Tuesday

Last Tuesday we took Mimi and Papa over to the AIM hangar at Wilson Airport so they could see where Nathan works and meet a few people.

Papa took this picture of us right outside the gate into the hangar.

This is Samaritan's Purses' DC-3.

Dinah and John had fun playing in the plane Daddy had just finisihed rebuilding.

Tuesday night we took Mimi and Papa to Java House for dinner. They have this huge rock outside for the kids to play on. The tables are all around the rock so you can sit and eat and watch your kids play. Dinah has just learned to climb up it on her own. And they both enjoy doing the "train" down it. :)

After dinner, Papa ordered a coffee and Nathan ordered a hot chocolate. This is the way Nathan's hot chocolate was served. They think all Americans are for Obama.

Papa took this picture on our way home from Java House. There was a guy pulling this cart full of wood and 2 people on top!

Monday

Last Monday was bit eventful here in our estate. About 2pm, the kids and Mimi were napping and Nathan, Papa, and I were reading. We heard this loud crash and immediately we all jumped up and ran upstairs to check on everyone sleeping. They were all sound asleep so we ran back downstairs and outside to check on Zipporah. She was fine, too, but also wondering what was going on. Then we noticed our neighbors out in the street walking around to see that everyone was okay. We opened our gate and headed out into the street. The following picture shows what we found.

This transformer is located just at the end of our street. We're not sure how many houses it sends power to, but we think it was about half of our estate that was without power. The poles the transformer was on seemed to have rotted and just couldn't hold it anymore and so it fell over and exploded. There was some sort of liquid pouring out of it and the power lines where just hanging in the air. Dad was very helpful in warning everyone to stay out of the way of the power lines until the power company got the power turned off. Several people called the power company and they got here pretty quickly considering where we live. We think they accessed the situation and then left to get supplies and things together to fix it. We were afraid they wouldn't be back until Tuesday, but they came that evening and worked until about 3am. They got new poles in the ground and everything fixed to attach a new transformer to. Once the got the power turned off, Nathan and Papa headed to Nakumatt to buy some kerosene lamps (we figured the power was going to be out for a while).

This is the pole that the power lines are attached to on the other end. You can see the poles leaning. They came out of the ground when the transformer fell and the power lines pulled on them. The power company did put them back in the ground.

This is after they got the transformer cleaned up and were getting everything ready for the new transformer.

We were able to borrow a generator from some fellow missionaries so we didn't lose everything in our fridge and freezer. They finally got it all working Tuesday night so we could watch the inauguration of President Obama. We joked that that's what they were working so hard for. We heard from a guy in the hangar that they only work at night because they get paid triple time. But they did work on Tuesday afternoon until they got it fixed Tuesday night. Praise the Lord it didn't take them long to get it fixed!

Monday night we went to visit our friends Chris and Lindy Thompson that run the Livingstone Guest House in Karen. Frank and Dottie Shealy from Baptist Home Baptist Church in N. Wilkesboro, NC were also here on a mission trip so we got to visit with them, too. They were here last year when we were doing our homestay and came to get us for a visit on several occasions. The guest house is out of the city and a great place to relax and get some fresh air. We had a great time visiting with them and had a wonderful dinner! Thanks Chris and Lindy!

They have an awesome yard and have planted a garden. John saw the scarecrow and took off! :)

Prayer n Praise

Wow...have we been busy. Sorry we've not had many posts up the past week or so. We've been enjoying our time with Mimi and Papa. We're hoping to get back to it this week and get you updated on all that's been going on.

Prayer~

Mimi and Papa leave Nairobi at 10:50pm. Please pray for safe travels for them. It's about 24 hours of traveling. Papa hurt his back yesterday picking up Dinah and is in pain. So it's going to be a long trip for him. We're going to see about getting him some muscle relaxers today. But please pray specifically for his back.

AIM Air has float plane, pilot, and family in Tanzania. They have a great ministry there. Last week the plane crashed and flipped upside down. The pilot was the only one on board and had minor injuries. Several guys from the hangar here have gone down to help get the plane out of the water, but they are having a hard time getting it out. The plane is upside down and only the floats are sticking up out of the water. Praise the Lord no one was hurt!

Pray for our family as we try to get back to our normal routine after we've had visitors.

Please keep praying for rain. It's cloudy this morning so maybe some will come today.



Praise~

We've had a wonderful time with Mimi and Papa!

We had 2 days of rain last week and it was wonderful!

We have power! (That's a long story. I'll get a post up about it soon.) But we are really thankful to have power!

Ruth is doing much better now that she's got her little tummy full!

Ruth's 3 Month Pictures

Here are a few of the pics that I took of Ruth this past week. We tried to take her to a studio to get her 3 month pictures done, but they weren't open and the phone number didn't work. So we decided to try it on our own and got a few good ones. She's such a cutie!

Family Pictures

Upcountry adventure

This past weekend, Nathan and Nicholas went upcountry with Mzee Stephen Kituo from the AIM AIR hangar. He is a pastor of a church and invited Nick to come and preach. We happily agreed and then went on the adventure of a lifetime. Here are some pictures to document our time...

The Week in Pics

Sorry I didn't get the culture blog up yesterday. I'll work on it and maybe get it up tomorrow. We've been a little busy the past couple of days. So here are a few pics from the past few days. Enjoy! OH, and it's raining again today! I think we're going to have to get our boats out if you keep praying! :) Thanks Coy and Freda!

Yesterday we went to the Masai Market at Village Market. We saw this guy on our way home. He was carrying a load of sugar cane on the back of his bike. Kenyans will chew on the sugar cane, suck out the sugar, and then spit out the pulp. Nathan has had it once, and I've never had it. It just seems like cavities on a stick to us.

This is out on Ngong Road right near our house. We're headed to the Masai Market.

Bath time for Dinah and John.

Papa drove us over to Amani Ya Juu on Thursday. He did a great job and is ready to drive again! They had a blast playing on the playground with Papa while Mimi was buying everything in the store. :)

Dinah loves to sit in the bean bags and read while we are there.

John drinking his yogurt one morning at breakfast. Mimi and Papa brought great new bibs!

Dinah in her new bib.

Ruth after her bath. She's really starting to enjoy bath time. She loves to kick her chubby little legs.

Daddy and John playing with new Christmas presents.

Papa reading some of our new books to Dinah and John.

Mimi gave out the Christmas presents. Dinah got a jewelry box for her earrings, bracelets, and necklaces.

Dinah and John each got a bag of animal crackers from Aunt Linda. Thanks Aunt Linda!

They got stacking blocks from Aunt Jerri and Uncle Don. Thanks Auntie J and Uncle D! They are really enjoying these!

On Wednesday, Salomi comes to work for us. Most of the time she works in the kitchen cooking and baking for us. This past week she made bagels, tortillas, carrot juice, and veggie stew. Mimi loves her stew!

Ruth rolled over on Wednesday while she was sleeping! I told you it wasn't going to be long! She's done it numerous times since, too. What a big girl!

Dinah got a big safari floor puzzle. She's been enjoying putting it together with Mimi.

John got some new big boy underwear for when we start potty training. He found a use for them right now though! :) What a great hat!