The Dome and I are Friends

I, Alex Michel, concord the Dome Monday...it was one of those things that i wanted to do before i die... my mom was convinced that by climbing the Dome that i would die so it was a little ironic...maybe the dome should have been the last thing i did...but luckily i made it and still in one piece mostly... it kicked my butt that’s for sure....

The End...kinda

My time in Singapore is wrapping up and it has been such a great time of relaxing, recouping and a little Operah to get myself in the coming home mode. In the mean time, I have been fighting off a nasty little cold that has followed me around for a month and I think that I have finally kicked it...woo hoo!!!! I know I started to give some of you a scare with the combination of a 102 temp. And a fungus type outbreak on my leg that appeared shortly after I hit my shin on the stairs at the clinic, but happy to report there is no sign of Gang Green.... no temp and no Green well I wont finish that sentence for Kayla’s sake. We will have five days to finish saying goodbyes and turning in last minute homework assignments in Manila before we make the big move home. I am so excited to be coming home I cant even believe that its here already...it hasn’t really hit me yet, so if your reading this and thinking she doesn’t sound all that pumped.... it could be one: I’m writing this after a week of insomnia due to the excitement.... two: like I said it hasn’t hit me yet...or three...I’m experiencing somewhat of a bitter sweetness; here people...women respect me as their medical professional.... they let me care for them through their pregnancy, they come to me with real problems and concerns, they let me deliver their babies and stitch them up after words...and home, it will be very different...people still think that midwives are just are granola bars who just sing and dance and wait for the baby to just plop out..(Not quite the reality). I loved my time here; there is nothing else i can say about it. There were a lot of times where i felt like....”What the he..ck was i thinking" but all in all God has changed me in ways that i hope i can exhibit when i get home. Thank you all for your love, your generosity, your prayers.... your emails:)..they meant the world to me while i have been here. This time was worth every tear, every mystery meat, and every baby. Thank you.

Back on the Blogging Horse

I am picturing what it will be like when I walk into Zanders at home right now, and in my mind it will resemble somewhat of an AA meeting...

Hi my name is Alex (Alex)
Hi Alex (coffee junkies greet me in unison)
And I have been blogging for almost one year now. (Alex)
Wow, that’s great Alex (Coffee junkies)
But this month I slipped up (Alex)
Tell us Alex how that makes you feel.
Well you know all the sudden I just stopped blogging.... life seemed so busy.... I lost motivation.... I just sigh (Alex)
Its okay...we still love you.... (Coffee junkies) secretly whispering slacker behind my back

So I decided to hop back on the wagon and blog today, let you in on what the month of August has been like. So I started off the month with going to Olongapo, which is another city up north and out of Manila. There I met up with Leslie Perish for a Childbirth Education course that she was teaching to us Midwives. She runs a great ministry there at the YWAM base. They go into the bars at night and talk to the Bar girls. And if they are interested in getting help and turning there lives around they can join a team of women that used to be in the prostitution industry and join a two-year program that trains and educates them to work and be successful women in their communities. The last night we were there, Leslie took us bar hopping and we played pool and had some amazing conversations with a couple of girls. We were talking with this one girl her name was Joy, it was her 19 day in the business that night, Leslie was able to tell her about the base.... and Joys eyes started flooding with tears as she quickly excused herself to the restroom. It was an amazing opportunity. That week in Olongapo was absolutely incredible.... we saw monkeys as well!!!!!

The next two weeks were so incredibly busy with births and goodbye parties...that I don’t remember having breaks in the days at all. We threw the midwives daughters a princess party, that was so much fun. And anyone that has known me for a little while knows that I love dress up. We bought the girls little princess gowns and bought a princess cake at Goldilocks and they were royalty for the day. So fun! My last week we finished with 10 births, which made for an extremely busy week. Kayla and I also went back to Pinkian to visit some of my very first patients...Magnolia being one of them...it is always so great to see her, I will miss her so much. And of course she never fails to mention how she loves my brother and how she just thought he was so handsome.... she says if he comes back to the Philippines that she will not have a husband then.

And now I’m in Singapore where Kayla and I joined Mia for 10 days of relaxing and recouping and tying up all those loose ends that need to be tied in order to come home. Well I will blog again sooner this time than the last; I swear it. Until next time, thanks for listening.
Oh and one more thing, Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller, changed my life! Great book read it; I know you will love it.