The Big 0-3!

That’s right – they are THREE!

Okay, maybe that’s not big news to you as most kids tend to age one year every 365 days, but to as parents, it is still a shock to think our little guys are rapidly becoming not-so-little guys.

From the frail NICU days to the indestructible, chatterbox experts on locomotives they have already become, it seems such a blur, like each year we had different boys living in our house. But nope, they’re the same boys, they’re ours and we love them!

Thank you to everyone who helped us get this far!

Pics from the party here

Leadership Summit

Today I was granted a scholarship to the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit by an anonymous benefactor. (If you are reading this – Thank You!)

I had really been hoping to attend the summit this year. I had attended one a few years back and took a lot home that affected my ministry leadership ever since. This year I have more direct leadership and responsibility of more people than ever; I can use all the help I can get.

It looks like an outstanding year with speakers ranging from Howard Schultz of Starbucks to Erwin McManus of Mosaic Church in LA.

If you are in leadership of any capacity, this summit will probably benefit you, and those for whom you are responsible, tremendously.

Check out the details: http://www.willowcreek.com/events/leadership/

Waiting Game

So… I am still waiting to hear back from AMR regarding my next opportunity to test with them. They have been very busy and have plenty of people with my qualifications, so they have no real need of me. If I had more or less training, I could probably get hired much more quickly. Unfortunately I am both over and underqualified as a potential hire right now.

Life goes on, but I would really like to be out on the streets helping people and getting much-needed medical experience. It’s in the Lord’s hands, so I will keep on praying. Please join me.

March For Babies 2011

March For Babies 2011, a set on Flickr.

This spring we had the privilege of walking in the March of Dimes’ “March for Babies” and raise money for a great cause – preventing birth defects and giving babies the best start in life possible.

The Impossible

Going 'til there's nothing left

Well I did it. This week I went in for my first job interview since I can remember. Last fall I applied for a part-time position with the local private ambulance company. This week I got an opening to test and interview with them. I was thrilled! I went in prepared, studied, polished, and confident. I aced the written exam, flew through the physical fitness/agility test and fully bombed the practice scenarios.

So long, thanks for playing, try again next time. Next time being at least one month from now. I was so close, yet so far. I could tell you how I bombed, but it’s just too embarrassing. Oh, okay, I need to come clean. For those of you who have studied or practiced emergency medicine you know the most basic principle is scene safety. Is it safe for me to help my patient? If not, you proceed no further. One way to ensure my safety is to make sure I have my BSI, or protective gear, on. In a practice exam you have to verbalize this or it’s an automatic failure.

I know this. I know this like I know to breathe. You just do it. Anyone I have ever taught knows this. It is drilled into them first, last and every moment in between. I could never forget something so critical, so basic. Except I did. I fully did. Not once, but twice. Two scenarios, two failures. I was floored. I felt like an idiot. I felt everyone else thought I was an idiot, no matter how nice or nonchalant they were about it.  ”It happens to everyone,” they say. Maybe so, but not to me. I don’t do that. I passed at the top of both my EMT classes. I teach this stuff. It’s not possible!

But it is. It does happen. It did happen to me and I need to get over it. For my sake. For your sake. For my patients’ sake and for my team’s sake. I need to fail and I need to embrace it. If I can’t be comfortable with failure that’s going to translate to my team. If they can’t see me accept failure, they’re going to think I cannot accept in them. If that is the case then they will never be able to attempt anything risky, and risky is the name of our game.

The odds are always against us; we’re always in over our heads. We need to attempt great things – great, risky things for the sake of our patients. Without that mindset we may as well just stay home. We can’t afford to be walking around on pins and needles worrying about what’s going to happen if I don’t get this 100% dead-on right the first time. Because if we wait until then it will be too late. For our patients and for our chance to make a difference in the middle of their darkest days.

Now I am not encouraging failing as a goal, just being comfortable with the idea of blowing it. If we don’t fail, it means we’re not attempting anything greater than ourselves as we are right now. And that is ultimate failure. That I am not okay with and I hope I never am.

(By the way, they still liked what they saw and I have an invitation to try again in 30 days. I will not forget my BSI next time!)

Situation Updates – Japan and Libya

Greetings friends and family,

It has been an exhausting couple of weeks. We at RescueNet have been tracking a number of global situations around the clock. The two highest profile cases have been the unrest in Libya and the quake and tsunami in Japan. While Libya remains too volatile to engage at this point, we have not taken our eye off that country. When the fighting dies down, the needs will be enormous. The UN estimates 1,000,000 people will need aid in the days following the end of fighting there. We may be able to serve then. For now, it is far too unsafe to enter.

Japan, however, is a much more stable situation. News coverage is ubiquitous so I am sure you have seen some already. www.bbcnews.com has some of the best. The images and videos are staggering and surreal. It looks like a movie only more intense. The latest reports put the number of fatalities around 750 with many sources expecting more than double that number in the end. It is tragic.

People have been asking if RescueNet will be responding, and I thank you for keeping us in mind during this time. I assure you we have many team members who want to be there to help save lives and stabilize people’s emotional health. I am one of them. At this point the country of Japan has not issued an open call for aid, but rather accepted a few specific offers from international groups. Without an invitation any aid group, including RescueNet, is unable to render assistance within another country. The same would hold true for any foreign entity wanting to help in the US, Canada or any western nation. You can’t just drop in because you want to help. You have to go through official channels. So we wait.

We are not, however, idle. We are sending two individuals into Japan to team up with some colleagues there. Through these preexisting relationships we may be able to get better information of exactly what the damage is and where the help is most needed. The news is not the most reliable source. We can also possibly receive an invitation for our team to come and assist.

Please be in prayer for us as we seek information, relationship and a clear sense of where our resources can best be used. The damage is great, but that does not mean it is the place for us to be. Many of you know the mandate for RescueNet is the developing world; places that don’t have the availability of resources that the US and other first-world nations have access to. While Japan was hard hit, they were also very prepared and capable of responding. If this had happened almost anywhere else, the damage would have been magnitudes worse. After all, tsunami is a Japanese word.

As an all-volunteer organization we all pay our own way and purchase our own gear. Our resources are limited and we need to use them wisely. We are praying to see if this very developed nation may be an exception to developing nation mandate. Please join us. If we do mount a deployment, please pray about sponsoring our team. Your money would be put directly work and you would get a very intimate view of where it is going.

We will keep you posted. Thank you for your prayers.

Peace,

Dave

P.S. For one surreal, but non-graphic video demonstrating the absolute weirdness of a quake, click here: http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2011/03/11/ireport.kooi.cracked.japan.quake.cnn.html

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Rearranging Gina’s spices