The Doctor is In!

So, we've been keeping a little secret, but not really on purpose. Quickly after moving to Kenya we realized that we needed to have a clinic at some point, some day. But we were completely overwhelmed with all the needs before us and knew that a doctor and a clinic was going to have to wait for another day. Life and needs were coming at us way to fast to even really think about a clinic.

Dr. Kirill treating Kennedy in February 2020 right after he got off of the streets.

Kennedy and Kirill in February 2022 at Mercy Home. Praise the Lord that Kennedy is doing so well.

Fast forward a few years and we met Dr. Kirill. Kirill is a doctor from Russia who had been coming to Kenya for years and was working with a ministry that we also work with sometimes. In November of 2019 he came to our place for a visit, saw Jeff's (ever growing) book collection and they immediately had a bond. We really enjoyed meeting him and hearing about the work he was doing just a couple of hours away from us.

Jeff and the Dr in November 2019 meeting for the first time.

Dr. Kirill attended a Bible conference at our place a short time after meeting us with his oldest daughter Maya. Our house immediately fell in love with Maya, she is adorable. He also brought his family to church a few times. Since he did not have his work visa at the time he and his family were traveling back and forth to Russia, but they really wanted to be in Kenya full time.

Maya was the center of attention and followed everywhere she went.

Over the last year or so Jeff and I have had many discussions about the need for a clinic and a doctor. Kirill and his family have come up in our private conversations quite a bit, but ministry work isn't like the corporate world. You can't just go around recruiting people from other ministries to build the team you want, no matter how good it would be. We felt like we knew Kirill pretty well and we saw the way he does ministry, it is clear he loves the Lord. It just seemed like it would be such a good fit to us. Kirill is willing to grab a backpack full of basic medical supplies and treat whoever needs to be treated, day or night and we loved that.

Galya, Maya, Martin, Leah and Kirill headed back to Kenya.

In December Jeff got a call from Kirill asking him to meet up while we were in Nairobi attempting to get some of our passports renewed, at the same time Aspen got really sick. Through that meeting we learned that Kirill and his family needed to step away from the other ministry as they were going to be phasing out the medical work they were doing and so he wanted to join with us to continue doing medical work. Honestly I was doubtful, I didn't know that the other ministry would actually let him and his family go and I was not sure that we were fully ready for a clinic, but really I was just plain ol' doubtful. 2020 to 2022 has taught me to be extremely flexible and not to get my hopes up about visitors coming. We've had some very important (to us) trips cancelled.

Not only is he a doctor, but he is a family man as well.

A couple of weeks ago we got word they were going to be moving some stuff over and before I knew it they were here! We've wanted and needed a doctor on staff for a while now, but I've been a bit nervous to make that move because I fear "over treatment" and honestly a decent hospital is only about 30-40 minutes away. If we aren't dealing with malaria, I like to wait and see a bit, but what is so common here is to just treat quickly with antibiotics at the highest dose for everything and move on. Kirill knows when to treat quickly and aggressively, like when Jeff had a staph infection a couple of months ago, and when to wait a bit and see.

One of the many clinics Dr. Kirill has held, he will continue doing these clinics on various parts of Kenya while serving at Mercy Ministries.

Having a doctor here to better manage our kids with cronic illness is going to be such a huge blessing. Having a doctor here to attend to our sick students will be such a blessing as we constantly have students sent to school sick because the family can't afford treatment. Having a doctor who is willing to go to widows and others who are unable to get to a clinic and treat them is going to be such a blessing.

Our kindergarten class at Mercy Christian Academy.

Having a doctor here to listen to hearts and they way the beat will be such a blessing. As we sat in our living room the other night and watched Kirill listen to the lungs and heart of a child who was feeling unwell I had to hold back tears. If you've been following us for long you may remember Baby Wayne who passed away due to a serious heart defect that had been missed his whole first year of life. He just needed someone to listen to his heart, he had been to the doctor many times, yet his heart wasn't checked. We NEED a doctor and God has blessed us with that!

Sweet Baby Wayne, so thankful to have had him, even if it was just for a short time. His broken heart has changed mine and I want to see every child have their heart listened to.

We are working on setting up a small space for him and then will start to work on plans for a clinic. I started an Amazon wish list of items we need and I will be adding to that over the next week or so as we think of other things we need. If you are able to purchase something off of our list or if you want to make a donation specifically for the clinic we would be so grateful.

Dr. Kirill treating at another clinic he served at.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for caring about the people and village we serve. So much is able to be done here because God is working through so many of you. We are so blessed to be a part of this amazing team God has built and is building.

We are so excited for whatever God has in store for us!

Reed just loves baby Leah.

These girls just love each other so much. They often use google translate to communicate and Maya is teaching them some Russian 💜.