Animal Planet in Real Life

a giraffe




lions eating their breakfast, a buffalo





my new desktop picture =) i wish i could post all my elephant pictures, we were so close to them!




so just checked out ryan's blog (kenya mission), & he knows how to put pictures inside his posts. why don't mine do that? hmph. oh computers. oh technology.

i LOVED the safari in Maasai Mara. it was so cool! it was just beautiful - watch The Lion King to get an idea of what it looked like. i think The Lion King was filmed in Maasai Mara. =p tee hee! we saw cheetahs & her babies following her, hyenas, a mama lion with her cubs nursing!!, 3 male lions tearing apart & eating their freshly killed buffalo, tons of giraffes (might be my new favorite, they're so funny), zebras (don't even look real), elephant families, and some elephants fighting (we could hear their tusks hitting each other!). it was so cool!!!

i loved being out in the heat, reminded me of home. =) we stayed in a tent camp, it was actually very nice. even though it was a tent, we had real beds & a real toilet, AND a mirror. i forget about mirrors until i come to nairobi. our shower was just inside the tent with a little wooden floor, but i liked it better than my tumaini shower. it was super hot, & if the wind blew just right, we could see the thousands of stars above us while in the shower, it was too cool. the drive there was neat, there would be nothing but land, some african trees, & animals, and then all the sudden a little Maasai village. the Maasai are a big tribe in Kenya. you know who they are because they wear these bright clothes draped over them, they stand out from miles away. we got to talk to a Maasai, he was very friendly & spoke very good English. he even spoke some Spanish! that was cool. he told us all about how when the men turn 14 or 15, they have to spear a lion & kill it. they keep the mane & wear it on special occasions. wow. he also explained that their wives are bought with cows, about 10 cows to a wife. it was very interesting. some of them choose to pierce their ears, so a lot of them have the giant holes in their earlobes that you may have seen on the Discovery Channel. very gentle people though, talking with the 21 year old Maasai man helped me realize that people are just people, all our cultures are just different. it's not weird, he was perfectly normal. his culture just has different customs & traditions than we do. what i think is interesting, is that some of their houses are made out of cow dung & sticks, but they all still wear those beautiful bright cloths & shiny beaded necklaces. where do they get their beads? fascinating stuff.

oh! we drove to the kenya/tanzania border! so i can sorta say i've been to tanzania. i think i like tanzania. =] once it hits the tanzania border, it becomes "the serengeti." COOL!!!

we also went to a river where we saw more hippos & crocodiles that came from the Nile. the crocs live about 100 years, are up to 3 km long, & only have to eat about 4 times a year. whoa.
our driver packed us a nice lunch: cucumber/tomato/ham sandwich, a passionfruit, slice of pineapple, chips, cookies, & mango juice. at the camp, we were fed VERY well, i was suprised & really impressed. i expected to be sleeping on cots & eating rice & green grams (like peas), but instead we had real beds & fried fish, meatballs, veggies, fruit at every meal, french toast, omelettes...it was great! i think the website for our camp is http://www.mountainrockkenya.org/. or .com. not sure, i tried to get a picture but it's not very read-able.

the trip made me want to come back to Africa & work somewhere that's a little more raw & rugged than where i am now. sometimes at tumaini i feel like i'm in colorado, i felt like i was really in africa on our trip. i guess it's just more of what i pictured though. i remember i'm in africa at tumaini when our water or power don't work for 48 hours. =]

i am so full of joy this week...i don't think it's just because i've been doing a lot of fun stuff. all my delight is in the LORD, so things just fall into place & i am filled with joy. i went for a run on the elliptical here last night, & i was just smiling. haha, hoping nobody was walking by & could see me b/c i was all alone on the elliptical smiling.....i didn't realize i was thirsty for the community i've had here, & i've gotten more excited as i've received vision for how to minister to some of the kids at tumaini. i'm beginning to look forward to discipling the older girls. i'm praying they can feel welcome to talk to me, & that what i try to teach them will plant a firm foundation that will remain after i leave.

time is flying by....

on another note, my entire family - grandparents & cousins included - got food poisoning on christmas day. my whole family in america got sick, & i'm in africa and didn't. go figure. they're better now, hakuna matata, don't worry.

oh ya on the safari, i sang The Lion King songs the whole time. didn't you expect it? "aaaah che vania, kedebe eeeee che la boooo waynia womba...waynia wombaaaa." at least i think that's how it goes. haha, i totally don't know. but i sang it anyway, dontya know bobby.

mmk, gonna try to post some pics. *crossing fingers*