Hannah and I woke up with an exciting challenge ahead of us: an oven-less Thanksgiving. We were prepared. We had done all the menu planning, the fridge was brimming with groceries for the occasion, and at last, the day had come to put our somewhat far-fetched ideas on trial. The turkey and stuffing were accounted for. Eva, our host, would take care of them. But the corn, the green bean casserole, the sweet potatoes, the pumpkin pie and the cranberry sauce were to be the ultimate test of our culinary skills.
As you can imagine, pumpkins, cranberries and sweet potatoes are an impossibility to find in any of our local, tropical markets. We went to the newest and biggest supermarket around without any luck. Thankfully, we had an old can of cranberry sauce that had been sitting on our spice rack since we arrived in the Philippines in June. Since it had only slightly exceeded its expiration date, we decided that a little extra sugar and spice would do the trick :)
We managed to find some squash that was, at least, in the shape of a pumpkin. We also found some pink potatoes that turned out to be quite deliciously sweet! We boiled, mashed, and creamed them together to make the sweet potatoes, and then used the left over to make our specialty graham-cracker crust pumpkin cheesecake pie.
Our "Pumpkin" Squash & Sweet Potatoes
Our Graham-Cracker Crust Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie
All in all, it turned into a wonderful new memory... but the best was yet to come! We arrived at Eva's house at 6:00. After visiting for a bit and laying all the goods out on their dining table, we were ready to fill our plates and tummies. As we closed our eyes in prayer, my phone vibrated - one of my patients was in active labor back at the clinic... I had to run!
And run I did. Hannah and I sprinted down the alley to the main street and caught the first empty cab we could find. The hundreds of other cars on the street didn't seem to care that a baby was about to be born, and that I desperately wanted to be there for it all! After anxiously sitting through patches of traffic, we finally arrived at the tricycle terminal and hopped on the nearest one to finish our ride home. Completely out of breath, we tiptoed into the birth room hoping that we weren't too late.
Rose was a patient that I had been seeing since June. She was 13 weeks pregnant when we found out via an Ultrasound that her placenta was completely covering the opening of her uterus, which would ultimately result in the need of a C-section. She had neither the money nor the emotional strength to consider a C-section, so we began praying together each week, asking the Lord to move her placenta upwards as her baby grew... Her labor began on Thanksgiving day, 3 weeks before her due date. She had gotten a second ultrasound that very morning, but I had yet to see the results...
As I walked into the birthroom, I prayed again that Rose's labor would be smooth, normal and beautiful! The second ultrasound revealed a high-lying placenta - all was well! And, less than an hour after our arrival, a beautiful little blessing took her very first breath of air. She was perfect!
Once the commotion and excitement of the birth subsided, I asked Rose if she had thought of any names for her baby girl. She thought for a brief moment, then turned to me and said, "You, you will name her." What an honor. What a joy. What a privilege not only to be the first to hold her, but the one to give her a name that would last her entire lifetime! I didn't know what to do, what to say... Overwhelmed, I explained that I would need some time to think of the perfect name for this little miracle. I knew I wanted it to express my thanks to God for answered prayer, and her being born on Thanksgiving day was no coincidence :) I thought and thought, and finally, with Hannah's help, I decided to add what's left of the French in me and named her Merci Joy. Merci.
No time for scrubs, but just in time for Merci Joy
Happy Thanksgiving!
