Happy Hallo-what?

It was a good week. Sarah had another good ultrasound. Not 100% sure of boy or girl, but we are pretty sure, but not telling yet. Maggie began speaking more and doing more of her own interpretive dance. Ashley was able to get back into the outpatient clinic where he had been spending a lot of his time.
We went to Nairobi once again. We had to purchase enough food to last us for 10 weeks roughly until our next shopping trip here. Quite the challenge. This was the first time we did not ride with cameras in hand as we still love the landscape, but did not encounter anything new to capture on film. It is still neat to see zebras out grazing as you drive by. On the way in we stopped in our usual pitstop, Narok. This town is the unofficial Maasi capital and about 1 1/2 hours from Tenwek. This day was different, however, because the Kenyan president was coming into town. We saw people up in tree and trying to get a good vantage point of the dirt soccer field stadium where his rally would be. We saw the band warming up (which ironically was wearing mostly blue, which is not one of the Kenyan national colors). Needless to say much more of the road was smoother and watered down for dust. We never saw the president, though, as we think he may have been flown in.
We also ran into something I had never experienced before on a dirt road, a traffic jam! We were stuck in a line (we were told 5 miles deep) of cars at one point. All of the Kenyan men got out of their cars and stood in the middle of the road looking. Then occasionally they’d run to their cars, restart them, and pull up a few feet and then get out again. After about 1 hour we were in open traffic again, but never discovered the reason for the traffic jam.
We finally arrived at the SP office, stopping on the way to drop off our passports for a 3 month extension on our visa while waiting for our work permit. When we got to SP, we saw some familiar faces, but as always met some new people as well. On gentleman we met commented on my Clemson hat and I quickly learned he was a USC fan who lived in Charlotte.
We ran lots of errands and went to several different places. We went to one store that sold home, childrens, and women’s clothing items. Very American in style products with a unique African touch. The things is the store is owned by some SP employees who have taught women to sew and make these items, and the money for each item goes back to the person who made the item.
We also went our usual stores and ate at some new places. We went to a unique place Saturday night. The menu consisted of French, Chinese, and Indian items (all of which were excellent). The real interesting thing was there was a large outdoor play area next to the outdoor tables, so your kids could play while you eat. It was so nice and convenient and the first meal we’ve had to ourselves in months.
It is amazing how God lines up everything perfectly. One of these days I’ll learn not to be amazed by this because 1) He does this all the time and 2) He is God. The day before we left for Nairobi I finally was able to speak with the head chaplain, who I’d been trying to find for weeks. We discussed the idea of purchasing TVs for the hospital. He then connected me with the head of the industrial department who came right over to do measurements so we’d know what to buy in Nairobi. I was in clinic a little late, but it happened to be that that kept me at the hospital long enough for industrial to give me the plans and specs for the TVs. We purchased them on Saturday.
Sunday when we wore up Sarah did not feel to well, so we rested at the guest house. Around noon Maggie and I went back out with our driver from the day before. Because the volume of our purchase, we had wait until Sunday to pick up the items, which we did. The gentleman I bought the cables from made me meet him outside of the store for our purchase. I was told that it was because he gave me and the hospital a discount, which his boss would not like because I was a “rich” white man. We then went and picked up the TVs. What a sight! It was took about 30 minutes to load the TVs into the van, which included moving and rearranging seats.
That afternoon some of the Sudan team was relaxing at the guest house watching the World Series, which was cool. Maggie and I went out to eat with some of the Sudan team and ran a few more errands.
Thankfully Monday AM Sarah was feeling much better and we were able to run our last errands and make the trip home. We filled the van with our supplies, groceries and meat (Imagine, 10 weeks worth of meat!). Fortunately another van was going out to Tenwek that day as well and it carried the TVs and supplies. When we did arrive home we had a mess because some of the meat and cheese boxes had leaked, but we finally were able to get everything cleaned up and were glad to be home safely.
On Tuesday it was back to work. The girls helped finish putting things away from the day before. There was a team here fitting wheelchairs for kids that needed them. They come out every couple of years. Prisoners in the midwest actually make the parts. It looked like a very special ministry. Our garden is growing well, but it has not rained for the last few days so the girls watered it for us. Maggie also played for awhile outside with sidewalk chalk.


Today, of course, is Halloween. When I asked people around the hospital if they knew what that was they had no idea, which was kinda nice. The kids here did dress up for playgroup. Maggie dressed like one of the girls from “Little House on the Prarie”. This afternoon was a party with games for all the MKs with costumes themed after “heros of the faith”.

For supper we went our neighbor Carol Spears house with some other folks and had a nice time. And yes, we did watch “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” when we came home tonight!