Really a surgeon?

Tuesday, April 1

Yesterday we had a long morning.  I know if we moved here for a longer period of time then we would have more structure to our day with school but some mornings here have been hairy.  Liam was not cooperative or respectful so he spent a chunk of his morning copying Bible verses down in his room.  

I had chai with Edna and then we all went outside with a blanket to read by the trees for a while.  This is becoming a favorite thing to do because one, the weather is beautiful - no Minnesota chill in the air.  And two, people are always walking around the compound and will stop and visit/play with us.  

The Tenwek community is so unique.  You certainly aren't plopped in the middle of Africa to fend for yourself.  It's a very communal feel here - many families living, working and serving together.  I have enjoyed so much getting to know the other women here, hearing about their lives, how God brought them here and what is next for them.  

For lunch we had our new friend and neighbor Claire over for tacos. (not the little Claire that Hayden's been playing with)

Hannah, Charley and Claire hanging out in the hammock

I always tell Will that for all I know he's not really a surgeon.  I've never actually seen him do anything surgeony.  He could be doing dishes in the cafeteria for all I know.  He is a gifted dish-washer.

After lunch Claire and I threw on some scrubs and walked up to the hospital with another friend to see if we could catch Will at work in the OR.  Erin Mitchell had generously offered to watch my kids so I could have a chance to see Will operate.  

We had planned to watch Will operate on a patient that was scheduled for some kind of spine surgery along with a simultaneous leg amputation.  Yikes.  A c-section would have been more my speed.  But that guy's surgery got pushed off so we saw Will do the last part of another spine case.  The patient was awake which gave me the willies.  He had a spinal so he couldn't feel anything but he would jump a little sometimes when they were operating.  God did not design me to do medical things.  Ick.  Will was overseeing the residents do most of the surgery so I didn't really get to see him in action.  But I think I saw enough evidence to confirm that he is indeed a surgeon.  

After our long morning yesterday we got up this morning and walked to Beth White's house.  She and her husband Russ have lived at Tenwek for 18 years.  I met her at church on Sunday and she offered for us to come look through her book shelves for children's books.  So each of the kids picked a few things out.  She also sent a huge bucket of Duplo blocks back with us so between the blocks and books the kids were happily occuppied for the morning.

Liam has been wanting to eat chicken and fries at the hospital canteen so Will came and picked him up for lunch.  The girls and I had ugali and sukuma at home.  I tried to make them eat it and they were pretty bothered by that cultural experience.  

Hayden had another playdate with her friend Claire, and I spent the afternoon getting ready for guests.  We had invited the Mitchells over for dinner to thank them for being such great hosts during our stay here.  They have become good friends and we look forward to staying connected with them after we leave.  I had brought two giant boxes of Kraft mac-n-cheese from home so I made that up for an American feast with fruit salad and baked chicken nuggets that Edna helped me make earlier today.  Love her.

Hard to believe we are coming to the end of our second week here!