Filled by His Joy: Bado

As my last few days here are quickly coming to an end, I have truly enjoyed my time I have spent with my friends here in Mombasa. I have been slowly coming back to civilization as Mombasa is much more like America than Arusha.

I spent a whole morning with my dear friend Mary at her house with the other mama’s and babies while all the kids were at school. They made chai so we could all drink and eat bread together because ...you always feed a guest... anytime and anyone. While the chai was being made I just walked around the village as though I was at home. I would pop in and out of houses (mud huts) and have little conversations with the families. I met another Kadzo and her children which was naturally followed by the joke that I am really the baby’s mom because my name is Kadzo also. Even though there were three different languages going on (English, Swahili, and Giriama) I felt right at home. I know enough Swahili that I can get by on my own and be able to carry on conversations which made my visit so much more meaningful. I was able to love on Mercy and her little sister, maybe the happiest baby ever, baby Jane. We had a small photo shoot with Mary and her husband because she asked me to come and bring my camera so we could take pictures. We also took pictures with the babies and with the other women. On our way back I stopped and tried my hand at hoeing a field of one of her friends...let's just say I need some practice. I can’t explain my connection or my deep compassion for her along with many of these dear friends of mine out here, but it is there and it is deep.

The village area Mary and Jackson and Mercy live. It is a common middle area whit huts surrounding it on all sides.

Mary, she is TINY! She is about 44 ...I think is what she said.

Sunday afternoon, Chris and I were able to drive out to Richard’s house and visit him and his family again. Baby Lisa was still afraid of us mzungus but she let me hold her for a while with out crying. But little Elijah I adore. I cannot express to you how much I love this little boy! As soon as I got there, little children were yelling “mzungu, mzungu!” and so I yelled “mtoto, mtoto!” (child) and as soon as Elijah heard my voice he runs out the door with the biggest smile on his face and into my arms. We sat on the couch talking and laughing and tickling and letting everyone know that he knew my name and where I was. I adore this family and feel so incredibly blessed to be able to call them my friends. Richard and Pauline have one of the best marriages I have seen on the African side. They have a beautiful family. So this is the conclusion we came to.... since I can’t take Elijah home with me, if my first born is a boy then he can come over and marry baby Lisa when they grow up and we can just be one big family, or we can trade kids.

Elijah, me, Lisa, Richard

You can't not love him

Then today was spent preparing Mbewau for our guests from Hallmark Church in Ft. Worth who will be out at school all day long. They brought sharp new embroidery polos for all of the staff which I handed out today so they would look their best tomorrow. I also spent some time trying to finish out the shoe fitting process which we are ALMOST done with, but not yet. I would like all of you sports people out there who use fields with lines on them to appreciate the wheelbarrow carts that roll the chalk lines on the dirt for you because today Rama, Chris, and Jackson spent a few hours bent over sprinkling the chalk lines by hand.

In my attempt to take a picture of the all of the children from my favorite family I was able to go out and see Mary again. Today she took me to her shamba which is a farm like area where she grows crops- a square area about 10 yards wide. On our way out there she told every one we saw that we were going to see her shamba. She was quite proud as we walked through the villages holding hands to show off her work. She grows corn in a small square area with sand like dirt which is a plot in a row of about 5 other shambas all growing corn. We walked around the entire perimeter and she showed it off to me telling me that corn was there and a big mango tree was here and so and so’s house is over there....then we we reached the area with her biggest corn she asked me to take a picture so I could show all of you how big her corn is. So she ran over and stood in the corn so it would measure against her. I am going back tomorrow to say goodbye and give her pictures of me and my family that she has asked for.