Happy Birthday Tyrone

deeper

For about two weeks I have had an uneasy feeling in my core. In the depth of who I am I have felt unsure. I truly hate this because it can rob my joy, the joy that the Lord has given me. The joy that has come as the result of Jesus' blood on the cross.

I have prayed, I have prayed so much that I have prayed my way to a deeper relationship with Jesus.  While I hate this unrest that I feel in the marrow of my bones, I will rest in the hands of my friend, Jesus.

Methods for moving up...

Some friends of mine used to be in a couples cabin, then they had a child (and a cute one that we have babysat a few times for).  After the child was born they stayed for a while longer in the couple's cabin till the time came they could move into another bigger family cabin.

Well, that day has come!

The best way to move from one cabin to another is illustrated below.  You borrow the rolling rack/basket from laundry, ask permission to use the cargo elevator (if the cabin is on a different deck/floor), and then get a babysitter or take your child for a ride!

*  Just in case you didn't quite figure out the other 'methods' of moving up, here it is:  If single you will need to get married (to someone who also fills a position on board preferably) to 'move up' to the next size cabin. if married a baby will allow you to be put on the waiting list to 'move up' to a family cabin.

Disclaimer:  Of course, I don't suggest using these last two methods just to get a bigger cabin.  And I don't work for HR, so don't quote me on these methods.

But aren't the pictures cute?

Dumbwaiter Modifications

Our elevators that run food and dishes between the dining room (one deck below) and the galley was having some major issues.  The main issue being the sliding doors behind the opening door to the dumbwaiters were getting stuck and malfunctioning.

During service (putting the food out for a meal) one of our carts got jammed between the floors in the dumbwaiter.  Below are pictures of the damage...AND a very good reason for people not to play with the equipment.  You know those people who always think it's fun to squeeze into an elevator that's not supposed to carry people, then jump out at the other end and say BOO?

This cart was fairly new, and the elevators seem to go fairly slow (they only travel between two floors) and it seemed to crumple it up pretty bad.  Look especially at the handle.

I used to do this

Sometimes you have to go back to things that work.

In my early (and lighter) years with my current organization I used to 'religiously' get up early every morning and run. Or walk and run. Then it was on to a shower and reading, journaling, meditation, and/or prayer.

A year at home, a year of enjoying being newly married, and now back on the ship again sure tends to shake up ones 'system' of things.

Now pounds heavier and not feeling fully my 'charismatic' self (of course I have always been a big person per se) I have looked back and realized, that worked!

My wife (not then) and other people used to say, 'man I am glad you get up early and use up some of that energy I couldn't handle you full throttle'. I realized thats what made me full throttle. You are alive and awake, blood has been pumping vigorously for 45 minutes or more. Those chemicals in your body kick in and kind of give you what they call a 'runners high'...then after that shower you feel refreshed and new.

Now don't misinterpret this as saying I love running, I don't particularly do. And actually right now I only half run, half walk my exercise time in the morning. I need to lose a little (fat) weight, gain a little muscle, and work the soreness out of the muscles I already have that have gotten lazy on me. Oh man, breathing and sweating...its quite possible I could set a world record for dehydrating the way I sweat while simultaneously sucking down whole squadrons of bugs while trying to breath or catch my breath.

Don't start getting worried about me, I am only trying to put it in a humorous and dramatic portrayal.

Its hard. Plus its the rainy season here in Liberia. So you really have to discipline yourself to get up and do it no matter what. Drenched in rain, or drenched in sweat, whats the difference? Probably a shorted out ipod shuffle (which I couldn't live without) its hard for me to do activities like this without some good motivational music. But I can switch days around. I am committed to at least 4 days a week, but pushing for 5 all the time. So there is a little room to run/walk on dry or less rainy days as compared to downfalls drenching your every move and running with your ipod shuffle in a ziploc sandwich bag.

But I got to tell ya, I feel so much better. And my energy level (and my level of being a more positive person surprisingly) has increased.

Later down the road schedules, jobs, life will change but hopefully I can find and maintain this type of routine again.

No Pasta!

I was reminded today by a question/comment form that was filled out, that it has been a long time since we have had Spaghetti with meat sauce or bolognese.

In an earlier post this year I talked about weevils (here and here) and how they are damaging all our grain products. They were so far advanced in the actual spaghetti noodles that it was creating gray 'dust' where they once fed on the whole pasta.

2 months ago we had select pasta left.

1 month ago we had no pasta left except for Couscous and Rice Noodles.

I wish we would hurry up and get the pasta we ordered. It's coming on a future container. I am ready for some spaghetti as well as all those other pasta shapes and dishes we will be able to once again created weevil free!

Bizarre

Sometimes I have a hard time making myself focus on the sun-shiny, life is wonderful, praise Jesus I am in West Africa parts of ship life. Sometimes I focus on the annoying things about being on the Africa Mercy. Other times like tonight I have been focusing on the bizarreness.

I have to laugh as I write this at 2 am in the ICU. First let me tell you, it is not the nice peaceful environment that ICUs all over the US and other parts of the world aim for. Our harbor generators are on. It is so loud in here that I have a ear protection on the 5 month old baby I am taking care of, whom sounds like a duck each time he breaths in. But at least he is breathing on his own. Baby Greg (yes, that is his name given by his Liberian Mother (who was informed by one of the nurses that Greg is not an African name, like she did not already know that) and Father, whom is also named Greg) has been in our ICU for the past 4 days, due to having a hard time breathing on his own. He has Cystic Hygroma. He was born with tumor on his neck that just continued to grow larger and larger , filling with lymphatic fluid, and causing Greg difficulty breathing.

Back to the bizarre, I am in Africa right? Well, I think it is kind of bizarre that Greg is bundled with a Bob the Builder blanket. Isn't that kind of weird? Come on! It is kind of out of place don't you think? I have seen construction here in Liberia and none of the workers look anything like "Straight from the suburbs, Bob the Builder". Bob is plastered all over this receiving blanket totting his fancy hammer, wrench, nuts and bolts.

On Wednesday I went to my friend Victoria's house that is being rebuilt after being destroyed by a fire. The neighborhood boys are constructing her house, and I can guarantee you that they are not using any fancy tools that Good ole Bob has in his tool belt.

So to see a Liberian baby named Greg, swaddled in a Bob the builder blanket in the ICU with the Harbor generators so loud that I have my i Tunes music all the way up and it is still barely audible, I chuckle at the bizarreness of it all.

Club: Perfect Day

I have read blogs and heard stories about the ward nurse's perfect day. These stories usually included snuggling with cute babies, steady work, and good co-workers. I have been working on the ward for 5 months and I can finally join the club of "A perfect day on the ward".

Nothing unusual or spectacular happened, maybe that is why it was so wonderful. I had the same patients on the B ward as the previous 2 days. I knew them and they knew me. No surprises. I knew how to do their complicated dressings already. I knew who got what meds and who needed vitals when. This made for some downtime. Not too much so where I would get bored, but just enough to get some extra hugs and kisses from Christian and Alusin.

Alusin is 2 and he had his cleft lip repaired about 2 weeks ago. Usually, cleft lip babies leave after day 5 but Alusin and his mama were kept to be able to translate for another patient's Mama. Jitta's (the baby I wrote about last week) Mama only speaks a dialect from a village in Sierra Leonne. None of our translators spoke here dialect so Alusin's Mama (her sister) had to stay. Bless her.

Alusin is 2 in every way. He is an expert fit thrower. It is actually quite impressive. When I was little and my brother and I would throw a tantrum my usually mild-mannered dad would get down on the floor and make us lay down on the ground too. He would say " If you are going to throw a fit, you need to do it right. Kick your feet, pound your fists and shake your head.". By that time we would all be laughing hysterically and see how ridiculous our behavior was.

Every day at around 10:30 Alusin would get tired but refuse to take a nap. So I would strap him on my back in a lappa and then continue on with my tasks. He would fall asleep on my back. It was a win-win situation for everyone on the ward. By 10 am the patients would be tired of hearing him scream and his poor mother would be worn out. So while Alusin took his nap on my back we were all happy. There is something euphoric about having a child fall asleep on you. For me, it is intensified when I feel like everything is just right. The music was playing, the baby was sleeping, my patients were happy, I was working with lovely nurses... it was perfect.

Christian

There is something about Christian. He is so full of life. His world is quiet (we are unsure how much he can hear) and dark (seeing only shapes and shadows) and he is unable to verbalize anything but high pitched squeals and laughter that comes from the core of his being. He is this skinny hyperactive child that loves to jump up and down clap his hands. He has this amazing trust in people once he has identified you as his friend by smelling you. Once you are his friend he jumps up with his hands in the air and a grin on his face and expects you to catch him.

There have been many times when I was doing my work on the ward when I would feel his hand grad my shoulder and he would catapult himself up onto my back. He would just sit there until his mom would peel him off. She was convinced that us white women could not handle the weight of her son on our backs. I think she is right. Well, I think I could not handle Christian the way she handles him. Seeing them together makes me think about God's provision. When He created Christian He knew that he needed a special mom. He needed a woman that was playful, consistent, loving, kind, fast, strong and perceptive. God picked the perfect woman. She is all of these things.

Southbend Marathoner Gold

First the old oven:

Now the New:

...how do I love thee...let me count the ways...

Updates

Wow, a lot is happening in the galley right now.

Our new twin convection oven has landed (literally from the cargo hold that dead ends in our galley) and now they are working on getting it put in properly. And bolted to the floor since we are on a ship.

Part of our wall paneling was put back together (where previous water leaks were suspected coming from the pipes in the walls) so that has helped the galley look better.

Our dumbwaiters are being fixed (lifts/elevators) for food. One is extremely hard to open and close and the other has a slide door jammed. Its mechanical.

We still have square holes in the floor where a water leak is still being tracked down. The water actually comes up thru the floor. Right now a small water pump is siphoning it out and dumping it into one of our drains.

Three of our six electric hot plates are now operational again after it was discovered a breaker flipped.

And some smaller stuff like hand dryers have been worked on.

[oh yeah, my boss is leaving for awhile *PARTY TIME* and we'll miss him dearly]

Yep, all this week. Work goes on, the food keeps cooking...and sometimes blogging has to take the 'back burner'. (pun intended)

Community Struggles: Food

On Another blog I found this short post about weight gain on the ship and how well everyone gets fed and it was refreshing to read because I often don't feel that sentiment. But I wanted to go a step further because food is a touchy subject on the ship. Everybody has their own opinion on what needs are, and what wants are, and what they think 'they' are entitled.

I am in a cache 22 (as some may call it).

I feel the need, my duty to do the best I can with what I have...so that in turn produces good food and usually helps increase the abundance when you know how to use all the products and produce more options...

But on the other hand it creates an expectation that breeds complaints and anger when some feel they don't get what they 'deserve', which is nothing...whoever figured out that the crew fees pay for their food OBVIOUSLY has never fed themselves and cleaned up after their selves for 3 dollars a day or could find somebody that would do it for that little...(its more realistic to say that your crew fees pays for 'other' things).

That is the approximate food budget alloted for an adult - somewhere between $3 to $3.50 a day (last I checked or was told), NOT A MEAL, a day...

Another funny thing is people complain about eating healthy and eating right, then they try to blame it on the ship and food service...We create good food options with what we can obtain and prepare, from there its the crews JOB to pick whats best for them, and to control their own will for eating in moderation. This responsibility is not ours, or Food Service.

[OH, by the way, usually peanut butter and a hazelnut chocolate spread (nutella or nusco) is out at every meal, BUT even though you may think the nuts are good protein the sugar in the peanut butter is outrageous, AND the first 3 ingredients of the 'Nutella/Nusco' substance is SUGAR, VEGETABLE OIL, & FAT so keep that Hazelnut addiction going, you'll have to eat a lot to get at the less than 10% a jar nut intake]

It even becomes stressful for my wife to be in line to eat dinner because she over hears the people around her criticize the food while she's standing in line with them. Her instinct is to let them know that her husband works hard to put good tasting food out there for them. She wants to defend me. Now thats a GREAT wife!

Its very difficult to field and deny special requests from people who come to Food Service and it takes up a lot of valuable time to have to explain over and over again why things can't be done, and/or reminding them its the rules. It doesn't sit well with people who think their situation is a unique or special one.

Basically what we are looking at between 830am - 1130am (with break) there is 2 hours and 45 minutes to get lunch ready for 400+ people. Between 1:00pm - 4:45 (with 15minute break and minimum 30 minute trash time) we are looking at 3 hours to get dinner ready for 400+ people. Then after that, our crews go back to the galley/kitchen/dining room and clean up the aftermath of feeding people this many meals a day.

Now thats a struggle. And then add 400 individual judges to the food panel...

I keep convincing myself I must at least be a halfway decent human being or I would serve (weevil) rice & beans, and boiled meats & pink sausages till everyone would come back to their senses...but I haven't been able to bring myself to punish the few complainers by punishing the many who don't.

Jitta

This is Jitta. She has been nick-named Jitta bug. I wrote about her last week. She was back in the recovery room after her dressing change in the OR today. We love her.