One Week

There are more posts from our safari weekend that I would like to write (probably once we get home). For now I want to switch gears on posting topics. While the safari was wonderful and a dream come true, it is not why we chose to come to Kenya at this point in time in our lives and it represents little of our activities here.

One week. That's the amount of time we have left. Next Wednesday, we will go to Nairobi and get on a plane to return home. Feelings are mixed. I’ll make mention here that the thoughts and feelings I’m sharing are primarily mine and the kids. David has not had much opportunity to process his own thoughts, much less share them with me!

Of course, there are many positives to home: seeing, talking to and spending time with family and friends (and our dog); our church; not having to remember to turn the hot water heater on before we need it; not feeling like I need to buy something from everyone who asks; having access to a dryer, dishwasher, high speed internet and my favorite drive-thru (Chick-Fil-A). However, when I look at that list, most things are mere conveniences, things we could do without.

There are some things I do dread about returning home. Primarily, my tendency to be bombarded by the pace of American life. While doing everyday life here is not easy, it is much simpler. I’ve been asked if it has been hard making so many meals; at home I’d never cook and prepare as many meals in my kitchen in the same amount of time I have here. However here I don’t have a car; outside our initial grocery run, any errand I’ve done was accomplished with a short walk. Here I don’t have NEARLY the same amount of laundry, house, and stuff to juggle. Here I can be in any room of our apartment in about 15-20 steps (for David it’s about 10). Here I have some help with the house work. We have had another worker, Winnie, come in to help a few days and I am so thankful. Monday, she ironed for 3 ½ hours!

The reason I most struggle with leaving is the people. It is so easy to see the need here. It’s not that we are the only ones skilled to do the jobs, but the workers are few. I’ve shared that there has been a big need in the pediatrics department. Paul, the wonderful family medicine doctor we mentioned who had been running peds, has unexpectedly had to return to the States on an indefinite leave due to a family situation. Thankfully there is another short-term pediatrician coming on the 12th to serve for a few weeks. Please pray for the call to be answered (my request on 10/2 on our prayer calendar).

Our children see the need, too, and have expressed concerns about leaving. They do miss family and friends, but have loved their time here. Tonight at dinner Abby, the one who most often mentions seeing others back home, said she was sad to think about leaving. It has been interesting because they haven’t spent significant amounts of time around the same people (other than Helen and Winnie). We have been able to see Megan and Rhett’s kids quite a few times and they always enjoy that. They’ve played around kids a few times at the playground, but rarely the same ones more than twice. More often we see the workers, vendors, and some staff at the hospital. The chaplains have been very verbally appreciative of their visits to the children at the hospitals.

Today before lunch we were able to make another visit to CURE and this afternoon a visit to Kijabe (Bethany Kids). There were fewer children in the CURE playroom so after a while Phoebe asked if we would walk down the hall to visit the children who were in their beds on the ward. Madeline, again, was fantastic churning out the balloon animals and hats. A 9 year-old boy named Peter really took to John. He had met us in the playroom. He was extremely polite and spoke very good English. Once we went to the ward, he showed John all around and introduced him to everyone. It was very hard to tell him goodbye. Phoebe was so kind and encouraging to the children and me before we left. She told us that our visits had not been in vain and that we had made a mark. It made me teary and I told her that we were so encouraged by her work and heart for Christ and the children.

John and his buddy Peter

John, Abby and Madeline with Phoebe and Peter at AIC CURE

We went to Bethany Kids at Kijabe Hospital this afternoon to give Mercy more of the decorated name cards to put over the patient’s beds. She walked the kids around until they each spotted one of their cards in use. We were able to make a few more visits and balloon animals.

Madeline in front of 2 pieces of her artwork.
Sidenote on this "smile": After the 1st few pics I took of her here, I mentioned retaking it b/c she wasn't smiling. She kindly informed me that, yes, she was smiling. I gave up - not wanting to pester her into a Garfield grin. Of course, whenever I uploaded said smile on the blog, I worried people at home would believe her to be unhappy here.
Today while we were at CURE, Peter borrowed Abby's camera to take some pictures. While trying to snap a shot of Madeline, he peeked out from behind the camera and said, "laugh". It worked for him; I guess I need to try it :)

Abby's artwork (sorry it turned out blurry)

John's artwork.
Mercy told the kids that since using their name cards, the patients are taking them home when they leave.

Mercy and one of the patients at Bethany Kids.

I want to interject here that I have been very proud of my kids on these visits – for a few reasons, but one very important one that I want to share:

There have been at least 2 times that Madeline, Abby and John have seen children who most of us would find difficult to look at. We just don’t run into that many people with severe facial deformities. Mercy had asked them about it before the 1st visit and they said they wanted to try. Today, it wasn’t planned; we met the little boy when we went to find Mercy. The kids and I talked about strategies to use in this situation, but we also talked about “God’s eyes.” We love the Brandon Heath song, “Give Me Your Eyes” (if you’ve listened to a few hours of Christian radio in the past 3 years, you’ve probably heard it; oh yeah, it’s on the blog, too – almost forgot since the music doesn’t load on dial up unless you’ve been on the page for 30 minutes). I have prayed on my own and with the kids that God would give us His eyes for these children and that we would see them as He does. “Give me your eyes…for everything I keep missing …. Give me Your love for humanity; Give me Your arms for the brokenhearted, the ones that are far beyond my reach; Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten, Give me Your eyes.” I’ve listened to that song thousands of times in the past few years, but have never experienced it so literally before now.



I’d like to share a few answers to prayer, and a few more specific requests.

I haven’t talked to my sister, but I know she arrived in Liberia safely. Please continue to pray for her while she is there. If you haven’t done so, check out her blog: http://deedeeeubanks.blogspot.com/

Our friends Barry and Mike made it home safely. We had hoped to see them last weekend as we were all in Masai Mara, but it is a VERY big place and our camps were not close. We look forward to swapping stories when we get back home.

David is on call this weekend so he will be working the next 6 days. He seems to be feeling more comfortable each day though he still spends time most every evening reading his texts. I’m certain he hasn’t read or studied medicine this much since he took his board exams in 2004.

If you've made it to the bottom of this post, thank you for reading and praying.