Goodbye Kelly. I will miss your smile and your wit :) It's always difficult to say goodbye.  Today we said goodbye to some people who have been with MercyShips for a very long time.  We all lined up on the dock and waved goodbye as three land rovers drove away with all our loved ones.  This is a week of tears...Thursday more people are leaving.
Lets see...other interesting news...We have a nurse working on our team in the galley now! She's an OR nurse so we got to learn some really interesting things about the OR today.  I learned that there are three different OR nurse jobs.  The scrubber, the person who is sterile and hands the surgeon all the cool tools and things.  I don't know the name, but the person who runs around like a "chicken with it's head cut off" (as Tilly described it) getting all the things ready for the sterile people.  And the nurse who helps with patient care, anesthetization and making sure the patient is OK.  If you are the scrubbed nurse you can't eat, use the bathroom or drink for very long periods of time.  She also told me that if i don't like bloody surgeries i should try to observe a cleft lip cuz t those aren't bloody.  So i might try to do that in Togo.
In other news, we are are packing up and doing lots of cleaning.  We are getting in "sailing mode" as people keep calling it.  Tying things down, packing things up, taking things off of shelves.
Last night started the beginning of Advent here on the ship.  We lit the first candle and watched a really amazing movie called the Bethlehem Star.  I would HIGHLY recommend it.  Here is the link
http://www.bethlehemstar.net/
The man who is giving the talk is a lawyer who sort of accidentally came across the question: How did the Star of Bethlehem happen? was it real? or something that the ancient church made up to add credibility to their story.  He gives an amazing presentation.  It was so jaw dropping to realize that there is astrological evidence that proves the Star of Bethlehem did in fact happen.  He uses astrological software that uses the formula that Johannes Kepler found to track the stars movement.  Using this software you can see what was happening in the stars at any given point of time in history, from any given point on earth.  This man has done loads of research and it is a phenomenal presentation.  He is a lawyer by trade, not an astronomer, so it's fairly easy to follow.
The ship is starting to get all decorated for Christmas.  We have a tree in the international lounge and are starting different decorating events around the ship in the upcoming weeks.  There is a cookie bake, a door decorating contest, dances and a Christmas play.  'Tis the season! (but honestly it doesn't really feel like Christmas...i miss my family).
Stay warm and drinks lots of hot chocolate!