How It Went

Remember how I was going to become an Informed Beginnings birth educator?  Well, I took the plunge and I'm so glad I did!  

In Chicago I participated in the very first Informed Beginnings New Educators Training and it was incredible!  We met in the cutest mama/baby shop and it was super cozy and inviting.  

They had all kinds of neat wraps and cloth diapers, etc.

But that was all just the icing on the cake.  What was really awesome was this group of 4 other ladies who are also becoming birth educators (2 of which were also already doulas)

And Deb, our incredibly fun and EXTREMELY experienced and knowledgable instructor!    She has taught a comprehensive birth course over 80 times to couples looking to be informed about birth.  She SO generously passed onto us 3 packed days worth of her personal tips, tricks, advice, as well as tons of education and facts so that we can also each teach couples about birth.  

The course that she has taught, and we will all be certified to teach, is not a wimpy course by any means!  It is for couples serious about learning about their options and making the best choices for themselves for pregnancy, birth, nursing, newborn care, and more.  It is seriously, really, really great stuff!  The standard course I will be certified to give is 24 hours!  (But it can be customized to meet a couple's individual needs)

There were all kinds of neat demos, like how to teach couples massage techniques for pregnancy and labor, techniques for relief of back pain during labor, demonstrations of different positions that can be used to adjust baby's position during labor (like the one below), and much, much more.

We also learned how to: put together a course, games and activities, how to help a mom learn to nurse, how to help couples with communication, etc

But these three days were just the tip of the iceberg in our training.  The real work is still ahead and I plan to focus on it while we're in Ohio.  I have to read a bunch of books and write reports on them, observe a birth course, breastfeeding course, and nursing support group, complete a VERY long and involved study guide, visit 2 hospitals, complete various exercises, prepare a detailed course outline, and hopefully observe a birth.  Then, I need to also teach my first rounds of my course, which could be done here or in Brazil.

Since coming to Coshocton 2 1/2 weeks ago I'm so excited to see the many awesome doors that have opened up for me to not just get these requirements done, but to get involved in the community.  I contacted the woman who teaches birth classes at the local hospital and she has been SO nice and helpful!  I will get to observe her classes and she also put me in contact with a midwife and we'll see where that leads!  There is also going to be a community baby shower and she asked me to share a little about the situation in Brazil so I will not only get to attend, but also speak!  How neat!  

I can see already how God is guiding me through this process to complete my certification and, more importantly, to grow and learn in this area.  I have NO IDEA what this is all going to look like in Brazil ministry wise, but I'm taking a step of faith and I can't wait to find out!  I can't wait to see what women God is going to bring into my life to build relationships with during this important time in their lives.  

More Catching up

After our time in California, we flew over to Chicago where we picked up a car that we are borrowing for our time in Ohio.  It was perfect that we got to borrow a car from the Chicago area, because that meant that we got to stay with my college roommate Katie and her husband Dan for a few days.  Katie was 9 months pregnant when we arrived and she had her baby while we were there!  The day after they came home from the hospital we drove out to Ohio, so things worked out perfectly!  

Here is a picture of us visiting Katie and the beautiful Miss Clara Mattix in the hospital

While in Ohio, we also got to visit our supporting church, Winnetka Bible Church, meet up with another college room mate of mine, Melinda, who is also due with a baby soon, and make some new friends while we were in town too.  

Another highlight for me was getting to celebrate the 4th of July with some awesome fireworks.  I haven't been in the US for the 4th for 7 years!  It was such a sentimental and emotional moment to celebrate the fourth in all it's traditional glory and fun in my homeland.  Elijah loved the fireworks too...he wasn't even a tiny bit afraid and loved watching.  

Last Friday we drove over to Ohio.  It was an 8 hour trip and Elijah did pretty well.  

I sat in the back with Elijah to entertain him for a lot of the trip.  He also nibbled off a good part of this pool noodle while I wasn't watching...oops!

Our town here, Coshocton, Ohio, is quite in the middle of nowhere, to say the least!  The is like a little island of land in the middle of a sea of corn and fields :)  I've never lived in a small town before so it's a new kind of adapting for me.  We do have a Walmart though, which is more than we have in our town in Brazil, so we're good to go :)

We are renting the mission's furnished guest house, above.  Here is Jeyson getting home from his first day at the mission in the car we are borrowing.

Elijah is settling in nicely.  We have done a few things with some of the other families form the mission, including visiting an Amish farm.  We haven't quite found our new rhythm and routine yet, but we're in process.

The last month has been crazy between backing and traveling, so I didn't realize how much Elijah had developed in his abilities to eat right under my nose!  His new favorite thing is sweet corn...he gnawed on this ear for about 30 minutes very happily!  I love the US sweet corn too...yum!

Here are a few pictures from around the hangar at MMS that Jeyson took the other day.  Jeyson is LOVING it so far and really feels like he's going to learn a ton.  I'm so glad since the whole temporary life upheavel wasn't the easiest thing with a little baby.  But it seems like it's really going to be worthwhile for Jeyson, which is awesome!

Here's one of the hangars

Ryan, who is the head mechanic at Asas, is also here with us helping to train/supervise Jeyson over the next month while he is on furlough

The paint room in the hangar

An MAF airplane that is being worked on that has served in several countries.

The MMS slogan is "Preparing People and Planes for Worldwide Mission Service" and that's just what goes on here day to do.  The experienced mechanics are missionaries who train incoming mechanic missionaries as they work on planes that are sent to out missions all around the world.  The mechanics are currently working on a plane for the 100th different mission since it's existence.  So neat to see how many lives have been touched as the missionaries train.

Catching Up

We made it to the US!

It was an exhausting series of flights that lasted over 24 hours (Goiania to Sao Paulo to Mexico City to Los Angeles).  Elijah did really well all things considered, really very little crying!  But it was just exhausting on us to not really be able to sleep deeply since we had to keep an eye on him.

In Mexico City we all crashed for a while in the morning between flights.

We came in the country through the west coast so we could spend a few days in California with Jeyson's brother before going to Ohio (where we are now).  Jeyson and Johnny always have a great time together.  Both Krista (his wife) and I were happy hey had each other to go to a local airplane museum with so we didn't have to go along this time :)

The six days we had in CA were tons of fun and just a relaxing time.  One of the most fun parts for me was getting to introduce Elijah to so many American things he hasn't enjoyed before...like taking a bath in a real bathtub!

Going on beautiful walks

And he even got to see his grandparents!  My parents came up from Arizona to visit us for 2 days at the Brauns' house.

We are ALL in awe of the amazing technology that has come out in the past years :)

One of the most fun days was getting to go to a beach nearby where Johnny and Krista live

Elijah LOVED eating the sand :)

But wasn't a huge fan of the water (it was really cold!)

Krista was such a trooper for taking us even though she was due any day!

Another highlight was meeting up with one of Jeyson's high school friends (from his school in Ecuador) who lives in California.  Both have gotten married and have boys around the same age...though they have twice the fun we do!

We went to a park with them and had a great time catching up

Next, we flew out to Chicago where we picked up our car and drove out to Ohio....pictures of all of that coming soon!