Turtle Bay Beach Resort: Malindi, Kenya

Last week we spent a relaxing few days at the beach on the Kenyan coast. In order to get there, we took a 3 1/2 hour car ride to Nairobi then boarded a 40-seater plane for a one hour flight to Malindi. Anna has done much better with our travels. She hasn't had any motion sickness since we've discovered that Dramamine works like a charm for her.

Anna and Leo had a fantastic time swimming in the pool and in the Indian Ocean. They spent so much time in the water that Bryan and I were wondering if they had developed fins and gills! The weather was perfect - 80's, sunny, and no humidity. Because we were so close to the equator, we used SPF 70 sunscreen every day. The kids and I came back pretty dark. Bryan, well...he may have come back a shade darker.

We thought we would share a few pictures...





Leo trying to catch fish by shooting them with a water gun.


Tide pools with fish, crab, and eels.


Leo doing water aerobics with the ladies.


Yum! Drinking "Traffic Light"


Making new friends on vacation


There were stands along the beach that sold jewelry, scarves, skirts, and multiple other things.





On our way back from the beach, we stopped in Nairobi to stock up on groceries. Two hours in the grocery store and two extra large grocery carts later, the kids were exhausted and ready for home.

Fairy Door Sighting in Kenya

Anna and Leo were very excited today to find a Fairy Door in our living room! They have seen several of them in Ann Arbor, Michigan but not in Kenya! Some of you may not be familiar with the fairy doors that are seen in Ann Arbor...All across the city, 6-inch fairy doors suddenly appeared. The doors are miniature openings into imagined fairy homes. They are located at various spots throughout downtown Ann Arbor.

Our Fairy Door is very special. It's a dark shade of purple with an intricate wood frame. It has a padlock on the door and a small key to open it. It also has flowers off to the side, complete with a watering can. Anna and Leo are intrigued with how the Fairy Door found its way to our home in Kenya!

Good babies

It is 5 AM and I just returned from the hospital. I am too keyed up to sleep just yet. I feel I often talk about the depressing aspect of medicine here. But over the last 2 hours, I delivered three healthy babies. I was called to OB for a mom who had been pushing for 2 hours with minimal descent of the baby into the pelvis. Upon arrival to the OB ward, I was informed there was a different mom who had just arrived from a local district hospital. She had been pushing for a while but was unable to deliver. The baby was fairly stuck in her pelvis, but was delivered with the use of a vacuum. Although it took 4 to 5 minutes for the baby to have spontaneous breathing, he ended up doing well. I then was informed of a mom who just came in breech and 6 cm dilated. It was her 7th baby. As I went to see her, she started to push, and I delivered the baby girl breech. After a slow start, this baby also did well.

Finally, I was able to evaluate the original mom I was paged about. Her baby was in a deep transverse arrest (looking sideways and not descending into the pelvis) and needed to be delivered by Cesarean section. Her surgery went well and the baby boy is doing great.

So, 3 good babies - delivered in three different ways - in 2 hours. I love my job.

Medical Interns

Our weekday always started with Morning Report at 8 am. All the interns and consultants from every service attended. It was a good opportunity to review interesting cases from different services. It was also a great learning opportunity for the interns. Wednesday mornings were reserved for Devotions.

We then had "walking rounds" with our own OB/GYN team

If we had time, we would then do "sit down rounds" with chai tea and mandazis (a delicious, donut-like pastry)

We had the interns over to our house for dinner and suture-tying class

Our newest intern: Anna Popp - class of 2029

Graduation

We were privileged to attend the graduation of the 16th intern class from Tenwek Hospital last weekend. When we decided to come to Tenwek, we were both excited that educating interns and medical students would be one of our responsibilities. We give lectures as well as teach on the wards and in the operating rooms. We have thoroughly enjoyed teaching the interns and feel we have learned a lot from them as well.

Both clinical and medical officers comprise the intern class. The clinical officers (CO) are equivalent to physician's assistants in the US and the medical officers (MO) have completed medical school. After they complete a one year internship, the COs will often work in outpatient settings, while the MOs are placed by the government to district hospitals in Kenya. The MOs function as ob/gyns, internists, pediatricians, and occasionally surgeons after spending only 3 months on each of these rotations. After the MOs complete one to two years of work at a district hospital, than they can return for residency training. Funding for their education is usually difficult and they need to be sponsored by the government or a private source to return for residency training.

A new group of interns have now started. The first week has been busy and challenging. However, seeing their eagerness to learn and their willingness to work hard have been so rewarding.

Work of Art

When I teach Anna, Leo often hangs out with us in the homeschool room. He'll color, play with his dinosaurs, or listen to Anna read. Today, Leo wanted to draw pictures in his notebook. I was speechless when I saw his pictures.


Leo explained that this picture shows "Jesus Christ being crucified on the cross. And see Mommy, there's the other crosses for the two other men". Then he showed me his second picture...


This picture, Leo said, was Jesus rising from his tomb. He also wanted to point out the smoke around Jesus.

I couldn't believe that all we have been sharing with Anna and Leo in the last month about Jesus' birth and death actually registered in his four-year-old head! Our home church, NorthRidge, has been amazingly supportive to us. We have been receiving monthly packages with DVD recordings of all the church services we have missed. NorthRidge Church has an awesome Christmas service - complete with songs, beautiful sets, and most importantly, an inspiring message. We were so excited to see "The Glory of Christmas" with the kids. Anna and Leo loved it so much that they watched it twice! And based on Leo's drawings, he got the message. Thanks NorthRidge family for inspiring us to "Change Our Game" and do what we are doing today!

Leo Turns Four!

Happy 4th Birthday to our little Leo! He shares his New Year's birthday with his awesome godfather, Uncle Steve. We knew Leo was special from the moment we saw him! He gives us something to smile about each and every day.

Leo woke up this morning with a swollen right eye - an early birthday gift from the mosquitoes that love him so much. We celebrated Leo's birthday with a small party - inviting his friends from his preschool class and their parents. Thanks to the Bemm family who shared all their birthday decorations and party favors. We played a few games, made balloon animals, and had cake. We're not sure what Leo thought of his party - he didn't seem to like all the attention being showered on him. However, he gave us a pretty big smile when he saw his cake decorated with one of his most favorite things in the world...a T Rex.

We're hoping Leo remembers this special birthday he had in Kenya with new friends we have made. We pray that all of you have a very happy 2011 filled with many blessings!