It's not the destination, but the journey, that matters....

August 13, 2010

We started our journey to Kenya on Tuesday, August 10, at 9:30 am. Our plan was to leave at 9:30 but we decided, since we were ready, we would leave early. Problem is we forgot to tell Joy. She was very gracious and just made the adjustment quickly. Shammah, Hannah, Gideon and Faith were our escorts to the airport. We all piled into Asher’s 15 passenger van and away we went. First stop, the bank in Selmer to get newer bills and a walk across the street to the Village Coffee Shop. We got to say good bye to Paul and Dassie and had one more coffee shop drink for the road.

We got to Nashville in plenty of time for a great lunch at an authentic Greek restaurant called ‘Istanbul’. Then to the airport we go with our total of 10 bags, each one of us with two carry on bags, ready to check in. That all went smoothly so we sat and waited at our gate. Apparently our plane was delayed so we got a late start. Finally we boarded with plenty of time to make our connection in Newark, NJ. As the plane began to taxi a screeching noise was blasting right above my seat in my ears. I was obviously annoyed. Joy looked over at me and smiled, “So that’s why they say you’re a lot like Nathanael”. We were reassured the noise would go away so I just put on my iphone ipod music to drown out the noise. That worked. We then realized we weren’t going anywhere. The pilot came on the PA to let us know there was a technical problem that would only take a short time to fix. We taxied back to the gate and waited. I was getting concerned about making our connection. We were already informed that we would have to take a shuttle to our next flight. Finally we were in the air and the noise ceased. When we arrived in Newark we had to wait for the shuttle with only 30 minutes before take off. I was surprised that Abba wasn’t concerned as he usually is even when there are no difficulties. I was anxious but I couldn’t get him to be anxious with me. I discovered later that he had determined not to be over concerned. As it was we barely made it onto the plane before the doors closed. We got to our reserved seats to find a man and lady stretched out across them, ready to sleep. We had to ask them to give us our seats which didn’t make either of them very happy. Ok we made it….. to Paris we go.

                                  Ah Paris! What a delightful interlude! 

We didn’t have any trouble connecting with our tour guide, Christian. He gave us a relaxed tour, helped us find a restaurant for lunch and got us back to the airport in plenty of time. It had been raining when we arrived but stopped long enough for us to have a good 4 hours in the city. When we got to our gate it started raining again. God delights in taking care of us. We asked for good weather and it couldn’t have been better. I loved the architecture of the old buildings and gates to the city. There were statues everywhere you turned. So much history reaching out to say don’t forget what happened here. It causes me to want to tell stories of our history to our children and grand kids, not to live in the past but to enable them to go forward and make their own new history.

                                      Why is everyone holding their arms?  >

We boarded Kenya Airlines airplane totally exhausted lacking sleep. Sitting for hours on end, not able to even stretch your legs or recline pushes us to our limits. This was a newer plane and the seats were about as comfortable as you get on an airplane. We had a great flight attendant who brought us warm cloths to freshen up followed by a really great meal. We tried to sleep, watch movies, read books as best we could ever longing for our home in Nakuru. Finally we are in Nairobi airport. We got through customs and recovered all 10 bags without a glitch. There was our smiling George to greet us with African hugs and another seat to occupy for the next two hour drive from Nairobi to Nakuru. But first we must get our “jabs” –( immunizations). We endured rush hour traffic as we caught up on how everyone is doing  and exchanged stories with George. We took time for tea and mushroom cheese omelet breakfast before going to the familiar Lynton’s Pharmacee. Our brains were tired but we finally figured out who needed what shots with the ever patient man behind the counter who would administer the shots. They always see us when we are this tired but are so friendly and helpful. George went next door to get a card reader for Amy’s camera. Now we are ready for the last leg of our journey. Everyone kept knodding off, waking up, knodding off.

When we got to the house we were greeted by Nellie and Michelle and a houseful of our favorite people in Kenya. They were preparing a feast for us so we chatted and got a little organized. After we ate we all just wanted to go to bed til morning. George came to me and said we should go to see people at the church. That was a stretch…… He gave us time to get a short nap then we were back in the van for the bumpy, but short, drive to the church. There were not many people still there by the time we got there but it was more that worth the effort to see their smiling faces. God’s love is strong in His people. It is the food we eat, the sleep we need that comes from heaven to us on earth and gives us life and breath.

We came back home and ate again, took showers and went to bed. Not to worry the rooster made sure we didn’t oversleep and called to us at about 3am. We were pretty tired and went back to sleep - after about an hour. We are still waking up at night trying to get our bodies to realize we’re not in Tennessee now.

I’m starting not to make sense so I’ll save the rest of the story for tomorrow.

Love to all. Miss you so much already.

Haviylah