Oct/Nov/December 2006 - Miracles
Greetings friends and family!
Miracles do happen, but they often happen in the midst of effort, someone once said. After all, when Jesus gave the miracle of feeding the five thousand, the disciples had to take up the effort of distributing the five loaves and two fish to the crowd, and pick up the leftover pieces to fill the twelve baskets later (Matthew 14:13-21). In medicine the miracle of healing is just that, you can clean and bind the wound, but you cannot command it to heal. In agriculture the miracle of planting is the same, you can do everything to make sure the conditions are as good for sprouting as possible, but you cannot command the plant to sprout and grow. But miracles do happen, everyday. In our experience it does seem to involve a lot of effort, but when it happens all the effort is worth it, which is really what the ministry of Mercy Ships is about. The struggles of a multi-lingual multi-cultural multi-background crew learning to work together, the effort needed to get things done which takes so much longer because of lack of resources or high turnover of volunteers or of infrastructure or materials or poverty of access in the countries we serve, the time needed to communicate with, to understand and to come to love the people here, and vice-versa for them to understand and accept us and the work we do… so much effort, so much time, yet… still still still worth it, as we see the miracles of healing and hope happen, day by day.
We had quite a share of miracles in October on the ship:
A crew member collapsed early one morning on the Promenade Deck. The emergency team continued resuscitation effort long past the usual mark, and she was revived after 15 minutes of CPR, regained consciousness later in the day, and suffered no serious brain damage or sequel, a medical miracle. The other miracle about this was that the emergency team practiced the exact procedures needed, just the day before, as part of their routine safety training on board. She was cared for by the medical team on board, then transported to Korle-Bu Hospital in Accra which has a Cardiac Care unit, then by plane to a UK hospital, then back to the US when she was stable.
A patient developed past-surgical bleeding after thyroidectomy. In Africa this is always a risk as people wait 10 or 15 years before surgery, and their thyroid glands become much more vascularised, with more blood vessels developing around the gland, than you would see in Europe or in North America where people are operated on within a year or two or less. A call went out to the living blood bank on board, the crew members with the same blood type as her, and they responded within the crucial hours. In the end she needed the blood of ten donors, and she survived. Her miracle is also that the physician and surgeon and anaesthetist are all staying within 15 minutes of the ‘hospital’, for being all resident on board they could get to the ward and the operating room in record time. She laughs now that she has international blood in her, and also that she is saved by the blood of Jesus.
Another ship was leaving the dock, when her engines failed and she started to drift towards us. Her captain launched her anchor when he realised that she was approaching our ship and that there would be impact, and the miracle is that she bumped gently into us, resulting in no serious damage, with just a minor bump in a crew cabin’s wall on A Deck. I didn’t even notice it, though Julien felt the ship listing when the bump happened and thought it was just a bigger wave, until our captain announced the incident later.
There are also the daily miracles we experience seeing Etienne grow up, enjoy preschool, expand his speech repertoire and his technological know-how:
On his father, when mama was trying to explain something and said “papa is…” , Etienne exclaimed, “Papa is cool!!”
On watching the DVD movie CARS on Aft Deck Saturday evening, when it suddenly stopped and kae said “Maybe it’s broken”, he volunteered, “Maybe it’s scratched?”
On what he wants to be when he grows up, “Boooob..the..Build-ER!” (tone according to the cartoon phrase).
On the nursery rhyme Mary had a little lamb, Etienne’s version is, “Mary had a little man, little man, little man…”
Of course, this may be influenced by the next miracle we would like to share….the miracle and gift of a baby, as kae found out and was confirmed on her pregnancy early in October. The baby will be due in mid May next year, and God’s timing is our other miracle, as we return to France in time on 2 December for the declaration of her pregnancy to be covered by the French health and welfare programs. Her first ultrasound check-up at 16 weeks (not ‘months’ as many alert readers of our prayer updates noted) confirmed one baby not two (phew!) as some rumours proposed.
So….it is with great sadness that we say goodbye to the Anastasis and all the friends who have become our family on board, to the ministry of Mercy Ships that we still believe in and support, and to Africa and our African brothers and sisters who will always be in our hearts. Our year of commitment has ended and we return to France, and we are comforted that again and again God has shown us that He is intimately involved in our lives and plans, and has blessed us beyond our expectations, and will lead us in our next adventure. There is a joke that those who have been with Mercy Ships may catch the “Mercy Ships Malaria”, where from time to time it will recur and spur us again to rejoin the ships and return to Africa. Since this is our second trip together (and kae’s fourth), it must be true in our case. So instead I prefer the French “Au-revoir”: till we meet again, till we meet again.
Thank you for your support and love and prayers during this our amazing year with Mercy Ships in Africa, living on board the hospital ship M/V Anastasis, first in Liberia and then in Ghana. We will be in France catching up with family and friends and preparing for the arrival of baby in the coming year, and you are all welcomed to jump on us and visit!! So till the next update (hopefully with an ultrasound picture), our love and prayers, and most of all Christmas and New Year blessings, for the miracle of the birth of Jesus, His ministry on earth, and the Hope and Healing God continues to bring through His name.
We wish you great peace, love and joy in the coming year, au-revoir, till we meet again,
Kae, Julien and Etienne
currently home in Lyon, France
Miracles do happen, but they often happen in the midst of effort, someone once said. After all, when Jesus gave the miracle of feeding the five thousand, the disciples had to take up the effort of distributing the five loaves and two fish to the crowd, and pick up the leftover pieces to fill the twelve baskets later (Matthew 14:13-21). In medicine the miracle of healing is just that, you can clean and bind the wound, but you cannot command it to heal. In agriculture the miracle of planting is the same, you can do everything to make sure the conditions are as good for sprouting as possible, but you cannot command the plant to sprout and grow. But miracles do happen, everyday. In our experience it does seem to involve a lot of effort, but when it happens all the effort is worth it, which is really what the ministry of Mercy Ships is about. The struggles of a multi-lingual multi-cultural multi-background crew learning to work together, the effort needed to get things done which takes so much longer because of lack of resources or high turnover of volunteers or of infrastructure or materials or poverty of access in the countries we serve, the time needed to communicate with, to understand and to come to love the people here, and vice-versa for them to understand and accept us and the work we do… so much effort, so much time, yet… still still still worth it, as we see the miracles of healing and hope happen, day by day.
We had quite a share of miracles in October on the ship:
A crew member collapsed early one morning on the Promenade Deck. The emergency team continued resuscitation effort long past the usual mark, and she was revived after 15 minutes of CPR, regained consciousness later in the day, and suffered no serious brain damage or sequel, a medical miracle. The other miracle about this was that the emergency team practiced the exact procedures needed, just the day before, as part of their routine safety training on board. She was cared for by the medical team on board, then transported to Korle-Bu Hospital in Accra which has a Cardiac Care unit, then by plane to a UK hospital, then back to the US when she was stable.
A patient developed past-surgical bleeding after thyroidectomy. In Africa this is always a risk as people wait 10 or 15 years before surgery, and their thyroid glands become much more vascularised, with more blood vessels developing around the gland, than you would see in Europe or in North America where people are operated on within a year or two or less. A call went out to the living blood bank on board, the crew members with the same blood type as her, and they responded within the crucial hours. In the end she needed the blood of ten donors, and she survived. Her miracle is also that the physician and surgeon and anaesthetist are all staying within 15 minutes of the ‘hospital’, for being all resident on board they could get to the ward and the operating room in record time. She laughs now that she has international blood in her, and also that she is saved by the blood of Jesus.
Another ship was leaving the dock, when her engines failed and she started to drift towards us. Her captain launched her anchor when he realised that she was approaching our ship and that there would be impact, and the miracle is that she bumped gently into us, resulting in no serious damage, with just a minor bump in a crew cabin’s wall on A Deck. I didn’t even notice it, though Julien felt the ship listing when the bump happened and thought it was just a bigger wave, until our captain announced the incident later.
There are also the daily miracles we experience seeing Etienne grow up, enjoy preschool, expand his speech repertoire and his technological know-how:
On his father, when mama was trying to explain something and said “papa is…” , Etienne exclaimed, “Papa is cool!!”
On watching the DVD movie CARS on Aft Deck Saturday evening, when it suddenly stopped and kae said “Maybe it’s broken”, he volunteered, “Maybe it’s scratched?”
On what he wants to be when he grows up, “Boooob..the..Build-ER!” (tone according to the cartoon phrase).
On the nursery rhyme Mary had a little lamb, Etienne’s version is, “Mary had a little man, little man, little man…”
Of course, this may be influenced by the next miracle we would like to share….the miracle and gift of a baby, as kae found out and was confirmed on her pregnancy early in October. The baby will be due in mid May next year, and God’s timing is our other miracle, as we return to France in time on 2 December for the declaration of her pregnancy to be covered by the French health and welfare programs. Her first ultrasound check-up at 16 weeks (not ‘months’ as many alert readers of our prayer updates noted) confirmed one baby not two (phew!) as some rumours proposed.
So….it is with great sadness that we say goodbye to the Anastasis and all the friends who have become our family on board, to the ministry of Mercy Ships that we still believe in and support, and to Africa and our African brothers and sisters who will always be in our hearts. Our year of commitment has ended and we return to France, and we are comforted that again and again God has shown us that He is intimately involved in our lives and plans, and has blessed us beyond our expectations, and will lead us in our next adventure. There is a joke that those who have been with Mercy Ships may catch the “Mercy Ships Malaria”, where from time to time it will recur and spur us again to rejoin the ships and return to Africa. Since this is our second trip together (and kae’s fourth), it must be true in our case. So instead I prefer the French “Au-revoir”: till we meet again, till we meet again.
Thank you for your support and love and prayers during this our amazing year with Mercy Ships in Africa, living on board the hospital ship M/V Anastasis, first in Liberia and then in Ghana. We will be in France catching up with family and friends and preparing for the arrival of baby in the coming year, and you are all welcomed to jump on us and visit!! So till the next update (hopefully with an ultrasound picture), our love and prayers, and most of all Christmas and New Year blessings, for the miracle of the birth of Jesus, His ministry on earth, and the Hope and Healing God continues to bring through His name.
We wish you great peace, love and joy in the coming year, au-revoir, till we meet again,
Kae, Julien and Etienne
currently home in Lyon, France
posted by everydaymercy at 8:09 pm
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