WEEK 10: When it rains it pours!

Be the sunshine in someone's cloudy day! :)

REMINDER:: We still have about 2 more weeks left for the elderly fundraiser!! If you have not donated, please check out our site. Even a small donation of a few dollars would be so incredible! Kate, Sr. Judy, and I are so grateful for the outpouring of support we have received thus far. These elderly folks are so beautiful and loving and really deserve the assistance of the Christmas Care Packages. We are getting so close to our goal! Please keep our project in your prayers! THANK YOU!

MONDAY

Nothing makes my day like stepping into Cottage 1 at “Feed the Children” and little Rosa screeching and crawling over to greet me! Precious baby angel! It was a good day with the kids. We took the babies out to “bask in the sun”. It was a really beautiful, breezy day out. Quite enjoyable! I spent most of the morning playing with Rosa, Patty, and Leon. Leon cracks me up! He is the cutest “little” chub ever! Then there is also Dexter who likes to act like we’re not friends…I’m slowly winning him over!

Leon :)

Dexter :)

In the afternoon we went outside with the other kids. We played with chalk and they messed around on the little see-saw and did flips on the mats.

On a side note: Jacob the security guard is back! So excited to see him again! Great guy. Always cheerful. J

TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY

Tuesday and Wednesday we got to work in the kitchen at the Subiaco Retreat Center at the convent. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to this at first, but it turned out to be a good time! Kate and I worked with Dominic, the 27 year-old cook who has been working there for 2 years. Tuesday we spent 3hours sorting rice to remove any stones or odd particles. I thought it was hilarious the first time we did this at the convent but now I see the benefit of it. Also…I LOVE WHITE RICE…so I benefit from having freshly sorted rice as well. Haha

Wednesday after sorting rice, Dominic let us help with the cooking! Kate made japates which are similar to tortillas while I was put in the corner to grate carrots and make a “salad”. Clearly Dominic took me seriously when I said I was a horrible cook. As Dominic more or less said: “It is important for a woman to know how to cook…Kenyan men like women who can cook”. Guess I’m not cut out to be the wife of a Kenyan man. My apologies.

THURSDAY

Happy Zumba Thursday! While I was sitting with some of the kids watching Zumba, this school girl (probably about 12 years-old or so) came up behind me and started stroking my hair. She didn’t say anything, just kept playing with my hair and resting her hands on my shoulders. It sounds somewhat strange but it was a touching moment at the same time.

FRIDAY

I woke up to rain…and rain…and more rain. I was in the “I don’t want to go to work” mode so I was kind of hoping the rain would prevent us from going to work. In typical African fashion, it slowed down by the time we had to head out. Luckily, we got a ride from the sisters who were heading to class near where we work. We spent most of the morning indoors, since the kids were potty training for a ridiculously long time. 

Around 11am, we took the kids outside to ride bikes. It was definitely good to get outside and kept the kids from being bored. A few of the kids were whiny and were getting upset about not getting to use particular bikes, but most of them were content to scoot around for an hour before lunch.

Kate and I ended up leaving at noon which is usually a good idea because a.) We are exhausted by the end of the week and b.) After lunch and nap-time we only end up getting an hour with the kids anyways. We got lunch at “The Big Square”. The girls there know us and always comment on how many times we come…which isn’t even that often! Whatevs…fries, a burger, and a Coke are the perfect way to spend a Friday afternoon after a long week! We were not going to go shopping initially, but ended up in Nakumatt for a good hour and then stopped in at this gift shop that we had not visited yet. It all worked out! Kate got her shopping fix in and I bought some cool stuff as well!

There was a wicked bad storm Friday night! Electricity was going on and off. I made the silly decision to take a shower when the lights were out. I told Kate that if she hear *zap* or thud or something to come drag my body out of the shower. Lol. Kate doesn’t always enjoy my sense of humor! Living together is such an adventure! Haha

Kate and I started “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy tonight! So intense! A lot of the graphics and magical elements remind me of Harry Potter. I never read the books for either but the movies are pretty darn good!

SATURDAY

Once again, it rained all last night and morning. After lunch, the weather cleared up and so we took a walk into town to go to the market. The market people were excited to see us as always….they know we love to shop! I got a few things from Anne and a few other people. It’s frustrating because even if you say “I have no money…I can’t buy anything else today!” the market people translate that as “I have a bunch of money hidden in my back pocket” and try to coerce you into buying even a small thing from them. I keep explaining to them that I will come back and that I am doing my best to try to support and promote each of them. However, some of them keep trying to push the issue. Fortunately, there are several sellers that I really like who are reasonable and are content with just chatting once I’m done shopping. I had a good chat with Cana and Wilson about work in Kenya and home. It was good just to talk to people and not be nagged about buying from them. I also had a long chat with Anne who has become my confidant when the other sellers overwhelm and stress me out. Anne cracks me up! She’s a great business woman but she is also just a great woman in general. Even though I know most of the market people are only concerned with selling their products, I do feel that some of them genuinely enjoy seeing Kate and I. Maybe I am crazy for thinking that. Oh well.

I got a 5 minute lecture from Novice Marrietta about how I need to eat more than rice. Everyone keeps hating on my pathetic diet...I know I know...eat more veggies and meat etc etc! Got it! Some of the sisters even think I'm a vegetarian because I never eat meat at the convent. I can't help it that after being given the sickness of death from the Samosas that now I'm very wary of meat! You have to be careful what you put in your system...you never know what will backfire! Literally. (excuse my sick sense of humor)

SUNDAY

Kate and I managed to make it through Mass without fainting or dying! This is a major accomplishment people.

Every weekend a different priest comes to celebrate Sunday Mass. This weekend the priest we had looked like an Indian Jesus! He was rocking long hair and a narly mustache. Such a character. Good sense of humor as well.

The gospel and homily was about loving your neighbor. During the homily the priest asked the following questions: “Do I love God?” and “Do I love my neighbor?”. He talked about how sometimes people can really annoy us and drive us crazy but that we should learn them despite these frustrations. It was a good reminder to be patient and loving even when it is difficult!

It’s still on and off raining today, so it’s been a good “Clean the Apartment Day”. Definitely needed to do that. We’re probably going to just hang out and watch a movie as usual.

Hopefully next week I will have more exciting things to share! Until then...God bless and have a great week!

::Quotes of the Week::

“It is important for a woman to know how to cook…Kenyan men like women who can cook." ~Dominic    [[Sorry fellas...I'm no good!]]

"Just ONE MORE SPOONFUL of peanut butter..." [[said no one ever!]]

"It's raining...guess we can't go running..." ~Kate

[[We've been seriously lacking for good quotes this week! So sad!]]