Mt. Kenya Adventure and Cozy Christmas

The headlines of the last two weeks are found in the title of the blog; but first we need to catch up on a few other aspects of life. 

Youth group: We hosted our first Nairobi youth group hangout -- something we had the intention of doing ever since we moved to our house in Ridgeways. It was nice to see our space being well used by about 20 teens to play outdoor games, hang out, and then move indoors when it got dark. Mostly, we just provided the space and Lavington Vineyard Church youth pastor Joshua led the program. We had a few adventures with learning about how pizza delivery service works in Nairobi to our house, but overall, things went well. 

Right after the youth left, Paul and I took off for the airport to go pick up Oren. He arrived on a Friday night, and we were able to spend the weekend relaxing and spending time with him. It's been quite a semester of adjustments for him since he transferred to Goshen College in Indiana back in August. This smaller Mennonite liberal arts college has been a much better fit for him, and he quickly found a group of international transfer student friends. He also changed majors, from chemistry to accounting. But there have also been some hard adjustments, and we needed to talk through those with him. We intended to take a walk with him in the nearby Karura forest, but 10 minutes into our walk, we ran into a downpour and had to retreat back to our house to continue talking in the rain.

Paul and I had one more week of critical work to finish before the Christmas holidays, and David had final exams, so we left Oren to sleep off his jet lag on Monday. There were project proposals to review and budgets to finalize and we were working on signing a lease for a new MCC Kenya office space (More on all that later when we can say more officially). On Tuesday, we brought both our young men into the office to join in the MCC staff Christmas party. It was a very fun gathering with nice snacks and games to start out the morning. Paul and I led a round of “the Name Game” which is a favorite we learned from the Taylors. Then we played a very rowdy version of the white elephant gift exchange, with an entirely appropriate amount of stealing and teasing. Finally we feasted on goat and pilau and an enormous Fruit cake, given as a gift by the regional finance officer for our team work as early adopters of the new financial software.

We anticipated spending the rest of the time in a quiet week plugging away at administrative tasks. However, unplanned adventures always seem to arise. Overnight on Tuesday, one of our short-term volunteers became very ill. Her symptoms were so alarming that we decided it was necessary to call an ambulance and bring her into Nairobi from where she lives 4 hours away. From 2 am, we were on the phone every half hour with the ambulance service we subscribe to, and with our volunteer coordinator. Fortunately, the ill volunteer is placed with a co-volunteer who accompanied her on the ambulance. For the next two days, Paul spent most of the day making sure she was properly admitted to the hospital and treated appropriately, and I tried to keep all the other aspects of work running, also stopping in to visit and pray. We were very glad for other team members who stepped up to help, including another volunteer who is a nurse who actually stayed the night with the patient. We were very relieved that the volunteer’s health condition improved enough for her to be discharged on Friday, just as we were driving out of Nairobi towards a planned adventure…

Since moving to Kenya, Paul has been dreaming of climbing Mt Kenya again, something he did as a young adult in 1980 with his two brothers when his parents lived in Nairobi. Having just gotten his hip replaced in May, and following 6 months of strengthening, he felt like he was in better shape than ever to do it; and I also felt like it is the kind of thing one ought to do in Kenya, and I’m not getting any younger. David was game to try; he’s young and strong and has no trouble hiking at high speed. As for Oren, well, both Paul and I kept chickening out on breaking the news to him that he was going to have to come along with us – but finally we got up the courage to inform him about two weeks before he flew out. Our neighbors helped us greatly with filling out the necessary gear for the trip, and we got a good guide contact from our colleague Wawa: https://hiramsafaris.com/

We picked up David from school after his last exam Friday morning and then headed north to the East side of Mt. Kenya. By the time we got to the Park gate, it was about 3 pm, but our guide Hiram was there waiting for us to sign us in. We drove another 26 km up into the park to Lake Ellis, through eucalyptus plantings, past the bamboo forest and then up into higher altitude forest. The rest of the trekking team met us up at the Lake and prepared a nice campsite for us with a beautiful view across the water up to the cloudy peaks. We walked around the heather shrubbed hills for a bit as the sun was getting low and tried to adjust to the higher altitude at 3450m (11,300 ft). Paul immediately noticed he was not feeling great – that’s what you get for driving directly rather than hiking up, but we didn’t have enough time that day to hike up.

As the night air rapidly cooled, the team invited us to sit in the mess tent and enjoy some fresh popcorn and hot tea and stay warm. They then prepared an amazing supper for us, including soup, fresh fish and guacamole. We didn’t stay up too late – it was better to stay warm in our sleeping bags than try to huddle in the mess tent.

In the morning, we woke up early on a beautiful morning for our first day of trekking. The trail led us around to the other side of Lake Ellis, up a gradual hill and then back down into a gorge, across a bridge and then up a very long ascent to a ridge that seemed to go on forever. As we walked, Guide Hiram told us more about alpine vegetation around us (proteas, heather, giant groundsels and then ostrich plume lobelia as we got higher). He counseled us to walk slowly and take our time to acclimatize. At first, David was racing ahead, but then Hiram talked to him about staying with us and he was very patient after that, especially keeping me company and playing walking games like 20 questions. Paul stuck with Oren, and they listened to a history book together as they walked. Overall, it was a very pleasant walk through beautiful scenery with amazing views back to the lowlands, and though we were huffing and puffing walking uphill, there was nothing too tough about it. On the way, we stopped for lunch at a spot looking down into a magnificent gorge to Lake Michaelson, a spot for trout fishing. We reached our first campsite after about 6 hours, Mintos Camp at 4300m (14,100 ft) and right away enjoyed some tea and popcorn and a little time to lie flat on our backs to recover.

The camp itself was in a hollow of slaty rock, sheltered from the wind and not all that attractive on its own. But just behind it was a beautiful tarn or mountain lake, with gorgeous clear water and spectacular views towards the Delemere peaks. We all took turns exploring the hill and the tarn behind it, enjoying the antics of the fat little rock hyraxes and feeling the exhilaration of the mountain air. Sadly, Oren was not feeling so great, having only recently come in from closer to sea level. We gave him the prescribed medication to help with altitude, but he definitely wasn’t as happy with the whole situation. At night, to take his mind off the cold and discomfort, we played a lot of Spades and reorganized our sleeping arrangements so that he and Paul could keep listening to the history book.  

At some point during the night, it started raining. Later, I heard other trekking groups rising at 2 am to make their summit attempt from Mintos in wet and foggy conditions. When we got up at 6 am, it was actively snowing at Mintos and the whole mountain was shrouded in clouds – I felt very sorry for those poor souls who had been up walking all night. We heard from them later that the climb to the summit had been very icy and slippery and they really couldn't see anything.

Our team had a different plan, and so we waited until the clouds burned off and the tents could dry a bit before we packed our gear and headed up the mountain again. We had to pass through some flat and boggy areas until we reached a steep hillside, where we picked our way up the scree on a switchback path. It was quite a hike uphill for about 45 minutes, but all in all, it was not bad for a two-hour walk of just 2 km. Walking takes a lot longer at high altitude, when we reached our next camp, Simba Col at 4550m (15,000 ft).

The porters had passed us all on the way up there and had just got our mess tent set up when the rain started again. For the next few hours, we just hung out in the mess tent, resting and playing cards and trying not to go out in the wet. We had an early supper and then tried to sleep – it was a bit more challenging because the tent David and I were supposed to use was leaking in the rain, so we relocated the inside of the tent shell into the mess tent. Also, my camping mat did not hold air, so it was a bit cold and hard, and not easy to sleep. Therefore, I mostly lay awake all night, praying that the weather would improve. At about 1 am, I got up to inspect the bushes and was overjoyed to see a clear sky bursting with starlight. There is nothing like mountain stars, undimmed by light pollution, and it was such a relief to know we would not be hiking in wet weather.

We officially got up at 3:30 am to make sure we were warmly dressed and ready with lightened packs. Oren elected to stay in bed while the other 3 of us summitted: he had never been that motivated or interested in climbing this mountain, but he was a good sport about coming along most of the way. At 4:15, we set off with headlamps in the dark, following Hiram step after step, and accompanied by 3 other porters in case of any emergency. Most of the path was just a steep climb over scree that was nicely solid due to the ice holding it together. But in the last 40 minutes, we got to a spot where we needed to use all fours to scramble up some rocks. Our team helped us know where to put each foot and hand to make the ascent safely. Finally, the golden dawn cracked the edge of the sky as we approached the last climb to the summit, holding onto cables and climbing a ladder set into the rock to reach the peak, Lenana Point at 4985m (16350 ft). The early sun lit the higher peak of Nelion (a technical climb) behind us, and we had a stunning view across most of the mountain. We felt incredibly blessed to have a perfect morning after about 30 hours of rain and clouds beforehand. We snapped pictures and were grateful that we had made it, but it was very cold at the summit and so we didn’t spend long before descending.

David ran back down to Simba Col without any trouble; it took me a lot longer to descend on the steep slope that was now melting and loosening. Hiram and another guide were very helpful in giving me a hand when I needed it so that I didn’t slip. Back at the camp, we enjoyed some very delicious porridge and banana fritters and sausages and had a bit of time to rest and catch our breath. But by 9 am we were off again, heading back down the mountain to Lake Ellis where we had left our car.

Having not slept much, and then having summitted and come back down, it felt like a very long downhill walk to me and a few too many kilometers to be fun at the end of the day. I personally much prefer walking uphill; but anyway, the walk down was still beautiful, and the weather remained absolutely perfect for us up on the mountain, even as we could see that we were surrounded by clouds and rain in the lowlands. Oren had decided that there was no point in prolonging this whole hiking business and so he took off much faster than the rest of us so that he could take his shoes off and rest. David kept me company for part of the walk until I gave him a particularly difficult word to guess in 20 questions, and then he decided that Paul would be better company. At that point, I was too tired anyway and needed to concentrate on my footing. But the scarlet-tufted sunbirds at lower elevation were still delightful along with various other wildflowers and the air was still clear and the views of Lake Ellis lovely. And at the end of the day, all of us made it safely without any injury.

We ended our trek early the next morning, December 23, with a final thank you speech to the team of 9 porters, cook and guide. And then we drove off to drop Hiram at the park gate and continued our drive back to Nairobi. It wasn’t a very quick drive this time with strange holiday traffic, but we still managed to enjoy the time together in the car, listening to music and catching up on news (Oren had made us all make wagers about what terrible things could have happened in the world while we were off grid – fortunately none of our worst fears were realized).

Back at home, there was unpacking and laundry and we used grocery delivery for the first time ever in Nairobi so that none of us would have to go out again anywhere. We were tired and glad to be home and enjoy the comfort of our beds again.

On Christmas Eve, the kids were very tired and asked to do nothing. Paul and I were happy to go visit our small group families for a Birthday brunch for Steffi. It was wonderful to see them and enjoy a bit of company to celebrate Christmas. But after that, we just stayed home with the young men, playing games and enjoying quiet time together. Our seasonal baking happened all that day – the kids and I made a lot of cinnamon rolls and Paul created his annual gingerbread house and baked in. In the evening, we sat together in the living room and listened to the Nine Lessons and Carols from Kings’ College in Cambridge on the BBC. After dinner, we shared our traditional viewing of “the Polar Express” and then headed for bed.

On Christmas Day, David allowed us to sleep later than ever—7:45 am! Before declaring that it was time to get up and open presents.  Both my parents and Paul had brought back some fun presents from family in the US. But I think David gave the most awesome and creative gifts this year: a handmade kooksa (wooden cup) for Paul, a beautiful cutting board for me (made in woodshop class also), and a real sheepskin rug for Oren. We played more games and then Oren helped to arrange a charcuterie platter for our lunch. We all joined forces to decorate Paul’s gingerbread house as thoroughly as possible with candy. There was time for napping and more games.   Later, we enjoyed a traditional dinner, as I taught Oren how to make Stuffing and candied yams, and we heated up thanksgiving turkey kept in the freezer. We chatted with extended family back in the US at various times. We even made fresh eggnog. It was truly lovely to stay at home and not need to be or do anything else.

On Boxing Day, we were more social – going out for lunch to visit the Ali family, missionary friends from our Ethiopia days. They used to give David a ride to school at Bingham every day but just moved to Kenya last August. Their college-aged kids were also visiting, and it was nice for our kids to hang out with them, playing Catan and basketball and talking. Later in the evening, we invited our neighbors over to share about the Mt. Kenya trip – the parents have both been up the mountain several times. We also enjoyed a ritual breaking of the gingerbread house, with the following liturgy, generated on the spot by AI:

The Rite of Crumbling Walls

Leader: We stand before this frosted fortress, built with spice and held by sugar.

All: It was a labor of art; it is now a feast of joy.

Leader: Do we regret the snapping of the roof?

All: No, for it is crunchy.

Leader: Do we mourn the falling of the gumdrop eaves?

All: No, for they are sweet.

The Invocation of the Snap

All place a hand over the house.

"Gingerbread, you served us well as a centerpiece. Now, fulfill your highest calling: becoming a snack. From ginger you came, and to the belly you shall return."

The Shattering

The youngest or oldest present delivers the first tactical strike to the roof.

Leader: The walls fall!

All: Let us eat!

Saturday was another quiet day – Paul, David and I took some time to prepare music for the Sunday service and we needed to pack for the Renew conference. But again, it was such a relief to just have time to rest and be with the kids.

On Sunday morning, we led music for a shorter prayer service at church. Then we celebrated Ethiopian Christmas a bit early by taking 4 MCC volunteers and Solomon, an MCC colleague from Ethiopia, to enjoy wonderful Habesha cuisine at a local restaurant in the pouring rain. We have many good, shared memories with Solomon and so it was nice to catch up with him before he heads back home this week. And then, we all drove out in a caravan to the Renew Conference north of Nairobi. And we will close out 2025 here at Renew. More news from us next year. 

 

 

click here for a link to a video of our Kenya summit 

 

Overload Going into the Holiday Season

As we reach mid-month, the pressure to write something for the first half of the month mounts. I keep on using the excuse about busyness. I am becoming more and more deluded into believing that the busyness is simply seasonal, or temporary, and I keep on being proved wrong:  every month since our return in August seems to be more full and even more hectic than the month before. So the best we can offer for the past several weeks is a topical list of things that have happened, in roughly chronological order.  (BTW, we are sharing this blog, so I am writing in block type and Rebecca in italics.)

Dallas and returning to Nairobi- When I last updated this blog, I was in the US, in Baltimore, helping my parents move out of their retirement community. I was able to help get them moved out, and we spent the two days at my in-laws' house (Dave and Jean Sack) while completing the final removal of furniture before the three of us (my parents and I) headed off to Dallas on Southwest Airlines. (The furniture went in a moving van.) We are not from Dallas or any part of Texas, and while I have been there briefly at different times in my life, I was not sure what to expect. My brother Jonathan and his wife Emma actually have a huge house in Dallas in a very nice neighborhood, walking distance from some really nice restaurants and shopping. It felt surprisingly like Portland, Oregon. Very quaint. He has a huge suite available in his house where my parents could pretty much set up their large room in the same way they had arranged their apartment at the retirement community. I think it will bring my mom comfort to have many of the same things surrounding them. 

We had a great 4 days together, and I enjoyed taking walks with my brother Jonathan around a nearby lake and visiting some local restaurants. They also have a small pool in their backyard, where I did risk taking a dip a couple of times despite the fact that it was mid-November (but not freezing in Texas). 

I was able to spend about 4 days there before returning to Nairobi. Despite taking the time out from work, I felt very much at peace about the trip and what was accomplished. I also feel it was a very wise, proactive choice on the part of my dad to see the benefit of moving to this setting, as they will be needing more assistance at some point in the future. 

Team Retreat-  I had one day back at the office to recover from jet lag before we launched into a big team event at MCC. Every year, we plan an annual team retreat to build team cohesion, etc. This is a large group event with our nine professional staff (counting Rebecca and me), as well as 6 volunteers. In addition, we invite all staff to bring their immediate families (spouses and children), totaling about 25 in all. 

This year, we decided to go to Amboseli Game Park as we had gone to the coast the year before. We left from our office on a Friday morning at around 6:30 am on a chartered Coaster bus. It is about a 5-hour trip down to Amboseli, which is in South Eastern Kenya near the Tanzania border. The perk of this location is that Mt. Kilimanjaro is visible just over the border and looms picturesquely in the background of southern views of the game park. We arrived around lunchtime the first day. The hotel was nice with a pool and 'luxury tent' accommodations, which basically means the rooms are partly tents and give an 'on safari' feel. 

We got checked in, had lunch, and played some team-building games in the afternoon. Before dinner, we also did some folk dancing. It was actually a lot of fun with everyone participating. (I introduced a new line dance to Copperhead Road). We had a good time trying to do a complicated figure in a 'cotillion' dance, where you constantly rotate through figures with different couples going in opposite circles. As we finished, Mt. Kilimanjaro burst from the clouds in full view as the sun set over the savannah, we got some great photos at a lookout point in the hotel compound. 

The next day, we took two game drives, with the first early in the morning and the second in the late afternoon toward sunset. Those are the best times for seeing the game. The 25 of us were put into three safari vehicles, and we spent several hours in the morning and the evening enjoying the views. I think the most abundant animals there were elephants. But we saw from at least a distance everything else but rhinos and leopards. The evening drive was particularly picturesque, ending with the sun setting next to  Kilimanjaro behind a small lake with a flamboyance of flamingoes posing in the foreground.

We returned to the hotel for dinner, and that evening we had another team event involving making s'mores around a campfire, singing songs with guitar and banjo, and then a special 'awards ceremony' in which everyone was honored with some kind of special award. (Examples include: Eagle Eye, Sparkplug, Good Shepherd, Silent Hero, Troubleshooting Titan, etc.) Each recipient received a signed certificate from Rebecca and me. There was appreciation for both the humor and the sincerity. The next day, we had a devotional after breakfast, then headed back to Nairobi and got home by that evening (Sunday). 

Monday morning was all work and no play, with a meeting scheduled with one of our partners' boards followed by an all-day professional day with staff to review protocol for completing all project items on our database. It made the retreat seem like a distant memory by the time we finished that day. We also worked all day Tuesday and crammed to get things done so that Rebecca and I could have the rest of the week off because this was American Thanksgiving week, and we were expecting some special visitors. 

Arrival of Rebecca's parents- And those special visitors, Dave and Jean Sack, arrived close to 11 pm. My dad had visited us briefly last year, soon after we arrived, as part of work travel in Africa, but we had not found a good moment for my mom to come. Finally, this seemed like a time when we could share a number of special events with them and also take a few days off. 

Of course, they needed time to rest on their first day. It was pretty nice for Paul and I to rest too! On Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, we took them on a drive out to Limuru Country Club, in the neighborhood of tea fields. Paul and David treated my dad to 9 holes of golf, and he seemed to really enjoy himself being in the fresh air a playing a game he hadn't played for a while. Meanwhile, I took my mom on a meandering walk around the perimeter of the golf course. We spotted quite a few beautiful birds, including several species of sunbirds and a fish eagle. The landscaping at Limuru CC is picturesque and very refreshing with cool breezes and warm sun. 

By the time we were done with walking and golf, we were hungry for lunch at the nearby Brackenhurst Retreat center. We were glad to introduce them to the place, since we've often visited there and described it in our blog. We had enough time to take naps and have a quick dinner before Paul and I headed off for our final choir rehearsal of the season. 

During their visit, my mom also got involved with training some public health colleagues in using digital databases of peer-reviewed journals. She and my dad also joined our work team for lunch one day. And I was able to take my mom on a nice, long walk through Karura forest one morning. We enjoyed seeing a dikdik, some Sykes monkeys, and even a troupe of Colubus monkeys. We did most of the same walk later with my dad. 

My dad left halfway through their visit to go and take care of some work with colleagues in Zambia. But he was here long enough to help us begin Advent preparations, setting up the Christmas tree and enjoying part of an Advent story each night. 

Thanksgiving-The American holiday of Thanksgiving is not officially anything more than a normal Thursday in Kenya, so it wasn't a great day to celebrate. (Thankfully, David's school is on the American system, and he got 2 days off). Instead, we invited a group of friends to celebrate with us on Friday evening at the end of the working week. This particular group was families we had known when we all worked in Burundi at the same time. Two families actually attend the same church here, so we get to see them more often. It's a very special and rare thing in expat life to have friends with whom you have any shared history.

Some of them were able to get to our place in the daylight, and we enjoyed time with the kids playing outside and with adults chatting in the evening outdoors. Our family provided a roast turkey (Yes, we found a pretty good frozen one in the supermarket; my mom had also carried a frozen turkey breast in her hand carry to make sure we had enough high-quality meat). We also made bread stuffing, cranberry sauce, and Bunny's cranberry jello "salad." Other family members brought mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn casserole, salad, and even a "tofurkey" for the vegetarians! We had delicious pies for dessert. And the conversation was absolutely delightful from beginning to end. My parents reflected afterwards that they hadn't been to such a fun party in a very long time. 

Choir Concert- Rebecca and I have always been involved in some kind of church or community choir situation since we were married (and even before). We joined a community choir based in a German School, directed by a very talented Kenyan musician. The choir, thanks to the director, is made up of many of his students, other professional musicians, as well as a number of us amateurs. We all share a love of singing, and he creates the most eclectic repertoire I have ever experienced, including classical, contemporary, African, sacred, and secular music. Our Christmas repertoire included songs in about 10 different languages. We finally gave a performance shortly after Rebecca's parents arrived. Our director likes to have our choir perform in very informal settings, and we did our concert at a big German Christmas fair outdoors. It was a bit of a challenge, but well appreciated by the audience that gathered around. Last week, as the season is over, we had a big choir Christmas party and enjoyed singing many of our favorites again. I really appreciate this community, and it is a group of people we would probably not have met elsewhere. Many are in the UN, or are diplomats, as well as some top Kenyan vocal musicians. 

Musical Auditions- It is interesting that despite the number of things we are involved in, Rebecca and I still find even more new activities to take on every year. Last year, because of being told I had a previous career as a dancer/choreographer, the director of the musical at David's school asked me to help with the auditions. This year, with a dearth of student choreographers, she asked me to be the choreographer for the musical this year, which is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This is a musical from around 2013 based on the well-known story. As part of that, I spent about 4 days after school (and work) going to David's school to run dance auditions and help select the cast. David was in the musical last year and auditioned this year, and I am happy to say he was cast (as Verucca Salt's father) It is a good role in this musical. I feel both excitement and trepidation about taking this on. My dance career ended about 16 years ago, and I have done some teaching at different times since then, but not any big choreographic undertakings. Nonetheless, I am excited about it and look forward to starting rehearsals in January after Christmas. 

Carols by Candelight and other musical offerings- I need to say a word about the flow of life in Kenya, and the particular oddities of Nairobi. The Kenyan school year starts in January and ends by mid-November. By early December, Nairobians are already thinking about taking their long summer holidays and heading upcountry to visit relatives for the festive season. By December 10, all government services are basically shut down. And therefore, any church that wants high participation in an Advent/Christmas event needs to plan it for the first weekend of December.  It seems very odd to us, who are used to the big Christmas carol events happening right around Christmas Eve, but that's just the reality here. 

So, by early November, we were deep in preparation for our church's Carols by Candlelight service on December 6. I offered to lead the musical portion of the service and decided to see if there might be half a dozen people who would help lead traditional carols. When I made an announcement, I was stunned to find that 35 people came to sign up! We only had time to rehearse for two hours before the day -- not really enough time, but we had to make do. I was so grateful that David was willing to be part of the effort, along with Paul and my mother, who made it to one of our rehearsals. A few different youth came to participate too, playing violin and guitar. 

On the Saturday of the Carols service, most of us had a morning to rest and prepare (granted, I was trying to finish preparing a sermon for the next day). Paul, by contrast, was running non-stop. He left early in the morning to participate in the prison ministry. He was leading the worship band the next day, and so he had a rehearsal. Next, he met us at another Saturday Christmas Market.  David's honors choir was singing and providing caroling at the event, and so we had a chance to hear them together with my mom. We did some quick Christmas shopping, listened to the choir, and then my mom and I scooted off to the church to do a sound check for the Carols service. 

It was a lot of moving parts to keep together, between leading 10 carols, assisting with the music for the children's nativity, and trying to manage the student musicians helping. But in the end, it was a very joyful evening. The volunteer Carol choir sang beautifully and added rich harmony to the congregational singing. David sang a solo very beautifully on "What Child is This? / Helpless and Hungry." My mom and I gave our best shot at all the Willcocks descants. The children's nativity play was absolutely adorable. There was a real baby in the manger, who then actually got older (replaced by an older baby for the wise men). Best of all, one of our church elders brought three of his real live sheep! It was hysterical. I'm so glad we put a big effort into the occasion, and it was truly a delight to help make it happen. 

And then the next morning, Paul had to get up early to lead the music, and I was preaching on Gabriel's visit to the Virgin Mary, telling her she was going to have a child who would change her life. I've preached on that passage before, and I had really prayed that God would give me a fresh message. He was faithful to help me find new hidden treasures in a well-worn passage. 

In the evening, after a nap, my mom and I went to our small group bible study and had a good chance to sample various Christmas treats, learn about various European Advent traditions, and then pray for each other. Sadly, Paul missed it because he was already on the road...

Trip to Siaya- The carols by candlelight weekend honestly felt insane because, as stated above, Saturday I rehearsed for leading music at church in the morning, went to David's choir concert in the afternoon, sung in the carols by Candlelight in the evening, then led music at church the next morning, and as soon as church was over, I had to take a nine hour drive to Siaya, which is a region in Western Kenya where I was going to do a 3 day field visit. I was accompanied by Judith, our health and education coordinator, who was going for monitoring and to do a project management training. She also brought with her her one-year-old daughter and a nanny to take care of her. Because of all the activity of the weekend, we also hired a driver to drive the MCC Land Cruiser so I could get some rest during the trip. I think I was somewhat comatose from the exhaustion of the past two days and was in a kind of stupor most of the trip. It seemed to pass quickly, even though we arrived in Bondo, a town in Siaya, about 10pm that night. 

The next day, we went and met two members of our partner project team, Maureen and Winnie, who debriefed us on the current status of the project. This is a maternal and child health project based in providing mothers with support through pregnancy, delivery, and the first 2 years of life through peer-based care groups. It is a very effective way to deliver good health information to them. These groups also have a livelihood component, so women save together as well and then use the savings for small loans, paid back with interest, so they can start small businesses. There is no capital infusion from MCC or the partner, and it is highly successful. 

On each of the three days I was there, we did some training of project staff in the morning, then field visits to care groups in different villages every afternoon. The villages are along the shore of Lake Victoria and are quite picturesque, usually with large nets spread on the beaches covered with 'omena', a small anchovy-like fish, drying in the sun. Women can usually find work here, and these can be very transient communities. Among the most powerful testimonies we heard were of women with young children who said that before the savings groups were established, the only way they could eat and feed their children was through 'sex for fish'. But now that they have some access to money, they can buy omena, then take it to nearby towns and sell at a profit. They have food security and can contribute back to the group with interest, which allows for even bigger loans in the future. 

I was very impressed by the success of this project in this community, but I was glad to be able to head back to Nairobi on the fourth day. Of course, I got back just in time to jump back into work with many things waiting in my inbox to attend to. 

Grandparent Departure and Oren's Arrival

While Paul was in Siaya, I held down the fort with my parents for two more days. My dad only got back late at night on Monday and had one day to rest and turn around. Thankfully, I took a little time with both of them for a walk in the forest before they needed to close their suitcases and go. It was sad to see them leave as I drove them to the airport on Tuesday evening-- we'd enjoyed a really good time together, and I hope there might be another future occasion. 

On Wednesday, I went to school after work to enjoy another really nice festive occasion -- the traditional carol sing and choir concert. The event also includes some funny elements, including an audience participation rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas. They also have a Christmas best-dressed contest every year, and this year, David was actually motivated to make an effort. Last summer, he had requested that I find him a pink suit -- and believe it or not, I managed to find a decent, affordable hot pink suit on Amazon. He decided that this was the occasion to bring it out in public, accessorizing with a string of Christmas lights and a reindeer antler headband. He definitely pulled off an epic fashion statement and actually won the prize for the high school category.

Following on the heels of the grandparents' departure
was Oren's arrival. He will be here with us over the Christmas break, so you will hear more about him in the next installment.  

That covers the last 3 weeks or so. Next week we are climbing Mt. Kenya, so stayed tuned...

Dragon sculpture David made