Baby Harvey

This is the most recent picture of our lovely daughter Harvey. For those of you who have yet to receive the memo, Josh has affectionately nicknamed our baby girl "Harvey" until we come up with a more suitable female name :)

So far Harvey has been doing well. She is turning into quite the little kick boxer though :) I am currently 24 weeks and I am already beginning to struggle bending over and getting out of my chair! I can't imagine getting any bigger than I already am! I have 16 more weeks to go and the baby has about 6 lbs to gain!!! 

Apart from turning into a small whale, I am truly blessed to have had such a wonderful and healthy pregnancy! Please pray that the next 16 weeks go as smoothly!

The Cruise

As many of you already know, Josh and I took a cruise at the beginning of October. It was the first cruise for both of us and we were quite pleased with our Carnival experience. At first I was quite hesitant to go on a cruise while I was 18 weeks pregnant! Josh convinced me I would be fine by showing me many positive reviews from pregnant cruisers and loading up my suitcase with anti-nausea medication :) I was glad that he did. Thankfully I only needed the medication on the last evening when the water had 10 feet swells! Other than that it was smooth sailing.

One of the highlights of cruise life for us was the opportunity to eat something fabulous every minute of every day! I was glad to be pregnant and have the excuse of "eating for two." Josh on the other hand was supposed to be training for his fitness test with the Army. Bad timing to take a cruise (not even a week before the test), but he was all about enjoying his precious and little time off work!

       

Another highlight for me was winning 50% off the most deluxe spa package. For those who know me well, you know that I never win anything so this was a BIG deal. I decided to give my prize to Josh who has been working insane hours and needed the extra pampering. Josh got treated to a back massage, a scalp and foot massage, and best of all, he had this green seaweed goo spread all over his body before being wrapped in aluminum foil!

 

Here are some more pictures from our cruise:

                             

Jack

I know it's been a while since we've put a post up. Things have been very busy for us.  In early october we went on a cruise in the caribbean, which was magical.  We set sail from Tampa and went to Grand Cayman and Cozumel.  The cruise was 5 days.  It was just awesome to sleep in everyday, eat whenever we wanted to and had fun at our leisure.  I discovered that cruises are neat "choose your own adventure" vacations.  I'm sure they'll be more to come.

Sarah is doing well.  She's right around 21 weeks now.  She continues to grow bigger and continues to be healthy.  We had an ultrasound at 19 weeks which showed that we'll be having a baby girl!  It's very ironic that it is a girl because we've affectionately nicknamed her "Harvey", which will be her name until she's born, then she'll have a proper girl name!  Sarah is up visiting her parents for approximately 3 weeks.  She's been gone two, and will be back this next saturday.  I guess it's a good thing, but I'm pretty miserable without her.  She's the best friend and wife anyone could ask for, and my love and fondness grows for her each day she's away!  Not to mention her sweet home cooking and awesome wife skills that she has to offer.

Now to the sad story.  For those of you who knew Jack, he was the sweetest, most loving dog anyone could ask for.  He was a black lab mixed with what we think was a great dane that Sarah and I got as a pup very shortly after our marriage.  Seeing that we got him then, he's been with us the whole time we were together in Memphis and then when we moved here to Columbus, and truly was one of our best friends and certainly like our child (those of you who have got a dog as a puppy and raised them will know what I mean).  About a week or so ago he got some cellulitis/abcess on his leg that required some antibiotics.  That seemed to be healing up well, when about 3 days ago he started getting real lethargic and didn't seem to have much energy.  Yesterday when I got home from work he stopped eating all together and was laying about the house with no real energy. As soon as I could this morning I took him back to the vet to have him checked out.  He seemed so tired and just ill.  The vet got some blood work on him and the numbers were horrible.  He had a 106 degree fever, his white count was out of the roof, and his red cell count, his hematocrit was 15 (normal is supposed to be >35 for a dog).  His liver enzymes were also very high.  While the vet was telling me about his lab results he got called to the back for something. About 5 minutes later he came in to tell me that Jack had had a seizure in the back and had passed away.  It was news that I honestly didn't know how to take.  I knew that he was sick, but for it to happen all so fast was just heartbreaking. He was only 2 and a half, a mere pup still.  

We aren't entirely sure what was wrong with him, but I'm very certain that he must have had a parasitic infection that involved his red blood cells.  There are a few tick/flea borne diseases that affect dogs that can present like this.  For his hematocrit to be that low outside of a possible leukemia it doesn't make much sense to me other than a hemolytic infection.  Many doubts run through my mind if I did the right thing, did I take him in on time, could I have done something more?  But honestly, I feel that I couldn't have done a whole lot, he turned very quickly, and I doubt with such vague symptoms until the last 2-3 days any vet would have figured it out before it was too late.  

So I guess this post is in memory of Jack.  He was such a kind and loving dog that did nothing for Sarah and I except give us joy each and every day.  He was always there to love us and comfort us when we have felt so alone moving from place to place, always a constant and imposing guard for Sarah when I was away so many nights at the hospital.  He was a true joy to our lives and still the tears come, and I'm sure will continue to come for days and days.  He was so much more to us than just a pet, he was part of our small family that we invested time and love into.   I'm sure as time goes by it will be easier to handle, but for now I'll remember him for the good times and for the happiness that he gave us.  Above are some pictures of our big, little, guy.  We'll miss him terribly.  

the wee one

So, I'm sure that many of you know, but also many don't!  Sarah is with child.  Here's a snap-shot of the little "it".  (Sarah refuses to call it an "it" and insists on "he/she").  We were unsure if there would be only one "it" there today or possibly that there might be a second, as Sarah's mom is a twin.  As you can see there is only the one wee one.  

It's a very exciting time for us to know that we'll be starting a family soon!  Sarah is working hard taking care of herself, getting the needed rest and trying not to puke up her guts.  She's doing a pretty good job at it though.  She's in the process of applying to the local school district as a substitute.  She'd do that for a while until she gets to the point that she doesn't want to.  

I, on the other hand, am in the midst of intern year.  This month I'm doing OB.  I've delivered around 10 babies thus far.  It's definitely been a learning experience.  Yesterday was my first OB call  (24 hours on the labor deck accepting whatever may come my way).  A lot of the time it's women who think they're in labor, but their cervix tells  a different story.  Other times it is truly women in labor or women with "interesting things" coming out of personal places.  All in all it's a great experience, I just get sick of being at the hospital sometimes.  God is so good to see me through in the place He has called me to.  

Sarah and I are really looking forward to October.  We're taking advantage of not having any kids quite yet and are going on a cruise.  Our motives are for regeneration as well as a spy mission to scout out a cruise as a fun place for us to meet up with our friends sometime in the future.  We'll leave out of Tampa and go to Grand Cayman then onto Cozumel, Mexico.  We know it's still in the hurricane season, so we're really hoping that we miss those crazy storms.  

We would love to hear how many of you are doing, feel free to call us anytime or to drop us an email.  We'll try and keep up on the blog so ya'll will know what's going on with us!  Take care.

Josh and Sarah

Internship

Hey guys,

Well, we've settled down in columbus and now we're getting ready for me to start internship.  I spent the past two weeks getting in-processed into the army (quite the event- mostly spent standing in lines for hours and then people telling us we were in the wrong place).  Then this past week I did actual medicine stuff, like how to run a code and neonatal resuscitation and all that jazz.  All that was in preparation for monday, dun dun dun, which is when i start internship.  Monday night is the big day, starting on night float.  For those non-medical people out there night float was created for medicine programs as a way of getting out of being on call every 3rd or 4th night.  Basically someone works nights for a month at a time.  It's actually not that bad of a schedule, i have saturday and sunday nights off and work from 6 pm to 7 am monday through friday nights.  

Sarah has settled into doing projects around the house, this past week she painted all the cabinets and put new hardware on them and as i type she's painting the kitchen.  She's keeping her eye out for a good job, but is trying to hold out for the right one that she will enjoy (in the meantime there are plenty of projects around here to do).  

It is an interesting time in our lives as i am starting my residency, but also we are being introduced to the military.  One good thing is that there are 5 other people here who are going through the same experience with us.  Today we had a general come and visit us and give a talk over lunch-time.  He spoke of the radical extremism that is bent on disrupting our lives here in america as well as many other democracies abroad and of the certainty that things like 9/11 will happen again.  It put into perspective and articulated for me some of the reasons why I have decided to join the military and serve our country.  It's so people like you and I can go about our lives and our children can pursue whatever dreams they may have.  To support the proud men and women who are serving by providing quality healthcare for them and their families is of utmost concern to me.  I have begun to realize the importance of me becoming a part of the solution and participating rather than being a bystander.  I would encourage each of you to think about the freedoms and advantages we as americans have over much of the world in terms of seeking our pursuit of happiness, of our liberties and inalienable rights.  Take time to consider how you can participate rather than being a bystander.

We appreciate your prayers and support during this time, and i'm sure that as the year progress sarah would love any phone calls for encouragement and invitations to come visit as i'll be working like a dog and won't be home much!  We love and miss you all very much and hope that God is guiding you in your present circumstances.  

Our First Home (hopefully)

Sorry that it's been so long since we've been on and posted, it just seems that we got so busy after we got back from PNG.  So yes, for those of you who didn't know we have returned!!! PNG was absolutely amazing, we loved it very much, and are sure to be back again!  It was sad leaving our new friends there as well as old one's (Kumor's).  

When we got back to memphis and settled in somewhat, we started in looking for a house in Columbus, GA.  We'd heard that these things take a bit of time and knew that we needed to get at it.  We researched online and found a bunch of houses that we were  interested in and Sarah got us hooked up with a realtor.  We took a weekend and went down to Columbus to look for houses and meet the realtor.  I know that sarah loved that day, but for me it was a pure nightmare.  It felt like we were shopping at the mall for the ENTIRE day!!  Two women and Josh going from house to house to house to house, critiquing the big things and the little things.  But I guess it was worth it because we came up with a short list to pray about and ponder over.  Ultimately we decided to bid on a house that the agent listed as an, "investor's special".  I'm sure that when you hear those words you're not thinking of the nicest house.  Well 4551 Papaya Ave isn't the most beautiful place to look at right now, but let me tell you there is potential there!  I've posted some pictures here with the blog so that you can get a smell for what I'm stepping in.  

Before we could officially bid though we had to get our pre-approval for a loan.  Us, looking for the best deal, shopped high and low looking for the best overall loan.  Being a doctor to be there are some pretty sweet deals out there.  We decided on one, but the catch was for some reason there was this problem with our credit report, some collection that shouldn't have been there, just standing in our way, we took care of it and had it removed from our credit report, and were approved, but this whole process took a week, a seeming eternity when we found the house we wanted.  And to top it off, the day we went to bid 2 other people were bidding!  But alas, God has opened the door thus far and we won with the top, yet still killer-of-a-deal bid.  The lady was being forclosed upon, so she needed to get rid of the place or the bank was going to get rid of it for her.  We decided to help her out.

The place isn't in the best of condition right now.  There are no appliances, the rooms are dirty and carpets are gross, walls are purple and pink.  Work needs to be done, but we got the place $20,000 cheaper than comparable nice houses in the neighborhood, and there's no way we're putting 20 grand into this place, so hopefully we'll turn a decent profit.  We're excited and are hopeful that all the bank stuff/inspections go as expected so we can close on the 16th of may.  

Tomorrow we're heading up to Canada to visit sarah's family and her Uncle Tony, cousins Stephen and Jamie who are visiting from Northern Ireland.  We'll be up there for a week at the end of which we'll spend a day or two at Niagara Falls with family as well as a bit of a celebration for Sarah and I's 2nd anniversary.  

Coffee Plantation

Last Saturday we went to a coffee plantation. The plantation is owned by a retired American orthopedic surgeon who occassionaly helps out at Kudjip hospital. On the tour I learned a lot about coffee! As you can see in the picture coffee grows on trees. The coffe bean part that we are all so familiar with is actually a slimy, white nut found inside those red berries.

Tree Kangaroo

Here is a picture of a tree kangaroo. Isn't she super cute?

On Call

Yesterday was my 2nd "On-Call" day here and it was quite an adventure. It started out with rounds on the OB service with one of the missionary doctors here. Monday was Easter Monday, so the clinic was closed down as it was a national holiday. The ER is always open and the on-call individual is responsible to see any patients the nurses aren't comfortable with. If my memory serves me correctly (which seems to be a big blur at the moment), I saw a kid with typhoid and a few others and then went home. Things worked out quite perfectly to give me a glimpse of what intern year will be like, because it seemed that whenever I was at home for any period of time, I would get a call to head back down to the hospital- be it for the medicine/OB/Surgery/ER services- or would have to answer questions to whose answer I was not completely confident of. Being a medical student still, I have staff that I can call for any questions that I have, or call them in if I am not confident of managing something. I felt that I used Dr. Bill quite a bit, but I guess that's the process of learning. Most of the fun and sad times started at like 10:30 at night. I got a call from the nurse telling me that a guy had come in after being in a fight, his ribs were sore but other than that he was fine she told me. Just some bruised ribs, she figured some ibuprofen and follow-up would be the right management. Well, I figured that was fine, but the patient didn't, he wanted seen by a Dr. So I went up to the hospital. Turns out his abdomen was distended, very tender and on ultrasound he had free fluid in his abdomen, presumably blood from a splenic injury or liver laceration. He was stable, surgeons were called, blood was typed and crossed, fluids started and Josh learned a valuable lesson about evaluating patients he gets calls about.

There were many other patients that I saw, but I want to share about one other. I got a call from the nurse in the ER that he needed me as a woman had been "chopped". One of the saddest parts of Papua New Guinea is the domestic violence. A woman was at home and her husband who for some unknown reason wanted to beat up his wife, but here it is much different that most domestic violence in the states. Here they use bush-knives, or as most of us know them as- machetes. I walked into the ER and her hands were wrapped up and there was blood all over her face/neck/clothes. Taking off the bandages on her hands her left pinky was gone and there was bone showing along with other lacerations, her Right hand had a huge cut in it as well and a large tendon was completely cut in half rendering much of her thumb useless. The back of her scalp had 4 deep bleeding lacerations that went down to the skull. Being in memphis I'm fortunate enough to have a great trauma rotation, but it's still weird when you're the one assessing someone and initiating management on a trauma patient. We worked of the next few hours to sew up the hands and scalp. Her tendons will be repaired sometime later this week by one of the surgeons. It might seem weird to some of you that the surgeons weren't called in initially, but this is such a common occurence that the on-call docs take care of most non-life threating injuries themselves saving the surgeon from being burned out as normally he doesn't have any back up. I asked about whether the husband would be prosecuted and Dr. Bill told me , "almost never". He would pay village violence fees and that would be it. Traditionally women were property and sadly this mentality continues to persist. Pray for the people of papua new guinea, that God would move in these tough and broken situations and bring a change of heart to these men who commit these acts and protect the women trapped in them.

Dr. Bill and I finished the night with two c-sections and found ourselves in bed by 6 am, to be up by 730. It was a tough night, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. It is definitely an introduction to intern year, but also a great introduction into working with needy and broken people who are dependent upon the missionaries here for for health care, but who also have a great deal to teach me about life.

Sarah and Josh in front of "Bush Church" Easter Morning.

Josh, Ben, Caleb, and Sam at the Highlander Hotel for lunch on Saturday.

"Bush Church" on Easter Sunday.

Mt. Hagen

Yesterday we went into town to do a bit of shopping. The girls had went down last monday, but ben and I hadn't had a chance to go yet because we have been working in the hospital. Hagen, as the natives call it (pronounced like Haagen Daz(?) ice cream), was such a neat place. We started off at bestbuy as sarah had previously posted about, and then went to the open air market. Everything was so cheap and fresh. We ended the morning there with lunch at the highlander hotel, a nice place with a pool and salad that's safe to eat!

When we came back to the house yesterday afternoon we heard lots of shouting and singing in the distance. We are pretty close to a local market/intersection for the area. The hospital is situated historically between two different tribal lands, and it just so happens that these tribes have a long history of not getting along. When we first heard the shouting and whistles and such we assumed it was a wedding or someone naming a bride-price (which is a common occurence here). But then we heard the gunshots and we started to have our doubts. Apparently these two tribes, whose names elude me at the moment, were rioting and fighting with one another. Keep in mind this is probably a few hundred yards from where we're staying (we have been told we are safe on the hospital station compound, as there is a fence up and they have security). The rioters (who are young, drunk, men for the most part) aren't really representing their tribal leadership and the missionaries here were telling us that they will be in trouble for starting a mess. And for your peace of mind know that it wasn't the rioters shooting guns- the police were trying to disperse the crowds- the rioters were just throwing rocks and wielding the occassional bush-knife. One of the tribal leaders told a missionary doctor if any of his young men came into the hospital hurt to not treat them for a while and let them suffer a bit so that they'll remember next time.

We were up early for a wonderful easter sunrise service with the missionaries here. Best time i've had in a while as these truly are people who've left their families, homes and lives to come and bring the gospel and health care to such a needy place. Sarah and I are off to a bush church this morning with a missionary and his family where he will be preaching. Take care and know we love you all very much and cherish your prayers. We are doing well and are safe!! Pictures will be posted soon.

BAD IDEA

Today I learned a very important lesson: DON'T BUY CLEARANCE FOOD IN THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES! When we were shopping yesterday I saw some delicious looking Tim Tam cookies in the clearance rack. For those who know me well, you know that I cannot resist a bargain. After dinner tonight I was anticipating a scrumptious treat but was shocked to find a bubbly mouldy mutant chocolate cookie! GROSS! Ben was the only one brave enough to try it. Please remember him in your prayers as we fear that the mouldy mutant cookie will come back to haunt him!

Sik haus (hospital in Pidgin)

So, today was my second day at Kudjip Hospital. It is such a different world of medicine. For one thing most standard treatments and work-ups are just not possible due to lack of resources and equipment, but it is very cool how resourceful the doctors here are with such a wide variety of diseases. I have been spending much of my time trying to pick up just enough pidgin to make it in the hospital, but still have to have a great deal of help. For instance, to ask someone to take a deep breath you would say, "tak 'em wind down below". Much of Pidgin is actual english words, but there are so many that aren't it's hard to follow.

Yesterday a man came into the "ER". I was in clinic with one of the doctors and a nurse came and asked us to help, the missionary doctor told me to go and evaluate the man. His name is Kanua Dua, and he is the leader of a tribe here, he is apparently responsible for taking care of a large number of people. He was climbing a tree for some unknown reason and fell out of the tree about 30 feet up, landing directly on his buttocks. He could not move either of his legs and he had large, tender, deformity on his lumbar spine, probably indicating broken vertebrae. In the U.S. this would be a shock trauma with a team of doctors and nurses working on him, neurosurgery would be consulted and medical students would maybe be doing a few things to help out. In PNG this is a different situation, I was the person responsible for managing him, I did the evaluation, neuro exam, ordered x-rays, read the x-rays, ordered medications and developed the plan. I'll tell you this was a very daunting task for me, but it was definitely a learning/growing experience. He did indeed have a broken L2 vertebrae, but i think he was fortunate enough to be below his spinal cord and was spared a more significant injury. Later in the day Kanua Dua regained the use of his legs, and though he is still bed bound, I am hopeful for a very good outcome for him. Today I saw him on inpatient rounds and had the opportunity to talk to him about how fortunate he was to be alive, to have feeling and sensation in his legs and the hope of getting up and walking. We prayed together and thanked God for his wonderful grace and healing powers that were so evident in this situation. Praise God that this hospital is here to help those in need, but to also proclaim the gospel and bring hope to lives for eternity.

Shopping Trip To Mt. Hagen

Yesterday, one the missionaries named Judy took the new ladies shopping. This was no regular trip to the grocery store! Before we left the mission compound we picked up our security man, Simon, who came to watch the van as we went shopping. That in itself is not unusual but our friend Simon carried what appeared to be a small sword! Don't worry, mom, it was for intimidation purposes only... I think :)

Seeing men carrying large knives is not an unusual thing in Papua New Guinea. Driving into town we saw dozens of men standing at the side of the road holding machetes in their hands. They claim that they are for cutting trees and working in their garden, but I've been told many carry them for protection. PNG's machete is the primative version of USA's hand gun, but in PNG it is very clear who is carrying a weapon.

Anyway, back to the shopping trip. We bought most of our groceries at a shop called Best Buy (sorry, no electronics here)! If I could describe the store in two words I would say, dirty and hot! Air conditioning does not exist in PNG. Most of the cans and boxes on the self were rusty and dusty. My hands were black with dirt by the end of the trip.

Shopping in Mt. Hagen was fun, but a little overwhelming at times. Familiar foods and brands were difficult to find. When we did see something familiar it was very, very expensive. A can of Ole El Paso refried beans was $5 (we pay less than $1 in the U.S.)!!! A box of Kellog's Rice Krispies was $7. Thankfully there was food at a resonable price so we were able to put something in our carts.

My favorite part of the trip was going to the open air market. I have never seen anything like it before. There were people everywhere and hundreds of fruit and veggie stands. The produce was incredibly fresh looking and it was so cheap compared to prices in N. America! Fresh tomatoes were 15cents each, pineapples were 75cents each, green peppers were 25cents each... it was amazing (and much more encouraging than $5 refried beans)!

We've arrived!!!

Hey there everyone. Sarah will be posting a longer blog later today, but i'm up early with the new time zone and everything and so I thought I would include a little update on our trip. We got in yesterday around noon papua new guinea time, i think around 3 am CST with a day differnce. We had a 28 hour trip and praise God, no serious bumps in the road for us. PNG is absolutely beautiful, sarah will include some pictures later on. We're staying in an old missionary house with our friends with the Kumor's. It was really a surpize how nice these houses and the whole compound is in general. The hospital is definitely a third world hospital, but many, many people receive health care here and hear the gospel, so God's kingdom is moving forward. Please pray for us for continued health, for strong steadfast hearts as we are in a new land with new challenges- and pray that God would reveal His heart of love for the poor, broken and down-trodden to us and his wonderful grace and healing power to the people of PNG. I promise in future posts I'll have funny stories to tell and great things that are happening here. Take care.

Visa's done... priceless

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the Mastercard commercials that have the "Priceless" punch-line. Many of you have been praying that these visas that will allow us to go to Papua New Guinea would come through, well those prayers have been answered. They are now up at the Huebner's household in Bourbonnais, IL. Due to flights within PNG itself it looks like our departure date will be the 14th of March. We're heading up to the chicago area on thursday of this week and split a couple of days up in Canada with sarah's parents and at Barry and Gayle's house. We really appreciate the prayers that many of you have been throwing up on our behalf. Look here for future posts about our time in PNG. Take care.

Visa Drama

Well, we are scheduled to fly out to PNG in four days and our visas are no where in sight! Josh sent our visa request to PNG at the beginning of December- that was well over 2 months ago! Someone from Kudjip hospital has made many trips down to the PNG visa office, but has received no word on the status of our visas. Josh has also been inquiring by calling the PNG embassy in Washington, D.C., but yet again no word on the visas. Arrgghhh... how frustrating!

Like I said, we leave are supposed to fly out in four days so we need these visas fast! Please pray that the visas come through in the next few days and that we can fly out on Fri as planned. A delay in our visas means that we have to delay our trip by at least a week and pay a ton of money in fees.

Thanks to those who are praying for us. We love you and we are thankful that God is in control!

Tornados

Today was the first time in Memphis that I actually crawled into a closet. Sarah and I turned on the news tonight as there were supposed to be some pretty wicked storms coming our way. They actually let all the kids out of school early and there were a bunch of people cancelling all the sporting events and such tonight for these storms. As we were watching tv all the red/purple/blue areas started to light up on the weather man's screen we soon realized, "crap, this is comming right at us". Then to further force us into the cave, they have a camera on top of this hotel in Memphis that had an actual tornado barrelling through a place not too far from our house, we figured our parents would want us to live, so we cleaned out a closet and went inside with the dogs. We didn't end up staying in there too long as the newscast soon showed that it was moving east of us, but it was a pretty close call for us.