sunday night update

it is 8:00 p.m. with a light rain and 68°. it is winter here and at 68°, many are with winter beanies and jackets. i have seen one person in shorts which is the first time out of the 45 days i have been here this year. 

last week was somewhat groundhog day monday through friday. we worked from the bathhouse patio, watching an indescribable amount of hardcore physically demanding work getting done, playing with the fence kids, having phone meetings with michelle and stephen, sending out employment offers, and cheerinng on the workers repeatedly.

the front exterior of the rescue center has mostly been primed.... that is huge!!!! and the trench from the front of the property all the way to the water tanks in the back is nearly completed! and there is glass in many of the windows!!! and the materials for all twenty bunkbeds is onsite! and the rescue center stairs are almost ready to polish! and bedrooms on the first floor are almost completely painted! 

no joke. painting is THE only thing that even remotely resembles the process at home. 

and alex made us lunch one day which was sweet and delicious. and i was on the roof of the bathhouse one afternoon, and several church ladies were walking down the path toward their shanty. i waved and they were so happy! i was serenaded tyvm 🤗.

there is absolutely no way to adequately describe life here. it is like trying to imagine flying to the moon. it seems like you are on a different planet. nothing is like home. and yet it 1,000% works. it more than works. 

and then i remind myself, lydia and i are americans with financial resources. we are safely gated in a beautiful compound where tom, nashon, brian, and agnes would defend us at all costs. we don't have to toil for anything. the mental health and all the things in the states is comparable to the physical labor demands here. it would be ideal to find the balance.... where joy and community and friendliness collide with outdoor beauty and physical exertion and some power tools and money thrown in. 

but i am telling ya, the pace of life here... it is absolute perfection. african time. two of the sweetest words i know. 

we developed a deep connection with two americans from alabama named bucky and john. they started sweetwater outreach twelve years ago to develop clean water systems in several african countries. they are a rare breed. strong family men who are on mission to change lives through clean water. and they are history buffs. and open books. and just stinking fun to be around. we hung out with them friday night and became instant buds.

after church saturday morning with alex (our new social worker was there, and lydia and i held her baby the entire two hours!!!), we needed a day just to chill. does talking in the dining hut for eight hours constitute chilling? awesome, we chilled. 

bucky and john's driver and sweetwater employee martin came by ..... and brought his good lifelong friend, joash who is THE KISII COUNTY VETERINARIAN!!!! we had mentioned the day before that we weren't finding any solid leads on goats (finding dairy goats has been the thorn in our side for two weeks now). we have chased so many leads. joash sat and talked amongst us for hours and promised he is on mission for us. please Father, may this pan out!

i love kenyans. they are cut from a different cloth. never in a hurry. ever.  

sunday, it was our first splurge day! massage, manicure, and pedicure. the place was ummm... different? unique? an adventure? we were there for three hours all for the whopping charge of $54 each 🤗

we are under ten days until we head back. there's still so much to get done before then. we are doing our very best to stay in the moment, stay on mission, and take it all in... until the next time we can return 🩷