Friends and Fortune Cookies

A couple of weeks ago I was eating Chinese food with my sister. Of course there were fortune cookies involved. Truth be told, I actually think fortune cookies taste pretty awful, kind of like those waffle cones that fancy ice cream is served in. I can't waste food, so I ate it anyway. The "fortune" inside said, "You will be visited by a dear friend from afar." Conveniently, it just so happened to be the Christmas season. The chances of friends visiting "from afar" had just increased exponentially.
As I reflect on my last several weeks, I am blessed to have such wonderful friends from both near and far.

Carlos and Carrie, friends and missionaries from Mexico City, came to visit us in Seattle for two weeks in December. We had a great time full of exploring the Pacific Northwest, fellowship and of course food. We were able to have a reunion of previous "Mexico Goers" which proved to be a wonderful time. It was pretty amazing to see how our work with Carlos and Carrie in Mexico City has grown and how it has positively impacted so many people. Yay for "sappy teacher moments!"

Olie's Graduation

I've been feeling a little guilty because I haven't posted anything for a while. I had a mental list of blog worthy topics but for some reason, they escape me at the moment. I took a look at my phone and caught a glimpse of Olie's graduation photo. I haven't written about that yet.
Olie and I signed up for an 8 week session of puppy classes. Most of the time he went wild and barked a lot, but did manage to learn a few things. He sits, lays down, shakes, comes and occasionally walks on leash without pulling. Go Olie!

Olie's First Christmas

This year was Olie's first Christmas. He ended up being the life of the party more than once and his gift count was right up there with my mom's! Among his mountain of gifts was a "chuck-it mini," a dog sausage treat, a squeaky toy, a stuffed gafelte fish that when squeezed says "Oy Vey" (a Hanukkah gift), and a hand made doggie quilt to match the one his mommy got.
Christmas evening, my mom, my sister, and I took Olie and went to visit Grandpa at his retirement center. Mom had brought him a home cooked Christmas dinner which he wanted to take to the dining area. Animals aren't allowed in the dining area so I stayed with Olie in grandpa's room. He was a little squirmy so I closed the door and put him on the floor to let him roam about a little. A few minutes later my sister came to the room and opened the door. Of course Olie ran out and headed straight for the dining room. He's a fast little wiener! As we chased him around the tables and into the activity room and down the halls all of the other residents where smiling and laughing. I'm glad we could provide them with some amusement... I finally caught him by diving and tackling him across a hallway.
I'm seriously considering entering him in the wiener dog races at Northwest Wienerfest this year! The winning wieners get to race for Seahawks half time show to raise money for animal rescue.

Gong...

I was in my car the other day lamenting over some difficult interpersonal communication issues I've been having with a certain individual. I'll leave most of the details out except to say that the situation has caused a near constant undercurrent of tension. Of course I thought I was the one in the right...
I was beginning to feel that the situation was hopeless when for some reason it finally dawned on me to pray about it. As I drove across the lake I admitted to God that I was clueless on this one and needed Him to give me the answer. You know what He said; love, the answer to everything is love.
Of course I couldn't just accept that at face value, I had to test the hypothesis to see if it was really true. A retrospective study design would be sufficient... So I thought of a situation and then the answer. Yep, it was love... I tried it again a few more times and each time came up with the same answer, it's true!!! (1 John 4:8 says "God is love.")
The next scripture that popped into my head was 1 Corinthians 13, aka the "love chapter."

Love is patient: Oops, missed that one...
Love is kind: Oh man...
It does not envy: hmm...
It does not boast,it is not pround,it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth; it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

I was 0 for 15, God help me!

I Corinthians 13:1 says, "If I speak in tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

This song by JJ Heller says it all!

Lord, keep me from being a gong!

The Creature Gullom

Miss Myra (not her real name) was an 88 year old visually impaired woman with a history of stroke that caused her to have impaired judgement and impulsive behaviors. The other day I went into her room to help a student check her blood sugar. We found her crawling on her bed screaming profanities. Miss Myra was rather "uninhibited" in both her speech and her actions and had no trouble making her thoughts and opinions known. People dreaded her because of this. In some ways she reminded me of Gullom from Lord of the Rings.
As we left the room after checking her blood glucose, I reflected on the experience. What do people like Miss Myra have to teach us? How can we remain cool and composed when she constantly hurls insults and threats at us? How can we have compassion on her and love her as Christ loves us?
The most repulsive thing about Miss Myra is not her insults, it's not her threats, its not her disheveled appearance, it's that she reminds us of ourselves. Looking at her is like looking in a mirror. The truth is that deep inside we are all like Miss Myra. "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." The difference between most of us and Miss Myra is that we can filter what we are thinking to make what comes out of our mouth socially and culturally acceptable. That doesn't mean that we don't have those same wicked thoughts. Unmasked, we are all like Miss Myra; our hearts are black and shriveled. We need God and His Holy Spirit to cover us with His grace and transform us into His likeness.

Let the Games Begin

Clinicals started again this week. Thursday was my students' first day of taking care of real patients in a nursing home. Fortunately, not a tear was shed and nobody (I kept counting them) hid in the bathroom! Sometimes it's the little things...
Today as I was wondering about the units on my usual rounds, I saw one of the students hurriedly carrying a large stack of towels down the hall. I figured she was on her way to a "code brown" so I followed her to see if she needed help. We were probably 5 feet from the room when I noticed that the carpet was damp. As we approached the room we found a lady standing with her walker in inches of water and an overflowing (and I do mean overflowing) toilet. In the few minutes it took for the maintenance man to come, the entire patient room had become a lake. It was a double room so the poor woman in the other bed was literally on an island. We managed to evacuate the lady with the walker to "higher ground."
I'm thinking this is probably the only the first of many awkward bathroom stories with students. Let the games begin!

Why Pets are Therapeutic

-Research shows that petting an animal can help with relaxation, a sense of well being and lower the blood pressure.
-God created Adam and gave him charge of all the animals. It was his job to wander about the garden of Eden and name them. Humans have an innate desire to care for animals.
-Animals mostly live in the here an now. My dog Olie lives every moment to the fullest. He seems like he thinks every moment is "the best ever." Every day I get home from work he acts like I've been gone a month, it never gets old. He doesn't hold a grudge. He'll give me puppy kisses minutes after I scolded him for chewing shoes. Olie doesn't worry about tomorrow and he doesn't care if he eats the same thing everyday. Ah, the things we can learn from dogs...