The Middle

Right now I feel like I am just stuck in the middle, the middle of everything. I am halfway done with graduate school which in turn makes me feel stuck in the middle of being student and professional. I feel in the middle of what I need to be doing here and the work that needs doing there (wherever there may be). I just feel stuck and I do not like being stuck. I am the girl that likes to have an exit strategy at all times and there is no exit in site.

But the good thing is right here in the middle of the middle is a little escape! My bags are packed and filled with needles, medications, and supplies. I have turned in my final summer paper, finished up my final clinical hours, finished up my last 3 night shifts and I am ready to jet! In a little over 12 hours I am getting on a plane and headed back to Danja, Niger. Somehow everything feels a little more right within me. I've got that little spark of excitement that comes with the inevitable drama of international travel. I am excited to get back and see how the project has progressed since we last left it in March. They say the building including the OR and the patient ward are ready for us to use and we are going to give them a try.

As with any trial run we are sure to encounter some hiccups. The first of which has already begun as the prep team who headed out a couple days ago in order to set up before surgery next week has yet to make it to Danja. Weather and lost luggage are the culprit and we are praying for swift resolution to both.  As I read the email this morning explaining that the set up team was yet to get there my heart sunk. They were supposed to make sure we had everything we needed so if not the remaining members of the team could bring it with us. Now I feel like we are going in blind. As I read on Dr. Steve so beautifully reminded me that yes this trip is about surgery and healing but even more than that this trip is about learning to look a little bit more like Jesus. This is so true and struck me so profoundly. Every trip I have taken has done this. Every time we seek to do His will and we follow His lead no matter the outcome He is using that time to teach us even in little ways to love a little more like He does.

I'll be gone 2 weeks. This next week Lord willing we will be doing surgery and the following sticking around for the ladies to finish healing do a little dancing and celebrating, planning for the future of the site and then coming back. I won't be able to blog while I am there but please cover these next couple weeks in prayer. Pray for the ladies; that God will begin the healing within them. We ask for not only physical healing but also for emotional and spiritual healing as well. Please pray that we can use His discernment to know who to help now and who can wait. And lastly do please play for the travel; for good connections and for arrival of supplies.

See you in a couple weeks!