A Change of Scenery

Most of the time, when things are quiet on the blog, it's a result of one of two things.  Either I am too emotionally wiped out to put my life out there, or I'm so busy tending to life that I don't take the time to post about it.  Fortunately, this time, it's been the latter of those two.  I have to say that overall, since our move to Accra, I have felt much healthier emotionally than I did in Nigeria.  There are probably no less than a dozen factors that go into that, and that's another post for another day.  For now, here's a bit of what has been happening round here.

At the end of June, we made another trip to Kenya.  This time it was for a meeting of all of the folks who live in our part of Africa.  This is something that only happens once in a blue moon, and we're glad it fell this summer.  Otherwise, we would have been some sad pups without much excitement on the radar.  We had a great time visiting with colleagues and being encouraged.  We were able to see most of the folks that we had worked with in Nigeria and that was a big treat.

The kids all made some new friends and had a great time doing VBS with the volunteer team that came out from Oklahoma City.  I am always totally overwhelmed by the kindness of these volunteers and the programs that they bring to our kids.  It is one of the things that God uses to remind me how very much He loves my children.  I have to say that their friendships and their community with our current circumstances doesn't always look like I think it should look.  Yet, God has ways of meeting their needs in ways that I wouldn't have thought of and weeks like this are a big part of that.

During our week, we had a day to explore.  Our family chose to visit the Nairobi National Park.  Since we had done a few safari days on our trip last fall, we had seen most of the typical safari animals, but we hadn't seen a lion.   Our driver wasn't super encouraging, making it clear that lions are tricky to find, but I held out hope.  We hadn't been inside the park more than 15 minutes when we passed a truck of park workers who explained to our driver that they had spotted some lions.  They weren't speaking English, but with their hand motions and the way that our driver laid on the gas pedal, I was pretty sure that we were on a mission.  After a few minutes of driving, we came up on another truck that was pulled off.  When we inquired, they explained that the lions had just been there, but they had disappeared into the bush.  We decided to park for a few minutes and see if they might come back out.  After a few minutes of waiting, they decided to make an appearance

 At first, they were in the tall grasses and we were peering out the top of the van, trying to catch a peek of them.

 Then, they were kind enough to come out and walk right down the middle of the road.  We followed them for a while.  Lily was not sure we should be so close, so she cowered on the floor of the van while the rest of us oohed and aahed.

 One of them jumped up on this park sign as if to say, "If you want a picture, I'll give you something to take a picture of."

Then, just for the full effect she turned around and gave us a facial view.

After our meeting ended, we spent a few extra days in Nairobi eating yummy food, doing some shopping, and just relaxing.  I discovered some amazing chocolate cake at the Nairobi Java House, which is probably the closest thing to a Panera that we've experienced since we hit the continent.  I may or may not have had the chocolate cake for dinner one night, so that I could justify eating it twice in one week. 

It was a great time and we are very, very thankful that we were able to go.