Greetings from Kisumu! It was another nice day here... Wayne mowed the lawn this afternoon for the first time since we're here, and I'm enjoying the nice trim look. I really like the plants and trees in our lawn. So many of them look like the house plants people have at home. Barbara Jean has a HUGE geranium in her flower bed. I was wishing my sisters could see it. We also have a big poinsettia thats about 8 ft. tall. Amazing!
We have been enjoying some meal invitations from others in the compound. Its a good way to get to know people better and oh what a blessing to have a break from cooking... especially with 4 hrs. of language daily, 5 days a week. Marlins invited us one evening along with the singles here and another day Tonys and us were invited to Dean and Barbara Jeans house. The food was GREAT at both places. I hope I will learn to cook well here soon. I'm struggling to know what to serve with my main dishes because I'm used to having lots of applesauce and pickles on hand. Here we have neither of those things and I don't have corn, peas, or green beans in the freezer, or baked beans in a can that can quickly be opened. Does anyone have ideas for quick side dishes? I used to ask Gina a lot of food questions... what do you suggest? :) Maybe after language is done I can find time to make some refrigerator pickles. I was talking to Martha Kauffman today (Thanks a million for calling!!!!!!) and she said she has made freezer pickles already. That would be a nice idea for here! I think I need to start planning meals in advance a bit more so that I have stuff on hand that I need. The girls come home from school at noon every day so its a must to have something quick. People are so kind in sharing food with us. Today I was blessed twice. Marji gave us a pan of banana bread with powdered sugar on top. So yummy! And then Rachel stopped by with some pudding and a raspberry dessert! Very American! It was such a blessing because I was tired... and I wonder how they knew I needed to bake today! God must've told them.... By the way... I am really enjoying a break from packing lunches and driving school children. :) I have to look on the bright side... right? The girls seem to like school now and I don't see that stressed look on their faces anymore when they come home. I really think we are starting to adjust! We're starting to feel like we belong here. I think every day is getting better and life feels a bit more settled down and routine.
In language class today Josephine was teaching us about time. Luo time is different than ours. I guess its like they did in Bible times. 7:00 is same as 1:00 our time. The Luo day starts at 12 which would be 6 am on our clocks. I was really struggling to keep everything straight and I mentioned to Josephine that "this is hard!" She said, "no,no its very simple!" She says you just turn the clock upside down and then its right. I thought that kind of describes life here... kind of upside down. But no, not really. Its all in getting used to new things I guess. Josephine asked us questions like... "what time did church start yesterday? And what time did you get up this morning?" We had to answer her in complete sentences. Talk about frying your brain!!!!!!!!!!! If I want to say "the time is 7:25 am I would say. "En sa achiel gi dakika pier ariyo gabich gokinyi." Sounds simple right??? Well not for this dumb American. Oh well... we're all in this together and we are definitely learning something cause it makes more sense than it did at first!
Oh I should tell you about our living room lizard. I wish I'd have a picture of him. Wayne decided that we could name him "Larry the living room lizard. :) Sorry Mr. Kurtz. No offense!
Jake and Janice's family and her mother Lois have arrived safe and sound. We're so glad they are here and hope to learn to know them better soon. We only met them once since they are here.
On Sunday morning soon after we got up the power went off. Oh no!!! What about our Sunday chicken? I went ahead and made rice and beans on the gas burner and then put the chicken in the crock pot before we left for church and we hoped and prayed that the power would come on soon. Well it was not so to be. We came home to cold chicken and disappointed children. I quickly put the chicken in a skillet and cooked it on the stove top but we had to exercise patience while waiting on it. The power was off about all day then. It was off the other eve. too during our prayer meeting at Tommys. But we made out fine with gas lanterns and the singing sounded great even though we had to compete with the pounding of rain on the roof. Instead of going to the Lela church on Sunday we went to Oroba with Joseph and Becky to assist with Baptism there. I wasn't sure if I could go along or not because I was suffering from my rib problem that causes me pain once in a while. How I miss Dr. Tommi!!! Since we knew there is no way to go see a Chiropractor we prayed and Wayne treated me the best he knew how. God answered prayer!!!!!!!! I was so amazed that I got over it so quickly... it was clearly a blessing from God! He is so good! Sunday morning I had almost no pain and even on the horrible roads to Oroba I didn't suffer much. Our family took Tommy's Nissan Patrol since we need a heavy duty vehicle on those roads, and we followed Josephs to church. It was so much fun to be alone as a family on the way to church!! It took a little over an hour to get there and OH what an adventure!! How I wished that ya'll could somehow get a glimpse of all that we were seeing. Its better than a movie cause its real life!:) The amazing sights we see are priceless! Its so far from boring here... you really need to come and see for yourselves! Wayne was having the time of his life maneuvering around potholes ( I mean craters!) One time we hit a bump so hard that Bradlyn's back side was as high as the top of the seat and his head hit the ceiling. The girls roared with laughter! :) We went through some mud holes but nothing bad since we're still mostly in dry season. Wayne is doing a great job in driving I think, although I thought he seems to be getting a bit too confident already. :( Ya'll pray for us! Driving here makes driving in America look very safe and roads like Johnny Lane look quite mild. On Sunday we drove through sugar cane fields. We tried to remember all the twists and turns so that we would be able to find our way home again on our own. We actually did then! PTL! One thing I can't understand is why on earth these people make speed bumps on dirt roads that are already extremely bumpy. There are LOTS of speed bumps on the paved road as well. If they decide they want a bump where there isn't one they will just make one out of dirt, right on top of the pavement. :) I have actually been glad for the speed bumps sometimes. It really does keep traffic slowed down but the bumps on bad roads is a mystery to me. Oh well... that just adds to the adventure I guess. :) I love all the cows, sheep, and goats that roam everywhere and anywhere. As we got close to Kisumu yesterday I saw some cows laying down on the street. They seem to have no fear of vehicles and drivers just maneuver around them... only inches from hitting them.
We enjoyed the Oroba church. A 15 yr. old girl was baptized and several others who had been excommunicated were restored to church fellowship. The one was a former pastor, Eric I believe. One thing I really liked was the singing. They have a choir there and some of the men actually sang tenor. Sounded nice! After church Joseph and our whole family stood in the back, along with those who had been reaccepted as members and then the whole church filed by to shake our hands. I especially love the little children that come shake our hands... some are probably only 2 yrs. old... so cute!!! :) We rejoiced with Oroba in the adding of members. Its a blessing to see them thriving. Well this is long enough... Blessings to all of you! Keep praying! Here's just a few miscellaneous sights...
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