Finding Faith in the Battle

Urban = crowds and tall buildings and bad traffic and smog, right? Yup, that is urban Nairobi. Suburbs = quiet roads and cul de sacs and grass cut to exactly 1/4"? Not so much! Granted, we do live in a 'suburb' area called Westlands, which has much quieter streets and more single-family Western-style homes. But we went to a suburb area of Nairobi last Friday to celebrate the kids' teacher-development day off school...and found ourselves surrounded by a herd of 30 Cape Buffalo! Of course, the area is called the Nairobi National Park, but we're talking a genuine game park of wild animals only fenced on 2 sides, with 4 of the big 5 (they're missing elephants)! It's such an interesting juxtaposition to see East African grass-lands spreading out endlessly to the Ngong hills, grazing antelopes and zebra and ostrich...and then to turn around and see Nairobi's skyline rising above the acacia trees! Cape Buffalo Rhino-kisses! What a sight!!!! ...

Sundays can be a challenge, and yet Kenya is SIMPLE compared to other places we've been. Many a Sunday morning I've shed tears over the chaos, and then the guilt at not feeling more worshipful! For example, this past Sunday went for 2 1/2 hours. Another boy, probably 2 1/2 years old,  joined us for the first hour. We had never met him, but I think he was drawn by Omara's snack cup filled with imitation-Cheerios. His mother, wherever she was, felt no need to call him back! He felt quite free to crawl around under my skirt and between my feet, just like my own kids...since I needed another kid to manage, you know. Finally the older 3 (plus our add-on, thankfully) went to Children's Church--a wonderful part of church in Nairobi. Only it sent Omara into a full-blown screaming fit at being left behind. Exit momma right, with screaming child and curious stares, down to the mother's room, another wonderful part of church in Nairobi. Only this Sunday, the sound was t...

New city, new birthday! We had to explore options for celebrating properly. We settled on a coffee shop for hot cocoa and doughnuts. Yes, hot cocoa in Africa...it's remarkably cool in the mornings, especially these days. We are at 5,500 feet, after all. So anyway, we headed to the mall and descended upon a coffee shop. The kids got their own table, Chad and I had a semblance of quiet conversation, and we all enjoyed chocolate-glazed doughnuts and drinks (Chad and I opted for mocha instead, and the 4 kids shared 3 cocoas since they never finish). We even splurged and got Omara her own doughnut, because let's be honest...who wants to share chocolate goodness with a 2-yr old? At the end of the morning celebration, Omara's clothes were permanently stained, our wallet was $26 lighter, and Anya felt special, which is really what it's all about. We later had a BBQ with our co-workers to celebrate with them. And since we live on the guesthouse compound and this was the we...