African King and Queen

Gone are the days when we would blog and blog, and share so much about our growth, travels, adventures,  and our journey through life. But, these days we have soooooooooooooooooo much going on. What a bad excuse! Duh! Work, Kids, and dealing with the pandemic.

Inspite of everything going on, we honestly have a lot to be grateful for, although it has been very challenging for us a  new ( maybe not so new ) parents. Honestly, these toddlers are kicking our butt! They've kicked it, and continue to kick it. Each time we talk to friends who we assume have experience at parenting, "oh it gets better", seriously? When? How long?

From the moment we wake up in the morning, till we take the last dive onto our beds, it's non-stop. By 9pm, we are depleted of oxygen and vigor, but we keep going.  Amidst this lethargy, they spare us no mercy, and still find a way to sneak into our beds at night. Their cute pleas, and made up nightmares all enhance their bargain into our bedroom at night. This happens at least four times a week. In their adult life, we will pay them back. Oh yeah we will.

Time does fly. Not too long ago, we would make our vowels and plan on having children. We were so certain it would happen within a twinkle of an eye, but as nature would have it, it took a while, but the twins finally arrived at God's time. We've scrambled with our new titles as twin parents. A job we could not refuse, and gladly accept with open arms.  We just like to wine about it. Yup! It's therapeutic.

We had no in-service, no orientation.  Its one of those selflessjobs that everyone says "its so rewarding" , but we struggled at.  Fast forward 4 years,  we are gradually ironing out the creases, as we see them meet their milestones, and cause havoc on our walls, spill water on the carpets, intentionally micturate on themselves so they could have a long dragging laugh. And there's more, but we'll save our sanity and focus on enjoying them, as we await the rewards.

It certainly rewarding (yawing already). By Fall 2021, we would incur no more daycare costs (we hope). These kids are not cheap, and their demands are least to say autocratic and totalitarian. They seem to get along very well. Each with their own traits of some blend of our personalities and theirs. Their fascination with technology, they were born swiping, their desire to make fun of our accents, and intentionally make "a big deal out of seeing bugs", all enriches our gradual experience as new parents.

By now, at age four, we have build some mental, emotionally and physical calluses as new parents. We jokingly ask each other when we will have more, and the answer is, you guessed it, NO. At least for now, because we cant rule out miracles and the second coming of Christ, so we will leave everything to the universe.

We will be bloggin more.  We have sooooo much to share. We miss this. We still kept up with our Instagram page though. Next post will have photos, promise, promose.


Love and Peace
Lilian, Dennis, and the Twins

When Cash Rules in a Small Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya 🇰🇪This guy got hit by car today while he was waking to the bank to deposit money given to him by a co-worker. Left barely conscious, his friend had to drive him to the ER since the driver fled the scene. As he waited to be called, he had a seizure, and was rushed in, and was later stabilized. Physical exam showed head trauma ++ skull fractures and altered mentation. His frontal lobe hematoma was very paramount, with pulsation and complete absence of presence of frontal bone.  His case takes on an interesting but sad stance, it turns out that since he didn’t make it to the bank, the person who brought him to the ER was able to retrieve the money from his pocket; this was enough money to rent an ambulance to transfer him to a facility for imaging/trauma care. Not sure if he makes it.

This is just one single case of many within the short time of being here, characterizing this as sad experience will be an understatement, but if I categorize this as inhumane, I’m not sure if I stand to be politically correct/incorrect. Also, I’m not sure if this happens in the states, but as a human race, when do have make the health of others and ourselves an ultimate priority, and when does the lives of the poor become priority? From this experience, it is quite obvious that not "all" of the worlds problems can be solved in a day, but most of the worlds problems should come light in order for others to lend a helping hand. I still have a few more days here, but I’m already planning my next move, and I have so many questions and recommendations. 



What happens when we leave ? If these are the ones who make it to the hospital, how about the ones in remote areas who do not have access to healthcare and transportation? More work has to be done from the upper and lower echelons on this beautiful country to alleviate the stresses impinged on its lower class population when it comes to their health. I have so many recommendations, but this post will not be ideal, as I'm still deciphering what happened to this patient i saw earlier today. 

Moments from Kent Medical Mission...
Love Always. 

If you follow my personal account (theafrikanking) on instagram, you'd see all my early mornings and late evenings runs. My journey routinely began as I want to be a positive role model for my brothers, peers and anyone who looks up to me. Also, as a healthcare provider, it is part of health promotion, therefore, I embraced and embarked on this ordeal since the winter of 2017 to present. I forgot to add that running is also stress relieving personally.

I'd admit that I haven't been consistent as I would like, but this running journey has been filled of great personal lessons of knowing what my body is capable of, and I'm amazed at the power of grit and positive mindset in accomplishing goals.

Each run is challenging in a special way, and every mile I earn teaches me to push harder and solidifies the fact that every purposeful goal comes with hard work and dedication; and that nothing comes easy. Sometimes waking up in the morning for a run after going to bed late takes a lot of give, positive self-talk and discipline. There're times when I lazily turn over and over in bed and do not go for a run, and other times I imagine how cold it could outside. But as time would go on, my level of discipline has positively inclined due to a couple of reasons. Before I get into that, allow me to tell you the most important advise I would give to anyone who plan to run the Brooklyn Half Marathon, as I had the opportunity to run with New York Road Runners (NYRR) Team for Kids.

Preparation is Key
Be prepared mentally and physically.
I prepared mentally and physically, but I must admit, I was more prepared physically upbeat than mentally, let me tell you why. I had run 2 half marathons prior to the Popular Brooklyn Half Marathon and I felt pretty good going into this race; I anticipated to run under 2 hours as I familiarized myself with the course map a couple of times, and I remember saying to myself "I got this". I say this with every challenge I go through, I guess to pump me up!

I did underestimated the impact of the the 40 degree rainy and moderately chilly weather. I arrived from New Jersey to Brooklyn, NY onetime to check in before 6am as the race was scheduled for 7am. It was cold and gingerly sprinkling rain with less threatening winds, and I was so underdressed. I didn't even have no poncho like most runners, and I depended on nearby trees to umbrella the rain from me.  What was I thinking? Other runner had garbage bags to cover themselves, and I said "how come I didn't think of that?". To make matters worse, I didn't run in a group and talked to a few people and this made to me to keep looking at my watch as the time gingerly moved.

This part wore me out mentally to the point where I was so eager to start, as I thought that would ease the weather in some miraculous way. Wrong! In spite of all of this, I was so pumped up when the race started, and  I wanted to get my well anticipated highly oxygenated blood flowing. I started well, and enjoyed the cheering of the crowds, and soon the rain became a norm.

At 5 miles, I had to take of my adidas sweater and throw it away. I miss it already. I can't believe I did that. I really liked that sweater, but doing this lightened my load, and I ran more enthusiastically, and a better pace.

As time would go on, I had allowed the surprising weather and the long wait time to get to me, so I didn't enjoy the middle of the race as much. Every now and then, I would have a non-pleasing thought about that, and I fought to stay positive as I ran.

Towards the last 4 miles, my mind was at the right place, each step was more purposeful, more like me, striding along, cheering with the crowd intermittently; but, I began to cramp in my right thigh, and sought to gatorade at each mile, and this was very helpful.

Giving up is not in my vocal, so I was there to meet my goal, I didn't quit or stop to walk. Pushed, and ran with each heartbeat, I inhaled and exhaled, and focused on crossing the finish line. I didn't doubt myself so I finished the race at 2 hours and 6 minutes.

With all this said, be prepared for whatever nature throws at you if you plan to run the Popular Brooklyn Half Marathon, and ultimately, enjoy the race. Enjoy your ability to challenge yourself in a race where others have not dared to try, enjoy your strength to meet your goal, and the passion to do something healthy for yourself. And if you run for charity, thats a positive attribute for you enjoy the race be it rain or shine.

I'll do it again next year, and next time, I will run to enjoy the moments of the race, and I plan to me more mentally prepared.

We are so thankful to God for another blessed year. The support of our families, friends and loved ones has fueled our resilience. Everyday we learn something new. Each day our babies have grown and are filling into their presence into this lifetime. It has been quite a journey, and watching them meet their milestones is so heartwarming. We cherish every single thing they do, for we know how tough this journey has been as new parents, and also premies. The joys, the stress, the anxieties, the novice mentality of not knowing what to expect have all solidified  our so called parenting skills.