Hurray!

Morokeni!

How are all of you doing?  I have some exciting news to share with you!  I have a job!  HURRAY!  After interviewing with the Piedmont Mountainside Hospital last week, I have been offered a night position on their medical-surgical floor!  The hospital is in Jasper, which is about 30-40 minutes north of Woodstock.  The hospital is really small, it's only 42 beds which includes the 6 ICU beds and the maternity ward!  The Med-Surg unit is only 29 beds.  In contrast, the pediatric ward in Rundu was 52 beds and the entire hospital was 250 beds!  Ha! Ha!  I think that transitioning back into American medicine in this small setting will be good for me.  Even though it's a small country hospital, it's owned by Piedmont which is a really BIG hospital system in downtown Atlanta.  This is great because I will be working in a small hospital but have the benefits of working in a big system.  I haven't told Teresa yet, but I know she'll be excited because one of the perks of Piedmont is really cheap Braves tickets!  (Piedmont is the system that provides for the Braves)  :-)  In other great news, my nursing license has finally been reinstated!  I have to wait for it to come in the mail, but it will get here in time for me to start work on July 7th!

AIM news

You may remember when I came home that I wrote to you that AIM's policy is to support me for eight months after my return home.  You may also remember that I had asked them to only support me for four months.  Well, dear family and friends, my time is up!  This month, June, is the last month that AIM will be accepting monies on my behalf.  If you have automatic payments set up I believe that you must call and have them stopped.  Thank you to all of you who have financially supported me throughout these last three years.  You have been an amazing blessing to me and words can't describe how grateful I am for your support!  Thank you also to those of you who have been my prayer warriors.  I couldn't have made it through my time in Africa without you and your loving prayers.  

Updates

I will still occasionally be sending out updates on what is happening in my life, but they will by no means be sent out on a regular basis.  If you choose not to receive any further updates then please let me know and I will remove you from the list.  

I love you all and wish I could give you bug hugs for all the love and support you have given me!

God bless each of you!

kapande 

prayer need

Dear Loved Ones,

I am writing to you with a sad heart asking for prayer for my family.
My Uncle Thomas died Saturday morning of a heart attack at age 51.
Though not in prime health it is still a shock to all of us. Please
pray for his wife, Lydia, his children and step-children, his brothers
and sisters and his church family and community that have been
affected by this tragic loss of life.

My step-mom was discharged on Wednesday of last week but went back
into the ER on Friday with vomiting. They are hoping to get it sorted
out and get her sent back home again this week. Please be in prayer
for my dad, Dan, as he deals with all of these stressful events in his
life. Thanks in advance for your prayers.

my love to you all,
kimmie

pics & good news (mostly)

Hi Everyone!  

I wasn't great at taking photos while I was traveling around, but here is a sample of he ones I took.  Several people that I got to see aren't included... sorry!  The pictures are in my heart! 

I have a praise report on my step-mom!  Robin was moved to the rehabilitation hospital yesterday!  YAY!  However, she is still having bouts of paranoia, hallucinations and severe confusion.  Please continue to pray for her healing.  She had a rough time with the transfer because she thought she was going home.  Please pray that she will settle into the new hospital and get all the drugs out of her system that are most likely causing these episodes.  Please pray for the staff caring for her to have compassion on her and help her through this time.  My dad is still worn out from trying to spend as much time as possible with her after work and still keep the house in order.  I appreciate your prayers for him too.

love to all,

kimmie

New Mexico Pics

Texas Pics

Oklahoma Pics

back in Atlanta again...

Hi Dear Family and Friends!

How are you? I hope that this spring is finding you doing well and
not suffering from too many allergies!

After many weeks of travel and enjoying everyone's company, I wanted
to let you all know that I have safely made it back into Atlanta
again. I am soooo excited to be able to be back at my home church,
CrossRoads Community Church for Easter celebration! I can't think of
a better way to celebrate the resurrection of my Savior! I was able
to show up Wednesday night at church for the women's Bible study and
surprise everyone. It was great to see the reactions of Ms Rosie and
Margaret when they realized who it was who walked through the door! :-)

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for my step-mom. She is
doing much better finally! YAY! They moved her out of the ICU into a
sub-acute care for surgical patients this week. She is up and walking
several times a day, and they have even started letting her eat some
pureed foods! If she keeps doing well in the next few days they even
hope to take out the tracheostomy tube! Please continue to pray for
her healing.

Thank you also to everyone who was praying for my safe travels. My
friend in Birmingham is sick so we both decided that it was best if I
didn't go and stay with her. Instead, I thought I could make it all
the way from Tulsa, OK to Woodstock, GA on Tuesday... I got too late
of a start and that didn't happen. Oh well... I found a nice Ramada
Inn to stay at and had a lovely night of sleep even though it was
freezing outside. I made it into GA yesterday (Wednesday) and have
been having fun trying to unpack and get settled. The pile in the
middle of the floor is getting smaller so I think that it's
working! :-)

I love you all!
kapande

hello from windy Oklahoma

Greetings dear friends from Oklahoma where the wind comes sweeping down the plain!  

 

And boy is it windy these days!  I have been in different parts of Oklahoma for a week now and have enjoyed the warm glow of friendships that started back in college.  I have enjoyed meeting husbands and babies (and one boyfriend) for the first time.  :-)  It was also nice to drive through and see OBU and Shawnee again, though I was sad that the house I lived in my junior year has been moved and the church parking lot expanded.... further proof that life moves on I guess!  On the other hand, the old deli that was across from the campus has a new face... Hammy Hortons.... and wow!  It was amazing!  I liked it so much that we ate there two days in a row!

my step-mom

Dad has been really good about keeping me informed about what's going on with Robin, which I really appreciate.  They have decided that she is not bleeding now and that they don't really know where the blood that they saw on the CT scan came from though they speculate that it is old blood from the surgery.  They have a hematologist on the team now trying to figure out why she isn't able to keep her blood count up on her own.  I hope they will soon find the reason!  Robin is having more good days than bad at this point.  They were even able to take her off the ventilator!  Wahoo!  Please continue to pray for her and my dad.  

continued travel

Since Robin is doing so well I have decided not to head back to Albuquerque right now.  If things take a turn for the serious again I might rethink that decision, but for now I am going to continue to head back to Atlanta.  Currently I am in Owasso which is just north of Tulsa.  From here I will head to Birmingham for a few nights then head to Atlanta.  I will be back in Atlanta before the end of the week.  Though it has been great to travel it will also be nice to be able to settle into Teresa's apartment.

job hunt

I still don't have any leads for any jobs, though I haven't been able to spend as much time as I probably should on it.  I am wondering if God has a different direction for me than I have thought.  Maybe I am not supposed to be in the hospital setting....  My sister keeps pointing me in the direction of home health care but I am not sure about that either.  Please pray that I will be open to what God has for me.

much love to all,

kapande

p.s. We are having trouble transferring the money from the sale of my car from Africa to America.  Please pray with me that it will get sorted sooner rather than later so that I actually have some money to live off of!  Thanks!

another update

Hi Everybody!

I just wanted to let you know that my step-mom Robin is still doing
very poorly. She's still bleeding internally. They did another test
yesterday and the results came back today. The same artery that was
bleeding the first time that they sewed up. There aren't a lot of
options to stop the bleeding because her condition is still so weak.
Please continue to pray for her as she fights though this terrible
time. My dad is still going to the hospital every day after work and
he's tired of hearing so much bad news.

I got a lovely email from the Children's hospital that I was not
chosen to advance in the application process. Since I don't have a
job to return to Atlanta for there is a chance that I will return to
NM to help support my dad. Please pray for wisdom for me as I am
making this decision (and as I continue to look for a job).

I love you all,
kapande

updates, updates and more updates

Hi Everyone!

I hope this finds you all doing well.  It's hard to believe that I have already been with my family for almost a month!  Spending my days in the ICU waiting room has really made the time fly!  I wanted to give you a few updates since I have been such a slacker lately.  

My step-mom

Robin is still in the ICU.  They finally decided that she wasn't at risk for more bleeding and that the swelling had gone down enough to suture her abdomen yesterday.  They  were hoping to be able to take her off the ventilator today but since they had to increase her sedation for the surgery yesterday they say she isn't ready yet.  She has definitely turned the corner though and Dad was finally able to get a full night of sleep last night (the first time since her first surgery a month ago!).  Overall she is still ill but she is improving.  It will be hard to leave Saturday with her still being in the ICU.  Please continue to pray for her healing and for my dad as he deals with the stress of caring for her.  

Travel plans

As my time here in New Mexico comes to a close, I thought it would be good to remind everyone of where I will be heading to.  Below is my itinerary.  Please contact me or the person I will be staying with to see what the plans are for my time in each place!  There is a chance that I will switch the Tulsa/Shawnee dates, but I still need to discuss that with Heather and Paige.  

3/21- drive to Carlsbad Caverns and enjoy one of God's beautiful creations, stay the night in a TX Motel 6 :-)  (Pecos or Fort Stockton)

3/22- drive to Austin- stay with my Momma

3/29- drive to OKC- stay with Jenny

3/31- drive to drive to Tulsa- stay with Heather

4/3- drive to Shawnee- stay with Paige

4/6- drive to Birmingham- stay with Meredith

4/8- back to Atlanta- settle with Teresa

Financial Support

I'm sorry that I have been focused on other things and have been a total slacker in writing to you about what you should do regarding financial donations.  According to AIM, they will continue to support me for 8 months so that I can get on my feet and get settled.  However, I have asked them to limit that to only 4 months, March-June.  So, if it is possible for those of you that support me financially to continue making payments through June, that would be a huge help to me!  I have already had a few people say that they can't continue the payments, which I totally understand and respect!  However, this puts me in a shortage.  If there are any of you who do not support me financially that would be willing to make a one time gift or a monthly payment for the next 4 months, that would be wonderful.  Remember all donations are tax-deductible.  If you have questions about making donations please email or call me.  Thanks!

A hunting I will go

I have already submitted an application to the Children's hospital that I was working at before I left and have heard back from them.  They are eager to work with me to find me a position.  There are no positions available in the Neonatal ICU, which would be my first desire, but there is one in the Pediatric ICU.  When they called me they said there is only one position and that they might want to go with someone who has had more recent ICU experience.  There are other positions available in the hospital though so it sounds like they will work with me in finding me something!  :-)  

Car hunting

Two Saturdays ago I asked my dad to take me to look at some cars.  I told him I was only interesting in looking.  However, at the anniversary sale at Rich Ford, they made me a deal that I couldn't refuse (and would have been an idiot if I had!)... so, that night I drove home in a barely used 2009 moss green Ford Fusion.  It's a lot bigger than what I am used to driving and I still have problems parking it straight, but I love it.  It's got lots of fancy features that I am still trying to figure out.... I think the car might be smarter than me!  God really blessed me with a great car!

I hope this finds you all healthy and happy. I can't wait to see you guys!

love,

kapande