Nairobi Game Park

If you look closely, you'll see a rhino hiding behind a shrubbery

An ostrich and her cubs

 So a couple weeks ago, we had a great opportunity to go with Ken and Linda Wiley to Nairobi game park. Ken and Linda are missionaries with Africa Inland Mission, and when we mentioned getting someone to drive us through the park they volunteered Ken and their Land Cruiser. To my great pleasure, it had been a rainy week in Nairobi, and the park was full of mud and puddles. Ken and the Cruiser proved quite capable and (un)fortunately we didn't get stuck. We had better luck finding animals. The one big animal we fouled off on our trip to the Mara was a Rhinoceros. I glimpsed the backside of one, but he moved quickly towards interior forest. We were able to track him down later by following his footprints in the mud. I am not making that up. Big footprints, sniffing droppings was not necessary but mildly tasty. Big Game Tracker Achievement Unlocked (xbox360 ftw). We stumbled upon Terrance (he had a "Hi my name is.." tag on) and happened to be down wind of him. Uncertain of our location, Terry tried hiding behind a bush. Fortunately, we were able to get lots of good photos and videos. See if you can find Terry in the top photo on the right.

This is an Impala (I think)

We saw many other animals and Charlotte spotted a lion in a tree. The lions will climb trees to get out of wet grass. We watched her climb somewhat awkwardly down from the tree. Thankfully she got down without the help of the local fire department.

A fun time had by all at Nairobi game park, right in our own back yard. Make sure you check it out next time you're in town.

Playing a little catch-up

Good Morning from sunny Lamu, Kenya. Charlotte and I are here to spend a little time with a missionary to the Aweer People, and getting some R&R on Lamu Island. So we're playing a little catch up on the ol' Blog, but I'm sure you'll forgive us.
Charlotte's duties with the office of Communication and Development continued sadly and unexpectedly as she helped coordinate the on-campus memorial service for Dr. Steven Sesi. Dr. Sesi was a beloved member of the AIU faculty, and his loss deeply impacted the community. Additionally, Charlotte has been working to support the launch of Serve the City Nairobi, develop a 5-year project plan for AIU's Center (or is it Centre?) for World Christianity, and do ministry profiles for student ministries. All while keeping me fed and clean. Another full-time job.
By comparison, I have been slacking off, reading and writing for school. Exam week ended Friday, and the sum of the semester is 1,700ish pages read and 140ish pages written, double spaced 12 font, so its not really that impressive and even less so if you bothered to read any of it. Please don't, you've got more important things to do. The final push for reading tests and papers meant I was a bit of a study-hermit the last couple weeks. Thankfully, EB was good about stopping by and pulling my head out of the books. We went together to downtown Nairobi, went to a guitar store, and got lunch at a KFC. It was EB's first time, and he was pretty impressed, deducing that it was the Kentucky that made the Fried Chicken so good. I wish I'd made up the last part.
I think our biggest pangs of home-sickness hit Thanksgiving week. I whine about missing football, but Thanksgiving is something that Charlotte and I both love, and it is defined by the people we celebrate with. Besides, Tennessee has been so bad at football, its kind of nice to be out of the country. Thanksgiving is really a favorite holiday of mine because it is about being together. Thanksgiving doesn't possess the busyness of Christmas, and hopefully true reflection of what we are Thankful for will give perspective that we are so blessed. We were able to celebrate with 2 missionary couples from the U.S. and it was a good time with lots of good food.
So that's why you haven't heard much from us lately. Kinda a newsy update that we've been busy, but nothing too exciting. We'll get some fun stuff up about our time in Lamu. We return to Nairobi Thursday night, and fly to Dubai the following Wednesday. Time is ticking off pretty fast.
John

Playing a little catch-up

Good Morning from sunny Lamu, Kenya. Charlotte and I are here to spend a little time with a missionary to the Aweer

It is official...

...we are the worst bloggers of all time.  It has been 24 days since our last post. But let's face it - we haven't really been all that consistent since the beginning.  Finding time to blog has been more difficult than we expected!

So what have we been up to for the last month?  A lot!  On one hand things don't look all that different from home.  We've been going to work/school, grocery shopping, cooking, meeting friends, going to church, reading, trying to keep up with email, taking turns beating each other at settlers of cantan on the iPad(our new favorite way to unwind), etc.   Lots of normal every-day life stuff.

Yet on the other hand, things can look quite different.  Some every-day life things take a lot more time.  For example, going to the grocery store can take up to 3 hours! First you walk half a mile to the main road, catch a matatu down to Karen, walk to the store, shop, look for a cab, come home, walk another half mile.  A bit abnormal for us, but very normal for much of the world.   Dishes also take a little more time.  For starters, there is no dishwasher!  Secondly we have no hot water in the kitchen so we've mastered the art of washing, rinsing, boiling water, rinsing again to sanitize and then drying!  And you never quite know when the power is going to cut off - candles a and a good computer battery are a must!  And I am not going to even go into traffic.  We'll do a whole post in pictures of what it is like on the roads here.  Let's just say you never quite know what you might see!  

But in the midst of the normal, and the not so normal things here, we've been living in a full, stretching, life-changing kind of way.  Living in another culture, particularly in a developing country, makes you stop, think and take stock of life.

We do hope to blog more often over the coming weeks - even if it means writing about things we did 6 weeks ago!

I have been QUITE busy in the development office this past month.   We have launched the big capital campaign and are now working on follow up and strategy plans for the next 5 years.  It seems that project plans, spreadsheets and politely nagging people (who are not my husband) is part of my life regardless of what continent I am on!  I have learned a LOT by trying to work and produce in a culture that is not my own. That deserves its very own blog post.  But thankfully my main responsibilities i are winding down.  I am hoping to focus on a few more relational projects during out last few weeks here.

John has just 2 weeks left in the term.  He has been working extremely hard and is really enjoying his courses, fellow students and professors.  Let me tell you, this is no joke though.  The work is rigorous and stretching.  But that is part of why we came.  This week is reading week and then he has exams and final papers are due.  I see the back of his head at the computer a lot these days.

Thanks for sticking with us even if our posts are few and far between.  This has definitely been a crazy adventure of amazing and wonderful things mixed in with hard and very difficult things.  But it has been worth every minute.  We firmly believe God is using this for our good and for his glory.