Yesterday baby Michelle and her caregiver Victoria moved into their new living quarters. They will be here the next two months while we work to help Michelle gain weight and strength. I have a feeling that she is going to do very well. By last night she was more alert than I had seen her before.

CPR Class

William (in the center) demonstrating back blows for a choking victim in the CPR class.

Michelle and Michelle

About a month ago we had some chaos at the clinic in the middle of the night. William (unbeknown to me as I was sleeping like a baby) got up to check it out. He came home and woke me up with these words "There is a big crisis at the clinic". So I hopped out of bed to start pulling on my boots. Then he said "Don't bother, she's already dead".

It turned out that a woman who lives on the other side of the river had given birth at home. She had a retained placenta and began hemorrhaging. After a few hours of trying to stop the bleeding her family and neighbors put her on a plastic tarp and carried her to the clinic. She died shortly after arriving at our dispensary. The baby however lived.

A few days later I met the baby for the first time. Her name is Michelle. Her grandmother has been taking care of her since she was born. As a clinic and Home Based Care staff we have tried to provide as much support as possible. But Michelle is still really struggling. She is not developing well and definitely not thriving. So this week the decision was made that she will come and stay with us on the clinic grounds. She will be living in the new Home Based Care office along with Victoria who was the caregiver for our last clinic charge, Flovia. Please pray that she begins gaining both weight and energy. I'll keep you posted!

Busy Busy

Wow! It's been a busy and emotional week or so. I still haven't gotten around to moving pictures from my camera to my computer. I'm really hoping it will happen sometime this week.

This weekend was super full as we attended David and Allison's (colleagues) wedding. I went with some of the ladies the day before the wedding to help decorate. We spent the night at the place where the wedding was to be held. It was the same venue that William and I had our second wedding reception. So it brought back a lot of special memories. I still can't get over how much has happened in those short ten months since we said our vows.

This week also promises to be long and emotional. Today we have a ladies party for Allison, it's a national holiday here in Kenya. Wed is my 29th birthday. It will be my first one away from CA and my parents. Due to the chaos we have been experiencing lately we haven't made any plans at all. I think I'll have a few friends over to share dinner though.

Speaking of friends, a dear friend of mine is moving away this week. Adele believes that God is calling her on to something new and different from ELI. Thursday night we will say goodbye to her. My eyes fill with tears as I just think about saying goodbye.

Well hopefully somewhere in the course of this week I'll get some pictures and more interesting stories up for you. In the meantime know that we are pressing on in what God has for us. Hugs from Africa!

Zebras, Baboons and Gazelle's - Oh My!

It has been an exhausting and draining few weeks. I keep meaning to post and keep running out of time and or energy. I wanted to put pictures up but just realized that I forgot to bring my camera along with me; I'm in Nairobi once again.

Tomorrow I'll be visiting the US Embassy to pick up a letter regarding William's visa application. I have no idea yet what it says. But I am sincerely hoping it is a letter of approval. If that is the case we will be able to schedule his physical exam and an interview. Once he passes the exam and interview we would have a visa. I'm hoping that all will work out so that we can be in CA for Christmas. I'll keep you posted!

I mentioned it had been a busy week. We had an incredible team from Salem OR here this last week. I had the privilege of working with two of the ladies in the clinic. One was a physical therapy assistant. She gave some great trainings to our staff. The other works for the Red Cross. We were able to hold a full CPR and First Aid course over the course of the week. Some days we had up to 26 people in attendance. Nineteen people completed the entire course and earned certificates of completion. Doing a first aid training was one of my dreams/goals for this year. So thanks team for helping make it happen!!

I also had a visit from a friend of mine who is a missionary in Sudan. Anna came in on Friday and spent the weekend with us. She is amazing. I call her super-nurse and super-missionary. It was refreshing to share stories and just spend time together. Unfortunately she has been suffering from malaria. So I got to play nurse to my friend this weekend. We are praying she will be back on her feet before heading back to Sudan on Wed.

Anna and I took the shuttle down to Nairobi together this morning. The last few times I've made the drive I haven't seen any wildlife whatsoever (unless you want to count cows, pigs, sheep and goats!) but today we hit the jackpot! We saw zebras, baboons and gazelles between home and Nairobi. We were keeping our eyes peeled for a lion or giraffe (not too likely to be spotted from the road). I'll be flying home with my colleague Adele on Wed AM.

oops

I just realized that it's going on two weeks since my last post. I guess I've been busy! I've actually had a few stories on my mind that I want to get on the blog. I just haven't had the time to upload the pictures and sit with the computer to get them written.

Getting home from Nairobi was a bit of a rough week. We actually had two funerals that week. A young lady died in childbirth (more on that story to come in a future post), and we lost one of the leaders in our church. I don't know if I will ever get used to the fact that death is a normal part of life here. Then I was down last weekend with some sort of gastro-intestinal bug. But I'm back on my feet and in full swing now.

We have a team coming in from Salem, OR today. I'm pretty excited because two of the ladies will be joining us in the clinic. We have been e-mailing plans back and forth over the last few weeks. One of the ladies works for the Red Cross. It looks like we will be holding our very first CPR and First Aid training. Our staff is pretty excited. They study CPR in school but there are no certification/re-cert programs required by the Ministry of Health here. It should be a good, if busy, week!