A Shameless Plug - Kapsowar School of Theology

Kris has not been teaching during the first term of 2025, due to traveling and several projects around our house and station that required his supervision. He's also been working on setting up the first ever Kapsowar School of Theology website. It's literally a site - a single page - targeted toward men and women interested in attending the school. Check it out here!

Books

Three years ago, as we were preparing to head back to the US for a prolonged period (to "graduate" from the Post-Residency Program to Serge, and for my US oral board exams), we were facing what felt like a difficult problem. Dominic was a little bit interested in reading, but mostly just comic books, and mostly just superficially. As an "early" reader myself, I was SO ready for him to start reading chapter books independently! My memories of most school vacations are reading books in various locations - the lake, Grandma and Grandpa's house, campgrounds...

We shamelessly bribed Dominic to read by letting him choose a brand-new book from a series at our local bookstore in Seattle - he chose Dragon Masters, and a Minecraft instruction book. And it worked! By the time we left Seattle, he had read every Dragon Masters book at the local library, and was looking for more! Soon he discovered reading e-Books from the library, and we were off and running!

Now, we're facing another challenge - finding books and series that are engaging, appropriate for his age and reading level, and that are good literature. Sure, he loves Captain Underpants...but you can only eat so much junk food, and in my opinion a 10-year-old mind should only take in so much junk reading (sorry, Captain Underpants fans). I wish I had time to pre-read every book that Dominic is interested in reading, but unfortunately I do have a job - and he's starting to read pretty fast. Common Sense Media seems to rely primarily on parent and kid reviews, and the presence or absence of scary situations, references to drugs/alcohol/sex, or bad language. However, the present/absence of those things doesn't necessarily make a book good literature! 

I recently discovered the Redeemed Reader website. So far I've been impressed with their recommendations and the depth of (most of) their reviews. It's a good starting point, and they have a lot of book lists and recommendations for various reading and maturity levels. I keep trying to get Dominic to throw in some classics, but it's helpful to be able to toss in a new book (or better yet, a series) that someone else has already reviewed!

Since 2022, Dominic has read and enjoyed:

- The Chronicles of Narnia (we've read them through twice together, and he's read them all by himself as well except The Last Battle)

- The Hobbit (read aloud)

- All the Dragon Masters books that he can get his hands on 

- Wings of Fire Graphic Novels through #6 (that's where we decided to stop)

- The Rangers Apprentice Books 1-3, not because we stopped there but because that's all we have

- Warriors (it's about tribal violence between groups of cats. Not my favorite theme on a number of levels)

-Jack Zulu and the Waylander's Key

- The Green Ember and other books in that series (only on audio)

- I'll admit it: Captain Underpants, Dog Man books, countless Garfield, Far Side, and Calvin and Hobbes cartoons - although I know Kris would not want me to classify Calvin and Hobbes as junk reading

- The Redwall Series (audiobook only)

- The Wingfeather Saga (read aloud)

- The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place (I read this series ahead of him and really enjoyed it)

We're looking forward to starting Harry Potter in just under a year (Age 11 feels like the correct time to start that series, especially for a slightly more sensitive reader)! Until then, I'm sure we'll need a lot more book recommendations, so feel free to leave a comment or sent me an email or text with your favorites! 

Photo Dump!

We've been busy traveling and training and just trying to get things done. So, here are some pictures since the beginning of January!

Traveling to Asia for a medical conference in February

There were topiary dinosaurs...

Interesting architecture...

And Starbucks!

Riding elephants at an Elephant Sanctuary...

And more coffee!

Touring town in a horse-drawn carriage

Biking

And lots of interesting plants

On our return:

Avian flu has apparently NOT hit Kenyan chickens

We came home with a picture of elephants painted by an elephant

Life is changing! My first day back to work - thanks to having a full time OB/Gyn partner, I was home in time to play a game with Dominic before dinner!

There have been a lot of challenges on returning to Kenya, primarily centered around the hospital and difficulties with funding as well as supply chains. Most of that is a national, not international, problem, but for those of you who are curious about the effects of the defunding (or at least, freeze on funding without an end-date) of USAID on hospitals in Kenya, our colleague Matthew Loftus wrote this article for Christianity Today.

Matthew and his family live and work at another mission hospital in Kenya - our family visited with them last year. What I love about this article is that he emphasizes that many of the affected patients in sub-Saharan Africa are Christians living with these infectious diseases (HIV and TB). It's easy to depersonalize these defunding decisions, but I think Matthew's point is this - Christians globally have an obligation to care for our brothers and sisters who are less economically blessed than we are. It's a challenge to think about whether you would support someone in your own congregation with one of these diseases who couldn't afford their medication. I hope you would support them, and we pray that the church in the US will be the voice for their Christian brothers and sisters all over the world. Feel free to contact me if you have questions!

"Thank you for your support and prayers"

Recently, we were in the US for the holidays, visiting family and touching base with some of our supporters. We spent a lot of time saying, "Thank you for your support and prayers." We genuinely mean that...but what does it mean for us? As we reflect on the close of 2024 and start planning and praying and hoping for 2025, here are a few thoughts on "support and prayers."

Support

When we tell people that we work for a nonprofit and raise money for our salaries, health insurance, travel, and "ministry expenses" from our friends and family, most people respond the same way - "Whoa, I could never do that." My almost-universal response is - "You probably could." If you are fortunate enough to have a job that you believe is worthwhile, and if you believe that you are able to do it well, then you probably believe that you should earn a salary for the service you are providing. We believe that we have jobs (providing healthcare for women, teaching pastors and church leaders) that are worthwhile, and that we do well. We just happen to provide those services for people that legitimately cannot afford to pay, and we work in an area of the world where those services wouldn't be readily available if we weren't here to provide them. We are so blessed to have family, friends, and even some complete strangers who also think our work is important, and who are willing to contribute financially (some a small amount, others large amounts) so that we can continue to do this work that we love. So, to those of you who support us financially - THANK YOU, and thank you for making it easy to ask for and to continue to receive your support. We consider it a privilege to partner with you all.

Kris giving the new graduates a study Bible at their commencement ceremony

Your generosity has enabled us to support our community here in Kenya as well. In the past year, we have funded the purchase of new equipment for the hospital as well as maintenance of old equipment, supported students' fees at the School of Theology and in our community, kept antenatal care at the hospital when the government stopped paying, and even bought a piano that we use for praise and worship with our community (as well as for personal use/mental health!). We have attended a conference with our organization, Serge, and we are planning to attend another medical conference this winter.  

Kim can't purchase this special "NST" paper in Kenya so she has to buy it in the US and then get it to Kenya. This can mean the difference between a sick baby and a healthy baby - or even no baby at all. (This patient got a c-section, by the way!)

Support isn't just financial, though. We also have many people who help us with the various challenges of living overseas - here are some examples (sorry if I've missed something!):

- Reading with Dominic by Zoom

- Faithfully responding to blog posts and emails with words of encouragement

- Providing support (access to vehicles, clothes and shoes, places to sleep, rides to airports or train stations or bus stations) while we are in the US

- Managing our mail and local communication, especially responses to jury summons (that's mostly just Kim's mom!)

- Sending birthday cards and greetings

- Random texts and messages of encouragement

- Transporting stuff "from home" - sometimes things we need, often just things we want like mac and cheese powder and real chocolate chips

And finally - visits! We know that not everyone can fly halfway around the world to visit us. But we've treasured the time that we have spent with family members who have come to visit us, and we look forward to two more visits from family in the next few months!

Prayers

We are honored to be financially supported by about 85 individuals/families and six churches. Most, but not all, of those people are "praying people." For those of you who do regularly pray for us - THANK YOU! Here are two very important answers to prayer that we have received in the last year:

Kaylea joined us in August as our first ever Serge intern! She is helping with education for Dominic and two other families with school-aged kids and working parents. We have been praying for someone to come for more than a few months who is experienced with kids and is able to help us move forward with our education plans - not just for the time she is here, but really helping us prepare for what comes next. Kaylea has been such a joy, and has provided the stability to Dominic's education that we have really been missing these last four years.

Abby joined us in December as Kim's new OB/Gyn partner! She, and her Great Dane puppy, are going to be in Kapsowar for at least two years, and are the reason why I'm home on a Wednesday afternoon writing a blog post! It's great to have someone to bounce ideas off of and to bear the burden together.

We are also excited about another experienced teacher who will be coming for a visit in March to discuss starting a one-room school house! We are praying for guidance for Mary, and for the parents here, as we navigate the unchartered waters of educating our kids together.  Thanks for praying with us!

Hit Hard, and Hopeful

If October was a month filled with uncertainty and constantly wondering what new changes the new healthcare system would bring here in Kapsowar, November turned into a month with no time to stop and think at all. As we anticipated, mothers who decided just to "wait and see" at home eventually had to show up for healthcare - and with doctors at the public hospitals in our region on strike, there is only one place for them to come. We're so happy to provide care, and so overwhelmed with the task of explaining the new system to them, getting them enrolled, helping them figure out how much and where to pay to access their government healthcare benefits - all added to the routine task of providing "catch up" care. At this point it time, the hospital is running on promises from the government that we will eventually receive back pay for all the care we've provided. Obviously my salary doesn't depend on the government making good on that promise - but promises aren't keeping food on the table for healthcare workers and support staff at our hospital, in our county, or around the country. It's been a stressful month at the hospital.

On top of work stress, this month we dealt with our washing machine motor going out (we got it replaced), our solar panels dying (got them replaced too), more days of rain that I care to count, and increasingly frequent power outages which seem to only sometimes be related to the weather. November weather patterns (alternate high and low pressure) often trigger migraines for me (Kim), and that's been true in the last few weeks. Also, some type of allergic or exposure-related reaction would make you think that someone is using my face as a model for a horror movie - blisters, bruises, and rashes all around my eyes and a few other places on my face. Yuck.

Nonetheless, we've had a lot of reasons to be thankful this past month. On November 23, we celebrated the five year anniversary of our move to Kapsowar! Dominic has been cruising through his school year, and is scheduled to finish his SonLight Grade 4 curriculum this week! Kris celebrated the graduation of 12 students from the School of Theology, and we also celebrated the graduation of about 30 students from Serge's Chronologic Bible Storying course. 

And, we're getting ready for a visit to the US. For the first time since 2019, we'll be spending the holidays with our families in Washington and Montana. We would LOVE to get to visit with all of our friends, family, and supporters, but the reality is that this trip is too short to see everyone. However, we do have some needs while we're in the US, including for winter clothes and maybe a vehicle. If you think you would like to help, please visit this website (www.sokindregistry.org/30486) to see when/where we need help. Thanks so much! Looking forward to seeing you soon!