The third H

My dear friend Bendu was back on the ward earlier this week. She came to have her eyelid and forehead worked on by Dr. Gary. I went in to see Bendu as she was leaving and she was very upset. She eventually told me " I don't understand. Everyone is talking about my arm, but my face is the problem. I am young and with this problem (her facial burns) no man will marry me." She went on to say that the nurses and Dr.s have not mentioned any plan of surgery on her face. I went into the OR to talk to Dr. Tertius and he said that we have to wait at least 1 year to do surgery or it will not take due to all the scarring.

This keeps running through my mind over and over. There is nothing I can do for Bendu except pray. Mercy Ship's motto is Hope and Healing. Those who have been here for a while think they should add another H for heartache. Unfortunately not everyone's story ends up with a happy ending. Sometimes it is just an ending and all we can do is pray that joy will come later, maybe that is better than a happy ending.

So much...

I have so much to say that I feel like I could have explosive diarrhea of the mouth. I would love for all my thoughts to come out eloquently, but that's just not me.

Every time I walk into D ward Cecilia's mom lights up and gives me a great big hug. Cecilia had a tumor under her right eye that was causing her eye to bulge out and would have eventually blinded her. She is grateful to me because I started an IV on Cecelia and took care of her after surgery, Cecilia (age 5), on the other hand, holds a bit of resentment of the pain I caused her. But, her mother knows that those things that caused pain needed to be done in order for the problem to be resolved. I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I have been thinking this is how God works in our lives. We have an area that is causing us pain but are not able to see that enduring a little more pain will lead to a full recovery in the long term.

Over the past couple of months, I have been on the ward nurse activities team. In June we did Coffee night in the Queen's lounge. We made coffee, had nice music playing, yummy treats, and just had a fun time of fellowship with the ward nurses. In July we did a brunch in the dining room. It was just so fun to hang out with nurses and organize something for these hard-working ladies and 2 gentlemen.

Yesterday, I went to my friend Nalea's house for a graduation party for her nephew. It was very fun and interesting. It was by no means the cookie-cutter Mercy Ships activity. We ate with her family and chatted with her and her guests. They did some traditional dances and what I liked was that it was not for us the white people, they did it because that is what they do when they are celebrating. Of course, we were the odd ones out and sort of a novelty but it didn't matter, they invited us to be a part of their celebration.

So much to be grateful for.

Judged by a meal...( A Rant )

I was talking on the phone to a friend recently who is in multiple facets of the foodservice business. One thing we have had in common in the past (many times) is the frustration and anger of being judged negatively by your 'bosses' personal taste buds, even though everyone else's taste buds are being satisfied every day.

Here's the scenario:  You have a boss that eats some of your food and because he personally doesn't like the meal he feels like your 'heart' was not in the meal.  But later your boss eats a meal that he really loves (you know the standard 'meat & potato' meal with no creativity) and he thinks you are doing 'better'.  But really that was the least amount of work and thought you ever put into a meal, actually, it almost cooked itself.

It's really hard to be judged according to someone else's taste buds when their taste buds are inexperienced and offended at anything different.  My friend is in a similar situation to me.  He cooks by menu's he's developed to help accommodate some international 'taste' so it's quite easy to 'offend' the 'meat & potato' mouth.  Especially when the 'meat & potato' mouth accuses you of not putting your 'heart' into your job.  Frustrating.  Wouldn't the boss like to know it took 'zilch' effort to cook the meal he liked the best?

I had a similar experience in the past...cooking a certain lunch crowd I pulled out the creativity and went a little 'Asian' style with some grilled chicken salads.  Later a 'colleague' commented that the interim boss -a temporary boss- asked them (the colleague), if I was 'ok' or doing well because they felt like something was wrong with me AND THAT'S why my lunch chicken salad was not what he liked or expected (not the BIG BOSS that arranged the lunch who I have cooked for over & over again -- and they know and like my 'style').  He thought I made a poor lunch and questioned whether I did it on purpose because I didn't like my job.  Does he not realize that everyone else doesn't enjoy the boring food he likes?  Or even comes from the same country or cultural background?
 
Hello, the lunch was not for him or arranged by him.  He was just a guest of the bigger boss.
I hate it when people judge our performance or 'welfare' based off of their BLAND NON-CREATIVE taste buds...Ah, but that was in the past, in a land far away...but it does really make me MAD for my friend because I recognize the 'mind-set' he is dealing with.

SORRY, my friend, I feel your pain and It makes me just as mad knowing you have to deal with it!
(End Tyrone's personal rant, sympathy, & empathy for a fellow Epicurean)

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Kids say the FUNNIEST things!

My mother writes about my niece & nephew (Noah is 8)...

They are studying the presidents, and we talked about them when Noah and Katy were here last night. Noah is impressed with little quotes and sayings, and he told me that Kennedy said,

"Ask not what your country can do for you!  Ask if you can do one for your country!"

I asked them which president left the White House in disgrace, and they didn't know, so I told them it was Nixon, and then they asked me what he did (to bring disgrace on himself)  and I told them that Nixon was involved with a bad thing that folks call "Watergate".

Noah said: "Oh!.......I thought he was involved with POLITICS!"

The Proof is in the Picture...