Grandma and Grandpa

Last week we had the wonderful privilege of visiting Mom and Dad Greene in Bomet, Kenya (Tenwek Hospital). The 10 hour bus trip seemed to go by quickly...even for the kids! When we arrived at our bus stop, Jonathan proclaimed loudly, "We made it!! We're here and it only took ONE DAY!!" (All of our other significant travels over the last year have all taken an average of 3 days to reach our destination!)
After being 8 months away from family, it was a huge blessing to see our children reunite with their Grandparents, and to see Mom and Dad also getting to know and enjoy the kids in the new and fun stages they are in. We so enjoyed all of Mom's cooking and baking. The days were filled with fun hikes and frisbee, and the evenings found us playing cards around the table while the children slept under piles of blankets (it was cold there!). Here are some fun pictures from our 5 days with them. We're already looking forward to our Christmas visit!

Bus ride from Uganda to Kenya.

We arrived on Thursday night, so Dad had to work the next day. He was able to come home for tea, though, and the kids loved seeing him in his "costume".

Jonathan was very interested in all of Grandpa's tools he carries around.

Off to do some more surgery. Bye, Grandpa! See you later!

Saturday we had a fun hike to see the falls. Tenwek mission station and hospital have hydroelectricity generated here.

Eva loves being read to. Here's a Sunday special, "Goodnight Gorillas"

Mom was such a servant to all of us - cooking amazing meals that we'll not soon forget, and cutting all of our hair!

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for the great week! We love you!

Sweet Dance Moves

Pictures from the site

Check out the latest pics from the construction site!

We had a very successful floor-slab concrete-casting day today. The pictures mostly speak for themselves, but I'll explain a bit.
Here is how the mixing is done. Yes, it is as back-breaking as it looks.


This is mostly a slab-on-grade floor with a small portion that is a concrete lid for a mini septic tank. In this picture you can see opening where a manhole cover will go. To the right of that are two empty cement bags, filled with mud, that are place-holders for the "squatty potties" (low to the ground porcelain toilet bowls) that will be placed in them later. Once this concrete has cured, we will pull out the mud and paper bags to prepare the opening for the toilet bowl.


This is a segment of a banana tree trunk that has become a place-holder for a shower floor drain. When we prepare to place the finish floor, we'll set the floor drain in mortar. This clever use of the banana trunk was our foreman Fred's idea.


And here's a group shot. The gentleman in the middle of the back row with the white and brown shirt is our foreman Fred, with whom I have worked very closely. The white guy in the front row is Danny, an EMI intern from Alabama who is helping us out. This entire crew has been very fun to work with.

A photo tour of our house

I tried uploading a video tour of our house, but the internet here couldn't handle it. So, use your imagination to piece these pictures together and you'll get a bit of an idea of what our home is like here!


Welcome to our house! The view as you step into our front door - the kids love running up and down our awesome hallway! Huge windows line the wall to the right, and three doors are on the left...


Door #1 - our bathroom. Do you love our toilet handlebars? The people who lived here before us had their elderly mother living with them, so we have all kinds of fun features like this.

Door #2 - master bedroom. I sewed the curtains and bedspread from local material.

Door #3 - the kids room. Jonathan feels super cool sleeping on the top bunk. Since this picture was taken, Phil made an extension railing that spans the whole length - now I sleep better at night! The kids and Phil cozy up on the wicker love-seat every night for Bible stories before bed.

Kitchen and Dining Room area.

Living room/porch - to the right there is no wall...just screen. To the left is the door to the guest room...

Living room...view from guest room door.

Guest room and bathroom. We'd love to have you come stay with us!

View of the main house looking from the living room toward the front door. The door next to the fridge leads to the pantry (where a fat rat has been getting into everything lately!). In the evenings Phil and I usually sit in those wicker chairs and read or watch a dvd on our laptop together.

Here's the view from our dining room window...lovely!

A photo tour of our yard

Here is the outside of our place...I stood in the middle of the upper part of our property and took pictures turning a bit to the right with each one until I made a full circle, Phil tried to stitch them together for a panorama, but it didn't work...

The house. There are stairs leading down to the lower part of the yard right there.

You can't see it from here, but our little garden is way down there in the bottom left corner of our property.

In this picture you can see one of our lemon and one of our mango trees. You can also see Evelyn and Jessy racing to the swing!

There's another set of stairs leading down to the yard just there.

Our gate.

The "boy's quarters". Jen and Jessy live in the far right room (with the pretty door covering), and Otim lives in the far left one.

And we have come full circle. That's our garage that is packed to the gills with wood - 12x1 planks. You can't buy cured wood here, so you have to buy your wood (for construction) months in advance and dry it yourself. This is all for the youth center Phil is building.

We also have a nice area behind our house with a clothes line. We don't have a washer or drier...all the clothes are done by hand and then have to be ironed (even our socks!) to kill mango fly eggs. Jen is an amazing example to me of a diligent, cheerful worker. She is becoming a fast friend, and has also recently started giving me language lessons! She was thrilled tonight when she left and I said "goodnight" to her in Luganda..."Sula bulungi!"

Peek-a-boo!

Care Packages!

They took four months to reach us, but it was worth the wait! Big thank yous to our church in San Luis Obispo, the Hendersons, and Mom and Dad! A group of EMI interns brought out the boxes you all sent to the Colorado office, and it was like having Christmas in September! What fun! We feel so blessed, loved, and supported... THANK YOU!!

What's in the box?!?

Fun new toys!

"Yay for bubbles!"

"Yay for razors!"


Enjoying new coloring books and crayons!

She loves her new baby owl and "Owl Babies" book!