Subscriber First Name, we have a good excuse, I promise.

We know it’s been a minute since you last heard from us. But for a good reason: it’s called the first trimester. Yep - there is another little Strutner on the way! While we have been thrilled to be expecting, I (Regan) felt like as soon as we found the news in January, I was hit by a train of pure exhaustion and nausea. So the past couple months have been spent in survival mode. As we enter the second trimester, I feel like a new woman with energy and motivation again! 

We’ll keep you posted with our plans for delivery, but for now, we are *so* grateful for a healthy pregnancy and the unfolding of a new life within.

Beyond that big news, here are a few more things to update you on:

Our parents came to Kenya!

We started the year off right with a visit from Jack’s parents in December, and a visit from my parents in February! It was pretty surreal to have them here in person and not just on a FaceTime call. I think both our parents really enjoyed being able to see what our day-to-day lives look like here, and to see up close Jack’s work at the hospital. Although he’s been doing medicine for many years, you never get to just follow him on rounds and see him with patients like you can here. So it was pretty special for them to see exactly what his work at the hospital is like. Both parents also said the hospital and the conditions were more challenging than they had imagined. 

And of course, both parents loved spending time with Micah and Sage and absolutely spoiling them with toys and treats from home! We are so grateful they both took the long trek to come out and can more deeply understand our life here having experienced it firsthand. 

Jack at the Hospital 

Jack is busy as always at the hospital, still focusing on the many premature babies in our newborn unit. As I write this, all the doctors at government hospitals in Kenya are on strike, which means our beds fill with patients coming in very sick, unable to get care elsewhere. 

But taking care of patients is just one piece of all that Jack does here. So much of his time is spent procuring needed medicines, researching, ordering and setting up new equipment, training staff to give better care, and overseeing visiting medical students. He does a lot as the only long-term western-trained medicine and pediatric physician here.

To give you an idea of the many highs and lows we face - one week Jack had a 29-weeker brought in and was able to give them a dose of a medication called surfactant. It’s a vital and common medication given to premature babies with undeveloped lungs in the States. Jack worked hard to get it here at the hospital, and uses it sparingly as it costs $250 per dose. The baby made great progress after receiving it. That same day, another sick baby needed an exchange blood transfusion. Jack did the first ever exchange blood transfusion at the hospital! The baby was making great progress and we were encouraged.

Those were the highs - and then the low hit. About a week later, both babies passed. Despite those amazing treatments, Jack suspects there were other factors at play that we simply don’t have the means to diagnose. These are the times when it feels you take two steps forward and one step back. 

Celebrating the Wins

If you read past our blog on baby Amalia, you know that Jack promised the NBU team that given her terrible outlook, if she survived, he promised the team would have a party to celebrate. Good on his word - we had a party!

Amalia’s mom took a three hour drive (on the back of a motorbike with her infant!) to make it to the party. We had a wonderful time celebrating her and the many babies who have gone home healthy from the NBU. When you see so much death consistently, it’s really important to remember to celebrate the wins. 

Regan’s Projects

If I could summarize what my work looks like - it’s usually 10 different tabs open, and each day I click on one and try to make some progress. Here are some of the things I’ve been working on the past few months:

• Updating the hospital’s website (check it out here!) and integrating a brand new online giving system for the hospital’s non-profit giving

• Working on a printed guide for visitors on how they continue to stay connected with us when they leave

• Coordinating the patient assistance fund for the pediatric ward. For example, when social work finds a patient with no way of paying their bill, I meet them, write their story, take their picture, and send it to a specific donor who supports the hospital to see if they can help or not

• Teaching the preschool once a week and maintaining the curriculum and learning stations for other moms who also teach

Things I’m still working on:

• Two new videos! One will feature Jack and his story and work, and the other is about the facial reconstructive surgery the hospital is doing with patients from South Sudan

• Helping serve our many visitors passing through by creating a better hospitality workflow - with pre-arrival welcome booklets, FAQ booklets in the homes, and thank you gifts when visitors leave (we designed new Kapsowar t-shirts!). The reality is that on top of what we all do here, as a community we are essentially hosting several Airbnb’s with the many guests that come through from the States, which is no small task.

• Needing more space for visitors has become an acute issue, so somehow I ended up with the job of spearheading a renovation project on our hostel here on station. We’re putting in new floors, showers, and knocking down some walls. I’ve been finding local carpenters to make new bunk beds. I don’t know how I became the one who is overseeing and organizing all this as I have zero construction background, haha! Luckily we have a structural engineer who lives here who is guiding me and we’ve become good friends with the local contractor who is organizing the team who will do the work and order supplies. Fingers crossed!

Another win!

The last video (if you haven’t seen it yet, you can watch it here) I sent before Christmas was shown at a church in Ohio, and they were able to raise 4x more than their normal Christmas offering with it! This money will go into our medicine patient assistance fund and is crucial for our many patients who simply cannot afford their hospital bills. Not only is this so helpful for the patients, but also the hospital, as unpaid bills put a large strain on the hospital’s sustainability. We haven’t had a fund active like this for our medicine patients for several years now, so we are excited to get this up and going again. 

Phew, I feel tired just writing all that. Needless to say, we are doing a lot - and there is still so much more I could write about! But we are happy to be doing it and do it with joy (most days at least, ha!). 

I think part of the joy is that we get to choose to be here. And it’s a choice that really matters. I ruminate on some of these thoughts in our latest blog, linked above.

Thank you to so many so you who have also made the choice to be apart of this endeavor by supporting us with prayer and finances. We continue to be amazed by your generosity. One of my future emails will be sharing the many people and projects your giving has helped fund. Stay tuned!

Until next time that is hopefully not 4 months away, 🫣

Regan, Jack, Micah, Sage, and baby coming in September!