If you follow our journey on Facebook or Instagram, you likely already know we arrived back in the States on the fourth of July. (If you missed our post explaining why we’re back in the States, click here.) We tried our best to stay awake long enough to watch fireworks, but after traveling for 30+ hours, we were exhausted. Our kids were amazing, though, and handled our 5-hour, 14-hour, and 3-hour flights like pros. Which I suppose they are now after the trips we’ve taken back and forth!
Friends, this is a hard post to write. As we’ve shared stories and photos and videos through the last year, I think it’s been clear that we love being in Kenya. We’ve worked to make this place home, and it truly is. We love our friends, colleagues, and neighbors here and can see ourselves living in East Africa long into the future. However, as we’ve learned many times in our lives, Pete and I understand we have to stay open what God is doing and the next step He has for us. An excerpt from the message we sent out to our Kenya email group earlier today explains where we currently find ourselves…
Can you believe this kid is SIX?! It’s true! One May 24, we celebrated with balloons and treats, and then we had a big birthday party the following weekend with our missionary family. If you know Sam, you know his very favorite food in all the world (and he’s been around the world!) is ice cream. With his current love of the Toy Story movies, particularly of Buzz and Woody, we tied the two together and had a big Toy Story Ice Cream Party!
We’ve nearly made it through the school year! At the end of each academic year, all the missionary kids at Tenwek collect pieces of writing, art, and other projects to put on display for our entire missionary community to see. Ella loved being a part of it this year. Sam had a few pieces from our preschool sessions, but he’s not big into art projects at the moment, so our family display was mostly from Ella.
Five years after he promised I could have chickens in Kenya, Pete came through on his word. We have hens! Mother’s Day weekend brought five laying chickens to our coop. I went to sleep on Friday night and woke up to their little clucks on Saturday morning. Pete had arranged with his friend to bring the girls by during the night so I’d be surprised. I had no idea they were coming!
One thing people may not realize about being a missionary doctor is that, even while serving overseas, doctors have to stay on top of their continuing education credits in order to renew their medical license every year. One way doctors across the world can get these credits is by attending specialized conferences. That is exactly what took us to Greece in March. Many of us at Tenwek traveled north for a conference put on by the Christian Medical and Dental Association (CMDA). There, Pete attended ten days of continuing ed courses while Ella & Sam participated in a really fantastic kids program and I spent time with the non-medical spouses.
