Moving to Africa: Unexpected Joy

I woke up too early my first two nights in Africa due to jet lag and excitement. You would think an emergency physician who works varying shifts in the ER would be immune from time changes and could be more grounded emotionally, but the unfamiliar and unknown can affect anybody regardless of background or experience. During my 7 day visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in September of 2014, I also had trouble sleeping at night. I attributed that to wanting to video chat with Amy and our girls because of missing them and wanting to fill them in on my time with our son, Daniel. This makes me realize that I am so blessed! I am here with Amy and the girls now. Daniel came to us during our first full day so I woke up on the second night to Amy and our 4 kids sleeping on the bed. (It's a Jenga puzzle but they have found a way to all fit and have slept well. I have enjoyed my REI travel mattress on the ground even if there is a foot dangling in front of my face at times.)

This reminds me of our interesting sleeping arrangement at Vickery when the twins were 1 year old and Ruth was 3 years old: scroll to the very bottom of this link (http://kahnsinvickery.blogspot.com) to see how we fit 3 beds perfectly in our apartment bedroom. Catching up from the last blog post, we gave our jobs notice that May would be our last month and asked them to hire someone to replace us. We made contacts with adoptive families already living in DRC and also connected with their friends which led us to meeting a wonderful couple from Canada who run a medical facility on the busiest street of this Congolese capital city of Kinshasa. They arranged transport from the airport, provided us a place to stay, and have helped me get a temporary medical license so that I can volunteer at their clinic. I have the opportunity to work there if we are unable to bring Daniel home as quickly as we would like. For reasons I will expand upon at another time, Amy and I changed our one way plane tickets to leave a month earlier so we quickly packed and arranged for a trip of unknown duration which can be difficult to plan for. (We packed the essentials: a Home Depot plastic bin inside a suitcase, water filter for brushing our teeth since it is advisable to avoid putting tap water in our mouths, and Amy's coffee maker/pods:

We realize that we have the best colleagues in the world who are supportive of our adoption process. They have picked up our remaining shifts in our ER on short notice, and we cannot thank them enough for not only agreeing to cover us but they have also all expressed well wishes and prayers for our journey.

With the decision to quickly leave our home country, several friends immediately asked what they could do to help. Several came to help us pack, others did errands for us, and so many offered help that we had nothing else left for them to do except pray for us. It feels so amazing to receive such an outpouring of support. I believe God has blessed us with these people to make us realize what life is really about. It is not about doing everything for ourselves. It is not about just focusing on retirement, college for the kids, or our belongings (home, cars, etc.). These things have value so I am not saying we should ignore them. I do believe we have to put things in perspective. If we believe that life on Earth is all we have, then what is the point? We gain possessions and make friends, and then it all turns to dust eventually. However, if we believe in eternity with our God and Savior, then life is really about something much greater: Loving God and loving the people He loves. All of these people (from strangers to acquaintances to close friends) eagerly sacrificed for us and offered their help. They reminded me that our God is glorified when we attempt to take risks for Him. As we become desperately dependent in these new situations, we find unexpected joy from seeing people step up to make a difference. Following Jesus is why we have adopted and why we have altered our lives to respond to the challenges in our adoption process. I am excited to continue on to find more unexpected joy from following Him. If it brings about more opportunities to see the love of Christ, I know this is what I want to commit my life to. Yes, it is great to be a family of 6 with Daniel. I'll post more about that next time and will try to post more often from Congo.