Nairobi Meeting

Who is this boy?

He saw someone with gel in his hair, and he asked daddy to make his hair do that, so....

He had such a good time in Kenya at our general meeting. Here he is in his classroom.

He found his friend again...

He was quite the ham on performance night...

And when he got off the stage, he dressed daddy in his "costume."

The girls were busy, too.

Performing...

Losing teeth...

Making friends and seeing old ones...

and...Doug performed, too.

Actually, he helped lead worship every day and did a FABULOUS job!

There were wonderful volunteers from a church in Florida and from Champion Forest Baptist Church in Houston.

They taught our kids every day while we attended meetings. The kids had a such a good time with these great people.

Travel to Kampala/Kenya

We had an early start to Kampala.

That night, we got to eat dinner with Mercy and her mother, Melissa.

They are still in Uganda, so keep praying!

We also met another family who was adopting. My kids aren't the only kids Jan and Lynn (the friends we stay with in Kampala) like to love on. This is them with TWO Mercy's.

After a day in Kampala, loading up the roof with all of our luggage, combined with Jan and Lynn's, the seven of us headed to Nairobi, Kenya, for a meeting.

The border crossing was pretty uneventful, but it still took over an hour to fill out all the paper work and stand in all the lines.

We spent the night in Nakuru, Kenya. I had a good laugh that the hotel we stayed in had wireless internet in the lobby, but still had rotary phones in the rooms.

Karis didn't remember ever seeing one, and she thought it was a fun toy. I showed her how to dial, and she got a kick out of that.

The next day, we stopped at a gas station, and saw something that looked like a chip, so we decided to buy it. We are always on the look-out for a good chip.

This one was made from a plant called Arrow Root, apparently, but it was actually pretty tasty.

Doug had seen the flamingos on Lake Nakuru when he came to Kenya in 2003, so we knew we wanted to see them if we could.

We went to a lesser lake near Lake Nakuru, and there were some there, but they were scared off before I got any good pictures.

We followed a family to Kenya because they knew the ends and outs of the border and all the roads. And in that family, Caleb found a new buddy.

We need to be more pro-active in taking family pictures (like trying to look nice), but this one, after two days of travel will have to do.

We drove on to the edge of Nairobi where our meeting was going to be held, and the tea fields there are so beautiful.

Look at all the people out there with baskets on their backs picking individual leaves, so we can enjoy a nice cup of tea. (By the way, all you sweet tea drinkers in Mississippi and Louisiana probably benefit from these guys, too). Oh, how I miss all that sweet tea!

Cooking in the village

This sweet lady was grinding peanuts to make g-nut paste.

Yes, that is a huge rock she is sitting and grinding on.

I was then taken to a hut where this other lady was grinding. It was a great chance to practice some language.

She was sweet to give me a chance to grind - although I think the laughing I provided for her and the other ladies was proper payment for her kindness.

All in all, there had been three ladies grinding g-nuts, so when they all finished, we brought them together to a community fire, and put them in a pot to cook.

This is g-nut paste. It never goes bad (sort of like peanut butter) because of all the oil.

She scraped off the oil at one point, and we were so excited, thinking it would be a healthier meal.

With the oil set aside, she added some cooked beans to the g-nut sauce, to make something they call ococa (pronounced "oh-cho-cha").

The smoke really burns the eyes - you can see Kylie for proof.

Then, she added the oil BACK to the beans and g-nut paste. Oh, yummy!

She let all the kids take turns stirring.

You can see what a kick they get out of a "man" doing housework.

They thought it was hilarious that Caleb stirred the pot.

Ococa.

They gave us seats of honor in the community building, and fed us enya and ococa.

After a good Bible story time, a filling meal and amazing company, we had to leave.

Hope to see you again soon, Etori!

Village Life

My kids were only bothered for a little while by the language barrier. I came out and talked in the little Lugbara I know, and soon, everyone was playing "Mbata, mbata, au" (Duck, duck, chicken).

New games in the shade.

Caleb decided to come in for story time. I have NO idea why he didn't use the door, except that he's a boy.

See! There was a door.

The momma of this little boy told me her son was NINE! Caleb just turned five, for those of you who don't know.

What a difference proper food and nutrition makes!

Karis found "boy," and they were happy most of the day. (When I asked his name, he told me his name was "boy," but I'm not sure either of us understood properly).

Caleb got more than a little dirty.

Caleb also took my camera and took these pictures.

Karis and "boy" got some company.

Caleb has a stick, pretending it's a sword, but apparently, it doesn't hinder him from drawing a crowd.

This was a great day for me and the kids. We hope to have many more like these in the months to come.