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| The Kijabe Dream Team (minus Elector who hadn't arrived yet), pre-birth. Everyone happy, except Heather. |
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| How can someone look so good just a few minutes after delivery! |
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| Getting to know baby Ethan. |
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| Claire and Ethan. |
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| Emma and Ethan. |
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| Levi and Ethan. |
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| J&J love him too! |
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Almost smiling?
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On October 11, 2017 at 2:51pm, Heather gave birth our seventh child, a son, whom we named Ethan Benjamin Galat. Surrounded by what I call the “Kijabe Dream Team” (Dr. Catherine – OB/GYN, Allyson – Family Nurse Practitioner, Elector – Kenyan Nurse Midwife, and Joan – Doula extraordinaire), Heather amazed us all with her determination, courage, and grit, delivering a healthy baby boy in a newly remodeled private birthing room at Kijabe Hospital. It was a surreal experience on multiple levels that we couldn’t have duplicated anywhere in the world, except for the fact that God was orchestrating it all. And right as the baby’s head started to crown, and Heather began the final push, it started to pour long-awaited rains on the overly dry land in which we live. We all had the sense that God was present, giving his blessing and affirmation to His sovereign plans.
In truth, the past few years for our family have felt more fragile, shaky, and transient, than strong, firm and enduring. We never imagined that we would leave our home at Tenwek and settle in a new place of ministry, nor in the midst of it all, add another child to our family (yes, by now, we should know what causes that), nor collect cases for board certification. But God has faithfully done all this, and much more than we could have imaged (or knew we needed). Hence, we gave our son the name Ethan, which in Hebrew means “Strong, Firm, Enduring” to honor our God who has remained our Fortress, our Strong Tower, our Ever-present Help in times of trouble. We remain continually humbled by the fact that our weakness is His strength; our uncertainty is His opportunity to shine! Oh, and the name Benjamin? It means “son of my right hand” or perhaps more appropriately “son born in my old age.” Come on now…I’m not THAT old!
Thanks for all your prayers, love and support of our family over the years!
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