And Then We Were Family

After an almost 24 hour trip, we wearily set foot at the Nairobi airport. How wonderful to be greeted by Matt with Zan and Saina. Nia is going to be the production, The King and I and had a rehearsal. Also Chris and Lindy Thompson were there to take us back to the mission house. After our quick goodbyes to Matt and the girls, with promises we would see them soon, we took off for the mission house. The familiar trip down the Kenyan roads, less the holes and neater surroundings showed that the election promises were coming to fruition. As we drove into our compound a wave of familiarity came over me. The nicely manicured driveway, beeping of the horn, and warm welcomes as the gate was open…all said "we’re home"again.
When we were here before, we stayed a little while with another couple to learn the ropes. From then on, we were left alone with our help. This time we were greeted with a family made up of Sarah and Graig Austin from Ann Arbor, Michigan and their two little girls Melia (6) and Kailyn (18 months). They are waiting to adopt two Kenyan babies. The whole process may require up to a year. Then there was Shawna and Richard. Richard works with Chris in the evangelistic outreach and ministry here. Shawna, his fiancee was teaching at N.Nairobi School. She is looking forward to leaving a week from today to go home to prepare for a June 20th wedding in Arizona. Of course Chris and Lindy were here. They are the ones we are replacing. Next there is Pepper, the cat, and Shaggy the dog. Yes, she is named that for a reason. Some missionaries had to leave her here when they went home. One night she slipped from grace and as a result produced 8 healthy little pups. Their 3 week old whelps are a reminder that they want to be included in the census. Communal life has really been fun. We are pretty much on our own for breakfast and lunch but in the evening we take turns. It will not be like this for long. Chris and Lindy left last night, Shawna leaves in a week, and our little family will be leaving June 6 to house sit for another couple. For the remainder of the time it will be just Richard, Coulson and I. Meanwhile, we are one big happy family.
Our time here so far has been pretty much back into the routine of our last time here excepting I do not go into the slums to evangelize. We decided it would be best if I just do my duties here at the home. Coulson has Rich to go along with him and I don’t have to go out in the heat for several hours each time. So they went to the one slum one day and another day they went to work with the street boys in another. I will probably tell you about that later. We enjoyed going to a Sunday service in Kibera because Chris was asked to preach.
We are getting ready to ride over to see Matt and Bridget and the girls. We are going for supper and then spend the night so we don’t have to drive at night. We will go over again on Sunday for Zan and Saina’s birthday party’s. We looked so forward to spending time with them. It has taken me 2 hours to write this much because I am trying to learn Coulson’s new computer so I will quit for now. Please tell your friends our blog address so they can be getting the news. Kwaheri for now.