Flight to First Full Day

Hello to all of you half way around the world.
Before I get started, I want to say,
A big, huge, THANK YOU
for all the prayers that you guys offered on our family's behalf.

Our trip was smooth.
The biggest thing that went wrong was that one of our totes I had packed 6lb over the 50lb limit.
(It was the only one that I had weighed on the carpet-it had weighed in at 26lb and I kept cramming things in, sitting one the lid to close it;) whatever.

So anyway, that was the biggest problem, which was pretty small considering that I was able to get it lightened and re-tiestrapped while Brent checked us all into the airlines.

While we were at our gate in DC, we met a Hutterite man, Hans and his daughter, Patricia who were traveling home to Switzerland. They were the first ppl we saw when we got to our gate and we spent the next couple hours enjoying conversation with them. Felt like an unexpected gift from God and we were very encouraged. 

Our flight to Zurich was 8 hrs and we landed 7:00am. We lost 6 hrs in that flight. The children all slept well except Natalie, who had started fighting a bug(slight temp and cranky) that day. Thanks to Tylonel, she was not cranky, just restless. Brent and I slept like you do in economy, crammed and fidgety.

When we left Zurich, we flew over the Alps.  We thought we had seen them on our way into Zurich, and we had...at a distance and on the horizon.  This time we flew right over them, for 20 or 30 minutes.  I had NO idea.  It.was.incredibly.beautifully.breathtaking. I was totally awed, sitting there with tears on my cheeks, thinking about how fast we had flown and how far we had travelled and how that was only a small portion of the vastness of the earth, and how on there somewhere, i am?  And yet, He knows me...intimately...I will never forget it..

And then there was the Adriatic Sea, blue-green and gorgeous, the Mediterranean.

Desert sands of Egypt and Sudan, barren and seemingly endless.

 And there was the Nile, snaking through. I was seeing the Nile River! (I have learned in recent years to love geography and thank God had remembered to take my wonderful classroom atlas along.  Without that, it would have been nothing more than mountains and seas and rivers and deserts.)

As we approached Khartoum, the capitol of Sudan, I wondered whether the desert would even end.
It did and gave way to blocks of farmland, varied greens and browns, and canals, straight and shimmering in the sunshine and other gorgeous symmetrical patterns.

I know I was going a little crazy with it all, taking it all in and scarcely able to believe I was headed to Kenya! Some interesting, very obvious pattern changes in the flight to evade South Sudan. From the air Ethiopia was a region of barren, lonely, rugged mountain ranges, stretching on and on.
And then came Kenya....and at that point I gave up my window seat and in the middle of the plane beside Natalie, who had literally slept 6 hours of the 7+ hour flight.

We began our descent from 37,000 ft as the sun disappeared and the sky grew darker.  

The amazing thing was that it felt like it should be evening, even though in reality our bodies thought it was 11am.
We landed and stepped onto the pavement of Nairobi International and Tara said, "guys, we're in Africa'.  And Brent and I looked at each other with amazement.  The children were much less impressed. Of course, we've been planning this...Brent and I were a little disappointed because to us, this was really amazing.  And then we remembered that we lived a few more years than they, and we had even more thoughts of the rare possibility of this very moment ever happening! And we extended grace;)

Our friends had told us that the best thing we could do when we landed in Nairobi was to walk with confidence. UHHH??  I was sure that would be impossible. I mean how is it possible when you yourselves have never been more out of the country than Canada? But guess what? God was there!
I shouldn't be surprised by now, should I? Will I never learn?

We had to go through a health screening, which was a camera that checked for fever. And then get our visas, and pick up our many totes.  It all went so well. And I totally believe we walked with confidence. It was quite a train. Brent in the lead, pushing a cart loaded with totes, Tara and Cody following, each with a loaded cart. Alison, Amber and Natalie were all pulling carry ons and I brought up the tail with the last loaded cart.  We marched with confidence right out of the airport.

And then there were Hello's and hugs and yeah, tears:)

As we left the airport and hit the highway, I realized that believing that we were safe when we had landed in the jet, was a misconception. We've all heard about New Jersey drivers, right? Well, I never! Ever! saw anything like this...EEKS! So continue to keep us in your prayers:)

Remember, right side drivers, ok?
So I'm sitting behind Brent who is beside Marlin. So, Brent is in the 'normal driver's' seat.  When we turned off the highway onto a small, bumpy(obviously, in hind site, that is relatively speaking) road, my first thought was "I didn't even hear Marlin tell Brent to turn here, How did Brent know?"  Oh! Marlin is driving. And different times the next day as we drove the 6 hrs back to Kisumu, I would be like, that truck is in our lane! Only to realize as we swerved back into our lane, that I was mixed up-again! WE were the ones in the passing lane:)

We slept at a guest house in Nairobi.

We were all asleep in short order. All except Natalie. She struggled to fall asleep and then at 1:00 she woke and came over to me and asked me when it was going to get light out? ugh. After a dose of Benadryl kicked in, we slept soundly.

We drove from Nairobi to Kisumu after  breakfast/coffee at an American Java House. 

On the way home, we got a good picture of Kenya. Piki-pikis (motor bikes) carrying more than their share. Matatus (public transport vans) swerving in and out of the traffic. Tuk-tuks (glorified tricycle) carrying a passenger or two and a load of who knows what. And lots and lots of police checks. We passed roadside markets and people just napping by the road. Everywhere people wanted to sell their merchandise to the mazunga (rich white people)  

And here they scored a sale of rhubarb for pies:)

As we neared what is affectionately called "carrot corner", Darla urged me to close my window. We pulled up to the market and almost instantly 4 or 5 arms were thrust into Brent's lap. In the hands were bags of fresh carrots. Four or maybe Five natives were standing there wanting us to buy THEIR carrots.  We bought a couple bags after some bartering and much amazed laughter in the rear of the vehicle. As we pulled out Marlin's family informed us that this is one thing they usually do with visitors as part of initiation to Kenya:) Sadly, I was not in a position that I could take a picture...It was priceless...

We got to the compound in Kisumu around 4 on Saturday afternoon and that's where I have been ever since. It feels like America in here with many of the comforts of home. Sunday, everyone but Darla and I and both of our youngest went to church. They had to drive for 1 1/2hrs. I'm getting their reports on the ride now as I write.
Cody-"not boring at all, it was awesome, I touched a cow out the window"
Tara-"full body massage, potholes were 10-12" deep"
Alison-"very bumpy, quickly gave you a headache"
Amber-"I loved it! I banged my head a couple times" :)

The children came back and wondered what Darla and I did all morning. :) Of course, the husbands thought they knew, and they were partially right....they thought we had caught up.  We had BEGUN  to catch up:) It's so good to be together again....

Ways to Pray:
-thank God for healing of my tooth(lack of) It didn't throb one time on the plane!
-that we could be a blessing to those around us.
-that Brent could have relief from his allergies that flared up first day.
-safety physically, spiritually and emotionally

Thanks so much. We feel indebted for all your prayers.
God bless...