Estoy en el hospital.

 There's a blizzard outside. Fitting that I'm snowed into the hospital tonight. All last winter, without fail, the snow came when I was covering call. Spent many nights at the hospital. Makes me very thankful the hospital has warm call rooms for just such an occasion. When I realized a winter storm was due to hit my last call of the year, my last call before going to Togo, I felt a combination of disappointment and defeat mixed with amusement. Disappointment and defeat at letting go of my hope that I would make it out of the cold before having to drive in snowy conditions, and the amusement at the timing. Of course it comes when I'm on call. C'est la vie. 

The last two weeks have been very busy, and it makes me anxious for Christmas. I've been covering call at the hospital 7 of the last 11 days. I've been preparing to move to another country. And I've been getting ready for the Holidays. When my flight home from Guadalajara was delayed two weeks ago, and I didn't land in Chicago until 5:12am when I was supposed to start call at 7:00am, I'll admit I worried for a second. But then the second passed, and I put it behind me, picking up my pace and pushing the gas peddle maybe a smidge too much. Made a quick stop at the house only to grab my pager, and made it to the hospital by 8:00am on the dot. My partner only had to cover an hour for me. Whew! But even more amazing than that was my ability to rest despite the craziness of the two weeks. I learned years ago to be able to grab sleep when possible while on call. However, sleep on call is never restful. You can function better with the sleep definitely, but its not the same as resting when your subconscious is not constantly keeping itself ready. For example, a smart watch can rate the quality of sleep for an individual. If I sleep while on call, it usually registers my sleep quality as in the 50s - 60s. But this week, I would wake up from grabbing sleep on call and actually feel rested. It was amazing and allowed me to focus and continue working through my long To Do List on those 4 days when I wasn't on call. Made me so appreciative of how well my Father in Heaven knows me, and cares about the little things. 

Had two different parties this week. Seems like a lot of people want to celebrate that I'm leaving...

Monday, the office had a carry-in. The spread was Mexican food, and it was so so good. Brought my guacamole. I didn't get a picture on Monday but here is a picture from the Lafayette Surgical Clinic Christmas party from a few weeks ago. My case that day had run very late, and I was tired. If I had gone home to change, I probably would not have gone, in all honesty. 

All of our Surgical Techs L to R: Ruthie, MacKenzie, me, Jody, Bailey, Tish

And then Wednesday we had a Christmas/Going Away party. They definitely know me well after just 1.5 years at the West Lafayette church. Other than the sign and balloons, no one actually said or did anything for me. There was food, and a Christmas gift exchange game, and then good conversation. Conversation that even I enjoyed and participated in. You can be impressed, my roommates definitely were. Towards the end of the evening, they kept checking with me to make sure I was still doing okay and my relational circuits hadn't grinded to a halt yet. 

First row L to R: Grant Heinold, Aaron Adrian, Tianna Huber, Heather Gerber, Callie Furrer, Julie Lanz.  Middle row L to R: Natalia Adrian, Andrew Huber, Andrea Furrer, me, Nicole Baumann.  Back row L to R: Hope Young, Tyler Tonner, Anne Heinold, Austin Roe, Jake Bowerman

I am very thankful to be able to go to Togo, and to wherever next the Lord leads. I am also incredibly thankful and so blessed to have such wonderful people here in Lafayette that I can always look forward to returning to for intermittent work months in between.

Much Love.