The Adventures of Eric and Rachel

Hiking

2012-01-19T18:54:00.000-08:00

Being in California reminded me of hiking. I was never much of a hiker until my college roommate and I decided to go to New Zealand our senior year of college and hike/kayak our way through the country in 3 weeks. Not long after, I ended up in Loma Linda for medical school and just about every last classmate of mine was into hiking and/or camping. Many good trips ensued. As Eric and I drove west on I-10, I passed three of my "summits": San Jacinto, San Gorgonio, San Bernardino. It was great to relive the memories, because try as I might I couldn't bring up any bad recollections of how uncomfortable I was during any of those hikes (even though I'm sure there were many such moments). Moving to Michigan and starting residency was not so good for my hiking hobby. Moving to Kenya might have been (Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya are impressive multi-day treks) but not with a toddler in tow. Maybe some day.

I have had the chance to do a few hikes upon our return to the States, though. Eric and I hiked Lookout Mountain in Phoenix before Christmas (I use the term hike loosely, since it took all of 20 minutes to get to the top).

There was the 12th annual Christmas family hike up Camelback.

And then in California, we were up on the way to Big Bear killing some time and took a "family hike" up a nature trail by Angelus Oaks for all of 10 minutes. Our first family hike. :)

May the years ahead bring many more such moments.

California Road Trip

2012-01-17T10:58:00.000-08:00

We just finished a one week road trip to southern California. It was a lot of fun, but after 1100 miles and multiple nights of sleeping in the same room, we'll all need some time (and sleep) to recover! It was just another week where we were reminded how blessed we are to know such wonderful people.

The first thing I remembered after crossing the state line is how expensive gas is in California. Fortunately this was an above average price by about $1.40 (this gas station was up in the mountains and the only gas for a long stretch), and even more fortunately we did not have to fill up here!

We spent a night visiting Rachel's med school roommate, Becky (Doherty) Leenheer and her family, and headed to Loma Linda the next day to see some friends and tour the new buildings. A lot has changed--it looks really nice! And I was reminded how much I enjoyed being at that school... Then it was up to the mountains to visit Rachel's mentor from med school, Cherry Brandstater. We stopped for a brief hike in the woods on the way.

Then it was west to Burbank where we stayed with Rachel's aunt and uncle for a few nights. We got to speak at a chapel service for about 50 kiddos. It was fun and we got some awesome thank you cards out of it (stay tuned for a future post). We also got to see Carlan (our teammate working at LA County) and Eric's friend Sarah Parker, from college.

Thursday we headed down to the OC area for dinner, but killed some time at a fun playground on the way.

And then Friday, we got a wonderful surprise--Rachel's best friend from med school, Kim (Arledge) Page, was able to fly down to her parents' place in Fallbrook and hang out for a day with us. Maggie and Wilson reacquainted themselves (they last met when they were about 4 and 6 mo old) and seemed to enjoy each others' company.

We fed the ducks at a pond by Kim's parents' home.

And then, finally, it was up to Rancho Cucamonga to visit some friends of Eric's from residency: Hobie and Tonna Lee, and Jeff Kim.

They cooked us a tremendous Korean feast. Awesome! Ben especially enjoyed the miso soup. Thanks, all, for helping to make our trip a success.

Happy Wedding

2012-01-03T16:49:00.000-08:00

Many congratulations to Rachel's brother Eric and his new wife, Haidee! We are especially excited that they chose to get married in a time and place where we were already located. :)

The happy couple

I did all the flowers for the wedding with some help from my wonderful relatives.

Maggie and Mommy

My mom made the angel food cake for them to cut

A big piece to eat...

Maggie loves her new aunt Haidee!

Six Years Being Remembered

2011-12-31T10:19:00.000-08:00

Today marks six years of being married to an amazing woman. Obviously, I wouldn't have married someone that I didn't think I knew or admired. I knew her well. I admired so many things about her. I loved her so much. And yet, here we are, six years later, and looking back, it feels like I didn't know half of the things for which she is to be admired. And I love her so much more.

This picture is of our first real date, getting ice cream in California in the summer of 2004. This time was followed by watching Mulan on a VCR, and then a conversation where I showed my first real relational ineptitude. Thankfully, she didn't think I was an idiot, but worked through it with grace.

In May 2005, we took our first international trip together, 9 days in Turkey, where we saw an amazing part of an amazing country, and slept on the bus 3 times in 5 days. I don't remember ever having had so much fun before. These are the travertine pools of Pamukkale.

These are the ruins of St. Stephen's church, from about the 7th century. I'm pretty sure we weren't supposed to be standing on them, but when we hiked up there, we were alone. And then this random Turkish guy showed up, and insisted we stand up there for a photo shot, and he took the picture. He was afterwards disappointed that we didn't have any money for a tip. (and we really didn't)

December 31, 2005, we were married in Knox Church in Ann Arbor, surrounded by friends and family. A beautiful day.

We took our honeymoon in Costa Rica, traveling to a few different places, including Monteverde, where we took the zipline canopy tour through the "Cloud Forest", something I wouldn't have heard of if not for Rachel, who had been dreaming about it for some time.

In 2007, our lives were full of residency training and hospitals. We decided to use our vacation for a perfectly relaxing Caribbean cruise. After a terrorizing trip missing the boat in Puerto Rico, we landed in St. Maarten, and I promptly celebrated by running into the ocean with our digital camera in my pocket. We immediately went into the town, and bought a new one. This picture was taken by the salesman on our new camera, to demonstrate it's quality to us.

Later that same year, we embarked on our first international medical trip, spending a month at Malumghat Hospital in Bangaldesh. This remains one of my favorite pictures of us, not leastwise because it highlights just how crazy white I am next to my beautiful olive-skinned, Turkish-appearing wife.

On the way home, we stopped for a few days in Dubai, taking this shot standing in the Persian Gulf, with the world's only self-proclaimed 7-star hotel in the background. (separated from us by a ratty reed fence)

The following summer was enjoyed at our 1896 home in Ypsilanti, where we plied our gardening skills on our community garden.

In 2008, our small group hosted a halloween party, where we were to dress up using only stuff found in our home. Things got ugly, but these are the times that are opportunities for marriages to grow.

2009 was a banner year. Maggie was born. We finished our medical training. We lived in 4 time zones in 5 months, and then moved to Kenya. A busy work life with kids: good, but with its challenges as well. There is no one that I would rather go through those times with. For Rachel's 31st birthday, our friends Logan and Julie gave us a special dinner in their apartment.

Down at the Tenwek waterfall, with Rachel sporting her obligatory Tenwek skirt, and me in my overly bright Kericho Toyota V-neck.

One of the best parts of our work in Africa is the chance to work together. We trained at different facilities in the US, but moving to Kenya meant that my wife has able to invade, and thus bless, my time at work as well. I knew I had been in Kenya too long when one day I shook her hand to greet her. =(

And now back in the US for the time being, now a family of four, new things and old traditions, like this picture on Christmas Day of the top of Camelback Mountain, Scottsdale, where Rachel's family always goes for Christmas.

Rachel, I love you. I look forward to each year so much more, knowing that I can live it with you. Happy Anniversary.

More Adventures in Brot-land

2011-12-29T15:35:00.000-08:00

As we had posted before, while in Kenya we started messing around with the "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day." Our friends the Millers graciously got us a copy of the actual book, which had tons more great info that one can learn from a YouTube video. Lately, we've been trying out some new recipes. On Christmas Day, we made a big batch of the Challah dough. Half was made by Rachel into absolutely awesome cinnamon rolls. (We also got a new camera, so this post is a chance to show some new snapshots)

The other half was made into Challah for lunch.

Given my bread hobby of late, I was tasked to make a bunch of loaves for Eric and Haidee Selle's rehearsal dinner, which is tonight. So I spent the morning in the church kitchen, working lots of different ovens to make different loaves. Here are the Pain d'Epi, which I'll be able to pronounce once I learn French. But it means "stalks of wheat", which is what it looks like. It's super tasty.

A few more loaves.

The finished batch of bread loaves for the rehearsal dinner tonight.

Christmas Songs and Hospice

2011-12-20T14:13:00.000-08:00

Last night, my cousins' grandpa died. His name was Leonard Laubenstein. We had gotten to know him well over the last 30 yrs as our families are close. On Sunday, my aunt Joan asked if we could visit him in the nursing home and bring a guitar and sing some Christmas songs. We were happy to. Several hours before we went over, the nursing home called to tell Joan that he would probably be dying within the next few days. And so the afternoon found us gathered around his bed, holding a hand, singing Christmas songs as he intermittently opened his eyes, and sometimes sang along. It seemed appropriate for the season, but I wondered about the end of one's life, if singing things like "Hark the Herald Angels" was the best thing or not. Shouldn't we be singing Easter songs or something? And then I started to see a theme in the hymns.

Hail the heav'n born prince of Peace
Hail the son of righteousness
Light and life to all he brings
Ris'n with healing in his wings
Mild he lays his glory by
Born that men no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth

How silently how silently the wondrous gift is given
So God imparts to human heart the blessing of his heaven...
O holy child of Bethlehem descend to us we pray
Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today

Nails, spear shall pierce him through
The cross be borne for me, for you
Hail, hail the Word made flesh
The babe the son of Mary...
So bring him incense gold and myrrh
Come peasant, king, to own him
The King of kings salvation brings
Let loving hearts enthrone him

It was abundantly clear as we sang to a man yearning for his heavenly home that Christmas is about Easter. Christmas is about our salvation, and our heavenly home, and about the love of our Father. What else could have been more appropriate? I've spent my life learning about Christianity and celebrating what Christmas means, but it made more sense this week. The beginning of the fulfillment of God's plan, and what that means to both a Christian living out her daily life and a Christian nearing his eternal home and his loving God.

First Snow

2011-12-16T09:40:00.000-08:00

We are doing our best to stay in warm climates this year. Tenwek has spoiled us with its 70 degree year round weather, and I'm not sure we can go back! Nashville has been really nice, and we spent Thanksgiving in 80 degree Georgian weather. Then it was off to Phoenix, where it's been in the 60s. But on the way, we got an unexpected surprise...snow in Missouri! Perhaps the Missourians weren't so surprised. :) Maggie actually has seen snow before, in 2009 when we got 3 inches of snow in October in Gallup, NM, and also when we got stranded in west Texas in December 2009 because a few inches of snow closed the highway. But anyway. This is the first time she could remember.

We spent a few days with our friends Julie and Logan Banks, who we met at Tenwek when they were working there for six months in 2010. Their son Liam is Maggie's age, and they have a little boy Zeke who is Ben's age. It was great to enjoy their awesome hospitality! Mags and Liam totally hit it off. They spent a lot of time bouncing on each others bed and reading each other books.

The first morning we woke up at their house in Springfield, MO, it was snowing! Julie rounded up some extra winter gear and off we went with the kids.

Maggie walking in her first snow:

Maggie and Liam, BFF.

She spent a lot of time carefully dusting off all the bushes outside the house.

The only mishap was a little slip/splits action that she needed help getting up from! Hopefully this will get her excited for our two months in Michigan this winter, where I'm sure we will see snow again. In the meantime, we'll enjoy swimming in the pool in Phoenix. :)

Opryland

2011-12-14T09:31:00.000-08:00

Just before we left Nashville, I thought it would be fun to take a trip over to the Opryland Hotel and see the Christmas lights. It's been awhile since I had been there anyway...Mimi and Bapa had taken Maggie back in September while we were in Philly, and she enjoyed all the waterfalls, fountains, and landscaping. If you've never been, Opryland Hotel has some AMAZING indoor gardens to walk through, complete with several waterfalls, fountains, and a river big enough to take a boat tour on. We went with Eric's parents, and Sami and Jonathan and their son Liam.

Here are Ben and Liam, enjoying their free candy canes before we got started (my mom likes to say that I got my first taste of sugar at my first Christmas, when I sucked the wrapping off a candy cane and then held on so hard that no one could pry it away from me....I don't think Ben got past the wrapper!)

Our first view of the HUGE Christmas tree inside the Delta section.

Maggie was fascinated with it! So sweet to see all sorts of Christmas things through the eyes of our kids.

We saw Santa Claus next, but were unable to take our own pictures. There was no line, so Maggie got to go right up and sit on Santa's lap. She had no fear at all, and just sat there with a little smirky grin on her face. She didn't know what to say when he asked what she wanted for Christmas, until Santa then asked if she liked Dora. Maggie then regaled him with all sorts of tales of her Dora sleeping bag, the Christmas tree, escalators, etc. Very cute! Then it was on to another section of the hotel:

Ben couldn't keep his eyes off all the sparkly lights on the ceiling. It was pretty magical. Overall, it was a fun way to kick off the Christmas celebrations!

I-40 is Like an Old Friend

2011-12-10T10:04:00.001-08:00

We have safely arrived in Scottsdale, AZ, and are enjoying the company of our family. It was nine days in the car, visiting with lots of great family and friends that we haven't gotten the chance to see in a while. Incredible hospitality was ours, and we are thankful. However, there is one old friend that we hadn't seen in a while that deserves special mention: Interstate 40.

I-40, especially west of Oklahoma City is, for me, the quintessential American road trip, and that kind of road trip is truly a uniquely American experience. Open roads. High speed limits. Vast distances with nothing in between except little peppered bits of classic Americana.

Western Oklahoma and the panhandle of Texas (still part of "West Texas", apparently) are about the same: amazing flat nothing-ness. In 2001, I took a rather famous road trip to the Grand Canyon with some friends, and I still remember someone (I can't recall who) telling me that the only thing that impedes your vision is the curvature of the earth. I thought they were exaggerating. But no.

America is big.

And then you get to Amarillo, a town of about a thousand hotels and restaurants, a big train station, and little else. However, deserving special mention is "The Big Texan", a restaurant I have never visited, but has lots of billboards, which are really like the tour guide of I-40. A 72-oz steak for free if you can eat it. And a free limo service as well, presumably so that they can get you home to one of your many hotel options after your steak-eating attempt puts you into a uremic coma. According to the picture, they are open for breakfast. I can only imagine.

As soon as the majesty of the vastness of this region wears off (which may or may not take longer than the time it takes your car to accelerate to the 75 mph speed limit), you don't have too long to wait until New Mexico. You have been subtly climbing thousands of feet since Oklahoma, with nothing to show for it except a reduced fuel efficiency on your car, and all of a sudden you are in the high desert at 7000 ft. The scenery truly is beautiful, with the same vastness, but a little more to admire.

The thing about New Mexico is that you are constantly reminded of the fact that the I-40 you are driving is, in fact, the old Route 66, that once was "America's Main Street". Nostalgic billboards are everywhere, and homemade roadside attractions are still of the type you would imagine from old road trip movies. In fact, many of them were there then, and haven't changed much.

Every town has way more hotels than would be justified for a town it's size, testifying to the "stopover" nature of these locations, including the famous "Hotel el Rancho" in our old once-upon-a-time home in Gallup, NM. According to the billboards, Hotel el Rancho is "Home of the Movie Stars", using the present tense for something that you're quite sure is now past tense, which further buttresses its charm of yesteryear.

Once you cross the Arizona state line, the environment has been distinctively Navajo for quite a while, and you can stop at Fort Courage if you like. Don't be fooled by the gigantic "Pancake House Restaurant" sign or the prominent gas station. Those services are no longer available. We know. We stopped there years ago to find a place to feed baby Maggie, and ended up huddled in an unused cubby hole of the remaining souvenir shop.

From there, it's a straight shot past the Petrified Forest and the Meteor Crater, on to Flagstaff. Just hang a left and coast down 4000ft in altitude until you ditch the snow and enter the valley of the sun.

When you move away to another country, you may fear that some things will be changed irrevocably by the time you get back. I don't have such fears about this little corner of my home country.

Waycross

2011-12-04T15:34:00.000-08:00

Ever since I met Eric, I have been hearing about the great family tradition of Thanksgiving in Waycross. His family has been going down to his aunt's in southern GA for probably over 15 yrs now, but we were never able to go. Until this year. It was originally the plan to spend Thanksgiving with Rachel's family and Christmas with Eric's, but all his sisters are also alternating holidays and were doing Thanksgiving in Georgia this year. Combined with the fact that Rachel's brother is getting married in Phoenix at Christmas and it made sense to switch. So last Wednesday we loaded up the car and drove nine hours through just a little bit of holiday traffic to Waycross, along with about 30 other relatives from his mom's side of the family.

It was quite a holiday! First, the McLaughlin siblings did a little ornament and gift exchange in the hotel. Pretty ironically, every kid preferred someone else's gift to the one they received. No tears, though!

Our niece Sierra:

And nephew Liam:

We were really surprised to receive an awesome gift of an accordion from Eric's sister Jena and her husband Brian. Brian's grandma had left him three, so they gave us one. Should be fun to learn how to play!

Thursday night was an awesome seafood feast of crab legs, shrimp, fish tacos, fish stew, two kinds of cake, etc. That wasn't even the Thanksgiving meal! The big meal was celebrated Friday afternoon. First, we dressed up the girls in their matching cousin outfits.

Then it was time for family photos. Mimi made matching pajamas for all the grandkids.

While the meal was cooking, Maggie and Sierra enjoyed playing with some window decals.

Ben and Liam grabbed each others' toys.

And Grammy and Papa got a picture with all five great grandkids, aged 2 1/2 to 4 months.

Daddy and his kids!

Finally, the meal! It featured no less than 17 dishes, like corn casserole, sweet potato casserole, broccoli casserole...well, you get the idea.

32 people sat around the table!

One of Eric's cousins made the name placesettings. Look at Ben's cute little leaf!

Then on Saturday after a feast of leftovers, we headed back to Nashville. A long drive, but great to finally be a part of this family tradition!

Two New Blogs

2011-12-04T12:31:00.001-08:00

Actually, it's not that they are terribly new, but they have been neglected from our blog roll. Our cousin Tyler has some great writings from his seminary life, and Chunkle Brian (pictured on the bottom, but not the ridiculously happy guy, the other guy with the knife) has fun literary musings. See sidebar for links.

Goodbye Nashville

2011-12-02T15:28:00.001-08:00

Well, three months have passed since we returned to US soil. That means that our time in Nashville has come to an end. It was a good time, a whirlwind of events and friends and family, and now we're moving on to two months in Phoenix (via St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, and Albuquerque). Here are a few highlights from our last month in Nashville:

Eric's sister Sami ran the Viva la Diva 5K in Cool Springs. We went to cheer her on and someone loaned Maggie a cowbell. She enjoyed the noise immensely.

Viva la Sami!

Bapa celebrated his birthday while we we there, starting with breakfast in bed (a potty training Maggie had already taken off her jammies that morning)

And blowing out the candles...more successful than her own 2nd birthday...

Ben got to meet his Great-Papa and Great-Grammy.

Great Grammy reading to her oldest great-grandchild, Maggie (and Ben)

Props from Rob

2011-11-25T18:44:00.001-08:00

A generous piece of publicity from our friend Rob Still at his blog, re: my CD of Kenyan Recordings.

Parallel Photos

2011-11-18T13:06:00.001-08:00

We do recognize that time passes. I understand that while we were in Kenya Maggie aged two years, and after departing with a 7 month old we returned with a 6 month old and a 2 1/2 yr old. It's hard to remember that everyone else aged two years, too! During these past month we've had the chance to visit and reconnect with some great friends. There were a few photos from our travels in 2009 that I tried to recreate this year, 2011. See what you think.

Then, with an affectionate Calvin Rocke:

Now, with an unenthused Calvin Rocke:

Then, Maggie and her very much smaller (though only three months younger) friend Andrew Rogers:

Now, the same size, mirroring their fathers' music skills:

Then, an excited Maggie sits in Great Grandma Selle's little rocking chair:

Now, an excited Ben sits in Great Grandma Selle's little rocking chair:

(and Maggie is much bigger)

Rich Mullins

2011-11-15T14:55:00.001-08:00

Sorry for the posting lapse. We've been traveling a lot, to Michigan, then Louisville, then back to Nashville. And then a special treat, the Grandparents McLaughlin are watching the kids while we two get two nights free at a B&B in east Tennessee. This is where we are. And it's lovely.

I've been reading this Rich Mullins biography, and came away with a couple new quotes that I really liked, so I'm posting them here, in the hopes that sharing will prevent forgetting.

"It is a beautiful night out - a good strong moon, stars, a beautiful black sky, and Wichita all lit up under it. I listened to "Adagio for strings" tonight. It is a beautiful sound, and...maybe I will someday write something as beautiful as "Adagio," something as beautiful as this night. And if I had a child, I'd tell him to let these things speak to him as I cannot speak, and to see in them what cannot yet be seen in himself, and know that a day is coming when the night will envy his beauty and when "Adagio" will sound like a theory assignment compared to the sound that he will be - one vibrant, shimmering answer that silences the noise of proud skepticism." - Rich Mullins (1955-1997)

"Doctor, without your wounds, where would your power be? It is your melancholy that makes your low voice tremble into the hearts of men and women. The very angels themselves cannot persuade the wretched and blundering children of this earth as can one human being broken on the wheels of living. In love's service only wounded soldiers can serve." - Brennan Manning quoting Thorton Wilder's An Angel That Troubled the Waters

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T12:47:00.000-07:00

This year marks the second year in a row that I've awakened Maggie from a nap to go trick-or-treating. Does that make me a bad parent? (wake up kid, time to go get some candy) We had some cute costumes and enjoyed going around a friend's neighborhood on the west side of Ann Arbor. Mags also got a chance to "paint" a pumpkin with finger paint. Messy and enjoyable, as you'll see.

The princess says, "Give me candy!" She wouldn't wear the crown ("owie") and would only put on the costume ("itchy") after being told it was a requirement for collecting candy....)

Ben was an adorable lion, which I picked up at a garage sale in Tennessee!

Good thing it was a warm costume, since it couldn't have been more than 40 degrees outside.

Fun neighborhood for trick or treating!

Travels East

2011-10-26T00:30:00.000-07:00

Our blogging has been pretty sporadic this month, due in large part to our transient life style. Last week we headed east from Nashville to make some visits to friends on our way to a speaking engagement in Asheville. Our first stop was in Chattanooga for a few days. We stayed with Eric's sister Jena and her husband Brian, and spent the day relaxing, wandering around downtown Chattanooga (which has some awesome water play areas that Maggie enjoyed), and trying some pumpkin pie Italian ice with vanilla custard, an awesome taste experience. Maggie particularly enjoyed Blue's Clues on Netflix and chasing/torturing the 2 cats.

We also visited Curt and Chris Chaffin, friends we met in Ann Arbor who have now lived in Chattanooga for a number of years, and Eric's friends from college, John and Lindsay Bamber. Both families have kids Maggie's age, which was great for us. The Bambers are photographers and took us to the Tennessee Aquarium for the morning. The kids had a great time looking at the fish, turtles, otters, etc.

Then it was on to the Prescription for Renewal conference in Asheville, NC for 4 days. We both were able to present some medical lectures to the group, and a "friend of a friend" provided a cabin for our entire family to stay in (so much nicer than a small hotel room). It was a great chance to see the McCropders again and meet up with old friends from Tenwek.

We wrapped up our time by continuing east to Durham, where more Ann Arbor friends Dan and Kelly Rocke are living (Dan's an ENT resident at Duke). Maggie and Calvin have been friends since before they were born (we decided) and they have not seen each other for a few years, so it was fun watching them get reacquainted. Our younger two, Ben and Jack, will be fast friends as soon as they get a bit older. And while we were in Durham, we hooked up with some great medical folks we got to know during our two years at Tenwek.

A whirlwind trip, but a great one! More McLaughlin travel adventures to come, I'm sure.

These Places are not Imaginary

2011-10-24T18:18:00.000-07:00

In attempt to distract Maggie this morning, I scrolled through the "Sample Pictures" that every PC comes with in your "Pictures" folder. This picture struck me as oddly familiar.

So, we looked through our old photos from our honeymoon to Costa Rica. In addition to this being an incredibly awesome picture of me, it looks a lot like the above. The bridge and the flowers are different, but the pattern of the rocks clinches it. It was at these manicured hot springs near the Arenal Volcano. I've sometimes wondered whether or not these pictures were all from real places. Apparently this one is.

Playgrounds

2011-10-22T12:21:00.000-07:00

Something we never truly appreciated until our return to the US. Maggie was too young to play on them before we left, and Kenya doesn't really have any. But here in America, awesome playgrounds are everywhere! Free entertainment! Mags and Ben have both enjoyed a variety of play areas, from fast food restaurants to outdoor areas in a variety of states.

Grandparents

2011-10-20T10:22:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite parts about being home, obviously, is a chance for the kids to spend some quality time with their grandparents. We have been staying mostly in Nashville with Eric's family, but Rachel's mom came out to visit for a few days as well, and we'll head to Phoenix by mid-December. Here are some cute pics of the kiddos with their grandparents:

Bapa with Ben and Liam

Bapa with 3/4 of his grandkids!

What a fun jungle gym!

Sporting a new hat with Grandma

Maggie and Mimi at the pumpkin patch

Happy Birthday Mariah - From Maggie and Ben

2011-10-18T09:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to a sister and aunt that we love very much. Sending birthday wishes from our home for 3 days in Durham, NC.

M: "Hey Ben! No!"

Let's try standing behind Ben.

A little lower down, Maggie!

M: "Daddy!"

E: "Maggie, not quite that low!"

M: "Cheese!"

Everyone: "Happy Birthday (Aunt) Mariah! We love you!"

Random Pictures from Tenwek

2011-10-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

As I was going through the pictures of our last days at Tenwek, I found some snapshots of life that I thought you might like to see. Here they are:

We took a trip to the coast for a few days and Ben got to experience his first dip in the pool. Not sure quite what he's looking at...

He also got his first taste of solid foods. He eats about 6 different kinds of food now, but we're still trying to find one he's excited about!

I finally got a few new pictures of me operating. Nothing gross here. :)

And the last baby I delivered in Kenya, via a normal repeat Cesarean section.

Maggie and Abi enjoying some last moments together, inside and outside. (Mags was reading her the Cat in the Hat--we have a French/English version that maybe someday we'll be able to read in both languages!)

Eric leading worship one last time at Bethesda church

And also playing some music just for Ben

Hellos

2011-09-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

On the flip side of our last post, we were super excited to get off the plane in Nashville and see so many family members there to greet us! Eric's parents, two sisters, and our new niece and nephew were all waiting for us with balloons and a "Welcome Home" sign. It was great! Here are some photos of the cousins all getting acquainted:

Maggie and Sierra sharing a meal

Meeting our sweet niece Sierra

Jena and her husband Brian stopped in for dinner on Monday...she painted Maggie's toenails and won her the immediate designation of "coolest aunt"

Ben and Liam hanging out together

Size difference? 5 days and 5 pounds

The classic "cousins in the bathtub without showing anything too revealing" photo

Mags and Bapa, mowing the lawn

Another Ben and Liam shot

Goodbyes

2011-09-27T14:40:00.000-07:00

Right after we arrived in Kenya, I remember someone telling us that Kenyans are very good at goodbyes. Americans, they said, are liable to let someone leave and "forget" to say goodbye, or give a passing hug and send people on their way. Not so with Kenyans. They love ceremony and speeches, and we left Tenwek several weeks ago feeling truly appreciated. So appreciated, in fact, that we will need more than one blog to tell the story!

So to get things back on track with our neglected blog, here are some pictures of goodbyes said in the past month...to Kenyan friends and colleagues who we already miss and will never forget.

The Mugallas: Castro, Joan, and their son Caleb. Mugalla is a family practice resident at Tenwek

The OB team: Kibet, Araka, Cephas, and Maureen are our current interns. Also with my fellow attending doc Carrie Huber, visitor Carl Jurgens, and Moi med students Samuel and Dorcas.

Our good friend and faithful house helper, Ruth

The peds team: Joshua, Hannah, Yvonne, Alex, and fellow attending (and McCropder) Alyssa

Good friends Liz and Mike...Liz was an intern from last year who just got hired to work at Tenwek, and Mike was an intern from 2 yrs ago who has been working at Tenwek...and they're getting married soon! Sorry to miss the wedding. :(

Rose has watched Maggie since she was Ben's age. She has been a great help and a blessing to our family.

Aaaaand we're back

2011-09-27T14:22:00.000-07:00

Our apologies. Between packing up our house into 8 bags, travelling on 18 hours worth or international flights, overcoming jet lag with 2 kids, re-entering US culture by buying new wardrobes, getting haircuts, and purchasing a vehicle, and finally spending a week in Philadelphia getting assessed by and oriented to our new missions agency (World Harvest) we somehow haven't managed to find time to blog. Whoops. :) But some of our recent adventures can be found at mccropders.com

The rest of the stories are on their way now that we've finally uploaded some photos...watch and see!

Returning Home Highlight: #1

2011-09-06T02:22:00.000-07:00

Feeling Culturally "At Home":

First things first: We are people who love traveling, and we love experiencing new cultures. Two food choices: One you've had, one you've never heard of. We go for the latter almost without exception. And we have loved the opportunity to get to know a new culture at a deeper level than ever before. There is still a thrill in meeting a new visitor and realizing how many things used to be new that are now second-nature.

However, there is a sense that Kenya (or Burundi for that matter) will never be our home. And in that regard, we are looking forward to being in our home culture for two reasons especially.

First is the notion of relaxed interactions. You walk up to a grocery store. You exchange your own culture's versions of pleasantries. You pay. You get your groceries and go out. Note that at no point to do you have to stop and be intentional about any of this. You also don't have to repeat yourself several times because of your strange accent. And perhaps most significantly, you are quite confident that you did not act offensively or rudely without even knowing it. There is something good in this, and we are looking forward to it.

Second is anonymity. Have you ever wished that you could just blend in to the crowd? That you could be so at home in a place that other people don't notice you? Being out of your home culture (and in particular looking very different from the people in your new culture) means that people are liable to stare at you, follow you, make you the center of attention. You might feel gratified. For about a week. There are some times when this may play to our advantage, but it can become a burden sometimes, and we look forward to walking in a park without anyone coming over to get a closer look at our children. Or if they do gawk at them, we will be thinking that it's because they're so cute, and not because they just don't see white children very often.

Well, that concludes our Top Ten Lists. And it may be the last blog we post here before we board the place in 2 more days. Bags are being packed, and the kitchen is cleared out. Pray for our journeys, our goodbyes and also our hellos, as another big transition is on the horizon.

Returning Home Highlights: #2-4

2011-09-04T06:29:00.000-07:00

#4: Not Having to Plan Meals: Meal planning has been the bane of my (Rachel's) existence. In our early days I would relax with a Betty Crocker cookbook on the couch. I would spend long periods of time deciding what meals to eat for the next two weeks, what needed to be prepared ahead of time, if we had all the ingredients or not, etc. There is never an option of running to Little Caesars or eating out. There is rarely a last minute option like a box of Mac & Cheese. In fact, if I haven't planned a meal and it's less than an hour to dinner, we are probably going to end up with scrambled eggs (if we have enough eggs) or peanut butter sandwiches (if I had time to make peanut butter and bread). But, we never starved, I guess I can say that!

#3: Credit Cards: Before we came to Kenya, we didn't really carry cash. The main purpose of it seemed to be splitting the bill at a restaurant when you felt awkward about asking for separate checks. And garage sales. And sometimes some small international grocery stores, but not usually. We just used our credit cards. And then our debit card automatically paid off our credit card. Amazing! The conveniences are many and oft taken for granted. Not only do you not have to carry cash, but you can just scan your card at checkout and be done in about 10 second. (note: at no point does anyone take your card off into some nearby room for a few minutes and tries to call a bank somewhere to effect the transaction, all the while planting fears of identity theft in your mind.) Also, at the end of the month, when you want to organize your budget, you just go to your online bank statement, and all of your purchases are listed and described! Wow!

We don't use them often here, largely because we have no international ATM fees for cash withdrawals, but VISA purchases get nailed for 3%, which can really add up, when every life expense is international.

#2: Fast Internet: For a while, I thought about posting this survey on our blog:

Q: How long did it take for this page to load?
a) <2 seconds
b) 2-10 seconds
c) 10-30 seconds
d) >30 seconds
e) What are you even talking about? Pages don't take time to load!

We readily admit that our internet service has gotten faster while we have been here. We also admit that we don't think we really how fast it used to be, and it's probably gotten even faster in the US during the 2 years we've been gone. For the meantime, need to download something from iTunes? Might I recommend an overnight download? It'll be almost done by morning! That would even be for music, but we looked at "renting" HP7-1 by downloading the movie from iTunes. Once we realized it would probably take 2 days or more, and the odds of uninterrupted internet service for that long were very low, we decided against it.

We look forward to this technology called "streaming", but it sounds like a bunch of hocus-pocus to us. We also look forward to a clear and uninterrupted Skype picture. Video rentals without leaving your home? Wow!

Video

2011-09-01T08:37:00.000-07:00

This morning, Rachel found this video regarding Andrew Peterson, and we think it's awesome. And we think there are enough people that might read this that would agree that we wanted to share it.

Returning Home Highlights: #5-7

2011-08-29T10:11:00.000-07:00

Now that we have both finished our last call nights here at Tenwek, I'm sure we will have tons of leisure to post speculative cross-culture blogs. On with the lists!

7. Reliable road maps: We have a map of Nairobi. We also have a map of Kenya. You may think that the general idea of a map is to help one to find one's way, but these seem to be made for someone who already knows the way. Some of the complications of road maps around here are plain inaccuracies ("what do you mean this road doesn't go to that town?") and no way to figure in the quality of the road, which is essential in trip planning. Time estimation on google maps? Ha! Our first 8 trips or so to Nairobi, we got lost every time. Now we know our way, and the map is awesome.

A few months ago, we suddenly remembered a time in West Texas, right before we left, when the interstate was closed for a freak snowstorm. We looked at our atlas, plotted a course through country we had never before laid eyes on, and arrived without incident. Amazing!

6. Driving at night: A related but separate joy. We don't drive at night here. Our supervising agency actually tells us not to. Aside from safety concerns about violence at night, there are no street lights, which provide difficulties on potholed roads that keep animals and darkly-clothed pedestrians on their fringes day or night. I did it once after an incident where my nerves were already shot, and that was enough for me.

Again, the simplicity of this fact at home was always taken for granted. The sun is down? Why wouldn't you drive? There's still plenty of time to head out to your local 24-hour grocery store and pick up anything you might want!

5. Seasons: We recently wrote about the charms of the weather on the equator, and there is certainly an upside. However, after two years of basically the same weather every day, though a lovely mix of spring and summer, which is, at the same time, not really spring or summer, the seasons have grown in their allure.

I don't think Kenyans would get this, and in fact, I freely admit that it is not superior to temperate weather every day, but it is nevertheless good, and it's ours. We've been shocked at how the simply turning of the year holds so many deep associations with other elements of culture. The first snow, Christmas, snow days, a slow thaw, finding the ground underneath again, the first wildflowers, the first day you can wear shorts (which is never here), riding a bike again, spring tree blossoms, planting a garden, getting out of school for the summer, picking fruit, swimming, vacation bible school, the changing color of tree leaves, apple picking, pumpkin carving, thanksgiving... The list goes on, but they are all so tied to the passing of seasons as we remember them, that our hearts can ache with the beautiful memories of it all...

We'll see how we feel if we spend February in Michigan.

Returning Home Highlights: #8-10

2011-08-27T00:13:00.000-07:00

Time has gotten away from us and it's just under two weeks until we leave for the United States. The McLaughlin feet (8 instead of 6) will be back on American soil on September 9^th. We wanted to reflect mainly on the things we will miss in Kenya instead of the things we WON'T miss...but the flip side of the coin is that we are also very excited to be coming home. A home that Maggie doesn't remember and Ben's never been to, but a place that's been home to Eric and me for many years, and will always be so. Because time has gotten away from us, we don't have the luxury of separate posts for each of the “top 10” things we're looking forward to about returning home, so we're doing a bit of lumping here. Our apologies. And we're limiting our list to things instead of people. Obviously, we hope it goes without saying that the absolute best part of coming home will be the chance to see all of our family and friends, and be a part of your lives again.

#10: Stick margarine: No, really. I have done more baking here in Kenya than ever before in my life, and I'm recognizing how many conveniences are available in the US. One thing I am so looking forward to is sticks of butter and margarine that have convenient little markings on the sides delineating tablespoons and cups. Wow! Here in my kitchen I have a variety of mismatched measuring cups and need to scoop margarine out of a big tub, fill it into the cup, hope there's not a big air bubble, scrape it out...it's all over my hands, hard to wash, etc etc. I never appreciated the stick margarine (and Crisco sticks) until my arrival here. Can't wait to try them out again

back home!

#9: Public libraries: Stop and think about how amazing your local library is. You walk in, and get to take home books, movies, and music … for free. AND if they don't have the book you're looking for, they'll order it for you from another library, and it's STILL free! We were total library junkies back home and the only books we bought were discounted used books at the weekly library sale. Since Tenwek has a lot of long term missionaries with their own home schooling libraries, we've made do here (getting closer to that Newbery goal!), but look forward to being able to walk into a giant building full of books on all topics, waiting for us to take them home and read them! Perhaps we'll be able to locate those difficult to find Newbery winners, like “Gay Neck, the story of a Pidgeon.” No one seems to have that one around here.

#8: Flavored coffee and creamers: This is something we have sort of gotten around since our arrival. Eric has been making our own flavored creamers out of sweetened condensed milk, milk, and flavorings for over a year now. It's been great, but we are looking forward to a wide array of new flavors to try. And oh, the coffee aisle at the grocery store. Walk down the aisle and breathe deep the wonderful smells of grinding coffee. Ah, heaven.

Missing Kenya #1: Close Community

2011-08-24T23:30:00.000-07:00

We have been flattered and surprised by people's anticipation of our list, particularly the #1 item. I hope this doesn't come as anticlimactic, given that this one is not specific to Kenyan culture, but it is most certainly true.

We have a 2-year old and a 5-month old. In the vast majority of situations, doing any evening social activity therefore requires hiring a baby-sitter, making significant arrangements, and watching your watch closely as the evening goes on to get back on time.

Here is goes something like this:

1. A knock at the door from fellow McCropder who lives next door or downstairs. "Hey, want to play some cards after the kids go down?"
2. Kids go to sleep around 7:30pm
3. Go to aforementioned apartment and laugh a lot with friends, or commisserate over some recent experience, taking 45-second breaks every once in a while to run up and make sure kids are still asleep.
4. Go home when you want to.
(Note: no baby-sitter is making money)

We recognize that this is a rare blessing for this stage in our life. We also recognize the numerous times of spontaneously sharing a meal, and the huge help our friends have been while we try to juggle raising two little kids and working odd hours.

We are going home to see tons of friends and family that we have missed dearly, and we are awfully excited about it. But, there will be something different from what we have experienced here. I'm sure we'll miss it, and we'll be looking forward to sharing one big apartment building in the French Alps and later in Burundi.

OK, that completes our list. Stay tuned for our Top Ten Things We Look Forward to About the USA.

Missing Kenya #2: Wildlife

2011-08-24T04:03:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we drove back to Tenwek after a World Harvest Mission retreat to the coast (which was lovely, by the way, maybe more stories later). We were driving across the Rift Valley floor, which we've probably done 50 times, and we saw two ostriches (do we need to clarify that they are wild?). We've never seen ostriches there before, but low and behold.

There is a decent amount of unpleasantness about driving in Kenya, but there are also a few upsides, the biggest being the animal life. Every 3rd grader can tell you that there are a bunch of big animals in our neck of the woods, and they're right. There are a few general categories of this goodness, and we will miss them all.

1. The Straight-Up Safaris:

When you set aside a few days and drive a couple hours away, you can see some of the world's best wildlife. This is a great time, that we've enjoyed on several occasions and blogged about previously. There are definitely the most dramatic sites here.

2. The Home Life, especially the birds:

Anywhere you go in East Africa, the birds are tremendous, and though we never really paid attention to birds before, we've become decently well-versed in various sorts while living here. Even at Tenwek, there are a number of nice ones, including the black and white casqued hornbill, which was photographed above from our front porch. This bird is about 2.5 feet tall.

3. Other people's local wildlife

Anywhere you go, even if it's not to a "safari" location, it's always fun to guess what type of wildlife might reside there. It adds a new little dimension to any trip. Above, we were eating at a local restaurant 1 hour away, and the rooftops were invaded by little vervet monkeys.

4. Driving in the Rift Valley:

This gets a category of it's own. Our most common road trip is to Nairobi, and this takes us straight through the floor of the Rift Valley, just north of Masai Mara Game Reserve. There are 4 main animals seen there: baboons, zebra, Thompson's gazelles, and giraffes. However, as mentioned, we saw ostrich there yesterday and have also seen Grant's gazelles. If you veer off the road a bit, as we did to visit our friends, you might see warthogs, wildebeests and more. The picture above was a few months ago, driving down to said friends. As you can tell, the road isn't great, so a rest stop to watch the giraffes is doubly welcome.

Missing Kenya #3: House Helpers

2011-08-14T09:48:00.001-07:00

It's funny, but as I reflect on our list of top 10 "Missing Kenya" items, I'm realizing how many of them were strange, uncomfortable, or undesired when we first arrived. The subject of today's post, house helpers, was actually one of the most stressful elements of my first weeks in Kenya. I was uncomfortable hiring local women to work in my house--I didn't want to seem uppity by hiring servants! What would I have them do? Would I have to reprimand or dictate? How much should I pay them? Health insurance/housing stipends? I had never employed anyone before, and didn't know how to act as a "boss." Maybe I could get by without house help.

Two ladies showed up to work on the first day and I was embarrassed. I needed TWO people to help me while I was at work? But all the other missionary ladies assured me this was normal, and acceptable, and I was providing income into the local economy, to women who deserved it. And even though the rate I was paying them seemed absurdly low (really? $2.50/day?) it was much higher than they could earn elsewhere in the area, doing almost anything.

So, that was the beginning. Ruth cooked and cleaned, Rose watched Maggie and did some cleaning. Despite some early on kitchen mishaps (I can't eat a particular fried rice recipe anymore without remembering what Eric termed the "pepper rice" due to a tsp/tbsp mix-up) it actually didn't take long before I was wondering what I'd do without these 2 sweet ladies. Not only was my bed made on a regular basis (the first time in my life that's ever happened) but the dishes got washed, laundry hung to dry and folded, water filtered, milk boiled, vegetables soaked in bleach and cut up, bathroom washed, floors swept and mopped, rugs beat out... And most importantly, someone reliable was watching Maggie (and now Ben) while I worked 3 days a week.

My misunderstanding at the beginning was common, I think. It's not that I need servants. It's that there are so many more things to do in the day here than need doing in the US. We are going home to a land of dishwashers, washers and dryers, drinkable tap water, pasteurized milk, vacuum cleaners, paved sidewalks (less dirt in the house), and prepared foods available at the grocery store, 10 minutes away. I don't have plans to hire someone to do housework for me the in States, although certainly if Eric and I were both working we'd need day care or a nanny, and a nice lady to come and clean the house once in awhile would be nice. :) Ruth and Rose have been a great help, and we will miss them, and wish them well.

Missing Kenya #4: Door to Door Produce

2011-08-09T23:19:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I miss being able to run out to the grocery store for that one thing I forgot...something essential to the dinner I had planned 3 wks ago and now need to readjust my plans (no more meal planning will have a prominent feature in our next series of posts, things we are looking forward to about the US). But then I remember some fun grocery conveniences that we have here at Tenwek that I will miss. Namely, food arriving at our door.

Every day, the Faders' househelper Edna brings us 2L of fresh milk to the door. As in, it was probably in the cow 2-3 hours earlier. This is whole, unpasteurized milk that we can skim cream off of and needs to be boiled for 15-20min before we can drink it. The price is about 75 cents for 2L. I have never wished I could run out to the grocery just for milk, and I'm sure in days to come as I'm making a grocery run for another gallon of milk, I'll remember these times fondly.

Also, every Tuesday Joseph the egg man comes to our door. He actually runs a local orphanage, Umoja, and the kids there have chickens as an extra income generating project. I can get as many or as few eggs as I want, and no need for a "dozen" denomination. We usually get about 20. The eggs run about $1.40 for a dozen, and it is supporting a good cause. 20 eggs, you say? Every week? Well, yes, we do eat a lot of eggs here...especially since we do all our own baking and cereal is so expensive. I have no intention of checking my cholesterol.

And finally, it's not just eggs and milk, but a variety of produce that shows up. Every week someone is coming by selling spinach, tomatos, carrots, cabbage, pineapples, etc. We can buy, or not, but it's fun to peruse the options!

In the US, the nutrition/food trend and advice seems to be "know where your food comes from." Well, here in Kenya we know EXACTLY where most of our food comes from. In fact, we've met our food. At least, we've met "our" cow and "our" chickens. It's been fun to see. And despite the fact that we have had more empty margarine and sunflower oil containers than I care to dwell on (we can't possibly have consumed all that oil, right?) I like to think that we've eaten healthier here than we would have back home.

Missing Kenya #5: Kenyan Cell Phone Plans

2011-08-04T23:29:00.000-07:00

Eric and I often look back (fondly? or not...) on our first full day in Kenya. We spent something like 8 hours shopping for food, appliances, housewares, and phones, totally jet-lagged, unsure of the exchange rate, overwhelmed at the money we were spending. Eric and our friend Steve Manchester spent something like 2 hours at the cell phone counter (OK, maybe not that long) at the grocery store while I stared at the spice aisle unsure of what to buy. I remember thinking, as Eric handed me my new cell phone, boy I just miss Verizon. It was so known and familiar, and I had a nice phone with an Indiana Jones theme song ring. BUT little did I know how wrong I was to miss Verizon.

Let me say this: Kenyan cell phone plans are AWESOME. We spent $20 apiece on phones, which are basic but do feature flashlights, calculators, timers, and calendars. Then every plan (basically) is pre-paid. We buy a credit card looking thing for $12 or so and with current calling rates of 4cents/min to the US, and 4cents/min anywhere in Kenya, with no roaming charges, that money lasts us MONTHS. Texts are about 1 1/2 cents apiece. PLUS you only pay for outgoing calls, and incoming calls and texts are free. We figure that for both of our phones, we spend less than $10/mo. I went online several months ago to price out verizon's plans and the cheapest options will run us $70/mo for 2 phones (which we need to buy ourselves). Yikes!

Cell phones have revolutionized the Developing World. And I don't think that's an overstatement. I remember going to Cambodia in 2002 and seeing a guy talking on his cell phone riding a rickshaw with kids running around drinking beverages out of plastic bags with straws thinking, what a bizarre contrast. But consider the cost of running thousands of miles of phone lines vs the cost of putting up a few cell towers. With these Kenyan calling plans, everyone can own a cellphone, whereas a land line could cost hundreds of dollars and be subject to fallen branches and slow repairs. My househelpers, who make about $50/mo, own cell phones. They have no electricity in their homes...so they charge up their phones here.

Who knows. We will probably come home to the US after 2 yrs and stare at the new smart phones (I did have to have my cousin explain to me what that was) like hicks from the sticks. But hopefully we can jump back in smoothly. When we get those monthly bills, though, we will look back at Kenya oh so fondly.

Missing Kenya #6: Equatorial Weather

2011-07-31T05:34:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken in Nairobi, the day after we arrived in Kenya in December 2009. As you can see, the weather for that day was mild enough for t-shirts, but comfortable for long-sleeves for Maggie and long pants for everyone. In short, idyllic weather.

Pretty much everyday between then and now has been roughly the same. We do have seasons. There are the "long rains" and the "short rains". But I can't even remember when they are, because around Tenwek Hospital, the difference between the rains and "not the rains" are usual pretty unremarkable, with the exception of one dry spell earlier this year, which ended the night Ben was born, prompting the locals to want us to name him "Kiprop", which means "boy born during the rains".

We are at about 0.5 degrees south of the equator and about 6500 ft altitude. This means a few things:

1. The difference between sunset at the summer vs winter solstice is less than 30 minutes. In fact, I've never noticed any difference at all.

2. It never gets cold. I mean, Kenyans wear parkas at night, and maybe if I slept outside like many of them functionally do, I would sympathize more, but a sweater has always been the max need for me.

3. It never gets hot. This is surprising for most people, but shorts are culturally awkward here and this doesn't matter at all, from a comfort standpoint. It gets hot on the coast, but not at this altitude and not in Nairobi.

4. The temperature difference between a sunny lunch time and a rainy afternoon (the normal trend) is greater than any particular annual variation in climate.

5. We don't have a heater. We don't have AC. No big deal.

Overall, this is nice. There are some drawbacks, which largely come in various feelings of monotony. However, people consider this weather to be ideal for reasons which we can really relate to.

Mango Sticky Rice

2011-07-24T04:08:00.000-07:00

Allow me just a blog minute to brag on my wife. She works very hard. She is taking care of two little kids, and she is the head of the OB department. She is coordinating a World Health Organization site for a big multi-country study. She lectures twice a month to the interns. She is apparently off preaching at a little village church even as we speak.

And yet, a couple weeks ago, she found out how to make Mango Sticky Rice, an awesome Thai dessert that we love, and hadn't had since leaving the US. She had gotten some really nice mangoes, and found the recipe online. Oh, coconut milk, you are so versatile! It was awesome. And so is she.

Missing Kenya #7: Walking to Work

2011-07-23T02:04:00.001-07:00

We can get to the hospital in about 3-4 minutes, uphill all the way there, downhill all the way back. This has several implications:

1. Home Call: In residency, I was allowed to take home call to Chelsea Hospital. If I had to go in, I would field a phone call, get in my car and drive 35 minutes of highway to the little hospital, then arrive to do whatever work. Usually it was a larger amount of work, but here I can go up to the hospital, receive a newborn baby, ensure they're OK, and be back home before my precious ice cream melts (Though we would keep it in the freezer just in case. I mean, you never know how long it will take for sure, and ice cream is precious).

2. No Hospital Parking. Parking of UM was ridiculous. Parking at St. Joe's for Rachel still meant a longer walk to the hospital than we currently have from our home. Plus, it's free.

3. Little Driving in General. This is nice particularly given the nature of driving here. When your job and all your friends are within walking distances, and there is nothing else within short driving distance (schools, stores, church, etc.), you almost never have to drive. We leave the walking distance of our home maybe twice a month. This can lead to a bit of cabin fever, but usually it's nice, and a little bit of African travel will easily cure this sensation.

4. Close Medical Care. We can walk to all of Maggie and Ben's doctor visits in less than 5 minutes. We walked home with Ben when he was two hours old. But sometimes that's just too far, so we just go downstairs to talk to Alyssa, or next door to show John a red eye.

We're not expecting anything like this in the US, in fact we'll probably be in the car often. And though US roads sound awfully nice right about now, I'm sure there will be times when we miss never needing to get into the car.

Missing Kenya #8: Chai Time

2011-07-19T03:53:00.001-07:00

Kenya has a British heritage that persists in various ways. They are also (behind India and Sri Lanka) the world's 3rd largest tea-growing nation. The result of this is that they are devout tea drinkers, any time being good, but mid-morning being necessary. I guess the Brits would refer to "tea time", whereas Kenyans have "chai time", using the Kiswahili word for tea, which is pretty fitting since "tea" may not really conjure up the image of what you get in "chai".

Kenyan chai is about 1/3 milk, boiled with 2/3 water, with lots of sugar added, and then just enough black tea leaves to turn the chai slightly brown, as seen in the cup above. It can be served straight or "masala", which is quite yummy with spices that make it taste more like what Americans think of as "chai tea", and it can be served "tangawizi", which is also very yummy and adds ginger or even fresh rosemary for extra flavour.

The hospital provides chai for all its employees, and there is a whole institution built up around it. The chai will come in "flasks", which Americans would call big, plastic thermoses. The chai will be "taken", instead of drunk. It will come at approximately 10:30, but a little later on Mondays and Fridays, when the kitchen staff attend devotions that usually run into that time. Chai is often accompanied by "mendazi", which are fried, doughnut like pastries that Americans always comment could really use a jelly filling, but are actually quite nice once you get used to them. You can take an "American cup" of chai, which is about 80% filled, or you can take a "Kenyan cup", which will near 100% filled, and will probably spill and burn your hand as you lift it to your mouth. There is no minimum age for a child to start taking chai. I mean, no minimum age.

On the OB, medical, and paediatric services where we spend our days, chai time is often a moment for our team of doctors to catch their breath, discuss necessary matters, and do some brief teaching about a medical topic. Just as American attendings often show up with bagels for early rounds, we often feel the need to supply our team with mendazi or chapati (which do not come free from the hospital). It does certainly confound daily tasks, when everyone stops what they are doing halfway between arrival and lunch, but we maintain that it is also a great way to break up the day and force ourselves to get a much needed moment of rest and companionship.

Enjoying a cup on Paeds ward.

Flasks of chair, and a mendazi at the bottom left.

Note the juxtaposition of bling and faith on the two flasks.

Rafting the river Nile

2011-07-15T23:03:00.000-07:00

The Nile River is the world's longest, running from Lake Victoria in Southern Uganda up to the Mediterranean in Egypt. (There are some rivers, starting in Rwanda and Burundi, that feed Lake Victoria and are thus arguably the true source of the Nile.) It's impact on history and civilization is legendary, and, near it's major source in Uganda, it also boasts some awesome whitewater.

We had wanted to get down to raft for some time, but were thwarted several times. We finally decided that I (Eric) would go alone, since traveling with Ben and Maggie would be challenging, and scope it out for future family vacations. So, last week, I drove 4 Canadian Samaritan's Purse interns across the Ugandan border to the town of Jinja.

We stayed at a place called Adrift, which was the first company to ever raft the whitewater at the source of the White Nile (the Blue Nile originates in Ethiopia and joins the White Nile in Khartoum, Sudan, to the form the Nile proper). Their base camp sits up on a bluff, just a few miles from Lake Victoria, overlooking the river.

They had a nice open-air restaurant area, adorned with random collectibles as well as some very fun-looking monkeys, who were, thankfully, less aggressive than some baboons that I've encountered lately.

This little guy is perched on top of a kayak that made it's way from Lake Victoria all the way to the Mediterranean, and is now enshrined in the rafters of the restaurant.

The next day, I joined our 4 Canadians and 5 Brits to go rafting. It's often joked that Americans should sew a maple leaf on their pack to be thought Canadian when traveling (especially in Europe), in order to garner favor (or "favour" as it might then be). Let me say from experience that it's much easier to be mistaken for a Canadian if you just travel with 4 other Canadians.

What to say about rafting the Nile? My major comparison is to the Ocoee, which I've rafted several times in Tennessee. When I heard there were only 8 rapids and only 1 Class Five, I was disappointed. But, apparently I don't totally get the class system, since every last one of these rapids was on par or bigger than the biggest of the Ocoee rapids. Our raft flipped twice, and I had the exhilaration of swimming some big waves after flipping in the last rapid. There was a lot more flat water in between rapids, but that was also a nice chance to take in some more of the scenery, as well as to take some swimming breaks in the very temperate water.

After one such swimming break, I realized that I had lost my wedding ring. Many of you probably know that I lost the first one in 2007, playing volleyball in a lake in Michigan. So we made sure this 2nd one was as small as possible. It was generally very hard (and painful) to get off my finger, but somehow the water of the Nile combined with the greasiness of sunscreen and our lunchtime chapatis to work a little unfortunate magic. Alas. I'm glad Rachel still loves me. Here's the picture we bought of our raft heading down a nice little waterfall on the first rapid. We didn't flip on that one.

I'm sure we'll be back someday.

Working Mommy

2011-07-15T03:18:00.000-07:00

Long before I became a wife or a mother, I knew God was calling me to be a doctor...specifically, a missionary doctor. I was only 16 years old, and had no idea what I was committing to, but there you have it. For many years, although I wanted a family of my own, I thought maybe God was calling me to be single. Guys weren't beating down my door, and studying kept me pretty busy, so I figured this was one way of keeping me focused on my calling. And then when I was 24 I met Eric, and it soon became clear to me that God was calling me to be a missionary, a doctor, and a wife. But perhaps we wouldn't be blessed with children? Not so. At the age of 30, I added mother to the above list (and x2 at the age of 32!). And I need to remind myself that I am who I am because that is who God called me to be...He might have chosen not to bless me with a husband or children, and He might have called me to a different career, but He didn't. I need to remember because of the days when it seems impossible to do all four of these things.

It has seemed very impossible lately. The transition from one to two kids was surprisingly difficult, despite Ben being a great baby. Just when I was getting in the swing of things it was time to go back to work. My mom was here for the first 4 wks, but she sadly left the first weekend of July and now here I am. I have struggled a lot with feeling inadequate to the task at hand. I feel like I am failing at work, at being a mom, at keeping a home, at being a wife. I can only give so much of me to each role and there is always more that can be given. When I'm at work, I want to be at home with my kids. When I'm home, I think about all the good I could be doing at work. I feel guilty. I feel like I should spend more quality time with my kids on the days I AM at home. And at night I fall in to bed, exhausted, hoping that just one night I can get a solid eight hours of sleep.

But in these valleys of life, God is whispering to me in His still small voice. Eric and I are working through a discipleship course called Sonship and it has been the perfect thing at the perfect time in my faith. At the end of lesson 2, our mentor said to me, "Satan is the accuser. He is believable because he tells the truth...half of it, at least. He says to you, 'you're not the wife you ought to be. You're not the mother you ought to be. You're not the Christian you ought to me.' And he's right, you're not. But Jesus IS all the things you ought to be, and you are joined with Him because of His sacrifice." Wow. That was a word into my heart. Yes, I fail. All the time. But Christ doesn't, and I am joined with him.

God has also brought to mind a talk I heard years ago, before I was a mother, at the Global Health conference in KY every year. A doc/mom/missionary named Suzie Snyder was giving a lecture on being a mom, and a wife, and a doctor, and a missionary. She was nice enough to send me her notes recently so I could remember some things. Some of the most important points to me were:

What God has helped you to attain, he will help you to maintain.

You can't give all of yourself to all of your roles all of the time

Life comes in seasons

In the end, I have only 2 more months of being a working mom...for now. It's harder than I dreamed it would be. But God has called me to it. God is faithful. He will help. And He has blessed me with a great husband and a fantastic community of people who help with my kids (as well as two sweet Kenyan ladies).

Missing Kenya #9: Sodas in Glass Bottles

2011-07-09T02:35:00.000-07:00

I remember as a kid thinking that drinking out of glass bottles was way cooler than cans or plastic bottles. Even now I enjoy it, maybe because it has become so rare in the US. But here in Kenya, it's actually much easier to find sodas in glass bottles than in any other form. Once a month or so we head up to the dukas (shops) and trade in our old glass bottles for some new ones (full of soda, of course). They are about 30 cents apiece. One never knows what varieties will be in stock at the dukas, either, making every experience unique.

Perhaps even more fun than drinking from the bottles (which, by the way, Kenyans find quite strange...they prefer to use a straw or pour the soda into a glass instead of swigging right from the ol' bottle) are the flavors that have been available to us here. There are the standard flavors of Coke, Sprite, and orange Fanta, all available in the States. But our favorites are, instead, Krest Bitter Lemon, like Squirt but not as sweet, Stoney Tangawizi, the most intense ginger ale you'll ever try (brings tears to my eyes and an overwhelming urge to sneeze with every sip), and Black Currant Fanta. That one is hard to describe, maybe sort of like a Dr. Pepper but more fruity. There are also Pineapple and Citrus varieties of Fanta as well, which are fun for a try, at least.

When we come home, I'm sure it will be great to be able to drink things like Root Beer and Cherry Coke again, but we sure will miss the Kenyan flavors (most of which, sadly, are not available in Burundi). One thing we will be looking forward to, though, is the great American tradition of free refills!

Swift and Piercing Terrible

2011-07-08T00:37:00.000-07:00

I wrote and recorded this song several months ago, but I've been feeling this way a lot again lately, so I figured I'd put it up here for your perusal.

Swift and Piercing Terrible

(download)

Could this be your hand?

Swift and piercing terrible

Cause it would break me

Remember when I said,

"Do everything that you want to do"

Well, I thought I meant it

Staring into the dark for the longest time

Longing to turn my head for the longest time

Would you choose this face?

Could I find you even here?

And would you expect me to?

I don't know what you're doing

I don't know what I'm saying

But I fear that I would fight you

Try to feebly stand against you

I could never hold you off

But I fear that you might just let me

Do not let me

...And Family Fun at Lake Naivasha

2011-07-06T02:10:00.000-07:00

A few days after we enjoyed Lake Nakuru, we headed in to Nairobi via Lake Naivasha, and Crescent Island. We were last here in October with Eric's parents (see here). An amazing place where you take a boat through exotic bird and hippo-filled marshes and arrive on an island full of giraffes, zebras, water buck, and wildebeest, and wander around at will. We were excited to get the chance to return. It ended up being a lot of walking, but the kiddos were troopers and we had lots of fun.

Maggie's lifejacket, while still quite large, fit better than last time.
The highlight was being able to get so close to some beautiful giraffes...maybe about 20 of them or so.
You can see how close we got!
A large herd just hanging out.
We forgot a knife for making PB sandwiches for lunch, so improvised with carrot sticks.
There was a 4 day old baby giraffe on the island, which was awesome to see! How big is a baby giraffe, you ask? About 6 feet tall. We took this pic of the baby and its mommy running, so you can see the size difference.
Maggie was doing Daddy's hair here.
Also saw a few baby zebras (baby on the right), as well as a couple baby wildebeest (but they weren't cute enough for a photo).
Walking, walking, walking.

A fun and beautiful day!

Family Fun at Lake Nakuru

2011-06-30T08:43:00.000-07:00

June proved to be a busy month, as expected. My (Rachel's) mom was here for 4 weeks and the time just flew by. Most of it was due to Rachel going back to work. But we found some time during the last week to get out and enjoy some more parts of Kenya. We visited Olderkesi, in Maasai Mara, for a little R&R, although not many animals (other than the domesticated sort) were seen. Then we headed to Lake Nakuru, one of Kenya's most popular game parks. It was fun because we could just drive our own van around inside the park, stop for picnic lunches and photo shoots, etc. Here are some of the highlights.

To start with, Eric and Jean went in to the park office to buy our tickets while Rachel stayed behind with the kiddos. We heard some thumping on the roof and then a small visitor tried to squeeze in through the window...

Maggie got some good views of the animals from the front seat, as you can see.

Our first viewing was right inside the park gates: a hamerkop. Eric bought us a bird book about 10 months ago and it quickly became Maggie's favorite book to look at. Consequently, it was easy to pick out a few unique species in the park. Apparently Nakuru is one of the prime locations in Kenya for bird viewers.

Not long after, we saw a white rhino grazing at the side of the road. It's not white because of its coloring (this one is just covered in dried mud) but rather the mouth and nose shape. We saw others on our drive but this one was definitely the closest. We watched it eat for awhile and then watched it run into a tree. Not so great eyesight, I've heard.

We meandered around the lake to the south end of the park and saw lots of impala, water buck, gazelle, zebras, and giraffe along the way.

Then we all got out of the car for a stretch, snack, and viewing of some nice (albeit brown) falls.

Back around the lake for more giraffes...

As well as a BUNCH of birds. Lake Nakuru is known for its flamingo population, and from a distance the lake looks ringed in pink. We did see a lot of flamingos, but I think even more pelicans.

We stopped for lunch at a place called Baboon Cliff. Why the moniker? Take a guess. When we got there, it was just a bunch of tourists with giant cameras enjoying the view. We got out our cooler and started making sandwiches on a picnic table. Rachel was in the van feeding Ben when all of a sudden she saw a giant baboon run from the direction of our picnic table into the trees carrying something. It was a large male who, literally quick as a flash, had jumped onto the table, grabbed a loaf of bread out of our cooler inches from where Maggie was sitting, and dashed off. Yikes. Certainly excited the tourists! It took about 2 seconds of debating to pack up lunch and try a different spot. Oh yes. Beware the Baboon Menace.

The rest of the day was pretty tame. Saw some zebras having fun...

And a saddle billed stork by the lake, another bird book feature. All in all, a fun day! More on our adventures in an upcoming post.

Missing Kenya #10: Cheap Flowers

2011-06-27T08:51:00.000-07:00

We have mentioned before on our blog that Kenya's #1 export is flowers. This may seem strange, but less so when you've lived in this continual growing climate. The prior context for mentioning this fact was that Kenya lost millions every day that air traffic to Europe was closed during the Icelandic ash storm last year.

And so, almost everywhere you go in Nairobi, people are selling flowers. When you consider the price of sending them to Europe, you can probably imagine that they are pretty cheap here. The lilies you see below cost 200 shillings, or about $2.40. They are beautiful and last for quite a while, so we've gotten in the habit of picking up a bunch when we are in town.

Roses are even cheaper. They don't even sell them a dozen at a time. You have to get two dozen, which costs 150 shillings, or about $1.75. We were just hearing of a high-school missionary kid asking a girl to a dance by sending her a bouquet of 6 dozen roses. Of course, she was impressed, but he would have spent more by taking her out to McD's, and buying an extra value meal. Not that it wasn't debonair. It was. Really.

In the US, we'd pick up some flowers occasionally at Trader Joe's, even when the only special event was the beginning of spring, which was in fact, a special event. But we've gotten to enjoy them more here, and we'll miss it.

Missing Kenya

2011-06-20T05:18:00.000-07:00

T minus 12 weeks until we move back to the US for a year. Altogether, it is something we are looking forward to, feeling that the timing is good. We are excited to see family, and now that we have our sights set on Burundi, we are excited to be moving towards that goal.

But it has been a good time here, and there are many things we'll miss. As well as many things we'll look forward to in the US. And the top of both of those lists are the friends and family that belong to either place. But we don't need to blog about that in order for you to know it. So, we'll be planning, between now and our departure, our Top 10 Things to Miss About Living in Kenya, after the fashion of our prior Ann Arbor List.

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T02:26:00.000-07:00

The Return of Grandma

2011-06-15T04:16:00.000-07:00

Almost exactly one year after her initial arrival in Kenya, my mom returned for more of the grandkids! Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, I had to return to work right away so we have been to busy to post until now. The kids have taken to Grandma (gamma) quite well, and so it's been a lot easier for me to leave for the hospital 3 days a week.

Here's what they've been up to. Lots of reading books...
Trying on new outfits from Grandma and others (an entire large suitcase was full of gifts mainly for the kids)...

More reading books...

Helping Grandma get ready for church...
And also lots of playing outside.
We have a few fun trips planned in the upcoming weeks, but we are mostly just looking forward to spending more time together.

On the Road in Kenya

2011-06-05T06:22:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday, I went with a few other hospital staff to help check out a couple of distant dispensaries. As you can see, they were considerably "off the tarmac". We had a lovely herd of giraffe crossing the road in front of us. We also got to see some wildebeest, zebra, gazelles, impala, and warthogs.

Goodbyes

2011-05-30T23:18:00.000-07:00

And so it goes here in Kenya, and everywhere in life, that goodbyes need to be said. They are hard, but we look forward to seeing everyone again within the next 6 months, which makes it easier.

First, and hardest, we said goodbye to our friends the Popps. They have been here in Kenya with us for the past 9 months. They have helped, encouraged, taught, and most importantly, delivered our little boy. Here they are for one last shot with Ben...he's about 6-7 lbs heavier than the last photo of the 3 of them together! They'll be returning to the US to work again in Ann Arbor, so we hope to see them this fall.
Maggie in particular took to the Popps' daughter, Anna. In fact, she's the first person who Maggie called by first and last name. She would wander around calling for "Anna Popp!" Anna was so sweet to play with Maggie, read her books, and push her on the swings.
The same day we said goodbye to Rachel, a short termer here for 2 months. She helped provide childcare during our week retreat at Malindi, and Mags took to her immediately. She's returning to finish an MPH degree in Kentucky, so we hope our paths cross this fall as well.
And finally, a hello AND goodbye! Mary Elizabeth, our indispensable PRP secretary, supporter, and cheerleader, came out for a brief visit to Kenya. It was SO great to see her, even if it was a brief visit. We could not do what we do here without people like her.

Time Blesses The Journey

2011-05-29T05:34:00.000-07:00

A song about the journey itself (i.e. getting from here to there), but also about the time it takes to get there, just as a musical statement is made by the interval between two successive notes, but also by the space between the notes as well.

I read a story several years ago, that JRR Tolkien, in his elderly years as an Oxford professor, sold his car. Though it was for different reasons that I write about here, I imagine he rediscovered a few things along the way.

Time Blesses The Journey

(download)

Tolkien ambles home along a garden lane

Sold his car and then discovered once again

All the cobbles in the street

And more than that, the movements of his feet

It's been planes and elevators for too long

Until I was getting off, the windows all were drawn

So, though I've arrived, there's still

Something that I missed along the way

I've been away from this ocean town

Reminds me of all that stretches past the shore

But these points on a line remind

That time will bless the journey that's in store

As the journey blesses time

Think I can see Vespucci on the open waves

Nothing on his horizon now for days

He cuts through every blade of tide

And sails under every inch of sky

I've been afraid of these mountain views

All of the heights that still are left to climb

But these points on a line remind

That time will bless the journey that's in store

As the journey blesses time

So the hour sits behind the tutor's desk

Dons the Oxford robe and teaches me the rest

That much will come and go

That much will collide and then fade away

May Update

2011-05-26T00:54:00.000-07:00

I feel we have been rather remiss in blogging recently...between 3 blogs and facebook updates, our old friend "The Adventures of Eric and Rachel" gets rather neglected at times. Looking at our sidebar blog roll, it appears we are in good company. :) Well, there hasn't been a whole lot to blog about in the past month, but here's what we've been up to.

Kids:

I have enjoyed staying home these past few months. It's back to work for me in June, but in the meantime it's been fun to watch both Ben and Maggie grow and change. Ben topped the scales at 14#5oz at 9 wks when we brought him in for a check up. He smiles all the time and has even started laughing. Other developments are taking their time (I think because his head is so big) but he is sleeping well at night, for 7-8 hours at a stretch. Maggie's vocabulary grows by the day and it's fun to watch her develop new interests in things like coloring, stickers, play doh, and carrying her dolls and animals around. She puts everything down for "naps" on a regular basis. Wonder where she got that idea?

Hospital:

Eric has been rotating on the peds and medicine services, and this month branched out into my world! He is spending a few days each week learning some basic C-section skills. He also got a chance to go out with the hospice team into the villages and watch how the chaplains minister to people at the end of their lives.

One of the chaplains involved in the hospice program

A traditional Kipsigis hut seen out in the villages

Family:

My mom arrives in just 1 1/2 more weeks! She'll be staying for a month and we are soooo excited to see her and introduce (or reintroduce) the kids to "gamma."

Future:

Our plane tickets are purchased for the homeward bound leg of our 2 year adventure here. The McLaughlin feet will be back on US soil on Sept 9. Maggie has started packing for the journey already (see picture below). We still have four months here at Tenwek but I'm sure the time will fly. Then the plan will be to travel, visit friends and family, get some tropical medicine training for Eric, and support raise through summer of 2012. By August 2012 we hope to be headed off to Albertville, France, for French language school, and then Burundi by summer of 2013. It's been great to watch God's hand directing us to just the right places these past few years. The Faders and Alyssa just took a trip to Burundi to get a more in-depth look at our future workplace. You can read about it here.

Smiley Ben

2011-05-15T01:24:00.000-07:00

And because we couldn't just post video of Maggie and not her little brother, we thought we'd share a couple of Ben videos. He's been sick lately, and not so smiley, but these are from a few weeks ago.

Awkward Children's Tales

2011-05-14T09:05:00.000-07:00

Maggie has a lot of great books. We spend a lot of time reading them. Some of the best of them are true "classics", which I guess means that they're pretty old, and yet still awesome to read.

They also contain things that would be extremely unlikely to be published today. Take Curious George for example:

"After a good meal, and a good pipe, George felt very tired."

Or below a page from Good Night, Little Bear, by the famous Richard Scarry.
Oh Mother, you are such a tease. And last but not least is the wealth of Beatrix Potter stories, which are pretty much uniformly wonderful in this regard. Below is Jemima Puddle-duck, and a little context is needed: Jemima wanted to hatch her own eggs, so she ran away into the forest to do so, where she is befriend by a fox, posing as a friend, but planning on eating her and her eggs. The ending? Jemima is rescued by several farm dogs, who save Jemima, but in their excited frenzy, also eat all her eggs. Redemption comes in the last page, as seen below.

She had always been a bad sitter. The End.

Do I take a delight in these non-PC moments? Obviously, I do. Why? I think it's because these classic stories preserve for the next generation the knowledge that, for better or worse, society has not always thought and behaved like it currently does, nor is it likely to remain like this indefinitely. Any other examples spring to mind?

Always Talking

2011-05-10T00:50:00.000-07:00

For Mother's Day this year, I made a video for our moms of Maggie's second year of life...lots of pictures set to music, with a few video clips interspersed. The video ended with a 2 minute clip of Maggie talking over the past year. We thought you might enjoy the talking clip (the whole video is too big to load). She certainly does, asking to watch it by name (apple juice? apple juice? pees, mommy?).

A Very Veggie Birthday

2011-05-03T09:42:00.001-07:00

Well, our little girl has completed her second trip around the sun. Maggie turned 2 years old on Sunday. I'm sure everyone says this about their kids, but she has changed SO MUCH this year! Maggie's favorite thing in the world is watching "Bob" on a daily basis (she also likes "M's," her words for M&Ms, any other form of candy, and I like to think Mommy and Daddy, but I think Bob still wins out). We own 3 Veggie Tales DVDs and she gets to pick one to watch every afternoon after her nap. So it seemed only logical that her birthday would have a Veggie Tales theme. I use the term theme loosely. Here in Kenya, it's not like I can run to the party store and pick out cups, plates, and wall hangings in a given genre. So, when I say theme, I mean "birthday cake."

My disclaimer is that I have no formal cake decorator training. I never made cakes before I came to Kenya, and I almost never make them here. I did try my hand at a 2 layer birthday cake for Mags last year, which was sort of sloped and needed a lot of frosting to hold it together...I'm not sure why I thought that this qualified me to be able to make a themed cake for my daughter's second birthday, but I jumped in with both feet.

Using some ideas online, I decided to make Bob as an 8 inch round yellow cake, and Larry as a 9x13 chocolate cake and cut off the edges. Some of the misadventures included forgetting the baking powder in the yellow cake until it had been in the oven for 10 minutes, and the chocolate cake sticking to the pan when I flipped it onto the cookie sheet to cool (and then sticking to the cookie sheet when I flipped it back over onto the foil-covered cardboard I put the cakes on. Again, lots of frosting has the ability to hold cakes together. And I have no access to decorator frosting, so decided to just put the facial features on construction paper and lay them on the cakes. But here is the finished product:

Not bad, huh? It was all worth it when I put Mags up next to the cake and she recognized the characters, exclaiming, "Bob! Cake!" We had about 20 people over for the party (meaning, come and eat some cake), and they all watched as Maggie tried to blow out the 2 candles. This was unsuccessful, despite Eric practicing the candle blowing with her earlier in the day, so I stepped in to help.
This is what happened (also note that only one candle was blown out by me):
Oh, the danger of construction paper faces. No one seemed too traumatized, though, and there were no tears, and the cakes didn't taste too bad.
Happy Birthday, Maggie!

More Ben Pictures

2011-04-30T11:25:00.000-07:00

Because we know that all you really want on our blog is more pictures of our kiddos. :)

Maggie's Egg Hunt Extravaganza

2011-04-29T02:02:00.000-07:00

Last year, Maggie was too little to participate in the Tenwek Easter egg hunt...in fact, she wasn't even walking yet. And she was napping. What a difference a year makes. She was SO excited to take part this year. First, she got dressed in an Easter-themed butterfly shirt, and visited Aunt Jess's nail salon on the front balcony.Then, while the big kids were hiding the eggs down in the fields by our house, we went up to the Popps' porch with all the little kids and heard an Easter story.
There was a carton of 12 plastic eggs, and inside each one was an object that helped tell the story of Easter. Here's Abi picking out her egg:
And Maggie got to pick one, too. The 12th egg was empty, reminding us that Jesus' tomb was empty because He rose!
After the egg story, we walked down to our house and posed for some pictures before the egg hunt began.
Here's Maggie finding her eggs:
Oooh! These eggs have CANDY inside!
Happy Easter!

Easter Eggs

2011-04-22T02:50:00.000-07:00

Here in Kenya, we still try to participate in a variety of holiday traditions, as is evidenced by our blogs. Last year, Maggie was too young to participate in any Easter events, but this year we decided to dye eggs. The problem, as you can see from the photo below, is that Kenyan eggs (for whatever reason) are brown. This does not lend itself to easy dye-ing. But we gave it a go anyways, opting for some basic and strong colors.Maggie also enjoyed learning about coloring with crayons on eggs (although she never pushed hard enough to leave a mark). A good use for the white and peach crayons that get little use otherwise.
Ben, meanwhile, offered advice from his carseat. He asked to wear his ducky outfit in honor of the Easter season.

The finished products: actually not too bad! I think we chose good colors for the brown eggs. Maggie is going to wonder why all the eggs are white and come in cartons at the store (instead of from Joseph the egg man) when we go home next year.

Remembering Eunice

2011-04-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

Friday night Eric and I got some tragic and surprising news. Our good friend Eunice Loeweke was in the hospital, unresponsive after a brain surgery due to bleeding in the brain. She passed away this morning. When we said goodbye 18 months ago, we didn't think it would be for such a long time. I've spent a lot of time thinking about Eunice these past days, about her remarkable life and what a huge impact she has had on both of us.

Eunice was a true old school missionary. When she was in her 20s, she and an Australian lady sailed to Papua New Guinea with Wycliffe Bible translators. They approached a remote tribe and asked to live with them. For 20 years, they lived among a tribe that spoke no English. It took about 4 years to learn their language, and the next 16 to translate portions of the Bible. She spent another 6 years on the PNG coast before she began to have visual side effects from her anti-malarial medications and was forced to return to the States. Now in her 50s, what does a former Bible translator do with her time? Eunice moved in to a house on the edge of the U of MI campus and spent the next 20 years ministering to students and the Chinese community. She would have students over for lunch many a Sunday afternoon, prompting the formation of what people would affectionately call “Eunice's Lunch Bunch.”

Eric first met Eunice back in 2001 when he was interviewing for medical schools. He actually sat next to her sister (from Nashville) on the flight up to Ann Arbor, who proceeded to talk to him the entire flight. She volunteered Eunice to give Eric a free ride back to the med school. Years later, Eunice told us she was so mad at her sister for offering a ride to some strange man without asking her! Eric took her contact info but promptly forgot about it until coming to the U of MI for med school. One Sunday, a friend of his was talking about her friend Eunice, a Wycliffe Bible translator from Papua New Guinea. It was the same Eunice, and Eric started attending her usually weekly Sunday lunch gatherings.

(Eunice's lunch bunch; hosting our last wedding shower)

Eric and I have both lived with Eunice in one of her spare bedrooms for about six total months. We ate at her house countless times. She prayed at our wedding (my favorite part: “May they be able to factor in Your presence and power in any analysis of the possible.”). We shared rides back and forth to Nashville, and once got caught in a snowstorm and sat on US-23 for over an hour eating Christmas cookies to tide us over! We drank her lattes. We enjoyed her museum house that she had taken back from nature. We enjoyed free music performances. (In short, she was the only individual on our top 10 Ann Arbor list.) Our last 2 years in Ann Arbor we tried to get together for a meal at least once a month to soak in as much of her wisdom as we could from her years of missionary and life experience. She urged us to consider the spirit world in dealing with patients overseas. She emphasized having prayer supporters in addition to financial supporters. She reminded us of the typical struggles of a patient in the US medical system (through her own experiences). We prayed regularly.

(Our wedding; Eric's medical graduation)

When I look at Eunice's life I am forced to re-examine my own in light of how she lived hers. She sacrificed much to live in a remote area, with almost no one that spoke her language, and no creature comforts to speak of. She did not spend time in PNG coercing villagers to believe in her God but instead faithfully translated His Word, letting it speak for itself, living out her faith in actions and deeds, and the entire village came to Christ because of this. When health problems forced her to take a life detour and return home, instead of settling in to a comfortable retirement or despairing at how her calling had changed, she embraced a new ministry, one that had profound effects on the Ann Arbor community and literally on people throughout the world. She was always willing to help out with a meal, a ride to the airport, a spare bedroom, a listening ear.

(A free symphony performance at Hill; meeting Maggie)

Eunice, our hearts grieve at our loss of you here on earth. I wish we could have one more meal together, one more talk, one more time of prayer. I wish I could tell you one more time how much you meant to us, the difference you made in our lives, how much we love you. And yet we have such joy for your homecoming. I pray that you are being welcomed into eternity with the open arms of so many who are in heaven because of your faithful service. I have tears in my eyes as I picture Jesus smiling at you, speaking the words we all long to someday hear:

Well done, good and faithful servant. Well done.

(Rachel's residency graduation; our last visit with her)

New Family Photos

2011-04-15T03:17:00.000-07:00

Well, after 5 weeks of life as a family of 4, we realized we had no photographic documentation of the fact that we are actually 4. Our first attempt to capture said documentation was on a very small plane to the Kenyan coast, where we attended a great WGM retreat (the missions organization that runs Tenwek). Here's us smiling because of the money we saved by flying with 2 lap children! Eric and I have a long history of taking photos of ourselves, and it's requiring a little bit more skill to include 4 people in these photos. It sort of worked......but not really, as you can see, so we had someone else take the next photo. Note the color coordination. This was taken at the Turtle Bay resort in Malindi, Kenya. There were about 50 bright yellow weaver birds in the trees behind us, although that might be difficult to see with the downsized image I used. Beautiful place! And many more family photos to come as the years go by, I'm sure.

Quote

2011-04-04T21:37:00.000-07:00

Quote of the day, from this snippet from Andrew Peterson:

"That anyone at all in the world would set their sad heart and tired hands to the work of wreaking beauty out of chaos is a monument to Grace."

Bummed

2011-04-03T23:41:00.000-07:00

Before Maggie was born, we already knew we would be moving to Kenya before she was potty trained (way before). So it seemed logical to use cloth diapers for her, as we were unsure what the availability of disposables would be. As it turns out, there are plenty of disposable diaper options in Nairobi, although they are quite a bit more expensive than in the States. While I was researching cloth diapers, I found that the days of the traditional "pre-fold" cloth diaper and rubber pants are long gone, and in their place are a myriad of options for cloth diapering. We ended up selecting what I like to call the cadillac of cloth diapers, BumGenius 3.0 (that's the official name, yes). BGs are a one size option that, because of a series of simple yet ingenius snaps, fit babies 8-35 lbs. Maggie has been using them since age 2 months (we received a diaper service as a gift in Ann Arbor) and they are still working great. Although, we have high hopes that she will not be using them much longer. :) All the McCropders kiddos who use diapers have at least a few Bums. Shown below was a photo shoot of Maggie, Abi, and Micah in their matching "grasshopper" colored Bums, maybe 8 months ago or so.
All this to say, when we knew Ben was coming along, it was only logical to continue the Bum trend. We debated about if 20 diapers would be enough for a newborn and a toddler and wisely decided, no. I had heard about a company in the US called Cotton Babies who offers diaper grants to missionaries. I emailed them and, what a blessing, we received 15 more BumGenius diapers, plus some wipes, diaper bags, "bum spray" and detergent samples for FREE! If you are at all interested in cloth diapers, or you are a missionary who wants to apply for the free diaper grant, or you just want to check out these nice people, the website is www.cottonbabies.com

Here is Ben sleeping next to his giant pile of clean diapers (to be fair, some of them are Maggie's):
Thanks, Cotton Babies!

Newbery Goal Progress

2011-03-28T08:41:00.000-07:00

You would have to be a very avid blog-reader of ours to notice it. Maybe you would have noticed that a number of the books on the "We're reading" sidebar had little gold stickers on them. Maybe you would have then remembered that we had previously stated our goal of reading all of the Newberys and ranking them according to our own preference. Maybe you then would have clicked on this link on the sidebar and seen our growing list and have done some quick math.

But the fact is this: We are more than halfway there. The Newbery Medal was first awarded in 1922, and so this year was (I guess) the 90th Newbery, and we have crossed over 45. And by ransacking the libraries of all the homeschooling moms of Tenwek, we should be able to get close to 55 before leaving Kenya. Pretty good progress for living in Africa.

And we've been ranking them. A couple have even warmed their way into our top 10, and one of them earned the dubious honor of replacing Sounder as the worst Newbery we've ever read.

Here's a couple of our favorites:

A Year Down Yonder (2001): This didn't make the top 10, but was sent us by our friend Janet Tang, and was just a purely fun book, probably the best of the newer ones we've been reading. The story of a city girl who ends up in rural Michigan with her grandma during a recession in the 1940's. But the heart of the story is that her grandma is just an amazingly crazy character.

Secret of the Andes (1953): If you're wondering why Charlotte's Web didn't win a Newbery, the answer is that it came out the same year as this book. And as much as I like that "some pig", and was pleased to not see him bite the big bacon, I liked this book better. Opening scene high up in the Andes, a young llama herder looks down to see, for the first time in his life, other people.

The Wheel on the School (1955): Just a fantastically told little tale about a group of Dutch school children, living in a small fishing village on the dike, and their quest to bring storks back to their village. Full of redemption and setting. Illustrations by the guy who did "Where the Wild Things Are", but that's really secondary to the great story.

The Matchlock Gun (1942): And lastly, our new least favorite (though even some of the low ones are still good). Maybe it was a slow year. A 25-minute read about a young boy who fires his gun and kills some Indians. It ends with his mom injured by a tomahawk. Does she live? Who knows? Maybe that wasn't the point of the story. But what was the point?

All in all, our recommendations. It's been a lot of fun, and we recommend most of them.

But don't take our word for it!

Baby Shower

2011-03-26T04:57:00.000-07:00

I wasn't expecting a baby shower this time around, since it was my second child, and living in rural Kenya means baby things are rather hard for people to get. But here at Tenwek, opportunities to celebrate life events are rarely missed, and Ben was the first missionary kid born here in probably 6 years or more. So my friends conspired to plan a surprise shower for me, and it was a surprise! There is usually a womens' Bible study on Thursday nights and Eric encouraged me to go (and bring Ben with me) when he was just 3 days old. I had no idea. So here I am, walking in the door with baby, headlamp, and study book in hand...completely shocked to see decorations and 20 women staring at me!Ben got lots of wonderful gifts, including lots of disposable diapers shaped into a cake.
This is about what he looked like the whole time, to the delight of everyone who passed him around the room!
Theresa, ever the quntessential hostess, laid out quite a spread with tasty banana punch, cupcakes, etc.
Check out the cute little duckies on the cupcakes! All handmade, wow.
Jess, Alyssa, Ben, and me (it was obviously a surprise to me or I would have put my contacts in to come to the party!)
Almost all the women on the compound came to help celebrate, more than twice as many as are in our Bible study.
Opening some of the cute gifts: this is an elephant backpack that is about the same size as Ben right now, but he'll grow into it I'm sure.
It has been wonderful to share in the birth and life of Ben with my community here at Tenwek. Thanks, everyone!

Visitors!

2011-03-24T22:53:00.000-07:00

In the three weeks surrounding Ben's birth, we've had quite the slew of visitors! (all unrelated to his arrival, but keeping us on our toes) It has been great to see so many familiar and friendly faces from home.

The first visitor was our friend Luke Tomycz, one of Eric's classmates from U of MI. He is a neurosurgery resident at Vanderbilt in Nashville, so we get to see him every time we visit Eric's family, and he came out to Kijabe for a 2 wk elective/vacation. We only got to see him for about 24 hrs, but it was a great visit none the less! He had to leave early on Sunday morning, so if it looks like we all just got up in the picture...we did. :)
Then, a surprise visit from Aaron and Ginnie Abarbanell! Ginnie was Rachel's mentor at Loma Linda through the Christian Medical/Dental Assoc for 2 years, and Aaron then ended up being a classmate of Eric's at U of MI. They were indirectly responsible for Eric and Rachel hooking up. :) Our paths have crossed many times over the past 10 years, and they happened to be in Eldoret (3-4 hrs away) for just a short time. They came the weekend after Ben was born, also for about 24 hrs.
Steve Telian, an elder and mentor from Knox, arrived at Tenwek the day Rachel went into labor! He was here for a week visiting the McCropders and working at the hospital (he's an ear specialist). While we were rather distracted that week, it was still wonderful to spend as much time with Steve as we could, showing him our world, bouncing ideas off of him, and getting wise advice.
Finally, just this week we welcomed Mick and Diana Antanitis from Belmont Church in Nashville, where Eric and his family have been members for many years. Mick is the missions pastor and was speaking at a few seminary graduations in the "area." They took a 2 day detour and stayed with us. We had some great conversations and both Mick and Diana enjoyed observing surgeries, deliveries, and rounds at the hospital.
So. Anyone else want to come visit? We have a guest room now... :)

Benjamin's Passport Photos

2011-03-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

1 week old is never too young to get working on your passport. With the help of a friend, I went down to the Bomet district office when Ben was 3 days old, and landed him a Kenyan birth certificate. Complete with correct spellings. Much thanks to Musyoka, because I certainly never could have navigated that place myself.

And so now that we have it, we are working on getting Ben a US passport and a Social Security Number, which is a process formally known as "Consular Report of a Birth Abroad", which first involves emailing a million forms to the Embassy (15 megabytes of attachments, you can only guess how long that took on our internet), then an appointment at the Embassy, which we're hoping will be early April, when we next go into Nairobi.

So it was time for Ben's passport photos. Maggie has been through this drill twice. Here's the first time and then the second time. They actually have a couple similar photos. In Ben's case, I think we might have a better photo, all the better since Maggie's newborn photo is still her passport photo, and will be for a while.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T00:26:00.000-07:00

...from our 2 semi-Irish, green-clad kiddos.

Maggie & Ben

2011-03-16T03:43:00.000-07:00

Ben is now a little over a week old and we are loving being the parents of TWO kids. Fortunately, Maggie has continued to enjoy her little brother, termed "Baby Ben." Other than continuously trying to steal his pacifiers, she has been nothing but affectionate. In the mornings and after naps, she immediately asks where he is and goes off in search of him (usually found sleeping in Mommy and Daddy's room). "Baby Ben!! Nap!!" She'll already fetch hats, diapers, and blankets for him as well (whether he needs them or not). Hopefully this sibling love continues for years to come!

Here she is singing him a song, probably from her favorite VeggieTales video, although we weren't quite sure of the melody. Ben, duly impressed with his sister's musical skills, is yawning in his carseat."Napping" with her baby brother.

Mousey Rides Again!

2011-03-14T23:05:00.000-07:00

Some know Mousey from their earliest days of infancy. Some may remember this entity from when we boasted of Maggie's Mousey a couple years ago.

Well, Eric's Grammy (and Maggie and Ben's Great Grammy) is still pouring all her love into these little guys, and just sent us a picture of Ben and Liam's twin Mouseys, which will be waiting for Benjamin on his return to the US in the fall. One more great thing to look forward to! Thanks so much, Great Grammy!

Liam Knox Durham

2011-03-14T01:20:00.000-07:00

When we left the US in December 2009, we took the only McLaughlin grandchild with us. Shortly thereafter, Sierra was born, and then Sami and Rachel were on a race to the finish line, being due only one day apart.

Primarily because Kenyans are, by nature, good long-distance runners, Rachel finished the race first, and Benjamin was born on March 7th (Kenya time, which is the birthday we're choosing). But on March 12th, Liam Knox Durham was also born healthy to Sami and Jonathan. It was quite a long road for Sami, but it's over now, and we rejoice with them.

We look forward to the ever-growing McLaughlin family, and especially for Maggie having a girl cousin within a year of her, and Benjamin having a boy cousin within a week of him!

Highest congrats to Sami and Jonathan, on the beginning of their journey as (I'm sure they will be) wonderful parents. And special congrats to Dave and Becky Durham, on the arrival of their first grandchild.

Little Boy

2011-03-10T00:32:00.000-08:00

Being at Tenwek, we have limited ultrasound capability. The first two ultrasounds looked like a girl. The third thought maybe a boy. The fourth confirmed a girl. The fifth called it into question. The sixth seemed to clinch a boy, but how sure can you be after needing six scans. So we stopped looking. Nevertheless, we will always have this lovely gift to remind us of the saga. I guess Maggie can wear hers and maybe some other later girl will enjoy the other.

Nevertheless, here's our little boy, decked in blue, which has no gender connotation whatsoever in Kenyan culture. He's looking a little tired, but he's doing fine.

The Last Walk Up the Hill

2011-03-07T23:32:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have never been to Tenwek (most of you), let me describe the local topography. The part of Kenyan where we live is very hilly and green, a beautiful place to live. The hospital was built on the very top of one of the hills, and the missionary homes are a bit farther down the same hill. What this means is an uphill climb to work every day. This was my greatest undoing during pregnancy and what I was most happy to give up when my maternity leave started on March 1. We're not talking a small hill here. To get from our house to the hospital, I first go down a flight of stairs (our apartment is on the second floor), walk up a sidewalk to the road, walk uphill on the poorly paved road to 2 flights of stairs (the lower gate), and then walk up either a ramp and flight of stairs or 2 more flights of stairs to the room where we start morning education with the interns every day. I'm not sure of the elevation change but it's substantial. On my last day of work, Eric and I joked that the only trip left up the hill was to be the "last walk" up the hill when I headed up in labor.

March 7th was to be the day of the last walk. My contractions started in the mid afternoon on the 6th, and by that evening we knew the baby was coming sooner rather than later. Of course, Maggie had taken many hours so we were in no hurry, and I wanted to labor at home as long as possible. The power was out, a daily occurrence here, but the strange part was that instead of turning back on around 8 or even 9pm, it never came back on, so I labored my candlelight (nice ambiance, right?!). By 1am the contractions were coming every 2 minutes and pretty intense, so our OB Bryan Popp came down and checked me and we decided to head up to the hospital. It took about 15 minutes with stopping for contractions, but we made it to OB where the kind nurses opened up our OB operating room (usually just open 8-5 during the week for C/S) and voila! My own private delivery room.

Turns out the walk up the hill is good for labor, because as soon as we got it, Bryan broke my water and I started pushing. Twenty minutes later, Benjamin Kenneth Kipruto McLaughlin came into the world at 2:36am (Kipruto will be his honorary Kipsigis name, from the tribe we are working among. It means "boy born while travelling, and every male in the Kipsigis tribe has a Kip name that means something specific). He weighed 8 pounds, 5 oz (just 6 oz shy of his big sister, although he was also a week early). We are so blessed! Things could not have gone smoother. I had not one by TWO great OBs there (Bryan's wife Toanh, also an OB, came to help out as well). Our friend and fellow McCropder Alyssa came up to be our personal pediatrician. We had a quick delivery with a totally healthy little boy in a private setting (not easy in the Tenwek maternity ward). And we have a great community, too--Heather Fader watched the Popp kids so the Popps could be there, and the Cropseys watched Maggie. It takes a village to birth a baby here. :)

The other blessing is that things went so smoothly that we felt comfortable coming home within three hours after the delivery. With Maggie I could barely stand up afterwards, but praise God, I am feeling so much better this time around! Eric carried Ben and although we got some odd looks from the nurses on our way out, it was good to be home. Downhill all the way. We arrived home at 5:30 and the power was still out, so we relit the candles, fed Ben, and fell into bed. A good last walk.

Song of the King

2011-03-05T02:30:00.000-08:00

For several months last year, I was pretty haunted by the fall of King David. I wish I were more haunted by biblical stories. I say "fall" because, though he remained faithful to a certain extent, the events following Bathsheba and Uriah certainly have a markedly dissimilar note to everything that preceded it. And the big question is why. He found forgiveness, and in fact, that story is often used as an example of true repentance. But in the end, I can't ignore the sense that David himself was always afterward haunted by the departure of God's blessing (meaning that, whether the blessing actually left or not, David seemed to fear that it had). You can read 2 Samuel yourself, and let me know what you think.

So I wrote a song a while back, and thought I'd post it here. Click on the title to find the recording that you can download and listen to. Thanks to Clayton for the instruction on the mp3 player. Hopefully it works. Enjoy.

Song of the King

Ever since I fell

Ever since I lied

Ever since I sent him to the front line

And he died

Ever since you took him

The son of my own name

Ever since I took my neighbor's only lamb

To my shame

The world is fumbling in my hands

Stumbling all my plans

Crumbling where I stand

Now my sight is dimmed

Now I'm being cursed

Maybe now I am getting all

that I've deserved

Now I leave these city walls

Now Absalom has come

Maybe you have brought him here

and maybe I should run

Has favor come and gone

And now judgement in its stead?

In any shade

Let me fall into your hand.

Now they want me back

Now a broken man

To lead them from the throne again

But I don't think I can

Now Absalom is gone

Another son in the grave

Maybe you wanted me to stay and fight

Maybe then he would be saved

Made It!

2011-03-01T01:32:00.000-08:00

March 1, the day I start my maternity leave...2 wks before the due date. Ah. When I was pregnant with Maggie I worked until the day after my due date, and she was born the next morning, so in some ways I feel like a little bit of a weenie stopping 2 wks early. It seems different this time, though. I don't know if it's the 6500 ft altitude, the entirely uphill + 3 flights of stairs walk to the hospital every morning, the toddler I now have to chase around when I come home, or maybe just amnesia about what exactly happened last time, but I am exhausted!

Preparing to have a baby in Kenya seems completely different to me as well. Eric and I had to come up with a plan last night. No longer is it just, pack a bag, wait for labor, and go to the hospital where I know all the nurses and can request a nice private room with hardwood floors, a delivery bed, and a jacuzzi tub (and the possibility of an epidural, just in case I need it). I do have 2 great OBs (the Popps!) who know me and will do a great job, I'm sure. But no private room, minimal privacy, no nurse to monitor my baby's heart beat on a regular basis, and definitely no jacuzzi tub! In fact, I packed a bag this morning and included things like, my only baby monitor, a hat, diapers, and a blanket...because the hospital doesn't always have these items on hand. Eric and I came up with plans on how long I actually needed to stay at the hospital after the delivery if things go ok (2hrs? 4?) and the best way to get home (walk down the hill? drive the van?). I am even making my own ice packs, since the hospital has no ability to make ice. I thought that the second baby would seem easier because I've been through it all once before, and maybe it will be, but the unknowns are so much greater! I don't even know if this kiddo will be a boy or a girl, since our ultrasound machine isn't very good. All I really want, all I really pray for in the end, though, is a healthy baby.

Things I look forward to being able to do in the next couple weeks:

Meeting/holding my son or daughter

Being able to set my son or daughter down

Breathing

Bending over

For Kenyans to stop staring at my gigantic belly (apparently not so rude here?)

For clothes that fit again

Hopefully we'll be posting an update soon! :)

Andrew Peterson for Free!

2011-02-25T21:57:00.001-08:00

For awhile now, I've been extolling the virtues of NoiseTrade.com, and now they have excelled themselves. Andrew Peterson, who I regard as quite possibly the best Christian songwriter around (almost certainly within the Christian industry), has put up one of this past albums (when he was independent) for free. You are also welcome to make a donation if you want. All you need is an email address.

I can think of only a few reasons why one wouldn't download this album:

1. I don't have internet. In which case, how are you reading this?

2. I already have this album. In which case, you can forward this to someone else.

3. I really prefer bad music. In which case, I have a number of recommendations for you, but will refrain from them in this forum.

4. I think there's a catch somewhere. Unless you consider getting an occasional email from Andrew (which I believe he will use judiciously) a catch, then I swear there is not.

5. I love his music so much that I cry profoundly at its beauty, and thereby become unstable and dysfunctional in my daily living when I listen to it. I have no rebuttal to this.

Maggie Update

2011-02-17T02:38:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been some time since we've posted any cute pictures of Maggie on our blog here, and since Maggie's little brother or sister is due to arrive any time in the next month (and will likely thus get more blog space than Maggie for at least a week or so), I thought I'd just give everyone a brief update on our first born.

Mags is now almost 22 months old, and as her 30 minute temper tantrum this morning demonstrated, she is acting very much like a 2 year old! She is still sweet most of the time, and I am able to understand 30-50% of what she says, but she definitely has her own opinions these days! She is jabbering up a storm and has a good vocabulary of recognizable words (to mommy, at least). One thing we have noticed that she likes is multiple beverage options, in good American fashion. See below.
Christmas was pretty low key here, but we bought her a set of plastic kid sized chairs, which she has enjoyed lounging in. She is rarely without her "beez" (beads) and has also learned recently how to climb into adult sized chairs. One of these days we are going to find her on the dining room table, I'm sure....
I gave her a haircut in December--just bangs, but it was a big change for her looks! She is finally letting me put things like rubber bands and bows in her hair without yanking them out, so we do a lot of pigtails. Hmm, blond curly hair. Who did she get THAT from? (sigh, maybe the next kid will look like me!)

She likes trying on mommy and daddy's "dooze" (shoes) and wandering around the house in them. Her expressions are also quite priceless, although difficult to capture on film since as soon as she sees a camera she wants to come over and take a look at the screen on the back.Maggie's "best friend" Abi Fader was gone for 6 wks over Christmas time, back in the States, so Maggie found a new playmate, Micah Cropsey. She was initially scared of his rougher ways, but they are warming up to each other nicely. Outside is always the best place to be...here they are playing on 2 downed telephone poles in the field by our house. We also moved upstairs in the same building to a bigger apartment, so Micah is the new neighbor. Budding romance? We'll see.
Mags has hopefully been getting ready to welcome a new sibling. She seems older to us every day! We have been reading her books like the Berenstein Bears and the New Baby to prep her, but I'm sure she has no idea. She is very sweet to her own baby doll, though, and pushes it in the stroller, feeds it bottles, and covers it for "nah nah" (night night) with a quilt. She can point to some blankets stacked up for the baby, and points to my tummy and says "bay-bee!" with an excited inflection. She tried to feed my belly a piece of cheese the other week, for the baby. :)
Hopefully that's enough of a Maggie fix for now. Love, Eric, Rachel, Maggie, and #2 (due March 15!)

Quotables from Chesterton

2011-02-13T10:35:00.000-08:00

For the record, I liked Heretics better than Orthodoxy, though they are both very worthwhile reads. Here are a couple quotes, which I added to the Quotables page:

"We actually love ourselves more than we love joy."

"He says he is fleeing from his street because it is dull; he is lying. He is really fleeing from his street because it is a great deal too exciting. It is exciting because it is exacting; it is exacting because it is alive. He can visit Venice be cause to him the Venetians are only Venetians; the people in his own street are men."

Being Named: Hipster Christianity

2011-02-12T04:45:00.000-08:00

Our friends Eric and Keri were just visiting from their home in Swaziland, and they left me with a stack of "Christianity Today" magazines. I picked one up today to read about "Hipster Christianity" (read it here). Here is a quote from Brett McCracken, who apparently wrote a book on the topic:

"Welcome to the world of hipster Christianity. It's a world where things like the Left Behind book an film series, Jesus fish bumper stickers, and door-to-door evangelism are relevant only as a source of irony or nostalgia. it's a world where Braveheart youth-pastor analogies are anathema, where everyone agrees that they wish Pat Robertson "weren't one of us" and shares a collective distaste for the art of Thomas Kinkade...

The new subculture of young evangelicals - I call them "Christian hipsters" - grew up on CCM, Focus on the Family's Adventures in Odyssey, flannel graphs, vacation Bible school, and hysteria about the end times. Now all of that is laughable to them, as they attempt to burn away the kitschy dross of the megachurch Christianity of their youth - with its emphasis on "soul-winning" at the expense of everything else - and trade it for something with real-world gravitas."

He then goes on to name about five more things that fit me like a glove, from N.T. Wright and Sufjan Stevens to ancient liturgies and Henri Nouwen. It must be said that every last point in the article doesn't describe me, but most of you know me well enough to know that if I deny that these are, to some extent, my people, that I'm kidding no one.

It's a good article, with some interesting historical perspective, as well as a decent pros and cons analysis of this demographic. But here's the kicker: I don't want to be a demographic. At least not in these things. My desire is to find what is good and true, and to cling to those things only because they are good and true. And yet, apparently I am part of a demographic, or else the author wouldn't have been able to name me so dramatically.

I want to think that I like N.T. Wright because his scholarship is tremendous and not because I'm part of a demographic. The same goes for Tim Keller, Over the Rhine, and a theology that social justice matters because Revelation is really talking about a new heavens and a new earth. And that may be true. But apparently it may also be part of a cultural wave, and thus may come with all sorts of extra baggage.

So, what to do? Well, I guess I have to own it, and in doing so, the author's pros and cons are worth my attention. His thoughts:

PROS: Concern for justice. A healthy appreciation for the finer things in God's creation and culture.

CONS: Temptation to mimic the world, and a struggle to understand how to "put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." Some need to be a rebel. Taking one's self to seriously since, for all their talk of oppressed minorities and justice, hipsters are almost always white and pretty financially stable.

So, I can't vouch for the book, but I'm sure a number of people who read this could resonate like I did, and thus I recommend the article.

Anniversary Trip

2011-02-07T00:01:00.000-08:00

For our fifth anniversary, Eric and I took a trip in January to a retreat center called Rondo, located in Kenya's only remaining rainforest, Kakamega. This was the first vacation we've had without Maggie (including since I've been pregnant with Maggie), and although it was only 2 days, it was great! Being 33 wks pregnant at the time, what I needed was relaxation and that's exactly what we got.

We arrived in time for lunch, and enjoyed many tasty meals in a quaint dining room, always concluded by British tea (note the tea cozy in the picture below).
The highlights (in addition to eating and napping, at least for me) were observing the variety of flora and fauna. Here are some of the amazing flowers in the area:

We could also watch three different varieties of monkeys right from our veranda, one of which is the Colobus monkey, seen below. There are 3 in this picture if you can see them (one mommy and baby).

Also, one afternoon while I was napping Eric got to see a hornbill. We also saw a variety of weavers, sparrows, and the Blue Turaco.

Here's me, sitting on the veranda taking afternoon tea (delivered to our veranda every afternoon!). We did a lot of reading and playing Boggle, actually.

After tea, we took walks down trails through the rainforest. There were lots of nice trails and benches to explore.

Finally, our bathroom reminded us of the Narnia wardrobe. Meaning, it looked like a regular closet door, and then upon opening, voila! A bathroom.

Anyway, hopefully in 5 years we can take another anniversary trip. This one was great, and I'm not sure Maggie even noticed we were gone. :)

Five Minute Artisan Bread

2011-02-04T22:58:00.000-08:00

Before we left the states, we visited my old friends Chris and Sarah Cropsey (no relation that we know of to the McCropder Cropseys), and Chris was telling me about his ventures into the 5-minute artisan bread. He made us a sample that night, and it was excellent.

For some reason, after more than a year, this popped back into my head, and I wondered if I could find it online. It took a couple YouTube videos, and a couple of links, but I finally pieced together the general recipe and have been trying it out. Here's a photo of one from a couple weeks ago.

The awesome part about this is how easy it is. The recipe that I've put together from a couple different websites is this:

6.5c all-purpose flour

3c room temp water

1.5 Tbs salt

1.5 Tbs yeast

Mix in a big bowl until no big flour clumps. No kneading. Rise for two hours and then store in fridge up to 2 weeks. At any point, you can take it out, flour the surface, pull off as much dough as you want, and shape into a loaf by pulling the sides around to the bottom (see video). Place on a cornmeal-dusted pizza peel and rise for 40 minutes. Cut slits as desired then put into oven, preheated at 425 with a pizza stone (we don't have one and so we skip the pizza peel/pizza stone part) and a metal cake pan on the rack below. After placing on stone, pour 2c water into the preheated metal cake pan for steam to make crustier bread. Bake until golden brown.

The recipe makes about 4 small loaves, and can also be used for a ready-made pizza dough. Again, watch the video for how versatile this can be.

Yummy.

Crafty Mama, Part II

2011-02-02T09:09:00.000-08:00

Emboldened by my success at the Christmas stocking, as well as my success with such baking adventures as yogurt, granola, bread, dumplings, etc, I thought I'd try my hand at another craft project. Eric's younger sister Sami is having a baby boy this March, due the same day as me. I saw some cute African mobiles at a craft store in Nairobi and thought to myself, I could make something like that! I'm not sure why I had this thought, since the last thing I sewed that was not from a pattern (e.g. the Christmas stocking) was an ornament I made around the age of 5. But I drew out a little pattern for elephants, and found some African kikoy fabric sitting around, and got to work.The hardest part was that the material frayed easily, and I was hand sewing it all. All I can say is, I think that spending $25 on the version in the craft store would have been cheaper than all the time this took! I remember a doctor friend once telling me that she valued her free time around $75/hr. Yikes! But it turned out nicely, and Sami just hung it over baby Liam's crib. Her shower was this past weekend, so even though the mobile has been done since December, I didn't want to spoil the surprise by posting this earlier.
Voila! (a much less pregnant me than I am currently...)

On the Kindle

2011-01-23T00:34:00.000-08:00

For Christmas this year, my parents got us a Kindle. For those who haven't paid attention for the last several years, this is an incredibly popular ebook reader. It's popularity seems to be for several very good reasons. First, it's screen really looks like paper, and not at all like a screen. It's actually a bit creepy how successful they were with that. Also, it has wireless capability, so you don't need a computer in order to download new books from online. Unless you live in rural Kenya, but we sure are looking forward to utilizing that feature when we're back in the US.

But my primary fascination with the Kindle is the same as my fanhood of Mutopia and NoiseTrade. Namely, that there are tons of things available for free, largely because they were published before 1923, and are therefore public domain. Now, some people couldn't name 3 books prior to 1923 that they would care about reading. After all, this is prior to John Grisham and Barbara Kingsolver. It's even prior to CS Lewis and Graham Greene. But in my opinion, there is still an amazing wealth. Examples:

What I have already read on the Kindle:

-The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Agatha Christie)

-Heretics (GK Chesterton)

-Selected Sermons of Jonathan Edwards

-Pinocchio (by Collodi, the original)

-The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Beatrix Potter)

-Parts of the ESV bible

-the free sample of Velvet Elvis (Rob Bell)

-the free sample of God, Medicine, and Suffering (Stanley Hauerwas)

-Currently reading A Study in Scarlet (Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle)

Other things I have downloaded, but still looking forward to: Thomas Hardy, Dickens, Bronte, other Sherlock Holmes stories, other Agatha Christie, 3 books by PG Wodehouse, Kipling, Walter Scott, George MacDonald, Baum's Oz stories, The Wind and the Willows and other Grahame stories, Hawthorne's short stories, the Man in the Iron Mask, Secret Garden, Beauty and the Beast, the Idiot, other Chesterton...

In short, something amazing has happened. About 1 1/2 years ago, I had to get rid of my library. I kept a few boxes, which are now graciously stored in my parents' attic, but I got rid of hundreds of books. And now, with the Kindle, I'm getting them back. Not all of them. And I can't exactly loan them out to friends who don't have a Kindle, but still. And it's portable, so I can take it with me.

Thanks much to my parents for this gift, which is being heartily enjoyed.

If you have an ebook reader, and don't know Project Gutenburg, you should.

Seaweed Glue?

2011-01-14T08:03:00.000-08:00

My job description got a bit stranger today. I got a page at lunch and called the number.

Daktari? We are trying to pick out an agent to treat the cockroach problem in nursery.

Well, that sounds like a good idea.

Could you come up and give us your opinion on the safest chemicals to use?

Hmm... (I have no idea.) Sure. I can come up in a bit.

--See, the issue has been around for a while, really everywhere in the hospital, but recently a family in the nursery has complained, and thankfully, a solution is being sought. The only trouble is that I have no idea which chemical might be problematic for 2 lb preterm infants. Probably all of them, I guess.--

Daktari, thanks for coming. Here is the man.

(She introduces me to a very young man in a black suit who is apparently the sales rep for the insecticide company.)

Nice to meet you, daktari. Can I show you one of the products?

Sure.

(We go down the hall, and he pulls out a small purple container with a couple of air vents on top, with a distinct smell of lilac. It is, to my eye, an air freshener.)

This gets rid of cockroaches?

Yes. It is a repellent.

(I read the label. It talks only of how it will emit a pleasant odor for the next 2 years. I read the ingredients. It includes a few things that sound very non-insecticidal.)

You see this ingredient, "seaweed glue"? It chokes cockroaches, mosquitoes, and something else that I can't remember.

It chokes cockroaches?

Yes, but it doesn't hurt people.

--At this point, I advised the nurse in charge that anything that was airborne and choked cockroaches was probably not advisable for our NICU. She agreed with me, and therefore told the rep that we would buy some for public areas, like the restaurant, but not for patient care areas. And I guess having pleasant-smelling public areas is not a bad thing, but I'm not thinking we're making a lot of headway on the cockroach problem. I went and googled "seaweed glue" and, not so surprisingly, only found references to it as... glue. So, I think I made the right choice for the NICU, but I haven't figured out whether I should tell the proper people that I think the air freshener rep is seriously trying to pull a fast one.--

Bagel Mania

2011-01-08T00:01:00.000-08:00

Our latest excursion into the world of making foods that we cannot obtain here was bagels. I had some leftover cream cheese purchased for Christmas yumminess (in the form of spinach dip and cream cheese frosting) and had been hankerin' for some bagels to spread said cream cheese on. We have a great cookbook given to us by some former missionaries that has recipes for such things, and I figured I'd give it a try.

They were surprisingly easy--I made whole wheat raisin cinnamon bagels. Troublesome parts of the experiment: 1--the raisins didn't stick in the dough so well, and mostly fell out into the pot of boiling water. 2--you are supposed to boil the bagels on both sides until they float, and then bake them at high temps. But the bagels floated from the first second I put them in the water, so I was flying blind in terms of how long they should have boiled.

Overall, if the desired result was a cream cheese vector, the bagels were great! I mean, they were tasty anyways, very chewy, and will definitely make the "try it again" list.

Autism

2011-01-07T01:37:00.000-08:00

Overall, I think we try to steer clear of some of the more controversial issues in medicine, none of which is more prominent than the "vaccines and autism" debate. We have friends and family that fall on both sides of the issue. But as medical professionals, it is hard not to stand up in support of ALL vaccines, which have arguably been one of the most high impact public health measures in history. All it takes is working in an area where the preventable diseases are alive and well, where kids still die of tetanus, pertussis, measles, and meningitis. And if the current anti-vaccine trend continues in the US, we'll start to see more and more of these preventable diseases recurring. Most of the time they are harmless overall, but some have deadly complications.

So in light of that, I wanted to share this recent article from CNN, revealing how one of the big studies linking vaccines to autism was recently found not only to be wrong but grossly fraudulent. I think the most important line is found halfway down the article: "But perhaps as important as the scare's effect on infectious disease is the energy, emotion and money that have been diverted away from efforts to understand the real causes of autism and how to help children and families who live with it," the BMJ editorial states.

Food for thought. Here's the link.

Five Years Down...

2011-01-02T00:49:00.000-08:00

How many to go? Who's counting? :) Eric and I celebrated five wonderful years of marriage on Dec 31 this year. We actually celebrated on the 30th, since as usual, there were many New Year's Eve party plans on the actual day. It was just a quiet dinner at home, full of reminiscing, but we plan to taking a trip later this month to a nice rainforest retreat a few hours north of here. I can't believe everything that has happened since our wedding, and then everything that will happen in the next five. Wow! Wanted to reminisce with you.

Traveled to Costa Rica for a honeymoon

Eric graduated med school

Bought our first house

Took a disastrous cruise through the Caribbean (redeemed eventually)

Attended sibling weddings of Sami, Jena, and Nathan

Went to Bangladesh/Dubai for a month

Decided to become McCropders

Vacationed in Maine/Canada

Had Maggie!!

Graduated residency

Sold our house (eventually)

Rachel's grandpa died

Moved to Kenya

Became an aunt and uncle for the first time: Sierra!

Found out we were going to have a second baby

Found out we were going to be an aunt and uncle again

Decided to (hopefully) move to Burundi

And, in the midst of all these other things, visited myriads of friends and family from coast to coast, racked up lots of new states and a few new countries, and learned a lot about each other and being married. Here's to hoping the next five are just as full of family, friends, and God's abundant blessings and faithfulness.

Christmas in Kenya

2010-12-30T03:11:00.000-08:00

Christmas in Kenya, in some ways, was not so different than it would have been in the US. In some ways, it was a LOT different!

Differences: 1. Eric was requested to play the music for a Kenyan nurse getting married on Christmas Eve day, 3 hrs away. Who gets married on the 24th of December? (I'm sure the same was said of us getting married on New Year's Eve) But he made it home in time for dinner.

2. It was 70 degrees and raining. No White Christmas here (which I'm sure these cows appreciated)

3. No family (but we did skype). :(

Similarities: 1. Candlelight Christmas Eve service

2. Opening gifts!

3. McLaughlin family tradition of cheese and sausage snacks on Christmas Eve.

An Obstetrician's Thoughts on Christmas

2010-12-23T23:37:00.000-08:00

I was walking home from the hospital last week, after my third C-section of the day. It was dark, the stars were out, and I picked my way over a rocky downhill road to my house while my own baby kicked inside of me. The day and the environment made me start wondering about Mary. The Bible is notoriously absent of all the details we seem to want to know. Why are some passages repeated in great detail, sometimes retold in multiple passages, and some are far too sparse (in my opinion)? Perhaps it wasn't so important to know the details of Jesus' birth. In fact, I am as an obstetrician probably more curious than most.

What I do know is that birth is a messy, noisy process. "It was not a silent night, there was blood on the ground" starts one of our favorite Christmas songs, "Labor of Love" off of Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb of God CD. So much more true than visions of a baby Jesus slipping quietly into a peaceful looking stable. First of all, to walk or ride a donkey long distances over bumpy roads in your third trimester is excruciating (well, I can't speak from experience about the donkey part, but it's pretty bad even in a car over rough Kenyan roads). Cramping, back aches, contractions, going to the bathroom (by the side of the road while squatting I'm sure) every several hours. Sleeping on the ground. Hip pain. Swollen ankles. Blech. Poor Mary. And as I work in a developing world situation, where many women die in childbirth and many more babies die during that same process, I wonder what she was thinking. Was she afraid? Did she have assurance that everything would go well? Did she know what to expect? Was she sure that Jesus would be ok but not so sure about her own well being?

When labor started, how long did it take? Did God give her a break? Was she one of those lucky women who have a quick and low pain labor and delivery? Was it a typical first labor with stops and starts, "false" labor, days of contractions, two hours of pushing? Was there anyone there to help her? Was it Joseph, or a midwife or other kinswoman, or was she alone? Did she know what to do and when to push? How did they cut the cord? Was Jesus BREECH?! If she had delivered in this day and age would she have ended up with a C-section? An epidural? Was there fetal distress? A cord around his neck? Meconium stained fluid? Was he on time or early, or late? Did he cry right away?

Yikes. I think of more details than most, probably. But in the end, what matters is that THAT DAY, in Bethlehem, all of God's promises began to be fulfilled. For thousands of years, God had been spinning his plan of redemption. For thousands of years, His people had been waiting for this Savior. That day, His Son came into the world, to set us free. Light into the darkness. Hopes fulfilled. Amen and amen. Merry Christmas, friends.

Labor of Love, lyrics by Andrew Peterson

It was not a silent night

There was blood on the ground

You could hear a woman cry

In the alleyways that night

On the streets of David's town

And the stable was not clean

And the cobblestones were cold

And little Mary full of grace

With the tears upon her face

Had no mother's hand to hold

It was a labor of pain

It was a cold sky above

But for the girl on the ground in the dark

Every beat of her beautiful heart

It was a labor of love

Noble Joseph by her side

Calloused hands and weary eyes

There were no midwives to be found

On the streets of David's town

In the middle of the night

So he held her and he prayed

Shafts of moonlight on his face

But the baby in her womb

He was the maker of the moon

He was the author of the faith

That could make the mountains move

It was a labor of pain

It was a cold sky above

But for the girl on the ground in the dark

Every beat of her beautiful heart

It was a labor of love

For little Mary full of grace

With the tears upon her face

It was a labor of love

Why I Can't Stop Reading Buechner

2010-12-19T06:11:00.000-08:00

When I was at Belmont University, I kept hearing about this author named Frederick Buechner from the religion majors. I first read "Son of Laughter", probably because it was required reading for some religion class, and thus ended up in the free book pile at the end of the semester, and I had a habit of scavenging.

Later I read "Godric", and it remains one of the best novels I've ever read. From there, I've moved on to his non-fiction, and now our quotables page has a disproportionate amount of Buechner. Truth be told, I would quote him more, if I didn't feel weird about it. And now, like CS Lewis, Thomas Hardy, and Stephen Lawhead, I'll read anything that has his name on it, regardless of topic or genre.

Why? Well, he is a certainly an amazingly talented author, but there seems to be something more, and I've been trying to figure out what that something is. I recently finished "Alphabet of Grace", and I probably couldn't tell you exactly what that book is about, but as I finished, I was pretty overwhelmed with the beauty of what I just read.

His chief theme seems to be the grace of God in the everyday, the seemingly mundane. Now and then, he says, some ordinary event, a dream at night or two branches hitting against each other, break for a moment to reveal a weight of glory underneath that seems to have been there all the time. He even goes on to say that perhaps the reason we don't see it more is that, in our mortal frame, we couldn't handle more than the brief glimpses we get.

He is honest. Even to the point that some might call him crude. He doubts aloud, he bares his faults. And not only in this refreshing, in and of itself, but without this commitment to honesty, his assertion that God's grace is present in the everyday would ring hollow. As it is, his honesty brings it alive.

And then there is his method. He is indirect, and he purposefully strives to project the emotion of the thing he is stating, even above the rational "word" of it. And thus I am left at the end of a book, not sure of what he was saying, but feeling it with full force nonetheless. And I think his indirect method brings it alive as well. He presents little to no argument as to why he is speaking the truth. You don't have to be convinced. He just names it. And I think, "Oh, right, it actually has been there all along."

All this put together means that, when I set down his books, I can't help but look at my own life with a different lens. I can't help but sense the undercurrent of the omnipresent love of God, that breaks through every now and then. I rarely have to remind myself, and I never have to convince myself. It just sneaks in, like the light of the world on the darkest night of the year. And thus his work emulates the Christ he has served these many years.

Christmas Decor (Part 2)

2010-12-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

Since our last Christmas decoration post, things around here have gotten even MORE festive (I know, is it possible?). We got a brand new ornament in the mail from Eric's sister Mariah...the three snowmen that Maggie is pointing to, with our names and 2010 written on it.Then, Eric got the brilliant idea of where to put our Christmas presents. Since we never use our fireplace, it seemed the logical place to store our gifts. We put the grate in front and for some strange reason, Maggie has not disturbed it in the least. It's like the "gift cage" or something.
On Saturday, a fellow missionary family loaned us a small tree that they weren't using. We place an angel from Bangladesh atop, wrapped 1/2 string of lights around it, and fashioned decorations out of wrapping paper (creating a paper chain) and green snowflake ribbon bows. Ooh! says Maggie.
And finally, let the Christmas baking begin! So far, buckeye balls and Russian tea cakes have been checked off the list. Sugar cookies (cut-outs) and molasses cookies to go.

Tasty Croc

2010-12-12T06:34:00.000-08:00

Long has it been one of my stated aims in life to eat as many different animals as possible. However, I admit to a noted complacency on this goal overall. Thus, 3 months or so ago, we visited Gilani's Butchery in Nairobi, which is where we normally get most of our meat. I had noted that you can get several unusual meats there, including pigeon, ostrich, and rabbit. You can also get crocodile, which is probably quite expensive, but they had these little nuggets for only about $2, so I picked it up, just for the next time you thought "Hey, I wish I had a crocodile steak."

Well, as you might have anticipated, that moment never really comes. But yesterday, we were getting together to do some cooking with our friends the Popps, and I thought "It's now or never."

After some quick research on the web, along the lines of "how to cook crocodile", I discovered a few fun facts:

-it's better cooked frozen than thawed.

-go easy on the marinade, for the croc hath a subtle taste.

-apparently it's pretty healthy meat

-Australia is big in this industry.

So, I made up a marinade of soy sauce, lemon juice, and olive oil, and stuck my frozen croc in for thirty minutes, followed by a quick searing on both sides, and voila!

As the more anatomically astute may notice, it appears that we had a slice of the tail, and that the central bone was a vertebra. We all went around and tried a bit, which was quite yummy, an odd cross between the texture of fish, but the taste of chicken.

Maggie got in on the action, and promptly requested "more".