yep....i'm still alive

just wanted you all to know that i am indeed still in existence, although you wouldn't know it from this blog. been a pretty busy life since i last posted and i think i really haven't written because i have been trying to process all that i want to say about my trip to Uganda, but a brief update on life before i more extensive blog (with pictures and everything -- i promise!):

1. i am now officially mrs. rickard -- got married on August 2 and officially changed my name yesterday .... more to come on that front

2. just got back from our honeymoon in jamaica which was amazing -- loved every minute and couldn't have asked for a more perfect time

3. i start 2nd year of med school monday (what?! where did the summer go??) so prayers are appreciated for that

well those are the big things that have happened and i promise more details about those above and Africa very very soon :)

let the adventure begin

Well guys, I'm leaving for Uganda tomorrow....eek....kinda crazy! Wish I had more time to blog about what all I'm feeling but suffice it to say that I am excited but also very nervous. I would appreciate your prayers and keep checking here because I will either be updating on my journey or definitely when I get back. God bless!

heaven on earth

This morning, I was reading in 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles the part about David wanting to build a temple for the ark of God. In this passage, David says "Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under a tent." David recognizes the inequity between his dwelling and the dwelling place of God and wants to do something about it. That concept really got me thinking. How many of us are concerned about the inequity between our abundance and blessing and that of the current dwelling place of God, the current temple of the Lord .... His people.

Lately, Jamie and I have also been reading "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it....so much good stuff in there (which I will probably be blogging about sporadically). But this morning, as I was reading "Velvet Elvis," God reiterated the lesson above for me. In the book, Rob Bell is talking about heaven and how it is not a future place, but a reality here and now for those who are believers. Here is an excerpt from what he says:

"Jesus said that as this new reality takes over our hearts and lives and minds and actions, we are crossing over 'from death to life.' He called this new kind of life 'eternal life.' For Jesus, eternal life wasn't a state of being for the future that we would enter into somewhere else; it is a quality of life that starts now....

When we choose God's vision of who we are, we are living as God made us to live. We are living in the flow of how we are going to live forever. This is the life of heaven, here and now. As we live this life, in harmony with God's intentions for us, the life of heaven becomes more and more present in our lives. Heaven comes to earth...

Now if there is a life of heaven and we can choose it, then there's also another way. A way of living out of sync with how God created us to live. The word for this is hell: a way, a place, a realm absent of how God desires things to be. We can bring heaven to earth; we can bring hell to earth...

When people use the word hell, what do they mean? They mean a place, an event, a situation absent of how God desires things to be. Famine, debt, oppression, loneliness, despair, death, slaughter -- they are all hell on earth.

Jesus' desire for his followers is that they live in such a way that they bring heaven to earth.

What's disturbing then is when people talk more about hell after this life than they do about hell here and now. As a Christian, I want to do what I can to resist hell coming to earth. Poverty, injustice, suffering -- they are all hells on earth, and as Christians we oppose them with all our energies. Jesus told us to."

So to follow Christ, to live the life of heaven on earth, to take care of God's current temple, we must be concerned about others, about injustice, about using the resources that God has blessed us with (whether it be gifts, talents, material blessings, prayer) to oppose hell on earth.

I am so thankful for those of you who are already doing this, who are bringing heaven to earth here and now. I have been able to see it so clearly lately in people rallying behind me to help prepare for my trip to Uganda. It has been amazing to see people pour out generously to support me financially, to encourage me spiritually and to meet a need STAO has by getting a laptop for their use. (Seriously, thanks guys....I think I have been offered 5 laptops at this point!) Though I know many of you can't go and would want to, please know that a piece of you will be going with me...through your prayers, your financial support, and your love. Thanks for helping me attempt to bring heaven to earth :)

leaping...

So, I did something scary yesterday (no not skydiving -- a little different type of leap). I booked my ticket for Uganda. This was (and still is!) scary for two reasons: #1 -- it means I am actually going and #2 -- I booked the ticket only having about half as much money as I need to pay for it. It did feel a little bit like I would imagine skydiving does, jumping into the unknown....guess that's why they call it a leap of faith. The thing is, this is something I have to do. Despite my apprehension recently about this trip (mostly due to its proximity to my wedding), I realized that all of my doubts and fears were coming from ME not God. I promised God I would pursue this dream until He closed the door or told me not to -- and He hasn't. So here I am taking a huge leap, knowing that God WILL provide. My part is to pursue God's will to the best of my ability... pretty sure He can handle the rest ;). As Nelson (the pastor in charge of STAO says): "He has a thousand cattles on a thousand hills. He is going to sell one for you."

a place to live

Many of you know that Jamie and I have been looking at houses for about 6 months now, first just for me to live in and then (post-engagement) a house for us once we get married. Well, I am happy to say after many frustrations, stumbling blocks and disappointments, God has provided us with a place to live :). Pending inspections and all those house buying loopholes, this will be our house:
Here are a few other pictures of the inside of the house:







I am excited to be able to move in, paint and make this house our own. Even more than that I am excited to have a place where we will actually have enough room to open our home to others. It will be nice to live in a place that doesn't share walls with anyone else and doesn't feel like being trapped in a box. Although this house wasn't our first (or second or third...ha) choice, I know that God has us in this house for a reason and I am so thankful for His provision of not only shelter but everything I have ever needed and abundantly more. So feel free to come visit, come stay, come hang out (after our June 30 closing date of course) -- and for those of you in Morgantown or close by, stay tuned for a house warming party :)

oh canada!

So as the first act of my official spring break (after working all weekend), Jamie and I decided to take a somewhat spontaneous trip to Niagara Falls. We left at midnight on Sunday night and got back Wednesday. It was one of those much needed vacations that felt longer than it really was despite the fact that we got very little sleep. It was just nice for Jamie and I to get away together and get to spend time alone without me studying. I think we both needed the break. Here's a brief synopsis of our trip:

Like I said we left around midnight Sunday night after community and drove most of the night. I started getting really sleepy around 3:30am or so and was having a hard time staying awake to help Jamie stay awake driving so we decided to stop at the next rest stop (which we didn't get to until around 4:30am) and sleep for a couple hours. [Below is our "home away from home"]

Not the best sleep I've ever gotten by any means but it sufficed for the time being and around 6:30 or 7 we set off again toward Niagara. We ended up getting there around 8:00 or 8:30 to spend the first day of our trip on the Canadian side of the falls. First stop: Starbucks (WAY more expensive in Canada ;)) Next stop: The Falls.


It was a beautiful (but cold) morning but was so nice to just be outside enjoying God's beautiful creation. After a brief hour and a half nap, we spent the rest of the day walking around Niagara Falls and going to random tourist attractions like the wax museum (tons of fun! esp. since I kept making Jamie pose for a million pictures ;))

Guess I posed for a few myself too.....

One of the most hilarious parts of the day was me posing with a replica of the world's tallest man at the World Record museum. When I sat down in his chair, people actually stopped in the street, stared and laughed...ha


That night we went out to dinner and completed our meal with some Rickard's Red beer (had to have the beer that will be my future last name), but probably my favorite part of the day was seeing the falls all lit up at night....It was beautiful.

Day 2 of our adventure was spent on the New York side of the falls. We spent most of the day walking around Niagara Falls State Park and enjoying nature. We even found a group of islands called "Three Sisters Island" that I had to get a pic with because it reminded me of my sisters :).

After our time in the park we decided to check out the Niagara Falls Aquarium which should actually be known as "the most ghetto aquarium EVER"....We had fun though being silly and quickly realized we were the ONLY people in the aquarium who didn't have kids with them...ha....guess we are just kids at heart ;)


After the aquarium we started our journey back to Morgantown with a layover in Grove City for the night.

All in all, it was an awesome (though short) trip and reminded me not only of how much fun Jamie and I have together but how much I can't wait to marry him. It was also nice to be able to spend our time in the car asking each other questions and getting to know each other even better than we already do. We also started reading "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell in the car (meaning I read and Jamie listened). We are only on chapter 3 but already I have to say I highly recommend it. Chapter 2 (Yoke) is awesome...check it out!

Below are a few more random pics from the trip in case you are interested :)

spring break....and Uganda

I guess it's been a long time since I blogged...guess that's what med school will do to you...but I am FINALLY on spring break. There are time when i thought the end of anatomy would never come (or that I might be repeating it next year) but once again God has been faithful to provide all that I need for His will to be accomplished. I think there are times when I wish medical school wasn't His will for me because I know how hard it is going to be and how much I already have to give up and will have to give up for it. At the same time, though, I do want whatever God wants for my life. He never promised it would be easy and actually guaranteed that living life for Him would not be the easiest way. It is just so easy for me to get jaded by the process that it takes to accomplish God's will that I forget that it will absolutely be worth it to follow the path He has for me with everything I have...and right now that path is medical school.

From the time that God called me back to school I have felt His call to do missions and I am fortunate that He has given me the opportunity to go to Uganda this summer to serve with an organization called "Salvation To All Orphans" or STAO (see my support letter below and pass it along to anyone who might be interested). There have been multiple people interested in going with me but all of them seem to have fallen through for one reason or another. I'm not sure why but it seems to be God's will that I take this journey alone. Some people may think I'm crazy for going to Africa alone and only two months before my wedding (mom perhaps ;)) but I am trusting that once again God will provide everything I need, including safety, if it be His will. Ultimately, I just want to know that I lived my life following hard after Christ instead of living with a spirit of fear.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Dear family and friends,

It is estimated that more than eight million people around the world die each year of extreme poverty. In other words, they are "simply too poor to stay alive" (Jeffrey D. Sachs "The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilites for Our Time). For me, this statistic was a startling realization of the impact that poverty has on our world. I have never personally known the fear of not having enough money or resources to survive. Like most of you reading this, I am by no means rich, but in comparison to those who make pennies a day, I live like a queen. Allow me to paint a picture of those suffering from extreme poverty, taken from the book referenced above:

"...the doctor stands up and suggests that we visit the medical ward, which lies just across the hall. 'Medical ward' is, in fact, a shocking euphamism, because in truth it is not a medical ward at all. It is the place where Malawians come to die of AIDS. There is no medicine in the medical ward. The room has a posted occupancy rate of 150 beds. There are 450 people in the ward. These 450 people are fit into a room with 150 beds by putting three people in or around each bed. In most cases, two people are lying head to toe, toe to head -- strangers sharing a death bed. Alongside or underneath the bed there is somebody on the ground, sometimes literally on the ground or sometimes on a piece of cardboard, dying beneath the bed.

The room is filled with moans. This is a dying chamber where three quarters of the people this day are in late-stage AIDS without medicines. Family members sit by the bed, swabbing dried lips and watching their loved ones die. The same doctor who is treating patients across the hall [with HIV medications that cost one dollar per day and have a nearly 100 percent success rate] is the doctor in charge of this service. He knows what could be done. He knows that each of these patients could rise from the deathbed but for the want of a dollar a day. He knows the problem is not one of infrastructure or logistics or adherence. He knows that the problem is simply that the world has seen fit to look away as hundreds of impoverished Malawians die this day as a result of their poverty."

It is precisely this need for medical intervention in the lives of those living in extreme poverty that has prompted me to embark on a medical missions trip this summer to Uganda. I will be working with an organization called Salvation to All Orphans (formerly Save the AIDS Orphans), or STAO. Their mission is to provide holistic support for those children and widows whose families have been ravaged by the AIDS virus.

This includes financial and psychsocial support, education and medical care, as well as meeting spiritual needs. In June, I will spend two weeks in Mafubira participating in mobile clinics that provide medcial care to those who are unable to make the journey to a medical facility. In addition, I will also be fortunate to spend time ministering to children who have lost their parents to AIDS. This will undoubtedly be an experience like none other I have had at this point in my life, but I feel God's call to explore this area of medicine as part of His will in calling me back to medical school. I would love for you to partner with me in this journey. My needs for this trip are two-fold: I covet your prayers and cannot make this journey without them. In addition, I ask you to prayerfully consider whether God might call you to support me financially. Each of us can play a role in the fight against the ravages of AIDS and extreme poverty. Your role may not be in traveling to Africa but YOU are an important part of the solution. If you'd like to talk to me more about this before you decide on your involvement, please contact me via phone or e-mail at (304) 237-4426 or tara.newcomb@gmail.com. My fundraising goal is $2500-$3000. Any money raised in excess of what is needed for travel and trip costs will be used to provide resources such as mosquito nets, food, sewing machines, cows or goats for the widows and orphans of Mafubira. I thank you in advance for your love and support.

In His love,

Tara