i went swimming this weekend.
a cross-channel race.
didn't win..
but got stung by a MILLIon little jellyfish..
and have a rash.
all.over.
to prove it..
bah.
good thing i'm not in a wedding this weekend or anything :P Christine and Brad, I wish you MORE than ALL the best this week as you prepare to be w.e.d. AND for this friday - the "big day". I'll be thinkin of ya!

I'm still here - hangin' out, working, doing homework, etc... Sorry it's been awhile since my last post, but i'm sure you're all enjoying your sUMMEr way too much to be concerned with blogs and the like... just you wait. until sept. when I get MY summer :) YEE! (sorry) All the best to everyone, I love you.

suturing class 101~

the episiotomy.
the master sewer, Krys McNeil (bottom left), showed us all how it was done before lacerating each of our chickens and letting us loose to practice each stitch.

the gaping wound beFORE i stitched it up..








and AFter. We agreed that suturing is really a form of art.








and the finished product! our whole class "passed" suturing up chickens and now its on to bigger, better, and more real tissue.

bake-a-thon '07

Our new house has 2 ktichens: a clean kitchen, visible to any "company" and a dirty kitchen where the "helpers"/student cooking team for that week actually cooks. The day before the fall'05 class left the philippines for good, we made so.much.food. Crazy and oh-so-good Indian dishes fed approx. the 30 people we had over for dinner that night. plUS. an afternoon/evening worth of baked goods for them to take as snacks on the plane! It was so fun, and such a good way to officially break in our kitchen.
Heather and Lois basically did the whole dinner by themselves, although i was there, helping. Lois told me how to make chai tea from scratch...then i fell asleep on the couch and forgot about it! haha, good thing Lois was on top of it nOT burning.

and THIS is Hannah (an intern that is here for 3 weeks) and Jenny, a classmate, making cream-filled sugar cookies. Jenny is a master baker. She also made 3 loaves of banana bread that day. Tiff made oatmeal fudge bars and I made best-ever cream cheese brownies and chocolate chip-peanut butter-coffee cookies.


Once again, the computers come out, and spaces are claimed for doing homework in and amongst clinical, birthroom, class, cooktime, and playtime. We've actually had it pretty easy this past month...but they've already warned us that once we're back from our break the "break" is over and the intense workload will resume as per usual.

Alexis Joy Patricia Konkle

tying the knot..
to my dear Marianne and Graham ~AND~ Christine and Brad:
(a few "friends" who chose to have their weddings in my absence :P what, the world doesn't revolve around the phils?)
as you both know, however surreal it might seem right now, yOU'rE gEttIng mArrIEd sOOn! and, yes...I will not be there. That is the reason for this post. I just want to say what an example of love (the truest and purest love a human is capable of) you have both been to me. It has been incredible to watch your relationships grow and blOssOm into what will soon be forever and always, til death do you part. YEE! i'm so excited for you both. maybe we can set up a webcam the day of..?



Christine: haha, i'm SURE you remember this pic (taken on our road trip to rochester last spring..) And how we were all talking about marriage. and blah blah :) I knew you'd appreciate this bench pic! (does Brad even knOW about this yet?!) haha. You're suppOSED to tell your husband EvErything, right?! :P


And Marianne! I don't have a pic of you and Graham (sorry!) but this pic should suffice. Your wedding is SO SOON. maybe too soon. "nEvEr lEt go" of advance. haah, i was first. You're lucky to be marrying such a upright, caring, yet oH-so-cool guy. You know he'll take such great care of you. yeah. i'm jealous :P IT's THIS WEEKEND!! YEE.

CONGRATULATIONS and good LUCK to you both! and yes. that's a REAL TRUE knot in an umbilical cord. Sometimes the baby somersaults so much that he tangles the cord while inside the uterus...pretty cool.

thIS is the biggEST welcome in the whole enTIRE world. dear Alexis Konkle, born just 3 hours ago July 10th, 2007. lOVe your aunt Jenna

We took a fairy boat across the channel with our tour bus, this could have been my favourite part of the day :P

THis is us eating lunch before the descent..
As I said earlier, I went rappelling on saturday with the same group of ppl who swam across the channel with me. Laura also came (thank goodness). We got to the island around 9am, although they were at our house waiting to pick us up before 7am. Nothing ever happens fast in the philippines!

Our whole group..13 girls and 2 boys
We actually got to rappel around 2pm.. it was nuts though because out of the 120' drop we only "rappelled" for the first 20'.. after that the cliff cut in and we were left hanging/sliding down the rope into the gorge. It was an amazing site! and SO worth the $2 i payed to go.






ON the way dOWN!

After everyone had a chance to rappel down (and climb back up..) WE hiked for over an hour (there and back) to Higamat falls. I mention the hour hike, not because that in itself is some kind of feat but because this all happened late saturday afternoon, and both Laura and I were in a 5K race in the morning.. needless to say, I was trying to conserve as much energy as possible.

hOUsE wArmIng pArtY!!

We had a house warming party last night to give thanks for all of the recent blessings poured over us and to dedicate our new dormitory. Old, new, and newer students, directors, teachers, supervisors, helpers, and everyone kids came over to sing and pray and explore our new home. As you can see from the pictures, it was quite a party - and although the house is big and spacious, the front living room hardly seemed to hold our team of people at Mercy Maternity Clinic. The practice and mission is expanding!

that was tricky! hahha.. nice work.

It's been almost a week since my last post, and so much has happened I was avoiding this blog because there's too much to say. We're all settled into the orange house (and by "we" i mean all 20 of us) - some of the graduating girls have moms and friends here for graduation so the house is packed. But it is clean, the fridge is stocked, and i really don't mind living with so many girls.

to the left..

I just got off an amaazing night shift and am now sitting on our gREAt balcony enjoying the light rain and the sounds only noticed in the quiet of an early morning. THe pictures I've uploaded are taken from my seat, only standing, and are the views from our balcony!
I had 2 of my continuities deliver their babies this week - one of which was very surprising when the ultrasound results said it was a little girl and instead a little boy popped out! The father looked to me to confirm what he was actually seeing, ahaha, and inquired "it's a boy? ...really?" The second one I wouldn't have made to the birth if we hadn't of moved so close to the clinic.. she came in at 4:55 am and i ran over at that time and delivered her baby in my pjs at precisely 5:06 am. Both women did amazingly well - all so strong yet amazingly gentle new moms. SPEAKing of which, a new student arrived who's married with 2 kids (Naomi). She was on shift last night and i got to sleep with her 6 mth old little, white, baby boy, Jordan. And. I want one :P

and the right.

Other than that, homework continues to get done. I'm going rappelling with a group on saturday on Samal island, which should be incredible. And have signed up for a 5k milo race on sunday. My director Krys is a crazy runner and she is doing the 1/2 marathon (21k) on sunday. She ALmost convinced me to do it but, really, I've never run that far in my life. so 5k lang.

ANd. it IS july 5th. so birthday wishes are in order.