Christmas in Kenya... and the search for the missing boxers.

We wish you a merry Christmas...we wish you a merry Christmas!!!

Hello all,

Merry Christmas from Kenya. I apologize that we haven't been able to blog in a long time. We are deep in the bush bush in central Kenya. In order to get a signal, we have to climb a cliff and hope it's not cloudy. That makes internetting pretty difficult.

Quick update: We are staying with Jason and Lisa Hovingh at their beautiful house near River Malewa outside of Naivasha, Kenya. We got to their house around December 4th and will be with them until early January. We are actually going on a mini vacation with them to the Kenyan coast from the 4th of January to the 9th. I'm going to swim in the Indian Ocean!!!!! Woohoo!!! I'm pretty much excited. While with the Hovingh's we have been volunteering at the orphanage they are helping to start... digging trash pits, putting together teeter-totters, and sorting through piles of donated clothes from the States... By the way, if donating things to a Kenyan orphanage, please do not send night lights???? Especially if they are for 110 V outlets as we use 240 V over here... We found them and were like, "What!?!"

The girls have been homeschooling the kids and I've been helping Jason around the house and farm and working on booklets and brochures for the retreat center they are setting up. They are somewhat active in the white Kenyan farmer culture and we have been learning a ton about the "Kenyan Cowboys." Most of these people were born here and are actually Kenyan citizens. They either own or manage all the flower farms and it has definitely been an eye-opening experience to see that... I'll try to write more on that the next time I'm online.

Today is my first Kenyan Christmas. I can't believe it's December. We are spending Christmas with the Hovinghs and a family from South Africa. It's been amazing. I'm using the family's computer- BROADBAND INTERNET!!!! Like an angel from heaven. This morning, the girls and I celebrated Christmas together listening to the Michael Buble Christmas album and opening our presents... We had some great gifts.

1. Bethany got a light anywhere match from me so she can rub it in my face that she's a girl who can start a one-match fire.
2. Jill got rocks to skip...hopefully in front of her as she threw one behind her trying to skip it when I taught her how to skip rocks the other day.
3. The girls gave me a beanie (or a Toque? for you Canadians) that was actually a yamukah on my massive head... didn't even get to my ears... Ha.
4. The other day the girls were bored and decided to steal my boxers, hat, undershirt, and socks... I searched for my boxers regularly for about the last week, having no idea where they went... sheesh. I figured they stole them because whenever I mentioned it, they had to choke back laughs. Anyway, this morning after all the other gifts were opened, they told me to go look for my other gift--using the hot cold method as I walked around our little cottage. I got to the freezer and they said I was on fire... I bend down and look in the freezer and there's this wrapped package in the freezer that says Merry Christmas Will... "W'all love you" (inside joke- they make fun of my Texas use of Ya'll so they started saying w'all -we all...) I open the frozen package and find a juice container with all my boxers, beanie, and socks frozen in water. GRRRHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! But I laughed really really hard. Sheesh.
5. Because I had been asking Lisa if she had seen my boxers in the laundry for like the past week, she got me a great gift as well. She knew the girls had frozen my boxers. SO anyway, she and Jason got me silk, leapord print boxers "just so I'd have an extra pair. We laughed for a long time when I opened it. O wow... E is for how EXTREMELY NORMAL THIS IS!

Ok, so it's been a great Christmas in Kenya so far. We had an amazing lunch with lamb (South African custom), impala game pie, chicken stuffing, these amazing pumpkin fritters, some insanely strong South African Red Wine, and some awesome desert with a Russian Skaters name as the name of the dish. I'm almost full... hehe. We're about to play some games so I'm signing off for now but Merry Christmas everyone... and if you ever are missing any boxers, check the freezer. Gosh.

lovewill

P.S. Please be praying for safety as the intensely close elections are two days away... in a third world country, elections can be a scary thing. We love all of you and are missing home and snow... the girls have been listening to Christmas music just to remind them it's Christmas... being from Texas, warmth is normal at Christmas... anyway.