Happy New Year

I suppose something I love about Africa is it didn’t matter if it was already March, if you hadn’t someone yet after January 1st, they would still say ‘Happy New Year.’

That’s great news for procrastinators like me. It’s almost March, true, but I suppose it’s never to say,

Happy New Year!

I suppose I’m still clinging to New Years because it’s a great time to look back on the past year and see all that’s happened. This year was a year in particular to celebrate. I’ll fill you in.

At this time last year, we were just returning home from India. I was teaching Wilderness Medicine and Scott was working on the farm. We really didn’t know for sure where we were going to live and what we would do in the States. I was still feeling pretty sick, and we were both trying hard to process all the past years have meant.

Scott fishing at Homestake Res.

This year finds us in a much different place. We’ve put down roots outside of Boulder, Colorado. Our place is small but feels luxurious to us, with a trail near by, a wood stove, and no need to put on mud boots to travel from the bedroom to the bathroom.

Scott is in grad school at University of Colorado, doing a research fellowship and studying ground water. I’ve been working again as a nurse practitioner at a community medical center nearby, and continue to teach wilderness medicine when I can.

The biggest and best news, as some of you already know, is that we’ve added a family member!

Keltie (named after Scott’s great grandfather) was born on December 23rd, at 11:30 at night. He’s been bright eyed and interested in the world since the moment he arrived. He was 7 1/2 pounds and 20 inches when he was born. Now, at 2 months, he’s a whopping 10 pounds, but he’s gained 3 1/2 inches. He’s a tall, lean human, and so strong!

As you can imagine, life’s changed a bit to make room for him- I’ve had the luxury of taking a few months off of work, and Scott struggles to study groundwater modeling when there is an adorable version of himself giggling next to him, but all have been changes for the amazing.

Ngor at 14 days

It’s hard to describe what our experience of meeting babies and seeing them thrive in other cultures has added to our own parenting. I remember the twins that greeted me at our Therapeutic Feeding Center in Sudan, Ngor and Achan. If you recall from the beginning of this blog, they were 14 days old, less then 2 kg each, and had high fevers from Malaria. I thought there was no way they would make it. We started crushing AS/AQ tablets and feeding them milk in tiny tubes and somehow, day by day, they survived. 3 months later, I encountered them as happy, healthy babies, and understood there was more to survival then all we have up our sleeve in America.

This returns to me time after time. In the midst of parenting, of all the competing ‘shoulds’ of raising children (they should sleep on their back,they ‘should’ gain an ounce a week, ‘ they ‘should’ cry it out or be held all the time, they ‘should’ have organic baby food and bedding, I remember the little ones I met, who often shared blazing hot Tukuls with rain and snakes and scorpions and shared a breast with a sibling, who didn’t have diapers, who’s mamas weren’t eating organic food, or food at all at times, who continued to thrive. It has helped us to celebrate the advent off this little person, and trust, in the end, that it’s God who makes babies, and that all of our knowledge and technology are a gift, it can also be a curse. It seems to make us think that we’re in control, and if there is anything in this life that reminds you that you are not in control, it’s a small human, with his own agenda, wails and giggles.

Achan and Ngor at 2-3 months

To say that we’re grateful for this season would be a profound understatement. It has been a marvelous journey to parenthood, and ever wonderous unfolding. Thanks for joining us.

We’ll keep this blog going from time to time, but if you want in on the daily journey of life with Keltie, drop us a line and we’ll give you the address of a blog we’ve been keeping as he has joined us.

Happy New Year, and thanks for stopping in.