Graduation!

Today we celebrated Erik's graduation from 29th grade. He has participated in many graduations in his life.
Here are pictures from a few of them.

Kindergarten:  I really love the tie and the brown pants!

Undergraduate

Medical School

Tonight Erik was honored for completing his pediatric surgery fellowship. The department hosted a lovely dinner and we enjoyed having family in town to celebrate with us.  We are all so proud of him!

Home??

Two years ago we received a BIG surprise when found out we had a new baby and we brought him home from the hospital six days before we moved from Nashville to Birmingham.  Our Nashville friends really became the hands and feet of Christ as they came and brought food, packed and loaded our home, and cleaned  our house so we could keep it on the market.  I don't really remember much about those days, but I remember standing around with a newborn strapped to me just watching people pack boxes, move furniture and love on us in such a tangible way.  As we were going to bed that last night before we moved, Erik and I recounted all that our Nashville friends had done and were still doing to serve our family and we talked about how hard it would be to leave these friends who had become family to us.  I certainly couldn't imagine Birmingham becoming a home to us like Nashville had become home.

When we drove into Birmingham the next day we got lost trying to find our house and we continued to get lost EVERY time we left home for several weeks.  Even if I wasn't physically lost in this city, I sure did feel lost.  I had four kids ages five and under and we didn't know anyone.  I resented that Erik got to go to work and I was left wandering around this strange city - feeling lost.  It was also hard for us to adjust because we knew we'd only be here for two years and I didn't think that was enough time for this city to begin to feel like home for us. 

Here I am two years later with a house full of boxes as we prepare to move back to Nashville for a few months.  Once again I am amazed at the wonderful friends who are serving us and blessing us.  Friends that are partnering with us in ministry, friends that are helping with kids so I can pack, friends that are bringing food for us and friends that are committing to love on our family even when we are across the globe.  Somehow this city I was determined not to get too attached to has become home.  I'm not sure when it happened or how it happened, but I've grown to love the community that God placed us in during these two years and part of me isn't quite ready to leave it behind.

It is a bittersweet move as we leave behind one home to return to our former home.  We are looking forward to catching up with precious friends in Nashville and know that they will be a great source of encouragement to us as we prepare to make our new home in Kenya.

God has provided for us in amazing ways as we have journeyed with Him one step at a time and we are so thankful for the many friends who have loved us well along the way.

What to keep?

OK, I'm sure you guys are going to get tired of my packing and purging posts but that seems to be consuming my life right now!  Today I was working in the kitchen.  It was shocking how many of my Ziploc containers didn't have lids and how many extra lids were just taking up space in there. 

I've also been trying to decide what kitchen appliances we will actually be taking to Kenya with us.  We won't have room to take everything so we have to decide which things are necessities for our family.  Fry Daddy - so long.  Coffee maker - gone.  Electric can opener - who needs you?  Crock pot - bye bye.  Cookie press - why on earth is this so hard for me to part with?  Food processor - definitely keep.  Ice Cream freezer - certainly not practical, but I think it may be going with us. 

So I'm wondering:  What kitchen appliances would you consider to be necessities?

It's All Got to Go

We move to Nashville one month from today and will be moving to Kenya in about six months.  As we pack up our house I'm really trying to get rid of all of the junk, clutter and excess that we've accumulated.  This process has been a bit overwhelming for me.  

I used to say that a child can never have too many books, but the fifteen boxes of books we've gotten rid of over the past several months say otherwise.

When we got married we registered for two sets of dishes, two sets of flatware and three sets of glasses.  I have no idea why I thought I'd have a use for all of that or that I'd even like it when we finally had an opportunity to use it, but we got carried away with the registry gun at Dillard's and now I'm trying to find good homes for these barely used dishes.

Goodwill really loves us as they have been the recipient of many boxes of  clothes, towels and toys over the past few weeks.  In fact, I keep taking our stuff to different drop-off locations because I'm afraid they'll start to recognize me and when they see me coming they will laugh and say something like, "I wonder what the Junk Lady is bringing for us today?" 

A few items have me stumped.  Should we save them?  Should we just give them away?  Could we make any money off of them?  Here is one of them:

This is Erik's Garbage Pail Kid collection.  He has hundreds of these cards that he has saved from the mid-80's.  I'm so glad Erik is no longer attached to these and is willing to give them up, but I don't really have time to go through them all to see which ones are valuable.  I think I may have to recruit a certain 7 year old to help me with this task.

I'm actually really looking forward to being free of all of the junk - especially the Garbage Pail Kids!  I like the idea of living more simply and having less clutter in our lives.  I'm just not sure I like the process involved in getting there.

We're still here!

We haven't disappeared from the blogosphere, we've just been a little busy.

Erik will be graduating from 29th grade at the end of June and as the end is finally in sight, we both have a bad case of senioritis.  After 9 years of training, we are really looking forward to being done!  After he finishes in Birmingham, we will be heading back to Nashville for a few months where he will be working at Vanderbilt until we leave for Kenya.  We don't know an exact departure date for Kenya, but it looks like it will be November or December. 

The move to Nashville is bittersweet for all of us.  We loved living in Nashville and are excited to return, but we really hate to leave behind the relationships in Birmingham and our church home here.  We would really appreciate your prayers for us as we have lots of changes and transitions in store for us. 

Questions from a 4 Year Old

Today while riding in the car my four year old asks me, "Mom, will we have breakfast in Africa?"  I said, "Yes."  He said, "What about lunch and dinner?"  I said, "We'll eat lunch and dinner too."  After a few minutes of quiet he asked, "Will there be kitars (guitars) in Africa?"  I said, "Yes, there will be guitars."  He then said, "OK, that sounds good then."  Apparently, all of his fears have been relieved!!

I wish it was that easy with our older two kids who are beginning to express more concerns about going and they have some very real and reasonable fears.  I would love to be able to tell them that everything will be perfectly fine and that there won't be any problems, but none of us can really promise our kids that.  Instead, we're just trying to point them to the promises of the God who called us to Africa and remind them that He will never leave us or forsake us.  We appreciate your prayers for our family during this time.

Pictures!

We thought you might like to see some pictures of our future home.  Erik and I had the opportunity to visit Kijabe in May and here are some of the pictures from our visit.

This is the entrance to the mission station.

 

This is the security entrance to the hospital.

 

the clinic entrance to Kijabe Hospital

 

entrance to the BethanyKids Pediatric Ward

 

the Operating Theatre (OR)

 

the scrub room

 

emergency triage

 

recovery room

 

back entrance to hospital

 

BethanyKids is building a duplex on this lot and we have been told that one of the units has been designated for our family.  Our friends Megan and Rhett, who moved to Kijabe in November, took this picture so we would have a "before" picture.  The kids have already spotted a good climbing tree!