Memories in the Making . . . .

We've been doing so much it's hard to know what to even write about so I decide to make a little list of favorite memories so far!

* Hannah seeing elephants in the wild for the first time-- the look of glee and awe on her face.

*Watching the beautiful African sunset behind the Taiti hills as we drove back to our lodge from our evening game drive. Being blessed to see the incredible vistas of African savannah and brush land complete with elephants, giraffes, gazelle, zebra and other antelope grazing and walking together. It was breath taking and indescribable. I feel so honored and "spoiled" to have seen such beauty in my life.

*Looking for geckos outside and watching all the lizards on the walls at Babu and Sho-Sho's house with Hannah and Corban. They get SO excited about seeing them every night!

* We've had several delightful mornings at the beach-- digging in the sand, wading in waves. Hannah loves going in the little waves-- feeling them "tickle" her toes as she says. She feels so proud of herself because the vast power of the ocean makes her understandably nervous so when she actually gets in the water she looks up at us with the cutest face and exclaims "I'm brave!" This morning we had our traditional family beach outing where we all worked together to build a sandcastle. Now that there are two men added to our family plus Sarah the size and intricacies of our castle had no end! It was huge! We built it right next to the waves and had so much fun watching the water come up into our moat. The tide never actually destroyed our castle but it came right up to the edge washing into strategically dug moats and tunnels-- you'll just have to wait for pictures. :) Anyway, in spite of some scattered rain showers that almost had us running for home we had a such a wonderful time all working together and adding yet another family sandcastle building experience to our long list of happy memories.

*Watching Hannah get braver and more sure of herself in the swimming pool. She loves to wear her swim vest and "go in the deep" as she calls it, with her daddy or another grown up and practice "swimming".

*Getting to sleep late in the mornings every once in a while as Shawn or Sho-Sho takes Hannah to play so I can rest.

*Having so much quality time with Shawn and Hannah. Especially getting to see Hannah have so much time with her Daddy. That has been one of the biggest blessing of having such an extended stay here-- Hannah and Shawn get to enjoy each other's company in unlimited doses! It's been a huge blessing to me too as I get to rest more and have so much more help with the everyday tasks and transitions of child care.

*Getting to meet some of the single moms that the Caris program Mom and Dad started are helping. It was very moving to shake their hands and see faces to go with the names we've been hearing about. I'm so proud of my parents for the work that they are doing and the commitment they have to serving those with such great need. We will get to see more of the work next week.

*Riding in tuk-tuks (took-took), the local form of in-town transportation to go get groceries for Mom or run errands is so much fun! Hannah absolutely loves it and wants to ride in one every day. She just beams and smiles as we bounce along in the back seat of these tiny three wheeled vehicles. "Lets ride a tuki-tuk!" "I want to ride a red one!" (or whatever color she fancies at that moment,) she says whenever we start walking anywhere.

*Getting to eat papaya and mango to my heart's content. Having mandazis and chai for breakfast one morning, chapatis and matoke, ndengu, and other favorite Kenya foods for supper, going and getting samosas for lunch every once in while as well as having traditional family favorites like Mom's burritos or lasagne for dinner have all been greatly enjoyed! Nothing brings a family together like shared favorite foods! :)

Well, I'm fading fast and my memory list is getting way too long so I'll close for now. I'm so happy because Shawn was supposed to leave tomorrow but we decided to forgo our budget and change his ticket for a week later as neither of us could stand the idea of him leaving so much earlier then me. It's just too big of a deal to be here for him to have to leave so soon. So, now he'll be home the 27th of July. We couldn't afford to change all our tickets so we would be traveling together which is what we really wanted but at least I will only be a part from him for 4 days now instead of 10.

I'll try and post again soon!