Wildlife in Africa

It's hard to believe we've been here a week and a half!  So many experiences, it feels like the rest come crowding in on each other when you sit down and try to describe any one of them.  Perhaps it's best to make several posts and divide them into themes.  Here's a chronicle of a bit of the "wildlife" that we've seen from afar and up close and personal.

Elephant Orphanage:  A few days in, after we'd recovered from our jet lag, our friend Sammy drove us to the Elephant Orphanage, not far from our campus.  Here they care for baby elephants up to two years of age that have either been abandoned or their parents have been killed by poachers.  They need milk up through the end of their second year, and they drink a lot of it.  Once they reach the age of two, they are brought to the main park outside of Nairobi and released.  These elephants pictured are actually gray, and one of them is albino, but you can't tell because they are plastered with the red-ish mud of the area to keep themselves cool.  During the time we were there, one of them filled its trunk and sprayed part of the crowd with mud.  Exciting!

In addition to the elephants, we saw a baby impala grazing nearby.  It was a bit skittish, but it let us take its picture.  Not shown are a warthog that crossed the road on our way into the park, and some monkeys that we saw while leaving.  We'll definitely come back to visit the main park, which is a reserve for wild animals.

Animals Raised on the Campus:  In addition to some of the wildlife outside of the campus, we've gotten to experience some of the home-grown kind.  The DOOR campus also has a farm associated with it, with the purpose of helping raise money for the ministry, provide jobs for some local Deaf people, and provide food for the campus.  In addition to some traditional crops (including kale, spinach, tomatoes, bananas, and corn), the farm raises rabbits and catfish (both pictured) for meat, as well as dogs trained for being guard dogs.  Sammy helps coordinate and oversee this aspect of DOOR, and he's done a great job.

You can also a rooster in the morning.  One family on the campus keeps two hens and a rooster in a small cage.  Luke always wants to go visit them, and he signs "chicken" whenever he sees or hears them.

Surprise Guests:  The campus supports not just rabbits, fish, and dogs, but also other creatures not quite so purposefully brought here.  In the mornings you can sometimes hear the ibis or storks walking around on the roof.  Pictured here is an ibis.  These are fairly good-sized... maybe two feet tall or so.  The storks, however, are enormous... perhaps six feet tall.  Needless to say they make a lot of noise!

Also pictured is a spider that the boys found on the wall in their room.  The spider was the size of my fist, so they were very surprised indeed.  They caught it in a jar, but later let it go free (in the backyard, we were told... we'd better not wake up to it in our bed!).

Feeding the Monkeys:  On Friday we were able to go to the city park and feed the monkeys.  Wow, what an experience!  In fact, simply getting there was quite the experience.  Sammy navigated the city traffic quite well, no problems, and we got there in one piece.  We purchased some peanuts, and walked into the park.  The monkeys have seen this quite a few times, and saw we were coming.  Sammy taught us all how to lure the monkeys up on your back.  The next 15 to 20 minutes were probably the highlight of the boys' time so far.  Here are some pictures:

And, of course, we have some video, too!

We all had an incredible time.  A huge thanks to Sammy for bringing us there!  We have plenty more video as well as pictures, so just ask if you'd like to see more!

Jon is the big animal lover in the family, so he's been so excited to see all of the wildlife here.  Several times he's asked to take home this or that on the plane.  I can only imagine what the ride home would be like with a monkey jumping around the airplane cabin stealing people's peanuts! :)

We're amazed at God's abundant creation!  What an incredible, creative God we serve!

Safe Arrival

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?" (Matt. 6:25-26)

We made it!  After a long 30-hour trip, we arrived in Nairobi around 11 pm local time on Wednesday evening.

As we traveled, I couldn't help but remark on all the little ways that the Lord takes care of his people.  Here is a quick overview of our trip so far and how God has cared for us:

• Transportation: We had a friend, Jonathan Wolff, who was able to drive us to Chicago airport on Tuesday early afternoon so we would not need to leave the van in parking there for six weeks.  Praise Him!

• Packing:  It was a snug fit, but we were able to take all the items that people gave for the missionaries we will be visiting while we're here.  Thank you again to all who gave and prayed; you are a blessing and may you be refreshed as you refresh others (Prov. 11:25).  We carefully made sure that our check-in bags weighed less than 23 kg. (about 50 lbs.), but we didn't realize that our carry-ons each needed to be less than 12 kg. per person.  We had to do a fair amount of weighing and rearranging, but in the end we were able to take almost everything with us; the remainder went back with Jonathan, who thankfully stayed with us until we got checked in.  We had no issues with security, and made it to the gate just fine.

• First Flight:  Our flight from Chicago was on time, and even though Luke was officially a lap child (and thus didn't have an official seat), there were a few extra seats available, and one person next to us rearranged seats so that Luke could have his own seat.  He (and we!) were very thankful!  None of us really slept on this flight, which left at around 4 pm Chicago time and got into Amsterdam at 7 am local time.  (It was about a 7-hour flight.)  Luke developed some "intestinal issues," but was generally a very happy guy.  It was then that we realized that in the luggage shuffling, we had moved Luke's back-up pants from the carry-on to the checked baggage.  Yikes!  He spent the rest of the trip in size 5 shorts rolled liberally at the waist. :)  Praise Him that we had some extra shorts at all, though!

• Layover:  The layover in Amsterdam was longer than expected.  It was supposed to be 4 hours, but because our outgoing plane was delayed coming in, it was more like 5.5 hours.  Here's where the lack of sleep began to catch up with us.  We each took turns taking power naps while the others wandered the airport and explored.  We encountered a kids' play area, and an aquarium where (if you pay 10 Euros) you can stick your feet in the tank and allow the fish to nibble off the dead skin.  The boys were intrigued but no one really wanted to do it.  Eventually the three youngest boys fell asleep about 30 minutes before we were to board the plane.  

• Second Flight:  Even though our second flight was delayed, it turned out they still wanted us to get ready to board at the regular time.  They made several calls for us to begin the boarding process (which actually involved going through security again at the gate), and it was Jon who got us out of our sleepy stupor to pay attention and get in line.  More sleep was had by some on the second flight, and yet it felt like a longer flight.  Luke was more restless (and lost his pacifier in the last third of the flight), but we made it without casualties.  The flight left Amsterdam at 12:45 pm and landed in Nairobi around 9:45 pm (with a one-hour time difference between the two cities).

• Customs and Departure:  We went through customs without any significant glitches (Jon's boarding pass got wet and leaked ink on his passport, but the relevant part was still readable).  And praise the Lord, our luggage all made it through!  We neither lost luggage nor had any give out (which was a big answer to prayer, as a couple of the suitcases were pretty packed).  A friend from DOOR, Sammy, had stayed all that extra time to wait to pick us up; what a servant's heart!  The drive to DOOR's campus through Nairobi was quiet, as it was about 11:30 at night.  Very little traffic.  Because of the British influence on Kenya, drivers sit on the right side of the vehicle and cars drive on the left-hand side of the road.  Sammy pointed out a few sights, including the wildlife preserve.  We'll be visiting that later, certainly.

• Settling In:  All of us slept well that night, and the next morning we spent getting items unpacked and organized.  At right is a picture of the complex we are staying in on DOOR's campus.  We are so blessed to have this beautiful facility; the family (the Simons) who usually lives here are on furlough in the U.S. during the time we are here, and they graciously let us use their house.  They have three boys, including one who is almost exactly Luke's age, so we have all the amenities we need (crib, changing table, boy toys, etc.).  We got to meet the Ninans, the family next door, who did so much to help us settle in and feel welcome, including getting us a few groceries to start off with, cooking us dinner that night, and giving us a tour of the campus.  They have three girls, and our kids are already enjoying playing together.  The campus has a playground where the boys can play, and they enjoy the warm Kenyan sunshine.  (It's actually winter here right now, but that means it's in the 60's during the day.  Cool and sunny for us!)  Rob will be spending time with Jojo Ninan, as well as many others working at DOOR, getting to know the ministry and learning more about its various facets.  

Thank you all for your prayers for our travels.  One of our main concerns right now is adjusting to the time change; it's 3:30 am local time as I type this, and all the boys are awake. :)

"Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.  Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.  My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.  Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge." (Ps. 62:5-8)