Jumping right in

So we arrived here very late on September 1st.  School had already started for the kids nearly a month prior, and the guy Chris was replacing was leaving within 2 weeks after we arrived. We knew we had to jump in with both feet quickly!  September 2nd, we awoke and had some eggs, pretty sure that was all we had in the house, and then we were picked up by Seth (the guy Chris replaced) and one of the unit drivers so we could go to school, get our phones switched to Kenya phones, and get some shopping done!

The only picture of the school I happened to grab!

We got to meet Kimberlynn's teacher and in fact her whole class first!  They were in the middle of transitioning from one class to the next and when they saw us and Dr. Gilmer (the principal) introduced us, they all greeted her, "KIMBERLYNN!" They wanted her to stay and go to lunch and play with them! She was overwhelmed, but you could tell she enjoyed it.  We then went on to meet Benaiah's teacher.  The class was out, so we just got her.  She was very excited to meet him and introduce him to the class who were anxiously waiting for him.  They had been pronouncing his name wrong, so she was happy to learn how to say it correctly.  Benaiah was pretty excited to see his desk and his cubby.  We then went to John's class.  Neither his teacher, nor his class was there, but we were able to see his cubby and his desk.  We also got to meet the music teacher who was very friendly.
After about an hour we finished, and headed to the Village Market, an outdoor shopping mall, similar to a strip mall.  It was my first experience getting airport level security at a mall.  They open all the doors of your car as you enter and look in the glove box and any other compartment and they open your trunk.  Then you go through a metal detector as you walk into the shopping area.  It was a little overwhelming at first.  Then our first stop was Safaricom, the phone provider, where we also got wanded!  It was also strange to get our first experience at the customer service here.  It is definitely not as hands on as we have had at other phone service places!  :)  I was a little overwhelmed, maybe b/c I was so tired!  Thankfully, Seth and Debbie (Seth's wife) watched our kids outside so they weren't underfoot while we tried to figure everything out!  Then, Debbie introduced me to Zucchini, essentially a vegetable market.  The prices were amazing (well unless you wanted an imported fruit-kiwi, nectarine, peach), even if they weren't always labeled.  Here at Zucchini, I learned another thing, paying with a credit card, means you get rung up at the cash register and then he prints out a receipt and you take it to another desk to pay, while your groceries wait at the line, even if there are people behind you!  After picking up some fruits and vegetables while our kids were taken to the toy store, where they had LEGOS, we went to Nakumatt, the "Walmart" of Kenya.  We were able to pick up some other necessities as far as groceries go, including peanut butter and bread!
We all pretty much needed a nap by that point, so we went home!
The next day we went back up to the school for a play.  Really it was an excuse to get out of the house!  The play was put on by a Korean group.  It was called the "Dandelion's Story!" It was about a dog poo feeling like it had no purpose, and all these animals came up and essentially said it had no purpose, til one animal encouraged it, that it would find it's purpose, which ultimately was to help a dandelion grow!  It was REALLY well done, and really cute, and I loved the message about how everybody no matter how big, small, or smelly, has a purpose.

 Afterwards, we met two gentlemen from Europe, Stan and Jeroen, whose kids attend Rosslyn. Chris sat and talked with Jeroen for over an hour, and then he actually gave us a ride home with two of his kids!
Sunday we went to church at the kids' school, and then in the afternoon, went to meet our neighbors! Chris had met Jamie, on Saturday, but we got to sit and talk with his wife Kathy, and meet his two boys Jake and Luke who were both in high school, but actually really enjoyed playing with our kids! Oh and they have two dogs too!






















Monday was our kids first day at school!  I was a bit of a wreck! And then Chris tells me that he signed them up to ride the bus (since we didn't have a vehicle, and didn't know when we would get one).  I never thought I would send my babies on a bus, especially in 1st grade. We bought John a recorder and then we left.  It was so weird.  I should not be leaving all three of my kids at school.  I had no idea what I was supposed to do with myself.  It didn't help that we had essentially none of our belongings, so I couldn't even organize something!  I was never so happy for 3:30 to come! We went to pick them up and the boys started intramural soccer!

I sat and watched Benaiah and Kimber on the playground before they went to class.  It pleased me so much to see them playing together and taking care of each other!

The boys were on the lime team.  Here's some pictures of their first practice and game.  They practice for 45 minutes and scrimmage another team for 45 minutes!

Karibu Kenya

So, we have arrived in Nairobi and are getting settled here!  We had 6 weeks before the majority of our belongings arrived, so we had plenty of time to jump in and get involved in many different things! It is so amazing being back here.  It feels surreal!  I'm sure for the first couple of weeks I walked around like I was floating! I know I posted a lot of these on Facebook, but for those who don't have it, here are some pictures of our house:

 The entrance to the house. Turn left at the stairs and you arrive at Chris's office (on left) and the toy room (on right):

 The toy room now has toys in it, so I need to get an updated picture!  It also has an on suite bathroom, should we need to use it as a guestroom!

If you turn right at the stairs you enter the living room:

After the living room is the dining room on the right:

 

 On the left coming from the living room is the Kitchen.  It is huge! 

Keep going and you will see the pantry:

 

and then the laundry room:

  

Upstairs at the top of the stairs, we have an open area that leads into 5 rooms.  First on the left is the boys bedroom with a bathroom

 

Then the master bedroom

 Then what I've been calling my office!! There's a balcony out that "window"

Then Kimber's room

 and finally the guest room! 

All the rooms except for the office have an on suite bathroom!

 Outside, taken from the front porch:

The side of the house looking to the back:

Blogging again

So, I apparently took a 6 year hiatus from blogging!  Life got very busy and I struggle with taking the time to write down all that happened, mainly because I try to be way too detailed instead of just giving a brief synopsis of what happened! So, now that our kids are now sleeping through the night, and don't require the intense care they used to, and now that we are far away from friends and family, and soon to be farther still, I decided to start blogging again!  We are currently stationed in Maryland for what we thought was going to be 3 years.  However in February, a month after we arrived, we found out that we were being sent to Nairobi, Kenya at the end of the summer.  We are beyond thrilled to go, but we are trying to cram as many experiences here in before then!!
We jumped right in here, only had to live in a hotel for a week.  God was so faithful in finding us a house that was just perfect for us!  Our kids did become pool sharks while at the hotel while we waited to move into our house.

We played nearly every night!  I was actually really impressed with how well they did.
We moved into our house on Friday, and the boys started school for the first time ever the following Monday!

They were excited, but it was a little hard for mommy as I had had them around for the last 8 years! I actually missed the chaos!But we got some special time with Kimber who was in preschool last semester.

We have adjusted to the new normal.  We get up as a family, take the boys to school, Kimber and I go walk in the mall, run errands, and then do school. Daddy gets to join us for lunch and lately we have been spending the afternoons going through things in prep for moving.  I have also spent any free time up at the boys school, helping Benaiah's teacher go through and organize her files.  I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to be up there around my kiddos, and helping.  The girls in his class love Kimber! It's a win win!

Our 5 year anniversary!

So 2009 marked our 5 year anniversary. I decided since we hadn't REALLY celebrated an anniversary except for our 2nd one, but that started off awful, that we should make this one special. Our 1st anniversary we started a Bible Study with some folks from the church we attended in San Antonio,which we didn't mind b/c we love people (all of our "dating" relationship we had people constantly around) & love sharing the truth of God's Word. Oh & I was also two weeks recovering from emergency ovarian and fallopian tube removal. Our 2nd anniversary we did attempt a little getaway. The weekend before our anniversary we went to visit some dear friends in Oklahoma, and then on the way back to TX, to go to our bed and breakfast we had to make a detour to Temple, as Chris had to be a pallbearer in his aunt's funeral. This funeral also happened to be the day of our anniversary. It wouldn't have been so bad, but I had a hard time not thinking about Chris's family and all the emotions of the day, that I had a hard time relaxing and enjoying myself for the first day and a half, causing us to get in a big fight mainly cuz expectations weren't met. Thankfully the last day and a half were great. We spent plenty of time reading, exploring the bed and breakfast location (it was overlooking a lake and there was a golf cart we could rent to go explore the rest of the land), and hanging out. We also got to visit with some of my dear friends who were getting married within the next couple of months! (Yep had to make sure other people were in there!) Our 3rd anniversary occurred 16 days after our first son was born, and he was colicky, so we had a nice meal in and then a neighbor randomly called and had found out it was our anniversary and came over and literally kicked us out of the house to go get ice cream. We had some yummy Baskin Robbins, and it was a night when it was on sale. Can't get any better than that! Needless to say being first time parents and having a baby who screams all the time that you don't want to make other people have to suffer through, we only stayed out 40 minutes! Our 4th anniversary we had Bible Study on the actual day, but Chris surprised me a day early by sending me flowers with a note saying to be ready by 4. He also took off from work early that day, and had set up babysitting for John. However, a minor kink in the plan, I was gone when he got home, and the flowers had yet to be delivered. He ended up getting them and setting them where I was sure to see, when I walked in, but being oblivious, and just tired and excited he was home, it took me a while to notice them! It probably didn't help that I was nearly 7 months pregnant at the time! So I hurriedly changed and dropped John off at our dear friends Kevin & Laura's house (mentioned in a previous post) and went and had a fabulous sit down dinner at Shiloh Inn. He surprised me with a new camera! I think it was one of the first times we had a great conversation by ourselves on a date. We were so used to having other people around. Don't take me wrong, we have plenty of awesome conversations at home, just not used to having them in public on a so called date! I guess I have this stigma in my head that things need to be different/special on a date and so I never knew what to talk about. But I realized that I just need to be me, and just talk about whatever!
Anywho, back to our 5th anniversary. So, I decided to send Chris on a scavenger hunt, starting with a note on a heart taped to the front door. He had to go all through the house looking for little hearts with the next clue.
I think this was one about food

something about TV/entertainment

something about clothing

I love the look on his face

and I love that I captured this!! I surprised him with tickets to see George Strait. Unfortunately he wasn't playing on our anniversary, but oh well. Chris has said in passing a couple of different times since we met, that he WILL see George Strait in concert before he dies. So, for the past year, I've been waiting to see if George was gonna do a concert anywhere near us on a night when we could go. There was a slight scare when Chris almost had to be in the field the night of the concert (I kept asking over and over and over again about his field dates before I purchased the tickets), but thankfully we were able to go. More about that in a minute.

Our actual anniversary fell on a Friday and I REALLY wanted to go dancing b/c that is one of the things Chris & I did every Friday night when we were dating. We'd go to In the Mood Ballroom in Temple where it was $5 admission and BYOB and no smoking, and we'd dance to country music til midnight!! Unfortunately, In the Mood started doing country dancing every other Friday, so we didn't get to go on our actual anniversary, but we did get to go the next week. On our actual anniversary, Dylan & Leslie kicked us out of the house, and made us go out to eat! We went to Red Lobster (I let Chris pick. I'm not a big fan of seafood) and then got to go to a coffee shop and hang out and talk. It was great!
So, in turn, we made them come with us dancing. Eric & Steph also came with us, cuz it's just not the same when you go just by yourself!! :) (Again with the people!!!)

Here are some pictures from that night. It was crowded. Some teeny bopper was having a birthday party there:
I braved the macarena! This is me trying to remember how to do it!

Do I embarrass myself?

Eh, yeah! Got Steph to join in!

Really getting into it!


and even Dylan & Leslie got into it!!
Go Dylan! (notice he had to look behind him to figure out how to do it!)

Now you've got it!

Awww, they are just too cute!


Capturing 5/6 of us who went!

Awwww! I only wish we had gotten a picture of us dancing!! It was a blast, but boy I realized how out of shape I was, and how old I was! I was ready to go home long b4 midnight, and I could no longer do the polka for hours on end. Sorry Mustafa (he used to be my crazy polka dancing partner!) It was a blast nonetheless though!


So the George Strait concert story! The concert started at 8 in Austin, and we left the house at about 6:50, leaving our boys in the hands of their Pappi & Zsa Zsa, stopped and grabbed some food at Jack-in-the-Box and headed out. The drive was a lot of fun, lots of neat back roads, and some good conversation, and some country music to put us in the mood! As we neared Cedar Park we noticed the traffic getting thicker and thicker. It was about 7:45 at this time, and we were right where we wanted to be in the long line to turn in to park at the new Cedar Park activities center. The time kept ticking as we kept getting closer and closer to the turn in. Then we started noticing that very few people were being allowed to turn in. Police were turning them away. As we got closer, we learned that the parking was full, and overflow parking was being set up up at movie theater in a strip mall a couple of miles down the way, where they would bus you to the center. So we scurried over there, snagged a seat on a bus that was just about to pull off and headed to the center. Well, they didn't plan very well, b/c the buses weren't given special access to the center. They had to wait in the same line as everyone else who was trying to get into the center (who unbeknownst to them weren't going to be able to). We waited at a light for 6 changes without moving, and Chris was getting antsy. He kept saying, "I'm gonna go ask if we can get off and walk," and I kept pulling him back. Finally he just did it, and I'm actually kind of glad he did, otherwise we woulda been waiting there for another 45 min. (By this time it was after 8:30) And he started a wave. Not only did everyone on our bus get off and walk (including the old people) but everyone on the bus in front of us did (yeah we caught up to a bus who had left 10 min b4 ours did), and we booked it to the center. When we got inside I had to use the bathroom, and Chris got us water. We made it just in time for me to hear the only Leann Womack song I knew, "I hope you dance," and one other one. We got to our seats just in time for a 20 min intermission. Yay!

Here's a pic of the center scoreboard, I guess. Chris had to get a good pic of George!

So, this next picture represents the beginnings of the "drama" that we experienced at the concert! Chris tried to sit down and as you can see there was maybe 4 inches between the end of his seat and the beginning of the row in front of him. He was ridiculously uncomfortable, but endured sitting during the intermission by putting his leg over the empty seat in front of him, which thankfully stayed empty the entire concert! I'll explain in a minute!


So, I'm retarded and couldn't pic one I liked the best so posted all of the pics of us trying to get a pic together b4 the concert started!




And the excitement begins!

The band coming out

And there he is, Mr. George Strait!

I love how this captures the cowboy saunter!

Greeting the audience

The crowd is still going wild at this point, at least a couple minutes after he walked on the stage!





As much fun as it was to watch George Strait, this guy was fascinating. I loved watching him play this steel guitar?? He always had the straightest expression on his face, and he was just fascinating!

This is the expression that never changed!



So, remember I mentioned drama. Apparently there's a whole bunch of older people who really like George Strait, and apparently they don't like to stand an entire concert when they paid, um let's just say a lot of money for seats (I guess they took that literally), and they kept yelling at us to sit down. Well Chris and the people next to him were standing, I found it easier to sit and hear the words better, than if I stood, so I was already sitting. Chris got seriously annoyed that he paid good money for this concert and he wasn't allowed to enjoy it how he wanted. That and the fact that he got some serious cramps if he actually sat down due to the above picture of 3 inches between his chair and the one in front made for a little of a mood downer. These next pictures are me trying to get him to cheer up. I kept taking pics of him, so he just started being silly!




All in all it was a great time! We even got to see George come out backstage towards his bus! Chris ran up to the gate and yelled Thanks for a great concert! I love my man!