living in simplicity...by my laziness

fair warning...this post talked about blood...don't keep reading if this will freak you out in any way...we will not be held responsible for any "gross" feelings


so I cut my finger earlier today trying to open the foil seal of a can of instant coffee...  not a bad cut but enough to get my 5year old to think it was a lot of blood.  

so i first finished making my coffee, then before the blood dripped off my hand I went to the sink and washed it off.  I then wrapped up my finger in a cloth to keep the blood off my coffee cup.

the bleeding stopped with in a couple of minutes, however later in the day I kept bumping it and it would open up.  after the third or fourth time of the bleeding starting up again, Danielle suggested that I get a band-aid.  what....

my first thought was no way...that would be a waste...I'd have to go find one and then when ever we run out of the we will have to find where on narok they might sell them.  That is just too much work!

these thoughts we followed quickly by a rationalization of saying that I am just "living in simplicity"

some of what i didn't know that I didn't know...

Cross cultural living is a lot of fun..... and a lot of work.  one of the things that we get to do is to find out some of the things that we didn't know.  Even this thought goes against our cultural mindset.  in America we are basically what we know.  if you know how to change a tire, then if called upon you could be a "tire changer", if you are really good at math then often you will be seen as smart.  The basic mentality of our home culture is that if you know then you have power, so even admitting that we don't know something is bad.  which leads us to...

Who assigns "good/bad", "right/wrong", "OK/not OK"?  there is a range of normal in every culture...with most people falling within this range (and occasionally some choosing to intentionally be out of the norm).  It is very likely that the range of normal is so naturally ingrained that you don't notice when people are acting within that range, but you know when someone is operating outside of normal (even if you can't put into words "what normal is").

So I am admitting to 1) not knowing something and 2) that something is how to operate within our host culture's range of normal.  If you are still reading this blog then you are family, close friends, or bored.  so instead of continuing this boring set of revelations I'll just give some examples.

(some of the) Things that I don't know:

about food-
-playing with your food is ok ( when using it to eat other foods)
-you can and should eat every part of the chicken (including bones and organs)
-you can and should eat the kidneys of the goat raw and while it is still warm
-the soup made from the head of the goat is most flavorful
-whoever invented long-rice (spaghetti noodles) isn't from around here
-tables are for white people
-every day you should have enormous amounts of ugali (corn meal and water in cake form)
-you can not buy food more than 1-2 days in advance
-all good food tastes "sweet" even if there is nothing sweet about it.
-if you eat pork you are gross
-if you eat fish, then you must also eat snake and lizards (gross)
-any time is tea time

about cooking:
-recipes are for the white people
-measuring anything is for the white people
-cooking anything beyond the 6 dishes that everyone knows how to cook is a waste


about babies:
- it doesn't matter how much the baby is sweating it is cold and you need to put on more clothes
- feed the baby all of the time...


about kids:
-they go to school (age 3 and up), unless the is a greater family need
-they stay in school until 8th grade
-they continue school if they are smart, or you can afford for them to keep going




that is enough for now...maybe more later

he made it!

kev called last night and he made it to the top! the cell network wasn't very good where he was so we didn't get to talk long, but he said they were doing good. last night was their last night on the mountain. today, he'll come the rest of the way down and then stay at a hotel about 40 minutes from the ending gate (the same one he stayed at before the climb). tomorrow morning, they'll take a bus back to nairobi where he'll stay w/ some friends from jbu before coming home on thursday. we're excited to see him! i keep reminding myself that he's going to be really tired when he gets home.

the kids are doing well. we've still been doing school while kev's been gone but it hasn't been as intense (as intense as kindergarten and pre-school can be?!?!). we've enjoyed the continued routine to our day.

after the weekend of it just being the kids and i, it's nice to have jackline around as well. she did some grocery shopping for me this morning before coming to work. i think some people regularly have their househelper do shopping for them, but we haven't. it was so nice though to not have to figure out when i was going to get to town. cyrus, my language helper, has also decided that since my mom will be here, i won't get in as much swahili so he had me meet w/ him yesterday in addition to today and tomorrow this week. again, it's nice to have someone else around. the kids also enjoy cyrus.

yesterday, jboy told jackline about easter eggs. during lunch, she said, "so john is telling me that easter has something to do w/ eggs?" i got to explain the US commercialism of easter to jackline and cyrus. cyrus always thinks the word bunny is funny (i'm not sure why) so he really got a kick out of the easter bunny.

he called

so kev called tonight. i talked to him for less than a minute when he asked me to call him back. i tried, but it won't go through. i was hoping he'd called back but it didn't happen. however, he sounded really good and it was nice to hear his voice.

today, he had a special treat for us hidden in the wardrobe, behind his shoes. it took awhile for the kids to find all of it, but when they did, there was a chocolate bar (a fruit and nut cadbury bar!), two apple juice boxes, a bottle of strawberry fanta, and a movie (tangled). Fridays are pizza and movie nights so he said he had something special for our night. we also drink soda with dinner, well, J-boy and kev and i do (e doesn't like it) so the strawberry fanta is a new soda for us and j-boy enjoyed it. e usually drinks juice so we assumed the apple juice boxes were for her and m. the movie was a hit and one e and i had been wanting to see. so, we enjoyed our pizza and movie night and talked about how much we missed daddy.

on his climb today, kev will have gone higher than he's ever gone. tonight he will sleep at just over 14,000 feet. tomorrow is an acclimation day so he'll hike up and then sleep at the same place he is tonight. kev says hiking high and sleeping low is good for acclimating!?!?!

again, it was good to hear his voice and he seemed to be doing good (in the less than one minute we talked :) )

thanks for the prayers for the kids and i. we are doing well. tomorrow, we will go to a friends house for awhile in the morning and then have been invited over to our kenyan teammates house for dinner. it will be a busy day, but it looks like we should get naps w/ no problem!

no answer

i talked w/ kevin last night after receiving a text from our teammate katie saying "kevin's out of credit. he loves you." he can still receive texts and calls but he can't send any or make any. he said i should try and call him everyday at 7pm and he'd have his phone on. we read that some places on the mountain have coverage. i tried at 7pm...no answer, no ringing actually which means either he forgot to turn his phone on or there's no coverage where he is tonight.

he's climbing the rongai route incase anyone wants to follow along online. today, he drove from the hotel to the route gate (about 4-5 hours) and then hiked for about 3-4 hours. he should be just through the rain forest area tonight and camping at about 9,300ft. he did find a sleeping bag to rent in moshi and they're camping in tents.

tonight, i had no idea what to make for dinner (this is a frequent occurrence here in kenya). i was looking through the cabinets and saw the popcorn kernels. kev really doesn't like having popcorn for dinner; however, the kids and i do. i suggest popcorn and the kids yelled w/ delight..sweet! we had popcorn....and coke floats for dinner tonight. it was so good. i suggested maybe having it again while daddy's gone and the kids thought that sounded great! awesome! our teammates, tim and liz, are bringing dinner over tomorrow night and friday's pizza night so my next two nights are covered!

we're missing kev lots and m keeps asking where he is and if he's home. we made a countdown today and j-boy keeps referring to today as day 8...meaning we have 8 days until daddy's home. we can't wait!

the adventure continues...

kevin's in moshi, tz today, spending time in town and hoping to find the last of his needed gear. he said it is much warmer there and he had to sleep on top of the covers last night. he's hoping tonight is a bit cooler. he will leave tomorrow morning for a short drive to the entrance gate where he'll get checked in and then begin his climb.

he left a journal for the kids and i to read while he's gone and to record our daily activities for him to read when he gets back. he tells us what he'll be doing each day and then gives the kids a challenge or something to think about that has to do with what he'll be experiencing that day. he's also left "special treats" for us around the house. today, the journal said to find a package in his bottom dresser drawer. we found three small chocolate bars and one big cashew and coconut cadbury bar. these were our after lunch treats (except for mine...it's more than a one sitting treat). he also wrote something special that he's praying for each day. he was so thoughtful and took time to make this time special for us as well. regardless, we are missing him and ready for him to be home. :)

i'm not able to talk with kev on the phone but we've decided we'll text a couple times each day and see how long we can do that before kev's phone credit runs out. therefore, we send these extremely long texts and try and give as much information as possible w/o being able to ask questions. kev said he's met a lot of really neat people at the hotel where they're staying.

tonight we are going to our teammates house for dinner and then having dinner w/ other teammates on thursday night. this week, we have teammates in town; however, one family is leaving for furlough this coming weekend and the others are going on vacation, so next week, we'll be alone.

kevin's gone for an adventure

kev left today for mt. kilimanjaro. he'll get home march 22...in 11 days. he's super excited and we're super excited for him to come home, show us his pictures, and tell us all about it.

in the mean time, we will track his journey on the internet, watch the weather reports for the mountain, and read the daily journal he left for us. today, he wrote us a short note and told us to find a surprise behind the TV. we were all excited to find two bags of candies!

today marks 11 weeks pregnant with #4. i'm feeling pretty tired still and try to nap every afternoon. my nausea is pretty limited to the late afternoon and evening. i've only gotten sick a few times, thankfully. i'm also trying to continue my language while kev's gone as well as schooling with the kids.

last week, we had a bit of a break from school as e was out sick for three days. she seems to be doing better although her appetite isn't back to normal yet.

we'd appreciate prayers over the next week and a half for safety and protection for all of us. pray for good health and rest as well. pray for patience for me as i care for the kids. pray for peace between the kids and extra obedient hearts. pray for kev to connect with God as he enjoys His beautiful creation.