Out of Akron

We all arrived safely in Denver, CO Oct 22nd. Malin drove and I flew with the girls. Our sisters Megan, Kiersten, Ana and there families all live here and we are enjoying our visit. The 70 degree weather also helps and reminds us of the pleasant temperatures we will soon be living in Cameroon.

At our mission conference and orientation we met 1-2 people (out of hundreds) who had lived in Kumbo. Apparently it's beautiful, but hard to get too because of the dirt roads. We were somewhat discouraged that so few physicians/dentists had been there. So while Ana and I were at Whole Foods sampling coffee from Africa I mentioned to the roaster that I would soon be in Africa. He asked, "Where?" When I told him, he smiled and said his last job was installing water pipes and filtration in the Bamenda/Kumbo area. He said the people were wonderful and the scenery was spectacular. Sometimes God provides encouragement in the strangest of places.

VISAs

Cameroon recently changed the process for obtaining a work VISA for the next two years. Therefore there is concern that our VISAs will not arrive before we our scheduled to leave. If this happens we will not leave as scheduled Nov 18th. Please join us in prayer, that our VISAs may come soon and on time.

Prescription for Renewal

Just some pictures after the wonderful time we've had with Grammie and Grampie. Orientation starts tomorrow and we're now in Boone, NC. Beautiful time of year to see the trees preparing for winter. 

Prescription for renewal ended Sunday at The Cove. The purpose of the seminar was to encourage physicians to pursue short term medical missions. We both thought the best part was meeting other physicians who are full time on the mission field. We also heard several amazing speakers/preachers. One missionary spoke on Isaiah 58: 10-11 "and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail."

We did also learn some discouraging news. The general surgery residency at Banso has been cancelled because of personality conflicts. I was really looking forward to teaching residents. 

Off to orientation

Amelia and Meredith enjoyed playing with Grammie the past 5 days. Malin and his dad biked the C&O canal trail (Pittsburgh to Washington D.C.) during that time. Malin will have to blog about their trip sometime. I packed, cleaned, visited friends, and used a spa gift certificate.

Tomorrow we leave for Asheville, North Carolina to go to two conferences. The first, Prescription for Renewal, encourages medical professionals towards mission work and provides some training on 3rd world hospital settings. For example, I'm going to a workshops entitled "Tools for the resource poor surgeon" and "Common fractures and their treatment", "HIV", "Malaria", "TB" diseases I've read a lot about, but rarely seen. The second conference is our orientation to World Medical Mission and will be in Boone, NC.  When we return, we'll have 3-4 days to finish packing the house and then leave Akron Oct 22nd. 

We've been planning this mission for 2 years. So the count down started in years, then months, and now it's weeks. 6 left before we go.

It's Over

Residency officially ended at 1200 am today. We celebrated last night with a glass of champange. My certificate of "satisfactory completion of an OB/GYN residency" is in my hands and I am grateful. Grateful for the  encouragement of Malin, love from Amelia and Meredith, and support from many other people who helped me survive. 

The girls also said, "Goodbye" yesterday to Ashley. We are going to miss her. She had cared for the girls the past 18 months. Meredith ran each morning to the window to scream, "ASH.....LEEE." And Amelia couldn't wait to play with her. Hopefully we can find someone in Kumbo who will love the girls as much as she did. 

 

Happy Mother's Day

My Mother's Day gift came Sept 27th ...The Akron Marathon began at 7am. And I finished 4 hours 13 minutes later.  Malin and Derek gave us the gift of registration and promised to make sure Amy and I had adequate time together to prepare. Unlike Malin, who will run a marathon without training, we ran, a lot. Because of the heat our runs usually began around 6 am. The peace and solitude of the early morning inspired us many miles. But during the marathon it was the cheers, crowds, and other runners that kept us going. The marathon didn't end quite like I had envisioned. Amy felt ill most of the marathon so we decided to separate about 15 miles in. After Amy finished she went to the medic tent and then onto the ER. Thankfully some IV fluid and sodium made her better. 

My sister Ana is training for her marathon on Oct 18th. We're going to be going to visit her in Denver Oct 22nd. There's one 10k run we can do together during our visit. The only catch is you have to wear a gorilla suit the entire way! 

Generosity in the Darnest of Places

I remember after Wheaton changed it's mascot from the Crusaders to the Thunder the Chicago Tribune entitled an article about the change "Sensitivity in the Darnest of Places." The article's title implied that it was shocking that a  Christian university would think about being cultural sensitivity. We're experiencing some of that same shock with the generosity of secular corporations that have provided thousands of dollars worth of medical and dental supplies. I assumed that the minute we asked for donations for a Christian hospital we would be turned down. I could not have been more wrong. From an ultrasound, fetal dopplers, microscope, surgical instruments, dental hand pieces, toothbrushes, disposable gloves, our UPS man has been busy delivering. The picture is our latest arrival. If you read the package closely you'll see our delivery man is probable a little confused as to why I would need 300 of these delivered to our home! We're also taking bets on how quickly I will use all of these in Cameroon.

Our commissioning service took place Sunday, September 21st.  Pastor Derek said, "Sometimes I think you're crazy". Sometimes we think we're crazy too.... what are we doing trying to pack up 2 kids and move to Cameroon? What are we thinking trying to sell our house in this market and not have steady careers mapped out? How can we possible pull this off in the next two months? But in the end, we agree we'd be crazier to ignore the over 300 verses in the Bible about caring for the poor and crazier still if we didn't go. God has prepared our hearts in ways no words can articulate.  We've been using this quote a lot from Philip Yancey, "I used to believe that Christianity solved problems and made life easier. Increasingly I believe my faith complicates my life in ways it should be complicated. As a Christian I cannot NOT care about the environment, about poverty and homelessness, about racism and religious persecution, about injustice and violence. God does not give me that option." How this plays out in each person's life and walk of faith looks different. For some people it's church commitments, others public service,  or volunteering, or giving generously... for us it's working and living the next two years in Cameroon.

 Amelia sang after the service at the missions festival. Here's a short clip of the choir singing.

Froggies

We've been taking care of at least 1 frog each day this summer (not all the frogs have made it). Amelia caught one particularly gorgeous, fist-sized bullfrog that she kept for several weeks. Amelia and Meredith spent hours arranging it's home and finding  bugs to feed the frog. I tried numerous tactics to get the frog free. Afterall, it was such a magnificent creature I couldn't let it starve to death. Finally I asked Amelia how God would want her to take care of His creation. And she immediately said, "I need to put the frog in Renee's (our neighbor) pond." We had a frog releasing ceremony. And wouldn't you know 30 minutes later we were the proud caretakers of another gigantic frog; this time a tree frog.

Selling and Faith

Our home has been listed for two months, and we've had no offers. Our agent says its not the price or the condition or the presentation it's just the market. I imagine many people are hearing the same thing. It's hard not to try to bargain with God i.e. if you sell our house will use some of the money towards helping people in Cameroon. It's hard not to make our faith contingent upon the sale of our house i.e. God we'll know you really want us to go to Cameroon if You sell our house. It's hard not to make all my prayer requests lately about our house and our family, but as I read the Lord's prayer a (the prayer Christ taught us was ENOUGH) and studied it at our church,  I read:

OUR Father, 

Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give US this day OUR daily bread. Forgive OUR debts as WE forgive OUR  debtors. Lead US not into temptation and deliver US from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen

Did you see it? There are no individual requests in this prayer and no bargining with God, instead the prayer is for all people and that today we all are given enough. Does this mean I'm going to stop praying for the sale of our house? No. God needs to know in prayer what is important to each of us. But perhaps I could stop worrying about when God will answer my prayer requests and instead trust that for today God will always provide enough. 

Visit to Great-grandparents

Thankfully Amelia, Meredith and myself completed 800 miles of travel this past week without any problems. Our trip started Sunday with a drive to Saginaw and a visit to Grandma Cichowski and Uncle Luke. After a good bowl of soup and lots of stories, Meredith, Amelia and I slept in one large bed. I think they both got more sleep than I did! Monday we took Grandma on some errands and then went to a park. The engineer/conductor was working on the old child's train in the park and offered to take us on a ride. Then after lunch we left for Fremont, Michigan. 

We arrived in Fremont safely and immediately Amelia and Meredith found some old dolls. These dolls really needed a bath so the girls and the dolls climbed into the tub for some scrubbing. Grandpa took Amelia fishing the next day and we also did some shopping. Wednesday we went to the John Ball Park zoo. Thursday I left again after Grandma and I took the kids to the local park. We stopped in Dundee for the night. The hotel came with a water park which we had to ourselves. Meredith watched Amelia and copied here every move. I'm slowly getting used to Meredith's lack of fear. 

Meredith also had a notable Thursday as she went 3 times on the potty. I'm trying to get her trained so I don't have to use cloth diapers in Cameroon. 

Pictures of Banso Baptist Hospital

We have received many 

thoughtful e-mails from people at Banso Hospital. One of the physicians there, Karabeth, even took the time to send a CD of pictures, Pidgeon English dictionary, and hospital policies. The building picture is Banso hospital. The dental picture was taken in the dental clinic. The bed with the TV in the picture is from the family planning clinic and the last picture is the delivery room in Labor and Delivery (no doubt I will be spending my time in these two places!). 

Some reading

For those of you interested to the right is a link to the National Geographic website about Cameroon. We will be living in Kumbo at Banso Baptist Hospital. Our plane tickets were purchased this week and we arrive Nov 19th in Doula, Cameroon. It is an 8 1/2 hour drive to Kumbo from there. 

Before leaving we have lots of traveling to do (and still a house to sell--please keep praying this sells!). I'm going to Michigan this weekend with Amelia & Meredith to visit their great-grandparents. Then we travel early October to Asheville and Boone, NC for orientation and a missions conference. Next we leave Akron Oct 22nd for Denver then onto Bend, Portland, Seattle, and Oak Harbor. 

We survived

Many of you may think this title relates to our camping trip over Labor Day weekend, but actually it's for completing our first week of homeschooling. As there are no international schools near our hospital in Cameroon, Amelia started Kindergarten at home. So far, she's been an enthusiastic student. Although hand writing lessons have been tough as no one wants either Malin or mine handwriting! We're reading through the Bible with her, the Boxcar children, and many other stories. She's got daily math assignments and science projects (which are by far her favorite subjects). Last, we are learning a Bible verse for every letter of the alphabet.  She will attend preschool for one month prior to leaving Akron just for the social interaction. There is also a primary school close to our home in Cameroon which we may enroll her in to supplement our teaching as well.

Nearly Labor Day

We enjoyed our weekend. Malin and I actually went on a date Friday night. After dinner we went rock climbing at an indoor arena. Malin told our sitter Ashley, "It was the worst date ever" because "Sara climbed up a wall I couldn't." Needless to say we will be going back to rock climb some more. Saturday I ran 18 miles in preparation for the Akron Marathon. Afterwards we went swimming with the kids and then out to dinner with friends. After church Sunday we took our bikes on the train and then attempted to bike back to our car. Poor Meredith got too hot and tired after 8 miles so Amelia and Malin biked the last 2 miles, got the car and met us. Before stopping we enjoyed some fresh, roasted, buttered, salted sweet corn and fruit sundaes. To finish out the weekend we shared a BBQ at our friends the Starr Redwines.These pictures are of Amelia and Meredith enjoying our porch during Sunday's thunderstorm. Wonder what will the storms be like in Cameroon?

To Chicago

Malin left this morning with a 10foot Budget truck loaded with medical supplies for Cameroon. Thankfully, he called to say he had arrived safely in Chicago. The truck needs to be returned by Sat at 9am, so he won't be lingering very long! This means we're taking one step closer to leaving for Cameroon.

In preparation for the truckload. I wrapped an ultrasound in over 100 ft of bubble wrap. Malin packed-up his dental equipment. Amelia and I went to Target to get a few things to send. While we were there I reminded her she had a doctor's appointment tomorrow. She asked if she had to get any shots. I said,"I think you might." Then she said, "Then I think I'm going to have to start crying." Which is exactly what she did. Fortunately Target has plenty of barbies to look at and that resolved the crying. She did end-up with 4 shots today so, her arms are pretty sore. 

Meredith's busy playing the kazoo and putting necklaces on. We're are going out for dinner tonight with friends. 

A wonderful visit

After a red-eye flight we made it back from Seattle, sorry to leave the Northwest once again. Our visit started with Malin's family reunion at Crescent Lake. Amelia thought celebrating her birthday with her cousins was the best party ever. I can't believe she is already five. While we were there Amelia became particularly tired and crabby as I talked to her about controlling her emotions she tearfully said, "Mommy I'm just not used to being 5. I need more practice."

Meredith enjoyed every sand, dust particle, rock and stick by tasting them first. She tried hard to keep up with the older cousins and was frequently wandering off to the slide without adult supervision. Her vocabulary expanded dramatically and she also learned many new animal noises. Her favorite word is still BALLOOOOON!

After a week the kids were completely worn out and then we headed to Oak Harbor. My family got in the usual crabbing, fishing, large meals and a special trip to the Vancouver aquarium. Amelia really enjoyed meeting the baby Beluga and Meredith proudly learned the word "fish". 

Going Home

1 more week before we get to go back to Bend and Oak Harbor. We're all excited. Amelia talks about the plane ride, playing with her cousins, things to do at Crescent Lake, crabbing with Nana  on Papa's boat, seeing Auntie Rachel, and everything else she hopes to do for those two weeks. 

212 Casterton Ave FOR SALE!

After a 3 week mad scramble of painting, cleaning, mulching, weeding, garage-selling, shuffling boxes, and staging our house is on the market.  Please let our agent know if you are aware of a potential buyer!  

   Now the real challenge begins with keeping it presentable with sticky fingers Meredith & Amelia on the prowl.

polio booster,yellow fever & typhoid

The whole family made the uplifting trip to the Summit County Health Department for our vaccinations of all the rare diseases Africa offers.  After 2 hours of counseling with the travel consultation nurse the Friess family was tired of being poked.  Malin took 3 shots to the left arm without tears.  Meredith had 2 shots to her left cute chubby thigh with 10 seconds of fear, crying, trembling, and a flinch of her thigh.  Amelia screamed hysterically, "No, No, don't let them do it..They said it would only be one shot and it was two.  It hurts.  It hurts. It hurts.  It hurts."  Amelia was escorted immediatly out of the waiting room to avoid scaring the other chidren.  Sara bravely took her 3 vaccinations.