A season of receiving

Most people think of the time between (“American”) Thanksgiving and New Years as a season of giving. We’re inundated with messages and advertisements pushing us to give the right gifts this holiday season. This year, however, Kristopher, Dominic and I have been going through a season of receiving. Of course there have been many times in our lives when we have received more than we have given. This season, however, has been particularly humbling. As “strangers in a foreign land” we have so little to give back. It feels like all we do is receive, receive, receive. This blog post is dedicated to publically thanking all those people who have given so much to us, in big acts and small, over the past few months – our gratitude is all we can offer for now, and our promise that while we will never be able to pay you back, we will do our best to pay it forward.


Our sincerest thanks, in no particular order, to:

• Several missionaries in Nairobi who befriended us during a difficult transition, welcomed us into their homes, showered us with food, rides to the grocery store, encouragement and insights
• Dominic’s teachers and school principal in Nairobi who were warm and welcoming even though we were there for only 12 weeks, and who made Dominic’s transition to Kenya fun and memorable
• A former co-resident who made a generous donation in advance to cover my student loans for the whole year
• Kristopher’s parents who agreed to meet us in Washington during our brief visit for my brother’s wedding, so that we wouldn’t have to get on another plane to visit them in Montana
• Our church in Salt Lake City who surprised us with a care package of thoughtful gifts and encouraging messages, sent via a short-term volunteer
• Our new co-workers and neighbors in Kapsowar who have been kind, patient, and supportive as we learn the basics of our new community – from how to get water and electricity, to reminding me for the 10^th time how to order labs correctly
• A volunteer who welcomed us to our new home with flowers and house-warming gifts, and has invited Dominic over for dinner several times so that Kristopher and I can relax for the evening
• Our many friends at World Medical Mission for their support, both emotional and logistical

Finally, since no blogpost is complete without picture, our thanks to our new sister-in-law Elyssa, for agreeing (for reasons unknown) to marry my little brother Andrew. We returned to North America briefly in December/January to celebrate with them. Again the pictures in no particular order, because reorder pictures is tedious :)

 We celebrated Christmas a little late with Grandma and Grandpa in Birch Bay

 Dominic and his cousin Ben were ring bearers

 Reception at the Victoria Flight Museum

Sleeping it off on the flight back to Nairobi

 

Sleeping it off at the reception too...

Much love to you all!
Kristopher, Kim, and Dominic

Welcome to Labor and Delivery!

I'm struggling to find the words to describe how it feels to walk into "my" office and finally begin working after twenty years - literally, twenty years! - of moving toward this goal. Most days, it feels good! Other days, I wonder if I'm really prepared for this. And some days, I know that my only victory is going to be ridding my office of a few more spiders and dead moths. Which, I have to say, is quite satisfying. 

Thanks to a very generous donation from some friends of the hospital, our labor and delivery area is in the early stages of a major upgrade! So far we have received new labor and delivery beds and some bili lights. Tiling of the floor and walls, a new gyne exam bed, new lights, and other upgrades are coming. Previously, the beds on labor and delivery were just cots - no ability to break down the bed for delivery, no stirrups (well, one bed out of four had stirrups, but they didn't work), covered with rust, no siderails. We received four brand new beds which are much more comfortable for both the patient and the delivering provider. Remember that in Kenya, only 44% of deliveries are attended by a skilled provider. That doesn't mean 44% of deliveries are in a hospital where monitoring or c-section are available, just that someone has received training on maternal and neonatal care, and should have some knowledge of how to refer to a hospital if necessary. Our upgrades will allow us to take better care of our patients and hopefully will draw more patients in to receive skilled care.

This is labor and delivery! New curtains are also planned - we think we'll be able to afford some better hooks (these are bent wire clothes hangers)

Our nurse midwives are excited about sitting down and having good visualization for their repairs!

I swear, I did not ask Dominic to sit this way. He just jumped up on the bed and assumed the position! 

I am so thankful for the generous donation that made this upgrade possible. Stay tuned for more pictures as we continue to make upgrades. 

Kim

Flora and Fauna

Our three months of language school are rapidly drawing to a close. One thing we've really appreciated about this time is the beautiful location where we're living, northwest of Nairobi. Every day on our short walk to school, we listen to the song birds, look for butterflies, monkeys, and sun birds, and watch out for slugs and safari ants on the sidewalks! I've tried to capture a few photos on my phone, although part of the beauty of this place is that it is so difficult to get in a picture!

 These small chameleons are surprisingly common around our language school. 

 One of our new friends here is an avid mushroom hunter. Apparently I shouldn't have passed up this "beauty" - I might have made a little money, or at least a good dinner.

 I have no idea what this little bug is. When Dominic pointed it out, I reassured him that it was just a flower petal. Turns out I was wrong. That's the tip of his finger for comparison.

 I found this wildlife perched on my porch around Halloween. Why yes, that is a "wrestler bandit," how did you know? Our options for costumes for school were very limited. Fortunately, Dominic was thrilled to wear his bathrobe and a sleep mask from our flight.

 There are two types of monkeys that live around our home, Colobus (the ones with the long white tail) and these guys, which I think are a type of Vervet.

 That's a picture of a very large slug just hanging out on the wall about 10 feet off the ground. I had no idea slugs were capable of climbing like that. I do unfortunately know what it feels like to step on one of these things. Yuck.

This is a Picasso beetle - the image isn't great, but you can tell that it looks like someone has carefully painted on its back. I have never before seen an insect this beautiful!

Next month: Kapsowar!!

Blessings,

Kim

A Day in the Life - Language School Edition

Kris and I have just wrapped up our fifth week of language school! Learning a new language as an adult is a huge challenge, and we're very grateful to have three months to dedicate completely to this task (at least, to getting a good start).

For these three months, we're staying in a rural area about 20 minutes drive from Nairobi. We're renting a little cottage only a 2 minute walk from our school and 5 minutes from the international school where we've enrolled Dominic in preschool. We get up at 6:45 every morning, have breakfast together, and then Kris does some studying or walks up to the coffee shop (roughly 7 minutes walk) while Dominic and I do 15-20 minutes of "school work" - learning to write letters and numbers. I then drop Dominic off at school on time for classes to start at 8:30. Currently, our language school has 9 - 12 students (depending on the day) and 7 or more teachers, which is necessary for the small class sizes (1-3 students per class) and one-on-one conversations. We all take a half hour "chai break" at 10:30 and a one hour lunch, and classes are done by 3pm at the latest. After the last four years working 60-80 (or more) hours per week, this schedule is a dream!! The short school hours are somewhat offset by the fact that we spend many more hours at home or in the coffee shop in self-study every day.

So what else are we doing to occupy our time? Making most of our meals from scratch and washing laundry by hand take up a lot of time. Kris has participated in some pickup basketball and soccer. We've been befriended by several families around the area, and have enjoyed spending time with them. I'm also enjoying spending more time with Dominic than I've been able to since he was a newborn, and we've even pulled out some old board games to play as a family. We walk in to the local town to buy fruit, or to a nearby farm to buy cheese and ice cream. On the weekends, we've taken Uber to go shopping in Nairobi, and we walk to a nearby church for a service in both Swahili and English.

We're so blessed to have this time to spend together as a family, to learn Swahili together, and to prepare for the next step in our journey! Thanks for following along with us!

Mzungu (white boy) dancing at church

Live from Nairobi, Kenya!

Dear family and friends,

It's hard to believe, but we have been in Kenya for almost a week! We are getting settled at our new home for the next three months. The transition has had challenges for each of us, but we feel welcomed and safe at our new home, and are meeting new friends every day. We're very grateful for the open and helpful attitude of everyone we meet, from the groundskeeper at the house we're living in who helped us get our power back when it went out over the weekend, to the family who picked us up for church on Sunday and took us for lunch and shopping, to our teachers who are patient, encouraging, and very knowledgeable.

Kenya is a beautiful country! It is green everywhere, with fruits and vegetables growing in abundance wherever we go. We even have some shy monkeys that visit the tree right outside our front door! Best of all, there are no snakes in our area, much to Kris' relief. For those of you who are curious - we don't have WiFi available in our house, but we do have an unlimited WiFi connection about a 5 minute walk from our house, within a compound (meaning that the walk is very safe). We have new Kenyan phone numbers but kept the same US WhatsApp account numbers as we had previously, and have a good Internet connection on our phones. AND, we discovered that we can Uber in to the nearest shopping center for a little less than $7 round trip, so we feel like we have a little more freedom and independence even though we don't have our own vehicle.

Dominic's first day of school was last Friday, and Kris and I started language classes this morning. We are drinking from the proverbial fire hose, but we enjoy practicing the few phrases we've actually managed to retain.

Please continue to pray for good sleep, peace of mind, and physical strength as we settle into our routine here. Thanks to all of you who have sent messages of support - you are so appreciated!

With love,

Kris, Kim and Dominic

Dominic's first day of school!