The new house

Recently we have made a short move. We had been previously living in Intern housing which had to change after graduation. We now live down the hill from the hospital in an apartment that is about twice the size of our previous dwelling. It's a beautiful place and an answer to prayer in many ways. Initially we were told there would be no available housing for us because of lack of space, but God made a way faithfully. This is the front of the house complete with a huge fenced in yard for the kids to run and play.

This is Rachel and Samuel enjoying the morning on the back balcony with a great view of the valley and the morning mist. There is a river at the bottom of the valley which we can't actually see from our house but we can hear it clearly when the house is quiet at night.

Still not owning a table we utilized our resources the first few meals in our new home. There's a certain intimacy that occurs when eating on the floor as such.

Another praise report was our first bath tub for the kids to enjoy splashing around.

Another first for us in Kenya is a double sink. Of course the dirty dishes are routine.

We also prayed for an oven while in this new home. It was looking a bit bleak and we had decided we would survive with out an oven once again for a few months. Then at the last moment we were offered a range but the oven didn't work because the door wouldn't open or close. A little wd-40 allowed the door to open and our folding step stool keeps it closed. In the end the oven works great.

Another blessing is the fireplace. Of course you wouldn't think a fire would be necessary in Africa, but where we live can get a bit cold and it rains a lot. We've had many nights over the last year when we would have loved to have a fire to warm the house. God is good and now we have one. We even have a place to hang the stockings.

This is our lovely christmas tree with Tekoa and Eliza acting goofy just after decorating.

Tekoa's Birthday

12/12/12 Tekoa turned 4 years old. His birthday wasn't celebrated in the usual fashion but we had quite a day. His birthday is on a Kenyan national holiday kind of like the 4th of July in the US. The good thing about that is it's always a holiday. For us it was a day of travel to Nairobi because the following day we were scheduled to apply for Samuel's passport. So Tekoa's birthday was spent in a hot sweaty car traveling to Nairobi and then around Nairobi looking for an open photo study to get passport photos that would meet US Embassy qualifications. By 6pm we made it to our hotel exhausted. We did however make some time to have pizza and buy a few gifts for Tekoa. The gift that won first prize wasn't from us at all though. It was a superhero outfit that his Papa and Nana sent from the US. He has successfully worn it now for 3 days straight.(that includes to the embassy and to bed) A cleaning is surely due. Apparently to him a superhero doesn't smile.

IT IS FINISHED!

The time has finally come. The long awaited graduation. It has been a long and rewarding internship as well as training process. Though we as a family faced many challenges to thought patterns, life style change and cultural disturbances we have grown so much closer to each other and the Lord. December 1st marks the day of completion. Not just of the internship but the entire clinical officer training process thus qualifying me as a Kenyan clinical officer.

This is the building we have been living in the last year. Currently we are in the process of moving to another house for the remaining couple of months we are here.

Surgery was one of the most demanding services I rotated in. It had me up before 6am everyday and home after 6pm. It was also a lot of fun because it was so hands on. This poor guy had a major fracture needing a special plate screwed in.

Every service I was on gave me an opportunity to be in an outpatient setting. This was a little more challenging in terms of communication, but God's grace is sufficient.

This is most of the interns that were at Tenwek for the year. In all there were 8 clinical officers and 8 medical officers. At one point the medical officers went on strike leaving the rest of us to pick up the slack for almost a month. It was a difficult time and also rewarding as God daily gave us the strength to rise above.

One graduation gift was a trip to the Masai Mara. We were the first group to ever have such an experience. This is the group in front of a huge pond full of hippos.

Graduation day was great. It was a little anti-climactic because I still was on call the whole next day. This is a group shot of us and some consulting doctors who were involved in training us.