"Totally cool"

I've enjoyed lots and lots of laughter in the past two days. I really do love God's sense of humor. And does he ever have a sense of humor!

Yesterday, Karen and I were to drive from Nairobi. I also offered a ride to a young APU student who happened to be in Eldoret and was heading to Nairobi, so we started the day in ELI's Isuzu Trooper, driving through little rivers - or so it seemed - to town. We had had lots and lots of rain the night before, and everything was flooded! (I kept waking up in the night wondering if the kids down the road are warm enough!) Anyway, in town we got matatu (taxi minibus) tickets to Nakuru, where my car would be waiting for us. The three-hour drive over potholed roads in a van with very little seat padding was bearable, knowing my Land Rover's waiting in Nakuru...

After waiting for the mechanic to bring the car to a hotel where the shuttle dropped us off, the guy called to say he has bad news . . . as he was driving to meet us, he heard a funny noise in the gearbox!! He said he'd like to take another look at it. Though my immediate thought was "Crisis! No!", I remained unusually calm and decided I'll simply let the mechanic solve the problem. Which he did. He offered a few solutions, none of which would've worked since I had two guests with me and one on her way, so he finally offered us his Land Rover pickup for the journey.

However, his dad was out on "field service" with this car, so he called his dad, who was near Nairobi at the time to say turn back. He gave us their dinky Suzuki (no shocks, small) which they call "The Donkey" and we drove it for the next 90 minutes on the worst stretch of the road with more potholes and detours. But Karen, Ryan and I laughed so much, we hardly realized how long the bumpy ride was! Karen tried several times to take photos out the window of the flamingos on the lakes, but we'd bounce around so much, her pictures were usually of the car roof or the door! Fortunately, when we passed a herd of zebra on the road, there were no trucks behind us, so we could pull over so she could take a decent picture.

Finally, our paths crossed with Baba Riaz, about half way between Nakuru and Nairobi. We switched cars, getting into our fourth vehicle for the day, and laughed even more for the rest of the journey! Riaz is Indian and probably in his mid 30s, and his car is TOTALLY SOUPED UP. It's really not the car in which you'd expect two sort-of-middle-aged white women to be sitting in the front seats. People would gawk at the car, and then to a double-take when they notice it's not a young guy behind the wheel! The only music in the 12-CD changer is Hindi pop music and Hindi love songs, and with a sound system that could broadcast music to all the neighbors, we had quite a cross-cultural experience.

As I drove Karen and Laura around Nairobi today, we continued to have the same reaction from people around us. Young boys would stare. Men would stare. Security guards would hang around close to the vehicle in the parking lots, not to guard it, but to appreciate the sight, I believe. One such guy gave us a huge smile and a thumbs up, saying, "Poa kabisa!" (Totally cool!)

It's been really funny to me to drive into Mayfield, the missionary guest house where we're staying... There are many Land Rovers around, but none look like that one! One missionary looked at me today and said in a monotone voice, "Wow. Is that your car?" I love joking around and saying, "Yeah! Do you like it?"

Anyway, the car will remain here for the next two days as I accompany Laura on a breakaway to celebrate her big 4-0. I am looking forward to the time of R&R. On Sunday, we'll come back here, get the Bling Mobile, and drive back to Nakuru. Please join us in praying that my car will be ready then and we can take it the rest of the way to Eldoret!

Before I head to bed: For those of you who are following The Adventures of Flannel, she's doing OK. My colleague Kierra is babysitting for me, and is enjoying the time in my studio cottage in Kipkaren with the purr ball. And Flannel's loving Kierra. But aparantly, she really is missing me. God's truly blessed me through this little ball of love.

Tuesday night in Kipkaren

The retreat in Rondo was incredible! I had considered doing all kinds of activities but went back to the question, "Why am I taking the management team on a retreat?" It was for us to get to know one another. And so we ended up just having fun. We arrived before lunch on Sunday. I told everyone that they could choose if they'd like to go on an afternoon hike after lunch. Two of the guys decided to stay behind and rest, but the other two gave them a hard time about it, so we all ended up hiking for about almost three hours. We saw lots of monkeys (black and white colobus monkeys, blue monkeys, and red tail monkeys), tons of butterflies, even a donkey. (OK, the donkey was on its way home through the forest. But it was the biggest animal we saw.) Oh, and lots of ants, too. Cocktail ants (small ants that are poisonous) and safari ants (bigger ones that are very aggressive). We had a guide that told us about the different plants, which ones have medicinal value, how the olive baboons use some trees to communicate by using it as a drum, how certain fungi can help improve your memory... We really had a great time of laughing and relaxing despite the tough hike. Stopped about halfway. I had packed some cold soda for everyone, so we took a break and were refreshed.

Once we were back at the retreat center, we sat in the garden and prayed for one another, for the staff, and for ELI. It was a really neat time of ministry. After a really nice dinner, we headed back to our home for Jenga and Uno. I had printed a pack of questions, so everytime someone tossed a bean bag at you, you first had to draw a question, answer it, then jenga (build). (You could also choose to answer a question someone had drawn earlier.) If you let the tower fall, you had to answer a "Truth or Dare" question. We had a ton of fun! After that, we played Uno till the time that the solar power was turned off, and everyone headed to their rooms. I went to walk in the garden for a bit, just to appreciate the stars so deep in the forest. It's really breathtakingly beautiful!

I was the first one up and out of the door on Monday. The Kenyans really appreciated the opportunity to sleep in! I watched the sun rise, spent time doing my devotions in the garden, (hence the picture above) and once the gate into the forest was unlocked, I went to sit in the forest for a while, watching easily 100 red tail monkeys forage for food in the branches high above my head. One came down very close to me to come and pick up seeds from the ground... (They bury these seeds in one spot and let them rot a bit before eating them!)

After breakfast, everyone took time for devotions, where after we had a time of sharing. Many said how thankful they were to be able to get to know each other on a different level than they had ever known one another. Everyone wants to go back soon! (That won't be possible. It's very pricey!) I'd be happy to take them for day trips. Just can't sleep over as a group... :)

Had lunch in town, and then we all headed back to Kipkaren.

It was cool to run into some of the team on our grounds today, being able to relate on a level we've not related before. It was a good, good thing to go away with the team!

Tomorrow afternoon, I'll be heading back to Ilula.

Click here to see more photos of the time in the forest.

What a fun evening!

I had guests tonight. Many. As in, at the height of the evening, I had 12 people in my living room. That's a lot of people for my small space, but it was great. The dinner group was smaller (just 6), and then 6 more came for chai, dessert and games.

When I invited all the orphanage parents for games at my place, they were puzzled. "What do you mean, games?"

"We're going to play football (i.e. soccer) in my house," I'd joke. "OK, not really. But come if you'd like. Even if you just choose to have chai. But I guarantee you'll laugh."

They trickled in hesitantly, asking about the game the Davises, Nicole and I were playing (Sequence), yet not really interested in finding out what we wazungu were doing. But after the tea mugs and dessert plates were out of the way and we started playing Jenga, it was a whole different story.

Dorcas kept trying to convince everyone to keep the foundation strong. "Barak! Barak!" she'd keep urging anyone reaching for a tile. (That means, "at the top." Which made me think of Barak Obama. His dad is Kenyan. He may have named his son with the hope that he'll be "at the top" one day.)

Pastor Jonah would cover his face every time it seemed like the tower became unstable. At times, he actually got up and turned his back to the game, too scared to see it all come down. Pastor Philip would take out a piece and get it almost all the way out, then carefully push the whole thing back. Nelson hardly said a word. He kept strategizing, until finally he said, "Imagine! We parents always just watch the children play games. I would have never thought that we can have so much fun playing games and laughing this much!"

Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and before everyone left, they started asking about the game we were playing when they came in. "How does that one work?" David wanted to know. "We should have more nights like this."

Yeah God. These guys have a really challenging task, raising 24+ kids as young couples. As we closed the night with prayer, I thanked God that He's a God who created laughter, too, and that he delights in us.

What a joy to be able to serve my friends in this rare way.

What fun to let our hair down and laugh together till the tears rolled.