Matthew Update

 

Matthew says to tell you all that he is better now and you don’t have to worry .

He’s not 100% but he is out playing this morning. Thank you SO much for praying!!! Within minutes of my prayer request there were literally people all around the world praying for my boy. I can’t tell you how precious that is to me.

He has 3 more days, after tonight, of treatment and then another check up with the doctor.

 

THANK YOU again for praying!!!!

Love from PNG xo

tiffany

Hitchhiking ain’t a crime

 

     They say that confession is good for the soul so here goes. The first time Tiffany and I hitchhiked was while we were hiking the Appalachian Trail. Often the towns where you have to restock your supplies are miles off of the trail. So, you really have two choices if you want to eat: walk or stick out your thumb. Fortunately, the people who live around the trail see hikers with their thumbs out every year and they know the hikers just want a lift to town. We never had any trouble getting a ride. It seemed like drivers were much more prone to stop when there was a woman in the group. Sexual discrimination, I know, but what can you do.

     What did we learn from this experience? 1) Hitchhiking is generally done out of necessity not just for fun. 2) You have to have two willing parties (driver and hiker). 3) It really helps if the driver knows why you are doing it (tourists never stopped for us).

     Flash forward, here we are in PNG, a long way from a paved road and even further from town. There are thousands of people living in the villages that dot our mountain and the surrounding bush. There are only a handful of cars among all of these people, 3 of which belong to our mission. Papua New Guineans are no strangers to walking. In fact, they walk incredibly long distances every day to preform their day to day tasks (getting water, firewood, going to the garden). And they do all this carrying huge bilums (hand woven string bags) full of what they have gathered.

     People generally leave the mountain for a couple of reasons: 1) They want to go to market to sell stuff from their gardens. There is a market at the bottom of the mountain where our road meets the ‘paved’ road. There is also a large market in town. 2) They need to buy some supplies in town. 3) They need to go to the hospital for medical treatment.

     So here it is, POC’s dirty little secret, we pick up hitchhikers. We go to town quite regularly for food and supplies and when we go we pick people up as we go down the mountain. This is our community and these are our neighbors I can’t imagine not helping the people that we share life with. My boss calls it public relations. Whatever you call it, it makes me happy to make life a little easier for the people of Nobnob.

     The hitchhiking motion here is not done with the thumb. They use the pointer finger in a very subtle motion pointing in the direction they want to go. If you blink you will miss it. Once you see it and you stop they will tell you where they want to go. The driver then has to say yes or no.

     It is not uncommon to have the entire back of the truck full of people and bilums when you reach the bottom of the mountain.

     You are probably thinking, “is it that safe in PNG?” The short answer is no. We have rules about picking up people. The most important is: don’t pickup anyone you don’t know on the paved road or in town. People get robbed all the time in town so you just have to use common sense. The other great thing about being in community with the people here is that they look out for us too.

matt

*PRAY FOR OUR BOY*

Last night our 7 year old wild indian, Matthew, had a fever and headache at bed time. i put him to bed like normal but in the middle of the night heard him crying out in pain (VERY unusual for him). His head was in MAJOR pain. i gave him Panadol, thinking he must be coming down with tonsilitis like Mae had last week. This morning he was complaining of a sore neck and stomache ache. We made an appointment with the Dr. down in Madang. i just heard from Matt, who took Matthew to the Dr. and is still in town. He says the Doc wants to treat Matthew for malaria. They did a blood slide which was not conclusive because his fever is down at the moment. But there was blood in his urine (another symptom of malaria). We will be treating him for malaria and taking him back to the Dr. in a week. Please pray for Matthew, that he will recover quickly. Please pray for me as this is the one thing i have dreaded since we moved back to Madang.

~tiffany



the worst part of our job

 

(Sorry we have not posted anything in a long time but the internet has been dead for over a week.)

    

There are so many great  things about living and working in Papua New Guinea with Papua New Guineans. There is also some stuff that is hard. But there is one thing that is unpleasant far above anything else.

     Making coffins.

     When someone dies on the mountain the family generally comes to us and asks us to build them a coffin. We try to keep some plywood in the workshop for just such occasions.

     The mood in the workshop is generally upbeat, people joke around (Papua New Guineans love to laugh) and have a good time while they are working. But when they start a coffin the mood changes. It is a stark reminder of the world we live in and how harsh life can be in PNG.

     The other day was an especially hard day. A newborn baby died. We were working on cabinets for the new kitchen when the order came in for a coffin. When people come to ask for a coffin they also bring measurements of the body. They were putting together the drawers for the cabinets and the little coffin was the same size as some of the drawers.

     It was a tough thing to see this little symbol of death sitting in the middle of these things I had been so happy to see being constructed just hours before.

    matt

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

{I was reading through this article again, looking for some encouragement and thought I would share it…you’ll see why I love it.} tiffany

 

 

 

Preserved Through Motherhood

“I’m not going to have any more than two children. I don’t want my figure ruined.” “I’ve got my career. I’ve got more important things to do than stay home with children.” “I don’t want to nurse my baby; I don’t want to get sagging breasts.” The comments keep coming—women trying to preserve themselves from childbirth or any extra sacrifice to their womanhood.
But, in actuality, does this work? I am always challenged by the words of Jesus in Mark 8:35, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.” It is an eternal law, that when we try to save our life we end up losing it.
And what about this lovely promise in 1 Timothy 2:15, NAS. “Women shall be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self restraint.” Every woman wants to be preserved. She wants her body to be preserved in good health, her figure to be in shape, and she wants to be preserved mentally and spiritually.
This world system feeds us lies. It pours out the reasons why women should not have too many babies. But God’s Word says we will be preserved through embracing motherhood and the bearing of children! A woman’s body was created for this task and her womanly functions atrophy when they are no longer used. The word “preserved” in 1 Timothy 2:15 is the Greek word, sozo. It means to be “protected, delivered, restored, saved and preserved.” I certainly want to be preserved in my womanliness, don’t you? Let’s discover some of the ways we are preserved.

We are Preserved Physically

Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer is on the increase today. Twenty-two thousand women are diagnosed each year and 15,000 die of this cancer. One of the reasons is that women are cutting off childbearing. Pregnancy and breastfeeding provide a crucial resting period for the ovaries. Because of limiting their families, most women today are ovulating about 450 times during their life time instead of only about 150 times.
An article called, Timing of Pregnancy and the Risk of Epithelial Ovarian Cancer states, “The accumulated evidence from epidemiological studies suggests that the risk of epithelial cancer of the ovary is strongly related to the number of ovulations throughout a woman’s reproductive life.” (2) Pregnancy hormones are beneficial to the ovaries. They help to clear precancerous cells from the epithelial lining of the ovary. Because older women will have accumulated more cells than younger women, pregnancy at an older age is also a blessing. (3) A case-controlled study revealed that women 30 years of age or older at the time of their last birth had approximately half the risk of women who completed childbearing before age 25 years. Another study reported a 60% increased risk of ovarian cancer among women who delivered their last birth before age 25 compared with women who delivered at an older age. (4)
The more children a mother has, the less risk of ovarian cancer. Women who bear their first child before the age of 22 are less likely to develop ovarian cancer which again proves the Bible when it says, “As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.” (Psalm 127:4) Interestingly, a mother who gives birth to twins, or more, reduces her risk of ovarian cancer even more than a single pregnancy. (5)

Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women. With every menstrual cycle, cells in the breast grow and divide and therefore have the possibility of accumulating mutations which could lead to breast cancer. Therefore, the longer a mother breastfeeds, the less likelihood of breast cancer. In The International Journal of Epidemiology it says that breastfeeding can reduce the risk of breast cancer by up to 30 percent. (6)
David Bjerklie writes in Time Magazine, “An analysis of nearly 50 studies involving 150,000 women in 30 countries found that the number of children women bear and how long they breast-feed may help determine their chance of developing breast cancer. Women who had six or seven children and breast-fed each for two years had cancer rates less than half those of women who had two or three children and breast-fed them for only two months.” (7)
And what about your figure? Breastfeeding helps you to get back into shape sooner, bringing you back to size by six weeks postpartum. And you use up to 500 calories a day while nursing! Isn’t that good? I loved all the years I was nursing babies. I didn’t have to worry about what I ate and I still stayed slim!

Human Chorionic Gonadotropin

Do you feel sick when pregnant? It is the hormone, hCG, which is produced by the placenta to maintain the early stages of pregnancy. Don’t despair; try and smile for it is actually a blessing. When you feel lousy with morning sickness, remember that this hormone is helping you to prevent cancer. Johana Vanegas, M.D., a research associate at Fox Chase, revealed that rats exposed to hCG over a 21 day period (the length of rat pregnancy), are far less likely to develop breast cancer when exposed to a known carcinogen.

Estriol

Estriol is a protective estrogen hormone. It is one of the three estrogens produced by the body—estrone, estradiol and estriol. During pregnancy the body produces up to 1,000 times more estriol to protect the mother and developing baby.
In one particular study, researchers compared estriol levels during pregnancy with breast cancer incidence 40 years later. Results revealed that of the 15,000 women who entered the study, those with the highest levels of estriol relative to other estrogens during pregnancy had the lowest cancer risk. As the relative level of estriol increased during pregnancy, risk of breast cancer decreased 40 years later. In fact, women with the highest level of estriol during pregnancy had 58% lower risk for breast cancer compared with women who had the lowest serum estriol levels. (8)
Estriol has also been shown to improve EAE, MS and collagen-induced arthritis. (9) It also has benefits for heart health, bone density and postmenopausal health.

Anti Aging

Estriol, this wonderful pregnancy hormone, also has anti-aging properties. Manufacturers are now using estriol in face creams to reduce wrinkles, maintain skin firmness, elasticity and moisture content. This is just another proof of being preserved through motherhood. Every pregnancy will help your aging. I love this, don’t you?

Adrenal Fatigue

Pregnancy can help heal the adrenals. I know a young mother who suffered with panic attacks because of going through a serious trial in her life. She feared getting pregnant again knowing she did not want to combine the traumatic panic attacks with pregnancy. Eventually, after much research she read that adrenal burn out could be remedied through pregnancy. She went ahead in faith, became pregnant and has not had a panic attack since. Adrenal Fatigue, The 21st Century Stress Syndrome, page 252 quotes, “Pregnancy helps adrenal fatigue because the fetus produces a greater amount of natural adrenal hormones than the amount in the non-pregnant female.”

Oxytocin

God is so good to the mother. He doesn’t give her a baby and say, “Here you are; now you can manage on our own.” Instead, He gives her two hormones to help her with mothering. Both oxytocin and prolactin are produced in the pregnant and nursing mother. Oxytocin is known by different names—the “love” hormone, the “cuddle” hormone and the “bonding” hormone. I love to call it the “calming” hormone. When the mother puts the baby to the breast and the milk lets down, she experiences a calming feeling come over her. Often she will fall to sleep on the job! This is such a wonderful boon to a mother, especially when she has a number of little children. I was not a calm and relaxed person when I started on the adventure of mother—the very opposite, in fact. But as I nursed my babies over the years, constantly being calmed by this God-given hormone, my personality changed. My daughters used to call it “relaxin” instead of “oxytocin.”
A dear young mother, who I know personally, gave birth to her third baby when her husband had an accident with very serious head injuries. It was touch-and-go for his life. Well-wishing friends advised her to wean her baby because it would be too much for her to cope with, especially as she had to drive an hour and a half to the city each day to visit her husband. But her wise mother encouraged her to continue nursing. Every day, through the long difficult months, she took her nursing baby to the hospital with her. It turned out to be her greatest blessing. The hormone oxytocin helped reduce her stress levels during this trying ordeal.
Oxytocin is also released in love-making, touching and even eating together. I am sure we would see a lot more peace and contentment if families would sit together and fellowship for their family meals. It is interesting that studies reveal less domestic abuse in breastfeeding families. And few breastfed mothers suffer from postpartum depression.
Oxytocin also causes contraction of the uterus, which inhibits the risk of bleeding and promotes the return of the uterus to its original shape and size.

Prolactin

Prolactin, which is involved in milk production, also has a calming and sedating affect upon the mother. Prolactin increases with sucking stimulation. The more a mother nurses her baby, the more prolactin she produces and the more motherly she feels. An interesting study disclosed that when prolactin was injected into a rooster, he became clucky, gathering the little chickens under his wings. Researchers on animals in the wild show that while nursing, the mother will fight to death any intruder that would touch her young one. But once she has weaned, the young animal is left to fight for itself. This hormone binds the mother to the baby and causes her to be very motherly and protective.

Biodentical Hormones

Today many women are using biodentical hormones (not chemical HRT) to balance their hormones, to increase lacking libido, to feel good and to stop anti-aging. What are these hormones? They are the same hormones that increase amazingly in the pregnant woman—HGH (human grown hormone), estrogens, progesterone which increases one hundredfold and available testosterone which increases by 20 percent. Each time a woman becomes pregnant, she has all these benefits and the blessings continue throughout her life.

Progesterone

I’m sure you’ll want to know just a few more plusses you receive from progesterone which jumps up 100 times when you are pregnant. Not only does it guard you from breast cancer, but it protects you from cardiac-related health problems and also promotes the function and maintenance of the brain. Progesterone helps alleviate anxiety and depression by increasing your production of GABA (Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid), the neurotransmitter that causes you to feel calm and relaxed. GABA is often called the “sleep inducer”!
If all this is not enough, progesterone also improves the immune system, builds bones, improves hearing, protects from seizures and decreases allergies, irritable bowel syndrome, interstitial cystitis and water retention. (10)

Multiple Sclerosis

Prolactin also spurs spontaneous production of myelin, a fatty substance that rebuilds a protective coating around nerve cells. This process can repair damaged nerve cells responsible for MS. A study at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute compared pregnant and non-pregnant mice of the same age group. They found that pregnant mice had twice as many myelin-producing cells as non-pregnant mice and they continued to generate new cells during pregnancy. This is another reason why MS usually goes into remission during pregnancy. (11)

Diabetes

A diabetic mother who is breastfeeding her baby needs less insulin than a bottle-feeding mother.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Seventy-five percent of women who have RA go into remission when pregnant.

We are Preserved Emotionally

As we have already learned, God gives calming hormones to nursing mothers that help her stress levels.
Having children also delivers us from a self-centered life. Before we have children, we have time to dote on ourselves. Some young people take at least half an hour or more to put on their make up each day. Wait until children come. They soon learn to do it in two minutes or less!
We are all prone to self-pity and selfishness but children take our mind off ourselves as we minister to their needs. This is healthy. We are much better emotionally when we care for others. Often when people come to me, depressed and full of self-pity, I encourage them to think of something they can do for someone else. I myself have been healed from sickness in my body and self-centeredness in my mind by doing something for someone else. We come back again to the eternal law that Jesus gave, “Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.” (Luke 17:33)
I have observed women totally taken up with their problems, fears and phobias, but when they married and children came along they soon forgot about all their little personal problems. How wonderful to be preserved from our self-pitying, self-complacent, self-pleasing, self-satisfying, self-gratifying, self-seeking, self-pampering, self-conceited, self-opinionated, self-serving, self-preoccupied and self-centered life. There is no greater deliverance!
We can rejoice that motherhood delivers us from emotional weakness. For the sake of children we must not give into emotional stress. We have to be strong and take courage, exercising self-control and a disciplined life. And who gets blessed in doing this? You and me.
I am always challenged by 2 Corinthians 5:15. “And that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again” And also John 12:24, “Except a corn of what fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”

We are Preserved Spiritually

The context of the Scripture in 1 Timothy 2:13-15 is that we will be saved from deception. Verse 14 NEB says, “It was not Adam who was deceived; it was the woman who, yielding to deception, fell into sin. Yet she will be saved through motherhood…” The more women move away from the purpose for which they were created, the more prone they are to get into deception. Embracing motherhood keeps us in the perfect will of God. Embracing child-bearing keeps us walking in the very purpose for which we were created.
Thousands of women have been lured from the home by humanists and feminists trying to find their fulfillment in their career outside the home. They have been deceived to think that childbearing is an inferior task when all along it is the greatest mission given to them. Many women come to me after a seminar and say, “Thank you for giving me permission to be who I really want to be!”
God didn’t make two Adams to go out from the home and leave the children. He made an Adam and an Eve. He planned for the mother to be in the heart of the home and embrace and nurture children. Feminists have deceived women to believe that motherhood is second-rate, yet they themselves are deceived. They are actually annihilating womanhood. They purport that a woman can only find status in doing what a man does, whereas a woman doesn’t have to do what a man does to find her worth. She finds her worth in who God created her to be—a woman! She has been given the wondrous gift to conceive life, to nurture it in her womb and to nourish, mother and train this life.
Each new life a woman conceives is an eternal soul that will live forever. Motherhood is an eternal career, not some earthly aspiration that will be left behind one day. Truly, as we embrace motherhood, we are saved from deception.

NANCY CAMPBELL, Above Rubies
www.aboverubies.org

Footnotes:
1 David C. Whiteman1, Victor Siskind, David M. Purdie and Adèle C. Green. Timing of Pregnancy and the Risk of Epithelial Ovarian Cancer. Population and Clinical Sciences Division, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Queensland 4029, Australia
2 Banks E., Beral V., Reeves G. The epidemiology of epithelial ovarian cancer: a review. Int. J. Gynecol. Cancer, 7: 425-438, 1997 and Risch H. A. Hormonal etiology of epithelial ovarian cancer, with a hypothesis concerning the role of androgens and progesterone. J. Natl. Cancer Inst., 90: 1774-1786, 1998.
3 Fathalla M. F. Incessant ovulation—a factor in ovarian neoplasia? Lancet, 2: 163 1971 and Adami H. O., Hsieh C. C., Lambe M., Trichopoulos D., Leon D., Persson I., Ekbom A., Janson P. O. Parity, age at first childbirth, and risk of ovarian cancer. Lancet, 344: 1250-1254, 1994 and Rodriguez G. C., Walmer D. K., Cline M., Krigman H., Lessey B. A., Whitaker R. S., Dodge R., Hughes C. L. Effect of progestin on the ovarian epithelium of macaques: cancer prevention through apoptosis?. J. Soc. Gynecol. Investig., 5: 271-276, 1998.
4 Titus-Ernstoff L., Perez K., Cramer D. W., Harlow B. L., Baron J. A., Greenberg E. R. Menstrual and reproductive factors in relation to ovarian cancer risk. Br. J. Cancer, 84: 714-721, 2001.
5 Whiteman D. C., Murphy M. F. G., Cook L., Cramer D. W., Hartge P., Marchbanks P., Nasca P., Ness R. B., Purdie D., Risch H. Multiple births and risk of epithelial ovarian cancer. J. Natl. Cancer Inst., 92: 1172-1177, 2000 and Thomas H. V., Murphy M. F., Key T. J., Fentiman I. S., Allen D. S., Kinlen L. J. Pregnancy and menstrual hormone levels in mothers of twins compared to mothers of singletons. Ann. Hum. Biol, 25: 69-75, 1998.
6 WESTPORT, Jun 24 (Reuters Health) - International Journal of Epidemiology.
7 David Bjerklie ,Time Magazine, Published: July 29, 2002
8 Siiteri PK, Sholtz RI, Cirillo PM, et al. Prospective study of estrogens during pregnancy and risk of breast cancer. Public Health Institute, Berkeley, CA.
9 11 Samantha S. Soldan, Ana Isabel Alvarez Retuerto, Nancy L. Sicotte, and Rhonda R. Voskuhl. Immune Modulation in Multiple Sclerosis Patients Treated with the Pregnancy Hormone Estriol.
10 Uzzi Reiss, and Yfat Reiss Gendell, “The Natural Superwoman”, pages 112-117.
11 Dr Samuel Weiss and Dr V Wee Yong, Hotchkiss Brain Institute

29 down 11 to go…

 

{29 weeks}

This is just a little baby update for those of you following the pregnancy….

I am feeling GREAT. Everything is measuring the way it should. I can feel my body beginning to slow down a little just this past week…becoming a little more daydreamy…

there is one little worry that you can pray on~ at my last appointment the doctor determined the baby’s position to be transverse posterior- this means if you are looking at me head on the baby is lying horizontally with his/her face looking out at you… the absolute worst position because there is no possible way to give birth naturally. It is an automatic c-section. It’s still early though (11 weeks to go) and the baby can do A LOT more shifting…will you pray with us for the baby to get head down and in an optimal position?? I would be SO grateful.

 

In other news~

 

{our “new” place, as of yesterday afternoon}

…our WA (Wycliffe Associates) group is here and working hard on the new addition to the house! I am thrilled to say we will soon have closets!! At the rate they are moving we may be moving in before the baby comes- a huge relief for this mama…

I know it is due in great part to your faithfulness in prayer that I am feeling better this pregnancy than in the 3 previous ones, despite the fact that I am older and living in 3rd world conditions on the equator against medical advice…my life is in GOD’s hands and He is trustworthy.

 

Big LOVE to you! xo

t

*p.s…Our 10 year old took the belly picture for me! isn’t she AMAZING?!?

thanks for the prayers

     
Last week I (matt) sent out an urgent prayer request about a stabbing that happened here on center. I just wanted to give you an update. Since there everyone seemed to be having some trouble processing the incident Chris, my boss, had a team from the member care department come and do a debrief session with us and the workmen.
     It was a good time of processing what went on. Things are much better for me now. I have also been talking with the workmen and they seem to be doing better as well.
     As for the man who was stabbed. The hospital here in Madang is not able to handle wounds as severe as he sustained. So, after he was stabilized they flew him on to Port Moresby, the national capital, to receive more advanced treatment.
     Please, continue to pray for him. It is going to be a long road to recovery with lots of obstacles standing in his path. I thank you for your prayers for me and for the workmen. It is because of your intervention on our behalf that we are able to rest well.
     Also please pray for the team that we have coming to help me add a room onto one of the houses on center. You can pray for their safe travels, they will be arriving over the next several days. You can also pray that we will finish the addition and that everyone will have a great time here.
     I am praying that God will speak to each member of the team in an amazing way while they are here. Just as he has done for me on short term trips in the past.

matt

Cultural Day Part 2

More pictures of the students in their finest…

{the mud man from the highlands stole the show}

love and peace to you..

tiff

Cultural Day Part 1

Friday was Cultural Day at the school here on Nobnob. Grades 6, 7, & 8 dressed in the traditional clothing of their parents asples (place of birth). I got the honor of being the photographer for the event. Here are some of my favorite shots of the day. Enjoy!

{the announcer}

{teacher in her bilas}

more pics tomorrow...

xo tiffany