Looking Ahead

There's this thing about midwifery and being a midwife that feels like a huge oxymoron. Plans. Planning seems like it must be 9-10 months in advance or at the very last minute. Planning anything in-between those two extremes seems a bit impossible at times. Every now and then I attempt to plan something in the in-between, but it typically ends up being a bust and I go back to realizing that planning in the extremes is how it must go.

Note: The term "planning" is held loosely, because babies do whatever it is they want to do with no consideration of the laughable verb "to plan."

In the year ahead here are a few of my loosely held plans...

Next week I'm going to visit my family and looking forward to meeting my newest nephews, North and Azariah! After 8 days with them, I fly to Florida to meet up with Beth and Tara, my midwife partners. We'll then proceed to do crazy things...like fly (for two days) to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, take a bus 12hrs to Dodoma and work in a hospital with another midwife friend of ours for two weeks. I anticipate lots of jet-lagged laughs, inappropriate midwife talk, a lot of births, and feeling very lost in a new culture. It should be entertaining to say the least. Sweet midwife friends of ours are coming to cover the Maternity Center (MC) here in Haiti while we are away.

My newest nephew, Azariah Titus, was born January 11th.

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My friend and technology gooroo, Zac, is currently working on helping us get all of our medical records transferred over to electronic form. This might be the only brain taxing project I am capable of this year. Once we get the system ready to go, we'll have to start learning how to use it. *insert nervous face* We aren't the most tech savvy group of people. I hope we can accomplish this task AND live to tell about it!

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We'll increase the number of women we are caring for at the Maternity Center once the second floor construction is completed. After we have a second floor classroom, we'll turn our current classroom into more postpartum space, add a bathroom, and rip out and replace the current well-used kitchen.
We are also in the process of adding another Haitian nurse to our team. Prayers appreciated that we'll find the right nurse!

current classroom at full capacity 

second floor classroom construction

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I'm hoping and praying I'll be able to purchase a vehicle this year. Thank you to each of you who have given over the past two months! I received $3,900 of the needed $18,000-$20,000! If you feel prompted to give towards the purchase of a vehicle, you can give online and note that your donation is being designated for a vehicle.

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"I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, 'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.' He replied, 'Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than a light and safer than a known way.'" -Minnie Louise Haskins

Here's to open handed plans and holding loosely to my agenda.