2014 was one of the craziest years we have experienced since
first arriving in Kenya six years ago.
The underlying theme of every event however, has been God’s continual sovereign
love and faithfulness in our lives, through your prayers and support! Following are some of the major highlights:
Rift Valley Academy
We now have three kids (Jeremiah, Emma, and Claire) at
boarding school at the Rift Valley Academy in Kijabe. Our family actually moved on campus for three
months for one term (by God’s providence a house was available) to help our
girls acclimate to their new environment.
The concentrated times spent together in our little, temporary home were
so rich. I continued working at Tenwek
and made the three-hour commute on the weekends to visit (when not on
call). A little more than half of the
Galat’s (more on this later) are now back at Tenwek while Jeremiah, Emma and
Claire continue at school. While we miss
them tremendously, we also know that this is where God has ordained them to be
and we treasure every moment we have together (last weekend we were all
together back at Tenwek for the first time since August 2014).
Jeremiah, Emma and Claire on the first day of school.
College?
Jeremiah has full-blown senioritis and has applied to 6
colleges in the states. Among his top
choices are Vanderbilt, Bowdoin and my alma maters, Ohio State University and
Miami of Ohio. I recently had the
pleasure of disclosing volumes of financial data on the FAFSA and College Board
applications! Our prayer for him is that
God would lead him to the school where he will grow as a young man of faith. His newest passion is “crossfit,” an intense
exercise regimen combining Olympic weight lifting with heavy aerobic
activity.
Music in the Air
Emma is freshman in the dorms at RVA and continues to
practice voice every day. We miss her
singing around the house! She is growing
in her faith, spurred on by the challenge of “independent” living at RVA. Her goal is to attend Juilliard (dream big, right?) and will
continue voice lessons in the states during our next scheduled furlough the
second half of 2015.
God’s Provision for
Claire
Claire started eight grade at RVA during our stint on campus
last term, and loved it so much she decided she wanted to stay (friends,
band…trumpet!, no homeschooling, etc.)
However, there was no space for her in the 8th grade girls’ dorm. However, a wonderful family who lives at
Kijabe invited her to stay with them for the remainder of the school year, and
she is so well cared for and happy.
Claire’s interest remains math and science and she hope to be a
pediatrician or orthopaedic surgeon some day!
The Man of the House
During my frequent travels (currently at a conference for
PAACS residents near Kijabe), Levi functions as the man of the house, and is a great help to
Heather. Although he misses his
siblings, he keeps busy with his Tenwek friends, Josie and Legos. Did I mention Legos?
Another on the Way!
Yes, God has surprised us again with another child on the
way! Heather is ending her first
trimester and looking forward to the cessation of the endless nausea (I keep
telling her it must be twins). Heather
is due in August and will deliver again in the states. Because she will be so far along, she will
need to travel back to the states in June (with Levi and Josie), and thus miss
Jeremiah’s graduation from RVA. I will remain
in Kenya with Jeremiah, Emma and Claire and after graduation in July, we’ll all
join them. Our plan is to get Jeremiah
in college, have a baby, and then remain in the states until the end of 2015. Whew!!
"I'm going to be a big sister!"
Developing Scholars
Between bouts of nausea, Heather is also doing a fantastic
job teaching the 4th and 5th graders at Tenwek literature
and writing. Currently, they are reading
Robin Hood and doing writing lessons based on medieval history. All the women at Tenwek work very hard
teaching the 32 children who are based on our compound.
Major House Repairs
Our house at Tenwek was built in the 1940s and was literally
falling apart, and desperately in need of major repairs (roof, ceiling, wood
siding, etc). God’s timing was perfect
because the majority of the repairs were done while Heather and the kids lived
at RVA last fall. However, just last
week, my office chair almost went through our wood floor and several other
boards acutely became very loose. An
inspection under the floor in the crawl space revealed the culprit:
termites! I guess the repairs aren’t
quite over…however this one will wait until furlough.
Galat Guest/Ministry
House
The whole of 2014 was also consumed with building a
guest/ministry house in our side yard and completion is drawing nigh (thanks be
to God). It includes two apartments for volunteer
medical visitors and guests. In
addition, the large “upper room” will be used for meetings, meals (replete with
wood fired pizza oven), and other ministry events. We are looking forward to the first scheduled
event, which will be the “white coat ceremony” for our new residents.
Some of the construction crew. Hard working guys. We were thankful to provide income for local workers and their families.
PAACS/ORTHO Residency
Training Program
The ortho program is now in the second year and we added Dr.
Ian Orwa to our other two, Dr. Fasto and Dr. Sowayi. The training and discipling of national residents, interns and medical
students continues to be our primary ministry objective at Tenwek. It is a privilege to impact the lives of
future leaders in medicine and ministry in Kenya!
Graduation day for PAACS residents at Tenwek. Dan and Kiprono with the ortho residents.
So much more has happened, but these are the major highlights. God has been teaching Heather and I to remain
dependent on him in our weakness and brokenness, and to dwell on his promises
in scripture. Thanks again for your
prayers and support!
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