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Wednesday, 24 December 2008

  • The Eve Of Christmas
    Two thousand years have almost gone by
     Since Jesus was nailed on a cross to die
     His teachings were done by words and deed
     And thousand would listen, and thousands would heed.
    The words of His wisdom, and that of God
     As many miles on foot would he trod
     Let Peace be on earth, would be His command,
     And nothing less than this should we demand!
    On the Eve of His birth let us all be blessed
     And thank our God as we see the end of our quest.
     Let us all stand together, as brother and friend
     And pledge our love, and respect to a world without end.
    Together we stand, in joy and in sorrow
    and praise the birth of Jesus with the light of tomorrow!

    ~ Glenna McKinnley

Tuesday, 12 February 2008

  • Hello everyone!

    I know, I know...I'm a pathetic loser for not posting for so long. So what's new in my life...well nothing much. I'm staying very busy working and taking 14 units this semester. I am enjoying my classes more than I expected to, which is definitely a blessing!
    Guess what I did on Sunday! I learned how to ride a ripstik. Hannah got one, so she insisted on teaching me how to use it. I thought I was going to hate it, but it is really fun! Of course, me being the old lady that I am, I have been sore for the last two days as a result, but it was worth it! I fell once and now have a big bruise on the back of my thigh, so it hurts every time I sit down!  
    So, my advice to you all...if you have never ridden a ripstik before,  you need to! Granted it will make you feel older than you actually are after doing it, but you will feel younger when you are actually riding it. So grab one and go play!

Wednesday, 11 July 2007

  • I am only one,

    but I AM ONE.

    And I cannot do everything,

    but I can do SOMETHING.

    And what I can do, I WILL DO.

    And what I will do, I MUST DO,

    For I AM ONE.


    (adapted from a poem by Helen Keller)




Sunday, 10 June 2007

Wednesday, 18 April 2007

  • Hello!  I was reading the book Grace Under Fire: Letters of Faith in Times of War and found this letter to be very encouraging.  I know it's really long, but it is well worth reading all of it.  Hope you enjoy!

    In an Email to Loved Ones, Lieutenant Colonel Scott Barnes Tries to Answer the Question "Where Is God?" in a Place as Violent as Iraq.

    To All,

      First I must apologize for the dismal communication. Most of you knew that I had deployed to Iraq in mid AUG but most of you haven't heard from me since then. I have no excuses other than being quite busy and trying to maintain communication with my wife and children when I get some free time....
      The work is great and terrible at the same time. The level of injuries is nothing that I have seen in this concentrated amount. I will have seen more here in a few months than I probably will see in the rest of my ophthalmology career as far as trauma goes. The Lord has been gracious and I have had some down times and been able to catch my breath....but for the most part my days start at 630 AM and end around 1030 PM or later. That is if I am not up through the night with a surgical case and that happens about 1-3 times a week....
      But I have no doubt that this is exactly where the Lord wants me to be. I am convinced that I am here for a reason. And I can see it on the faces of some of the soldiers and the Iraqi civilians on whom I operate....When I tell them that I volunteered to come over here because I want to be the guy standing in the door to meet them when they get broken...I wanted to be a part of the greatest altruistic humanitarian effort that I believe any warfare has ever seen. We have medics that ignore bullets flying overhead just to get a casualty; we have medevac pilots that will rush into a hot zone and won't leave "until [they] have your wounded;" we have corpsmen and orderlies that run out to the bird and transport the patients into the bays of the emergency room where medics and ER docs work tirelessly to diagnose and stabilize the patient; and then the OR techs, nurses, and surgeons who work all hours to mend the broken parts; followed by the awesome nurses who continue that healing and work to mend the broken hearts of young guys whose lives have changed in an instant. I have never been involved with anything in medicine as incredible as this operation. The cause is noble and the people are the greatest team of which I have ever been a part....
      We also provide state of the art medical/surgical care for enemy combatants...even have an entire combat support hospital set up just for the detainees. Can you imagine that?! One minute they are shooting at us, trying to kill us...and we capture them and immediately begin to minister to their injuries and illnesses. Evil Americans that we are and all! We are making a difference in the lives over here. The media has no idea what is going on or at least they chose to ignore the truth on the ground...there is only a small percentage of people that do not want us here...and just about everybody that comes in contact with the real heart of America over here, sees the incredible value. None of us want to remain here in the long run, but so many are very, very supportive of having us here in the present. Just don't believe most of what you hear on the news channels and in the papers...this is a very just cause, and the good is overcoming forces of evil for Iraq.
      But standing in the door to work on the heroes comes a a price. It is difficult to see all the pain and suffering. The loss of limbs, eyes, and life can be overwhelming at times. But it continues and we have saves in the midst of the losses and we continue to pour our hearts into every patient because we don't know who will make it and who will not....I can't go into all of them because I said I would try to keep this short.
      Some of my colleagues have wondered out loud how there can be a God with all of this suffering. I just remind them that He might just be right in some of our hands and working right beside us in the ER and OR...how else do you explain one young sergeant with a devastating injury where nearly his whole pelvis was shot away...he should have died even before reaching us, but he didn't. He had such massive blood loss that he should have died before getting to the OR. But he kept living as we kept working on him and we were running out of blood to transfuse into him...but his heart kept going. We found guys outside and told them we needed blood and fast. Guys started lining up to donate blood in our back parking lot. Sergeants started going up to guys that weren't even in this guy's unit telling them that a young sergeant was fighting for his life and needed their blood.
      They started calling their buddies located at bases close to the hospital and told them to get their backsides (translation from what most sergeants really said) over here ASAP because a fellow soldier (who most of them had never even met) was going to die without their blood. Soldiers started pouring in, asking no questions except where do they go to give blood...they don't even know this guy, they just knew that another brother was in trouble and needed their help. They lined up in the parking lot and when their turn came, they had buddies watch their gear and weapons while they went in to donate. No questions...just soldiers doing what they think is just part of their job. I think about 60-70 guys ended up donating. In the US, when a patient requires 6-12 units of blood that is considered a massive transfusion and associated with a very high rate of death. This young hero required 207 units of blood (yes you read that correctly!)...and he lived. He was flown back to the states and back at Walter Reed Army Medical Center is still alive and off the ventilator.
      Where is God...He is in the OR guiding the hands of the surgeons, He is in the will of the sergeants helping organize a blood drive as only they can, He is in the hearts of the soldiers who immediately rolled up their sleeves to give what they had to save a dying brother whom they don't even know. I still cannot write about this without getting choked up...to see the sacrifice of the soldiers, the surgeons, the field medics who initially treated this young guy. This story alone should help make it clear why I consider serving over here this to be the greatest honor of my professional career. I get to see the real heart of the American soldier and the American military medical team...and they are as gold....
      I'll write more later...the pictures are of the soldiers waiting to donate blood in the above story....

      May God Bless you as He does for me everyday, Scott

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