Easter weekend

We've enjoyed a beautiful Easter weekend here at Tenwek - and long, too, as Good Friday and Easter Monday are Kenyan holidays. I love four day weekends! Those of you who read my most recent email update (message me your email address if you want to be added to that list) may think a lot of what we do here is sad and depressing, but that's not true. There is a lot of joy in our day to day lives, too, as we participate in the beginnings of God's new creation. Because Christ has risen and conquered death, we see victory, sometimes clearly visible in this life, sometimes in the hope of eternity. Below are some pictures of joy and fun and beauty this weekend:

Ariel view of Tenwek hospital - green roofs in the center of the picture

My friend Agneta and I climbed Mt. Motigo on a truly Good Friday

We met a few friends at the top

Easter egg hunt on Saturday

Abi showing me her eggs

An impromptu biology class - turtle autopsy - note Peter's shirt :)

Future medical students

Most everyone came to watch - even though "Baringo the Turtle" didn't smell so great

Cause of death: Metastatic Cancer
Primary source: unknown

After the turtle dissection, Abi & Anna came over to paint pictures

Sunrise service bright and early Easter morning. Everyone brought flowers to place on the cross.

Abi and Maggie with "Aunt Sasa" on Easter morning

Elise and Micah with patient station dog Emma

Easter dinner at the McLaughlins - me, McLaughlin family, Fader family, Brown family, Carrie

It truly has been a wonderful weekend and it's not over yet as we still have plans for Ultimate Frisbee today. But I did miss something special back in Nashville - my whole family together except me. Pictured left to right: Lauren, Wei Chi, Grandma Pfister, Leslie, Bud, Emma, Dad, Samuel, Mom. And I haven't even met my niece Emma yet!

Emma (pictured with Gigi - my mom) was welcomed into the covenant family at her baptism on Palm Sunday

Do you ever wish you could be in two places at once or have everyone you love in one place? I'm thankful to know that will happen in eternity and it will be more beautiful than we can even imagine. Christ is Risen!

Middle schoolers, power outages, board meeting

For the last three months, I've been meeting with this small group of middle schoolers as they study the book of Luke. Three of the students memorized 75 verses from Luke! All of them studied hard and hopefully learned truths from God's word that will be applied in their lives for years to come.

At the end of each month, the students were quizzed on what they learned. Our team came in second place! But hopefully through the competition, the Word of God was made real and active to all the kids. I'm thankful for the opportunities I had as a child to hide God's word in my heart - I still remember those verses today and hope these children will as well.

As we walked home from the last quiz, we discovered power outages (again) but for a good reason this time - several huge trees fallen during a storm on our power lines.

As 2 year old Abi said when she came to my dark house a couple days ago, "Sasa house, [no] whoo hoo?" Whoo hoo is power as that's what we say when the power comes back on!

Maggie says, "No Bob?" Meaning she can't listen to her favorite Veggie Tales music when there's no power!

We're all getting used to the frequent power outages, though. With no power, I can still: read outside while it's daylight, play with the kids, go running with friends, eat dinner by candlelight - frequently scrambled eggs as the stove is gas but the oven is electric, use my cell phone, make a list of all the things to do when the power comes back on - like write this blog and lots of emails, & go to work as the hospital runs on a generator. The unpredictability is frustrating, though, as we never know when the power will go out or if it will be out for 30 minutes or 3 hours.

The Myrhes, pictured here with the McCropders, are used to power outages, though, having lived for many years in rural Uganda. We likely will be, too, in Burundi, though maybe we'll bring a generator with us! We loved having the Myrhe family visit us at Tenwek a couple weeks ago and were thrilled to hear that their proposal to the World Harvest Mission board to open the new site of Burundi was unanimously approved! Scott and Jennifer Myrhe, currently working at Kijabe hospital, will be our Africa field directors with World Harvest Mission as we head to Burundi long term. Our official individual approval won't come from WHM until our interviews and orientation in Philadelphia in September, but things are moving forward and we're excited!

The most recent McCropder team photo including our newest member: Baby Benjamin! Pictured from left to right: Fader family, me, McLaughlin family, Cropsey family.