These past few days have been joyful.
On Sunday, I went to church with my sister midwife, Melissa, for an evening service. The church is within walking distance of the Treehouse on Vinzon Street. Its name? Joyful Assembly of God Church. I love that name! The songs we sang were so full of love for the Lord. (Feel free to listen to an example of the church’s worship from last Thanksgiving.) I’m so glad to find a church family already. The sermon focused on the prayer of Jabez and made a single, important point: God grants the requests of those who faithfully pray to him. I was reminded to keep on praying and to ask others to keep on praying for me, too!
Afterward, we visited friends, Phoebe and Davy, who had a “durian party” to welcome new midwives. Durian is a stinky, but very healthy fruit native to this specific area, the south-east of Mindinao, the Philippine Islands. Think: white peach, with garlic flavor, and a very squishy texture, two or three of which are inside a spiky green rind the size of a coconut that you split open to scoop out the fruit. It was both messy and fun eating it.
Later, beginning at 9:30 / 10 PM, I served on the night shift at the birth clinic, where we welcomed two babies within a few hours of each other: lalake (a boy) and babae (a girl). (For those interested in this sort of thing, both were born with double loops of nuchal cord – the first baby with a smaller, third loop near his cheek – but both transitioned well by one and five minutes with APGARS of 8 & 9.) Beautiful babies!
I am so thankful to be here.
Christian Midwife 