Asa and the Chameleon

Last week the maintenance department chopped tons of branches off several trees in our compound in an attempt to get rid of a certain parasite that's infected them.  The branches lay piled around until this week when a tractor and trailer came to haul them away.  We went outside to watch because tractors are a big deal in our house these days (namely for Asa Bubba), and one of the maintenance men walked toward us with a branch and said, "Take it."  I thought, Why do we want to take that random branch?  And then I noticed what was on the end of it: a chameleon.

Kenyans are terrified of chameleons, or any reptile for that matter.  They think we're crazy for loving them and playing with them and taking them home as pets.  Several times I've seen grown men and women jump away at the sight of a chameleon in our kids' hands.  It cracks me up because chameleons are perfectly harmless and wildly fascinating creatures.  Watching them change colors so easily, and observing them catch flies in the blink of an eye, and trying to see what they're looking at as their eyes look in two different directions at once - these  are observations that never get old.  Chameleons are truly one of God's most unique creations.

So the maintenance worker this morning wanted nothing to do with the chameleon he found in the pile of branches, but God bless him for knowing the wazungu would probably take the little critter off his hands, which we gladly did, and Asa was especially excited about it.

Asa often has a lot to say, and his speech is growing at an astronomical rate right now.  He says more words with more clarity all the time, and this was the first time I'd heard him say "chameleon" so well.  (These videos were taken on my phone and the picture was clear on my phone, so I'm not sure why they're blurry here.  Oh well.)

Thank you, maintenance man, for passing along this little friend today!  We're happy to take the scary reptiles off your hands :)