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Saturday, April 30, 2016
Friday, April 29, 2016
Thursday, April 28, 2016
Monday, April 25, 2016
My sous chef and I doing some night cooking and getting ready for the ten people we're having for dinner tomorrow.
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Better a broken arm than a broken spirit.
One of the best parts of Spring Break was getting to build a natural playground in our background. We wanted a space close to our house where our kids (and the rest of the kids in the neighborhood) could create and play while they exercised their imaginations.
We already had a climbing tree and a trampoline, so we decided to connect them along with a new climbing structure that we were planning to build. Our neighbors were excited about the idea, and jumped in to help us. We got a bunch of stumps from a woodpile and cut the long ones in half with the dullest chainsaw in the world (seriously, it took a couple of minutes to make a cut) to use as part of a path from the trampoline over to another tree that would anchor the climbing ropes.
The best part is, it became a creative project that can keep on going. Several kids have dreamed up the next phases: plants growing on the teepee structures, a tree house that can be reached via a swinging bridge, a water feature, a toy car track, the list goes on and on!
While Kirk worked on setting up the climbing ropes like the rigging on a ship (but in reverse, with the ropes closer at the bottom and wider at the top), the kids all painted and colored the stumps and the paver pieces which we used to make a winding path to the climbing tree. We also hung some plastic containers with beans, popcorn, and rice in them as noisemakers.
One of the best parts of building the play space was when other kids from the neighborhood showed up to help and contribute their own ideas.
We already had a climbing tree and a trampoline, so we decided to connect them along with a new climbing structure that we were planning to build. Our neighbors were excited about the idea, and jumped in to help us. We got a bunch of stumps from a woodpile and cut the long ones in half with the dullest chainsaw in the world (seriously, it took a couple of minutes to make a cut) to use as part of a path from the trampoline over to another tree that would anchor the climbing ropes.
The best part is, it became a creative project that can keep on going. Several kids have dreamed up the next phases: plants growing on the teepee structures, a tree house that can be reached via a swinging bridge, a water feature, a toy car track, the list goes on and on!
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| Everybody helped! |
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| The kids set up an art show for the neighbors. They were selling their art so that they could save up for a rocket ship. |
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| Art everywhere. |
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| Ainsley tries out the noisemakers. |
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| There's something about a path: potential. |
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| A candle holding limb inspired by Maisha House. Shells and coral from our trip to the coast over New Years, glass from Kittengela. |
While Kirk worked on setting up the climbing ropes like the rigging on a ship (but in reverse, with the ropes closer at the bottom and wider at the top), the kids all painted and colored the stumps and the paver pieces which we used to make a winding path to the climbing tree. We also hung some plastic containers with beans, popcorn, and rice in them as noisemakers.
One of the best parts of building the play space was when other kids from the neighborhood showed up to help and contribute their own ideas.
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| The stump path, the noisemakers, and the climbing rigging. |
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| Ainsley climbing |
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| The path from the rigging through the banana plants to the trampoline. |
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| Two paths come together: one from the rigging, one from the climbing tree. |
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| Winding path to the climbing tree. |
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| The teepees in the background are the next project... planting morning glories and snap peas at their bases to create some shade. |
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| In the climbing tree. |
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Easter
We're sorry that we haven't written anything in so long. Our year has been flying by, and we've all been busy with school and life, but we do want to post more often. We have several blog posts in mind, but we'll start with one about Easter this year.
As expats living far away from our families, holidays can be difficult. We're so used to our own family traditions and ways of celebrating certain holidays, but living far away removes the comfort of those traditions and can make you feel incredibly lonely for your family. This isn't a bad thing. It's not bad to miss people who are special to you. It's normal to want to be with people who are important to you, and holidays can serve to magnify those desires. However, we don't want missing our families to keep us from enjoying the relationships that we are building here in Kenya.
We decided that we wanted to have a big Easter dinner at our house with some close friends—as we put it in the invitation, "Friends who have come to feel like family to us." We invited a Dutch family whose oldest son is in Claire's class, another Rosslyn family with older girls, and Claire's preschool teacher from last year and her new husband (who had a guest and her son staying with them, so they came too).
We gathered in our backyard around a big table with lots of great food, the kids played, and the adults visited. We were there until after dark, just talking and enjoying each other's company.
Without relationships like these, I don't know how we would function here, so far from everybody else that we know and love. But God knew that we need them, and He has been faithful to give us openings to friendships upon, and we are slowly building a Kenyan family. In the movie Finding Forrester, Sean Connery's character says, "Losing family... obliges us to find our family. Not always the family that is our blood, but the family that can became our blood." While we haven't lost our family in the same sense that he is talking about, extended physical separation from family also obliges you to adjust, and to find those people who can become like family. We are happy to have started to find ours here.
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| Brown eggs make for beautiful colors. |
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| Looking for eggs in the morning! |
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| Ainsley was a bit excited. And that hair! |
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| Cecily loved finding eggs. |
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| Opening Easter presents! |
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| Making Resurrection Cookies--a fun and meaningful tradition that our friends introduced us to. |
As expats living far away from our families, holidays can be difficult. We're so used to our own family traditions and ways of celebrating certain holidays, but living far away removes the comfort of those traditions and can make you feel incredibly lonely for your family. This isn't a bad thing. It's not bad to miss people who are special to you. It's normal to want to be with people who are important to you, and holidays can serve to magnify those desires. However, we don't want missing our families to keep us from enjoying the relationships that we are building here in Kenya.
We decided that we wanted to have a big Easter dinner at our house with some close friends—as we put it in the invitation, "Friends who have come to feel like family to us." We invited a Dutch family whose oldest son is in Claire's class, another Rosslyn family with older girls, and Claire's preschool teacher from last year and her new husband (who had a guest and her son staying with them, so they came too).
We gathered in our backyard around a big table with lots of great food, the kids played, and the adults visited. We were there until after dark, just talking and enjoying each other's company.
Saturday, April 23, 2016
So...this sign means people are falling from the sky? Interpret freely!
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Friday, April 22, 2016
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