Holy Week

Semana Santa.  Holy Week.  

I've always found the week before Easter to be incredibly special.  To walk through Jesus's steps as He prepared for His entire purpose.  Palm Sunday.  The Last Supper.  Good Friday.  Easter Sunday.  

But this year, my Holy week is spent differently.  Instead of having the spring break I had planned, I find myself in upstate-border of Canada NY with snow falling gently outside my window and preparing one of the great women in my life for her death.

I have been back in the states for two weeks and through that time my Mom's mom has stabilized but my Dad's mom has taken a turn for the worse and she has decided to stop chemo and dialysis.  It has been absolutely amazing to walk through that decision with her.  To be her primary care taker for two weeks and hear her stories, cook her meals and become the pill Nazi.  After being abroad for four years, it just feels so good to care for my Grandma the way I care for my Dominican patients.  To love her as a medical provider but also as a granddaughter. 

We don't expect her to live many more days.  Her hours awake are dwindling.  Hospice has been attending.  And the Priest will come soon.

But, what a Holy week it is.  For me.  For my family.  As my parents and I support my Grandma in her final days.  And as she faithfully looks forward to meeting her maker...and perhaps most of all to see her forever hunny....my Grandpa.

I so appreciate your continued prayers for my family and my dear friend Amy as she processes life without her Father.  We do feel so loved.

Please P.R.A.Y.

What is a medical missionary?

Someone serving in a foreign country with a bible in their pocket and a stethoscope around their neck?  Venturing out to remote communities, providing medical care and sharing the gospel to those who have never seen a doctor or heard about Christ?

Just a short week ago that is exactly what I found myself doing.  Venturing 2 and a half miles down a Dominican mountainside to see patients who have never seen a doctor and to share the good news.

And today.  Today I find myself sitting in my childhood bedroom in NY, acting as that very same thing, a medical missionary.

My Dad's mom moved in with my parents last November and while I was home over Christmas she was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, Amyloidosis and Acute Renal Failure.  It has been a long road since then of multiple hospital stays, dialysis and chemotherapy.  And my parents, the ever supportive children, were left exhausted.

About a week ago, my Mom's mom also took a turn for the worse and so my mom had to emergently take off for Connecticut leaving my Dad alone to care for his mom.  And so, with the support of my medical team in the DR and SI, I came back to NY for a few weeks.  

To care for my Dad's mom.  To drive her to chemo, dialysis, cook, clean and support my parents.  To spend time with my Mom's mom.  And to help with decisions.  To be a medical missionary to my family.  To support them in prayer and as a PA.  

I continue to be amazed by "coincidences" that are only God.  As I've been home to help my family my close friend Amy also lost her Dad in his year long battle with cancer.  So amidst caring for my grandma I've been spending time with her.

If you could please keep my family and my dear friend Amy in your prayers.  This season of being a medical missionary sure looks different but I'm confident that I continue to live in God's will.  I'm expecting to be in the states for a couple more weeks as my Grandma lives her final days.  Thank the Lord for the provision of my nurses to continue running clinics in the Dominican.  As always, God is good and so are His provisions.

"Jesus said to her,"I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in me will live, 

even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." 

John 11:25-26