A Huge Week for VetRed

We make quite a few airport runs around here, but two Saturdays ago was an extra special day for flying with VetRed.  At 5am I took Dr. Moira Martinez to the airport for her very first trip out of the country.  You may have read about Dr. Shawn Kari's three visits from California down to Santa Cruz over the past few years to train the university, and specifically Moira, in ultrasound.  His impact on her life, and subsequently imaging in the country, has been transformative, so why stop with Bolivia! Last week, Shawn and Moira met in Managua to teach ultrasound technique to students and veterinarians from around Nicaragua.  Dr. Jeff Bracht is a CVM veterinarian living there with his family and developing a university ministry similar to the one we have here in Santa Cruz.  Shawn and Moira's visit supported his efforts and reinforced his sharing of Christ's love through veterinary medicine.  This training of trainers to multiply into their own communities is exactly what we have in mind when we facilitate visits from North American specialists to Latin American schools.  Moira has no culture or language barriers when she teaches about ultrasound, or about God's Word, as we pray she'll want to do in the future.

I would have loved to join Moira on her trip, to calm her nerves and build our friendship, to witness Jeff and Bethany's ministry in Nicaragua, to see Moira experience the beach for the first time...  But when it rains it pours, so as Moira, Shawn, and Jeff were representing VetRed and CVM in Nicaragua, Brett Terhaar and Warren Waybright joined me in Bolivia to do the same.  Shortly after her family and I prayed with Moira for her send off, Brett and Warren arrived at the airport just as ready to share God's love through veterinary medicine.

The three of us visited Trinidad, Bolivia for four days to strengthen our relationship with the vet school there and lay some ground work for Dr. Coalson Lacey, the CVM vet who plans to live and work there starting in 2013.  The reception from Dean Francis, the faculty, staff, and students was wonderful!  Brett and Warren were rockstars as hundreds of students swarmed to see their first bovine c-sections and breeding soundness exams. 

We lectured on a variety of topics, demonstrated surgeries and procedures, and fielded questions.  We participated in the inauguration of the vet school's new building.  We worked on a convenio (agreement between CVM and Trinidad's university.)  We visited FexpoBeni, the province's annual fair, and oohed an awed at cattle, horses, and bugs nearly as big as both.  And we still found time to enjoy the really friendly people and the really yummy fried alligator.

At the end of our time, we got the contact information for those interested in a campus ministry, to pave the way for Coalson. Then Brett, Warren and I headed back to Santa Cruz where I showed them the chicken coop, Warren trained at the vet school here, and they participated in our Campus Alpha Bible study, where the Santa Cruz students and I started to pray for the students in Trinidad.  

That's what we're all about; exchanging ideas, sharing what God's blessed us with, multiplying trainers, and growing together.

At the end of our time in Trinidad they told us they'll be purchasing an ultrasound machine soon, you can probably guess who we recommended train them on using it....

I love my job!

Thank the Lord for Beer Cans on the Side of the Road!

Friday, was All Saint's Day here, so we took advantage of the three day weekend to join our friend Adreana and 40-some kiddos in Postrervalle, a town about six hours from Santa Cruz with two Nacer Ministries children's homes.

We toured their gardens, chicken coop, pig pen, duck ponds, and house.  They climbed on us, tugged on us, hugged on us, and practiced their English on us.  It was a blast!  Armed with nothing but a few dozen chocolate chip cookies and nearly as many board games we made friends with the sweet sweet kids, while Adreana worked on the home's sponsorship program.

We tried to imagine living in such a tiny remote town when we visited the shower-less, kitchen-less little house a missionary couple is about to move into to work with the homes. The cooler weather, near absence of sand and mosquitoes, and gorgeous mountains give Santa Cruz a run for its money even with its proximity to most everything and relative luxuries like grocery stores.

Of course, saying goodbye to all those adorably dirty faces was hard after their gracious hospitality and warm welcome. 

But the real reason leaving them was so hard, was that the LandRover's steering went out completely on the side of a cliff about 10 kilometers outside of town. On a Sunday morning, ~6 hours away from the nearest tow truck, with a baby in the car and no shade in sight, we lathered up on sunscreen and started to pray.  Between prayers, we made some phone calls, both requesting more prayer and investigating the local mechanic/tow truck situation.  In a town where everyone drives motorcycles, if they drive at all, it was a miracle that we were able to get a mechanic to come out to us and give us a hand. That was the second miracle of the day, the first being that we hadn't driven off the mountain when Jon lost control of the wheel.  And the third, when the mechanic used a steak knife and a beer can we found littered on the side of the road to temporarily repair the steering column linkage-thingy.  

Never have I felt any fondness for roadside litter until that moment, but the whole drive home we sited every beer can and thanked the helpful citizens throwing them out their windows.  Miracle number four was when we arrived home from those curvy mountainous roads safely!  Thank you for your prayers, sometimes you might not know how to pray specifically, but God loves to hear from you, and it might just direct His hand to hold that beer can patch in place till we can get the real linkage-thingy installed. 

Grampa Steve Visits

Before we got married, I think I'd met Jon's mom twice and his dad once. The two of us had talked a lot about our families in our pre-marital sessions, but much like marriage itself, there's probably not much you can do to prepare for having a new set of parents.  In-laws, what a cool concept!  I love that the expansion of my family didn't stop at Jon when I became a Charles, but instead includes his parents, brother, sister-in-law, niece, nephew, grandparents, etc.

This week, we had a visit from Jon's dad, Steve, and I got to try-out having a father-in-law firsthand.  As a pilot, he's traveled more than most of us, but it was his first trip to Bolivia so we made sure he got his money's worth.  What would a trip to get to know your new veterinarian daughter-in-law be without a few rabbit castrations and a tour of the chicken coop?  Notice how quick he was to jump in to monitor anesthesia and wrangle up hens, a readiness to try anything that I admire so much in his son.

 One of the highlights for me of Steve's time here was getting to know Jon better; seeing where he gets some of his quirks and many of his virtues.  Their thoroughness balances my own haste.  Their appreciation for wine resembles mine for sugar.  If put head to head I'm not sure who's flexibility would win, nor which of them is lower maintenance; both very desirable qualities in a houseguest.  Steve's generosity was no surprise after being swept off my feet by Jon's for the past three years.  Their affinity for cars and airplanes is only surpassed by their love for family and the Lord.

And Steve's intentional-ness with Angie was just like his son's.  He loved on Angie through words, hugs, splashes, baking, gifts, games and time. Even a bit reluctant to embrace change, especially of the English speaking variety, she couldn't help but bond with him in all his efforts to be her friend.

We look forward to being closer to family again soon and getting to see lots more of them, but for now we're grateful that God allows us to have visitors and Skype and each other while we live and serve far from "home."

Fine, Well, Good

If you ask Jon any open-ended question about how married life's going he will respond with as much enthusiasm and in as many words as our tweenager when asked how her day at school went, "good."  Now, Words of Affirmation is not my primary love language, but you've probably noticed I kinda like words, and a few of them are on the do-not-use list.  Nice, fine, well, and good among others are not descriptive enough to describe celery let alone the rock-your-socks-off changes of being newlyweds.  

So, I mentioned to him how this felt a bit like a direct insult as I'm the one causing married life to be whatever adjective he chooses to explain it with.  And I repeated my concern for his nonchalance about wedded-bliss when he got all dreamy (note the look in his eyes below) in the hardware store and when he ooohed to his Spanish teacher about his recent upgrade to real coffee from Nescafe after his birthday gift.  It seemed that it wasn't just his melancholic personality, but that I was falling behind tools and caffeine.

 A lot of it is our personality differences and some of it is his sensitivity to others and their marriages that might have weathered a few more storms than our 2.5 months of smooth sailing.  But either way, after eventually realizing he wasn't going to start replying, "Oh my goodness, you wouldn't believe how awesome my wife is..." I decided to do a little self-evaluation; turns out the problem was in me.

You see, until now I haven't had a spokesperson.  Even if self-depricating and transparent about the struggles of parenting to an extent, I've always had control of what image I portrayed.  What is Facebook if not a collection of the happiest most successful events of one's life, intentionally neglecting to mention the low-points and de-tagging the unflattering photos?  What is a blog, but a semi-narcistic stream of consciousness that tries to spin even the darkest moments to a silver lining.  I don't think I'm necessarily a control freak, but it would appear that I'm uneasy about giving up control over my reputation. 

So from now on, each time he represents our marital satisfaction with less fervor than I would, I'm going to remind myself that as long as we know the truth, no one else needs to.  We're living life for an audience of One, and He already sees what a great match He's made in us.  However, I probably won't stop posting picture evidence of how much fun Jon's having down here as husband, daddy, cowboy, anesthesiologist, and handyman.

 "Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people" 

- Ephesians 6:7

Update on the Birthday Boy

Somebody had a birthday yesterday.  I don't feel like such a cougar anymore now that we're the same age again, Jon milks those six months and one day of age difference between us for every drop.

It's been awesome having him down here with us, he fits in perfectly. Last weekend we had a conference with our church, La Viña, and since we have the biggest car around we went to help pick up all the food.  You could barely tell Jon apart from the Cholita women in El Abasto, the open air market where we haggled for the best deals on everything from fruit and vegetables to dried meat.

At Judah Quy, the home of the precious little ones, they have a whole list of honey-do projects for him.  He's fixed a gate, hung some mailboxes, and is working on repairing their injured rocking chair.

We got him some duct tape for his birthday, maybe that'll help with the rocking chair.  The single female missionary theory is that if it doesn't move and it should -- just add W-40, if it moves and it shouldn't -- duct tape. 

In his spare time, he's helping Angie with homework, trying not to pass out during my surgeries, falling asleep during my English classes, trying to stay awake during his Spanish classes, keeping me company while I renew my visa, finding his way around the city, fixing the car, daydreaming about air conditioning, planning to start getting involved at the missionary airport, tickling Angie, playing board games, preparing yummy meals, and generally improving our quality of life down here.  So don't worry, he's not bored, and if he were, I'd surely find him something to do. 

Our young married couples' small group celebrated his birth with the traditional cake-in-the-face Bolivian fun.   

God has been SO good to me.  I've been hesitant to shout from the rooftops how great married-life is, because I know there are lots of people who'd love to be married, but more so, because I'm not sure at all that the institute of marriage is in itself wonderful; waking up next to anyone else in the world for the rest of my life frankly sounds pretty dreadful, but spending the rest of my life with Jon leading our family is like a dream come true.

"Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires." - Psalm 37:4

Favorite Moments from a Favorite Day

It’s been a little more than 7 weeks since we tied the knot. We’ve slept in the same state for 24 of those nights, but our trend just made a major improvement when Jon arrived in Bolivia Sunday!  He brought our new CD of wedding photos and it made me think I should write down my thoughts about that incredible day, or these pictures won’t keep their stories intact for long.  So, I’m sharing a few of my favorite moments with you, and hope you’ll share your favorites back with us, and thus we’ll preserve the memories.  If you didn’t get to join us for the ceremony, here’s a little taste of the highlights.

Angie, the prettiest flower girl ever.  (Courtesy of Heidi Janecke)

My little girl is confused about whether she wants to be a tomboy or a girlie girl, and new hormones surely aren’t helping.  Either way you’re gonna be hard pressed to get her into a dress, (what if a set of parallel bars suddenly appear, she must always be ready to do a flip!) So, seeing her all glammed up was such a treat, even if she was eager to switch into shorts before the reception even began.

A little more realistic shot of us.

Jon’s the much more traditional of the two of us, hence he was the one who wanted to wait till the aisle to see his bride for the first time. But he did allow me a small concession; a “first touch.”  Instead of the recently made common “first look” where the bride and groom see each other and get photos before the ceremony, we chose to just hold hands around the corner of the building, getting a picture with the two of us, without giving anything away.  This was my favorite moment of the day before walking down the aisle, all the hustle and bustle were instantly replaced by calm when his hand was in mine, right where it belongs.

Our only regret about the wedding, was not having it video recorded. I’m still half-waiting for someone to fess up to having shot it on their smartphone. Honestly, if we had more regrets about other things we probably wouldn’t care so much that it wasn’t immortalized on DVD.  But as it was perfect even in its flaws, we hate to see all the unforgettable moments inevitably forgotten.  Can anyone guess what hilarity is captured here? Read on...

Jon’s friend from college, Tim, married us, and his message was one of the most special, yet unscripted parts of the day, culminating in the vows, where he asked Jon to take me as his husband and the father to his children.  Yeah, you heard right, he read the wrong vows, bless his heart. Jon had more sense still about him than I surely would have at that moment and so he hesitated instead of repeating what he’d been told. I likely would have said whatever Tim told me as I floated around on cloud nine.  

I was floating from the very beginning, probably somewhere around the time my dad found us bridesmaids and flower girls hiding in the stairwell and told me he was getting verklempt. But the euphoria only rose until it peaked at the instant when, we’ve been told there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.  For those of you who weren’t present and searching for a tissue, after Jon and I took communion to Ben and Amanda’s sweet Spanglish rendition of “Your Love Never Fails”, Jon left me confused and alone as he took off stage right. I wish there was a picture of my concerned expression. It crossed some of your minds as well that maybe he’d gotten cold feet at a very inopportune moment and was heading for the door, but really he was retrieving a hidden stool and Bolivian bowl to wash my feet as his first act of service. Ooh, I love service, and I LOVE surprises, and that was the best one he’s ever pulled on me, I doubt he’ll be able to surpass it, no matter how many years we're fortunate enough to have together.

The only time my smile possibly stretched as far and naturally across my face that day, was watching Angie and Jon dance their father-daughter dance. 

I shocked even myself by thoroughly enjoying my dance with Jon and with my dad (were any of you even there for those 10 minutes? It felt like that tiny dance floor was the whole world.) 

But even more fun than dancing, was beaming as Jon sauntered over to Angelica, Prince Charming on an invisible white horse, and like an appropriately shy little princess in response she blushed and hid her face before accepting his hand and following him to center stage. The pictures don’t do justice to the perfection of the music, “La Niña de Tus Ojos,” a song about a little girl and her Father’s love that gave her an identity when she had none, nor how Angie just talked to him the whole time as if the magical dance floor had engulfed her as well and she too left everyone but Jon behind. Maybe the common denominator wasn’t the small square of hardwood, but that man who makes you feel like the only one in the world when he listens to you or holds you close...

The second father-daughter dance. (Courtesy of Nick Szmiot)

Another small regret is that because Tim went so far off his notes, none of his really personalized and pretty hilarious message with such phrases as “Giddyup!” and “To quote the philosopher John Mayer, 'It’s cold Baby, come back to bed,'” were written down. Please do share with us your favorite quotes from the ceremony so we can piece back together his one-of-a-kind pep talk. We’d love nothing more than to hear your favorite part of the day, so we can cherish the memories along with the photos, the rings, and all the reminders of when we officially launched this new little family.

All photos not otherwise captioned are by All Angles Photography. We love those guys!!!!

An Awesome Whirlwind Tour

Twelve days ago, I wrote to you from a Florida airport, just as I am now. Then, I shared a schedule of things to be accomplished in my quick trip through the Southeast U.S. Now, with all of those activities successfully checked off my to-do list, and then some, I'm headed back to Bolivia to rejoin Angie.

Amazing ribs with some of the CVM family!

The trip was even better than anticipated.  The food was incredible: BBQ in Kansas City, pork tenderloin in a supporter's home, Panera bagels with the Auburn CVF leadership, frozen yogurt with the Tuskegee CVF leadership, pizza with both student groups, Krispy Kreme with my husband, wedding cake with dear friends, and the salads at the Shortcourse were nearly enough to tide me over till December when I return to the land of blueberries, cranberries, croutons, and ranch dressing!

Sharing Fro Yo and ministry ideas with Tuskegee's Christian Veterinary Fellowship leaders

Even better than the food were the relationships.  Reconnecting with old friends and getting to know brand new ones in Missouri, Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky.  I LOVE my new/future job! Working as CVM's Southeast Regional Rep for a week by sharing at the Shortcourse and CVC, then road-tripping it down to my alma mater to meet and encourage the new students and faculty advisors, gave me a great taste for what life and work will be when we return from Bolivia in December and settle into our new routine in the States. Serving in South America is great, serving in North America is going to be wonderful too. Thank you for staying with us as we follow God's lead.

Sami Jo's big day!

To top it all off, I had the honor of standing up with my sweet friend Sami at her wedding yesterday. After six weeks of wedded bliss Jon and I are big advocates of the institution and so excited to share it with friends!

The first wedding where we didn't have to catch the bouquet or the garter, a great feeling!

In the midst of all the hustle and bustle I snuck in a fun quick lunch with my family, a surprise picnic with my new mother in-law, and we found a missionary friend to stay in our house while we're all in Bolivia for three months. God truly blessed my time in the States, and it sounds like Angie was thrilled to shock all her friends by showing back up to school this week after saying "goodbye" to everyone last semester. Taller, with longer hair, more beautiful one day to the next, and with all her new English, I'm amazed anyone even recognized her!