Party Party!

For Christmas the birthing home and baby home had a celebration about a week before Christmas. Each home had their staff come up with a dance and the birthing home workers did a traditional Filipino dance which they suckered me into! We practiced all week and even got the costumes for it. Here is the footage of the final dance.Before our little dance, for a gift to the midwive's  Christmas present I took them out to a mall for lunch, while Jeri and Deborah watched the birthing home. They loved it and it was really fun. 

 Now this last week I did a lot of shopping for Christmas (normally I'm good about getting that done much earlier but as it hasn't felt like Christmas I started much later). Jeri, Sara, and I went to a mall that has a market on the inside half of which is pearl market. We had fun there though the Christmas crowds were rather crushing. 

  Tuesday night I went back to the birthing home to sleep. I was up later than the midwife and mother of a midwife who were in my room watching a tv show with earphones. I put everything away at about eleven and laid down to get some sleep. I was laying on my stomach with my face towards the window, which is just a large screen basically that makes up most of the wall. there is a glass window pane that I could close, but to catch some cool breezes it stays open. I had closed my eyes and randomly opened them. A black silhouette of a man stood less than two feet from my face with the screen between us. My whole body went completely warm for a second and then I started yelling at him, saying "Hey!" with as loud a voice as I could muster. Why I didn't just scream I don't know. He still stood there

 after the first yell and then ran off when I got out of bed and started yelling "Help!" The midwife and Nanay woke up and moved me to the bottom bunk. They woke the other midwives and covered the windows up with pillows. I just laid there crying and trying to be quiet as one of the midwives checked all the windows and saw the man go into a shed we have in the back. You know, I've had a scared sensation at night sometimes but this was the first time my fear had a legitimate reason and that was a horrible feeling. We stayed awake watching and listening and we had the husband of one midwife  and some of the midwives go out side to make sure he was gone. Around four in the morning I found that I had fallen asleep and again was clutched by fear until the sun started to rise. We figured that because of Christmas coming up people were just getting desperate and maybe heard that there was an American living at the paanakan and went to see what they might be able to steel. We plan to put up curtains in that room. I do feel gratitude for my safety. What if I h

adn't opened my eyes at that moment or what if he had found a way into the building? I believe God protected me. I see how fragile we humans and our extravagant precautions for safety are. People tell me to be safe, but other than taking a couple simple measures for safety I don't really have much control over my situations. I mean something similar happened to my 17 year old sister in Colorado and to my cousin in Alabama. So, it's not just where I am, but who is watching out for me. I don't believe in being an idiot and jumping out into traffic, but why live life in fear? No, I trust the plans made for me and therefore have no need for fear of the future. 

  On Wednesday I got my visa renewed and helped

 blow up balloons for the Merry Christmas. 

To be continued.....

Fulfillment and Sleeplessness

 After my 10th birth I was able to start really getting involved. I checked babies' heartbeats consistently, caught babies, cut cords, checked postpartum moms, and learned baby checkups ! I am finally fulfilling the dream I've had since I was four years old to be a midwife's apprentice. I'm learning to have  different sleep patterns. I sleep when I can and a hard/deep sleep at that. Once I had a birth in the morning two that night and one the next morning. There was another birth that after noon but the midwives didn't wake me because they figured I needed my sleep, which I was very grateful for and anyways I had another delivery that night. It has really been a wonderful experience doing what I've always wanted to do.  For a little while now I've been taking a bit of a Christmas vacation and am not spending time at the birthing home. And Tuesday I leave for a beach trip with some friends!

Rocky and Company

Here's one of the families who delivered at our birthing home. They named their son Rocky, which made me think of the Beetle's song Rocky Raccoon!

Masarap!=delicious!

Good week! On Saturday I went to the house where our Bible study is held and we had another Thanksgiving dinner ( I had one at Jeri's house on Thanksgiving Day) and decorated their Christmas tree and had a children's choir come over. The children were from an organization that takes street children and gives them schooling and talent training such as singing to help them contribute to their family and prepare some form of career for the future. They were beautiful, however my camcorder was behind them so I couldn't record the performance. They had wonderful voices. 

Sunday I went to a market after church that has wonderful Filippine made products and yes many of you are going to get gifts from there. :) After getting home to Jeri's house Sarah (Jeri's daughter) lent me a tv show series called Leverage, which I am addicted to! You should check it out! Monday I found my way back to the birthing home via jeepney (yes I am very proud of myself! : ) On Tuesday (prepare to be jealous) I got a massage at a Thai place. It was wonderful and only 5 dollars! I then had dinner with my friends for Hope's birthday. 

  The first video is of all the daughters of the midwives who first laughed at me when I started a workout then joined in. It was so funny having all these little ones immitating me. 

  It's been a good week for another reason and that is that I am feeling much more useful around here. On Monday I went to the baby home and sang (out of tune) Christmas carols. One of the babies, Cindy, started trying to sing along, which was quite adorable as she is only 4 months old. It was great to be able to give something even if to a baby that won't remember where she got her beautiful Philippine Idol winner voice from. I also realized many things that I'm learning and how I'm changing, which is very rewarding. It's nice to see that this adventure has purpose. I'm learning things about how I relate to people and my motives and my impact on people and many other revelations.  

This video is of going into the city where I bought some things from the largest market in Manila called Divisoria. I had a sore throat for the rest of the week from the pollution.