reasons to celebrate

The last Sunday we were in Kenya, we spent the day with Francis and Evelyn.  For a long time, I had wanted to take them to a Japanese Steakhouse for a fun activity -- I knew it would be different from anything they'd done or eaten before, and therefore it would be special.  Francis tried sashimi (brave guy!) for the first time.  And Kyalo had his first miso soup. He devoured it.

We had a lot of things to celebrate for and with them.  In September, they celebrated 5 years of marriage, which is always worth celebrating.  As I mentioned earlier, Francis finished his five year residency program in Orthopedics.  In December, Evelyn graduated from a four year program in Internal Medicine. She was living in Nairobi for four years, and they survived the separation reasonably well. 

 and, if that cap & gown isn't a reason to celebrate, I don't know what is! 

here she is with her certificate. . .all official now!

We also wanted to use this as a time to say thank you for letting us take over their house for the last week we were in Kenya.  After all, for that week, their house looked like this:

are they good friends or what?

(and yes, we managed to get most of that mess home!)

It was also a time to celebrate Dexter being accepted to Dental school, and to celebrate our friendship in general.  I have known them for seven years now, and we have been through a lot in those seven years. They have been such good friends to us over the years.  They were there for the birth of Kyalo and have loved him since that first day. I am so sorry that they don't get to watch him grow up these next few years, but am so grateful for the time they have had with him already.   

They liked to walk around with Kyalo and pretend that he was theirs.

a cute little surrogate family

March 5, 2012

They are the kind of friends who call you from Kenya on the day your husband starts school, knowing that the day is long and lonely and empty.  It was wonderful to hear their voices and to fill 25 minutes of a rather bleak looking afternoon!

I know that, no matter where life takes each of us, that we will always be friends and will have many memories to hold us over the separation.

I'm also hoping they will both be able to visit us here in July. 

And this pretty much wraps up the Kenya stories! Onto life in New Jersey next.

family time

It seems hard to believe that two weeks ago today we were boarding a plane in Kenya.  Since then we've been in Essex, Newark, back to Essex and now, back to Newark for good. We moved into our little apartment -- with the help of my parents -- on Saturday and have been working diligently to get it set up as well as take care of all the odds and ends we need to before Dexter starts school next week.  There's still a lot on our to-do list, but we're making good progress. I need to hurry up and wrap up the Kenya stories so I can get pics of the apartment up. 

Naturally, before leaving, getting together with Dexter's whole family needed to happen.  So on the Saturday before leaving we all gathered together in what has become "our" spot to meet.  A local restaurant in Nairobi, it is where we met before we moved to the UAE in 2009, and where we met the last time we needed a gathering.  It is a nice place because it has outdoor seating and is fairly spacious. We're often the only ones there, but this last time we began to wonder if there's a reason for that...

It was a bittersweet time, always fun to be together, but sad realizing we just don't know when (or where) the next Mulandi family gathering will be.  Nadia, born in January has already changed so much and will continue to do so in the years we're here in school. And Kyalo and Andrew, just sixish weeks apart won't grow up (yet) to be the buddies I hope they will be.  God has those nitty gritty details worked out, in ways I can't even imagine.  The wait is just hard.

 our little bully, beating up his bigger and older cousin, Andrew

 Jackie, Andrew, Dexter, Kyalo (looks like Andrew doesn't hold a grudge)

 June, Nadia, Helen, Robert, Aidan

Helen & Robert

I can't stand all that beauty

everyone!

March 3, 2012

Dexter's parents (Buda & Mathe) and us

love this photo

It was hard to say goodbye to them...but we'll live in hope that everyone will come to visit!

the last supper

The week we left, in the midst of selling and packing as much as possible, relocating down to Francis & Evelyn's house, and so much more, we had a lot of good-byes to say.  I am not a fan of goodbyes; I think I've decided the best way to avoid them is to not make any more friends - saying goodbye is just too hard.

OK, OK. So that's probably not the best way to handle the situation.  If I don't make friends, I'd miss out on so much.  A perfect example of this would be my friend Jenny.

A mutual friend of Erica's, she had us up for dinner the week we arrived back in Kenya, which was perfect because we were living in the first of many temporary houses and didn't have much in the way of cooking stuff. From that point on, we would hang out every few weeks...as her busy life at RVA allowed.  We got a lot of walks, and a lot of meals, in over the year and a half we were back in Kenya. She visited Kyalo in the hospital, and loved on him a lot. 

To wrap things up nicely, she and her roommate Naomi, had us, and Francis & Evelyn up for a final supper at her house.  I always loved going to her house. Going up to RVA always felt like a retreat from the hard life (ha) of Kijabe, and her house is always warm, welcoming and inviting. She makes hosting and entertaining look easy!  She's been a teacher for three years at RVA now and is leaving in July...she has big adventures ahead of her...she's just not quite sure yet what they will be. But that's the fun thing about following God's lead; He always takes you interesting places.

Jenny & a squirmy Kyalo

me & Jenny

{*do I have a really large head, or what?}

Naomi, Jenny, me, {a very tired} Kyalo, Dexter

Kyalo, feeling a little sad to say goodbye to Jenny, but mostly ready to go home and go to bed.

The dinner with Jenny ended up being the first of about five goodbyes we said.  Guess we just weren't ready to make it final.  I'm so glad I got to know her, and it is a reminder to me that even though goodbyes are hard and sad, it is the people who surround me who make life rich and meaningful. If it weren't for the relationships I had in Kijabe, it wouldn't have been nearly as hard to leave!

the grandparents visit

About two weeks before we left Kenya, my parents came to town.  I always love having them visit, meet my friends and be a part of my world for a little while. This trip was a little different than just a social visit.  They were visiting schools in various areas of Nairobi to get a better sense of how schools are run in Kenya, and also to see if there might be others, in addition to Gentle Bells, that they will support.  Between their running around to the schools, and our getting ready to leave, we didn't actually see them too much.  I did get a few pictures, though...

so much love

On the Saturday that they were there, we had a Gentle Bells board meeting to discuss the way forward for the school.  That was also the day that our fridge, stove, couches, etc were being picked up by the girls who bought them. We were also going to be celebrating Esther's -- the headmistress of Gentle Bells -- birthday.  Her birthday is on the 29th of February, so I wanted to make a big deal about it.  I got up early that morning to work on a decadent chocolate layer cake (off the Hershey's can in case you want to give it a go).  And it was a total flop and fail.  It got stuck coming out of the pan and was in pieces all over the place.  I was a mess, Dexter banished me from the kitchen and assured me that once we put the frosting on it we could fix it.

We could not.  

The frosting made it look worse.

I was not willing to serve this cake - even though it tasted fine - to someone who only celebrates her birthday (technically) once every four years.  By this time we'd learned that the girls coming to collect their things were (surprise!) running late because the truck they'd hired had problems. So I decided to make another cake.  This time in a 9x13 pan because I was fairly certain that it would work.  But then I ran out of cocoa powder so I threw the cake in the oven and ran down to the duka quickly to get more so I could make the frosting.  I decided I would just make the frosting at the house where the meeting was, and all would be well.

Except, I was basically doing the recipe from memory and didn't add enough cocoa powder, so instead of a rich, dark chocolate color, it was more of a pale, milk chocolate color. Still, it tasted fine, and everyone gobbled it up (with homemade mint M&M ice cream, I might add).

 the birthday girl

 the offending cake - I had a much different image in my mind . . .

 The Gentle Bells board

It all turned out okay...the cake was made and enjoyed, the oven and other items taken away, and a successful and productive meeting took place.

And I collapsed, exhausted, at the end of the day.

grateful

Today, I am exhausted; I am dizzy with all that we have done in the last 10 days.  On Monday, we were in Kenya and on Friday, we were hitting the streets of Newark looking for an apartment.  We've said many good-byes and many hellos. We've faced jet lag and Kyalo's first serious illness of 102* F + temps. There have been many sleepless nights.

But today, I am grateful.

Grateful for the friends who let us stay at -- and take over -- their house prior to leaving Kenya.

Grateful to my parents who lugged four heavy bags back from Kenya for us, and then allowed us to crash at their place for an undetermined time. Grateful to them, too, for being willing to drive down to Newark with us {and by "with" I mean my dad did the driving for which I am especially grateful} to help us hunt down an apartment.

I'm grateful for a baby who has been completely healthy for 11 months.  I'm grateful for friends here in Essex and in Kenya who were only a phone call away to offer advice and assistance when he did get sick.  I'm grateful to Kyalo for still being able to find a smile, a laugh, and a game of Peek-a-boo in the midst of misery.  I'm grateful that we got five consecutive hours of sleep last night, even if we had to put Kyalo in a bath first thing this morning.

I am grateful that we were able to find a decent two-bedroom apartment with a yard in a family-friendly neighborhood not too far from the school for Dexter in our first effort.  {More details to come}.  I'm grateful to our Bible Study back in Kenya who've been praying a long time for this very thing.

I'm grateful to Dexter for helping with the diaper changes, the medicine giving, the late-night calls, for being cool and calm under pressure, and for being such a great partner through all of this.

And I'm grateful to God for making all of this -- and so much more -- possible.

When I think about all of this these small and seemingly simple things, add up to something quite remarkable and overwhelming, and I can't quite compute it all.  Perhaps when I get more sleep!

the hunt

We're heading out shortly to drive down to New Jersey with my parents to start the hunt for apartments.  We have a couple of appointments lined up, and a few apartments to hope for.  We've been back in Mass for a couple of days, trying to recover from the craziness that was our life before leaving, and the jet lag that has apparently hit Kyalo hard (he's been awake around 3 or 4 most mornings).

Thankfully, our journey from Kenya was smooth and uneventful, and we even managed to only have one extra bag, and didn't have to pay any over weight charges. It is a small thing, but it really is an answer to prayer.  Thanks for your prayers!

Could you keep them up? Please pray for safety as we drive about 5 hours to NJ, and also that we find something within our budget, and something that either has a yard or is close to a park. Because Kyalo and I won't survive if we don't have easy access to some green grass.

I'll keep you posted!

eleven months

On Saturday, Kyalo turned eleven months.  We were meeting Dexter's family in Nairobi for lunch, so I took the pictures there, which was nice since it was hot and sunny in Nairobi and not cool, grey and rainy like Kijabe.  It was a little on the chaotic side of things so I didn't get too many pictures, and at first, Kyalo wasn't pleased with the prospect of more pictures:

But we were able to get him to relax a bit and get more into it.  Even so, I couldn't really get him to stop moving. . .

Dirt. Digging. Rocks. Outside. Those are the things Kyalo loves best.

Can we say: BOY?

This was a busy, hectic, life-altering month. . .and Kyalo really handled it quite remarkably!  As soon as my parents rolled in on the 18th, anything resembling a schedule or routine got tossed out the window - not intentionally, of course, but just because things got busier. Then we needed to be packing/cleaning/getting rid of stuff, and so naps kinda got lost in the shuffle. But Kyalo never lost his sweet disposition, easy going personality, or his ready smile.  Most people couldn't even tell how over tired and worn out he was for the last few weeks in Kenya.  I am so grateful that he is this easy going; I think our life is going to have a lot of upheaval in it over the years, and we know he'll manage it well.  

He still doesn't have any teeth yet!  My mom's been worried about that, but Dexter the Dentist hasn't been too concerned and the pediatrician said children can get their first teeth as late as 18 months. I can't really imagine him with teeth - I love his toothless smile and will be sad to see it go. {Dexter also thinks we're seeing signs of some teeth coming. We'll see if he's right...}

I took him to a pediatrician this month for the first time; figured it would be cheaper (10ish dollars) to do in Kenya, and all checked out well. He ranks in the 10th-25th percentile for height and weight (about 20 pounds and 27 inches) which was lower than I expected, but nothing to be concerned about at the moment. He certainly looks healthy with his chubby legs.

He continues to be nonstop movement...crawling and getting into everything, walking holding onto something or our hands, and he's been working hard at talking. He says something resembling "da-dee" but since he says it at anyone or anything I don't think he really associates it with Dexter just yet. 

Still can't believe he's just a few weeks from being a year.  Our little baby is such a big boy and brings us constant joy.

today's the day

I wish I could say, "Our bags are packed/we're ready to go/we're leaving on a jet plane. . ." but alas, the bags are still being packed and weighed and shuffled around and repacked and reweighed.  I can't get over the stuff. The mountains of unending stuff.  As I mentioned earlier, we really have done a good job of unloading so much (and selling a lot of it to help with resettling costs) and yet it still keeps coming.

We leave for Nairobi early this afternoon, do some last minute errands, and perhaps get our last Kenyan coffee before heading to the airport. We want to get there as early as possible because that's a busy time at the airport and we have a lot of bags.  We know for sure we'll have two extra bags. We're hoping that each bag is also not overweight as that will be additional charges.

Please pray that all goes well...that we can do everything we need to today, that we don't have too many charges for luggage, that none of our luggage gets lost, and that Kyalo does well on the flights. I have no drugs for him, despite my mother's strong suggestion.  We are all so exhausted so I hope he'll just sleep on the planes,so we can sleep on the planes.

When we reach MA I'll get his 11 month (!) pictures up and lots of recaps of the last couple of weeks.

See you on the other side. . .

a whirlwind

March, already? How can this be?  I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that we're boarding a plane in four days! And, I'm not too excited about it, either.

It has been non-stop action around here.  My parents, and their friends Craig & Margot rolled in on the 18th to visit schools in Kenya and to do some more work with Gentle Bells, the school they've supported for three or four years.

In the midst of their being here, we have been packing up and moving out of our house.  I am continually amazed by the amount of stuff we have to deal with.  We have sold it/used it up/donated it/tossed it, and yet. . .and yet. . . we are still dealing with mountains of stuff.  This is quite remarkable to me because we don't generally shop or, when we do, don't buy things frivolously.

Here are some pictures I took last week, when I thought things were pretty bad and out of control.  I had no idea just how bad it would get!

 Kyalo's packed and ready to go

 so.much.stuff

Fortunately, the big furniture is gone or sold, so now we're dealing with the little things...like books, and plates, and random things that we don't want to bring home. Moving is hard. Moving internationally even harder.  Dexter keeps saying things like, "We're never moving again!" and "we're not buying anything, ever!"  I just nod, smile, and say, "yes, dear."  It is the only thing to do in this situation.

We've moved out of our house, and are staying in Chez Mbugua for the week.  There have been a lot of things going on this week, I'll have to recap them over the next few days . . .time allowing. . .

We would welcome prayers for smooth, uncomplicated travel on Monday.  We have too many, too heavy bags, so we're hoping there's not too much drama at the airport.  Also, when I flew home in August, Kyalo was a lot smaller and less mobile. He slept the whole way, basically. I can't imagine that's going to happen again, but I really would like that. At least this time, I have Dexter to pass him off to.