Old Fashioned Cooking

Here are some random but funny photos of todays various events...

We were about to leave the house to go to Oasis and just as we were leaving we spotted a lizard in the house...


Chris & his weapon...


This guys hands are HUGE! Allison says I look like a Lillipution


Our propane tank went out this evening so this is how I had to cook dinner...


Rice, Corn, and Chicken were all made on this...

5:19

So it's a beautiful day in Kitale...we made it through the night safely after our (unnecessary?) scare and had a good morning at Oasis and in town...
But Im super sad...Today Im having a rough day and trying hard to not miss home. And when i say miss home, I dont mean in the sense of wanting to move back or anything.

It has just been a big weekend in Nashville as far as stuff going on and for the first time I'm having a really hard time not getting over not being there.

Theres another big event tonight that Im missing the most and it involves my best
friend and one of my favorite places in the world...

I feel bad for Allison because she has seen me crying randomly throughout the day for no apparent reason. I just cant help it...Since Ive been here I havent wanted to be back in the states as much as I do today...
Even as Im writing this, with tears in my eyes, Im looking at my wallpaper on my computer, which is all the Oasis boys (Evans, Moses, Martin, Timothy, Paul, John, Edwin, Steward, Braum, Elvis, Jonah, Joseph, Johnstone...) and Im reminded of why I'm so happy here, why I feel at home here...
So it cancels out the tears for a minute before I start crying again and selfishly wishing I could just go home for today and come back tomorrow...
If only right?!

What Are You Doing Up @ 2:45 in the AM?

...Oh I dont know, hearing noises...
I dont know what it was we heard but it was freaky enough to wake Allison up at 1AM and enough for her to wake me up and put our friend that works at the prison, James, on speed dial...
We still havent figured out what the sound was but were safe and its gone and now we cant sleep...hence the random blog...
On a lighter note, we had to make dinner in the dark...
Homemade hamburgers and fries!

Today we went to the womens prison where our friend James works at and spent some time with the female prisoners...we weren't allowed to take pictures so thats why there aren't any...sorry

From the prison we had to rush home and get everything we needed because we were meeting all the Oasis kids at Lydia's house to hang out and have lunch...

Steward, Joseph, Moses, and I played basketball for a while before we made lunch..Then lunch began and it was downhill from there...

Again, with the 'stache



We didnt have much water to work with so our pasta ended up being some sort of noodle goo with random crunchy pieces...oh and not to mention that Kenyans HATE pasta sauce...Note to self, don't ever cook pasta sauce for Kenyans...They won't eat it...We had a hunch going into it, but had to make it just to be sure...we were right...


None the less, Steward helped me prepare the sauce, he's going to be a Member of Parliment as well as a Chef


Allison & Joseph...



Evans, I just love him...this is us in a time of peace...


Which always leads to this...Thankfully there were no bloody noses in the end...


I'm not quite sure what Allison and Edwin are up to...

I opened Garage Band on my computer and had the guys sing a little...

The reverse 'stache...

"Chapati Over Here!"

So an update to my previous post…2 hours after my good hair afternoon, we went to town to get groceries and as soon as we got on a motor boda to go home, it started POURING…I mean it hurt it was so hard. So by the time got home we were soaked and my good hair afternoon was over. At least I had it for a couple hours…it was enough


Tonight we went to some of the Oasis boys homes for dinner. There are 3 boys homes and we will switch every week and go to a new one. Tonight was house 2 with Steward, Joseph, Moses, Martin, John, Johnstone, and Timothy.
Words cannot describe how fun it was…

Timothy, Allison, and Joseph in the kitchen making Chipati


Edwin & I brought the ChaPARTY...

Moses making Chapati


Before dinner entertainment

Allison & Johnstone before...

Everyone after...This is what happens when you decide to use Chipati flour for something other than its intended use...


I mean it was so great to just hang out at their house. It was a little less crazy because it was a smaller group of the boys and we could talk to them a little bit more about school and how they were doing. But it doesn’t stay calm for very long around these boys even if there’s only a couple…

Oh you want some of this chapati??


I gave Moses some new music to listen to


Stewie


Martin...


Its amazing what these boys do to our hearts, they are just incredible and we absolutely love them. My cheeks usually hurt because I seriously can’t stop smiling….

Joseph's moustache pose...were not really sure what it is or why he does it...

Imitating Joseph's moustache pose


Praying at the dinner table...Lydia would be so proud


Chris was still feeling under the weather from his Malaria, but he was able to dig deep and still show us some of his best poses...


If tonight was this much fun i cant wait until tomorrow...we get to have them the whole day

Vanity at it's Best...

Ok fair warning this is going to be the lamest, most self absorbed post, so either get ready or turn away but…


I just had the best hair day since being in Africa…Not to mention putting on makeup to complete the effect!
Judge me all you want, I don’t care…Im overjoyed to actually feel like a girl right now so I don’t care one bit…


Im so overjoyed in fact, I had to share it with someone and Chris is at Sister Freda’s getting shot in the bum for his Malaria and Allison is watching One Tree Hill on her computer hence why it became my post for anyone whos out there…Thank you for listening. And to those of you who do judge me I say to you, you come live here and try and feel like a pretty girl!
I don’t need much but once in a while, it’s amazing what feeling like a clean human can do for your spirit…
So I hope you enjoy your day while I enjoy my hair

Pools, Haircuts, & Goodbyes

Kitale Club Pool and Golf Course...



We went to Sister Fredas yesterday and took some of the kids that live there to the pool at the Kitale Club. They weren’t quite sure what to make of it at first but once they got used to it they loved it. We never left the kiddie pool but I think it’s going to be a weekly occurance…
Morgan, Jaci, and Elia getting ready to go in for the first time...

Elia

Cute Moses...

Esther apparently thought it was a photo shoot for Sports Illustrated...


Elia's towel was a bit too big, anyone thinking E.T...

Mini Jaci and her giant towel

Kitale club & golf course

Me & Elia


Side note, Chris has Malaria…He hasnt been feeling well for a while so when we were at Sister Freda's he got tested and found out he had Malaria...hey better that than the HIV right? Sorry that sounded insensitive...

When we got back to sister Fredas, Richard asked me to cut his hair…And being an expert at cutting hair, I accepted…

Now try and keep in mind that the last time I cut someone’s hair was in high school and he had to go to Super Cuts to get it fixed…

Next up was Allison…its still a work in progress…


Poor Jaci, Megans trying to steal her corn...


Later we had to head to the airport and say goodbye to 2 of our teammates. Now when I say airport I mean a landing strip in the middle of a corn field…No joke there was a shepherd chasing after his cow in the middle…
The Kitale "Airport"



It was sad and kind of surreal to have to say goodbye. It seemed so long ago that I had gotten here and Carol was picking me up from the airport. Now it was our turn to take her and Megan.



Have I already been out of the country for over 2 months? And it actually made me wonder if I would be ready to leave in Feb. Probably but Allison and I both said we couldn’t imagine leaving yet.
Its definitely going to be a lot quieter around the house and I already miss our old room that we all used to stay in…I totally understand though, when you know its time to head home. Its definitely not my time, Im just going to miss them being around…
To Meg and Carol, hope you guys had a fun trip home and Ill miss you a ton