Photo Dump!

We've been busy traveling and training and just trying to get things done. So, here's 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!