We're Still Here!

Remember us?  Our blog has sat silent for some time, but we are still here!  Lots of life has happened in Kenya over the past months - much to celebrate and much hardship.  Our family is learning the truth that in Christ we can be "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing"; both happy and sad at the same time.  That's good news because sorrow and struggle is all around us, whether in our inner-circle or something we hear about that's burdening someone else in the world.  We would sink if joy couldn't exist in our lives at the same time as sorrow.  Joy and sorrow can co-exist!  

On that note, here are some of the things that give us joy right now...

Tenwek's PAACS neurosurgery residency is growing.  We now have two consultants and three residents with a third consultant and fourth resident joining later this year.  Our first trainee is on track to graduate in January of 2024.

The neurosurgery department is also expanding.  Above is a picture from our overnight spiritual retreat last month during which a visiting pastor encouraged us to be "renewed in the spirit of our mind" (Eph 4:23; mind...neuro...get it?)

Will has now done over 2,000 surgeries since we moved to Tenwek.  I'm often surprised at how bizarre some of them are.  Here is a recent one of a young boy that came to the hospital 8 days after falling out of a tree.  

Turned out that a piece of wood had gone up his nose, broken through his skull, and lodged in his brain to cause a large abscess!  After surgery and antibiotics he was able to go back home to climb more trees.

Side By Side Tenwek now regularly has more than a dozen medical wives attend weekly Bible study.  Here is a video of the recent send-off they gave us before we left.  Our hope is to grow this year by planning PAACS family events that bring our families together outside of the busyness of the hospital. 

 

In June we completed our 5th year of homeschooling! This is a picture from our field day that wrapped up the year.  While most of Will's efforts go towards PAACS and the hospital, 95% of my efforts go to homeschooling.   I taught the 5 girls at home, and it truly felt like an insurmountable task as we began.  God provided support, literally day-by-day, and we celebrate that we finished strong...ish.  

Last September Liam was launched into 9th grade at a boarding school about 3 1/2 hours away from Tenwek.  I'm happy to announce that he was not ruined by my imperfect homeschooling efforts in past years and has really thrived!  Here he is sporting a bloody nose during one of his rugby games.  Our family officially has a new favorite sport.

We have just finished a three-year term of service at Tenwek and are now back in the states for one year.  Thank you to so many of you that have remembered us and reached out to us even when we've been silent.  Your prayers and support really have meant so much.  This month marked one year since our family was involved in a terrible car-accident.  It was a pivotal event that we now reflect on as the beginning of our most difficult year to date.  In a lot of ways as we walked through hard things, we closed our curtains and hunkered down to survive the day-to-day.  We love the life and work God has given us in Kenya but we recognise that we need this year in the states to find our way out of survival mode, to rest and to recharge.

A big part of recharging for us is getting to re-connect with you - our family, friends and supporters.  We will be based in Arkansas, but much like we did in 2018, we will be traveling frequently in hopes of visiting many of you.  We hope that provides us with the opportunity to share more of what has gone on with our family, and also to hear about what has been happening with you.  

To those of you that support our family and the work at Tenwek financially, we ask that you continue to do so even as we are on home assignment in the US this year.  We are required to maintain our full funding before being released to return to Kenya, and we also continue to support many aspects of the work at Tenwek even while stateside.  If you are interested in partnering with us, you can do so at www.wgm.org/copeland.

Please reach out to us if you find yourself in the Little Rock area! (alisa.copeland@wgm.org, wrcopeland3@gmail.com)