Monthly Archives: January 2006

Todays Sermon

Well, most of the time no one remembers the sermon. 

But today, not everyone was snoozing.  My daughter stated at the dinner table, “That was a real good sermon today wasn’t it.” 

So, hats off to Randall for saying something significant enough to be heard and thought about.

He was speaking about Money, how it becomes an idol if we put it at the centre of our lives.  The amount is rather irrelevant.  Worrying about it is not good – either about having too much or not enough.  Hold onto it lightly, its God’s stuff.

Then she proceeded to ask me for some money so she could go get some school supplies and new pants!

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Filed under Worship events

Four Things

Wendy tagged me.

Four jobs I’ve had:
1.  Chambermaid (cleaning hotel rooms)- yuk!
2.  Anatomy Disection Preparer
3.  Summer student – subject in Kinesiology experiments
4.  Dentist

Four movies I can watch over and over:

1.  Steel Magnolias
2.  Lord of the Rings
3.  Rainman
4. Bruce Almighty

Four places I’ve lived:

1.  Hillsview, OR
2.  Brussels, Belgium
3.  Karawa, Dem. Rep. of  Congo
4.  Prince Albert, SK

Four TV shows I love:
1.  24
2.  The Simpsons
3.  The Passionate Eye
4.  Just for Laughs

Four places I’ve vacationed:
1.  Lake Kwada
2.  Kenya – Masai Mara and Diani Beach
3.  A cruise down the Mexican Riviera
4.  The Churchill River from Missinipi to Pelican Narrows by canoe

Four of my favorite dishes:
1.  Anything seafood
2.  Jambalaya
3.  Pizza
4.  A good medium rare steak

Four sites I visit daily:

1.  jordoncooper.com
2.  randallfriesen.com
3.  lauralea.ca
4.  The Eagle & Child

Four places I would rather be right now:
1.  On a beach beside a warm ocean
2.  Curled up on my couch in front of a fire with a book
3.  Back in Africa
4.  Having a visit with a good friend

Four bloggers I am tagging
1.  Lauralea
2.  Dixie
3.  Gavin
4.  Gloria

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Church Seats?

So, I slip over to the Resonate Journal to see what’s up.  Lo – there is a Google ad that catches my eye.  Sounds very holy – must have to the computer – probably tagged the church word.  LOL for sure.

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Hospital Ennui

And now here I am, home from work, working on supper before I head up to the hospital to sit with my aunt again.  Last night I had a good time with my aunt.  She was fairly confused – was not sure why she had to stay in the hospital when it was much better at her home.  She was very lonely, feeling as if all her independance had been taken away from her; not only that but she couldn’t find her teeth and her hair was not presentable.  We spent a good hour and a half just talking and having devotions together.  She just needed someone there.  Hospitals are lonely places even when you are too sick to leave. 

At least there was an hour and a half when the IV was not pulled out and when she did not put herself at risk of falling again from getting out of her restraints.

The last time I had to be in hosptial I don’t know that I was any more patient.  Shades of things to come for me?  Restraints and frustrated children looking after their stubborn independant mother in a slightly demented state.  Payback for sure!

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Doing herodontics again

Today seemed long.

On the plus side the sky was lightening in the east on my way to work and as I write this, the sun is still imparting a glow to the sky. 

But at work, the day seemed long.  It was busy enough , so didn’t drag.  In fact, I decdided to do a couple of fillings for a guy from out of town so he would have to make fewer trips down from La Ronge, and completely missed my lunch hour.  Maybe I am just too old to be missing my lunch – I don’t have the energy I used to have.  Or maybe it was the difficult filling I ended the day with.  That one bordered on what we term “herodontics”.  the last tooth in the arch and the filling went way down on the back side of it (distal) below the line where the enamel of the tooth joins the root.  Did what we call a sandwich restoration – using two different materials, one which can be flowed down into the far depths onto the root area and the other a regular bonded sivler filling.  A challenge. 

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My Fallen Auntie

Yesterday morning, just after I got right into the part of a filling where your pretty much have to keep on going till it is finished, I got two phone calls right in a row.  Would I please take a call from Carolyn.  Then a few minutes later, would I take a call from Abbeyfield, the house where my auntie lives.  I knew something important was happening.  It was very frustrating to not be able to take the calls right at that moment!

My auntie had fallen and was in quite a bit of pain.  They wanted the go ahead from me to call the ambulance.  You see, ambulance services are not a covered service under our provincial health care and they were not sure about the cost and all.  Well, there wasn’t much choice really.  You can’t just pack someone up when they are in pain from a likely fracture and have them sit in the seat of a car.  And it did turn out that she had a fractured hip. 

One of my auntie’s good friends from church, Carolyn, was there and rode with her to the hospital in the ambulance and Sharon and I joined her there as soon as we could.

Today the hip was repaired – pinned I believe.  Tonight I went up to see her a little while after she got back up to her hospital room.  She looks surprisingly good for what she has just been through for a person of her age – which I will not tell you because she might be sensitive about that sort of information.  She may be a little confused but she still possesses a lot of spunk.  This is the aunt that was always my heroine when I was little.  She is totally full of love, has always cared so much for others, is sometimes taken advantage of but keeps on loving others anyway. 

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Raising some funds

This weekend I spent some time talking with two of my sons – Patrick and Christian.  Christian came home to help a couple of his PA friends to celebrate their birthdays.  Patrick, I went to see while I was in Saskatoon.

While Patrick was back in the Congo visiting his family, he was introduced to a project by the mother of one of his childhood friends – a friend so close that he lives with the family and is partly supported by Patrick’s father.  This friend, Steve, has a mother who is attempting to improve the lives of women and children left deprived of support due to the deaths of family from AIDS, the recent civil wars, etc.  The organization she has established is the Association for the Social and Humanitarian Assistance of Orphans and Widows(A.S.H.A)  in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

This Thursday, Patrick, along with the International Studies Students Association, has organized a Cabaret to be held at Lydia’s in Saskatoon.

Lydia’s
January 26th
9:00pm
$5 cover charge at the door

Featuring:
Oral Fuentes
Jill Zmud
Hip’s Whisker
and special guest Patrick Kongawi

 

So if you are looking for a good cause to support and like listening to some good music show up at Lydia’s

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Parlez-vous francais?

The course I went down to Saskatoon for today was one of the best I’ve done in a  long time – Using French in Medical Practice.  The day went considerably faster than the usual draggy lecture.  We reviewed the terms for the major systems and then had fun.  There were three actors who were our patients for the day.  What a job they did!  The guy who played the 82 year old Mme LaFleur beginning to become forgetful was simply hilarious! 

And my French is not half bad.  In fact on of the young Francophone physicians told me it was very good.  So that made me feel good.  I usually feel fairly self conscious speaking it to a real Francophone.  I know my verbs rarely agree and I am TU/toi ing rather than using the more formal vous when I should, etc, etc.

Visited the kids too and had a quick supper with Rachelle too.

And the drive – I find it goes fast if I take a good chuck of the time to talk to God about stuff.  And I can listen to whatever music I like on the way. 

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The stuff that makes up my week

…is not always very exciting. 

This week has been full of commitments – practice, small group, board meeting.  And there is always work.  Nothing out of the ordinary really. 

And this week I have been fighting a cold.  So, at night I take my dose of cold medicine and hit my bed a bit earlier than usual.  And a bit of antihistamine knocks me out pretty good.  Weird dreams when I take the stuff too.  I am very glad that I have continued to function through the week, though.  One of my assistants has been home sick all week.  She got a touch of pneumonia I guess. 

Now the week is almost over.  Tomorrow I will do a big bridge prep.  That will take most of the morning – three teeth to prepare.  The trickiest part is getting preparations that all draw (in other words all the sides of the prepared teeth must be just about parallel – no undercuts to prevent the finished rigid crowns from seating) and the impression must be perfect.  That is pretty much it for the days work although there always seem to be little surprises thrown in – emergencies and such.

Saturday, I head down to Saskatoon for a course.  It will be worth a few continuing ed points but should also be sort of fun.  It will be on the use of French in medicine (and dentistry).  And it is free, so that is a plus.  I see a fair number of French speaking patients so it will be a good refresher.  And maybe it will help keep my French current.

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Miscommunicating

Communication:  one of the meanings is “to transmit or reveal a feeling or thought by speech, writing, or gesture so that it is clearly understood”

Clearly that doesn’t”t happen all the time when I am involved.  I guess I jumped the gun and read in my mind the end of his sentence.  Bad idea. 

So I remain ignorant of the actual statement he was in the process of stating. 

And you might be able to tell that I don’t feel too good about it all. 

Can one blame these kinds of miscommunications on male hormones?  ‘Cause I’m not having PMS!  I suppose that would be a lame excuse.

 


In any case, we have lived together long enough to know we had better make up and move on.  And reading the compline together each night sort of forces us to do that.  Especially the part where we confess “Almighty God, my heavenly Father: I have sinned against you, through my own fault, in thought, and word, and deed, in what I havedone and what I have left undone.”  I guess those could just be rote words but that is not where I want to go.

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