Birthday Sacrifices

Kristen here....


I wanted to say thank you to the very many of you that made my birthday so special.  There were so many special and thoughtful moments that I am overwhelmed.

Birthday cards from an ocean away!

The day before my birthday the mail was delivered to the hospital and I received several birthday cards from people back home.  Getting mail here is a huge event in general, but to know that people back home remembered my birthday and sent a card to me halfway around the world was so incredibly special.  Thank you.

That morning I got a birthday phone call from my parents.  International phone calls from home never happen and are so expensive.  I am loved.

Homemade cards from Kapsowar kids

Throughout the day here at Kapsowar, one by one the missionary kids on the station brought me their own homemade cards.  Each one was so precious.  Each child came to me to wish me a happy birthday and I loved the constant flow of visitors bringing their art work to share with me.  One boy in particular probably wished me happy birthday half a dozen times as he kept calling out "Happy Birthday, Kristen!" every time I walked by him that day. I loved it!  My birthday was definitely not forgotten.

Nothing so wonderful as homemade!

One of the missionaries here made me a cake during the day and brought it over along with a present of a beautiful handmade bag.  The cake was decorated with Happy Birthday Kristen written in frosting.  There is no Sam's Club here.  This cake was made from scratch with hands of love and a definite sacrifice of time.  The bag was bought in Nairobi which is not close and definitely took some advanced planning.  I felt so loved.

My surprised face walking in the door

That evening I came home from work and Dan mysteriously had the kitchen door closed and told me in no uncertain terms that I was not allowed to go in.  I couldn't figure out what he had going on in there.  I waked by the door several times to try to smell what might be cooking and couldn't come up with anything.  We were just relaxing when I got a message from one of the other missionaries that she was having people over for dinner and needed to borrow some onions.  I had a few extra so I walked over to her place to give them to her. Little did I know that her need for onions was not as great as her need to get me out of the house.  Everyone had plotted a special birthday surprise without my knowing it!

I walked back to our house and opened the door to find the place transformed with candles, the table set, dinner ready and presents on the table.  I could not believe it!  Dan and Ashley had been planning this for a while.  When I was gone delivering the onions Ashley came by with the candles, presents and had made us dinner.  She made pepperoni and mushroom pizza knowing that it is my favorite food.  Not only that, she also brought ranch dressing!  This blew me away.  These are precious, precious gifts and a sacrifice here for anyone.  Pepperoni is only something we can get back home. It is saved and only used on rare occasions because of how special it is.  I have been wanting pepperoni pizza for a long time.  What a treat!  Ranch dressing is also something I have been craving and we cannot get it here in Kenya.  I love dipping my pizza in ranch dressing.  Ranch dressing mix is highly coveted.  We can only get it on a rare occasion that a visitor has enough room in their bag to bring it. I cannot believe she sacrificed those those two incredibly special food items that we all love and miss so much for me.

The surprises didn't stop there.  I started opening gifts and again realized that I had been given some very special things.  One bag was full of chocolate items - candy bars that can only be found in Nairobi and chocolate chips from home.  Such a sacrifice!  Truly treasured items.  They also had an apron custom made for me here in Kapsowar as well as some beaded jewelry. Wow, so showered with love.

Dan then pulled out a present for me from himself.  I picked up the package and felt the weight.  This was not a light gift.  I recognized the wrapping paper and knew he had brought it from home. He must have planned this months ago before we had even left. As I unwrapped it my eyes began to fill with tears. He had given me several seasons of one of my favorite TV shows.  All of the DVDs were securely placed in a protective case.  The thoughtfulness of this comfort from home in a world where outside entertainment doesn't exist is an amazing present, but this wasn't what brought tears to my eyes.  As I held the weight of this gift in my hands I knew the sacrifice he had made to bring it here.  He had carried it over here in the one bag he was allotted for his own personal things (clothes, toiletries, shoes, etc.).  I knew when we were packing so many months ago that he was having trouble fitting everything into his suitcase due to the weight restrictions of the airlines and was forced to leave some of the things he really wanted to bring behind.  This was one of the reasons.  He sacrificed his own things so that he could bring this for me.  He willingly gave up two years worth of some creature comforts so that I would have a present on my birthday.  Wow.  That means so much when you are half a world away from all that is familiar and comfortable.

Caramel cake! The thick frosting makes the many cake layers slide, but it tasted like heaven!

The surprises didn't end there though.  Dan got up and walked into the kitchen and came back singing happy birthday.  I looked up and there was a caramel cake!  Dan had been working all day to put this together for me.  Caramel cake is a family tradition. It is a cake that generally takes two days to make, it is very complicated, very labor intensive and one that we only make for birthdays.  It is such a part of our family that my mom has made it a habit to continue to make the cake for each one of us kids and ship it to us where ever we are so that we will have it on our birthdays. This is the first year that was not possible.  Dan got the recipe from my mom and made it himself! Caramel cake even made it to Kenya. We each had a piece that night and it tasted exactly like the ones from home. So delicious!  What a perfect birthday! I am overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness.

Piles of ants in our sink

We woke up the next morning and I found myself overwhelmed for another reason.  We apparently weren't the only ones that were excited about the caramel cake.  ANTS!!!    We walked into the kitchen to find droves of ants had invaded.  These are not just any ants.  These are Safari Ants!  They bite so hard that they can draw blood.  When you stood in the kitchen quietly there were so many that you could here them walking and falling all around you.There were piles and piles of them swarming everywhere. There were crawling down the walls in such masses that they were falling down over each other.

Our poor cake demolished!

We had placed the caramel cake in the microwave thinking that it would be airtight to keep any bugs out.  We were wrong.  Not so airtight.  We both wanted to cry.  This special gift and sweet reminder from home was covered in ants.  It broke my heart to throw it away.  They were coming into the house in such masses it was completely overwhelming.  I have never seen anything like this.  The manager for the missionary station houses came to help us clear them out....a project that took all day.  We boiled water and poured it all over the counter tops, walls and floors.  We sprayed kerosene inside and outside the house to try to kill them (I didn't care if it made my home stink).  We used detergent to try to deter them with the smell.  It was incredible.  They just kept coming.  We have left other sweet things out on the counters overnight and have never had a problem.  I just could not believe the sight before my eyes.  Dan said that this might be the last caramel cake we have in Kenya. As much of a special family tradition as it is, I think I might agree with him.

One of the many lines of ants coming in through our window from the outside.

Baby Faith and Her Mom Went Home!

Myself, mom and baby Faith, Ashley who took care of the baby after birth.
(Posted with permission by the patient)

Kristen here...

Some of you have been following the story of a patient that I have been taking care of and her baby. For those that are jumping on this journey with us for the first time, let me give you a little background.  This patient came to me at about 31 weeks pregnant.  She was brought by a friend who was concerned about her and this pregnancy.  After hearing the patient's story, the reason for her concern was justified.  This patient had delivered 7 babies, but had no living children.  Her babies either died just shortly after birth or were delivered as stillbirths between 6-8 months of pregnancy. When she came to me she was 7 months pregnant and desperately seeking help.  She comes from nothing.  Her husband is an alcoholic and it was evident by her tattered clothes and slim frame she doesn't have any money of her own.  We delivered her a few days later by c-section and said a lot of prayers for this premature baby. The pregnancy was beginning to show signs of distress which pushed our hands to do an early delivery - knowing full well that premature babies can really struggle here, but also knowing she has had 5 other stillbirths at this point in pregnancy.  I am still not sure what took the lives of her other children which made this case that much more challenging because I didn't know what we were up against.

The patient and the baby did well.  It was interesting to watching this mother as she went from an attitude of indifference about her baby to one of joy and thankfulness.  Why shouldn't she be indifferent?  Hadn't she done this many times before only to go home empty handed?  The first few days of watching her child be in our NICU attached to IVs and oxygen was terrifying for her.  Was history just going to repeat itself?  Honestly, at that point I couldn't have given you an answer.

As the baby continued to thrive I saw this mother start to care for her, being at her bedside and being absolutely meticulous in every interaction with her fragile newborn.  I also saw this mother smile for the first time.  Wow, so much pain for one person to have to endure and now there was finally a glimpse of hope.  Many days later this new mother finally gave her baby a name - Faith.  Very fitting after all the prayers that went into the care of both mom and baby.  We truly were looking at a miracle.

One of the things that is different about Kenyan hospitals compared to back home is that when you come to deliver a baby you have to bring your own baby clothes and blankets.  If you don't bring your own baby blankets the newborn will have nothing to be wrapped in.  This is not supplied by the hospital. This patient didn't bring any clothes or blankets.  History had taught her that they weren't necessary.  Her babies never survived long enough.  This simple act struck me.  She really came to the hospital with no hope.  One of the missionaries caring for the baby saw this need and gave this mother the needed clothes and blankets.  A small thing in the grand picture, but a huge statement that we truly did believe her baby would live.

On the day the mom and baby Faith were discharged from the hospital the same friend that had originally brought her to us came to pick them up.  I hadn't really had a chance to talk to this friend when she originally brought the patient, but this time we had the chance to sit down and really talk.  This friend was planning on taking the patient and baby Faith back to live at her house for the next 6 months. She knows the desperate situation of the patient and her unreliable husband wants to make sure she is taken care of.  So wonderful!  One of my concerns is always how things are going to go at home after we discharge patients like this.  I was relieved to know that she was going to have at least some support. What further struck me is that as I was talking to this friend I learned that she is a retired NICU nurse that used to work at our hospital many years ago!  How incredible!  God not only saved the life of this premature infant, but also provided a nurse who specialized in caring for premature babies to go home with this first time mom and care for them both.  My eyes welled up with tears as I realized the gift that had just been given to this patient and her baby.  I could not have planned a more fitting situation if I had tried.

The patient and baby Faith walked out of the hospital and got into the waiting car.  This was the first time she had ever left with a child in her arms.  The promise of hope.  Such a sweet moment.

Her friend described to us where they will be living and we are hoping to do a home visit in another month or so to check in and make sure that all is well.  I will be sure to give you an update when we have one.  Thank you for following and for the many prayers that have been lifted up for this mom and her little one.  They were definitely felt halfway across the world!

French Fry Champions!

Kristen here...

In Kapsowar there are limited things to do for entertainment. There aren't places to go out to eat, go to the movies, etc.  We have learned to make up for this by creating our own fun.  This could be having people over for dinner, game nights or spur of the moment competitions.  The latter is what we found ourselves involved in this past Friday night.  With an abundance of potatoes suddenly available to us missionaries here what better way to use them than a french fry competition?  Each household came up with their own french fry recipe and entered the contest.  Of course my IT husband researched all types of recipes online and came up with one that he thought would be best. With all of the chopping involved to cut up each individual potato into thin fry worthy slices, I don't think I will ever under-appreciate a french fry from a restaurant again :-)  However, in the end it was worth it.  We went home the number one french fry champions....well, at least until the next competition.