Safely Home

Almost 48 hours after leaving Tenwek, we have arrived home in Michigan exhausted but safe. Our scheduled 4-hour layover in Chicago turned into a 10-hour debacle due to severe thunderstorms in the Midwest. When we finally boarded the same plane in Chicago a second time (we were de-planed due to poor weather), the First Officer made an announcement that we did not have a pilot. That announcement did not go over well with our fellow passengers. People started yelling, really truly yelling at the Flight Attendant and First Officer. We feared that a full-fledged riot was underway. They threatened to call security to kick the yelling passengers off and things finally calmed down. Luckily, Anna and Leo had quickly fallen asleep as soon as we sat down, so they missed the ridiculous behavior of certain adults. We sat for another two hours on the plane. Finally, a pilot was located and we took off. Thirty-eight minutes later, we landed in Detroit. At baggage claim, we saw the smiling faces of our friends--the Rolfsen family-- who had come to pick us up at 2 am! How sweet to see the kids hugging and not missing a beat. Thank you for all your prayers for a safe journey! Our next task...to locate two of our missing bags :)

Leaving

The bags are packed. The good-byes are underway. We feel so blessed to have had our time here at Tenwek. Please pray for our safe travel home and for those who continue to serve here. We will miss our Tenwek family very much.

Homeschooling Success

It's amazing that Anna has completed an entire second grade homeschooling curriculum in less than nine months. She worked very hard and learned so many new things. We would be lying if we said that homeschooling was a walk-in-the-park. But, as with anything challenging, you receive so much more satisfaction and reward when you successfully complete it.

We used the Sonlight Curriculum and loved it. It offered a lot of variety in subject matter and Anna enjoyed the Christian-based curriculum. We also loved the one-on-one reading time we had with her. Anna learned to improve her writing skills. Here is a sample of her writing. She is given a picture (notice the boy in the bell). She then uses her imagination and writes a story about the picture. We were pretty impressed with this story.


When we packed up for home, her books totaled 75 pounds! Even more impressive is that she read all of them. Homeschooling was an invaluable experience for both Anna and us.

The Bemm Family

Chuck and Amy with David, Abby, Lydia, Hannah, Shadrach, Ellie, and Esther

The McCropders

McLaughlins (Eric, Rachel, Maggie) and Faders (Jason, Heather, Anna, Abi) and Cropseys (John, Jessica, Elise, Micah)


with Alyssa Pfister and newest McCropder: Ben McLaughlin

Sheila and Lilian

Day to day life in Kenya would have been much harder without our House Helpers: Sheila and Lilian. We will greatly miss them.

Daisy

We were "welcomed" back from holiday to a busy OB/GYN service. Daisy came in early Tuesday morning. She had labored at home and then started bleeding. She went to 3 smaller health care facilities, prior to Tenwek. By the time she arrived, her baby had died (a common and frequent scenario here that we will never get used to). Daisy continued to bleed very heavily. Her legs and feet were covered in blood. She delivered her stillborn fetus vaginally. She received IV fluids, oxygen, cytotec and pitocin to help firm up the uterus, aggressive uterine massage and intrauterine foley balloon placement. Her hemoglobin came back at 1.2! (Normal is 12-14). At this point, the patient was becoming more lethargic but amazingly still alive.

Because she was still bleeding and her hemoglobin was alarmingly low, we decided she needed a hysterectomy. We prayed with her as she was getting prepped. She received her first unit of blood as we began her surgery. Her hysterectomy went smoothly and she was then taken to the ICU.

Daisy is now post-operative day 8 - having received 4 units of blood. She is eating, walking, smiling, and ready to go home. Although she lost her uterus at age 26, we are thankful she does have one healthy child at home.

We have never seen a patient with a hemoglobin as low as 1.2. It's by God's grace that she survived. Please continue to pray for Daisy's recovery. Pray for emotional healing- for the loss of her baby and future pregnancies. Pray for hope. As our time here at Tenwek sadly comes to a close, we will remember and pray for all our patients. A friend of ours who is a missionary in southern Sudan said, "We cannot prevent death, but we can provide hope."

Holiday in Lamu, Kenya

I think "holiday" is my new favorite word. It just sounds so much more festive and happy than "vacation". Well, we just went on holiday with some friends from Tenwek. Without a doubt, Lamu, Kenya has one of the most beautiful beaches we have ever seen. Specifically, we were in an area called Kizingoni Beach which was only accessible by speedboat or dhow. We were spoiled with memorable fellowship with friends, great weather, and delicious seafood.


Dhow sailing is one of the main modes of travel in Lamu.


Lobster anyone?


Our holiday group (clockwise from left) Joy, Anna, Carol, Jodi, Eric, Bryan, Leo, Toanh, Nathan, Julia.


A beach all to themselves (Nathan and Anna looking for seashells).


Good friendships last a lifetime.

Pizza Night

Fridays are pizza and movie night. This has been our family tradition for awhile - even in the States. The only difference in Kenya is that we have to make our pizza from scratch. We have come to love making pizza with the kids. In fact, most of the missionary families here at Tenwek have Friday pizza nights. We often have had "communal pizza nights", where each family brings their own pizza to someone's home and we all get to try each other's pizza combos.

We start with making the pizza dough. Our favorite recipe is a wheat pizza dough which we have shared with you at the end of this blog. Anna and Leo love rolling out the dough. Of course, flour goes everywhere! Sometimes I just have to look the other way. The mess is worth seeing their smiles. Once we roll out the dough, we like to bake it for a few minutes before topping it. This helps prevent a soggy pizza.


Now the crusts are ready to top. This is the creative part. We use whatever we have in the fridge or ready locally. Some of our favorite combos: spinach, caramelized onions, and a drizzle of barbecue sauce/ pepperoni and pineapple (kids' favorite)/ green olives, roasted cauliflower, and chickpeas/ tomatoes, basil, red pepper/ and the list can go on and on. We then bake the pizza only a few minutes to just melt the mozzarella cheese. Yum!


After a belly full of pizza, we usually watch a movie with the kids on our laptop. It does get cozy with four of us huddled around a 15-inch screen, but I can't think of a better way to spend a Friday night!

Friday Night Pizza dough (makes two 12-inch pizzas or three thin crusts)
-3 tsp yeast
-1 1/2 cups warm water
-3 Tbs. olive oil
-1 tsp salt
-2 1/2 cups white flour
-2 cups whole wheat flour
Dissolve the yeast in warm water. Add oil and salt to that mixture. Mix the flours and knead them into the liquid mixture. (It will be sticky.) Cover with towel. Let dough rise for 30 to 40 minutes.

A Root Canal in Africa

There are many things I thought I would experience in Africa, but a root canal was not on the list!

Over the last month, I was experiencing pain on my left top molar. I suspected a cavity (this would not be my first) and started brushing and flossing multiple times a day. As the weeks went on, the pain worsened. I knew I needed help when I was getting up at night to take pain medication to sleep. So I went to the Tenwek dentist.

We are very blessed to have a great dentist serving our community. Dr. Kuyaya has been at Tenwek for 10 years. I was expecting him to treat me for a cavity and I would be on my way. You can imagine my surprise when we started to discuss root canals. The X-ray showed an area of decay under a filling I already had. Once he drilled out this filling, the decay reached the pulp of my tooth. So the only option was a root canal. He performed the procedure in a two-step approach. And today, I had the procedure completed. I am not sure the price of a root canal in the US, but I am quite certain it is more than $53!

Oh, the memories I will treasure from my time in Africa.


Files placed in my molar to clean out the roots

X-ray verification of proper placement

Anyone for a hot dental tool?

The old spittoon - thought I had seen the last one of these when I was 10 years old.