That Long Ago Trip to Kenya: Episode Two, Visiting the Giraffes

A very short 15 minutes or so from my parents house in Karen, there is a Giraffe Refuge, I think on the edge of the Nairobi game park. (Mom, is that right?). We went one afternoon towards the end of the visit, hoping mainly to see these amazing creatures, but having heard that we might be able to feed them also. Gladys, as you can see below, spent nearly the Whole Time feeding them and was angry when the food seemed to slow and run out. The tongue of a giraffe is like slimy sand paper. She didn't mind this at all. Elphine, on the other hand, was completely disgusted and would not go near those tongues for any price.



This, obviously, is not a giraffe but a very fine warthog.



After being so brave and feeding the giraffe, Gladys was given a very fine wooden giraffe. Elphine picked out three more smaller ones, one for herself and one each for her brothers.

That Long Ago Trip to Kenya: Episode One, Visiting the Baby Elephants

We were toying with the idea of cleaning the house and then going to the library. However, as it is pouring rain it seemed better to waste time online looking at pictures of kittens and reading all the corrections to the Old Classical Conversations Foundations Guide and listening to this:

Finally it occurred to me to blog (did I mention the house needs cleaning?) and at the very least put up some of the very fine pictures we have of our recent trip to Kenya.

As is always the case, any time I visit my parents I come back in a better frame of mind, more grounded in reality, more cheerful, and, in this case, well able to put the grief and stress of the last six months behind me and focus on the present. I've been able to put back on the garment of contentment I once wore, and also look forward in delight and anticipation to this next baby, nameless though she continues.

I'm so grateful that we got to go and see the Anglican Church in Kenya first hand, and see NEGST, where my dad teaches, and see another part of such a vast continent. I'm embarrassed to say that I was surprised to find Kenya as recognizably African. I assumed it would be So Different from the the French Northwest. But it felt comfortable and homelike.

For this first installment, not in chronological order, I thought I'd indulge in pictures from the orphaned baby elephant reserve. There is a fixed time every day that the public can go and see these baby elephants have their large bottles of milk (baby formula to be exact, talk about expensive). The elephants are rescued from a variety of unhappy circumstances--falling in wells, death of the mother, falling into holes in a pipeline, wounded by hyenas. If I remember correctly, there were 19 elephants, way up from previous years because poaching is up.

This young lady delivered a fascinating and informative lecture about the elephants. As she talked, various baby elephants came for pats and to see if there was more to eat. She told us how the various elephants came to be there, and what their lives were like. For instance, baby elephants miss their mamas exceedingly and often cry through the night. They each have their own keeper who sleeps with them all night, feeds them, plays with them and generally lives with them all the time. All other human contact is very minimized so that they can be reintroduced into the wild. This process, once they are taken to the main reserve, can last anywhere from 2 to 6 or more years.



Along with all the baby elephants, this little orphaned Rhino came out to be acclaimed and patted by all. He was very interested in all the people and everyone got to touch him. We, foolishly, waited till he had been lathered in mud before we got our turn.

Home again, Home again...

Elphine is dropping off in the middle of her Bible Story. Romulus is talking loudly and squeezing drops of water out of a bottle onto his tummy. Alouicious is wiggling. Gladys is climbing on and off my lap. She's been throwing up all afternoon. In other words, we're all back in one place cozily together and SO GRATEFUL

1. That we traveled safely and that all the airplanes were sound and secure.
2. That we got to go and be with my mom at such a moment.
3. That so many of you took such lovely care of Matt and the boys (meals, a spotless house, many fun outings for the boys).
4. That we got to have a first hand encounter with the Anglican Church in Kenya and meet so many people who have prayed so much for us.
5. That my parents are this moment in the air and coming to be with us and that my mom is able to take a full breath through her own artery, 40 percent open.

Here comes the baby. This post will have to continue at a later moment.

Monday Morning

It is gray and threatening to rain and only 9 in the morning. Gladys drug me out of bed at what seemed like the middle of the night, but was really 6am, screaming for milk and kicking me or something. She was unwell over the weekend. She caught some throwing up bug and prevented us, except for her grandfather, from attending St. Francis Sunday morning. After being up with her most of the night, I did, however, manage to pull myself enough together to go downtown with my dad to All Saints Anglican Cathedral for the farewell service of Archbishop Nzimbi. Strangely and unaccountably, we ended up in the front row of the clergy (a very nice lady deacon from St. Francis lent me her extra vestments so that I could join in the procession) right next to the altar and able to see everything. It was extremely grand and wonderful. The organ alone takes church music to another realm. And the cathedral is beautiful. I am hoping to go back later in the week especially to take pictures of the bougainvillea such the like I have never seen before.

Saturday we did get to meet Bishop Atwood who is just as fascinating as I imagined him to be. My dad made chocolate chip cookies and we drank copious amounts of tea (at least I did) and talked for two hours. I'm not going to say anymore because it turns out the good bishop reads this blog regularly, and so I intend from henceforth only to be perfectly good.

Today I am hoping maybe we can check out the children's library and learn about something fascinating.

Thursday Evening

In another few minutes I need to go my gasping way back from the office to the house where sits my mother Very happy to be home, and breathing much more freely than I (we are up several 1000 feet and I am not used to it, also, this baby just seems really fat and big, even though it is apparently still only a few ounces). She has an artery now that blood can move all the way through. As the neighbor informed her this afternoon, in England 40% is a passing grade. It may not be in the US, but in this case, its well more than it was on Tuesday, and we are so so grateful, both that the doctors succeeded, when they felt dubious that that would be the case, and that she's home so soon. To open the artery more than 40%, she will require a diamond bit drill and a doctor to handle it, neither of which exist here in Kenya at this time. Indeed, the ability to do what they did this week is very new and special, and the doctor himself recently arrived from being trained in Dallas. So all things come together at the right time, and God is very good.

The girls and I are doing very well. For one thing, we're so happy to be here with my parents and see where they have lived the last four years. And for another, we are finally on the right hour, and so are not crying and fussing all the time. I've been taking pictures constantly, and will try to get them off my camera when I gather my wits. We hope to see the orphaned baby elephant reserve and Rift Valley Academy, and E wants Most of all to go back to the grocery store where they have child sized carts and she pushed her own. I am struggling to get my phone to take a SIM card so that I can text, which is what EVERYbody does here ('why don't you text?' my mother asked, 'I text') because its cheaper.

This Sunday, providentially, we will get to go to the Cathedral and see the goodbye service for Archbishop Nzimbi, and there are rumors that we will get to meet the Famous Bishop Atwood, about whom I have heard so much but have never yet laid my eyes on. AND there are so many children lined up to play and a library to go to, that we won't have a moment's peace as long as we are here.

An Update

Anne called with an update on her mother and said I could pass on what she told me. I am going to quote her aunt's summary since she seems to have a handle on things:

Joyce is resting in Intensive Care in the hospital, and will stay there a few days for observation. They succeeded in unblocking the artery (which had been completely blocked), but one place they were only able to unblock to about 40%. So overall, the procedure was "partially successful". The procedure was "very complicated", and Joyce was in the surgery for about 4.5 hours.

Thank you for your prayers and please do continue to pray for Joyce's full recovery

Just a Brief Sunday Hello

I'm here for a few minutes while the girls sleep. They've promised a tea party if they go to sleep. My parents house is a child's dream--lovely garden, wonderful dog to play with, big comfortable bed that we're all sleeping in together, cake, children's library on campus. We'll be able to very comfortably finish out the school year and relax and eat too well.

My mother is doing very well, though, as we keep saying, tired and winded. She will go into the hospital on Tuesday morning and the procedure will be at 2. Prayers, of course, are much appreciated.

Safely in Nairobi

Anne has arrived in Nairobi safely and she asked that I update her blog. Here is an abbreviated version of the note she sent yesterday morning:

We had a fairly smooth trip. I'm exhausted because the girls didn't sleep at all the 12 hours to Dubai and then did sleep from there to Nairobi, but I was so uncomfortable that I didn't sleep much. So I'm running on empty.

My parents house is lovely. I will be able to help cook and do school and not be too exhausted but still be a help, I think. My mom looks good, but she really does get breathless going up the stairs. She seems basically cheerful. We'll all go to the hospital tomorrow to hear what the doctor has to say and then next week everything gets going.

While I was dozing in and out on the plane I kept thinking I heard Rowan pretending to be a horse. It turned out to be some kid just crying but it was exactly the same sound he makes.

The girls are loaded up with cake and running around the garden playing with the dog and basically we're all gearing up for next week.

Thank you for all of your prayers...

Anne