Peeps for the peeps

I'm sitting here, listening to the sound of a chorus of crickets again. I'm home indeed. Earlier tonight, as I walked home from reading to the kids (and answering gazillion questions), the croaking of the frogs was like a loud song of praise to their Creator. It made me smile. As did the kids' giggles when I placed a Peep next to their plates at dinner tonight...

"Here's some chicken to eat with your ugali," I joked.

"What is that, Adele?"

"It's a little chicken."

Giggle.

"It's yellow. That one is pink. Can I eat it?"

"Finish your food first..."

"Adele, look at Obed's chicken. It doesn't have a head." (Of course Obed had already bitten off the head of his little peep.)

Later, as they were still licking their fingers to get the last bit of sugar off, the kids swarmed me for thank-you hugs.

"Thank you for thinking of us, Adele," Hillary said in his accent that's becoming more American by the day.

It struck me again how thankful the kids are for something as small as a single peep. It's new. It's sweet. It's fun. And it shows that I thought of each one of them.

I spent most of my day visiting with my Kenyan colleagues (and drank lots of chai, of course.)

Tomorrow, a team leaves for Sudan. I wish I could go with them but wouldn't want to leave so soon again, so I'm thrilled to have time to start working on the tasks on my rapidly-growing to-do list.

It's good to be back.

Oh, before I forget--I made a quick trip into town to take someone to the doctor and pick up a package at the post office. I've written about Posta Kenya before, and today I was surprised to be asked to step into the office and take a seat. Next, I was led down the hall to a bare office marked with CUSTOMS painted on the door and a man in a suit and tie sitting behind a desk. Somehow, it felt a little like a scene from a strange movie. The post office clerk walked up with my package and promptly opened it for me! I had to unpack everything while the expressionless man with his dark tie inspected item after item. (It was a package sent by friend for my birthday and it had arrived while I was gone.) There was a beautiful Willow Creek statue of two girls praying, a coffee mug and some packages of Crystal Light. Fortunately, the stern clerk decided the gifts were worthless and I didn't have to pay taxes in order for the box to be released to me. (I, on the other hand, know it's far from worthless and am thoroughly blessed by the care package.)

Packages I've received this far have always been just envelopes or at most a flat box. (Oh, the guy would've had a blast charging me when my friend Nina sent me 20 DVDs for the kids! Fortunately, it was a flat box, so he didn't get to see what I got.) I can just imagine what absolute shock it would be if USPS decided to start inspecting all packages!

It's late. Time to go crawl in. Morning comes quickly.