Small Up Yuhself

  So its been 3 months since my last post....and I am staring at the computer wondering what to write.  I'm going to be honest, the reason I have been hesitant to post is because I just don't know what to say.  God is doing amazing things down here through our organization, but I don't feel like I should be taking any credit or praise because sometimes life here is just hard.  And sometimes I am selfish, and I miss my comforts of the US.  And sometimes (many times) God works in spite of me.  Thank goodness God is a loving, merciful God.  But as time passes and we settle into a routine, it is starting to feel more normal, more like home.  There are so many times that Jeromee and I have to say to each other, that's just the way it is down here.  But we are accepting it more and more.  Thankfully, the kids have just fallen right into normal life.  They have best friends, they have sports, and they love living here.  For that, I am...

Hi All!  Sorry it has been awhile...the girls finished up school for the summer - at the very end of June!  And then we took a trip to visit family in Alaska.  We are now back on the island, ready for a new chapter now that I am doing cataract surgery in addition to everything else.  We are also starting to work on building out a new facility close to home for operating and making glasses, which Jeromee is helping to oversee - or at least he will be once the kids get back in school.  But I wanted to share a cool story with you. I recently saw a sweet old lady after having had cataract surgery.  When she had surgery done, the team that was in gave her a little wooden cross necklace.  She said to me "I don't really like Jesus and I was not happy when they put that cross around my neck.  But now my vision is so good!  It is a miracle!  And now I love Jesus and I always wear my cross!!"  How amazing is that!?!  Makes all the day t...

  This past weekend was the culmination of much preparation here in Jamaica.  My role here is to be a constant ophthalmology presence for challenging cases and to provide laser therapy and surgery, both of which have only been offered when teams from the states come and visit.  Of course, when they come, they also bring all their staff and all their own supplies.  This meant that I had to train staff and somehow find a way to get all the supplies.  I have two wonderful Jamaican ladies who have been learning the material on how to be an OR nurse and have been observing the teams that come down.  Sourcing supplies has been a huge hurdle, but we have managed to find some things on the island and then have others bring in what we need.  So, after months of preparation, a very generous and talented ophthalmologist came down with tons of supplies and 2 nurses to help get us up and running and train me on how to handle the very difficult cataracts that we see...

Well, we have hit the 2 month mark here in Jamaica.  We are starting to settle into a routine here and are making friends at our church.  The girls are now enjoying school, and both are doing very well.  Adria has a few girls that she hangs out with while Lorelle is friends with everyone in the school.  It helps that she is the smallest in the school and loves to hug everybody.  Jer and I have been fighting off a nasty cold for the past 2 weeks.  Turns out all illnesses here are called the "flu" so when I kept telling everyone that I don't have the flu, only a cold, I got some pretty weird looks.    The rainy season has hit, which means it rains nearly every night, but usually the mornings are pleasant.  We get lots of thunder storms, which are pretty fun to watch.  We are also learning to cook Jamaican foods and have been buying new things at the market.  Last night, we had curry with cho cho, which I thought kind of tasted like a...

   Since I last posted, we have completed another big surgery week.  Dr. Stahl and his team from Ohio arrived on the 6th and we did cataracts for 6 days, 143 eyes!!  It was so great having a team of experienced nurses, scrub techs, and surgeons.  I learned a lot about how different and how much more difficult the eyes are down here and my Jamaican team realized how much more work doing cataract surgery requires.  There is a lot to it!  We still have a ton of training to do before I start operating on cataracts with just my Jamaican team, but we are working on it.  In the meantime, we are continuing to remove growths on the eyes - 5 done today - and have started doing injections to treat diabetes and macular degeneration.  I am very proud of everyone down here working together to get us functioning like a full-fledged eye clinic.    In the meantime, the girls have started school and are into their second week.  They are still m...

   Well, we have officially hit the month mark here in Jamaica.  A lot has gone on, and I feel like I have barely had time to breathe.  A fabulous team from Ohio left after doing a BUNCH of pterygium surgery and helping me and my Jamaican team prepare to continue to operate.  Last week, we had our first official Jamaican team OR day - no scrub nurses or techs from the US - which was a first for the surgery center!  I was so proud of our team.  We did 9 pterygium cases and another wonderful oculoplastics specialist who dropped by the center joined in and helped with surgery and clinic patients.  We are looking forward to Dr. Wester coming back in a few months for more eyelid and orbit cases.  So now, the OR is officially up and running with weekly cases.  Another team comes in at the end of this week for cataract surgery.  Meanwhile, every day in clinic I am seeing patient after patient with blinding eye disease from either cataracts...

A follow up to my prior blog.  I begin by showcasing one of my favorite WalMart items - the plastic drawers.  I LOVE plastic drawers for organizing everything.  So, naturally, I went to get some when we arrived.  The conversion rate here is about $127 Jamacian dollars is $1 US.  So that equates to this small stack of drawers costing $45.70!!!   So I decided not to organize my stuff. Let's move on to the fun stuff.  About once or twice a week, I get to drive the windy jungle road to our surgery center.  I had the privilege of operating with a wonderful corneal specialist from Columbus, OH - Dr. Schumer - who taught me the ins and outs of pterygium surgery in Jamaica.  (For those of you that don't know, pterygia are grows on the cornea caused by UV light - so wear sunglasses!!) Driving through the sugar cane fields Small town I always make a pit stop at my favorite "Rasta man" who sells me the best...

Welcome back!  We have now officially been in Jamaica for 1 week.  The first week was crammed with activities.  We started out by lugging our 9 tubs full of stuff to Portland.  I had called the airport ahead of time to confirm the cost of our baggage - Jer gets 3 free bags for being military.  When we went to check in, miracle of miracles, the boarding passes all printed out and said they were free!  What a blessing!  Our kids were awesome on the flights, although not much sleeping happened.  Once finally on island, we spent 2 days recovering from a sleepless night and my parents arrived to help out.  We quickly realized that living in Jamaica is not going to be cheap.  I went to get a set of plastic drawers - the kind usually sold in Walmart.  They are charging $80 USD for them here!  Maybe I can do without...  Work started bright and early Wednesday with a 1.5 hour drive out into the jungle.  On the way, we picked u...

Well I figured I should participate in sharing some thoughts about this upcoming adventure.  Please have a bit of grace when reading. I’m not as good as my better half with this whole writing thing. :) Moving overseas has quite a few challenges. From deciding what to pack to attaining a work permit and preparing kids to start school in another country.  Not to mention selling a house, selling/giving away most of our possessions to fit what’s left into a 10x10 storage unit. BTW, Eileen is a master at keeping track of what goes in which pile, and what  heads off to another country or stays.  So just a few things have fallen into place for this move, other stuff we have awaited anxiously to come through. However, we have no room to complain- our house is nearly complete in the selling process, of which has gone more fluidly than we could have ever anticipated(thank you Jesus for your complete answer to prayers). Our possessions are nearly packed up or dispersed thro...

So we knew it would be a adjustment for the kids to move, especially to move to another country.  Poor A has taken it the hardest as she is finally at the age where she understands.  We are doing our best to explain to her all the great things that are waiting in Jamaica - tropical beaches, a swimming pool, wonderful new friends - but she is not buying it.  I can't really blame her, she has never been to Jamaica!  As we were discussing this in small group last week, I was reminded that as adults, we are very much the same.  We have our little world where we have our friends, our places, our routines, and anything outside of that is scary and daunting.  There may be something better but since we won't take the step to meet a new friend, go to a new place, or mix things up a little, we miss out on something good.  I am constantly impressed by how much good is in our world.  God made the world and it IS good.  Yes, there is a lot of bad out ther...

In Jamaica, the unofficial language that is spoken is Patois which is an English-based dialect.  "Small up yuhself" means "move over", as in "small up yuhself and please let me pass".  I like to think of this adventure as a way of letting ourselves move over so that God can move in.  It is so easy living in my American conveniences with my comfortable American church to forget just how impactful the Good News is.  We get comfortable and accept our salvation, but we don't really understand how much it changes life.  I can't say I really comprehend what Jesus did for us on the cross, and I will spend my life trying to understand, but never really knowing.  Because it is so much bigger than we can imagine.  But I don't want to get lazy and take it for granted.  I want to be constantly leaning in to the Father, and if that means I need to get uncomfortable, than I am all in.  I have found over and over that in those moments where I need God, He d...

"You're moving where?!?"  That's the typical response we have heard for the past month.  Yes, we are moving to Jamaica.  Yes, we are crazy.  But sometimes God calls us to crazy things, and experience has taught me that the crazy things God has in store are better than any crazy things I could dream up.  It all started this past fall as we were taking a hard look at what we wanted to do and where we wanted to live.  My mother made an off hand comment (although she now denies it) about considering additional training or mission opportunities.  That is what rekindled what originally fueled my drive to go to medical school - having the opportunity to serve overseas.  I jumped on the internet and found a few mission opportunities, but the one in Jamaica seemed a great fit for our family.  Within a week, I had contacted the individual running the organization and booked a flight for Jeromee and I to visit Jamaica later that month.  I presented...