in summary...

"How was Africa?" seems to be the question of the day. I have spent some trying to come up with a concise response and have yet to find one. It is a bit of a vague question and sometimes hard to determine how much of an answer the asker would like. Kind of like when someone asks you "how's life?" or "how are you doing?" there is often a three second version and then there is a "let's get dinner" version. I will try to boil it down... one thing I loved, one thing I learned and one thing that was hard.

One thing I loved... Never feeling rushed. People frequently run late and it can prove to be inconvenient at times... but for the most part, I found it to be an endearing aspect of life in Africa. People, conversations, relationships always take precedence over consideration for time. With two curious toddlers it was nice to be able to dawdle through the day visiting with people as we ran into them.

One thing I learned... I know very little about faith, trust and hope.

One thing that was hard... Going into this experience I had higher expectations of myself. Grandiose visions of being very involved in the "community" and serving with the Max and Maggie on daily basis (children's hospital, orphanage, etc) I was quickly humbled! The dishes, laundry and kids were constantly dirty and I was always in the middle of cooking or washing something. Once I was able to shift my perspective a bit and recognize the "community" sitting at my feet I stopped stressing and started really enjoying myself and my time at home with the kids.

The three second version... It was a great adventure and further confirmed our desire to do what God asks of us in the future.

quilting update...

the hospital

This blog might have been a little bit more interesting had it been from Ben's perspective. But as you might have guessed... Ben isn't exactly the blogging type. Kijabe Hospital is a 240 bed facility serving the population of central Kenya with a population catchment area to include the closest parts of Somalia. Services include a large inpatient and outpatient medical service, coordinated HIV care, OB-Gyn, orthopedic, general surgery, and pediatric surgery services, as well as a dental clinic. Ben spent most of his time working in the inpatient medical ward and emergency room.

head above water

Back home and finally getting my head above water... I am amazed with how oblivious the kids have been to the craziness that has been their lives for the past seven days. I am starting to wonder if I should relax and start taking notes from them.

home again, home again

Home again, home again jiggity jig... we had a completely uneventful travel experience. I couldn't have asked for anything more! We left Nairobi at 11 p.m. - both of the kids slept the entire first flight, played "nicely" at Heathrow airport, watched movies on the second flight and didn't melt down until we were well out of earshot, safe and secure in our own car driving home from Phily. We came home to a nice meal that a friend had dropped off for us... fed and bathed the kids and fell asleep. We are slowly putting the house back together and trying to catch up with life...

back at mayfield

We made it back to Mayfield and got the kids tucked in for our last night in Africa. Again I find myself sitting in the den long after everyone has fallen asleep... enjoying the quite but wondering when sleep will hit me. We have a long day tomorrow (Ben's birthday) and another long day after that... would welcome any prayers you wanted to shoot our way!

line dry

I spent a good portion of our last day washing and drying our clothes... an activity I despise back home, but on our last day in Kijabe it was a perfect end to a memorable month. Standing outside our building with a clear view of Mount Longonot, hanging our clothes on the line and visiting with a very pregnant African friend... we talked about her overdue baby and the joys and frustrations of motherhood. Max and Maggie were happily entertained feeding veggie scraps to the neighboring goat and for a moment all was well with the world. As I hung the last pair of Max's little superhero underpants on the line I was reminded of how quickly these moments pass... and how easy it is for me to wish away these simple sweet blessings.

walks

Amazing trail heads right at our doorstep... beautiful views and sunsets!

fire

One of Ben's favorite parts of Kijabe... fires every evening.

adoption

Givan is a remarkable man that we met here in Kijabe. He is a guard at Rift Valley Academy and also runs a chicken farm in the valley. His wife Jacquline makes and sells traditional Maasai jewelry. The above photo was taken about 7 months ago shortly after their daughter Lydia was born. While Jacquline was pregnant with Lydia they heard about a young Massai women in their village that was about to terminate her pregnancy. They offered to adopt the baby if the young woman would carry to term. They now have two sweet kids Lydia - 7 months and Adam - 4 months (named after the mission kids that live across the hall) and are working to raise the remaining half of the money needed to finalize the adoption. Unfortunately, adoption proves to be about as inaccessible and expensive as it is in the states...

dinner

We had a great dinner last night with some new friends. Helen works in our building - helps with laundry and cleaning twice a week for the short term mission families. It has been a joy having her in our home. She is an extremely hard worker and has been so kind to our kids... she was particularly helpful yesterday when Maggie took her dirty diaper off at nap time and played with it in her bed - YUCK! Her husband Edward is a Swahili teacher and a wonderful conversationalist. He gave us a complete history of Kenya and even got us a little bit caught up on what is going on back in the states. We had a great time getting to know them. Max and Maggie fell in love with their two boys. Max particularly enjoyed having some older boys to roughhouse with.

little lambs

On Thursday I left Max and Maggie with with Ben and went up the hill to help out at a day camp for orphans. Little lambs supports 50 - 60 kids who have lost one or both of their parents, providing them with one to two meals per day, supplementing their school fees, clothing them and covering the bill when a medical need arises. African Inland Mission prefers the idea of day camps (rather than orphanages) so that kids can stay with their extended family in their villages. Possibly the sweetest memory I will be taking back home with me... precious hopeful kids, healthy program, refreshing look at what can be done with a little prayer and compassion. Well done...

thursday evening dessert

The first week we got here we had a hot fudge sunday party to get to know some of the people in our building. Thursday evening dessert turned into a wonderful weekly ritual and a great opportunity to hang out with friends.