Thursday, April 28, 2011

Update 3 on Doula-hood, Costa Rica, Nursing school

Doula-hood
There isn't much new on this topic.  I have a new client who I have been working with for the past month.  She is due May 18th and is hoping for a water birth.  I am very excited for this experience and this young couple expecting their first baby!  And the gender is a surprise so this will be so much fun.  We are going out of town on May 8-10th so I am really praying I don't miss it.  I do have a back up in this case and the client knew this going into it. My class is paid off and I am just waiting for my certificate!  Hooray!  Still thinking on the name and the business cards and website are waiting on that also.  Today I did put an ad on Craigslist and got 2 hits within the 1/2 hour.  We'll see!

Costa Rica
I sent out support letters at the beginning of the month and have maybe gotten a quarter of them back.  I have already raised enough money to cover my trip and any other money will be going to those who are having trouble raising money for their trip and for other needs/supplies for our trip.  We are also raising money to build a wall (costs 10,000-20,000) around LaFinca.  Extra money will also be going towards this.  I have had many donations towards the wall as well.  Feeling very blessed by the donations from our friends and family!!! 

We have had a couple of meetings to plan the trip.  We'll be conducting an eye clinic for three days.  We will be heading into a couple of different schools and pulling classrooms of kids out at a time for them to get their eyes checked - most of them for the first time!  The eye doctor who is going with us said he should be able to see one child per minute just because of the tools he has (they are not even reading charts)!  This is amazing.  So we will see over 600 kids and probably half that in adults.  We have some "gospel-gearing" crafts to do while the kids wait for their eye appointment. 

In addition to helping with the eye clinic, I am in charge of coordinating a ladies luncheon.  There will be a lot of ladies attending who need to hear the gospel.  We are looking for a speaker (possibly me??!! but praying about who the Lord has already chosen) and I'll probably be helping with the special music (probably duet with another girl on the team)...wow...I can't believe I am writing it and sort of setting it in stone.  SCARY!

I got my shots a couple of weeks ago, so now we are just planning and preparing to leave on June 10th.

Nursing School
Here's the big one.  I have been praying over and researching options and things for nursing school.  When I first started looking into it, I was probably 99% sure I was going for it.  But as I sat and prayed over it the past few weeks, I gradually became 99% sure that I wasn't going to do it.  It was one day last week, while I was driving (I think...yes, scary) that the answer for the Lord came at me like a ton of bricks.  The answer is no...I will not be enrolling in nursing school at this time.  When the answer came, I can't even explain the weight and burden was lifted from me and what a peace came over me.  That tells me the answer is from Him.  For selfish reasons, I wanted to enroll...and for selfish reasons, I didn't want to.  But I truly wanted the answer to be from the Lord.  And it truly was.  Man, do I feel good about it!  It's not to say I'll never do it, but it's definitley not the time for me.  God showed me during this time that my heart is really at home and needs to be at home.  My relationship with my God, my husband, and my children depend on me being at home.  And in fact, God showed me other areas in my life that I need to cut back and prioritize.  I am currently praying over those areas and trying to decide, with God's help, what should stay and what should go.  As much as I am sort of sad about not enrolling, I am more happy that I am not.  God revealed to me so many things that I would be missing out on if I did (time with Him, time with family, time with friends...TIME was a theme - and it's short).  He was so precious to me during this time.  I know what rewards and blessings will come out of me not doing something that I selfishly wanted to...this is going to be WAY better because it's His plan for me and not my own. 

I am also praising God that I don't HAVE to work and that I have a supportive husband who wants me to stay home.  Going through this process allowed conversations for Brock and I to have that wouldn't have taken place otherwise. Knowing how his role will change in his job and how supportive he is of me being home with our children is just the reassurance I needed!  It seems like such a small decision - go back to school or not? - but look what kind of BIG things God showed me through that small decision process.  Never think that decisions are too small to NOT seek God first...your life is too important for that!!

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