The Return to Kenya

It was a slight mistake to tell Eli that I wasn't too stressed on our departure day.  But it was true - I felt significantly better than the last time we packed everything up and headed to the airport to move to Africa.  Last time we didn't know what we were doing.  Last time we had three kids 3 and under, including a nursing infant.  Last time our nerves were taut and patience was thin.

This time we knew what to expect.  This time we prepared in advance.  This time our kids didn't need as much hand-holding throughout the whole process.  This time we felt more confident and had a semblance of control over the transition process.

So I told Eli that I wasn't too stressed.  I actually felt good about everything.

But I spoke too soon.

The bags were packed and in the car.  The kids were sent to the car and I was right behind them.  As soon as I walked out the door, Caleb came around the corner of the house and declared, "Mama, I had an accident."

Normally we hear this phrase from our 3-year old who is still potty-training.  So when I turned and saw our 6-year old completely soaked, I was confused.  My confusion was immediately superseded by anger, however, since Caleb was supposed to have been in the car, but was instead standing before me dripping all the way down to his toes.  "What happened?" I yelled.

"I went down to the lake and I fell in."

I'll spare you the details of how my anger not only flared but completely exploded on our son, but suffice it to say that something inside of me broke in that moment.  My serene state evaporated in an instant and I was crying hot and angry and very stressful tears.  We had been ready.  We had been on time.  We had been in control.  And then our son disobeyed us and "had an accident" and I simply couldn't handle it.

Thankfully, I didn't have to handle it alone.  My parents and my husband came to the rescue.  While I was yelling about not having any other clothes to put him in because it was all packed in the back of the car at that point, my mom got towels and did find spare clothes, and my dad started blowdrying Caleb's shoes, and my husband dealt with our child with compassion because I did not have it in me to do anything but scream at him.

All it takes to make everything unravel is an unexpected dunk in the lake.

By God's grace, we still made it to the airport on time.  We still got all our bags checked without any problem, and we still made it to the gate in time to grab a chocolate milkshake on the way.  And I hugged it out with Caleb and my state of not-being-stressed returned.

And then we were on our way for an uneventful flight and almost perfectly behaved children (minus a delirious meltdown by Kid #3 in the middle of the night, but who can blame a kid for that when it's impossible to sleep well on a plane?).  We were really proud of our boys.  International flights are not easy and are not short, but they rocked it.

Caleb fell asleep ten minutes before we landed in Nairobi, which made him a little rough around the edges all through customs.  Then he laid down on the floor of the baggage claim area and I wasn't sure if he'd be able to carry himself out of the airport.  But watching his brothers play with the luggage carts perked him up, and all three boys were wide awake when we finally walked out of the airport at 1am.

Arriving at Hampton House (our favorite guesthouse in Nairobi) was such a joy.  It's our "home away from home" in Kenya and it's familiar and comforting to us.  We slept in past noon (hello, jet lag!) but got our car and got our phones set up and made a trip to the grocery store all on the first day.  We felt very accomplished!

And then we settled into a couple days of rest and recovery.  Our dear friends the Parkers, who lived at Tenwek with us, came to spend the weekend with us and we couldn't imagine a better welcome on this side of the ocean.  They are like family to us and we enjoyed sweet time together getting caught up and laughing and playing games and eating good food.  Our souls were refreshed!

And of course, the boys made great use of the playground at Hampton House.  This was always part of our excitement to come here: a playground means we're on vacation!  There's actually a playground at Chogoria now, so the novelty of the one at Hampton House might wear off eventually, but the boys loved it all the same and spent hours digging in the dirt and swinging and climbing and all manner of boyish activities.

And to top it off, we saw a pair of hornbills fly into the trees above us!  They are fascinating birds and we watched them for quite awhile.  Caleb , our animal expert, was particularly excited.  And right after that he discovered a praying mantis and a beetle close by as well.  The African wildlife did not disappoint!

So we are here, safe and sound and not at all settled yet.  But that is coming.  We are being patient with the process of transition.  We are saying a lot of hellos, and will be traveling to Tenwek soon to greet people there and say some goodbyes again, and then begin the major process of starting over at a new place in a new community.  But we feel good.  God has been good to us and we feel it.

Thank you for the thoughts and prayers sent our way as we left America and re-entered life in Kenya.  They were felt and appreciated, and are holding us up still!

Painting Class

When we came back to America last year I decided that I wanted to do lots of arts and crafts with the boys while we had easy access to resources.  I envisioned going to Michaels every week and finding projects and supplies and then doing lots of art!

Well, that didn't happen.

We traveled a lot instead, which was always the plan, but it turns out that traveling and time for art do not mix well.

BUT, we were so blessed to discover a local art studio that offers kid painting classes.  The teacher offers classes every weekend at her studio, plus does classes at a nature center once a month.  So we signed up Caleb and Kai as much as possible and started filling the lakehouse with their artwork.  We have quite a collection now.  Here is just a sampling:

They had their last class last weekend (and painted the lions above).  And I've agonized over what to do with their masterpieces because I hate the thought of them sitting in boxes in the basement while we're in Kenya.  But alas, that's what most of them will do.  I promised the boys they could each bring one of their paintings to Kenya, and each Grandma is keeping one as well, but the rest will sit in a box unenjoyed for a long time.

But that's the way it goes.  I'm bringing some blank canvases to Kenya so they can paint some there since they love it so much.  I love that our boys love art, but what does one do with so much art?

Thank you, My Wine Art Studios, for offering these kid classes and encouraging our boys' love of painting!

Snow Crocodile

March is always a questionable month.  Is it winter?  Is it spring?  A bit of both?

Tomorrow is our 13th anniversary, and there wasn't any snow on the ground for our wedding in Minnesota.  This year, there's feet of snow sitting around there, with more on the way.

There's snow here in Michigan too, although not nearly as much.

But enough to get outside and play in it.

Which is what we did yesterday with the boys.  They simply haven't been able to play in the snow enough this year.  Mostly because it's been so cold when we have had snow.  But also because our life of "here and there and everywhere" has made it hard to do some of the simple things like playing in the snow.

So we bundled them up and went down to the lake.  The boys helped Eli shovel off a section with a dividing wall for opposing teams of a snowball fight.  (Read: everyone against Eli).  The snow wasn't great for packing, but snow was flying and boys were laughing.

Then I realized that the dividing wall would make a great base for a snow creature.  I envisioned a crocodile sitting in the water.  And so we got to work.

This was the result:

Our crocodile can in no way compare to my dad's recent creation (see kraken below), but the boys were pretty excited.  I realized that we hadn't even made a snowman yet this year, let alone anything else.  We're headed back to Kenya later this month and we couldn't even say we'd made any snow creations yet???

#parentfail

So hopefully the crocodile makes up for all the snow creations we never did.  Hopefully.

It's supposed to be rather wintry this week.  Maybe there'll be a chance for a snowman, if the temps are agreeable.  We might as well enjoy winter while we can.  In just over three weeks we'll be wearing shorts and walking in the Kenyan sunshine :)

Winter Escapades

We recently met some other missionaries who hail from far-flung places like Honduras and Argentina and West Africa.  We met them here in Michigan, meaning that they're freezing their tails off right now and saying things like, "I need to wear four more pairs of pants!"  I can't blame them.  We'd probably be feeling the same way if we didn't have such hardy Midwestern blood in us.

And let's be honest, living in Duluth for four years has a way of preparing a body for winter's worst.  Whenever we think it's bad, we remember those winters in Duluth...

Here was a recent escapade out in the cold: Frankenmuth, for SnowFest.  Dang, it was cold!  But man, it was cool.

front loader and the Bubba

I had to wonder how many other people could identify 

this basilisk lizard - thank you, Wild Kratts, 

for keeping our animal knowledge top notch

forest scene

this giant spider reminded us of Tolkien...

so cool and so creepy

Elsa and Anna need a pair of these

And no trip to Frankenmuth is complete without a stroll through Bronner's, the world's largest Christmas store!  My friend Steph was visiting us for the weekend and she was quite impressed, as well she should be, at the enormity of this store.  So much Christmas, all year round.  It's a Michigan gem :)

Before the "polar vortex" hit, we had a fabulous snowstorm that shut everything down but was perfect for playing outside.  The boys could not have been happier.  We haven't had a lot of snow this winter, so we couldn't miss the chance to get out while the temps were warm enough and the snow was falling fast.  The only sad part was missing Eli who was gone for the week to work.

Thanks, Winter, for finally showing up and letting us Midwesterners enjoy your visit.  Even the polar vortex wasn't so bad - we like excuses to snuggle up and watch movies and eat popcorn in the middle of the day.  I know it sounds crazy to a lot of people, but we like you, Winter, and we're gonna miss you next year.

A Healthy and Happy Christmas!

By God's grace, our house overcame the contagion of conjunctivitis just before Christmas.  We were back on our feet in time for the Christmas Eve service at church.  Praise the Lord!

We snapped this photo after the service.  These are our munchkins with my best friend's munchkins.  Gotta love this crew!  Six boys is a ton of fun and a ton of chaos.  We're gonna miss the Arthur boys like crazy when we head back to Kenya.

And here's us in front of our Christmas tree.  Proof that we were healthy again and dressed in our finest for Christmas Eve.  (Yes, flannel is our finest.  We spent four years in Duluth, ya know.)

Right before bed we continued our tradition of letting the boys open a present on Christmas Eve - always a new pair of jammies for them to wake up in the next day.

Eli told them to stand like superheroes.  Hence Kai's extreme face.  He's not angry - just superhero serious.  

I absolutely love waking up on Christmas morning with these boys.  So much excitement, so much energy, so much squealing!  They were the most thrilled with these additions to their Star Wars collection.  They played with this stuff the entire morning until it was time to head over Grandma and Grandpa Clark's...

...which prepared them for the lightsaber duel of the year.

And then it was off to Minnesota for Christmas: Round Two.  More presents.  More cousins.  More runaround fun to be had!  The boys wasted no time in finding all the weapon toys at Grandma and Grandpa Horn's house.  Many a monster was defeated that night.

And guess what - we found snow!  There's been next to none in Michigan so far and I promised the boys that Minnesota would have snow.  There wasn't any when we first drove into St. Paul, but when we drove another hour north to the farm, the snow came.  Our boys had a blast playing outside with their cousins.  It was a perfect play-in-the-snow kind of day.

We're so thankful for a wonderful Christmas this year.  A healthy and happy Christmas filled with family and fun!