The Tradition Continues...

So as college football season draws closer and closer, I am feeling myself both REALLY pumped and also REALLY nostalgic.  I think it's just a timing thing (this summer is my 10th high school reunion AND the anniversary of my freshman marching experience at OU).  I mean really, I get this way every football season.  I love my Sooners!!  But being a part of The Pride of Oklahoma will always be a highlight of my life.  I still laugh out loud sometimes when I remember things about those 4 crazy years.  So much fun, so many memories, and some great music making.  Oh yeah...not to mention Saturdays in a stadium filled to the brim with 85,000 Sooner fans and trips all over the country to support our boys in 3 BCS bowl games and the Holiday Bowl.  So just to keep myself from rambling about how fabulous it was (and is) to be a part of such an amazing team of people, I thought I would give you guys some of my personal "highlights" from being a member of the Pride of Oklahoma:

• I show up to the first day of marching precamp as a freshman scared outta my friggin mind.  This is REAL folks!  There is an audition and you have to compete for a spot with upperclassmen.  I'm pretty sure I was hyperventilating through that entire week.  Especially when I figured out that I would have a playing portion of my audition on a horn that had completely different fingerings than my horn in high school!  So in less than a week I taught myself a whole new set of fingerings, a new marching style, and learned a whole mini marching routine (which was REALLY tough).  I also remember meeting some pretty great people that first week.  Hit it off COMPLETELY with Sarah Rice and Darren Parmele and so many, many others.  People that literally helped paint my college experience...
• A few weeks in Sarah, Darren, and I decided that all this crappy cafeteria food we had been eating at the dorms was just that.  Crap.  So we decided once a week that we would "meet for meat".  So we went to Chili's.  And ate real meat.  Like grown ups and all...
• Several times a week we would drive around in either my little cavalier or Darren's Rubicon and blast Boyz II Men (and make Darren sing all the embarrassing lyrics).  I was also guilty, quite often, of forcing him to let me use the intercom on his super fancy jeep while we were in the parking garage.  For none other reason than to sing "You Are My Sunshine" loud and proud...
• Getting "initiated" at the mello party.  Scared me half to death.  Then I realized that I was on a team with some pretty fabulous people who I really didn't need to be scared of at all...
• Meeting Brad Stone and realizing that sometimes, even if something isn't funny at all, if Brad laughs at it...that automatically makes it stinkin' hilarious.  It also makes things automatically more fun when he's around.  So one night me, Brad, and Darren went "dumpster diving" and came up with a walker that someone had left at the bus stop and an old stove that we insisted on loading up.  Why?  Who knows...we were freshmen...
• Marching next to Darren Parmele during the Chicago show and literally loosing it laughing when he steps in a hole while we are marching and doesn't miss a beat.  That one still cracks me up...
• Making TERRIBLE costumes for Halloween with Sarah Rice.  We were supposed to be Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart.  I ended up wearing a trash bag.  Literally.  And I was SUPER thankful because the night I had to wear that costume to practice was also the first real cold night of the semester.  And if I hadn't been covered in industrial plastic, I would have died from hypothermia... 
• Practicing and playing in the SuperDome.  Seriously AMAZING place to get to do marching band...
• Getting dolled up for games and standing next to Angie and Sarah in the stands.  Seriously some of the cutest pictures known to man.  
• Marching next to Eric Shannon and laughing about the fact that he and I keep missing our "dot" every time we move into the Batman symbol.  He says "Crapface!" every time he misses.  And so the nicknames Crapface and Crapface were born.  And 9 years later it is still stuck...
• PORTLAND, OREGON.  That is all...
• Hanging out in Tempe with some pretty sweet folks.  Losing my ID and having to go back to the hotel.  Making the hot tub into a whirlpool.  Making Rachel Porter get out of said hot tub when she was D-O-N-E.  So many stories...
• The Fiesta Bowl.  We lost to Boise State, but it is literally the best game of football I've ever watched in my life.  Such a game of ups and downs!  But man we were all so proud of how our boys never gave up the fight.  And neither did we.  I think I left part of my lips in that stadium.  They were seriously swollen for like 2 days after that...

There are about a million more stories.  Maybe for another day!  I'll leave you with some of my fav pictures for now.  They're in no particular order... Boomer Sooner!!  

Holiday Bowl fun at the USS Midway...

Getting ready to board the chartered flight to Oregon for the OU/Oregon game.  Probably one of the most fun weekends I had in college!

OU/saxeT Freshman year.  BEFORE the beautiful nickel silver mellos were in.  So vintage...

So we all decided to get in a port-o-potty.  College kids...

Leadership retreat before my senior year of marching.  This was the site of the world's most EPIC water balloon fight launched on our professors.  And I'm LOVIN' Chauvin, Adam, and Blake in this pic!  

 

Judging by the carnation, I'm thinking this one was our last home game as seniors.  Just me and Sarah!

Judging auditions in the meat locker room in Catlett with the lovely and talented Elaine Wiseman!

Mello Party 2006.  That one goes down in history man...

Darreny and Rachie!  I LOVE this picture...

This.  Just this...

The Portland group

Rachie was a little tired.  But I still love this picture of me and her and Crapface...

Sometimes.  When I don't know where I am. I get a little emotional...

This is the Big 12 Championship freshman year.  We literally stood in ice and snow for the whole game.  As if you can't tell by our bluish lips, we froze our stinkin' butts off man!

Pretty girls at the OU/saxeT banquet...

The Legendary Trio!

And then me and Sarah sumo wrestled. This was stupid hilarious...

OU/saxeT senior year when Johnny Boy made the trip to hang out with us!

It's a Darreny samwich with Rachie bread!

It was cold.  So we huddled for warmth...

Mello boner.  An inadvertent tradition started by yours truly.  This pic is fabulous...

The melloooooos!

Fiesta Bowl

New Years Eve sophomore year.  We were on our way to a bowl game as usual...

The concierge reception in Tempe.  Every night.  What the heck was that hotel thinking??

It's GAME DAY!

Some of the cutest french horn players in the world...

And then we sumo-ed...

Practicing in the Super Dome.  I look like I've got some serious attitude in this picture...

Pride Field.  2003.  Beast it...

Saying Goodbye at Ross University

This experience has been such a learning curve for us.  And by us I mean all of us...not just me and Jonathan.  Every student, spouse, child, staff member, etc.  I've moved around a little as a kid.  Most of my extended family always lived several hundred miles away from me when I was growing up.  I went away to college where I knew nobody.  I've done my fair share of goodbyes and see ya laters.  But this experience, even with all the experience I've had doing those things in the last nearly 29 years, has really stretched me in that department.  Yesterday we said goodbye to a sweet family here in Dominica.  Kelly Anne, Matt, Charlie, and Annabelle Nelson are moving on to Qatar to take on new jobs and new experiences and they left early this morning...

I've known for most of this semester that they were leaving.  But my feelings on the matter sort of caught me by surprise!  My dealings with the Prep School here on campus have kind of blown up this semester.  I started out with only After Care, then I did my fair share of subbing, and then I've been the "go to" sub for the Summer Program in the last few months.  So these sweet girls (them and really all these kiddos here) have made their mark on my heart.  Just like any other kid who has become "mine" after teaching and hanging out with them, Charlie and Annabelle, silly quirks and all, are no different!  Before I had really gotten attached to any of the kids at the school, I stupidly thought "Well, it is what it is.  They'll move on, so will Jonathan and I.  And we'll just do what we do...".  Wrong!  

Seeing those girls say their goodbyes yesterday was tugging on my heart strings.  Watching their parents say goodbye was equally difficult.  They've been such an integral part of helping people (including us!) survive this experience so far and they've got some HUGE shoes to fill (no pressure Ross)...  It was watching them say goodbye (and getting more than a few giant bear hugs from both the girls...even in their soaking wet swimsuits) that made me realize why goodbyes on this island are so hard.  Saying goodbye at home really is a see ya later.  Especially with family and friends who are part of your "roots".  But here in Dominica, everyone is all over the place.  From med school, we all go on to residencies.  From residencies, we all go into practice.  That could be anywhere...not just in the USA!  Faculty members move on and they take their kids with them.  So for that reason, the vast majority of goodbyes really are that.  Goodbyes.  Not see ya laters.  

I have to trust that anyone Jonathan and I say goodbye to in the next 2-4 years that is supposed to be in our lives beyond Dominica will cross our path again.  But there are several people that we've grown to love dearly who we may never cross paths with again.  Elise Strickland put it quite eloquently when she was explaining it to a distraught Solveig who was having to say goodbye to her sweet friend Annabelle.  "You know, sometimes we have friends in our lives that are there for a long time.  Sometimes we have friends who are only with us a short time.  But it doesn't make them any less special to us!".  A quote kept coming to my mind yesterday along those same lines "Some love stories are epic novels.  Some are short stories.  But that doesn't make either of them any less filled with love."  So true!  We just love our island family.  "Silly quirks" and all.  There is a crazy dynamic here when it comes to relationships.  You so quickly become sisters, brothers, pseudo parents, aunties, uncles, etc.  It's just the natural progression of things as we take this crazy roller coast ride of med school in the Caribbean together.  People will phase in, people will phase out.  The longer we stay here, the harder those goodbyes are going to be as we just continue to further build those relationships with these people who've become family in just a short 9 months...

What a blessing everyone in our little "island family" is to us.  What a blessing all 4 of the Nelsons were too!  I can't wait to see pictures and hear updates about Charlie and Annabelle in the faraway land of Qatar.  They are sure to make their mark there too!  Good luck Nelsons.  We love you all so dearly and you are already missed.  What an impact all 4 of you have made!  

In closing, some cute little pics of the crazy Nelson girls:

Charlie, who normally doesn't like combing her hair or wearing shoes (definitely a tom boy), let me get my hands on that beautiful head of hair she has.  This was day 2 with "the diva bun".  Then yesterday she and Annabelle were sitting in my lap and I noticed that Charlie's hair was brushed and styled!  I had told her earlier in the week that we are ladies and little ladies brush their hair twice a day so that it's nice and silky and beautiful.  I told her how pretty her freshly brushed and styled hair looked and she said "Annabelle didn't brush her hair this morning."  To which Annabelle said "Well I don't like to brush it because it hurts!"  And Charlie said "Well Annabelle, you know sometimes beauty is pain."  Classic Nelson girl quote!

Annabelle with her sweet friends Jozlyn (top) and Solveig (bottom).  She will be so very missed by both of them.  That kindergarten class just won't be the same without her!

Only in Dominica Part 2

Here's part 2 y'all...

1) Only in Dominica is your decision about whether or not you should buy the gallon or the half gallon of milk decided by the temperature and humidity outside.  After all, you DO have to lug that bad boy up a hill...

2) Only in Dominica is the fixing of a floor fan equivalent to a Christmas miracle.  You might ACTUALLY be able to survive the summer without melting or running up a ridiculously huge power bill by running your wall unit A/C...

3) Only in Dominica do you take your contacts out, walk toward your bedroom, see a giant flying thing zoom toward your head and scream "Johnny!!!!  I can't tell but I think it might be a bat!!!!"...

4) Only in Dominica does your husband come running out of his office after the above incident having to assess the level of danger involved, realize it's not a bat but a GIANT moth that could easily be mistaken for a bat, and have to smack the darn thing 3 times with a flip flop before it dies...

5) Only in Dominica does said moth get dropped in the toilet and flushed.  And flushed, and flushed, and flushed.  Before you decide said moth is just simply not flushable.  And you must call said husband to scoop it out and dispose of it OUTSIDE.  Because who knows?  That bat/moth could come back alive at any moment and he is UNWELCOME in the treehouse...

6) Only in Dominica are iguanas as common and annoying as squirrels are in the states...

7) Only in Dominica are you awoken on a Saturday morning with a huge THUD that sounds like the sky is falling, followed by frantic nails scraping across the tin roof, and finally a THUD in the leaves in the yard.  Followed shortly by panicked rustling through the dead leaves to safety (ahem...see #6)...

8) Only in Dominica is your famed grill made from a 55 gallon steel drum.  And your friend's kids are now programmed to think that any 55 gallon steel drum that is not upright is a "grill"...

9) Only in Dominica is there a "craigslist" Facebook page that acts sort of like a cyber garage sale on steroids.  It is only on said craigslist that you can sell your half used bottle of garlic salt for $5EC in under 60 seconds...

10) Only in Dominica can you go for a nice dinner with friends where your husband has a "stuffed scotch bonnet eating contest" with his pharmacology professor...

You Did it for Me

So we are wrapping up a semester here in Dominica.  Jonathan has 2 more tests to take (1 of those being the final), a Histology practical, and a final Anatomy practical.  This week marked his last gross anatomy lab (cadaver lab) EVER in med school!  Woohoo!  Though the test he took last week was a real doozy.  I didn't talk to a single student that felt good coming out of it.  Including Jonathan.  He was REALLY worried about what the outcome would be, but when he finally got the guts to see what his score was, he found he'd made a B+!  He missed making an A by just a point!  As you can tell, I'm so very proud of him.  He isn't just "getting by", he's working his tail off.  And nothing makes me happier than seeing his hard work and dedication paying off.  His tenacity and passion for this is so comforting. I don't think there is any question that we are on the right path here.  And this time next year, we will be done with our stint here in Dominica and we'll be in the states for good!

I've been doing some pretty cool things lately too!  In the last post I told you about in.Light.in, the ministry that I'm a part of that caters to the children of Portsmouth.  A specific need for a specific child has been weighing heavily on our hearts this semester, and this week I got to contribute, at least a little bit, to that need being met!  Here is Calvin:

He LOVES popcorn!

He has a condition called Bottle Rot that comes from eating and drinking too many sugary things and not taking in enough calcium.  Obviously poor dental hygiene also comes into play.  It's a fairly common thing among children in poverty...

The other kids tease him (and even some of the adults).  They call him "Black Teeth" and other mean things.  I'm not sure if there's any pain associated with it, but I'm sure if there is that he has grown accustomed to it at this point.  He is such a sweet little angel and we all felt really inspired to pitch in and help him out.  So this week, my sweet friend Elise and I went with him and his mother Junie to the dentist.  Let me just paint you a picture of the pediatric dentist experience here in Dominica:

You walk UP the hill to the hospital in Portsmouth.  The outside kind of looks like one of those scary insane asylums in horror films.  You walk down into this little garage looking thing outside where there are some benches and you sit down.  The smell of bad hospital food and moldy cheese wafts through from the meal room whose entrance is there.  An equally strong and even more offensive odor of feces and urine waft through from the laundry room that is adjacent to the dentist office.  Children and their parents are waiting outside these double doors.  A hygienist steps out and calls a kid's name.  That kid starts screaming bloody murder and is dragged behind the double doors by his father.  Blood curdling screams and sobs are heard behind the door for 5-7 minutes.  Then the child and his father walk back out, the child's mouth filled with bloodied cotton chunks and his face streaked in tears.  They sit and await their name to be called again to have yet another tooth pulled 15-20 minutes later.  At least 3 teeth were pulled on this poor baby while we waited with our sweet Calvin.  

Poor Calvin was terrified.  He didn't speak a word and wouldn't even smile.  Usually I can get at least a little half smile out of him, but today I could tell he was not having it.  Then his mother says, "Today is his birthday.  He is 7."  And I'm thinking, wow.  What a crappy way to spend your birthday!  We tried to distract him from the screaming children.  He was growing visibly agitated with every passing minute.  Wringing his hands, swinging his legs.  Elise brought out a few books which distracted him briefly and then the kid would start crying again and he'd be back to wringing those little hands.  Then I remembered that I had a recorder (a plastic flute/clarinet looking thing for those of you who don't know) in my backpack (can you tell I'm a music teacher?).  What kid doesn't love a noise-maker??  So I pull it out and hand it to him and tell him to blow it.  He timidly puts a little puff of air through the mouthpiece and it lets out a little whistle.  And his little face lights up like the 4th of July.  Finally that sweet little Calvin smile emerges!  So he sneakily lets out a few more little whistles on the recorder and seems to be adequately distracted.  Though even the best toy would have a hard time distracting from those sad little screams coming from our snaggle toothed friend.  Even poor Elise was disturbed o_0

Then the fateful "Calvin" comes from the mouth of the hygienist behind the double doors.  She has a surgical mask on and a few little specks of blood on her scrubs.  Calvin looks up.  Takes a deep breath. Grabs his mother's hand.  And walks like a total champ right into those double doors.  We didn't hear a peep out of him!  About 10 minutes later he comes walking out of the double doors and makes a B-line for me sitting on the bench.  He lets me pick him up and cradle him and kiss his little forehead and tell him how brave he is.  There are little tears on the sides of his face, but he doesn't make a sound.  He just sits there and lets me rock him while Junie fills us in on what the dentist had said.  Basically, the dentist won't pull his bottle rotten teeth until they are loose.  She says it will be too painful for him (which I deduced means that they don't do anesthesia).  They went ahead and did a quick cleaning, but he will have to come back when his front teeth are "shaking" (we call that loose) and they will fill some of his cavities and pull those loose teeth all in one fail swoop.  So Calvin escaped the worst on his birthday, but he must go back in a short few months when his baby teeth start coming loose.  

So we walk off the hospital grounds and down to where they live.  Calvin is wearing, by the way, muddy dilapidated Air Jordans that don't lace and probably don't fit, a pair of orange corduroy pants with flowers embroidered on the hem (clearly pants meant for a girl) that are about 4 sizes too small for him, and a white button down shirt.  When we arrive at their house, all I see is scrap metal and rotted wood.  His brothers and sisters stream out of the yard (all 4 of them) and give us all warm smiles and hugs.  He is one of 7 children between the ages of 17 and 4.  We stand and talk to Junie about how else we can help.  She tells us that she needs help outfitting the children with school uniforms and we happily oblige to get her some help for that.  The only thing standing in the way of an education for these sweet babies is the proper clothes and shoes...surely we can help!  As we are getting ready to leave, she thanks us profusely and we say "Tell Calvin we say Happy Birthday again!" (he has already gone back into the yard to forget about his horrid morning).  She says "I will tell him.  I wish I had money to get him a birthday present."  And I think, "I've got a perfectly good recorder in my backpack."  So we call him back over, I hand him the recorder and say "Happy Birthday dude.  This is for you!  We love you!"  And he smiles again!  

We hug Junie, she says "God bless you!", and we walk away.  As we are walking the sounds of a happy child playing his birthday recorder with no inhibitions fills the air.  And my heart is happy!  I feel like I want to go home and give that sweet family any and everything I could maybe part with.  And I remember that other than the task of completing med school, God has brought us here to this tiny little island in the Atlantic to be His hands and feet.  

The King said, 'I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you have done these things for someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it for me.' - Matthew 25:40

There has been such an outpouring of love and support for Calvin and his sweet family that I set up a donation site where you can contribute to his cause!  Head HERE and donate any amount you'd like.  Every bit, no matter how big or small, will be appreciated beyond measure!

Love and Light

I apologize for being so flaky with my blog this semester.  I'll be honest, I've allowed WAY too much stuff to be put on my plate in the last 4 months.  And for that reason I've been spread really thin...both my time and my patience!  Lesson learned, I'll pare down a little next semester.  After all, next semester is semester 3!  I'll be helping Jonathan with the paperwork involved in getting his clinicals set up.  We are hoping and praying that God will provide a way for us to do those 3 semesters in Houston or Oklahoma City.  Or at least somewhere in Texas or Oklahoma.  But doing clinicals outside of a Ross affiliate hospital means we kind of have to do the leg work.  Which is fine with me!  So if you're the praying type, you can start praying for that!

There have been lots of things vying for my time and energy in the last few months, but none maybe greater (for lots of reasons) than a program called in.Light.in that I am involved with.  For those of you who don't know, in.Light.in is a ministry set up for the children of Portsmouth (that's the town just down the street from Picard where we live).  This ministry was started by a spouse who had a background in church ministry and has been in existence for nearly 6 years now!  Every Friday we go to the local park and sing kids praise songs, learn a Bible memory verse (which the kids are REALLY good at actually!), make a craft, play games (they LOVE soccer), and we feed them a snack supper.  All of this happens in the course of about 2 hours.  The group we've been working with this semester has literally blown up!  Last semester we averaged around 18-20, this semester we average around 30-34!  Such a blessing!

But just as much as it is a blessing, those of us volunteering have had to do quite a bit of "championing for our cause" this semester.  There have been a lot of accusations that we "aren't being transparent" (meaning we haven't been forthcoming with the fact that we are a Christian based ministry), and just as many claims that what we are doing is "forcing kids to learn about God so that they can play with us and get a snack".  This is not the place for me to voice my upset about those claims, but it IS the place for me to explain at least why it is that I personally am involved with this ministry.  You see, these children NEED love.  They need compassion.  They need a good nutritious meal.  They need positive influences in their lives.  When it comes to loving kids, as a Christian and a lover of God, the best way I know how to love a child is to teach him or her about the Love that comes from their Heavenly Father. Because lets be honest, I am only there with them for a few hours once a week.  And even then, I'm only here on this island for a short period of time.  It's kind of like the "teach them to fish" mentality.  If I pour out all this love and compassion on these beautiful kids and then leave them in 18 months, what have I really accomplished?  A few meals, some fun games, a great memory?  While all those things are good, what happens when that child who was receiving my unconditional love gets beat by his father next August when I'm no longer here?  What happens when one of my sweet girls is left to fend for herself when her mother walks out the door and never returns?  What happens when something tragic happens in that community, and we aren't there to hold them and snuggle them and tell them they are loved?  Yes, we hope and pray that this ministry continues LONG after we have left this island.  But the truth is, there WILL come a time in all of these kids' lives where the ministry of in.Light.in will just be a memory.  What we want to leave them with is a RELATIONSHIP with Jesus!  We want them to tap into that "fountain that never runs dry".  We want them to know and love a Father that promises that even when life is hard (even impossible), even when they lose people they love (either by death OR relocation), even when they feel like nobody cares for them...our God is ALWAYS there!  And the closer they get to Him, the more they feel His love, the less they have to feel hopeless.  Our God is a Hope Spring!  He'll turn your weeping into singing, your mourning into dancing.  There's a banquet awaiting them.  A feast in a mansion!  Living water that will quench ANY thirst and will never run dry.    And THAT, my friends, is why I show up on Fridays.  That's why I get dirty, and sweaty, and give them piggy back rides, and let them sit in my lap, and smile at them, and tell them I LOVE YOU!  In my mind, there is no controversy.  We are loving these kids who need it so desperately.  There is no apologizing for what we do!  Just see for yourself...there is Love, and Light, and GOOD being spread here...

This little boy, Calvin, has really bad bottle rot (meaning his baby teeth are basically black from eating/drinking too many sugary things and not getting enough calcium).  We brought this to the attention of several people, and the staff of Ross has agreed to sponsor dentist visits and hopefully a remedy to this problem for him!

Singing "Waves of Mercy".  This is the "every breath I take I breath in You" part...

Laps are never big enough for everyone who wants to sit in them.  I usually have at least one or two kids sitting in my lap and my arm around another kid.  My nurturing nature is ALWAYS fed at in.Light.in!

"Everywhere I look, I see Your face..."

"I hate you satan, SHOO away from me!"

"Na na na na-na na na!"

Learning our memory verse of the week!

This is the other part of the "shoo the devil" song.  This is "I love you Jesus, deep down in my heart...talk about deep, deep, deep down.  Deep down in my heart!"

"So let your Light so shine among men that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven." Matthew 5:16