I’ve been to the region twice, now. And thanks to a couple of mission trips, I’ve got many Kosovar friends. Maybe the one I know best is Festim Gashi. God provided, and I was able to fulfil a dream a couple of years ago – I visited Festim’s home town and met his family. SEE PHOTOS.
Biola’s on-line newspaper published and interview with Festim in which he gave his perspective on the news of Kosovo’s declaration of indenpendence. SEE ARTICLE.
Here’s the comment I left on the site -
from three days helping Kristyn, who is recovering. She’s got three rascals who want to jump on her… ha! Carolyn passed the baton to Ben’s mom, Bette Duncan. Carolyn returned home with these photos… enjoy.
THE LATEST SHOTS OF KATE AND ALL
We’ve got two new grand-daughters; Kate Duncan and Amelia Ostrander. You’ve gotta love SKYPE. With webcam attached on both ends, we can visit with and see our kids on the other end of the country. Candy and Jamie live in Florida… take a look at Amelia and Noah.
It took awhile for Kris and Ben to accept the plain fact that Kate was in the breach position, and wasn’t about to re-arrange her settled in state. Last minute efforts to manipulate a rotation proved to be just too risky.
So the good news is that Kate’s delivery was scheduled. It trimmed away what otherwise would have been hours of hard labor. I was there at just before seven on Friday morning when the doctor dropped by. Kris was freshly prepped for her surgery. Ben stood by. I think the doc knew he was going to be working with someone very special. He looked across the bed at the woman’s dad and her husband, and I think he thought about what he’d be dealing with if he messed up. But his self-assurance and friendly manner made us all feel confident. The doc smiled and after some brief pre-op banter, he left. I’ll never forget those quiet moments there with Ben and Kris.
Thanks to the prayers of many and the tireless research and good counsel, Kris had a peace that only God can give. It’s hard to put into words the pride of this father in his daughter – the amazing person she’s become.
A “c-section” is in the “major surgery” category. So while Kris lay post-op on the hospital bed, she worked to smile and seem in a celebratory mood, she clearly showed the signs of the high impact passage she just crossed through moments before. (The photos capture it – see the last post – smiles through the discomfort.) The drugs and the trauma to her body took their toll. In spite of all that, as you will see, Kristyn was, from the first moments, an incredibly beautiful mom.
I heard her say under her breath, “Oh… if I could only escape this body…”
But after a long, well earned nap, the heaviness of the medications wore off, and her marathon runs kicked in. She bounced back. The laughter and hugs and tears all flowed easily as all of us welcomed Kate.
Ben’s folks were planning to come up from Escondido on the weekend, but couldn’t stay away. They made the trip, and joined right in.
Some of those moments are captured in digital images I hope you will enjoy as we do…
LATER THE FIRST DAY – SLIDE SHOW
This morning, the day after Valentine’s Day, Kate Elisabeth Duncan was born… about 7:45AM at San Antonio Community Hospital… she’s 7 pounds 14 ounces, 20 1/2 inches long. The delivery went very well. You may know that Kate’s breach position didn’t change… so the scheduled “C-Section” went as planned. Kristyn’s recovery time will be extended some; but everyone is pleased with the results. Thank you, from all of us, for your prayers.
Here are the first photos… enjoy!
Here are some great shots from Sonya… Kevin, Emerson and Grandpa.
Check out the slide show… which includes photos from my birthday celebration at the Duncans last month.
On Saturday afternoon, Kenny and I spent five unforgettable hours at the Observatory. Kenny took it all in. He made me a drawing of a rocketship for my birthday – complete with American flag, engines burning at full throttle, on to the planets – Jupiter, Saturn and Mars, along with a collection of asteroids, all in full color crayon.
At the observatory, we took in the spectacular Planetarium show. We watched the Pendulum swing back and forth, inching in a full circle to match the rotation of the Earth. We saw telescopes and models of the planets and the Moon. There were moving replicas of the Solar System and vistas of the city and snow-capped mountains on a crystal clear day.
Click on the photo for a slide show – photos taken with my pocket PDA phone. You can read my musings in a LeaderFOCUS called, of all things, Heliocentrism.
LeaderFOCUS Weekly KEK Unplugged Global Freedom
Together, Festim and I walked the streets of Prishtina and then his hometown village where he grew up with this brothers and sisters a couple of years back. Festim’s father is a teacher in the local school a few kilometers from Prishtina – and wears a cap that reads “Biola Dad.”
We anticipated this day; knowing that the momentum towards independence was irreversible. We’ve had long talks about the history, long before the terrible war of 1999. Festim’s adult journey began as a high school kid in a refugee camp across the border in Tirana (Albania), where he and his family were displaced by a violent invasion of their village. He met some amazing folks there who introduced him to a God who would give him the vision of a college education in political science and that someday he would have an impact on the shaping of a new nation. Festim is a born leader.
The story of his arrival on the La Mirada campus of Biola University in California, USA would be a best selling novel, if it were fiction. But fiction it is not.
May God continue to bless your hopes and dreams and hard work, Festim, as you finish up the course at B.U., and move on to prepare for a strategic role in an emerging nation.
Your friend, Ken K