sun stroke

How often does one get sun stroke while Christmas shopping? :-)
It's a funny thought to me that i did just that, but i feel a bit queezy just now from the 2 hours i spent haggling in the sun at the Masai Market in Nairobi today. I reckon, though, that i got some good deals, especially the last purchase i made for myself from the man who declared himself my friend because i had bought Josh's birthday present from him a month before. The problem with market haggling, especially in Kenya as i've found out, is that you never know if they are really hosing you over with their price. I'm sure i've already mentioned how the market shopping here is way more of a "strain" because a) i can understand what they're saying and b) Kenyans are WAY more agressive than Malagasy. But, the market principles still stand, no matter how bullying the vendeurs: shop around for the best price without being bullied into buying the first product of a kind you see and 2nd, pay only as much as you are initially prepared to pay for a given item. No matter whether i think, after the fact, that the seller has ripped me off, if i've determined how much i'd pay for an item and i get that price, it's fine in the end, isnt it. We're not out to get THE cheapest price, only the price we're willing to pay.

Today has been a lovely day from the start. Most likely our last visit to the Kileleshwa Covenant Community Church (K3C) was an outpouring of blessing, for me at least. We were encouraged to walk out in faith and accept the blessings that the LORD has promised us. The pastor, at the end of the service, asked specifically for those of us battling a specific concern to stand up and receive the blessing prayer he had for us. I was blown away at how God, despite my blinding fears at times, knows me so intimately that He can speak directly to my concern and extend a promise that i can, in faith, reach out and grasp onto. Thank you LORD. It was a timely message for me as i prepare to face some of my biggest fears and battles in the coming months. It is truly amazing how, when we are able to let go of something and allow the LORD to hold it for us, how freeing and rejeuvenating it is.

Indian chicken leftovers, chocolate chip cookies, a Sunday nap, iced coffees at Dorman's while we escaped the sun outside in the market, and now a Sunday evening faspa of popcorn - it is a great day indeed. :-) Tomorrow is the last day of our long weekend and we will enjoy it together with the Plett's 'round the corner from us who have invited us for lunch. Tuesday finds us at the Aga Kahn for a last doctors' visit before the last few days of packing, a few dinners with friends and the MAF monthly BBQ prior to our Monday night departure. I cant tell you how excited i am to be back in Canada: to see my parents' new house!, to see "our" new home-assignment suite, to unpack wedding gifts i've used 3 out of 6 years of marriage, to enjoy fellowship with people who (i hope) know me well enough and for long enough (more than 3 years, like anyone on this side of the world) to understand when i'm being serious and when i'm being facetious. People who are known well enough to me to say things as they are. I'm looking forward to that. I'm looking forward to firesides with s'mores, and to showing Judah so many things for the first time!: camping, snowmen in the winter, a movie theatre, a toy store with a large percentage of good quality toys rather than junk, playgrounds within walking distance of our house, fireworks on Canada Day, biking in a straight line and to a specific destination rather than round in circles within a compound driveway, kid's meals at McDonalds (in strict moderation!), riding on busses, bath water he can drink if he wants! drinking from the garden hose!! drinking from something other than the water filter!! eating food straight out of the garden rather than bleaching it first... Wowzers, the luxuries of north american living! :-)

June Long weekend

It's the long weekend for us this weekend. We've spent our first day recuperating from the long week. Well, Josh has. He was pretty bushed from the ICAO Safety Management Seminar he attended everyday last week. Judah was stoked to finally be able to play with his dad for the day. It makes me a bit nervous about the 2 months he'll be unable to play with his dad in the next short while. Alas.

Judah's countdown calendar tells us that we've got 9 more days until our departure. The suitcases in the spare room are slowly starting to fill up with clothes and bits and bobs. Thankfully we didnt come here with much, so we're leaving with not much more than a small suitcase and a carry-on between the two of us (Judah and i). I'm trying to find "treats" to fill Judah's carry-on with that will occupy him on the long voyage... He's already beginning to show significant signs of boredom due to movie overload, which makes me wonder what he'll do for 8+8+3 hours of flight time. :-S ACK! Hopefully his Geoff-inherited trait of sleeping for 95% of the trip will kick in like always on the airplane. ;-)

I think it's public knowledge already that Josh will be flying to Madagascar 2 days after our departure, re-packing our stuff and sorting out everything that needs to be sorted for our house and Judah's school and whatnotall from the 3 months we've been in Kenya and for the 5 months we'll be in Canada. Then he's back to Kenya 4 days later to fly out to Juba, Sudan where he'll be flying the Madagascar program's MKE Caravan (which had been in Uganda until now) until he departs on our original departure date at the end of July. He is VERY excited to be flying again after almost 3 months of office work. I'm glad not to be moving to Juba, to be honest, but i'm glad that he'll have something to do to keep him occupied/in the air for the duration of time until he arrives in Canada for our home assignment. I reckon a 7 month furlough would be too long for him to be on the ground. :-)

umm...

I feel like I've nothing new to write about these days. It's Sunday again, so the week ahead looms dark and foreboding. :-D LOL. Only 2 such dark and foreboding weeks to go before Judah and I embark on our global traveling adventure. (ACK!) Josh is away longer days this week because he's attending a MAF Safety Officer's Workshop on the other side of the city (near Rosslyn) and they return home during rush hour, which, if you know anything about Nairobi traffic, means they'll be on the road for what will seem like eternity.

We just spent this last weekend with the Slaubaugh's who flew in MKE yesterday noon to the MAF hangar where we picked them up and took them out for a late lunch at Pizza Inn. This morning after church we went to (take a wild guess...) Java House, which Josh and i have already had quite enough of, perhaps surprisingly. I reckon it has assuaged my cravings for burgers and fries, iced teas and specialty coffees. Pizza Inn has also sated my appetite for good pizza, so all i need now is some chicken fingers.. oh, and chicken wings with... brown pepsi ;-) and then i'm about good for fast food binging in the Western world. Looking forward, however, to a night out at Bangkok Thai and Palatal/Mongolian grill, but that'll have to wait until Josh gets back to Canada. Until then, bring on the smokies, the vareneky, berries of every imaginable sort... and family and friends i guess. :-D LOL. ok, i'm just kidding. Food does rank very high though on both Josh and my yearning to be in Canada list, if you hadnt already noticed.

The Slaubaugh's are leaving tomorrow early morning for the Masai Mara where they will recline in style at some ritzy safari lodge and gaze out at lions and tigers and bears (oh my!) (There are no tigers and bears in Africa, Mr. Josh!) Ah, it's good to have "my girls" (as judah calls them) back in company at least for a few days. We'll spend a few more days with them at the end of the week before they fly out commercially back to Madagascar, lucky bums! The plane is staying on the mainland for now, due to the contiuing lunacy in Madagascar which in turn means the few aid organizations that do work in the country still arent doing much of anything now. Alas.

WE were talking of this exact thing today at lunch actually, about how former English colonized countries seem to get all the hype, the PR, the aid organizations, etc and the former French colonized countries get the shaft. Figure that one out if you can.

It seems i do have something to ramble about after all...
Actually, in the past week i've been going through some pretty hefty pre-reentry crud, which has me reconsidering whether i want to return to Manitoba after all... (nervous chuckle). I'm realizing that i've become (or perhaps just recognized in the last 4 years that i am) a very private person. In Madagascar, or wherever in the world we find ourselves, i can control to a great extent what family, friends, and most everyone from Canada knows about us because you (the Canadian reader) only know what i tell you via the blog or emails or on the phone. If i've gained a bit of weight, for example, i choose to leave that part out of the blog, which is quite easy to do when i'm usually the photo taker :-) Or, if my kid is bratty, doesnt behave in church or has disgusting table manners, i dont write about that either. (imagine the freedom!!:-) I've realized anew that such luxury is not known to people who live in small town, or near small town, where everyone knows you and your life is fodder for idle conversation. Although i'm sure to the normal small towner this doesnt phase you since you're so used to it, after being away from it for as long as we have, the thought of this kind of intimacy gives me the cold sweats! This week has been a lot of struggle over letting go of my imagined control and trusting that whatever reentry to Canada for more than half a year entails, God is in control. I care only what God thinks of me and my family. I seek to have more of Him and less of me in my life. And please God, let me reenter with an abundance of your grace!

A change in privacy is only one of the things i'm getting nervous about as i prepare myself for going back. I am afraid, to be blunt. And reentry is a scary beast in my experience.

I AM, however, really looking forward to longer than 12 hours of sunlight in a day! "Woot woot", as my brother would say. I was just reminded of this northern-hemi phenomenon when i read my sister in law's blog and she wrote of how her kids have soccer from 6:30 or 7pm until 8!! Egad! That's usually our bed time since it's dark by then and we've nothing else to do but read a book or watch a show and go to bed! Just think of it, daylight PAST 6:30!! (ok, this is only thrilling to those people who know the "tyranny" of semi-equatorial living) LOL. I hope i can stay up long enough to appreciate it! :-D

Where have all the authors gone?

I've recently been reading books about Nairobi (Green City in the Sun, Barbara Wood) and England (the Royal Gardeners, Alan Titchmarch) and have enjoyed countless Wilber Smith books about early pioneers and European Adventurers of South Africa, Rhodesia, and other parts of the African continent. Alexander McCall Smith does a wonderful job of describing Botswana in his novels of the #1 Ladies Detective Agency. In all my reading i feel somewhat saddened by the fact that there arent such novels talking (positively, not depressingly!) about the adventures of people pioneering or living in Manitoba or Madagascar.

Perhaps Madagascar is still too new a country, still developing it's own written history and culture, since i have noticed that many malagasy havent the answers to my queries of malagsy history themselves. Moreover, Kenya has been on the beaten track of European and other adventurers for a lot longer than Madagascar has. Indeed, Madagascar continues to be sidelined in many other ways and perhaps literature and historical fiction arent high on their developmental checklist. To be sure, i may also be missing out on Malagasy gems of fiction and history since i havent access to Malagasy or French written word. Mores the pity.

But Manitoba! Surely there has already got to be some good fiction about life in Manitoba that isnt written in that insiduous Canadian Literature mode! I cant tell you how tired i am of the Canadian penchance for it's particular "artsy" way of writing. (bah! and for those who dont know me well enough to understand that this critique doesnt mean i'm throwing out the babe with the bathwater - i DO appreciate this literature, i just wish i could find something OTHER than!) Is there Manitoban historical fiction in the style of Wilber Smith or Alexander McCall Smith? Maybe i just dont know about it. Or... maybe Manitobans think of their province with such malignancy that they dont regard it as a place worthy to write popular fiction about. It is a particular beef of mine, actually, this Manitoban un-pride, or rather, this pride of being disdainful of our province. Where does that come from? (see, there's a good topic for a book!) It is my highly biased opinion that much of Manitoban un-pride comes from a lack of good literature and good writing about the place. Who cares about slogans, for goodness sake?! I've often thought it would be so inspiring to read articles or short stories, or novels! extolling the fantastic things about our province! The reasons why i miss Manitoba, for example, could fill up a novel, i'm sure. But i recognize that i am definitely not the sort of writer who should embark on such a mammoth project (sticking up for Manitoba to Manitobans requires an extremely clever person in my opinion). I'm simply frustrated that there isnt already a plethora of talented authors who have taken on such a task. I want to be able to go to the English book store or library and take out a series by one author on the saga of life in Manitoba and be able to sit down and read it easily (not with force like one would pull teeth or read The Diviners, for example. I think the Diviners is a fantastic book, even though i have been unable to get through it myself, but good grief! Does Manitoban writing have to be put on my bookshelf next to Russian Authors, categorized as "read only if required to in a literature class" or, "read to gain prestige from literary snobs"?!) Alas.

I'm not about to go systematically and critically through my experiences of reading Manitoban literature, but i stand by my conclusion that there is a niche here that has yet to be filled and i yearn to read that niche-filler's novels. I yearn to read about the unique and positive idiosyncrasies of Manitoban life in a mode of writing that is easy and mainstream, let's say. I know we dont like to be mainstream in Manitoba, or at least that's what the literature i've read so far tells me, but i reckon it'd be a boost to our provincial self esteem if we could use that means to communicate our story.

Should anyone know of such a book i would be flabbergasted and immensely pleased to hear of it and taste it for myself. Please let me know.

Adieu...

I remember my grandma peters babysat me every day when i was a preschooler while my mother went off to work to put my dad through school. I remember sometimes she would send me to wake up auntie mona if she ever slept in too late, she would put the record on and dance "the chicken dance" whenever i asked her to. I would tag along at times when she brought lunch to grampa and my uncles out on the field. She made the best vareniky and schmont fat served with farmer sausage, and it was at her house i learned to eat them all with a liberal amount of ketchup. I have fond memories of matching christmas presents from grandma for the three of us oldest granddaughters, of family gatherings on the front grass or weekends at the beach staying in cabins, which i thought was so luxurious, of fried chicken on Mother's Day and Pic-a-Pop in a glass bottle. I shared a love of knitting and crochet with grandma and would often ask her how to sort out my tangled mess. Grandma was a lovely lady indeed and she will be greatly missed by her family. I'm sad not to have been able to say a last farewell in person before she left on her final journey to the King. It will be strange to return home and find you gone. I'll miss you...

"cheap" thrills

Last night Judah had friends come over (Colleagues from MAF) and Josh and i went out for a movie... in a theatre!! Since we arrived in Nairobi we've been eying the cinema with avarice. Since we dont have access to theatres in Mada, and since Josh and i used to go to the movies often before we left Canada, it's something we miss. A Lot. While many of you may read our posts about safaris and giraffe centres with slight wistfullness, (and while we think these things are cool too!) last night while we walked up the stairs to the theatres, while we bought our tickets and popcorn, while we waited in the empty theatre for the movie to start* i had such a thrill in me! :-D A Movie in the Cinema!! WhooHoo!! It is indicative of the change in us, i guess, what we find exciting these days. I found the trailors exciting!! Since we havent gone out for a movie in so long and we dont have TV even the trailers are new and thrilling! :-D It makes me a bit nervous to think of returning to Canada where all the things i've missed over the years will be waiting for us. ACK! We capped off our evening with a browse in the English Bookstore (!!) and a burger at the Java House. Josh declared it a great way to celebrate his birthday.

*I had thought, since we were cramped for time what with getting the pizza, instructing the sitters, driving in what is usually TERRIBLE traffic which gets insanely worse if it's raining, which it was, we'd get to the theatre too late and they'd tell us that the seats were all sold out. :-D Ha. By the time the movie started there were a total of 4 people besides us in the theatre.

Judah apparently had a marvelous time with his friends eating delivery pizza and coke, watching a video, reading books and being able to tell someone else to please leave the room while he dressed himself for bed. He also reportedly locked the bathroom door so they wouldnt come in while he was on the toilet. :-) Our friends told us they didnt mind minding such a cute kid. :-) I dont mind that my kid's so cute if we get such willing sitters.

4 more weekends until Judah and i leave the country. Judah is now crossing off the days on the calendar to mark off our progress towards our departure. We're getting increasingly nervous about our time away from Josh for so long, but perhaps Canada will be so distracting that the time will go by quickly.

Back to the weekday

Yesterday, after breakfast, Josh and Judah walked out down the street and came home with 18 roses (for 3$). If you lived in Africa Mom, i would have bought you a few armfuls of roses for mother's day. :-) Judah, quite miffed that someone should be receiving more attention than him and have a whole day for themselves, kept insisting that it was also Judah's Day! (for future reference, dear family, PLEASE try to keep the hype down over meeting Judah again upon our return . He doesnt need more 3-year old perceived evidence that he is the most important person in the world!) He also demanded that one of those roses he bought with dad was for him (for judah's day).

Josh took us to a wonderful Italian restaurant for Mother's Day lunch. It was divine! And we sat beside a group of French ladies who chattered away in France French, which made me so homesick. I have realized in the last month that i miss speaking and hearing french. I'm not terribly good at it, mind you, but i enjoy it immensely.

But now the weekend is over and we're back to enduring a LONG day of doing mostly nothing until Josh gets home from work. The poor guy, although his days go by lickity-split, is working so hard at just making sure to keep up with the day to day hectic operations of the MAFK office. He has remembered again why office work isnt his calling. :-D Currently, Judah is just finishing off his morning cartoons (Inspector Gadget) and then i think we'll be off to the Adam's Arcade "mall" where there is a Java House, a playstructure, a pharmacy where i need to get some drugs, and the leather shop where last weekend i bought the most delightful leather African bag... but i'm going to attempt to bring it back because after 4 days of use it's already unraveling and falling apart. Bah! We'll see if Kenya has a return policy :-) After a cuppa and a "treat" and a good play on the cement egg-playstructure it'll almost be lunch time, which will be followed by nap-time and then making supper time. And then the day is over. :-) Only 4 more weekdays to go until the weekend! :-D
_______________________
Since most of you are still sleeping and havent read the blog yet today, i have the chance to add a bit more. We just got back from a walk to the Adams Arcade where i was successful in at least getting an exchange for my bag. I am sad about not having my original choice (the one you see in the photos from the weekend) especially since it had a nice long strap, but this new bag is nice too and bigger... better for more stuff like extra clothes and nappies and whatnot.

Since this is a boring blog (mirroring our boring weekdays) i thought i'd also add a short "Currently" list, since i'm reading some interesting stuff recently:

Currently Reading:
Green City in the Sun, Barbara Wood (recommended by Lydia). It's really good!! Sort of a history of Kenya/Nairobi but in novel form. It's neat to be living currently in the general area of what i'm reading about.
Royal Gardeners: The History of Britain's Royal GArdeners, Alan Titchmarsh (BBC) A facinating history of Gardens in Britain. :-)
Websites about Manitoba Gardening in preparation for living at my parents' house who have a new garden to put together.

Josh is reading
The End of the Spear, Steve Saint. He giggles a lot while reading this book, which i find surprising. I guess, knowing the end of the story, i thought it wouldnt be a funny kind of read. I am obviously wrong in that regard.

Judah is almost able to quote by heart:
The Lorax, Gertrude McFuzz, Yertle the Turtle, all by Dr.Seuss. Josh and my favourite is when he says "miff-muffered-moof" :-)

Currently Watching:
Judah - Gadget and the Gadgetinis (4 episodes); Flushed Away
The rest of us - Heros season 3. (argh!)

Currently Working On:
Not spending too much money on all the lovely stuff they sell in the Masai Market. I realized recently that i am doing in Kenya exactly what i am puzzled about in others when they come to Madagascar on short visits: buying all sorts of things to display in my home that come from a foreign place even though i dont live there! This realization should cause a reaction of either helping me to curb my spending or... changing my attitude towards others. ;-) Hopefully both.

Documenting our Nairobi budget in an attempt to become more involved in family finances because i love my husband.

Being patient while waiting for word on what day Judah and i will depart for Canada.

Compiling, documenting and sending out our Health Care Claim Form to Dubai to be reimbursed for the astronomically expensive (relative to supposedly "free" in Canada) health care we've been blessed to take advantage of in Nairobi.

Making lists of things we'll need to invest in once in Canada BEFORE we arrive so we're not swayed by the overwhelming amounts of things we either didnt know there was to have or that we've forgotten about in our absence. :-) My neighbour Rhonda from Madagascar (currently in Uganda) confirmed to me the wisdom in such a plan when she returned from her end of term home assignment. She said that she had had such a list, but when confronted by the innumerable choices and new cool things available, she reveiwed her list and (because 5 months is a long time to be away) thought she really didnt need the things on the list and would rather have some other things... only to return to Madagascar and realize that she had written those things on the list down for a reason! (this is why lists are a good thing... and only as good as you keep to them! :-D ) I hope Rhonda will write me in December and remind me to ensure i have all the things on my list and not much else!

Making a mental list of things i would debrief myself on if i were MAF Canada.

Making a list of appointments to make and attend in the first month after our return. (Shame, today i was telling Judah about how i needed to go to the Dentist when we got back to Canada and whether he'd also like to go to the dentist... and he became so frightened of the prospect that he didnt even want to leave the house to go out for coffee!) I'm holding my breath for a haircut (after 4 years) that actually looks nice for once!

And then he kissed me...

Actually, i think it was a she. :-D LOL.

We just got back this morning from the Giraffe Centre where we were delighted to see giraffe up close (instead of running away from us like they did in "the wild") and where we were able to feed the giraffe and touch them, and have them touch us with their slimy tongues. :-) This was one of my and Josh's favourite things i reckon. Judah was a bit of a fraidy cat, despite peer pressure from his mother that "Josiah did it and HE wasnt afraid!" (i know, i am a bully-mom). I succumbed to peer pressure from Josh and the staff at the centre myself and allowed the giraffe to "kiss" me (that is, take a food pellet from between my lips). Josh was too much of a chicken to do that himself! ;-)






You might be able to see in the photo above that we've been to Kazuri Beads (the bracelet and earrings). Judah and i went to the Kazuri Bead factory and store on Thursday with Lydia Plett. We got a tour of the whole process and Judah liked to see how the ladies took the mud and made them into balls and then painted them and put them into big deep-freeze-looking ovens. I quite liked all the pottery dishes and teapots i saw there... but pottery isnt exactly the most practical of things to try to transport via air. Alas.

These photos are thanks to Daniel and Damaris Lowen-Rudgers' camera they allowed us to use today.

I wept. Again.

Church makes me cry, for some reason. We arent really attending a church regularly here in Kenya. Our drive to see as much countryside as possible during the weekends has kept us from picking one community with whom to celebrate on Sunday. This last weekend we attended the Mennonite Hymn Sing again. And it was great. And i wept. Again. I cant exactly put my finger on what i am overflowing with during a gathering of Saints, praising the One God with One voice: mourning church disagreements perhaps, mourning denominational misunderstandings, or simply overflowing with awe at the incredible unity that emanates from a group of people* who gather to sing hymns for the pure joy of it.

I had to smile when, after a few sad attempts at a song that few people knew, someone suggested having one person who knew the song to run it through first and then we'd all follow. Does that happen in any other fellowship than Mennonite? (i dont know, i'm asking) Like, "let's not give up on this song that we know could be so beautiful an offering of praise to our God. Let's forget our sad first attempts and allow someone to help us..." and then it was beautiful.

I also appreciate that every time i attend Mennonite Hymn Sing (the two times we've gone) they sing 606 at the finish (606, for those who dont sing it every family gathering, is the extended version of Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow). It's heavenly. Mostly because it reminds me so potently of my Reimer family... except that at Mennonite Hymn Sing they sing it terrr rrr iiiii bbbb lll yy sssslll oooooooooooowww lly! For almost every other song the song leader encourages us all not to let it drag... but then she allows 606 to drag on interminably. Bah! It's a PRAISE song for goodness sake! Praise is supposed to be lively, isnt it?!

After Hymn Sing we loiter around eating cake and drinking coffee and chatting with people. I happened to see a chap with a "CMU Blazers" t-shirt on. Since i used to work for CMU and the shirt put me back in the "meet and greet" mode, i struck up conversation with the guy and his buddies. Happens they are from Winkler. and the guy played hockey with my little brother this last winter. small world. Well, it sure is if you live in Kenya rather than Madagascar. (although i did meet one of my little brothers' friends in Madagascar too now that i remember... perhaps it's more that my little brother has a big world of friends ;-)

I'm looking forward to celebrating Sunday in Manitoba in a few weeks. We have made the decision for me and Judah to return to Canada straight from Kenya rather than route through Madagascar for 6+ weeks. Praise the Lord for that!! If everything works out with the ticketing, i hope to survive 16+ hours of flight time with my 3 year old without either of us getting lost sometime early-mid June. Haha! Jocelyn scores an almost full summer in Canada after all!! And Josh scores a weekend in the Kenyan game park sleeping in a tent with lions and leopards prowling around in the dark. I hope he wont need to use the loo in the night, is all i can say. :-) Josh will return to Madagascar mid-June and hopefully do a bit of flying prior to leaving for Canada at the end of July.




* and i dont think it's only Mennonites at the Mennonite Hymn Sing, they dont check your i.d. for your last name before you enter.

Kenyan Labour Day weekend

We're enjoying a long weekend this weekend, Josh is enjoying an escape from the mayhem of the operations office, and Judah and i are enjoying Josh at home for a change. Yesterday we strolled down to the Toi market and picked up a few finds: some crocs for Judah, and - finally - a pair of green sunglasses so we can all look cool walking the streets with our shades on, a hat and a shirt and some board shorts for me... Then we strolled on to Java House for a cold drink and i meandered up to the second level for a look into a nice looking leather shop... and strolled out with a fantastic bag, and Josh got himself a new belt. Later on in the evening we left Judah with some "big boys" who live in the MAF compound, and 3 pizzas and a movie and took the parents out for some yummy Italian in an ambiant restaurant to thank them for the babysitting and the use of their camera last weekend and the toys they lent to Judah for our time in Nairobi. It was lovely. Then we went on to Java House for a "late" night cuppa and a cake. It was a harsh day for the JRPlett finances, but a great day together as a family and with friends.

This evening we're off to the MAF monthly BBQ. and tomorrow we're attending the Mennonite Hymn Sing with Menno and Lydia. Although we didnt escape the city this weekend, it'll be a nice relaxing time enjoying the things Nairobi has to offer.

I am debating with josh whether it's a good idea to return directly to Canada from here with Judah, thus shaving 6 hours off our flight time. The Crisis in Madagascar doesnt seem to show signs of abating soon (but, we are out of country and therefore our sense of how things are going on is somewhat skewed) and i dont fancy another 2 months of tension wondering what's going to happen and what we wont be able to find in the shops... I do fancy a longer time in CAnadian summer, but not being without Josh for over a month. I do fancy being in my own home again and checking up on my garden (i really miss my garden!!), but the fact that we'd be returning in winter time sort of curbs my enthusiasm since nothing's growing just now anyway. Alas. It's a tough decision, but one we'll need to make soon so we can actually get on a flight that doesnt cost the earth. Regardless of our decision, Josh will return to Madagascar until our original departure date at the end of July.