Life with Linz

!New blog host!

lifewithlinz — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:44:12 +0000

Attention everyone! *siren noises* WooooOOOiiiip WooooiIIIIIIIp MAAA MAAA MAAAAA

I mean….

Heelloo!

I’ve moved my blog over to a different host, so I won’t be putting my new posts on this one anymore.

My new blog is:

http://life-with-linz.blogspot.com/

So please go check it out, and tell me what you think!

November….

lifewithlinz — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:49:25 +0000

I’ve been meaning to do a new post for a long time now, but I never did get around to it. Here’s some things that have been happening.

~* Julia’s been home for…quite a while now. We all missed her!

~* I finished school, hooray!!! I’ve been helping here at home. It’s nice to be able to have time to help with and do other things.

I am going to try to study Swahili more. I get by with speaking to people, but if I actually take the time to study, I’ll do better. The main thing that will help me is learning more vocabulary.

I’m still teaching Aubrie and Ayden on Friday mornings. They’re such a joy. Little Ryan is growing like a weed! He’s such a happy baby.

~* I’ve still been helping at the clinic twice a week, usually Mondays and Tuesdays. I love helping there as much as ever! Danny and Nancy are truly special people. They’re going to visit the States in a few weeks, so Stephanie and I will try to help out there as much as we can. There’s going to be a christmas party there with the staff. We’re going to have a white elephant gift exchange, so it should be fun!

~* We’re getting ready to have company here from December through January, so we’ve been trying to cook things ahead that we can pull out easily.

~* It’s the short rainy season has begun, so we’ve had the blessing of rain. Plants are starting to perk up and become green, the dust has settled, and people seem refreshed.

~* We have a new addition to our family! Her name is Axe, and she’s a German Shepherd. Jacob is her favorite, she follows him pretty much everywhere he goes. She’s still warming up to the rest of us,though, and is still trying to get used to Don.

That’s about all I can think at the moment! I hope everyone has a great day!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~*LoVe Is PaTiEnT*~

~*aNd kInD,*~

~*LoVe DoEs NoT eNvY oR bOaSt;*~

~*It Is NoT aRrOgAnT oR rUde…*~

~*LoVe BeArS aLl ThInGs,*~

~* BeLiEvEs AlL tHiNgS,*~

~*HoPeS aLl ThInGs,*~

~*EnDuReS aLl ThInGs.*~

It’s October!

lifewithlinz — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:05:31 +0000

Can you believe it’s October already? Where has this year (yes, I just accidentally typed “ear”) gone? Summer is finally on its way. It’s nice not to have to bundle up in a wrap and have numb feet every Sunday morning.

Friday morning I had Aubrie here for Bible class, and we were learning about David and Goliath. As I came to the part about David going to meet Goliath, Aubrie gave a huge smile and said, “Then David got his thing, and his rock hit Goliath in the head, and then Goliath was dead all the time!“ Hmm, well yes he was dead all the time from then on. Also, a few weeks ago, Dad happened to ask her what her Mom’s name was. After frowning and thinking hard for a minute, she brightened and said, “I know…it’s Baby!”

Tomorrow’s the day – Julia comes home! It seems like almost forever since I’ve seen her. It’ll be great to have her home!

I went to the clinic today…Danny and Nancy went on a little one day vacation today, so Stephanie and I worked in the pharmacy dispensing medicine. There were no catastrophes or emergencies, which was very good since Mr. Danny wasn’t there. There is one other young doctor working there now, though, so that’s good that they have someone. I can tell you all one thing, when we work over there it’s like a comedy routine. It’s nice to work with cheerful people!

Have a great week everyone!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“A joyful heart is good medicine…”

~*Proverbs 17:22a*~

I’m alive!

lifewithlinz — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:09:46 +0000

As you can see, I’ve been working on fixing up my blog! I had been meaning to do it sooner, but it wasn’t at the top of my priorities list. I knew it wouldn’t take too much time to spruce up, so I finally decided to just go ahead and make it looked more loved!

Here are some things that have happened\been happening lately.

~Luke graduated from high school

~Julia went to the States for a visit. One of her best friends had a baby, so she went to help out and see the little punkin!

~I’ve been working hard on my school so I can graduate. My “official” graduation should be sometime in December, but I should have my work done by then. Only a couple more weeks in math! Other than math, I’ve been doing some drawing. I think (or I hope!) it’s improving, but I must say that instead of my first drawing being titled something like, “Mother duck at pond”, it would’ve been better to call it “Attack of the mutant duck creature”.

~The past few weeks I’ve been teaching a Bible class to Aubrie and Ayden Samford (The two oldest children of Carey and Bonnie who work here with us, and happen to live right across the road) on Friday mornings. How precious they are!

There’s just a few highlights of what’s been going on. Hopefully I’ll keep up with this more!

An apple a day keeps the doctor away!

lifewithlinz — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:53:54 +0000

Monday and Tuesday were certainly interesting days at the clinic! Monday morning I helped Nancy back in the pharmacy some, and then Stephanie called me to start taking patient histories. Stephanie stayed around for the first couple patients just to make sure I was asking the right questions, then she went to help Nancy and left me on my own. Zuleka translated for me most of the time, but Tizo helped a couple times as well. I think taking histories and vital signs is one of my favorite things to do so far! I ask if their parents are in good health, if there’s any history of cancer, TB, HIV, HTN, diabetes, etc. A slightly amusing situation came up when I had to to take the histories of two different Masai ladies. For ladies, one of the questions I have to ask is about their monthly cycle. The thing is, the Masai women often look much, much older than they are, so you sometimes have a little problem. As I was questioning the first lady, I was thinking to myself, “She looks pretty old…I’m sure she’s no longer having those. But I suppose I should check just in case.” So, we asked her and she’s talks to herself trying to figure it out, then proceeds to tell us about the most recent occurrence! Now I’m thinking, “Whoa…okay!…Can’t judge a book by its cover!”. We finished with that lady, and started to question the next woman. When we got to that same question I think, “This lady looks reeeaaally old, I’m sure she doesn’t! But then again, the last woman surprised me, so I guess I’ll just ask…” So once again, we ask her that question, and then the lady replies, “Oh no!! I am an old woman!” Now at this point I’m thinking, “Ooookaaaay….I feel like a complete fool!”
The most interesting thing that happened was that I got to feel an enlarged liver! Danny came into the pharmacy asking if we wanted to feel one, (of course we did!), then we followed him into the exam room. It was a middle aged Masai man who’s enlarged liver was caused by drinking beer every single day. First, Mr. Danny put his hand over the liver, and tapped his fingers with his other hand, then did the same thing on the other side so we could hear the difference in tone. (As he was doing this, Nancy and I were rubbing our hands together trying to warm them up. I don’t think it worked for mine, though…the poor man! My hands probably felt like ice!) Then Danny showed us how to palpate the liver, then let me try. It was very interesting! Another lady came in and was diagnosed with an aortic aneurysm. An aneurysm is when an area of the blood vessel widens, forming a spot that is similar to a bubble in a tire. They’re very dangerous, and sadly the lady very possibly might die from it. Her blood pressure was very high, and also had a fast pulse. You could feel the aneurysm pumping very strongly when you put your hand at the top of her abdomen.
Tuesday morning was pretty hectic, because Tizo (he checks people in, collects money, etc. etc.) was gone for most of the morning. Well, that meant that I had to try to do his job. Thankfully I know enough Swahili to make up their chart info, tell them how to pay, etc. The hard part was making change with no coins in the cash box! Since we didn’t have any coins, Nancy ran up to their house and got a few, but we ran out again quickly. It was crazy, and I felt like a chicken running around with its head cut off! Thankfully Tizo came back and then we were able to get things in there going more smoothly. There was alot of work to do in the card room, so we worked in there mostly all day. I also helped Nancy in the pharmacy a bit, recorded diagnoses into the log book, counted how many patients we’ve had in the last months, and took a few histories when Stephanie was busy doing something else.
Also, promiscuity is a huge problem, and if people could see the affects it can have, they might think twice about what they do. It seems that almost every other person that comes in has some sort of disease. It’s very sad.

We’ll see what other interesting things next week holds!

“Everyone come look at this blood sample!”

lifewithlinz — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:06:48 +0000

Sunday night I spent the night with the Staffords so I could get up and go to the clinic with Stephanie on Monday. Pretty much all day long on Monday I was back in the pharmacy moving medicine to a new shelf, labeling them, and stuff like that. Lindsey Gee came that day and helped out too. In the pharmacy, they have some small jars of peanut butter to give out for malnourished patients, and it was on the very top shelf. Lindsey and I had to move it to its new shelf, so she was on one chair, and I had another one. I would stand on the chair, grab some peanut butter, hop down, run and hand them to Lindsey, then run back to my chair again. Thankfully Tizo (Tizo is a young guy who works at the clinic who’s almost like the Smelsers adopted son ) happened to come in, and stood on the chair, threw the peanut butter across the room for me to catch, then I would hand it to Lindsey to put on the top shelf. It went alot faster once we did it that way! Monday was a really busy and interesting day, and I even got to look at a stool sample with hookworms, and a blood sample infected with malaria under the microscope!

Monday afternoon, Stephanie decided that since Tuesdays at the clinic have been really busy lately, that she would come the next day. Since I was already staying with Stephanie, I just stayed another night, then went with her on Tuesday (Today, that is!). Today was a really busy day!!! I started out in the pharmacy, moving medicine so there would be more room in between them. They were really crowded together, and we didn’t want to be accidentally grabbing the wrong one! After I did that, I transferred diagnoses into the log book (that’s one of my regular jobs now). When I was done transferring diagnoses, Tizo asked me to help him in the card room. We cut the patient file folders so they’d be the right size, then we filed them into a cardboard box (A box that I won’t mention took us a while to figure out how to put together right!). Then I helped Nancy work in the pharmacy…getting people’s medicine, figuring up what they owe, writing down medicines, and a bunch of good stuff like that. Also, sometimes I try to translate the directions on how to take medicine, and whatever else needs to be said. I think I need to memorize more medical vocabulary! Sputum? Pus?! I have no idea what that is in Swahili! So lots of times we need a real translator instead.

Sometimes we’ll see some really sad things at the clinic. Like today there was a young Masai man who came in who had TB of the spine. He looked incredibly young…we all thought he was maybe around14, but it turned out he was 22. He’ll most likely die before too long, because he needs extremely aggressive treatment, which he very most likely won’t receive. It’s very sad. But working there is so enjoyable, especially when you have a wonderful old woman thank you over and over, and be so grateful, when all you did is tell her how many times a day to take her Erythromycin!

-Next week Stephanie’s going to let me take patient histories!

Bronchitis, conjunctivitis, sinusitis, appendicitis…any other ‘itis’s?

lifewithlinz — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:29:32 +0000

I’ve been excited about helping at the clinic for a year now, ever since helping Danny and Nancy Smelser with a few mobile clinics they did in the bush, and now I’m very happy to be able to work at the newly built Tanzania Christian Clinic once or twice a week.

The days are fairly similar…the patients come in, get their histories and vital signs taken by Mrs. Stephanie Stafford, then are seen by Mr. Danny (ER doctor). Then they’re sent to wait for whatever medicine that’s been prescribed, and Mrs. Nancy (aka, “Queen of the Pharmacy”) gives them their medicine, and instructs them how to take it. My job usually consists of counting and bagging pills, or doing whatever happens to need doing at that moment. It’s always interesting to hear Danny, Nancy and Stephanie talk back and forth about different maladies, using technical terms and hoopla; most of which goes straight over my head! To give you one example, Nancy comes up giving me all the details about that “poor little boy that had Cardioshajfjjfdkdaskdjflslitis.” Now, my poor little brain is busy trying to sort this out. “Cardio…oh, heart!…um…itis…” when Nancy (undoubtedly seeing my blank face and glassy eyes) kindly explains it to me in normal person language. “You see, a healthy person’s heart will pump like ‘lub-lub…lub-lub…’, but a person’s heart with that disease will pump like ‘lubLUB-lubLUB’”.

This particular Monday, I sit nearby Stephanie to learn how to do her job of taking histories and vital signs. I scribble down the questions she asks the patients on a scrap of paper. “Wow, this lady has had 18 pregnancies?!”

After we finished with that lady, Nancy calls me and asks me to transfer diagnoses into their log book. Since I hadn’t been to the clinic in several days, there were plenty of files built up for me to transfer. First, I look in the patient’s chart to the “Assessment” section, and then copy the diagnosis to a column in the log book along with the patient’s name. This sounds like an incredibly easy job, but it can take forever and be quite tedious, because I have to decipher Mr. Danny’s handwriting. Starting with the first letter seems like a good idea, so I look at it. I stare harder. I bend closer. Finally, I end up with my nose practically touching the paper and my eyes feeling like they’re spinning around in circles. Is that a “g”, “y”, or an “f?” Or is it a “b” or a capital “l?” Thankfully, it’s much easier now than at first and I can recognize “Bronchitis”, “Conjunctivitis”, and “Gastro Esophageal Reflux” at barely even a glance.

Once I’m finished with transferring the diagnoses, I start recording the medicines and strengths used, and total the cost of the medicine and lab work. I’ve been working quite a while, and the stack of files are almost gone. Only one left. Horrors! It’s the one I put on the bottom of the stack for a reason. Even with being able to read almost all the writing fairly easily now, I just can’t make this one out. I pull myself together, and concentrate on making out the scratches of pen marks. S…I…O…U…X. Hooray, I’ve done it! Wait, Sioux?! That’s an Indian tribe, not a medicine! I decide to wait until Nancy comes back into the pharmacy, then I ask her, not even daring to mention what I had thought it was at first. She glances at it for a moment and says “Sioux”. Suddenly, she looks puzzled and goes back for a second look, while I’m trying to keep my bubbles of mirth under control. “Oooooh, it’s not Sioux, that’s Lasix…the medicine for high blood pressure…I use it myself! And here I was thinking it was a name like those Indians!”

After I’m finished recording all the necessary information into the log books, I go back out to see if I can help Stephanie. She said I could take a patient’s history and vital signs to practice. There’s a mother in the nurse’s station holding a little boy, with a man sitting beside both of them. Stephanie was in a different room at that moment giving an injection, so we were all waiting for her. I gave the little boy a stuffed bear, and the woman holding him told me he was her son. “How nice, you both look alike”, I told her. After making polite conversation about the little boy’s name, age, etc, I held out my arms and asked the boy to come. He looked very scared, and unsure of what I would do. But he came, and just sat in my lap, so I started playfully bopping him in the face with his bear. He started laughing, and started to have too good a time to remember he was scared anymore. As we played with the bear, his mother looked at her husband next to her and said, “She’s a very good mama!” I looked up, and laughed a little. “Do you have any children?” she asked. “No, I don’t.” Looking a bit shocked, she replied, “Well why not?!” Okay, great…. ”I don’t have any husband” I said, “I’m only 16”. “Ah, yes…not yet then” she answered back to me. I start playing with the boy on my lap again, while the lady sat back in her chair, with an expression on her face that looked like she was trying to solve a problem. “Here’s what you do” she suddenly said, “Go get a husband, then you’ll get the children!” Smiling triumphantly, she repeated “Then you will get!” a few more times. I just smiled, and agreed with her, and started taking the boy’s temperature. After finishing that, I put the stethoscope in my ears about to take his pulse and respirations. I put it on his chest when he started crying. I told him not to be afraid, and gave him the stethoscope so he could see it was nothing to be scared of. He calmed down a little bit, and I put it in his ears so he could listen to his own heart. Unfortunately, I had to go help Nancy again in the pharmacy with more patient files, and so Stephanie had to finish. When the mother and boy were waiting for their medicine outside the pharmacy door where I was working, she saw me and told the boy he should give me a kiss. She blew a few kisses to me to show him how, and then when he was too shy, I just leaned in, and he gave me a little peck on the cheek!

Being able to help is a great experience, and I’m really enjoying it!!

We’re home!

lifewithlinz — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:22:18 +0000

We made it home last Friday night safe and sound! All of our flights went well, and we didn’t have any super long layovers. When we were in the line to board the plane in Detroit, there were a couple ladies talking behind me, and suddenly I realized I knew what they were saying, and it wasn’t in English. They were speaking Swahili! I was so happy to just hear it again I almost started hyperventilating! After telling me she lived in Tanzania, one of the ladies asked me where I was going. In Swahili I told her I lived in Tanzania. Both ladies were so shocked to hear me say that, they practically had to pick up their jaws on the floor.

Cy Stafford and John Baker both picked us up from the airport, since we had to have two trucks to fit all our luggage. About halfway home, Mr. John had some car trouble, so we had to stop while they replaced whatever that had broken. Ah, back in Africa again. When we got back to the house we found everything inside covered with dirt and bugs. Just in my room alone there were over 30 dead roaches. We cleaned everything up well enough to sleep in, then crashed. Saturday was spent cleaning and doing laundry. Sunday it was great to see everyone again…I missed them so much! I was glad to see all the little kids hadn’t forgotten us! Eliza, a little girl who sits with Julia and I every service, ran up to me, and when I picked her up, she squeezed my neck as tight as her little arms could!

I miss everyone, but it’s so good to be home.

Furlough

lifewithlinz — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:16:28 +0000

Furlough has been amazing so far. Seeing famiy and friends again has been great…from California to Tennessee to North and South Carolina and Alabama!

The Sunday that we were heading to Roundhouse we worshiped at Karns Church of Christ. When it was time for communion Mom nudged me and whispered that Nathan and Ashley Cozort were there across from us. I looked over and had to do a double take….sure enough there they were smiling at us with little Madison sitting with them. As soon as I saw them I started crying. It was so good to see them. It took a lot of concentration to focus on worship. Later as we were driving into Bonclarken camp for Roundhouse, I was nervous. I really have no idea why…maybe because I didn’t really know how much people had changed. When I finally was able to see everyone and say hi I was shaking and crying. You don’t forget how much you love people, but when you actually see them in person again you remember just how much you do, and how much you’ve missed them. What a great week it was! Being able to see almost all the people I love the most in one place and be with them for a week was wonderful. I love you all more than I can ever say. And for those of you who I haven’t seen yet or will see again, I can’t wait.

I’ve been taking people’s pictures like crazy so I can cover the wall with them in my room. That’s one of the things I’d noticed at home…I didn’t have anyone’s picture. Well, I’m going to fix that.

A Living Sacrifice

lifewithlinz — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:33:28 +0000

A Living Sacrifice

by Lindsey Jensen

The world places an enormous amount of emphasis on our external appearances. How many commercials on TV do you see that are advertising some sort of clothing, skin, hair or makeup product? We should, of course, take care of our body, but that shouldn’t be our number one focus. According to 1 Corinthians 6:19, our bodies are a temple of God. We should want to look attractive and pretty, but we shouldn’t pour all our energy and time into it. We should condition our bodies and mind to do the Lord’s work. Romans 12:1-2 says

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

When people in the world see us, they should sense that there’s something different about us. If we dress, talk and act just like the world, there will be no drawing power. They might think, “If they’re just like us, what’s wrong with the way I am right now?”

Don’t Conform to the World in the Way We Dress

Girls, especially teenage girls, tend to have a problem with low self esteem. I admit to struggling with this myself. It’s very easy to view yourself as not being good enough. They often try to find acceptance, and in many cases they maybe look in the wrong places, or the wrong way. I know girls who have boyfriend after boyfriend, just because they want to feel really special and loved, even though they are not ready for a relationship. This might also prompt them to dress in a way that is flashy or immodest to attract attention. They just want to “fit in” and be “cool”.

Sadly, many times to fit in you must wear things that shouldn’t be worn by a good Christian girl. 1 Timothy 2:9- “Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire.” When we walk into a room, our appearance shouldn’t shout “look at me!”, but we should be respectable and cleanly attractive. 1 Peter 3:3 says, “Do not let your adorning be external-the braiding of the hair, putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear.” In God’s sight, all of us are special and loved, and if we can know and accept that, and are able to love ourselves, we won’t be looking in the wrong places, or in the wrong ways to be accepted. 1 Peter 3:4-“But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.”

Don’t Conform to the World in the Way We Act

1 Pet. 3:4 said “the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.” We shouldn’t try to act in such a way as to try to attract attention from other people. Many times I have known a girl to laugh very loudly at a comment, and then glance around to see if anyone is noticing her. It’s not attractive when someone is always bragging on themselves, or acting arrogant. (1 Sam. 2:3) We need to be humble. (Jas. 4:6; 4:10, 1 Pet. 3:8.)

Don’t Conform to the World in the Way We Speak

Our speech needs to be pure. In Colossians 4:6 it says, “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” If you get together with a group of girls, many times there will be gossip going around. You’ll hear things like, “Did you hear….?” “Did you see what she did?” And so on. It’s extremely easy to get caught up in gossip, and if we don’t watch ourselves, we’ll be right in the middle of it, adding our own, “Well I heard….” The Bible clearly says that gossip is wrong. Matthew 12:36 says, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account of every careless word they speak.” If you take time to think about it, this is very sobering. We must learn to guard our tongues, and not fall into the trap of gossip.

Present Yourselves as a Living Sacrifice

Instead of focusing so much attention on ourselves, we should try to look for ways that we can serve others. There are numerous areas in which girls can serve the Church:

Helping the sick: Prepare food, baby-sit for sick parents, send cards, visit, and help with various household chores.
Mothers with new babies: Prepare food, offer to baby-sit older children so the mother can rest, help with children in worship services, and help around the house.
Elderly: Talk to them and keep them company, clean house, fix meals, and remember special occasions, such as birthdays and holidays, sit with them during worship services.
Hospitality in your community: Visit new neighbors, take along a welcome basket that includes information about the Church, and help them become familiar with the area.
Hospitality to visitors at worship: Welcome strangers, if there are children, offer to help them find their Bible class, sit with them in church, and send them a thank you letter for visiting.

Conclusion

It’s a very big challenge to try to follow God’s will, especially when friends are pressuring us to do things that are not godly. But, let’s accept the challenge, and stand up for what’s right, because in the end, when we have a home in heaven, it will all be worth it. Philippians 4:8-“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”