As we count down our last few days in Sudan, we had the opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving 
with many of our friends from around the world, and celebrate our time together. We were the only two Americans at the gathering, so we got to make up our own rules for the holiday! We started the morning in devotions, sharing what we are grateful for, and spent most of the day, saying thank you, no, thank you to one another to celebrate, as it was otherwise and average Thursday in Juba (as if there was such a thing). As the sun began to set, we prepared our now traditional (mostly because it was available) Thanksgiving feast, of Spanish Rice and Beans, Salsa, Sausages, and gummy candy from around the world. It was a beautiful last night to sit under the stars and celebrate the people who had come to mean so much to us. We found in the midst of the hard things, we had many, many things to celebrate.
It was a lovely evening of being together late into the night. Each person shared their memories of us, and then gifted us with a sheet-like garment usually warn for special occasions, like weddings. We showed them of with a dance, and Scott’s, of course, was just a bit too smal for him, so he improvised and created a Thanksgiving cape (what every Aid Worker turned Super Hero needs on Thanksgiving). Needless to say, I think we’ve created a new holiday tradition. 
It’s hard to say goodbye to this place. For every hard thing, you realize that something beautiful has gotten to you- the children playing in the streets, the mother’s meticulously sweeping dirt compounds, an entire household gathered around a television under the stars. The morning greetings and the laughter has become a way of life to us here, and we truly will miss many many things. It seems good and right to say goodbye on Thanksgiving. What else could we say, really, but thank you for loving us, thank you for being you, thank you for marching on and moving forward in the face of so many challenges.
We turn our hearts toward this journey home, thankful, being the telling of it, for the faces that await us there, and we hold the tension of the ones we love here, and might not see again.
We remember you friends in Africa, friends at home, friends all over the world, for journeying with us. We are thankful for you!
My reading lately has been leaning toward the contemplatives, Richard Rohr, Thomas Keating, Thomas Merton urging me toward accepting the moments I have, rather then the ones I wish could be. They talk of consenting to the moment, even if it’s not what you want or imagined, and asking what can be learned from the situation before you. What is, the great teacher.
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We arrived at the UN to find my friend Randy, a exuberant doctor from India who just happened to have returned home a few days early from repatriation in India. It was wonderful to see a familiar face, and to meet a new friend Pallabhi. We were treated like royalty at the UN field station, and I was happy to get a cocktail of antihitamines and steroids to keep the reaction at bay. Flanked by the my friends, Tabea and Sonja, a German doctor and Dutch nurse who just happened to be at the medical workshop that week, we decided to take advantage of a MAF plane that just happened to be in the area to pick up passengers from an other organization. My friend Daniella, a German ICU nurse who just happened to be going out on R & R was a welcome companion in 
case the reaction continued. We we flew together to Juba where Scott just happened to be stationed, and he was able to board the plane with me that happened to have an extra place for him. Scott and Daniella sat on the tarmac, giving me an another steroid injectiton in into the IV when a colleague I’d met in a far away village strolled up to ask what we were up to. He’s a family practice doctor with 30 years experienc in the States, retired now and working in a remote part of Sudan. You guessed it- he just happened to be flying to Nairobi with us for the weekend. By the time we arrived in Nairobi, I felt like I was watching a greater hand weave all these little miracles into the tapestry of a tender concern for me. I didn’t mention that the rash and didn’t return again untili we’d safely landed on Nairobi’s, and had stepped foot into the hospital.
We didn’t really know what to expect–we had read the guide books and talked to friends. They all said the same thing–go to Masai Mara, you will see some incredible animals! I thought it would be a fun trip for my Mom who came to visit last week on her way home from visiting my sister and brother-in-law in India. I imagined we might see some nice giraffes and maybe some wildebeest, zebra, and cape buffalo. We booked three nights with a local company, Jocky Tours, and headed off . . .
From there we headed on a longer drive towards the Mara River. On the way I spotted a large grey lump in the distance. As we approached it slowly took the form of an elephant. What fun to see elephants in the wild, with plenty of space to wander and roam! After a few minutes we came across another bunch in the distance with a baby trailing the group!
We continued to see beautiful antelope, elephant, and birds (the secretary bird is quite unique!) on our way to the river where we saw hippos and even a croc (just his snout was showing in the water).
After a picnic lunch we headed back towards our camp to relax after another great day. We had seen all of the big 5 in one day and, on top of that, each one had babies with them!
We went into the next day wondering what could possible top the previous day and a half. Enjoying nice views of the park and beautiful wildlife in every direction, we happily bounced along in the safari van, stopping here and there to see an animal up close or enjoy a new bird (the lilac breasted roller was one of our favorites!). Soon, we were impressed by a group of three cheetahs by the roadside. As we watched them, they seemed quite interested in a young impala not too far away. Our curiosity and excitement grew as we watched one slowly move towards it. In a matter of seconds, the cheetah accelerated towards the impala as the impala started off. The cheetah quickly gained on it and made the kill right in front of us. Talk about amazing! I had to pinch myself just to remember I wasn’t watching this all on TV. The other two cheetahs joined to partake of the meal and we watched them feast!
Still on a high from the cheetah viewing, we cruised around the park, seeing more elephants with babies and other great sites. As we came up the side of a hill, a lion eating something caught our eye. A few other vans were parked near by and our presence must have interrupted his meal, but rather than walking away, he decided to walk straight towards us! He walked with his food, a young zebra, in his mouth within ten feet of our van. He stopped for a moment on the hillside at eye level and stared right at us–quite a powerful and humbling experience.
We had to call it quits after this finale, overwhelmed by the majesty and beauty of God’s creation. The whole experience was a bit surreal and one that will remain with us for the rest of our lives.
We had a great driver named George who had been driving in Masai Mara for quite some time (as evident by the wildlife he was able to help us see!).
One of our undertakings on during my last rotation was a de-worming campaign for all the school children in the village where I live. I’d never done a de-worming campaign before, but then, nobody had, so it was at the very least a great opportunity to learn. Funny how you can become the village expert on a topic, just by being silly enough to say, ‘yes, I”ll do it.’ 
After their hand washing performance, each child came to a table manned by teachers from each school, local health care workers from the clinic and volunteers from Medair and around town. Just before the handwashing campaign, Commander Deng and I did a one day teaching with 2 teachers from each school on the benefits of handwashing, and de-worming as well as formulating a plan with each of them how to carry it out in their schools. They really caught on well, and by half way through the first day had decided to expand into two ’stations’ for handwashing and de-worming.
De-worming is a process of killing off all the soil based worms that plague children’s tummies, causing anemia, illness, low attendance and pre-disposition to other serious illnesses like Malaira and TB. The medicine we use for ‘de-worming’ is called Mebendazole, and the dose consists of 5 tiny tablets to be chewed by each child. My favorite position at the treatment table was just next to the CHW responsible for making sure the children chewed all their tablets. It was truly entertaining to watch them make chewing faces all day llogn to remind the students to chew all the tablets. I learned valuable 
Arabic words such as Chew them all, and stick out your tongue at my particular post.
Thought this is a our second October in a tropical, equatorial location, all those years living in Colorado and Oregon have left me with a small timer that tells me when it’s time to eat roasted vegetables, bake bread and settle in for a long winter’s nap.Fortunately for me, the rains have come this week to Kenya, and the chill has afforded the opportunity to wear socks and the occasional wool hat for effect (until I have to take it off because I”m roasting) and even my hoody sweatshirt. The folks around me continue to complain that it’s cold, and I just smile and say, ‘it’s supposed to be, it’s October.”
pumpkin patches, apple cider, wearing mittens, golden aspen groves and the first frosty morning heralding another winter, and all the magic that takes place in me as I watch the turning of another year..
The last rotation flew by, and had some interesting twists and turns. Rain has come again to Upper Nile, and with it a whole new variety of flying creatures in all shapes and forms. One evening when Scott was working on a project in another part of Sudan, I”d reached my limit with the squeaking scratching, flapping creatures that had overtaken my room. The final straw came just before the generator was going off, when I found the wee bat flapping his way through my sheets- in my bed! I took my sheets outside, shook them out and
promptly grabbed my things and headed out-of-doors to sleep in a mosquito dome under a tree in the middle of the compound. I made my little home away from home, set up the bed, zipped myself inside, far away from the flying mice (also known as bats) that had been frequenting my room. I read for a while and turned out the light, and as my head lay on the pillow, I heard a faint scratching sound. In my head, I began the familiar conversation, Inside or Outside? I don’t really care if it’s a fire breathing dragon, as long as it’s on the other side of my flimsy net. I’d convinced myself it was outside, whatever it was, and I 
plopped down on the pillow again. Almost asleep for a second time and the insistand scratching began again… Definitely inside, I thought this time and began looking for the culprit. After several moments with my dim flashlight, I saw my unwelcomed guest… a small black bat, hobbling around the inside of my mossie dome, near my pillow. I know that I’ve acclimated to this place, because rather then screaming or swearing, I thought to myself, well, that’s not ideal, is it? A chase insued, and I learned that night that bats can be quite resourceful when they don’t want to be caught and thrown out. Finally I found jar, caught him and sealed him in and tossed it it outside. I layed my head down on the pillow a third time and trying to go to sleep, had a nagging thought that if I didn’t get up and get the bat out of the jar, he’d die in the night. Perhaps this wouldn’t be a problem for me, since I did find him breaking and entering, but ever since Scott started greeting all of these creatures, from scorpions to snakes to bats, with the familiar,’ hello, creature of God, ‘ I’ve had a bit more trouble doing them in… So, I got up and put on my rain boots and escorted the bat to his new home away from mine. I”m not sure what time it was when I finally settled in, but I don’t rememember my head hitting the pillow the fourth time.
suppose, is that it wasn’t a cocoon, really, just a very far away place, with little internet, lots of work to do and too many bugs just when you finally had a few minutes to write a letter to someone you love. So, the blog hasn’t seen much change lately, but hopefully we’ll have a bit more luck in the next rotation. Thanks everybody, for checking in anyway, waiting patiently and staring at the same picture of a tomato that has been gracing our blogs for weeks. We’ve made it back to Nairobi and will be heading out for a bit of family time with Mom Griebling who is stopping in for a few days visit, but we’ll try and post a few blogs that have been brewing over the last few weeks.
I suppose I have to agreee with Becca, that
