8-9 post

Dear Friends and Family,

It’s funny how even after writing last weeks email, about appreciating the things that you see in everyday life, I can still walk through my days missing so much. For instance, I saw a bunch of giraffe on Thursday. Did any of you? I looked at them and thought they were pretty cool but I’ve seen those before. It’s amazing how quickly I had already lost touch with seeing those things. In my opinion a giraffe still isn’t nearly as amazing as watching Lydia learn to walk or Rachelle (Naibor orphan) laughing while she plays with something as simple as a balloon. It’s not just Lydia walking or Rachelle playing with a balloon it’s their faces when they do it. You get the privilege of seeing right into their heart and mind. I love watching Lydia’s face as she concentrates and then sees the joy and excitement on the face of everybody else, her face just lights up! It’s funny how much that moment is celebrated and then how later on down the road when she’s totally mobile that excitement turns to frustration and many other emotions. When Rachelle gets that excited it’s like you get a glimpse at her soul, her face just totally radiates it and it is incredible. I think that as we get older and more self conscious and hurt by others we don’t let ourselves experience those emotions to their fullest sometimes. I mean you really have to be with someone that you really trust to truly show those emotions in their purest forms, or maybe it’s just me….I hope that it is! I’ve started playing soccer recently and I have to tell you that sometimes there is some raw emotion being shown their. It turns out that I’m a bit more competitive than I would like to admit. Let me tell you about my week.

The Mohawk was a hit!!! You should have seen the looks the class gave me when they saw me that morning. I came in wearing my leather biker jacket, a bandana and a beanie. As the kids were all reading a passage about not judging people by their looks I took off the beanie and bandana and moved out to the front of them. They weren’t sure what to think of it. I would guess that I’m the first person that they’ve seen at the front of their class with a Mohawk. The lesson went fairly well but I still left room for improvement. For the rest of the week kids have been asking me about it and why I shaved it off. They all thought that it looked pretty great, they said that I looked like a rock star. I’m not too sure how much the deputy teacher appreciated it though. I asked him if I could have a Mt. Kenya Baptist shirt so that I could wear it around town and he just kind of chuckled and walked away.

I’ve had to give the house a bit more attention this week than normal so I’ve had some great time with George (the local contractor). I’ve really enjoyed my time him and will miss him. He is a very smart guy with a great sense of humor. He has become a good friend. I was sick Saturday so the girls even happily volunteered to come out and help with the house since we weren’t able to go to Timau as planned. The trusses were built last week and we are ready to roll them tomorrow. I look forward to walking around on top of the walls tomorrow. It’ll be good to have my nail bags on again. It’s funny how things like my nail bags, motorcycle helmet or my fire helmet feel so comfortable and so much like a part of me that has so many connected many memories. Smells and feelings come flooding back after a long absence from these things. It’ll be good to be back on my motorcycle again, I feel like I’ve been away from a friend. I’m not so sure if that’s healthy or not…..

The girls and I all piled into the car and went out on Safari on Thursday. They really hadn’t seen much wildlife since they’ve been here and that all changed quickly for them. One of the first things we saw was giraffe and water buffalos. We saw nearly everything even elephants! Unfortunately they haven’t been able to see any baboons since arriving and since they are leaving for Nairobi tomorrow I don’t think that they will be seeing any this visit.

Well my friends, I have a soccer game coming up soon so I must get going. The sun is out and a soft breeze is blowing. I’m at a small airport diner and can hear British accents mixed with Swahili and Kikuyu. There are small beautiful birds all around chirping and looking around for a fallen chip. I can smell the dry grass in the breeze and can hear the traffic on the nearby road…..I wonder what I’m missing.

Peace and Love
Caleb