Mission Safari: The Next Chapter(s)

A Miracle

It's funny how things work, especially God.  The story I am about to share reveals my own unbelief and my own misconceptions about when and where God works.  Even after spending the past four years preparing for, going to, serving on, and returning from the mission field, I am amazed at how little I seem to have learned.  I have a better understanding of just how dense the apostles must have seemed to Jesus on the road to Emmaus.  I can just seem Him shaking His head, dropping it, rubbing His temples, and thinking "DUH, will they ever get this?!"  I have a feeling He still does that with me.

Anyway, back to my story (which I guess I never started).  A few weeks ago, on a wonderfully hot summer day, I walked into the Emergency Room to begin my afternoon shift.  I was in a rather jovially mood and even stopped at the door to chat with one of the nurses.  Suddenly, my boss came running out the door, "Get in here, we have a drowning victim getting ready to arrive."  Hmmm, not a good way to start the shift.

Within two minutes the ambulance crew arrived with a two and half year old girl who was found face down in a pool.  She was barely alive struggling to breath on her own.  Fortunately she had a heartbeat, but not for long.  The amount of respiratory effort and trauma was taking its toll.  Since we had two doctors there (myself and my boss), I was to do the procedures, and the other doctor was to lead the team.  As the little girl was still conscious (barely), I had to sedate and paralyze her to put in the breathing tube.  This is always easier said than done.  After some initial difficulties, including the fact that her heart stopped beathing for about a minute, I was able to put the breathing tube in the right place. 

During all this, the other doctor made all the arrangements for the little girl to be transferred to the University Hospital.  By the time the helicopter crew arrived, loaded her, and left, we had spent an exausting two hours trying desperately to save this girls life.  We were not very hopeful.  It seemed like we had to work too hard to get where we were.

My first patient after this little girl ended up being the girl's grandmother.  She had gotten so upset at the drowning that she fainted at home and needed to be checked out because of her medical problems.  Listening to her describe the scene left me speechless.  I felt at a loss as to how to help her.  The only thing that came to mind was to pray for her.  When I asked if I could pray for her, she started crying.  I promised her that my family would pray for her and her granddaughter.

Well, I got a call yesterday from one of the nurses in the ER even though I was off.  She wanted to know if I saw the local news the night before.  Apparently they (the TV Station) ran a news report about this little girl.  She had recovered and was discharged from the hospital after 2 weeks in the hospital.  She was totally normal and had no brain damage or lung damage.  It was a miracle.

What I learned is that God still does miracles (DUH?!?!).  And they occur wherver He wants them to - the U.S., Kenya, and the rest of the world.  And you don't have to be a missionary to experience them.  You don't even have to be a doctor (my kids are not doctors, but they prayed for this little girl to recover).

Praise God that I don't have to have it all together to participate in His plans.  Or His miracles.  I just need to be faithful (show up at work on time, pray with others when prompted by the Spirit, prepare my mind to be ready to do the necessary things at the right times) and leave the results up to Him.

A Letter to a Friend

I was writing an email to a friend today and realized that it provided a good summary of where we are at in our transition..some of this has been covered in previous posts, but some not. I hope you don't mind the "copy and paste" approach. Tim

Good to hear from you. As you can see the transition has been pretty busy...I am answering your email from a month ago. But it has been a good busy. We really love our new home and community. One blessing we did not account for in moving to Williamsburg was how many transplants there would be, especially military folks. So...we are not having to break into a new place with set groups so to speak. And, since so many folks are military, many have lived abroad...which also makes it easier in not feeling like some oddity. These observations go for both our neighborhood and our church. God has been good.
Marti is now 35 weeks pregnant and would love to deliver anytime!! The nursery is set up so we are ready. There are still other jobs around the house that need to be done to be completely settled but for the most part we are functional...ie, we are no longer wandering around the house saying..."Have you seen the ____!"
As for China, we are on a holding pattern. If Marti wasn't pregnant, we would still be about 3-4 months from being matched with another 2 months after that from traveling to China. So, we are glad that we don't have to make any definite decisions right now. It is a tough call right now. We could use prayer. One day we have doubts the next we can't imagine not following through with the adoption. It is crazy.
And as for work, I love my job. The ER is a great match for me right now. I love the flexibility, and the money is very good. Most of the work is Family Medicine oriented (sadly as a lot of folks still come to the ER for primary care). But my experience in Kenya both in dealing with underprivileged and high acuity trauma and medical conditions has allowed me to feel comfortable and contribute to the patient care. I have become a lot less judgmental and therefore really enjoy my interactions with folks...even the so-called "dregs of society." The cool thing is that I don't even have to "try" to be nice because that is the "Christian" thing to do...God is just giving me a heart to love these folks, warts and all. It is a very refreshing experience, I didn't realize how judgemental I had been before. May God protect my heart and attitude in the months ahead.

It's Over?

I should have written this piece last Sunday. That is when I was feeling the emotions most intensely. But I wasn't quite sure what my problem was. Was I overly tired, and just feeling a bit crabby? Was I missing Marti and Sarah who went on a Girls Weekend with their good friends? Or was I just worn out from the terrible traffic on I-95 between Richmond, VA and Washington DC when I took the boys up to see the Cardinals play the Nationals? Or was something else amiss?

By late Sunday evening, I had made the diagnosis. I was suffering from "culture shock." What, "culture shock" in America? But you are an American. How can that be? What is going on? Did you miss God's call and come home too early by mistake? The answers were clear.yes, you can suffer culture shock in your own culture and no, it doesn't mean we missed God's call.

I guess the long trip to DC (Mapquest says 2 hours 50 minutes..it took us 4 hours and 15 minutes!) gave me time to think for the first time in a long time. With all the transition with new job, new house, unpacking, organizing, setting up "life", I haven't really had time to think much. But on the trip last week, I realized, "We aren't in Kenya anymore. That was our 'old life'. We have a new life now. And it is here. In America."

It was a very intense and difficult realization for me. All my friends, routines, frustrations, and joys in Kenya were behind me. I wasn't going back there to live. I might visit, but I would never see it as home. And although I had processed that set of realities on an intellectual basis weeks and months ago (I counted the cost), I had never really processed them emotionally. Until last week. And it hurt.

And so, even though I love to get emails from my Kenyan friends, and I read the on-line papers from Kenya, that chapter is officially closed. I know God has new things for me here. And some how, I pray, He will bless those relationships started while in Kenya.

It's Been A While

It's been a while since I had a chance to make a post.  I have not fallen into a hole or anything but have been busy with a few things since June 30th.  Such as....closing on our house, moving in, painting rooms, building shelves (thanks to my dad), unpacking the container that finally arrived, painting more rooms, emptying moving boxes, organizing stuff from the boxes, and changing out British style plugs for American style plugs on all our lamps.  Oh, and did I mention that Sarah started back into ballet, Sam started gymnastics, and Ben went to football camp and has started football practice.  Oh yeah, and I have been putting in my full work schedule.

Not that I am complaining.  We are delighted with our new house and neighborhood.  God has really blessed us.  The house has a wonderful kitchen and breakfast room that really fits our life.  The yard is small, but has a wonderful natural area in the back - it also backs into woods where there won't be any other houses built.  The birds are easier to see and enjoy thanks to my dad who cleared out a bunch of underbrush. 

We are slowly connecting with folks at our new church.  The kids have really enjoyed their new Sunday School classes, and Ben and Sarah like the Youth Pastor and the kids in the youth group.  We have met some other homeschool families there and so that helps.

I continue to love my job.  I have really learned how important it is to be in the right place with your gift set.  I am much more relaxed.  I enjoy taking care of patients, interacting with staff, and contributing to the department by my hard work and easy demeanor (easy compared to lots of the other docs and staff!!).  Interestingly one full-time doc and one part-time doc in the ER is from Africa (Nigeria to be exact).  And several of the specialists on staff at the hospital are from Pakistan or Indian.  I look forward to seeing how God will use my international experience in building relationships with these guys.

Marti is now 33 weeks pregnant and working as hard as she can getting the house organized and set up.  She is a little worried about how she is going to "do it all" before the baby comes.  And she is worried about how she will do in labor.  And how she will do nursing.  And...and...and.  "Martha, Martha" - she is aptly named.  But bless her heart...she is really doing quite well given ALL THE CHANGE lately.  She is a champ if you ask me.

I have been away from Kenya long enough now to begin missing folks there.  I can't help but miss the students and my colleagues at the hospital.  We invested so much there.  But the occasional email from there is an encouragement.  I am sure God will further reveal even more reasons why now was the right time to come home...I don't doubt it a bit, I just wonder about it.

I do hope to keep posting on the blog.  I am considering reformatting what I post.  I don't know if anyone is really interested in reading from an "ex-missionary" in his transition back into American life.  You can let me know your thoughts.  But for now, I will focus on getting my family resettled into life here and share the progress along the way.