Poppy's 90th

Some occasions (like the ones you might only enjoy once in a lifetime) are extra special. Celebrating 90 years with a grandparent and all your family is one of those sweet times. In November, we drove to Arkansas to have a big 90th birthday party for our Poppy. Marc was able to take a few days off from work which always helps make the 9 hr. drive there and back a little easier.

The party was in the large work shop of my aunt and uncle. Aunt Carolyn outdid herself with the decorations and food. The tractor/farming theme was so cute (though there was a little Razorback in there too!). All of my dad's siblings were able to make it to the event and six of Poppy's eight siblings still living were also able to come to celebrate with us during the weekend. We had lots of family there to celebrate a pretty special man. Poppy told Marc and me at one point during the weekend that when he looks at all the rich blessings he has been given in life, the only answer he has for it all is the grace of God. After 90 wonderful years of life, it is a beautiful thing to see someone still humble before God (though Memaw might say he is still ornery at times!).

She wins the "happiest baby award" everywhere we go!

And after 90 years of life and nearly 63 years of marriage you get this...

Happy 90th Birthday Poppy!

Happy Halloween

Isaac is napping and I am eating my way through his bag of Halloween candy so it seems a great time to share pictures of the big night of costumes and candy. Eli dressed up as Batman this year, Hailey was Elsa from Frozen, and Isaac was Mickey Mouse. We drove to Bloomington for the night and enjoyed trick-or-treating with the cousins. It was pretty cold but the kids didn't seem to mind. This is one of those holidays that it would pay to live in a warmer state. :)

Pumpkin Carving

We were pretty late with carving our pumpkin this year (and probably last year too if I remember correctly). So two days before Halloween it became a "now or never." I am so glad we squeezed this time in. The memories (and roasted pumpkin seeds) were so worth it.

I love catching moments like this. Eli is a great big brother. He has such a tender heart for all of his siblings. I think he was giving Isaac a pep talk about how fun it is to carve pumpkins. :)

Fall Fun

An arctic blast is headed our way so I suppose I should catch up on our Fall happenings before it is snowing! When the chilly days start creeping in I am reminded to enjoy the time outside because it will be coming to an end all too soon. We have enjoyed raking the leaves and a few last family walks before we will be home bound for the winter. The low temperatures are predicted to be in the 20s by Wednesday!

A brief recap...we took a trip to the apple orchard the end of September before all the apples were gone. Tanner's Orchard is super fun if you are ever in the central Illinois area in late summer/fall. There is so much to do! The kids enjoy playing on the playgrounds, racing the cars on the dirt track, taking a ride on the wagon, picking apples, and of course eating a snow cone and popcorn. It is a guaranteed great family day.

Hailey's 4th Birthday

We celebrated Hailey's fourth birthday last weekend with a Frozen/bowling party. She had so much fun! I loved seeing how excited she was about her birthday this year. She is a little introverted so it takes her awhile to warm up to strangers. However, she was declaring loud and proud everywhere we went that it was her birthday. The check-out ladies at Target and Kroger all knew Hailey had a party coming up. :) It makes the effort of planning a party so worth it to see how special it can make a child feel. They really are such precious treasures to us! Here are some favorite pictures from her big day.

Harvest Time

We just harvested our last broccoli offshoots yesterday so I thought I should put up some pictures of our garden this year. Now I have to figure out what to do with all these green tomatoes??

More Pictures of Katelyn's Arrival

She's here!!!

Katelyn's Birth Story

I love writing out the stories of our babies' births. Aside from our wedding day, Marc and I both agree that these are the most amazing and memorable days of our lives. Each birth has been different and yet so very special to us.

First Day of School

Today is a special day. It is my due date AND the first day of school! I am thankful to not be in the hospital so I can enjoy this big day for my kids. Eli is in Kindergarten this year and Hailey starts school for the first time. She is in a PreK3 class. We are so incredibly thankful for their school. It has been such a blessing to us to have our kids educated in a Christian environment. We look forward to seeing all the amazing things they will be learning this year and the treasured friendships they will make. Have a great school year Eli and Hailey!

Ministry and Home Life in Yei

Yei, South Sudan is a city of about 200,000 people. This city sits near South Sudan's border with Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2001, Harvesters Reaching the Nations founders Dennis and Lillian Klepp moved to Yei to start an orphanage in what was then the country of Sudan. Sudan had been through over 20 years of civil war when they arrived.The Klepps felt God calling them to begin a ministry among the scores of widows and orphans that the war left behind. They were given some land from the EPC church outside of Yei and started their work with an orphanage and school. Harvesters' orphanage now provides care to over 150 orphans. (There are children who need sponsors!) They have also established a Christian school that provides education to an additional 400 children from the area.

One of the missionaries gave us a tour of the school which was fun for our kids and informative for us.

To continue on with their vision, Harvesters began a partnership with Pioneers to establish a medical component to their ministry. A hospital was built and in March of 2012 His House of Hope opened its doors. This hospital serves the women and children of Yei and surrounding areas. During our two week stay in Yei, Marc filled in for one of the physicians who had to take a medical leave of absence. Though he was very busy, Marc really enjoyed his work at the hospital. I was unable to break away from the kids during our stay to take pictures of the hospital and see the medical work, but here are some of the pictures Marc took and some stories he wanted to highlight. Some of his pictures are a little blurry as he took them on the fly with his iPhone while trying to be indiscreet.

While we stayed in Yei, Marc worked alongside a South Sudanese resident physician doing a rotation at His House of Hope. His goal was to learn how to perform C-sections during his stay at His House of Hope. Many African physicians are not able to gain enough procedural and surgical experience during their training and have to learn by trial and error once they are in independent practice in rural locations. Marc really enjoys teaching and one of his passions is medical education in Africa. So, getting to help teach medicine and surgery to a national physician during our stay was certainly a highlight.

Morning hospital staff devotions led by a local chaplain

Incubator for preterm infants

30 week preterm infant doing very well

Marc was amazed at the quality of neonatal care His House of Hope was able to provide with such limited resources. In general, infants greater than 30 weeks had a chance at life. The hospital was able to provide a warm environment (even with the duct taped incubator!), oxygen with a nasal cannula or with nasal C-PAP (through an ingenious device that used a nasal cannula attached to an oxygen concentrator on one end and submerged in water in a pill bottle on the other end to provide positive pressure), umbilical vein lines to provide IV fluid until the baby was taking enough by mouth, nasogastric tube feeds, IV antibiotics, and an apnea monitor. Having neonatal services for preterm infants in remote parts of Africa is amazing and truly life saving. It is a testament to the gifts and abilities of the missionary medical staff at His House of Hope.

A healthy full-term female newborn 

 Labor and delivery ward

On several nights, Marc arrived home when the kids were already fast asleep. He would come in looking like this after finishing a c-section... 

I was always shocked when he told me the surgery went fairly well. He was really missing the water proof gowns he used for surgery back in Galmi, Niger. Those will certainly be on our packing list next time around!

We felt like the temperatures in Yei were not as hot as Galmi (I don't know if we'll ever visit a place quite as hot as Niger) but a little hotter than Bundibugyo. The climate was more arid than Bundibugyo which meant grass was more sparse and a play area for our toddlers was tough to find. There was a dirt pile from construction work right next door to our home that became a source of outdoor fun for our kids. On a many occasions the orphan children from Harvesters joined us for our play time. I loved watching the kids play together. Our hot wheels cars, buckets and shovels were certainly a treat for the African children, but I think having new companions to play with was probably even more exciting. :)

Another favorite activity for the kids was playing soccer

We really enjoyed one of the families we met during our stay from New Zealand. Their boys were close in age to our kids so they joined us quite often to play.

And my little "dirt-ologist" sure had a good time getting dirty. At some point in the past I might have been more concerned about my little boy being covered in dirt...in Africa. But, I think I have loosened up a bit. Maybe it is because he is our third child, or maybe it is because I have lived in Africa and "clean" to me now means "free of visible dirt." I read this article a few weeks ago someone posted on FB that made me feel a little better for the laxity I have gained. Maybe dirtiness isn't so bad after all. :)

The church that was started by Harvesters is located on the mission property. One of the Harvesters' missionaries told us it consists mostly of the children and staff from their school, but we did see some locals and a few patients in attendance on the weeks we visited.

On one of our Sundays at church, we saw two of the women Marc had performed c-sections on a few days before. They nodded their heads at Marc in acknowledgement and I couldn't help but think how differently things might have been for them and their babies if a doctor had not been there, able to perform their surgery. It was encouraging for me to see those faces. Marc's work days in Yei were long. He spent many late nights apart from our family which was a challenge for us all. We learned so much during those two weeks about the need for balancing family and work life in a missionary setting. It is always hard to turn away from the endless medical needs that exist in these challenging places. We have been praying over this issue much since returning home as we decide whether God is truly calling our family to serve in this capacity in the future. One of our wise friends reminded us after we got back that Jesus didn't heal everyone around him with a physical need or ailment. He knew when to retreat to be with his disciples and when to retreat to be alone (Matthew 14:22-23). The crowds always came, but Jesus didn't always stay with the crowds and he didn't always do what they wanted. The crowds and the disciples were not always happy about that, but Jesus had Kingdom priorities that didn't always involve healing everyone. I think that is an encouraging truth we have both been processing lately.

We did some celebrating while we were in Yei! We celebrated Eli's 5th birthday and Easter Sunday. I had packed surprises for both occasions and the kids were quite delighted after a month in Africa to see some fun treats. Marc told me if he had known I had been hiding a bag of Starburst jelly beans for a whole month, the kids would have been without some of their candy on Easter morning. They sure didn't last long once the bag was opened.

Brownies were a treat for all!

Even our new baby girl got a little chocolate fix in her system. :)

Easter buckets full of treasures!

Our family picture on Easter Sunday

We had a great time getting to experience yet another beautiful country. I'm thankful that God showed us in many ways over our two week stay in Yei why he chose for us to make a trip there. We made some great memories, gained some new friends, and learned a few life lessons that we will keep with us. We are thankful for your prayers as well! We know this portion of our trip made many family and friends nervous with South Sudan's travel warning with the recent political conflict and violence. Thank you for praying for us and trusting us to discern God's leading for our family. We know that is not easy! We love you all and look forward to your continued support for our family as we make some decisions in the coming months about where we will be heading next.

Travel to South Sudan

Travel between African countries is sometimes challenging to arrange. Unless you want to fly back to Europe first, it often involves arranging smaller flights that can take you directly from one location to the next. We contacted Mission Aviation Fellowship to see if they could fly us from Bundibugyo to Yei, South Sudan since they make stops in both of those areas. They said yes, and we were excited it was all working out so well. Then, we saw the grass runway in Bundibugyo and became a little nervous. A grass runway in the rainy season can be a challenge for even an experienced pilot. It poured the day before we left which left a few muddy spots on the runway. It took us two tries to get off the ground, but we were eventually up in the sky. For those with fear of flying, a small propeller plane is probably not something I would recommend!

That other little one seen below is not a stow-a-way. Eli and Hailey's new friend just wanted one last picture from inside the plane before we left. :)

We had the most amazing aerial views along the Dem. Rep. of the Congo/Uganda border. The lush, green landscape with winding rivers was so beautiful. I think this river below is the Semliki River.

That is Lake Albert off in the distance which is another major lake in Uganda.

This map shows you a little more of our trip up along the border into South Sudan.

Our babies have all slept best in their bed. They don't fall asleep well on someone's lap. This is wonderful when we are at home since I just lay them down and they fall right asleep, but it does make travel harder when that bed it just not available. Isaac was a trooper through it all.

Our MAF pilots were great. There was lots of experience among the three of them which helped us relax and enjoy the flights. They also treated us to a flight on this brand new plane!

Eli and Hailey sat in the row in front of us and loved the whole experience.

And sweet Isaac finally drifted off to sleep. :)

We landed in Arua, Uganda where we checked out of the country with immigration and then had one more quick flight across the border into Yei, South Sudan. South Sudan has been having some political conflict since December, and we really weighed the situation heavily before we continued on with our planned visit. The region we visited was very close to the border with Uganda and had not experienced any of the violence seen in the northern part of the region. We felt we could trust the assessment coming from the families living there and they felt safe. We encountered no problems during our stay which we were very thankful for. We really appreciate all who were praying for us during this trip. 

We ran into a friendly face at the immigration office in Arua! We knew Jonathan from the fellowship program we did in Wichita. He had just finished up working at the hospital that we were headed to in Yei. It is always fun to cross paths in Africa with people from home. It doesn't happen very often. :)

This is unfortunately where my pictures of the landscape and local people stop. I actually don't have any pictures of Yei outside of the missionary compound because it is illegal to take photographs without a license. You can obtain a license for $100 to take pictures, but we were told that wouldn't guarantee our camera would not be confiscated by authorities. I do have lots of pictures from our time working with the team in Yei and those will follow soon!