Life, here

Let's just say, I've read enough reflections about 2020 to last me, well...a year. So, in the interest of doing something different:

I'm sure there are thousands of these lists posted around the internet, but oh well, here's one more!

You may be a North American living in a developing country if:

Your contacts in the nearest big city include: the cheese lady, the movie guy, and "grocery Kevin."

You see a dark cloud on the horizon and you immediately boil a kettle of water and get the food for your next meal out of the fridge for the inevitable power outage.

The previous approach only helps you about half the time since your longest and most inconvenient power outages are usually on beautifully sunny days.

You've learned to include the words "old-fashioned" in your Google searches for recipes. If they could make it in the 1800s, surely you can make it in your kitchen!

Old-fashioned "twist" doughnuts inspired by our reading of Farmer Boy this year

You carry toilet paper in your car/purse just in case (few public toilets, fewer public toilets with free toilet paper).

You've ever separated out the green and red sprinkles from a multicolor mix for Christmas.

You start and end every meeting  - whether with church members or government officials - with prayer.

You see a silver lining in the COVID-19 pandemic: all your friends and family now know how to use WhatsApp and Zoom!

You're grocery lists are divided up geographically (for us that would be the market; Eldoret; Nairobi; and Amazon - to be brought by the next visitor!)

Your wardrobe is similar divided up geographically: things I would never wear in Kapsowar, things I would never wear in North America, and...well, for me the only other category is scrubs.

Your neighbor receives an animal as a Christmas gift. AND your first thought is, "I wonder when they're going to eat that..."

This year: Member of the family

Next year: Christmas dinner

Your monthly bills include eggs and milk, which are delivered to your door on a weekly and daily basis, respectively.

Your child is supposed to memorize their street address for school: literally "Kapsowar Mission Hospital, Kapsowar, Kenya."

Okay, here's a list that slightly fewer people can write (or appreciate!):

You may be a North American OB/GYN living in a developing country if:

You routinely diagnose twins...at greater than 8 months gestation OR in labor OR after delivery of the first twin

Most of your patients have their first ultrasound in your office during their admission for late-term induction of labor, and you're getting quite tired of your ultrasound machine telling you "This date is outside the pregnancy window."

You scrub all your c-sections with one person - a hybrid assistant/scrub nurse - and at the beginning of every repeat CS you decide if you want suction, or a Bovie, or if you're spending big today, both. (You don't have that discussion for a primary CS as the answer is, obviously, none of the above).

You would fall right over if someone ever uttered the following words in your operating room: "Would you like a Bonney or a Ferris-Smith?" Instead, you often get to pick which Adson to use on the fascia...the tiny one or the slightly less tiny one... 

Wishing you a very happy 2021!!

Escape - and a lot to be thankful for!

Thanks to a very generous volunteer physician, who gave up two weeks with her family to come and work in my position at Kapsowar Hospital (and also gave up another two weeks of work to quarantine upon her return to the US), our family was able to take a much needed vacation for the first time since January. Here are some pictures from our very relaxing and rejuvenating vacation.*

Dominic found this beautiful starfish during his first "snorkeling" expedition (mostly just sticking his face under the water from a standing position, but he did a little swimming too)

Dominic and a baobab tree (he was in "Baobab" class at his school in Nairobi last year)

View of the resort at night

Latte macchiato by the pool

We stopped in Nairobi to visit some friends and do our Christmas and birthday shopping. Here is Dominic enjoying a salad at Burger King :)  He also downed an enormous chocolate milk shake.

Kris and Dominic riding a camel on the beautiful white sand beach

Dominic with some delicious dessert at the resort

Finally, a very blurry photo of our last night of vacation, relaxing by the fire and playing a game of Ticket to Ride at Brackenhurst, near Nairobi

We're back in Kapsowar, back to work and play in our beautiful little community. We enjoyed a socially-distanced Thanksgiving dinner, but we were a little late and didn't get a chance to share the things we're grateful for this year. Here's what I would have said:

- Our family and friends who have supported us in prayer, encouragement, and financially throughout a very difficult year, personally and globally

- The team at World Medical Mission, who have walked us through some dark times and who arranged a volunteer to come and work for me so that our family could take a much-needed vacation

- The volunteer who actually decided to travel in the midst of a pandemic specifically so that I could take some time off

- My Grandma, who sent an iPad for Dominic and I to use during homeschool - which has made a huge difference in our mornings!

Finally, here's a scene from a morning this week (my first attempt to load a video onto this blog, apologies if it doesn't work...)

*Some of you may wonder what a missionary family is doing at a beautiful resort like this. It's a legitimate question, and a dialogue that I would be happy to have, but this blog is probably not the best venue. If you have questions or comments about our vacation, please send me a comment or email!

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