Coming Home

As many of you already know, I'm coming home for a visit. I'm actually typing this at the Nairobi airport, waiting for my flight. My sister, April, delivered a healthy baby boy on April 9th and I am coming home to see him (among others). It was a safe delivery and they are both doing well. We praise the Lord for this!

Carson James

In preparing to come home, I've been thinking about all the things I want to do while home, how things will be different, things I'll miss, etc. So, here are some lists for you.

Things I'm looking forward to in the US:
1. Holding Carson for the first time
2. Real mexican food that I don't have to make
3. Spending time with my family
4. Papa John's pizza
5. Getting to connect with supporters and share with them what they are helping accomplish
6. Driving on smooth rides - and on the right side!
7. Seeing my best friend, Amanda, and her kids - Violet, Anara and Edison - as well as other dear friends
8. A real, juicy cheeseburger
9. Sharing with my former residency program how cool medicine can be in the developing world
10. Real salads and not having to pre-clean all vegetables in bleach water before eating them - do you notice a trend here?

Things I will miss from Kenya:
1. The beautiful view of the Cherangani Hills when I wake up in the morning
2. My wonderful colleagues and fellow missionaries in Kapsowar
3. The simplicity of life here
4. Children pointing at me and yelling "Mzungu! Mzungu! (White person! White person!) - Ok, I won't miss that one :)
5. The work that I am privileged to do each day at the hospital

Please pray for safe travels and for my family as they adjust to a new baby. Please also pray for wisdom for April as she begins to raise Carson, that she would raise him in a way that is glorifying to the Lord. Please pray for the people I left behind at Kapsowar that the Lord would continue to bless their ministry and that they would be able to get some rest despite extra work in my absence.

MIRACLE BABIES

I know I often have sad stories to share from Kapsowar, as many of our premature babies do not survive. I am happy to tell you about 2 miracle babies.

Karen was born a few days ago and came out weighing 800 gms (less than2 lbs). Her brother had died inside of their mother and came out first. They were only about 27 weeks, which here means almost certain death, as we have no way of helping babies breathe here - we can only give them oxygen via nasal cannula. I sadly told her mother that the 2nd baby was not likely to survive either and she graciously accepted that - as most women here do. In fact, I decided not to monitor the 2nd baby's heart rate, as we would not intervene in the case of fetal distress. I did, however, look with ultrasound to see how the second baby was presenting and noted that the heart rate was in the 90's(should be above 120). About 4-5 hours later, she delivered a little girl, who, much to the nurses' surprise, began to cry from where she had been laid to the side about 3 minutes earlier. She is doing great, breathing on her own. She is definitely not out of the woods yet, but we praise God for our little miracle baby. She has spunk,too, as she pulls out her nasal cannula several times a day. Please pray for Karen, and her mother Albinah, as they have several hard weeks ahead.

Little baby Karen

My hand by her - to show you how small she is!

Another happy story is that of Ednah's baby. Ednah presented at about 27 weeks in labor with twins. We attempted to stop her labor, butwere unable to, and she went on to deliver later that day. Again, the first baby died, but the second baby survived and flourished. Under her mother's watchful eye and loving care (and God's blessing), shehas grown well and is now breastfeeding and ready to go home! The smile on Ednah's face always lights up a room - especially when shewas told she could, at long last, take her baby home. We praise God for His blessings and love for these little ones!

Ednah with her daughter

Hudson's 5th Birthday

So, I haven't talked a lot about the Jones family, but I am so blessed to have them here. Their kids are so much fun and I really enjoy fellowshipping (is that a word) with Kyle and Vanessa. After Brandyand Deb left, I spent the weekend in Nairobi with the Jones'. It wasHudson's (their oldest) 5th birthday and we wanted to do something special. On Saturday, I went with them to Splash, a water park inNairobi. It was a great place for the kids to play and we had fun just hanging out, also with another family with young boys who are missionaries in Nairobi. As you can see in the pics below, the kids had a great time. We didn't get in because it was a little chilly. On Sunday, we went to Village Market (the place I've talked about before) in the afternoon. Hudson had fun driving electric Tonka trucks and Vanessa and I relaxed with a pedicure. It was a great weekend to just hang out and have fun and we hope to do it again sometime.

Hudson showing his excitement about being in the pool

Hudson getting ready to test out the slides

Jude (middle child) having fun on the slides

More Safari Pics

Deb and I on the beach at Lake Nakuru

Baboon at Lake Nakuru

Me with a lion right in front of our van

The 3 of us in our safari mini-busA beautiful view of Mt. Kenya A lioness on the prowl Me by Thompson Falls, on the way to Lake Nakuru

Baby elephant - my favorite!

My First Safari

As I alluded to in my previous blog, my friends Brandy and Deb took me on safari the 2nd week of their visit here. We had so much fun and it was definitely an amazing experience! I was expecting it to be fun, but I had no idea how incredible it would be to see so much of God’s creation and to see all of these animals in their natural habitat. Also, it provided a great time of relaxation and fellowship for all of us.

We started out our safari at Ol Pejeta Conservancy, which is a private game park that sits at the base of Mt. Kenya. We stayed at a place called Sweetwaters, where all the accommodations were permanent tents, complete with toilets and showers. It was fun! At Sweetwaters, we saw rhinos, chimpanzees, lots of antelope and water buck, buffalo, zebras and lions. Our driver, Francis, who was with us the entire week, was very knowledgeable and was able to find us lots of animals. He would tell us he could “smell a lion” – of course this was right after he had gotten off his CB radio with another driver who had spotted one.

From Ol Pejeta, we traveled about 5 hours over very bumpy roads to Lake Nakuru, famous home to thousands of flamingoes. We stayed at a very nice place there and were able to see the flamingoes up close, as well as 2 leopards (unheard of per our driver) and more rhinos and antelope. Also, there were monkeys that greeted us in the parking lot and tried to get in our van.

From there, we traveled another 4-5 hours (again over bumpy roads – what else do you expect, this is Africa) to Maasai Mara, perhaps the best known game park in Kenya. It extends into Tanzania, where it becomes Serengheti National Park. This was probably my favorite one. We stayed at a camp called Sekenani, which is not fenced in. So, at night, we could hear elephants and see giraffe. We also had several baboons running over and around our tent at night. It felt like we were truly living in the wild. Not to worry, though. There were Maasai guards with spears posted around the camp to fend off any truly dangerous animals. We also went to an authentic Maasai village one day – the village consisted of one family, which consisted of one father, 11 wives, 52 children, and 300 cows. What a culture shift! It was very muddy as it had been raining quite a bit. We were able to go into one of their homes – hardly room even to move around. We were also treated to an exhibition of traditional dance. It amazed me how different it was from the rest of Kenya, or at least the parts I’ve experienced so far.

We were so fortunate to have a great 5 days on safari. We saw all of the Big 5 (Lion, Elephant, Rhino, Leopard, and Buffalo) and there wasn’t a single animal we wanted to see that we didn’t. Francis told us that were very lucky as not every safari experience is like that.

We then made our way back to Nairobi, stopping on the way at a school that some of Deb’s relatives (through marriage) have started for very poor children. It was a great way to end our time. Saying goodbye was hard, but I am so thankful for the 2 weeks were able to spend together.

Deb in our tent at Sweetwaters

Mother and baby white rhinos

Giraffe at sunset
Just the scenery was beautiful, especially with the clouds andthe sun shining through

The 3 Stooges (Cape buffalo)