Monday

Mondays usually start out rough for some reason, and today was no exception.  Our driver was an hour and a half late picking us up to take us to the Virginia Home.  I try to tell myself "this is just the Kenyan way", but the American in me says, "this is unacceptable!".  I think what made it worse for me is that the kids were expecting us and I so hate disappointing them.  The rest of my crew was pretty frustrated too, but we managed with the time we were allotted.

We arrived in Nairobi on Friday night and hung out with our friends, Tom and Kerry, on Saturday.  We ate at my FAVORITE restaurant, The Art Caffe, and I got the usual: Art Pesto, which is a yummy pasta dish.

Saturday night we ate dinner with our friends, Tej and Shriti.  They are an awesome couple that the Stickneys have become friends with here in Kenya.  Tom is hopeful to witness to them over time and through a relationship.  They have a neat story, but I forgot to take a photo of them. :(

On Sunday we headed to Nakuru and met the children who actually LIVE at the Virginia Home at Lord Egerton's Castle for a picnic and some fun "afternoon time" in the sun.  It was our first meeting with the children on this trip.  They were so excited to see Walt and Hudson especially since they had not seen them in over a year.  There were many new faces too.  When I was in Kenya in March there were 49 kids living at the Virginia Home.  On Sunday, the count was 67.  I am told that every bed is full.  The kids are still eating 2 meals a day and having tea in the morning, EVERY DAY (I asked several of the children independently and also asked the ACO staff overseeing them on a daily basis).  Currently they DO have electricity and plenty of water.

Today, Monday, some of the kids walked Walt and I around their garden explaining each plant they are growing and how they eat it.  According to them, they pick the things to cook every other Sunday.  Walt and I agreed that they seem to eat anything green in sight (although they thought I was silly when I asked them if they ate grass!).  We sang and danced today, which is always a highlight of our time with the children.

And we just loved on the children, sitting with them and talking with them...

They have just completed their exams, so we will have much free time together over these next two weeks, and I am excited about that!  The kids we are sponsoring (and you know who you are) in Form 1 of High School are doing REALLY well.  I'll be sending you individual reports on each one of them when I receive the information.  Next year there will be 12 kids to potentially sponsor in addition to the 9 we are currently sponsoring!  The top three in Class 8, Anne, Dancan, and Andrew are very competitive and always trying to beat each other out for Position #1.  I'll talk more about them later.

That's all for now.  I'm going to finish drinking my tea by the fire and wait for dinner to be ready.  Hugs and kisses from Kenya! XOXO