Love Completely

"Each one of us here today will at one time in our lives look upon a loved one who is in need and ask the same question: “We are willing to help Lord, but what, if anything is needed. For it is true we can seldom help those closest to us. Either we don’t know what part of ourselves to give, or more often than not, the part we have to give is not what is needed...

...And so it is those we live with and should know who elude us. But we can still love them. We can love completely without complete understanding."

~A River Runs Through It

Northern Minnesota

I'll keep it simple...few words, many photos.

Our route: Rochester, Duluth, Gooseberry Falls, Split Rock Lighthouse, Ely and the International Wolf Center, Voyageurs National Park, Rochester.

Here's the crew at Gooseberry Falls!

The Aerial Lift Bridge at Duluth is quite unique in that it raises up for boats and ships to pass, then lowers again for cars to drive. Built in 1905, it was the first of only two such bridges built in the United States.

Split Rock Lighthouse is definitely worth the stop. Completed in 1910, all of the materials for the lighthouse, fog signal building, and three houses were hoisted up from Lake Superior. The lense that magnifies the light and rotates to send a light signal every 10 seconds was imported from France. It runs like clock work with the gears as shown in this photo.

In Ely, we visited the International Wolf Center. Ely is a major point of entry for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Who wants to go exploring with me? The boundary waters is the place to go for a few days of real wilderness river and lake canoeing. Perhaps our favorite part of the trip was the time spent in Voyageurs National Park. The first evening we took a tour boat to Ellsworth Island, where Mr. Ellsworth spent 20 summers working on his rock garden. I guess that's one way to spend your summers.

We stayed near Kabetogama Lake. The sunrise was irresistable, so I went out to watch the fisherman leave, the ducks swim, the beaver glide in the water, and just enjoy some time alone in one of the most peaceful places in the world.

Then we got a ride to an island, where we hiked a couple of miles to Locator Lake to canoe, where we saw no one else for the whole time. On Locator Lake, we relaxed, watched loons, ate blueberries, and even had a little fun!



Okay, what in the world did I do or say to deserve such looks?

Apparently, there is more than one way to canoe...Micah and Daniel had to give it a try.

I don't know what the above is called, but it was fun. The best part was Mama, our watchful lifeguard wearing Daddy's "I Dive" hat!

To conclude the trip, the family helped me move my couch and chair to the new house where I will be moving by the end of July. I took the weary travelers all around Mayo Clinic and St. Mary's Hospital on a tour before I let them rest up for their flights home today. All around, I would call the trip a success! Now, it's back to work, packing, moving, and planning.

Rochester

For those of you who don't already know, I've had a change of plans over the last couple of weeks...I'm staying in Rochester!!! I don't even know how to explain it, but I think the Lord has more to teach me and more for me to do here. So many things have confirmed this decision, and I am very excited about the new changes and challenges that this year promises to bring. The first major change is that I will be moving into a house with a couple of other young ladies. The sad part is that Sarah has already set up an apartment with another girl (in other words, I've been replaced, but it's my own falt for changing my mind at the last minute). The wonderful part is that I will be less than a mile from work.

I've been rather excited about all of these things in the last couple of weeks, but you know, one can only live on adrenaline so long. Mama, Daddy, Micah, Daniel, Anna, and Angela are coming to visit me tomorrow! They will be here about a week, during which time we are going up north. More to come...

Fly Fishing the Whitewater

On Saturday, I went fly fishing on the Whitewater River with a couple of my coworkers, Brian and Kelsey! It was a warm 94 degree day, but being in the cool water made it just about perfect. Perfect except for the stinging nettles...



Brian, our pro guide and instructor.

Though they may look harmless, when in contact with the skin they feel like a knives. The good thing is that the water soothes the stings and they leave no lasting welts or rashes. Because it was so warm, the fish were not biting well. Brian and Kelsey each caught one, and, well, I tried. I did catch some big trees, if that counts for anything! At least I got lots of practice casting, didn't hook any people, and never hopelessly tangled the line.

Kelsey's trout:)

Contentment

Let's just say, the past week has been a very interesting...more details to come.Among other things, I have eaten my fill of wild blackberries and thoroughly enjoyed the gorgeous weather while tramping around Quarry Hill Park. Butterflies, flowers, time alone in my secret place to seek the Lord.
I feel like there is so much to say, but I'm not in the mood to start. Just enjoy the pictures and know that I love you all.

See how these fungi growing on a log have a grain like wood?
For the 4th, I went to L'Abri to play ball, Frisbee, and just visit around the campfire and watch fireworks. It warmed my heart to spend time with such a great community of people doing nothing but enjoying each other and the perfect evening. Have you ever experienced a deep contentment that reaches to the core of your being? That's what I felt.

The view of Rochester from the hill where L'Abri is situated was breathtaking.

White Coat, L'Abri, Ubng

Wearing a white lab coat and rounding with the trauma team, I got numerous quizzical looks from my coworkers! It was like, "Who does she think she is? She's only worked here for a year, and now she's walking around with the doctors?"

On Tuesday, I shadowed Ann, one of the nurse practitioners on our trauma service. We met at 6am to get report from the residents that were there for the night, then the day resident, nurse practitioners (NP's), and physician assistants (PA's) went to make rounds on their patients in the ICU and on my floor of the hospital. At 8am, everyone met with the consultant (head doctor) to go over all of the patients. During that conference, they went over what's going on with the patients, treatment plans, discharge plans, etc... Several phone calls were made to consulting services in order to coordinate plans and assure the things are happening that need to in order to get patients' surgeries or be ready for discharge. Next, the whole team made rounds together with the consultant. We were almost finished with rounds when the trauma pager went off.

We ran to the ER to prepare for a category one patient from a vehicle collision. The patient went unconscious and pulseless soon after arriving. I saw several firsts, such as the insertion of a couple of chest tubes, CPR for 10 minutes, confusion and trouble shooting as to where the patient was bleeding, and massive blood transfusions. After transfer to vascular radiology, they were able to identify where the bleeding was. In the operating room, they uncovered where the bleeding was and packed it with gauze to stop it. After 60 units of red blood cells + 24 litres of fluid and other blood components, the patient did not survive. The rest of the day gave me a chance to see Ann make phones calls, talk to patients, and write orders and prescription. I also got to ask more questions to help me understand the work of and NP, PA, and resident as well as how we as nurses can interact more effectively with the team. For those of you interested in NP or PA, I would be more than happy to tell you more about what I learned.

AFTER a nap, I went to L'Abri for a movie night. The main issues discussed were pacifism, violence, and nonviolent resistance. Afterwards, I had an interesting talk with Ubng, a guy from Sudan. Just to hear his story after reading the book, A Long Way Gone, was interesting. He was first being introduced to the alphabet when he was around 12 or 13. Someone told him he should learn it because people could send a letter with him telling someone to kill him without him even knowing it. Later, he saw the letters somewhere else and realized that he could recognize them. He then walked hours to get to a school where he progressed through the 7th grade. In order to keep from being forced to fight, he left school and eventually escaped into Kenya. He and his brother made it to the states, but his brother was on dialysis and Ubng did not make enough money to pay for that. Eventually, he donated a kidney to his brother, who has now finished a master's degree. Ubng is going to college now taking general classes and ESL. His dream is to be able to help his country find peace by means other than the gun. He says that even if some of us can go over there for just a week it can be a big encouragement.

Yesterday, I went to L'Abri again to watch part of the video series called "How Should WE Then Live" narrated by Francis Schaeffer. I hope to go back and watch some more when I get the chance. It was so much fun to help Rachel and Jo make supper. I guess I really do miss getting to cook with others instead of just by myself. We had excellent carrot soup, bread machine baked bread, and salad with lettuce from the garden and homemade dressing. Maybe the best part was that a lady, Gloria Petersen, Ph.D., head of genetic research on pancreatic cancer at Mayo, came to eat supper and discuss DNA, RNA, her research, and all kinds of issues within the field of genetics. She is so enthusiastic about what she does, making the discussion very interesting and insightful as we talked about everything from genetic testing and its implications, gay genes, God/religiosity genes, microwaves, the Hiroshima bombing effects. The best part was just boggling our minds with the seemingly infinite detail of God's creation as we continue to discover more of what He created and knew long ago.

Waiting...

Sarah says that she never wants to travel with me. It hurts a little, but I guess she has her reasons. On my weekend trip to Oklahoma, I arrived without my luggage for the third time out of the last four times that I've traveled. Both of my return flights were cancelled due to weather in Chicago, so I had to call in to work and reschedule my flight for the next day. In order to get back to Rochester, I went through Denver, where I had an unexplained delay that caused me to miss my flight to Rochester. So, I got back exactly 24 hours later than planned.

The trip itself was great as I went to the wedding of Amanda, a special friend from nursing school. It was great getting to see her, catch up with friends, and help out at the wedding and reception. An added bonus was that Caleb was in OKC to play for a concert at the same time! In fact, he flew in about 45 minutes after me and Peter B. picked us up from the airport. The three of us got to visit and enjoy the art displayed at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame.

For most of the time, I stayed with Mindy, Josh, and 8 month-old Kailey, whom I met for the first time. Mindy is also a close friend from nursing school.

Kailey gives the best, slobbery kisses to her mama, but I stole one!
The night that Mindy was working, I stayed in Shawnee with a family from my church there. They have a lovely place in the country, so the girls and I enjoyed spending time outside with the mosquitos and new kittens while we listened to frogs and played the guessing game. It was fun to see friends at church as well.

All put together, however, I would say the theme of the last several days was waiting. Waiting in the airport, waiting before going to Mindy's, waiting at OBU before going out to the families house, waiting at OBU (napping in the car) after church before going to get ready for the wedding, waiting for a few hours at the airport before my flight was finally cancelled, waiting in Chicago after just missing my flight... Some of that waiting did create reading time. I finished A Long Way Gone: memoirs of a boy soldier by Ishmael Beah, which I recommend to anyone interested in that sort of issue. When I thought I was tired of talking on the cell phone, walking around, and reading, I started reading Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller and didn't set it down until I was nearly half finished!

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To add to the waiting theme, I had a fun evening planned today with Liz, the nurse extern working with me this summer. First, we were going to Rachel's to swim. Due to the rain, we chatted and looked at Rachel's Mercy Ship photos instead, which was great. Then, we were planning to go the parade at 6:15pm before going to a L'Abri lecture at 7:30pm. Well, the parade was not over until past 8:45pm! I kept beating myself up for parking where I couldn't get out until the parade was over. I had no clue parades could last that long. Saddly, we missed the lecture.

Something I keep planning to do is take photos of barns, because there are so many neat farms up here with barns. I still haven't done that because...well, I just haven't. Some friends and I went on a gorgeous 25 mile bike ride at Lanesboro a couple of weeks ago. Here are a few barns that we rode my in the path by the river.

Meeting God

The Hunter and the Woodman

A hunter was searching in the forest for the tracks of a lion, and, catching sight presently of a woodman engaged in felling a tree, he went up to him and asked him if he had noticed a lion's footprints anywhere about, or if he knew where his den was. The woodman answered, "If you will come with me, I will show you the lion himself." The hunter turned pale with fear, and his teeth chattered as he replied, "Oh, I'm not looking for the lion, thanks, but only for his tracks."

Aesop's Fables

How often is this how we approach God? We talk about Him, read the Bible, read books about Him, discuss Him with others, but when it comes down to really meeting with Him... Why might we shy away from that? Being in His presence makes us see ourselves for who we really are. It's not necessarily a comfortable experience, because it requires change. Sometimes it is easier to let others such as pastors or authors seek God for us and tell us what He says, but is that what God desires?

Susan: "Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."
Mr. Beaver: "Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King."

The Lion the Witch and Wardrobe

Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die." Moses said to the people, "Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin." The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. Exodus 20:18-21

...This people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men. Isaiah 29:13

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord. James 4:8-10a

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalm 51:17

Cuties

Here are the cuties (Ernest in black, Ellie in brown) that were born while I was at home:) ...and Larry, who is a whole week older!

The Wolf and the Goat

A wolf caught sight of a goat browsing above him on the scanty herbage that grew on the top of a steep rock; and being unable to get at her, tried to induce her to come lower down. "You are risking your life up there, madam, indeed you are," he called out. "Pray take my advice and come down here, where you will find plenty of better food." The goat turned a knowing eye upon him. "It's little you care whether I get good grass or bad," said she. "What you want is to eat me." ~Aesop's Fables