Rubbermaid bins all over their kitchen, filled with foods, as they last a couple months before replenishing in Nairobi. They don't want critters getting into the food. A mouse was caught this week & hopefully he's the one who chewed up the rubber gasket on the pressure cooker. The background wall is actually the container they live in. That particular wall is their bedroom, off kitchen.

Trying to keep warm while watching a movie!

Thay, fellath! Enjoy! (These guys were part of our cruise entertainment! I must say they entertained some, more than others!)

Besides, remember? I got some sun today! (ha ha) I couldn’t have looked any worse before sun! p.s. forgot to mention, you can’t see it, but it’s pouring cats and dogs again and what I wanted to say is, with the mbati roof (tin), the sound is AMAZING! I love it but Shayne tells me, he’s sort of sick of it by now, after 12 yrs. here, ya know? His new house has tile roof, for sure!

As for the oranges, they may look yellow to you, but we only picked the real orange ones, before the baboons come along & eat them. Well, Tari said they pick them, taste them, don’t like the taste, so toss it aside. SOMEone needs spankings!

The remaining oranges on the trees are still yellow. She said their helper who looks after their home while they’re gone, didn’t water the trees, or they’d all be orange. Interesting.

It reminded me of my 2 apple and 1 pear tree in the front yard, awaiting some picking. Was hoping some Mom and/or kids would come & collect them but Jeff tells me how funny it was, watching the squirrels run away with a large apple in their mouth. Yeah, real funny, Jeff. Have been watching them do that for years & it sort of ticks me off. No, Bryan, put away your gun!

So, someone come pick the fruit and use it pls.! Oh yeah, we also picked some avocados and then I made some guacamole for the Mexican dish. Yum!

Iweni Wafadhili Ninyi Kwa Ninyi Mkasameheane Kama Mungu Katika Kristo Alivyowasamehe Ninyi.

Translated it is, as in your Bible, Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.

Then we sang Amy Grant’s “Thy Word Is a Lamp Unto My Feet & a Light Unto My Path” with one of the missionary women playing the guitar. The 2nd song she played was Shine, Jesus, Shine.

Next was Bwana Nakuinui, which is Lord, I Lift Your Name On High.

Lastly we sang Imba Halleluya Kwa Bwana, which was Sing, Halleluiah to the Lord.

After this, John Johnson, another missionary living next to Russells, spoke, in English, with someone translating into Masai.

This was our morning with the believers here. Their church bldg. took 2-3 yrs. to build and cost $20-30,000.

So much for your facts today.

BUT, speaking of jessica, Jerod & Rachel, what do you think about this! Here we are, sitting in the container house (ha), on the internet! Africa has a 10 shilling per day plan called Huawei. Of course Laz teases about it being “Who are we?” but we don’t really care, as we were driving on those bumpy roads to get here & I was on the internet in the car!

We had a truckload of supplies, (their food for the next 2-3 months), as Russells were just getting in themselves. They had been in the states for some months, trying to get their house rented, which they did. Then when they flew back to Africa, they had a month commitment up north to replace another missionary. It was 2 days drive of 12 hr. days. I believe this was even further north than Jeff had been when he was with Temple Knowles.

We are laughing right now, as it was 110 degrees there, guess why! It’s WINTER! Otherwise it would’ve been 130 or more, not sure. They said at night the wind blew 50-70 mph every night and that was their only salvation from the heat. They’d take a shower before bed and not dry off, go to bed wet & the breeze would blow on them. Unbelievable, eh?

Speaking of weather, I’m actually chilly here. It’s the first visit to Kenya for me that I have been chilly. I actually wear some sleeves and an occasional sweater. Also it’s raining a little more than usual at this time of year.

I believe we are going to stay the week up here, then fly back! Yay! Sure beats that horrid drive! Also, we plan on going to the Masai Mara Game Reserve again, this time to watch the wildebeest migration! Amazing!

As for now, we are running on the battery at this time of night, so I’ll cut this short. Pain is gone from the incision in my back. Last night’s sleep was interrupted, but, no big deal, I survived.

So we left the house around 7 a.m. for a 9 a.m. appt. about an hr. away. Laz wanted to beat the jam, not a current game, but the horrendous piles of cars sitting, usually in a pile, during rush hours. He also thought if we arrived earlier, we’d get in earlier. So much for that premise, as I checked my watch as I crawled onto the operating table and it was 10:30 already.

The cyst removal took about 30 min. but we still managed to wait in lines till after noon. John wondered why paying a bill in Kenya turns into an all-day project. Of course he was a bit annoyed, as he had stayed up all night, trying to break his 280,000 score in Bubble Shooter. Needless to say, my night’s sleep was wrecked also.

As I laid on my stomach on the table, the Dr. used about 6 shots to numb the area in my back. I wish I had counted as they seemed to never stop. The pricks (needles), then the stinging, was not pleasant. Even as he started to cut into my skin, not a pleasant sound when one is awake, I jumped about 3 or 4 times, asking him, are you still numbing with shots? He said, oh, sorry, and used the needles again to numb some more. What I want to know is, WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME that things don’t work they way they do on others! (Amsterdarm.)

After he removed the cyst he asked if I wanted to see it. Hesitatingly I said yes. YECH! That thing was quite a bit bigger than my eyeball that was removed last year!

The incision was over 4 cm. so, over 2 inches maybe? I did not look up the metrics yet. I was given a prescription for pain relief which I declined, so I hope I’m not sorry later. As of 3:45 p.m. I haven’t noticed any pain, so, guess what! The anesthetic is finally working!

For Jess/Jerod/Rachel, who took that trip to Kijabe Hospital in Dec., we saw baboons on the road in front of us and alongside us, both on the way out and on the way back. There were babies on some of the backs. I did not feed them or get out of the car, so, Mark, I did not get attacked by any of them!

My blood pressure reading when I arrived was 180/100 (or 182/100, accent!), compared to the 216/108 from just a wk. ago. Apparently my bp pill is working. Their scale must’ve been broken tho, as I was up a kilo since last Fri. (Kentmere eating all weekend?).

So my official diet has begun, for, with the removal of this cyst, I am now down one ounce! (j/k, I didn’t really weigh the sucker.)