoon I returned with my mom, dad, younger brother and my nephew (who was to spend with weekend with up) to the ranch.  It felt good to smell the smells of good ol' Aveley, see more friends and family and play with my nephew.
                                                 
                                                daddy and I hanging out at the ranch pick nick

Unfortunately I got quite sick that weekend with a nasty cold.  I went to church that Sunday not feeling the greatest but tolerable.  Joseph and Cadence then took me out to lunch in Clearwater.  it was a lovely afternoon but by evening I had a fever and was all achy.  Anyhow I survived and got over it in about a week but my couch lasted longer than I would have liked.

The Merendia evening went well there were about 40 people there.  From the evening to the end of the month I raised almost a third of what I estimated I needed.  I thank everyone who contributed; it was truly a blessing, about half of the money has already gone towards my tuition for this year

June 20th was a big day for us as one of my younger brothers; Seth, tied the knot! and got married to a lovely girl whom is a great match for him.  I had the honer of being one of her bridesmaids, along with her sister (maid of honer) two of her friends and Cadence.  It was an adventure! as with many weddings there were unexpected little mishaps that came up but they were all worked through and everything in the end was beautiful and no one knew the difference.  I shed quite a lot of tears and was thankful I walked up the isle with a tissue in my hand.

The next day the rest of our family stayed in the house that we had rented in Vernon and hung out together as a family, we had a relaxing morning as the kids played and then went swimming in Kalamalka lake.  We finished the evening off with a delicious BBQ which included lamb...oh so good.  I had a blast with me nieces and nephew, it was hard to say goodbye.

                                                 BBQ time at the rented house in Vernon

I returned to the ranch for the final ten days, they were a bit more busy than I had hoped, but such is life.  I visited several people, went huckleberry picking with a friend (which included a lot of bush wacking) Helped mom take my youngest brother into Kamloops because he had to have knee surgery, and help nurse him a bit thereafter.  I also had the honer of baptizing a young friend mine.  The following day we had another young person who was also baptized.  I went for a drive with mom and dad to Clearwater lake, of which I had never been to before.  I went riding for the third time that month, watched some Lost episodes with my younger brother, said goodbye to my sheep Tiah and before I knew it was time to leave.

                                                 Clearwater lake: quite cold

                                              Saying goodbye to my old sheep Tiah

The trip back was certainly a journey.  I already knew that it was going to be a long trip of about 42 hours, due to lay overs, but it turned into a bit of an adventure.  April and Anker dropped me off at the Kamloops airport where I flew to Vancouver.  I discovered that my flight was delayed by two hours which was fine since my layover in Beijing was 7 hours so I had plenty of time to spare.   The 11 hour plane ride to Beijing went very well, I was happy that I seemed to feel fine (I have a history of sometimes not feeling well on planes) we were fed two meals the last only about an hour before we landed.  Again I seemed to feel fine but as soon as we started to land I started feeling really sick.  It was very fortunate I had bought a small beg of chips in the Vancouver airport and that I ate them as it allowed me to have an empty beg at my disposal, I was, after all unable to get to the bathroom since we were in the middle of landing.  As soon as we hit the ground....well you can guess the rest I won't give you details.  I was hoping that I had gotten sick just because of the motion.  But upon entering the airport I was in need of another bathroom.  I managed to make it through security but needed another bathroom right afterwords.  With about four hours till my next flight, I found an empty gate (fortunately I had idea of the airport layout since I had stopped there on my way over) stretched out on the chairs and slept for two hours.  After that I still didn't feel great but there was nothing left in my system to throw up anyway.  When I got on my next plane (which went to Manila) I found myself sitting by a woman and her young son.  I noticed earlier that she looked tired and exhausted and I soon found out why. Turned out that we had been on the same plane from Vancouver, and that she had also been sick and had had the same meal as I did.  We were both relieved that we were not the only ones sick and agreed it must be food poisoning.  Both of us slept pretty well the entire four hours to Manila.

I figured that was enough excitement for one trip but alas it was not the end.  I had one more flight to catch, an hour flight from Manila to Tuguagarao, from there I would take a van back home to Tabuk.  But I arrived in Manila at 12:30 AM and had to wait until 11:15 AM.  So I wondered around, facebooked, read, and slept on the airport floor for another two hours.  We boarded the plane at 10:45 AM and started to get ready to head down the runway lane, but before we could the pilot informed us that due to weather the flight had been canceled, so off the plane we went.  At first I was just going to stay overnight and get the plane the next day but by texting with friends back in Tabuk it sounded like the storm was going to last until the next day.  So I decided to take the 11 hour night bus.  I took a taxi to the bus station where I discovered that all buses to Tabuk were full but managed to get the last seat on the bus going to Tuguagarao.  While I waited I meant a really nice family and we chatted for about half an hour and they helped me get on the right bus.  I finally headed out of Manila at 6:30 pm that evening, slept off and on, arrived in Tugeagarao at 5:30 am, where there was lots of wind and rain (I confirmed later that the flight for that day was also canceled, so very good I did not wait around) got to the transportation van in plenty of time.   I finally arrived in Tabuk at 8:30 AM where Georgia and her husband kindly picked me up at the terminal so I did't have to walk in the pouring rain, not that I would have minded but my luggage would have.

It was so nice to see everyone again, there was lots of hugs and "glad to see yas" all around.  I met the two new young ladies that have joined us here at the clinic, they will also be here for 2.5 years. They are great gals.

Oh boy that was long post but you know I love to tell stories and there were so many that happened this last month.

So here I am again, I start doing clinicals again on Thursday and must begin my next assignment today.  It is going to be a crazy next 19 months filled with learning.

Thank you so much for all the prayers this last month
I think there will be a big learning curve approaching as the clinic has become quite busy.  I can definitely use prayer (as always) for the ability to grasp concept, understanding and wisdom.  you can also pray for the new girls as they begin their language classes.  And four our second years as they begin to prepare to graduate (so sad to loose them :( )

Much love and Blessing to you all!!

Short and Sweet

Hi All
So I would love to write you a nice long blog to catch everyone up but the bitter truth is that I simply do not have a lot of time considering the fact that I start my journey home in 2.5 days time  So I shell hit on the highlights.

May flew in with an immense amount of busyness, there was a trip to Manila with Ellora to get her visa stuff sorted.  We certainly had some adventures, without going into too much detail we ended up seeing more of Manila than we anticipated, no we weren't lost we just had a hard time locating a bus terminal where we could book a ride back to Tabuk.  But no worries we made it home safe and sound :) We even has some time to see some of Mall of Asia

When we returned home we soon become heavily involved with academics we were taught about breech birth, newborn resuscitation, and several sessions on Herbs.  We completed our herb assignment which was very interesting but very time consuming and required a lot of focus, did a brief statistics course and started on another assignment.

Two Interns have come to join our family for a month! sadly I have only been able to be here with them for two weeks, as they will be gone by the time I get back from Canada which brings me to my next set of business

As I mentioned earlier I am coming back to Canada in just 2.5 days! for four weeks my sister and her husband will pick me up at Vancouver airport and drive me home.  because this is a public blog and all I won't give many details about the flight or schedule.
You can definitely pray that I manage to get everything together in the next two days, as I have been swamped with homework and have only just started packing.  I still have some homework to finish up and clinic life is also busy.  I am very much hoping I do not forget anything before I leave.  And for those of you who have been following this blog since the beginning you know that I have a history of not always feeling very well on long flights, so please pray that I do not get sick in any shape or form.

There was some sad news received this last week as I found out that a good friend of the family passed away very unexpectedly, it was terribly shocking news and has brought great grief to anyone who has ever known him especially for his family.  I think most of you know to whom I am referring to.  Please remember the whole Vollans and Flagel families in your prayers.

Thank you for your prayers concerning the clinic things have picked up considerably this month and we have been much busier which is always good!

On this note I will close this blog post I know it is shorter than usual but hopefully I will see most of you soon so I can talk to you in person, I hope most of you can make it to me fundraiser event, (you do not have to give money to come :) this mission needs prayer warriors too!) I will be dividing my time between Vavenby and  Kamloops, I am trying to keep traveling to minimum as I have very little time in Canada.
Blessings to you all!

Up coming event....

So....in four weeks I fly back to Canada for 30 days.  I have set a date for a fundraiser/get-together  following is the information concerning said event.

A Merienda Evening!
June 13, 2015 at 6:30 in the evening. It will be held at Vavenby Christian Church, Vavenby B.C. The evening will start off with a video about the clinic, slideshow and my ramblings and stories.

 Following we will have Merienda! Merienda is something like the English' tea time or coffee time and always consists of some form of food (usually sweet).  I am planning on making two Filipino dishes often served for Merienda and am also asking people to bring goodies and finger food.  so if any of you feel like doing brining anything do let know.  We can then socialize and hang out for the rest of the evening.  If you have facebook the page for the event is
https://www.facebook.com/events/471073656380936/  if I have not invited you to the event via facebook please let me know so I can send you an invite!
Many Blessings y'all and looking forward to seeing my Canadian family and friends in a few weeks!

March update in April

Greetings all!

Before I get too far allow me to start of by apologizing for the lateness of this blog post.  It was meant to be written the last week of March but due to a big assignment due I decided to postpone blogging until the assignment was complete (more on that later) anyway here we are in April, Spring for my fellow Canadians and Summer time here in the Philippines.  So where shell we begin....

Clinic/Missionary life
I feel like I have been progressing in skills  in the clinic.  I really do love helping the women through their labour, whether rubbing their back or speaking encouraging words to them.  I am also slowly getting more confident in certain areas some of which I wondered if i could ever grasp.  My supervises are really great and are wonderful teachers.  I had a really good talk with one of them the other day and she was very encouraging and gave me some good sound advice for some of my weak areas.  There are still many, many times when I feel overwhelmed and discouraged at my slowness at getting comfortable at doing and learning certain things but there are also many times to rejoice.

Language
I have also been able to use the language a little more in the clinic, in many ways I should be using it more but I have gotten to where I can ask almost all the questions during a postpartum (the checkup after birth) visit which was an exciting discovery.  One of the ladies on staff who understands lots of English but doesn't speak it very often (although she can speak English much better that I can speak Ilocano) told me something the other day and I was shocked that I could understand it!  Not word for word mind you but I still knew what she was saying which was very exciting!  But the language is still a big weak spot for me so I certainly would not object to prayer for this area!

Academics
As mentioned above there was an assignment due (remember i am a student with National College of Midwifery) that was 107 questions long, we had 4.5 weeks to complete it, it required a lot of focus and dedication but it is now complete! The test is also finished which is equally exciting as some of you know I am not a fan of tests.  So now I just have to wait for the results, hopefully next by week, to see how we did.  To celibate the completion of our assignment Ellora and I took an afternoon and went swimming at one of the local hotels, we enjoyed some lovely food as well.  It was such a nice afternoon.  The fact that we live, work and study all in the same building can cause a person to really not get out much so going out for an afternoon to get some sun and water was a fantastic reprieve.

News
Although this does not really have to do with babies it is some fun bit of news; some of you may have heard this already but who cares.  My little brother Seth proposed to his girl friend several weeks ago and she said yes! so I will soon have a fourth sister-in-law.

Due to the above news I have other news, my break was originally scheduled for August but I was able to change my month break to June instead for the wedding.  So I will be returning to Canada, pretty soon, it will be quite brief, only four weeks, but I am looking forward to it.  I will have the honer of being in the wedding party at my brother and his fiancee's wedding. I am also hoping to be able to witness some births as well.  I have to see 4 more home births and 1 more hospital birth in order to graduate from National College.  So if anyone is expecting in June and wouldn't mind having an extra person there do let me know :) I also am tentatively planning an evening where I will share the work that is being done here and fund raise for the last of the money that is needed for my stay here.  I am thinking that the event will most likely be in the second week of June, but I will let you all know when I have more details.

I turned 23! Okay well its not huge news but it fills blog space.  Here in the Philippines instead of people dong stuff for you, you do things for them on your birthday; this takes the form of making food or buying food to share.  It is actually a really cool thing to do. So for my birthday I made macaroni and cheese (the first time I'd had it since I left Canada) and in the afternoon we had banana splits.  It was a lot of fun and I had a nice relaxing evening.  It was my first ever birthday spent completely away from family let along outside of Canada


We have a lovely lady Midwife from Kamloops who has come to volunteer for the month of April and it has been a pleasure having her, we are already dreading her departure.  When she arrived she brought a ton of chocolate that was sent from the family; it made me so happy I thought I might cry, don't worry i didn't.

Hanging up the jean jacket and Tilly for scrubs and crocks
Well....its April....and for the Moilliet's of Aveley that means one thing....lambs. This marks the second time since my infancy that I will miss a lambing season. I thought that since I had missed one before (when I was at Alberta Bible College) and since I would be surrounded by birth (just the two legged kind instead of the four legged ones) I wouldn't miss the Lambing season as much.  But as April first came along and pictures of baby lambs and news about the Aveley Ranch adventures hit the facebook pages it brought with it the emotions of homesickness, but not just any kind of homesickness the kind that makes me miss jean jackets, tilly hats, sheep, lambs, bottles, knives strapped to your belt, afternoon tea, hay bales and water buckets, rain, snow and sun (all in the same day) and everything that spells LAMBING! the April season is after all my second favorite time of year and actually if it really came down to it it would probably win over Christmas which I have typically always said is my favorite time of year.  Hence I should not be surprised I find myself greatly missing the busy, exhausting, joyful, difficult, worth-every-minute-of-it 30 days of April.
               Lambing is without a doubt a big reason why I wanted to be a midwife, it was during April 2007 that the midwife wheels began to turn.  I think I really miss lambing because that is my area of expertise and I feel very comfortable and confident among birthing ewes.  But my experience here is still very new and I am still so very green.  Whether when it comes to lambing; I have 22 years of  experience under my belt, and yes, I counted my first lambing when I was a month old; after all I am pretty sure my mama had me out there in the action even if I couldn't do anything yet.
            Has the lambing experience prepared me for human birth experience, actually there has been several moments, especially in the birth room where I think my training as a Midewe (sheep midwife, and yes I just made that up) have helped prepare me.  Of course it most ways they are completely different but in other ways there is some familiarity to some of the situations.
           So for this year and next year at least, instead of donning a jean jacket, baggy blue jeans and a tilly hat in the morning, I dress in scrubs and head to the field!

A thought of sentimentality - Grandma Alice: It's in my DNA
          So instead of a story I thought I would share something a little more sentimental.  The other day after a long shift I was feeling a little discouraged about how well I was doing in the clinic and my Grandma Moilliet came to mind.  I never knew my Grandma Alice Philips Moilliet.  She died several years before my birth but I know her through others.  She was the village nurse.  She had completed her training before her marriage to my Grandpa.  During that time there was no doctor let alone hospital in the area and she was really the only medical person around.  This resulted in people bring her their sick, she would lay them on her table or in an extra bed and use all of her expertise to cure them.  But nursing the sick wasn't all she did, she was also the town midwife, I even saw her old beg once titled "Midwifery kit".  She would cross frozen rivers and go out in storms to help women deliver their babies.  For some of these women my Grandma Alice would be all they had.  I knew this before I left Canada, in fact the year before I left she had become my inspiration, but I hadn't thought about it for awhile until this recent evening.  A wonderful feeling struck me, yes midwifery was hard, learning new concepts was challenging but my Grandma did it.  Of course my experience is very different than hers was I suppose but delivering babies is still delivering babies.
       I knew I did not want to be a nurse, people suggested that I might want to go that route but I have never really had a desire to be a nurse, not like Midwifery. But even though I am not following Grandma Moilliet's footsteps in nursing I feel honored to be following her steps into Midwifery.  Somehow knowing it is in my DNA is reassuring.  Of course with this thought comes a new emotion; the great desire to sit over a cup of tea with my grandma and talk babies, I would ask her all about her stories and experiences and soak in all of her wisdom.  Although I know I can't speak to her now I am looking forward to that cup of tea in heaven someday where she and I can talk all about babies and mama's giving birth.

Prayer requests and thus ends another post
Well I suppose here is as a good of a place to cease my ramblings as any but before I completely sign off here are a few prayer request

The three usual's - as I maneuver through clinic life, academics, and language

For the clinic - the clinic has been rather slow the last few months and there has been concern that maybe someone has said something bad about the clinic and false rumors are spreading, please pray that if this is the case that they will cease and women will come to the clinic.  One of the hospitals also seems to be making some of the patients feel bad about delivering at the clinic the reason: there is no good reason.  Please pray that this situation will resolve and for unity among all the health care facilities.

For the women and babies - as always there can never be enough prayer for every women, baby and family member that pass through our doors, for them to be keeps safe and healthy.  There is one mother right now who was transported to the hospital from the clinic and her baby was confined for several days she was unable to hold the baby for  quite some time, this was probably unnecessary but such is the protocols of the hospital.  Although they are both out of the hospital this young woman and her family could definitely benefit from your prayers.

Thanks - My round trip flight for June to come home for that month has been paid for! Family and friends pulled together and the money came through, I  was quite shocked at how smoothly it all came together Praise God and thank you too all his people who gave.  Thank you everyone for your prayers they truly mean so much! Also there was a guest speaker st church this last Sunday that God really used to yet-again confirm my calling here, and that I am where God want me.

On this note I shell leave you all and sign off, until next time, the sheepish midwife, serving in the Philippines

here are some photos of a walk that Ellora and I took the other week to the river.

                                                  a water buffalo

                                                      our favorite walk to the river

                                                         making friends

Winter Tales

And thus our winter here in Tabuk comes to an end and the Philippine heat begins to ascend.  First of all let me apologize for the long delay in getting this posted, about two weeks ago I started this post and between bloggers block, (the blogger's version of writers block) my computer charger dying,  lets be honest, pure plain distraction/procrastination, here I am at the end of February sending off my 16th post I think it is, here we go folks....

Learning
I have been able to learn lots in the last six weeks and have experienced being able to help lots in the clinic.  Of course there are still times when I can get rather tense and can let me fear of doing something wrong overcome me.  However I have started developing a technique to help me think things though which helps me be prepared and calm.  I love working with the women and babies and find myself enjoying each shift all the more.  Each woman is so special and beautiful and it is a complete honer to serve them.  I am also so privileged to be able to work and learn alongside such wonderful midwives whom are so skilled and caring.
        As far as my long distance academic education goes, the first big assignment (we had a smaller one earlier) and test are done and I was shocked at how well I did on the test so that's a good sign :) I am now in the middle of another assignment.  So far I have been able to meet deadlines although I got considerably behind last week when my charger gave out, fortunately my fellow volunteer has connections and called "the computer guy" who got me a lovely new one and it is doing a marvelous job, he even delivered it to our door!
       Now that I have been spending more time in the clinic it has forced me to speak some Ilocano which is the only way I will ever really learn the language hopefully (by practicing).  Hopefully the more comfortable I feel working; the more comfortable I will feel speaking the new language but I do still have a loooong way to go to get where I would like to with the language.  But I know it is all about practice.
   
                                                     Holding a baby that I had the privilege
                                                         of being present upon her arrival into the world

                               helping to dress and examine a 1 hour old baby with one of the midwives

A Musical Story 
        Ellora and I got asked by the church that we are attending if we would sing a special song one Sunday.  You would think since both of us sang on our worship teams at home we would accept with delight and I did a first but after the fact, the whole thing seemed a bit intimidating after all it is a whole new group of people, so Ellora and I just sort of never brought it up again and neither did the individual who asked us.  We avoided the Sunday that we had originally been asked to sing on (well actually I had a skype date with my family on their Christmas day and didn't want to miss that so that was my excuse)  Since no one brought it up again we thought maybe we were off the hook.  Not so! the next Sunday the same guy asked if we would sing the following week.  We couldn't say no and the truth was both of really did want to do we were just nervous.  So all week we practiced "Come thou fount" which Ellora had been learning on the acoustic guitar.
          Sunday came and we went early to practice then went for a walk and returned.  We got called up after the worship and I was so nervous my stomach was in my throat.  In addition we had also been asked to say something so throughout the whole worship time I was racking my brain for what to say and how to say it.  When we got called up Ellora ended up having to use an electric guitar because there was a problem with the acoustic, yep that's right we did "Come Thou Fount" electric style and it went really well! As well as did the brief mini speech where I introduced Ellora and I and explained how the song we were going to sing had really helped me through my young Christian years.  As it is about overcoming Christian struggles, the song went equally well, electric guitar and all, at least i thought so.
         I am very glad that the guy from Church asked us again to sing because it was a lot of fun and was a great way to connect with the people at church. The interesting thing was that after the service in honer if it being the pastor's birthday they had a slide show and guess what the music was?  that's right "Come Thou Fount" you would have thought we planned it! I am thinking God may have done that just for fun!

Moilliet tradition meets Tabuk City
           Well as some of you know, my family have an interesting tradition of every February 2, watching "Groundhog Day" and eating pizza.  So I decided to being this tradition to the Philippines.  I made homemade pizza which actually turned out! and we all gathered around to eat pizza and have coca cola and watch "Groundhog day".  It was a very enjoyable evening!

                                    can you Groundhog fans tell what seen this is in the movie?

Kalinga Day
            A few days ago was the province's (Kalinga) celebration of it's province and her people.  Unfortunately I didn't make it to a lot of the events, but I did go to the Miss Kalinga Pangent and visited the special market which was very much like a fair ground,  I went first with some of the other midwives and again with Ellora.  There were beautiful handmade items, amazing food and fun sights to behold.
                                                    at the Miss Kalinga Pangent

                                                       

At the Kalinga Market: Ellora and I's chocolate waffle and pineapple juice.....it was sooo good!

                                 
                        Ellora and I right before we ate our chocolate waffles the waffle tent
                                                                              was set up like a little restaurant

Saying goodbye to a new friend
Well, we said goodbye this morning to Deborah a woman from Switzerland who has been volunteering here for two years.  She is heading home to Switzerland now and there were lots of tear  in letting her go.  We had a big party in her honer the other night. At the end of the program Ellora sang "Let it Go" and I did an interpretive dance to it.  Sorry you'll have to take my word for it since I don't think anyone took pictures of that particular event but here are some from the party

                     
                        Last picture of the white girls with Deborah (the one in the traditional Kalinga dress that was a gift to her from the Filipina Midwives) before she left two days later

                                                        party on the rooftop

                                                 
                                     Ellora and I expressing our gratitude to Debora for welcoming us and encouraging us upon our arrival and for her friendship

Well I think that gives a brief summery of the most recent events in my life.
A few prayer request
 language, learning, grasping concepts and knowledge, for health, spiritual growth, and finding opportunities to show and share God's love.

love you all and keep safe!
God Bless!
signing off from another post, Vienna, the sheepish midwife