Washington DC

We just got to spend this last weekend with my brother, Kevin in Washington DC.  He is living here and going to law school.  It was so fun to see where he lives as well as his school and exchange stories of post graduate school woes.  I am so thankful that God got me through medical school, but I would definitely never want to go back there again. I feel his pain with classes starting again tomorrow.

Between his summer internship and the school year starting he gave us his only weekend off to play tour guide. I don't know if he will ever forgive me for making him walk all over DC to see the different sites.  We were all sort of limping the next day. 

As we went from site to site and relived the roots of our history here I could not help but feel a sense of pride and also a sense of sadness.  This One Nation Under God has come so far and done so much and yet, at the moment, seems so confused.  Rereading the words of our forefathers and the language they used there seemed to be much less confusion then than there is now. It was very clear in their own minds why they were working to overthrow their current government, why they put their lives and the lives of their families in the balance.  They knew exactly what they were fighting for and the promises they were making to each other and to this new nation.  They were on the verge of something great though the odds were sorely stacked against them.  It was sheer determination, will, faith and I believe Divine Providence that brought them through it. I still cannot believe that a few trained men and a bunch of rebel rousers were able to take on the world's superpower at that time and overcome them.  There were some very dark days during those 8 years of the revolution, but in the end we were not defeated.  This nation was born on a miracle.

The last line of the Declaration of Independence says this-

"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our Sacred Honor."

No doubt! They knew what they stood for. They knew that it was divine providence that was going to hold them together and they knew what they had to promise to each other to make this work. "our lives, our fortunes and our Sacred Honor," --that was a united group.  Rough roads were ahead and they knew that on no uncertain terms. Shouldn't this serve as a model for us as Christians? Isn't this the code by which the disciples lived? As Christians the Bible promises that rough roads are ahead.  Doesn't that mean that our dedication to each other with a reliance on God should be even more at the forefront of our existence?  These are some of the things that have been swirling around in my head over the last few days at our nation's capitol.  Our founding fathers were some incredible men and I truly believe that God blessed them for their faithfulness.  I just wonder if we could learn a thing or two by looking back at our starting point to see where our success really came from.

"Prayer at Valley Forge" by Arbold Friberg

Depicting George Washington praying for his men before battle.

 

New White Coat

Dan and I are definitely going to a rural hospital. The water is not drinkable out of the tap, the hospital has backup generators for the many times that the electricity goes out and our nearest grocery store will be two hours away. However, this is nothing compared to some of the hardships that some of the other Post Residents in my class will be facing.  We will at least have electricity (spotty though it may be), we will also have access to hot showers, we won't be the only ones from our country on our team and we aren't bringing young children and toddlers who want to crawl on the ground and put everything in their mouths - I stand in awe of what some of the others in our class are setting out to do.  We will have it easy compared to them.  Yet, many of them have been to these countries and hospitals before.  They know what they are getting into, they know what sacrifices they are making and they pursue this new life with joy.  Wow.  A new level of crazy? Maybe. I think, however, it is more of a deep rooted dedication toward loving the Lord and loving the people they are going to serve. I admire them for this and I hope that we will be able to stay in touch as God leads us all on similar, yet different journeys.

Last night at dinner the SP staff handed out a gift to all of the physicians. They had gotten us all personally embroidered white coats.  I nearly cried.  Long white coats are an almost universal symbol of a physician.  This will become a daily part of my uniform as I trek to the hospital.  Almost every medical school has a "white coat ceremony" when the new medical students start their classes.  It is a ceremony that is not insignificant and is often attended by the student's families.  It is a way of recognizing the journey you are about to embark on and the often life changing challenge of medical school and residency that lies ahead. The symbol of the white coat is significant, not only as a symbol of occupation to the outside world, but also a type mutual understanding between those that wear them of the battles they have gone through.  Medical school and residency are definitely their own unique battle fields.

At Kapsowar, it is important to the staff that the physicians wear their coats.  I had one left over from residency that is definitely showing some wear and it also has my maiden name still printed on the front.  This is now my first white coat with my new name as well as the logo of Samaritan's Purse.  What a symbol of a new chapter of life! What an honor to serve in this way!

Our Post Residency Class of Physicians

SP

We are in North Carolina finishing up our 10 day orientation.  It has been some really wonderful days. We have met some incredible people and been given some great resources and advice.  Every time I turn around I am again amazed at how well organized and supportive Samaritan's Purse is for those of us moving overseas with the Post Residency Program.  My hat is off to those that have gone before us and pursued medical missions on their own.  I don't know how they could have done it without the backing and support of so many wonderful people back home.

Yesterday we received a tour of Samaritan's Purse.  It was so wonderful to see the nuts and bolts behind the operation that has done so much for us. Unfortunately, there were no Franklin Graham sightings on our tour :-), but we have felt so loved and supported by every one of the staff members that we have encountered.  Every morning devotions for the entire organization in Boone are held in the cafeteria.  At the end of the devotions all of the employees break up into groups of two or three and prayer for different staff members all over the world.  It is so incredible to know that we will have people back here in North Carolina that may not even know us, praying for us on a consistent basis.

One of the things that has struck me is how all encompassing being an overseas missionary will become.  Not only will we be doctor/IT, we will learn to be Martha Stewart-cooking everything from scratch, master handyman because there isn't anyone else to fix things when they break, students of a new language, an expert in foreign current and voltage for our electronics, scientific inventor as we trouble shoot medical equipment in the face of limited supplies, cultural anthropologists as we work to assimilate into a new culture, local Bible experts, family to the other missionaries on our team, writers through blogs and newsletters that get published, and business managers as we work to raise support and manage our overhead and expenditures. Whew...it becomes a lot to keep track of!

No Longer Homeless :-(

I have taken a couple of days to blog about this as I gather my thoughts and work to try to reign in my emotions. Dan and I received a phone call on Tuesday that made my heart sink.  The buyers for our home backed out.  It is incredible how much that one sentence feels like a ton of bricks sitting on our shoulders.  Tons of prayer had gone into the selling of our home, prayer by many of you that read this blog. Our home had sold incredibly quickly and everything was falling into place for our September 8th departure. Our plane tickets had been bought, the travel arrangements made and we were in full swing of getting things ready to move overseas. Ufff....now what?

It is sort of ironic that the thought of not being homeless makes me want to cry. As I sit here and think over these things it is hard not to be angry or frustrated. One of our speakers this past week at our Samaritan's Purse orientation was talking about different cultural frustrations when working overseas.  She defined frustration as, "the feeling that results from not getting our way."  This is sort of funny and also sort of humbling. As I thought about her words more I could not think of an instance of frustration where this definition did not apply.  It sure doesn't put the emotion of frustration in a very good light. It makes it sound like a little kid throwing themselves on the ground screaming because someone took away their crayons. It is almost like frustration is an adult version of a temper tantrum.

Needless to say, I have had a hard time not having an adult temper tantrum over the last few days. Dan and I have prayed about it, talked with our realtor and have decided to put our house back on the market. We are continuing to pray and ask for prayer from all of you regarding this.  We are hoping for a miracle, to sell our home quickly once again.  I truly believe that God was apart of our first home buyer process and will provide again.  It is so hard, however, to sit and wait while putting the future on hold.  I know that there is reason in this even if we can't see it in the moment. One of our speakers last week made a comment, "Our God is the God of our tomorrows before we even get there."  Those words have echoed through my head over and over again as we take a step back, take a deep breath and wait to see how the Lord provides.  Thank you for walking with us through this process, for praying and for continuing to encourage us in this journey. 

Goodbye Cali

Our time in California has now come to a close. It was so wonderful to spend three weeks visiting with family and friends. What a blessing. We got to visit my grandmother, go backpacking, visit my cousin Jenny and her family in Visalia, my college roommate and her family in Davis, make a trip to Mexico, visit with Mary and Brent Adamson, spend some time enjoying the waves at the beach and put in a good amount of time in the games department with my parents. Anyone who knows my family well knows that this is a mandatory activity in our household. My mom treated us with delicious homemade meals and I think we all probably gained a little weight, but most of all just enjoyed being together teasing, laughing and doing life.

It is a little surreal to think that it will be two years before I have the opportunity to enter my childhood home again or walk back through the doors of the church I grew up in. I am sure the time will go by quickly, but I can’t help but think about how things might change or be different in that two year period of time.

Change isn’t always good or bad, but it always involves a loss. A loss of what was to the evolution of
what will be. Sometimes change is much anticipated and a cause for excitement – getting a new job,
moving to a new home, getting married – other times it is not so desired which makes the sting of the
inevitable loss that much harder to carry. As I said goodbye to my parents this morning I stand in the
wake of change that holds both characteristics. Moving overseas to serve in ministry is something I
have worked towards for over a decade. It has been a prayer, a dream and it is now becoming a much
anticipated reality. I can think of nothing more satisfying or fulfilling than doing what the Lord as asked of you. At the same time however, saying goodbye comes with a loss. It will be years before I am back home again and possibly years before I see some of the most influential people in my life. What will they be like? What will have changed never to be the same again? What will I miss out on? I have found that this guessing game only makes the goodbye more painful. I have also found that I am more and more thankful for modern technology which will make communication and staying in touch with those back home so much easier. Without that promise to stay connected I think I might absolutely fall apart. As technology inept as I am, God knew exactly what generation I needed to belong to and I don’t think it was an accident that my husband works in IT.

The goodbyes are done, the tears shed and now it is time to look forward. We are currently flying to
North Carolina for a 10 day orientation with Samaritan’s Purse. I am so hoping that this is a time not
only to be filled with good information and to have many of our questions answered, but also a time to be energized and gain momentum about moving forward into what God has planned. I am excited to meet the other people in our Samaritan’s Purse “class” of post residency program. People who have the same heart desires and also will be setting out to move to another country soon. I am hoping that we come out of this 10 day period more excited and ready to serve than ever before.

When we return to Michigan we will have to hit the ground running. While we were gone in California our house sold! HUGE PRAISE! But that also means that we will have approximately 8 days to sell all of our things, put a few in storage and pack our lives up into 7 suitcases to move overseas. This is also going to be the time when we will be trying to see and say goodbye to many of our friends and church family in Michigan. I don’t think sleep is going to be a common commodity for us when we return. We will also be going out to Washington DC to visit my brother Kevin during this time. Whew....maybe we are going to have to hit the ground sprinting. Prayer for endurance would be much appreciated!

We Might Be Crazy

The summer is in full swing and with that comes all of the many preparations it takes to move our lives overseas.  Starting out this journey we knew there would be challenges and obstacles to face, but neither of us understood the magnitude of what lay ahead. It has left us sometimes wondering if we might be crazy :-)

Getting rid of our things, selling our home, trying to secure insurance and consolidating our lives down to 7 suitcases is an exercise in simplicity and letting go of our stuff, but it is the saying goodbye to family and friends that threatens to rip our hearts out. As we travel around the country we savor the times we get to spend visiting and connecting with some very special people.  With this though, comes the inevitable goodbye and a heavy heart. Dan and I are so thankful that God has given us each other so that we don't go through this process alone.  It is indeed bittersweet. 

As we think through this whole process and take in the enormity of what we are really doing we have both realized that this probably is the worst career and financial decision we would be making at this time.  Yet, we are doing this to ourselves.  Why?

There is something within us, something deeply driving us and we just cannot shake the feeling that if we do not press on ahead that we would be making a terrible mistake.  We know it doesn't make sense.  We know that from a human perspective we are making absolutely all of the wrong decisions, but does that matter?  If we truly feel God pulling us towards this do we have a choice but to march on ahead despite the apparent insanity? Wouldn't it be better to be insane for the sake of Christ than to make perfect sense for the sake of ourselves?  That is where faith comes in I guess.  Faith that is crazy in this present time is the absolute opposite of chaos for eternity.  That is what makes this all worth it.  Following after the call that we believe God has placed on our lives for no other reason than knowing He is God and therefore, how can we refuse?

Neither of us have ever taken a step of faith quite this big and are struggling through it just as anyone else would.  We need prayer to get us through.  Please don't think of us as big faith giants.  We are not.  Over and over again we are reminded of just how little our faith is and just how much we depend on the prayers of others to carry us forward. Every piece of furniture we sell or article of clothing we give away hurts just a little bit.  However, could we live with ourselves if we decided to not do what we felt God was asking of us on account of our stuff?  That our sofa, car or even our home were more important than Him. THAT is crazy and yet at times it almost feels more comfortable to think the opposite. 

The other day we looked at each other and realized that we are newly married, unemployed and soon to be homeless.  Underachievers?  Maybe.  It certainly feels like that on many fronts, but if this is truly the journey that God desires for us then we would want it no other way. That doesn't mean, however, that there aren't many days where we sit there asking ourselves - are we crazy? 

Kapsowar, Kenya

Whew....now that I am done with boards and have a moment to breath I thought I would update you on exactly where it is that we will be serving for the next couple of years.  Dan and I will be working at a small mission hospital in Kapsowar, Kenya.  It is located in the Northwestern part of the country in the mountains at 7,400ft. The hospital has 126 beds and three mobile maternal and child health clinics.  The hospital delivers approximately 300 babies per month and has an X-ray department, laboratory and pharmacy. The next closest city to where we will be staying and as well as the local grocery store is about two hours away in Eldoret.

Kenya has two national languages - English and Swahili. Those that have been educated generally know both.  The people that lives in the Kapsowar area are known as the Marakwat which are part of the larger Kalenjin family of tribes.  Their native language is Kalenjin, which is spoken at home and by those who have not had the opportunity to go to school.