Marking Time

 I'm sure I've said this a hundred times in the last seven months - it's simply amazing how time flies when there are almost no events, visitors, or trips to break up the weeks and months. This month, though, we'll celebrate a few mile markers, and with the holidays approaching, it is somehow more believable to me that we've been here in Kenya for well over a year. We moved from Nairobi to Kapsowar the week of American Thanksgiving last year, and our puppy Nala was born around that time as well. The rhubarb plant that Kris transplanted from Nairobi, which almost died during our time back in North America over New Years last year, is now thriving and looks good enough to start harvesting (although the internet tells me I'd better wait a little while longer). 

Dominic's second Halloween in Kenya. We invited some of his friends over to watch a "scary" movie - Monster's University :)

One of the good things about COVID-19 is that we have reconnected online with our church in Vancouver, British Columbia. Our pastor this week encouraged us to make and share a list of the "small things" that we're thankful for. Here's the start of my list - and given that today is election day in the US, I challenge you all to take a moment to start a list of your own! Even if we're not completely happy with the way the world is right now, we can still practice gratitude and joy!

My list:

- Rainy evenings in front of a warm fire

- Finding chocolate AND candy sprinkles at our grocery store in Eldoret

- Sharing conversation and baked goods with our neighbors

- Usually reliable internet connection so we can stay in touch with our family and friends all over the world

- A beautiful view of a beautiful country from our backyard

- The intermittent and always surprising appearance of fireflies, also in our backyard

- A free magazine sent to the hospital for Dominic from the US

- Waking to the sound of birds greeting the sun, every morning

- Our grocery store in Kapsowar starting to carry yarn in a variety of colors

Slippers for the family

- Brussel sprouts!

- The sheep (with a new little lamb) who live at Kris' school

So many more things, big and small, to be thankful for today...if you feel like it, feel free to leave a comment with your "small things!"

Kim

Have wheels, will travel

After 6 months of waiting, Kris was finally able to pick up our car from Nairobi last month! We took a little retreat to Eldoret this past weekend just to get away, do some shopping, and be officially off-call. 

Dominic got a new skateboard...he looks pretty cool carrying it around ;)

First lost tooth!

Good thing there's a tooth fairy in Kenya...Dominic is saving up for some kneepad and elbow pads for his new skateboard. 

Scenes from Kapsowar

September has started with a bang - Kristopher is back to work teaching a two-week intensive course at the School of Theology, and Maternity has entered the busy season due to nation-wide holidays in December :) We're so thankful that Gladys is back to watch Dominic during the days and to keep our household running while we're at work. As requested a couple of months ago, here are some snapshots (some new, some old) of our lives in Kapsowar.

Sunrise from our bedroom window

Sunday morning breakfast - banana bread by the fire 

Weekday routine - Mom and Dominic do school on the couch in our PJs, while Dad makes breakfast (oatmeal)

Kim's walk to work - view of the "station" from our front door.

(It's about a five minute walk, door to door, including a temperature check and hand-washing station thanks to COVID-19.)

Walking past the nursing school (classrooms on the left, dorms on the right)

Walking home for lunch - the tree-lined main road into the station (compound)

A few pictures of our house:

Dominic's room - no closet, so we had these boxes built for organizing his clothes, books, and toys. His bunk bed is behind/left of the camera.

Our bedroom - again the closet space was limited, so we had the cubbies under the window and "open closet" to the sides built. Our room gets great morning sunlight - best appreciated on weekdays if Kim has NOT been called in for a C-section in the middle of the night :)

Here's our kitchen/living area - the refrigerator and washing machine are by far the nicest we've ever had! You can see that we do have a microwave and coffee maker - and our drinking water comes from the water dispenser, which we refill from a UV filtered source.

Finally, a few views of our area - our neighbor Kyle took us for a short driving tour with views of the Kerio Valley last weekend. The pictures don't do it justice!

Green all year round

Kerio Valley (an offshoot of the Great Rift Valley) in the distance

Sorry for the delay...

 It's been a busy two weeks here in Kapsowar - not because of COVID-19, too many patients, or some other disruption, but because we've decided to implement our inpatient electronic medical records. Those of you in healthcare know that the transition from paper to electronic is time-consuming at best, and makes you want to tear your hair out or quit your job at it's worst. I've been through this transition three times already - as a receptionist, a medical student, and a resident. Now as an attending physician I've got to admit that it's just as tedious and frustrating as before. But at least I know what to expect...

I have two things I'm grateful for during this transition: one is my family medicine resident, Tadeo, who has been able to take part of my workload while I'm figuring out the EMR. The other is my new computer which I purchased through donations from generous people like YOU approximately four weeks ago. Little did I know what a huge difference it would make in surviving this transition!

Had to bring in an extra cup of coffee to get through this day!

I promised in my last newsletter some pictures from our daily routine. I'll get to those later this month! But first - I've got to figure out a few admission orders :)

Kim

Hike to Kipkinur

While I was on call last weekend, Kris had the opportunity to hike with some of our friends up Kipkinur (spelling totally made up by me and probably wrong). Here are some pictures in no particular order. Special thanks to Mike and Ashley who watched Dominic while I was at the hospital (in other words, most of the day!).

The trail is pretty muddy and a bit overgrown.

The day started off quite misty

And finally, the view of Kipkinur at sunset from the hospital. Kipkinur is the little bump on the skyline between the setting sun and the treebranch on the right of the shot. People say it looks like a thumbnail rising above the mountain ridge.

Thanks for visiting our blog! Let me know if there are particular pictures you would like to see next month!

Kim