God's sovereignty seen in 8 lbs of beautiful life

Today was nothing short of INCREDIBLE! The morning started with the birth of a beautiful 8 pound baby girl. It was both stressful and such a blessing to witness a delivery in a third world country. I have literally never been in such constant communication with the Lord as I was in that OR today. So much of what they did, by American standards was wrong, so so much. But I am realizing how much bigger our God is than our American health care system. Don't get me wrong, I plan to be at Scott & White as oppose to an impoverished hospital when I have my babies…but can we remember for a second where the Savior of the universe was born?! I think He turned out alright. It's fun teaching the nurses random tricks that we use at home. Like marking the syringe with an arrow so mom gives the right dose of medicine to baby. I mean super simple stuff that they just have never done. But outside of those simple odds and ends, I am learning that just like I am not meant to fix problems of my world at home, I am not here to fix Bolivian medicine. It is very different, and there is lots of room for improvement. But an 8 pound, BEAUTIFUL, baby girl was brought into this world today- and despite how unconventional it was by my standards, God protected her and blessed their family with new life.

There was no pediatrician, and no newborn nursery. So baby was cleaned off by a nurse(?) and then handed over to me until they were finished with mom. Shoot, that was scary. Never had such brand new life put in my hands. I mean she had taken less than 100 respirations at this point in her life. But again- I was praying the entire time I suctioned, assessed (the best I could), and swaddled her. And we both did just fine. I have held SO many newborns in my life, but never with such dependence on the Lord. Oh, how I wish all my daily actions and encounters were so.

After mom and baby were settled, I ventured back over to the ER. Things were busy there today! Sick kids, wicked femur fracture, super strange infection something-something going on with one patient, and lots of horrific wounds. But throughout the day I just had to keep going to check on that sweet mom and baby. That baby girl blessed me more than she will ever know. Who knew someone so small could teach you so much about the power of our God.

Last thing, and then I have got to crash…but the Lord has really blessed us with overcoming the language issue. I would not survive without Lexi. She turns on the accent and sounds like a pro. But for me, the barrier is there, no doubt. But I am realizing how quickly love and kindness overcome any sort of verbal miscommunications. And today I started understanding way more than what I actually know. And I know why. Because I prayed for that, intently. And God answers our prayers. Oh, the simple truths He continues to teach me daily. But please continue to pray for us in this area of things. Right now I just observe my surroundings very closely, catch about every 5th word, throw in some spanish mixed with english medical terms, and about 95% of the time we are on the same page. It's truly amazing. God is good.