The last month has been VERY busy and trying. So much has happened since my last update.
1. I got to go to North Carolina for Christmas and see my family!
2. Got two very sentimental gifts (and lots of other nice things)
3. Learned my lesson about NOT updating my Christmas wishlist once I found out I could go home.
4. Returned to Kijabe, Kenya and returned to work.
5. Had a stressful week of problem-solving a new knee prototype on two patients.
Now for details!
In regards to going to NC for Christmas. Originally, I thought I would not be able to return to the US for Christmas. But God provided me with a ticket paid for by relatives. PRAISE THE LORD! The trip lasted exactly two weeks from departure date to departure date. I struggled a little with jet-lag at first, but soon got over it. The first 5 days in the USA were spent finishing Christmas shopping, wrapping gifts, seeing a couple of really good friends, Christmas Caroling, and animals!
Even though Christmas this year was on Sunday, my family didn't change our traditions that much. We just got up earlier. Every year we start our celebration of Christmas off with the telling and acting out of the Christmas story. Many, many years ago, my aunt gave us felt puppets of the nativity (Mary, Joseph, bald Baby Jesus with "swaddling clothes" hat, one shepherd, one sheep, one camel, three magi, and one angel). Each member of the family is given a role and the appropriate puppets. My Mom always reads the story from the Bible so she does not need a puppet. We start with the story of the birth of John the baptist and continue to the Magi's arrival after Jesus' birth. As the story is read, each of us recites the lines for our character(s). It is almost a tradition of who has certain puppets. My Dad usually has a wise man and the camel. He has quite an imagination when acting out the part of the camel and always finds something to act as the gift for Jesus. David is always the shepherd and sheep. I always get to play the character of Elizabeth since that's my name. It has no puppet, just lines. The rest of the puppets rotate around each year on who plays them. I was the angel this year. This tradition is my favorite part of Christmas and has enabled me to memorize almost the entire story of Christ's birth. Presents follow, then Stockings, and this year preparation for church.
After Church, we packed up and headed to Winston-Salem to see our relatives. We stopped by maternal Grandmother first and celebrated and visited with her. Then we went over to see my Dad's side of the family. I really enjoyed seeing everyone and watching them open their gifts. My paternal grandmother and great aunt gave me two very sentimental gifts. The first was a pendent with a fancy E inscribed on it. My great aunt found this in my late great grandmother's jewelry. I am the only female on that side whose name begins with E so she thought it must have been intended for me. The second item was a cross from Mexico on a nylon cord, also from my late great grandmother's jewelry. Although these items are small, I treasure them.
My wish list for CHRISTmas contained things that were fairly easy to ship or I could not buy in Kenya, such as: good peanut butter, dark chocolate (which I have since found out I can get in Kenya), and trouser socks.
Well, I got 10 pounds of peanut butter, over 24 pairs of trouser socks, and probably 5 pounds of dark chocolate. I am set for the entire next year!!! One of my aunts and Uncles gave me a down comforter which has been wonderful for keeping me warm on these cold Kijabe nights.
Several of my relatives gave me money for things I needed in Kenya (like a microwave). Many may feel bad or impersonal for giving money, but to me it was the perfect gift. It is light (can be deposited before I leave and withdrawn once I reached Kenya), small (Money in a bank account takes up no room in luggage), and can be used for what I really need/want. With this money I was able to buy a microwave! =) Hallelujah! This means I will have a way to make food if my stove suddenly runs out of gas. (this has already happened once)
My return trip:
God timing is perfect timing! I found out after I got to the gate that flight I thought was at 6:50 pm was at 5:50pm and boarded 20 minutes after I got to the gate. Somehow, I don't know why, I was given priority access during boarding which was a blessing. This meant that although I did not have my preferred window seat I did have first dibs on over head luggage bins. I had good seat mates on both flights back and all my baggage made it. God is definitely watching over me!
I stayed in Nairobi the night I got back since my flight came in at 9pm. The next morning a friend came to meet me along with another friend to drive me back to Kijabe. From what I'm told, the area I spent the night is the safest in Nairobi. It is covered in guards because most of the foreign consulates are in this area, along with the prison (which doesn't seem to fit). We went through at least two checks before we could leave the area.
Before driving back to Kijabe, we stopped by the equivalent of Wal-Mart. I used the money I had gotten for Christmas to buy a Microwave and some pillows for decoration along with a few groceries I can’t get in Kijabe. The trip back to Kijabe went well, although I was exhausted from my travels. God is Good!
I started back to work the next day. (Yes, I push my limits!) It was nice to see my coworkers again although there are a lot fewer now because the students who were doing their practicals at Cure have now left for their next rotation. I will miss them!
New Year means new challenges. First, my preparations for the evaluation I am trying to oversee are not going as planned. I have been delayed another two weeks because of the Chinese New Year. (Our below knee components are coming from China) Second, I spent the last week with two of LIMBS first patients to wear our knee. They came to field test another version our knee. Problems started popping up within the first 24 hours. We are testing out new washers and they SQUEAK. One of the challenges with problem solving this issue is that it takes time to know if a solution worked. The patient has to walk around for at least 4 hours before we can know if the lubricating solution worked. We found WD-40 works for only four hours. However, the Kenyan equivalent to Vaseline works much longer and smells better. And while this is a breakthrough, it took two days to find. These two patients (Peter and Victor) are star LIMBS International models. You can barely tell that they are wearing an above knee prosthesis and they are very good at answering people’s questions about their knee and leg. Also, they are both married and each have a young son.
I am trying to get back into the swing on things, but I also have a lot of prayer requests.
First, I have been getting daily headaches for the last 4 days. Tylenol takes care of it for now, but every morning I wake up again with a headache that gets progressively worse as the day continues if not treated. So while Tylenol works for now, I don’t want to be taking it every day! Please pray that the headaches will cease or at least I will find the cause of them. Next, as I mentioned above the evaluation preparations are not going as planned, please pray that they get moving in God’s time and that He will be glorified through it. Third, some of my coworkers are not cleaning up after themselves after they finish working. This frustrates me because, not only do I know how important a clean work environment is to productivity, but also because we just did a “Continuing Medical Education” seminar/meeting on the importance of cleanliness and organization last week!
Please pray for patience! Fourth, please pray for my relationships and walk with the Lord.
Praises
· I got to see my family for Christmas
· I made it to the USA and back safely
· All my luggage made it both ways.
· My sister has a nursing job
· Small blessings like Priority Access plane seating
Prayer Requests
· My daily headaches
· The LIMBS Knee evaluation in Kenya
· Patience and loving-kindness with frustrating co-workers
· Strong Walk with the Lord
· Relationships
· That my work visa would come through soon.
· Punctuality in updates
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