Help Moms and Babies!

One of the great things about being in YWAM is becoming aware of the world's needs and getting the opportunity to fulfill those unmet needs.  During my first week in Australia, my team was "volunteered" to help assemble birthing kits.  We were all jetlagged, exhausted, confused because God was beginning to break our worldviews apart, and I know that I definitely didn't want to do more work after dinner.  "What the heck is a birthing kit?"  "I'm not even here for the medical ship!"  "This doesn't sound fun"  Those were a few of my COMPLETELY selfish thoughts at the time!  I was called to missions and specifically Australia and I'm already complaining in the first few days?   Nevertheless, that day I learned that God teaches in EVERY situation, that once again I'm so stinkin' prideful, and how important birthing kits are for developing nations!

Our medical ship (YWAM Medical Ships) travels to Papua New Guinea multiple times a year and delivers medical services during 1 week to 3 month stretches.  The volunteers that join are doctors, dentists, optometrists, ophthalmologists, nurses, midwives, educators, and other people, just like you and me, who want to address the needs of the poor in Papua New Guinea.  Women and their babies are at extreme risk for infection, hemorrhage, and even death in Papua New Guinea!  1 in 7 women die in childbirth! 

WE can help! WE can change the lives of countless moms and babies! A birthing kit is really easy and cheap to make!  Click here for the official Birthing Kit Foundation of Australia!  There you can read heaps of stories of how these simple kits made a big difference!

Here is what a birth kit has:

1 plastic sheet (approximately 1m x 1m or 1 yard x 1 yard) – for a clean birthing surface; to prevent mother and child from coming into contact with the floor or ground

1 bar of soap – for clean hands; to prevent the birth attendant from transmitting germs to mother and baby; for cleaning the stump to prevent infection

1 pair of plastic gloves – for clean hands; to prevent the birth attendant from transmitting germs to mother and baby

1 sterile scalpel blade – for a clean cut of the umbilical cord

3 cords/pieces of strong string (24cm or 10 inches long) – for clean ties for the umbilical cord (with an extra string included just-in-case); to prevent bleeding from the umbilical cord from mother and baby

5 gauze squares – to wipe secretions from the baby’s eyes and mothers perineum

 Here's how you can get involved!

Mail birthing kits to:
Bloggers for Birth Kits c/o Adriel Booker
YWAM Ships
PO Box 6221
Townsville, QLD 4810
Australia

Make a donation to YWAM Medical Ships (make the note "Bloggers for Birthing Kits" in the additional comments section) 100% of what is donated goes to supplies and distribution in rural Papua New Guinea!

Lastly, TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS!!!

Christmas in Louisiana

This was the second Christmas I've spent in Lafayette, Louisiana.  The only family members that don't live in this town are my uncle and his wife BUT they came down this year so I've gotten to see every one of my relatives this year!  A big blessing knowing that I may not be able to visit for awhile!  The second best thing about Louisiana (and the South in general) is the food!  Cajun food is so flavorful and delicious! 

This is gumbo and potato salad.  The base of the liquid part is made with flour and oil.  Then you add water to it plus heaps of spices to make a delicious stock!  Then you add chicken, sausage, seafood, okra, whatever you love!  Lastly, add rice!  No gumbo would be complete without potato salad either!  My favorite meal!! Yum!


The weekend after I got back into the States, I went to a family Christmas party with my parents.  I was fortunate enough to reunite with a cousin of mine, Kylie, that I haven't seen in over 10 years!

Christmas Eve was spent at my brother and sister in law's house!  It was a great time to share about my time in Australia and my future vision and goals!  Of course, I got to play with my niece, Riley, ALL day! Loved it! 

 The whole kitchen was filled with little appetizers and desserts!

The children recieved presents of their own but the adults had a gift exchange!  My mom got a candle that smells like tropical fruit... I want to eat it!  I got Bath & Body Works body butter and hand soap.  It smells so good too!!!  I love things that smell wonderful!!

Overall, Christmas was a great, relaxing time spent with family!  Now, on to the new year!  I love setting goals (not resolutions!) for myself at this time of the year!  I'm so excited that most of my year will be in Australia with Youth with a Mission (YWAM) making a difference in the lives of countless youths!

HOME!

Yes, after 27 hours of traveling I am home in Lafayette, Louisiana! I didn't sleep much on the plane rides so I was exhausted when I arrived.  Nevertheless, no one can ever be too tired for Raising Cane's chicken strips and special sauce... yummm! oh yeah, and SWEET TEA!  My mom and grandparents greeted me at the airport.  My mom had flowers, my grandparents brought me bananas!

The Friday before I left Australia was our graduation day!  All of the base staff came together to join us in celebration of the last 5 1/2 months!  We watched recap videos of our outreaches, recieved our grad certificates, and ate heaps of delicious food... including cake! :)  Here are a few pics from that day of people I love to pieces!

 Abby was on the Pacific Discipleship Training School but both schools did almost everything together!  We had many amazing chats that eventually turned into us giggling uncontrollably!

 This is Katie, also known as Miss Kitty.  She was 1 of our school leaders and she is a great example of God's love and patience!

 Krystal has the biggest heart for people and cultures.  It's something you can't fake.  I love listening to her speak of indigenous cultures because her face lights up!

Liz never stopped asking me questions throughout this whole experience.  She challenged me to see God, myself, and the world in a different way!

Of course, this wasn't an exhaustive list of all the people I love at YWAM Townsville... that blog post would be 100's of pages long!  Saying goodbye was difficult although I know I'll see them all sometime in the future.  The journey was amazing... really, there are no words to describe it that would bring it justice... but it was beyong belief, beyond anything I expected or could have imagined!  This part of the journey is complete but it's not the end!  Stay tuned for more!

Allie


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Major Outreach

Today is Sunday and it's a bittersweet day... 3 of us (including myself) have been hanging out in Newcastle, Australia for the past 2 weeks.  That doesn't sound like a lot of time but 2 weeks in YWAM time is equal to 2 years in normal time.  We ate, slept, worked, evangelized, etc with the same awesome people.  BUT all great things must come to an end!  We are leaving to go to Nowra to join up with the rest of our team and continue reaching out to youth! 

This past week we were helping put on the kids' program at the National Leaders' Meeting.  All the top YWAM leaders of Australia were there!  Here are some pictures!

 This is Max.  He is from our base in Townsville and he is the cutest thing alive!

 slip'n'slide day! The kids LOVED IT!!

 Even leaders need some fun time!!

 The theme of the week for the kids was the creation story!  Each day we added to our "creation masterpiece".  This morning we spent outside looking for grass, sticks, and flowers!

As you can tell, we had heaps of fun!  The venue was beautiful and the kids were a blast!