Hiiiiiii from illula!!

Hi home!! I of course have to begin with reminding you all how much i miss you all like crazy!! Being away, half way across the world, away from everyone i love really makes me realize how incredibly blessed i am in that area of my life! Wow. My phone has been holding up pretty well, despite the fact that the minutes go so so fast, so a few of you have heard from me and i hope that you are passing that on to others, as i cant call everyone; though you all know i would if i could!

So we have been here in Illula for a few days, running a well-child clinic here at the children's home. It's very similar to Kipkaren, the children here are a bit older though, cuz this home has been here a few year longer. We ran the clinic all day yesterday which was long and tiring but very successful and quite fun:) So far, we have seen about 73 kids and will finish up the remainder this afternoon, before heading back to kipkaren tomorrow morning. We have figured out a system of how to effectively run the clinic...alie and i switch of taking all the vitals (bp, pulse, respiratory rate, temp, etc), and the height, weight and also a vision test. It has been fun to finally be hands on and get to work with kids while incorporating our fine tuned nursing skills ;). I have become a professional at taking manual blood pressure...most of you wont appreciate that, but in America, we have those fine litte machines that role around the hospital on wheels and take all the vitals, including bp, in about 60 seconds. Here, obviously we dont have access to those clever little robots and must refer to our days in medsurg, with our stethescopes and our sphigmomanometers! So, alie and i take care of that and Lourdes (Michelle's "2nd mom" who is here visiting) takes care of all the administrative, organizational stuff, managing and updating their files, and Michelle, the brains of it all, the Nurse practitioner, does the full, head to toe physical exam. Since these kids are a bit older, the 14 year old boys were ever so lucky to get to have a special little extra exam for testicular cancer. Oh to watch their eyes get huge as Michelle was explaining what was next! Alie and I could hardly hold ourselves together! Poor boys. After one of her pep talks to a group of boys, one of them turned right around and bolted out the door! Smart kid. The kids are great here and are such a joy to be around. In assessing them, I am getting to hear bits and pieces of their pasts and the stories of how they came to be orphanes and came to the children's home here. there are times when i find myself on the verge of tears as im reading such horrible, devastating, tragic stories of what happened to these little children, at such young ages. They've experienced more tradgedy and disaster and loss in their lives than most of us will experience in a life time...and yet, they are so full of joy and life and they love Jesus so so much. It is humbling and inspiring to be with them.

One of the things I am finding that I really love about the Kenyan people and their culture is that they just LOVE to share their stories and hear yours too. Every night here in Illula, around the dinner table, (on that note, the cook here is amazing and im going to miss his cooking going back to kipkaren) we have sat and listened and shared about life, about our journeys, where God has taken us and what He is doing right now in our lives. God is so real and so tangible in Kenya. To sit and listen to these people tell their life story, their own tradgedy and how they found Christ and how they got involved with ELI, wow, its stunning. I wish i could remember all the details of all their stories cuz they are so powerful and so encouraging. Amazing. Last night, after dinner, we sat and they discussed the whole cultrual issue of "cows" in the issue of marriage. Most of you probably arent familiar with this custom but it is huge and very important. When a man wants a womans hand in marriage, he must get his whole, clan (tribe) together with her whole clan and the elders discuss and negociate how many cows his family will have to pay hers in order for him to have her as his bride. It's a crazy system and so funny to hear them talk about!! I love it. Oh, the Kenyan culture...can you imagine if thats how we did it in America...Davis decided he (finally!) wants to marry me and comes to my dad to negociate how many cows im worth?! Oh boy, i can just see that conversation going down...how many cows am i worth, Davis?! Dad, im ur first born so Im worth quite a bit of meat, so get all you can outa him! We can just put them in the backyard on the grass with piggy...it would probably be good for her self-esteem to be around the cows. Ok, that was a tanget, back to kenya...

Overall, I am doing much better than my last blog probably sounded. I was still sick and very homesick and weak...I am no longer sick, my bowels are functioning great!!, and of course, i still miss home desperately and think about it everyday, but its not holding me back or consuming my mind all hours of the day. I am slowing finding my place here and discovering why God brought me here and what He has in store for me in this country, so so far from home. I am being stretched and challeneged daily. Stripped of everything i know, I have nothing but God to rely on. funny how that works out. Keep praying for me and alie...that we would daily find strength in Him, that we would find purpose and joy here, that our bodies (especially our bowels!) hold up and we remain healthy, and that we ultimately are the hands and feet of Jesus to theses people here. I never in my life have felt more covered in prayer so i thank you all from the bottom of my heart for thinking of me and praying for me daily...i really do need it and i really do feel it. I am so blessed by what i call home and i cannot wait to be back there and share all about my adventures in Africa! It might be a little while til i can blog again, but until then, i love you all SO much!!

love,
Somey