Paul and Becca

I for sure know why pregnant women are at a high risk for developing gum disease and poor dental health.  The main reason is throughout the entire pregnancy with Nathan I ate chewy sugary candy!  And yes…thanks to a few care packages we have received, it has started in full force again.  I am currently eating jelly beans which are increasing my cravings for things like:

Dr. Pepper!

Juicy Pears

Root Beer

Roasted Marshmallows

It is amazing how real these things taste in jelly bean form when you haven’t actually tasted any of them in over 6 months.  I was telling the surgical residents about Dr. Pepper, it was hard to explain…I just kept saying you would like it even better than Coke.  They just thought it was funny that a soft drink was a doctor. 

But don’t worry all you salty fans…I am still very much craving good ole potato chips.  We can get a generic Pringles here in Soddo.

Another fun thing is Paul got me the best Christmas present ever…an Ice Cream maker.  It arrived in Soddo while we were in Kenya and since we have been back I have made ice cream 3 times.  It is the best thing!  I have peanut butter with reeces and strawberry sorbet!  Tonight I am making vanilla with heath bar.  Again thanks to all of the loving care packages we have a stock of candy and chocolate chips!

The worst part about Paul and I eating all of this candy and ice cream (is not the few pounds we could afford to put back on)…but Nathan wants a bite of everything!  It all started with these Dove chocolates someone sent.  He would stare at us with his mouth open and we gave in and gave him a taste…well now he knows what the wrappers looks like and points and gasps when he sees anything chocolate!  He also loves ice cream, thanks to the Kenya conference.  (I know you are reading this and saying…”I thought this chic was a dietitian?”)  Yes, I am, but there is something about your 5^th percentile son enjoying sweets.  And not to worry, some of his other favorite foods are warm milk, red beans, peanut butter and jelly, cooked carrots and bananas.    

There is so much more I want to share about Nathan.  He is 13 months today and doing and learning so much so fast.  I will post a picture later and tell you all about it.  For now back to the Jelly Beans!

Today we heard a new little heart beat.  Today, for the first time, we saw God’s creation in our second child.  It was so amazing to see this tiny baby that is currently only 2.7cm or barely over an inch.  God is an amazing Creator.  We feel incredibly gracious to be pregnant.  

I am currently about 10 weeks along and we are expecting the little one around August 18^th. We actually found out we were pregnant on Christmas morning.  It was so special to have an extra gift and we were even able to tell our families when they called that day. We had previously decided we would come home to the US to deliver in order to be with family and for a planned c-section.  (Nathan was a c-section and it was decided by us and our OB then that future c-sections would be a good choice.)   So we are planning a trip home.  Nathan and I will travel to Houston in early June and Paul in early August.  We are already dreading the time apart, but know it will be best for Nathan and me to come home in plenty of time.  We hope to travel to Dallas in June, but other than that I will have to stay put.

Nathan is very excited about having a brother or sister.  He loves other children or babies of any age and we know he will be a great big brother.  He has been doing handstands where he makes a little triangle by standing on his feet and hands and then looks under through his legs.  Etagainu said that in Ethiopia that means they are looking for a little brother or sister to come along.

We have the most amazing video of our little one moving its arms and legs.  I am having difficulty downloading it so you can see it.  I was actually able to download it onto our old blog, since we are not in Ethiopia right now.  So you can see the video at www.paulandbecca.blogspot.com

We feel so blessed to be able to pray and nurture this little life.  Although God is the one who is sustaining it’s life and creating it in His image.

Love to All!

Paul, Becca, Nathan and very tiny Baby

For the last week we have been in Kenya at a Baptist conference center called Brackenhurst. This is the first-ever PAACS-wide Basic Surgical Science Conference. As I write this, it is Sunday afternoon and we will finish the conference and head back to Ethiopia this Friday. Although the schedule has been packed, it has been a wonderful time of recharging, fellowship, family and learning. All of the residents are with us and two incredible surgeons from the US, Dr. John Foor (general and vascular surgery) and Dr. Matt Campbell (general surgery, his blog is linked to his name), are defending the fort while we are gone. My heart goes out to them. At least I have the luxury of residents to take the first hits for me. It really drives home the reality that the Christian endeavor is not for lone wolves. We need each other and these guys are making this time possible. Thank you!

First, family. I have really enjoyed spending time with Becca and Nathan away from the demands of the hospital. We’ve had a lot of fun. Everyone in the cafeteria, I’m sure, loves to see us come in for each meal. We haul the high chair up to a table and let the festivities begin, including flying food, screams and diligent attempts to base jump from rails. Becca has really enjoyed spending time with the wives of the other PAACS surgeons. Apparently, we’re hard to live with and life at mission hospitals presents unique challenges for these amazing ladies. Hm. Seriously, though, we have faced a lot of challenges and struggles for which we are both receiving excellent wisdom from more experienced people who have walked the same road.

Second, PAACS. I am very grateful for the experience the residents are receiving here. Yeah, all the lectures and stuff is great from a surgical standpoint, but the real benefit is the interaction they are getting with residents and instructors from other programs. It shows them that they are part of something special and unique. It shows them they are not alone in their struggles. I hope it is developing a sense of camaraderie and pride and that they are developing friendships and relationships that will serve them for many years to come as these guys become a real force for Christian surgery in Africa. I’m also hoping that the guys see that I’m not so strict after all! I’m pretty sure one of the other program directors played the part of the gunnery drill sergeant in the movie “Full Metal Jacket”. (I know Christians aren’t supposed to watch R-rated movies, my bad. Don’t watch it if you haven’t seen it.)

Third, me as a surgeon in Africa. It has been a true gift of God to interact with these other men and women. In the struggles of day-to-day life in Soddo, it is easy to lose track of the big picture. I suspect that most worthwhile things done in the course of human lives take place in the midst of many, many days of unspectacular struggles without immediate results and maybe without much definite hope of ultimate victory. That is, you commit a lot with no guarantees of success and you just have to keep at it, trusting that in the end it will matter to God. I’m very proud to be a part of the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons. God is doing something here! There are currently nine men and women who have graduated from PAACS and every one of them is serving Christ in rural Africa! This has really been an encouragement to me. I spent a lot of time learning some cool and advanced surgery in the US. Much of it I can’t do over here. For much of what I’m doing here, I wasn’t trained. No matter how good I get at it, I probably will never be allowed to do it in America. Basically, the longer I stay here, the harder it will be for me come back, to integrate back into American surgery. Believe me, I think about this. In the struggles of life at Soddo, with these thoughts haunting me, encouragement about the worthiness of these efforts is much needed and much appreciated.

Speaking of encouragement and appreciation, I want to say again how much you all amaze me in your generosity and support of what we’re doing here. Both PAACS and Soddo Christian Hospital offer a sweet monthly salary of $0 USD. We, and every other surgeon working with PAACS, are here because of people like you. This isn’t just our story. It’s your story! You own this and make it a reality. Thank you and may God be glorified and honored greatly by your love and support. I pray He blesses you for your obedience and involvement. We love you more than you know.

Paul

P.S. The food here is AWESOME. You know, when I was in middle school, I would celebrate the end of each agonizing day of school with a box of Cheez-its or Vanilla Wafers. Though I’m much happier now and my motivations are different, I still love the gustatory joy of meals here. Yum. Let’s hear it for beef, chicken and ice cream.

Hey everyone, it’s Nathan. I guess you heard that I am a big boy now…I am now one year old. I had a lot of fun climbing on top of all of these pretty boxes with bows. And after I climbed up and down I got to tear the paper off of the boxes. It was a lot of fun.

One of my favorite things about turning one is getting to eat strawberries! Every morning I eat a whole piece of toast with strawberry jelly that Mama makes. I eat that after I eat my own bowl of corn flakes. Daddy used to just give me bites of his cereal, but I started eating so much that they could tell how much I love cereal, so now I get my own bowl!

I love talking with my hands. Any time I hear “bye-bye” I know that I should wave to them and smile. I can also tell mama when I want more and when I have had enough. I still love to clap and play patty cake. I also point at anything I want or like, usually my milk, a light switch, birds, or a ball (or fruit that looks like a ball).

Mama and Daddy keep trying to get me to walk to things, but I am so good at crawling, I don’t see what the big deal is. I can crawl to anything I want. I love to crawl to my soccer ball and throw it back and forth.

Mama and Daddy said we are going on airplane again. They promised it wouldn’t be as long as the last flight that we took from Zso Zso and Granpa’s house to our new home in Ethiopia. This flight is to the country just south of us, called Kenya. We will be there for two weeks while Daddy teaches other residents about surgery.

Gotta go for now! Love, Nathan

Paul is in Addis tonight and last night, so it is just Nathan and I holding down the fort.  It is weird; I am not used to Paul being gone anymore.  In America, he would be gone one to two nights every week while he was on call at the hospital.  So I got used to it and always planned lots of fun things for the day and evening when he would be gone.   Well, I am a wimp and not used to being home by myself, especially with Nathan growing into a Daddy’s boy.

Well, Paul was busy packing on Saturday night and I was so thankful I didn’t need to pack…but then in the middle of the night one of the guards came to the door (this is common).  He explained that the power was out and Paul needed to turn on the generator, in order for someone in the ICU to have oxygen.  So he went to the generator and he came back and said, “Becca I don’t want to freak you out….but, there is a large fire in Soddo and it looks close.”  I looked out the front door and could see huge flames coming from the other side of town.  It was a bright orange sky in the middle of the darkness.  (I do have a pic, but Paul has the camera…will download later.)  So Paul told me to pack up the essential things, just in case (money, passports, our hard drive, cameras).  We stood by the door and prayed.  The wind howled around us and we knew it would not take much for the flames to be carried in any direction.  I cannot even begin to describe how heavy the winds can be here.  Actually, the missionaries told me about the dry and windy season before we came and how dust would collect on your window sills every morning even with the windows closed.  I did not believe them!  But it is true, every night the wind blows like a huge storm, but there is no rain.  I have never heard wind like this in the states, unless there was a tornado or HUGE thunderstorm coming.  Anyways, we prayed and as we stood in the doorway with the wind in our faces it calmed.  I felt the wind stop.  And after the prayer he went into the hospital to check for new patients and keep an eye on the fire.  And I went back and laid down, I thought about all the other people who may have prayed the same prayer as they watched their house or their business come close to the flames.  I saw how even though God allowed the fire, he also protected so much.  The fire was contained to the market and miraculously no one was injured.  The market is about 4 or 5 football fields big (according to Becca’s rough eyeing-it estimate).  It is filled with stand after stand of grain, lentils, pottery, vegetables, basically everything the people of Soddo live off of.  Every Saturday, everyone within the Soddo region goes to the market to buy what they will need for the week. 

I do not know how this is going to affect the economy.  Will those who can supply raise their prices, to above an already inflated level, that the people are already struggling to afford?  Will there be some basics, like lentils, or corn that cannot be provided at a sufficient level to feed over a million people?  Will the people who lost everything turn to God in this time of despair?  Will they realize an eternal hope is all any of us truly have?  Will they feel the love of Christ as others within the community reach out to help restart their business?

Please pray with us that the economy would recover quickly and that people would join together to help each other out.  The Ethiopian Christmas is this Wednesday; please also pray that Christ would be made known throughout this region and that above all He would be their hope.

To see a few pictures of the fire and devastation you can visit the Bower’s blog at http://thebowersinafrica.blog.com .

We all had a blast at Nathan’s birthday party.  And it was so much fun having lots of people together.  A lot of our friends here have young boys also, so we invited them all over. 

We gave the children masks and noise makers.  They loved it.