Home Sweet Home

Growing up I lived in the same house for all of my life (that I could remember, that is.) The last few years I've moved around a ton - into a dorm, into a new dorm, back home, to Africa, back home, into an apartment, to a great friend's house, and now to Kenya. As much as I'm looking forward to moving somewhere and living there for more than a few months I'm feeling very settled in to my new digs.

Our front door. I love the flower beds. Shadrach and Ellie love to climb on the chairs and look at me while I look out the window

My roommate Carolyn in our living room. (Unfortunately I forgot to tell her I was taking the picture...) The kitchen table faces the window and it's an awesome spot to work.

The kitchen. Note the freshly baked bread in zliploc bags on the counters and the very much beloved coffee maker and hot pot.

Laundry area of the kitchen. Our washer is great and our clothes get hung up to dry outside, one of my favorite chores. Being outiside, wrangling a big, wet, sheet, figuring out which clothes pins have decided to work.

My bedroom. The blue mosquito net makes my night.

My desk in the corner of the room. Love it.

View from the door to my room.

One of the greatest blessings of being here is the wonderful surroundings. The outside is beautiful and the inside is sweet and very much home already. I often think of the idea that home should be an oasis and coming home here feels that way.

Well, I'd write something profound but I'm tired and I'm getting up at some ridiculous hour of the morning to watch part of the Steeler game with some of the missionaries (some of whom like the Colts! So sad...) Anyway, so I think I'm gonna go to bed now.

Love to you all!
Joanna

Happy Birthday Shadrach!

Today I learned some things.

I learned about the fact that I can, in fact, do pushups. I learned that P90X hurts when you haven’t done enough workouts in between trips to Africa. I learned a few new cultural nuances. I learned some new medical terms. I learned a little more about teaching.

But the part about today that I think I’ll remember for the longest time is that today I learned about evil.

We like to pretend that it’s not there, that there’s no such thing as a battle. We read about it in books (The White Witch, The Wicked Witch of the West, etc) but it feels far away. Today I saw the battle, it’s a sobering and hard place to be. I met a baby today who is so sick and malnourished and abused. So tiny at 2.5 years old that I think I know some kids who were born outweighing her. She has a brittle bone disease that will make her life more challenging. It was heartbreaking, to see what had happened to her. I don't want to blame anyone, I just need to grieve that such a sad thing has happened. I just want to lift this little one up to the savior.

The world is broken. Evil exists. For some reason I don’t understand it is allowed to continue. Romans says that “the whole creation is groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up until the present time.”

These are the moments when all I can say is in the words of an old song we used to sing at Jacob's Porch "Come, Lord, quickly, come" and grieve the brokenness and bentness of our world.

But I also saw hope today. I saw hope because today we celebrated the birthday of a sweet little man named Shadrach. God provided a loving family for him and a home that is stable and where he’ll be safe. Even though it’s easy to look out at the masses and despair, I’ll keep holding onto the pinprick of hope that I see. Much has gone wrong, so many babies are dying and hurting, there is so much restoration left undone, but today, I see hope in the faces of Shadrach, Esther, and Ellie. And I even saw hope in the little one who came through Tenwek at 10 pounds and 2.5 years – she is going to a wonderful orphanage where she’ll be loved and cared for an someday she’ll be given a home just like Esther, Ellie, Shadrach, and Hannah have. There is hope for these lives. And there is hope for each of ours.

Three ladies outside my apartment hanging out on a tree. They're also all in my 4th and 5th grade art class. Today we had "tea and crumpets" in the apartment and my roommate did a very convincing English accent as she served the pretend food. I struggled with the accent so I focused on my curtsies.

A lymeric (spelling?) written by one of my other art students. I was really impressed by his poetry... I certainly couldn't manage all of that structure!

Three of the Tewnek teenagers - the two in the front are some of my three Pre-Algebra students. Those guys are all tons of fun! (Though they think a lot of my music is lame)

Ellie showing off her big smile!

Me holding Esther (aka Eh-der aka Anne of Green Gables. Really, if they had a part for 1 year old Annes, Esther would nail the audition.) She loves cuddles too and I'm making the most of that.

Shaddy with his brand new Tonka truck. The ladies at my church were so generous - I took 2 suitcases of donations with me, including the Tonka Truck which is being played with and loved by a newly two year old boy :)

Ellie wasn't so into the whole cupcake thing, unless her dad fed it to her. She's a little goofball.

Esther, on the other hand, was all about cupcakes. She LOVES to eat

Shaddy getting to dive into the wonders of the birthday cupcake

My wonderful roommate Carolyn and Esther in front of our apartment 5-plex

May you see the pinprick of hope in your every day, may there be majesty in the mundane, and know that "the joy of the journey is enough to make a grown man cry"

Joanna

In Kenya!

Chamague!

In Kipsigis that is the traditional greeting. It translates to “Do you love yourself” and the answer (Mising) means “yes, very much.” I’m enjoying getting back into Kenyan culture, even if I find myself a little out of my depth. Being out of my comfort zone is challenging, which is good for me, even if it makes my knees knock together sometimes.

I arrived in Kenya last Tuesday and was so glad to be met by Amy Bemm at the baggage counter! They’d lost one of my bags and having someone to help me figure out all of the crazy that had to happen to get it sent out here was such a huge blessing. Once we’d gotten all of that sorted we headed off to shopping and lunch and (at last) the long drive to Bomet. Luckily I slept through most of the three hours and enjoyed the nap tremendously. Once I arrived I spent most of the evening unpacking and settling in. Last night I hung the last of the pictures that needed to get put up in my room so it feels very much like home in here. It’s so fun to look next to me and see pictures of my family hanging on the wall.

Life in Africa is, by necessity, slower than life in the states. I’ve decided that I’m going to enjoy the time that it takes to do simple things and to find God in the mundane work of washing dishes, bleaching vegetables, hanging wash out to dry, and doing daily battle with the internet. Being thankful for small things and being faithful in doing them has been my greatest learning curve this week and one I think I’ll be working on mastering for a long time yet. I have been blessed with a very neat roommate (a necessity as I can be a major slob) and somehow knowing that Carolyn will appreciate it if the dishes are cleaned up makes it infinitely more enjoyable to do it. Since so much of my time has been spent puttering around the house I’m very thankful that it’s been so pleasant!

I have especially enjoyed my time with the kiddos around the compound. Everyone is bigger than they were last year, most notably Hannah who is getting tall and lanky. My days of being taller than that girl are numbered and I’m glad she’s 4 so I’ve still got a few years of height and weight advantage while tickling left! The three new babies at the Bemm house are tons of fun – Joshua Shadrach (Shaddy), Elizabeth Mercy (Ellie) and Esther Gloria (Esther). Each has their own wonderful quirks and personality and I’ve enjoyed hanging with them in the little nook between the Bemm house and the apartment made by a little valley. The cuddles are quite wonderful.

As for life at the hospital I hope to begin regularly attending Morning Report and rounding (sometimes) as well. Watching surgeries is a great passion of mine, especially cleft palates and stuff in the eye ward. Opthalmology is wonderful because you give someone back their sight, which is incredibly rewarding. Things continue to move along research wise as well and I’m slowly ticking off my list of people to meet with, documents to compose, and things to do before getting started on the study itself.

Well, it’s off to make some Thai Curry for dinner. Indian food is easy to come by here and I’m sure that by the time it comes to leave I’ll have developed a huge appetite for curry. :)

In Him,
Joanna