Way overdue

I tried to do a big post with all of the pictures from Rhett's parent's trip to Kenya. The pictures wouldn't post, I got some "bad request" response from blogger so I gave up thankful that I had copied everything I had already typed. I had to walk away for a while but now I'm back and going to get this series of posts done! Here we go!

In January Rhett's parents made the trek to Kenya to visit us! We were so excited to have visitors and to share with them what we do here!



We gave them one day to get settled before we headed out for our safari in the Masai Mara. You might be growing wearing of safari pictures on our blog by now! We drove this time which was quite an adventure itself. Rhett's mom and I bonded while being bounced around in the back of our van for several hours.



We finally made it and got into safari mode pretty quickly! Here are Jo Jo and Doc trying to keep up with Gus in his one speed: run.



Here are some of our favorite safari pictures:























A nursing giraffe . . . to go along with pictures of nursing elephants and hippos. Great lesson on mammals for the kids who think it is so cute!

Rhett at work

I've often wanted to tail Rhett around the hospital and snap some pictures of him at work but, even without asking, I knew he wouldn't go for that. Luckily when Rhett's parents came for their recent visit (post on that soon) his Dad rounded with him and spent the day in the hospital seeing what he does here and he snapped some great pictures.

Rhett on rounds with his team of mid-level practitioners and interns. He is in a teaching role here at Kijabe so a lot of his time is spent in medical educations with Kenyan trainees.



This is the hallway in the Women's Ward ("Salome") where Rhett is the Attending Physician about half of the time. Off of the hallway are rooms which are shared by 6-8 people. There is also a larger open area in the ward that has many beds all together.



This is "Casualty" or the ER. There are 6 or 8 beds here all together. It can get quite crowded during a big trauma as you can imagine.



Rhett and his Dad outside the hospital.



This is Rhett's little office where he works on the HIV/AIDS programing and prepares a lot of the lectures that he gives.



Here is Jo Anne outside of casualty.



Here is a picture of our house! I don't think I've ever shared one before. This gives you a better idea of where we live!



And our shopping center





This is us having dinner at our one and only local restaurant Mama Chikus.





More to come soon!

Latest letter to our supporters . . .

Dear Friends,

Kijabe Mission Station is the largest collection of Americans in Kenya. This is driven by the presence of Rift Valley Academy, an American boarding school for missionary children from all over east and central Africa. Kijabe Hospital has a mix of western and Kenyan leadership. I am one of eleven non-Kenyan full-time physicians, and there are many people frequently coming and going. However, I am blessed to work with predominately Kenyan colleagues, and recently have found myself in several situations in which I was the only white face for many miles.

“Daktari, unataka kuja na kuhubiri?” It was an invitation to come and talk, even preach! On a rainy, muddy day, I had gathered in a one-room schoolhouse with approximately 150 HIV-infected Kenyans to celebrate World AIDS Day 2010. I relished the opportunity to come and show my support for the daily fight against HIV/AIDS, and I enjoyed the singing and dancing and general celebrations to mark the occasion. But I had not planned on speaking. I would have been privileged to accept had an invitation been extended, but one had not until the microphone was being held in my direction with an expectant audience.

Now let me preface this by saying that I have great wonder and admiration for skilled communicators who can stand before an audience and eloquently express themselves, and I lament that this is not a talent that I possess. But here was the microphone, and a room full of dark eyes was on me. So, I prayed a soft prayer, and I stood up.

While seated, God had laid an image on my heart. I was looking at a room full of HIV infected men, women, and children who had walked long distances in the rain and mud to celebrate life. Ten years ago, all of these people would be dead or dying without hope, but God had provided a way where there was no way. So, I talked about a disease from which there is no escape, no cure, no hope, and once infected the inevitable result is death. Our sin is like that, but in Jesus Christ, God has provided a way where there was no way. So we have reason to celebrate. We can stand in life’s rainstorms and travel along life’s muddy paths with joy and celebration because we who were once dead in sin are now alive in Christ.

On the morning of December 24, Christmas Eve, I loaded in the back of an ambulance with my Kenyan colleagues to travel around the region and bring some small gifts of clothes and food to destitute patients in our area. The first stop was to a one-room wooden structure with a dirt floor where a grandmother alone cared for 9 grandchildren. The number had recently been eight, but her fifteen year-old granddaughter had recently delivered a child that was the result of hiring herself to an older man for 100 kenyan shillings (about $1.30). Seeing this child in this home, my thought was not how she could think so little of herself, but how valuable even 100 shillings was in their extreme poverty. It is hard to know how to help such situations (of which there are countless), but as Christians our wealth should not ever be considered a blessing to ourselves, it is meant to be a blessing to others.

That same day I met a man who graciously invited me into his home and proudly extended his hand to me and said, “my name is John and I have been HIV positive for eight years.” Thinking that this was a strange way to introduce yourself, I took his hand and said, “my name is Rhett and I have been HIV negative for 32 years.” Humor is always risky here because you never know how it is going to translate across languages and cultures. Fortunately, this occasion was met with laughter all around.

Most recently, I just returned from a curriculum development work retreat for our HIV training program. I was again the only mzungu (white person) in the bunch, and had a productive time with my Kenyan friends and colleagues. We accomplished much toward our goal of providing excellent training for HIV care providers throughout Kenya. However, the highlight of my week, was when one friend looked at me and said, “your not like other wazungu, you are one of us.” It doesn’t get better than that in cross-cultural ministry, and I praise God that He has put me in positions to serve Him, and given me the grace to do so.

While I am having dynamic cross-cultural experiences, Megan has played a difficult and invaluable supportive role to make our ministry possible. She has been a steady force for our three children; playing the role of teacher, birthday party planner, counselor, cook, and on and on. She continues to admirably perform the thankless job of organizing hospitality for the many visitors that are crucial to the success of Kijabe Hospital. I am endlessly thankful for her tremendous, and oft unrecognized efforts. Claire has turned 5, and we are infinitely proud of the little person that she has become. Ford and Gus spend their days running around barefoot and getting dirt in the most unlikely places. They are becoming close friends. We eagerly anticipate my parents’ first visit to Africa next week, and are excited to spend time together as a family.

With Great Love,

Rhett, Megan, Claire, Ford and Gus

Recent recap

It's been a while once again so here is a recap of all that has been going on in our part of the world.



We spend most of every day outside enjoying the fantastic weather that this time of year brings. The kids eat lunch outside every day and generally end up so dirty by mid day I have to hose them off. They ride bikes, climb trees, put on plays, make mud pies, play in our play house . . . for hours. It is wonderful.



In mid December I helped on the hospital staff Christmas party committee. Being the only non-Kenyan involved in the planning process was quite a cultural experience. I was delegated decorations and asked to be at the party site at 8am the day of the party to decorate the tents for the party that started at 10am. I arrived to find a few guys attempting to unload 4 huge tents and several hundred chairs from a truck. Not much for me to decorate at that point. I finally tracked someone down and asked where the decorations were so I could see what I had to work with. She pulled a small shopping sack out from under her desk with two bags of balloons and two spools of ribbon. I realized I now had about an hour and a half to blow up about a hundred balloons and make several dozen bows. I enlisted some help in the business office and somehow made it happen. Luckily for me nothing here starts remotely on time so we did eventually finish the decorations which looked more like a pep rally than a Christmas party but it worked.



The dance contest was the most interesting part of the all day event. The only mzungu who entered won. The dancing is as bad as it looks. I cringed the whole time.





What is a party without food?? There was plenty to go around even with this loong line! Word to the wise - be very cautious of large quantities of food prepared in a developing world situation. Everyone you see in this picture had diarrhea the next day. We just ate rice and chipatis and thus were spared.



Because it doesn't exactly "feel" like a North American Christmas I have found I have to be very intentional with "Christmas" things. It is very nice to be away from some of the commercialization and busyness of the Christmas season at home but at the same time some of those special things that happen only once a year are cultural clues that help build anticipation of the big day. Christmas here is definitely different. It is simple and pure and lovely in a lot of ways. But it isn't very Christmasy. We did make cookies several times and luckily I have finally figured out how to bake at this altitude so they were actually good this year.







One of the highlights of this Christmas season was having the entire AIDS Relief Program over to our house for a Christmas party. I worked for two days preparing food and getting everything ready. We had sent out invitations that invited everyone over at 1pm on this day (typical Kenyan lunch time). I had times everything perfectly and had everything hot and on the table, Christmas music playing and waited anxiously for the first guests to arrived. 1:10. 1:15. 1:35. 1:50. No one. At this point I am stewing and Rhett is giving me a lecture on culture and how I shouldn't have expected anyone to actually show up at the stated time. To which I am replying in my very self centered American way that they should realize I am an American and when I say 1pm I mean it! 2:00. Still no one. The food is cold. Finally about 2:10 people start coming in. Lesson learned. I should have put 11:30 on the invitation :)

It was simply wonderful opening our home to all of Rhett colleagues (he is the only mzungu in the department). I am so thankful for the amazing friendships and relationships that Rhett has made with these people over the past 14 months. When talking with some of his friends he learned that none of them had ever been invited into a missionary home before in fact they all thought that we (missionaries) had been told not to socialize with them (Kenyans). This really upset Rhett because we are here to make relationships and encourage them in the work they do here. This party could not have been more timely to demonstrate our appreciation and commitment to them and our friendship.





Our kids could not have been more excited about this party. We are SO grateful for the impact it is having on our children to see us using our home as a place of ministry and home that is open to all people of all colors and backgrounds. I think about how a lot of well intentioned white Americans teach their children about equality and yet never have a person of color around their dinner table.





After lunch everyone took to the basketball court and it kind of turned into field day!

Then we all gathered in our driveway where everyone started impromptu singing then came time for "appreciation". Each person who, in general comes across as reserved and stoic in this culture, began profusely thanking us not only for our efforts for the party and hosting them in our home but for coming to Kenya and being here with them. They said some of the nicest things I could ever imagine being said about anyone to Rhett. They were very clear how much he meant to them, how different and special his friendship was and how much they appreciated his work with them. We were taken aback. We had invited them to show them how much we appreciate THEM and here they were all one by one going around and thanking us. I told them all how much I appreciated their sacrifices and how it was a privilege for us to come along side them and help them in ministry to their people. These are people who have given up better pay and benefits to work at a Mission hospital caring for the people in their country suffering from HIV/AIDS in the context of the gospel. They are heroes in my mind. They will never receive much more recognition than they received that day but they are certainly to be admired.

It was a really important moment for me as well. In most ways I don't really get to see or experience what Rhett does on a daily basis which is basically why we are here. My days are spent mostly in our house and yard feeding children, reading to children, cleaning up messes made by children, disciplining children and otherwise loving my children. Which is the best job in the world and the one I've wanted my whole life but sometimes it seems like my whole life takes place in the space of our yard and I forget why we are here which is so that Rhett can come along side these incredible people and help train them and mentor them and encourage them in their ministry in addition to the mercy and care that he provides for the patients in the hospital. As I sat and listened to everyone talk about how much Daktari Rhett meant to them personally it helped me find a balance in my mind and heart as I really saw for the first time the impact we have had here.

I didn't expect this update to go quite this long more later.

Homeschool

So one of the new responsibilities I have taken on since moving to Kenya is homeschool. I realize that my kids are still preschool age but we all know that Kindergarten is the new first grade which makes 4K the new Kindergarten! I came prepared to make sure that my little ones were getting the enrichment that they needed at this age the best way I can provide here in this setting. Since I peruse homeschool blogs and always find what other people are doing very interesting I thought I do a quick update on what exactly we are doing for "school" this year!

First, I think I've learned that it is easiest to fit "school" in as we go about our normal day. I just want for them to really get the idea that there is a big wonderful world that God made out there that is ready for us to explore. Claire is the only one doing any sit down school work so we just do little spurts throughout our day - 15 minutes of math after breakfast, 10 minutes of handwriting before we go on a walk, 30 minutes of read aloud time (our favorite) whenever!

Here is the basics of the curriculum that I am using this year. Claire is still 4. She turns 5 in December so she will be in Kindergarten next school year. I feel like she is ready to take on K level things so we are basically starting K now based more on her age than the fact that she was born 4 months after the K cut-off age. Since I am her teacher I can do what I want! I don't have to wait until September because of a school calendar so that is nice.

Core curriculum:
Sonlight K with readers 1

Reading:
Headsprout (we started this awhile ago - we are finishing up the first 40 episodes).
BOB books
Modern Curriculum Press Phonics Readers

Handwriting:
A Reason for Handwriting K

Phonics:
Explode the Code 1

Math:
Singapore Math Earlybird A & B

Art:
Artistic Persuits

I really enjoyed researching different options and coming up with what I think will work well for our family. Last year I did the Sonlight 4/5 curriculum with Claire and loved it. Moving into the K level seemed natural. I LOVE the emphasis on great literature and reading that Sonlight offers. Read aloud time is precious to us and I love bonding over good books with my kids. I feel like I am knitting them into their childhood and we all love it. Even for non-home school families I would recommend looking at the Sonlight read alouds for your child's age level and using it as a guide for reading material or library check outs. I am thankful for the guidance it has given me. I would have underestimated Claire's ability if not for Sonlight.

I can recommend all of the resources I am using this year. Headsprout reading is amazing. It is a computer based reading program recommended to me by a friend who is a reading specialist. It has worked great for Claire in teaching her how to read and also teaching her basic computer skills. Singapore Math and A Reason for Handwriting are new to us but we are enjoying both a lot so far.

It is a joy to be able to teach my children and experience all of their new discoveries first hand. It is also nice to have them be learning so much but still have a day to day life that for the most part involves making mud pies, playing dress up, play dough, doll house, barbies and getting filthy dirty every day.

An American Girl Birthday

We decided to celebrate Claire's birthday a little early while we were in the US with our family. She has recently really gotten into American Girls and well, I'm excited. I love dolls and all things little girly and these dolls are just so much fun and sweet. Since there is an American Girl Cafe in Atlanta we decided to a girls only lunch for her there (a special treat for a little girl with two brothers and two boy cousins!).



Hannah (her doll) was looking a little rough from her trip from Africa. She came to the right place to get fixed up though!



Jo Jo and Gamma



The "birthday girl" about 7 weeks early!



Hannah went straight to the salon after our lovely lunch to get fixed up. She got her hair done and as a treat she got her ears pierced!







All of the ladies had a fun time eating and shopping together and celebrating FIVE years with our sweet Claire!

All dressed up . . .

I realize this is Thanksgiving but I thought I'd catch up a little bit and share our Halloween fun in the States! This year we had a little American Olympian . . .



Super Why . . .



and Olivia the Pig



We went to the Marietta costume parade with cousins Mac and Graham a few days before Halloween



and then got to trick or treat in Birmingham with Claire's sweet friend Sydney.





All of our kids are within days or weeks of each other. It is so much fun (and a little wild) when we get them all together!



The "babies" Batch and Gus



The girls trick or treated holding hands. It was so sweet!



They all had so much fun trick or treating in Homewood. They got an amazing amount of candy considering how little they are!

Our trip to the US

Well here it is the last day of our trip and I am just getting around to blogging about any of our time here! We were so thankful that we were able to have this time at "home" for the past 4 weeks. We had not planned on coming back during our two years in Kenya but Rhett had the opportunity to attend the Infectious Disease Society of America meeting in Vancouver. Lucky for us, my parents decided it would be in their best interest to fly me and the kids over with Rhett (vs them making the trip again!) so we turned it into a family vacation of sorts. We arrived just in time for Ford's 3rd birthday party celebration. He has been talking about his "Mickey Mouse Birthday" for months (not sure why the only interaction he has had with Mickey Mouse is a pair of pjs). It brought back lots of memories because we celebrated Ford's first birthday with a similar tailgate/family party and that was when Ford opened a special gift of a "big brother" t-shirt and shocked everyone with the news of Gus's future arrival!









My Mom found this toy motorcycle which was a huge hit for Ford who LOVES "pikis" as we call them in Kenya.



The kids stayed with grandparents while Rhett and I took off on our first "no-kids" vacation ever and went to the meeting in Vancouver. Rhett attended lots of meetings, sessions and poster presentations with lots of really smart people from all over the world who have lots of knowledge of infectious stuff. I had quiet, alone time in our hotel for the first time in almost 5 years. It was nice. I rented a bike on a couple occasions and rode around Stanley Park. It was lovely. We connected with some old friends and colleagues and had a nice time catching up. Here is the only picture I took in Vancouver - just to prove we were there.



We spent a couple more days with Rhett's family when we got back then we had to put Rhett on a plane back to Kenya while we headed west to Birmingham! First we had some more goodbyes to say . . .


(saying goodbye to Doc at the office - hence the cool head gear you get to wear when you are an ENT).



(and Gamma who would see Claire one more time during our visit but not the boys).

More to come on our time in Birmingham and Athens . . .