Traveling Home

After a wonderful two weeks in Kenya, it was time to say bye and head back to Jordan. Here was our group as we all said our goodbyes. We miss ya'll already!

We didn't exactly have the easiest travel route back home. Our plane left at 3:45am, which meant that we had to be at the airport at 1:45am. Once again, we went through Cairo and had a 9 hour layover. This time we got lucky, because when we went to the desk in Cairo, they took us aside and told us that they were going to put us in a hotel for the day-with two meals included. That was the biggest blessing for us-especially traveling with a toddler. We all were able to shower and take a long nap in the hotel room before heading back to the airport in the afternoon.

Here are a few pictures from the airport/airplane ride home.

S'mores

You can't have a campfire without s'mores! However, the conference center had zero marshmellows-they are difficult to find in Kenya. Thankfully some of our friends had some in their luggage and were oh so kind to let everyone use them. They also shared their HUGE bars of Hershey's chocolate. We used left over cookies/biscuits for our graham crackers which made some yummy s'mores! :)

Childcare

As I said earlier, we were completely blessed to have three sweet ladies from the States come and take care of our kids for 2 weeks. That is some major sacrifice on their part and we were so thankful for each of them. Micah learned new songs and games with them, and loved playing with all the other children. They brought the child many toys to keep from America, and even brought lots of goodies for the adults! THANK YOU!

Anjela

Micah was so excited to see his friend (aka girlfriend), Anjela, up at the conference center (I was happy to see her Momma, Allison, too!). They were staying there with a completely different group, so it was a surprise to see them. We briefly had met her parents back in the States before heading overseas, and then got reconnected once we arrived in Kenya.

Anjela is several months older than Micah, but they get along great. She is absolutely adorable and so mature for her age. They are so cute together and it was sad saying bye. We will have to find a way to get them together again soon :)

Goodbyes are never easy...
We're in trouble...it starts early :)
These little mischievous ones snuck away from us while at dinner and ended up on the computers.

Here are a few pictures of these two from previous visits together:

November 2008

Micah's first bath with anyone else.

March 2009

Walk, Walk, Walk

Since most of us we coming from cold weather, the girls decided to take a walk together and enjoy the sunshine. We basically hiked up a little hill and then just weaved in and out of tea fields. So pretty. It was good to get some exercise (much needed, I might add), take pictures, and enjoy time with friends.

Time with Little Ones

One of our last afternoons in Kenya was spent away from campus with our little ones. It was nice spending some playtime with Micah, since he had been away from me in childcare all week. He sure is a crazy one though and keeps me on my toes :)

Feeding the monkeys a banana.

Jodi attempting to teach all the kids how to roll down a hill :)

Anna and Judah...our sweet neighbors from NC. We were pregnant at the same time and she delivered Judah a month before Micah was born. We hadn't seen them since May of 2008, so it was so nice to spend 2 weeks together!

Jodi and Eli...good friends from training.

Love you Jenn!

Tea Time

One thing I love about Kenya is that they have "Tea Time". This basically is just a reason to take a break from work. Some places have a morning and an afternoon tea break. Back when we were in language school, I always looked forward to this break. Then when Josephine worked for us, this was another special time where we just talked and talked.

Well, at the conference center we stayed at, they definitely had tea time (2x a day). They even made homemade delicious pastries that they brought in the morning and some sort of cookie/biscuit in the afternoon to accompany the tea . They brought a new kind of pastry everyday. My personal favorites were the cinnamon rolls and the donuts. I think we all gained about 10 lbs from them, but they sure were worth it :)

Here are a few pictures from our tea time.

Former coworkers with us...it was so great to spend time with both of them!

Josephine

Another person that we couldn't pass up seeing was our old house helper, Josephine. Oh how we miss her so much! I was a little worried that Micah wouldn't remember her, but that wasn't the case at all. He ran up to her and said, "Josephine!' with the biggest smile on his face. He even let her hold him all afternoon long, which is unusual these days. We were able to spend a few hours with her one afternoon, but again, it wasn't enough. And the goodbye wasn't easy. :(

While Micah and I were catching up with Josephine, Paul went bowling and then played putt-putt with a group of our friends. I was really glad he got to do that, because he didn't have nearly as much free time as I did on this trip.

Quick Visits with Friends

The hardest thing about leaving anywhere is the people and relationships you have built. Well, the same was definitely the case when we left Kenya. Therefore, I was so excited to go back and try to see our friends again. It was more difficult than I had anticipated because we stayed about 45 minutes outside the city and did not have a car. So, we did our best to see as many people as possible in the time we had. I just wish our visits could have been longer!

Our old neighborhood kids.

Two of our closest Kenyan friends/neighbors, Betty and Mueni.

An old coworker with her precious son, Asher. I couldn't believe how much he had grown since we left!

One of my favorite students.

Miss you all!

Movie Night...

...and a surprise baby shower! Let me just tell you, I was completely surprised (hence how cute I looked for the evening. haha). All I knew was that Paul was putting Micah down for the evening and the plan was to have a girls movie night to watch Pride and Prejudice. I walked in a little late, immediately saw the big screen projector set up, so I just sat down oblivious to what was going on around me.

A friend of mine came up to me and said "Congratulations!" I looked at her and said, "What? Am I showing more tonight or something? You know I'm pregnant!" She just laughed and said, "Uh, yeah. You just look bigger tonight." We both just laughed. Then, my mother-in-law started showing me some pictures of the decorations she had taken that evening, and I said, "Ha. It almost looks like a baby shower or something." To which she replied, "Ummm hmmmm, it sure is." And then it clicked. It was so sweet of everyone and was unexpected and so not necessary! We got so many cute things for baby Jordan, and seeing all the pink made me really excited to be having a girl! Oh I just can't wait :) After we opened gifts, we DID watch our movie. It was such a fun evening!

Opening gifts.

Movie snacks (popcorn, movie theater size candy, cookies, etc)

Me and Britt

The girls showing off our sweet gifts from Charlotte

The sweet childcare ladies who put the whole baby shower together...once again, I was spoiled!

THANK YOU!!