AWA (Africa Wins Again)

Well, guess where we have gone...that's right, we are back in Kenya!  This trip is just the hubby and me.  It's hard preparing for and going on a trip that NO ONE seems to want you to go on.  Not friends, not family....no one.  I understand that I'm blessed to have people who love and care about me and my safety, but it still makes it hard.

And coming to Kenya isn't like most vacations.  You have to mentally prepare beforehand and then you arrive and realize you haven't mentally prepared at all!  It's SUCH a different place than we are used to.  Everything about it is counterintuitive to what we, as Americans know.  My husband's bag was lost in transit, so he scraped together some clothes from our friend's house until we can figure it out.  Thanks Tom!  Communication is a nightmare at times.  I told three people today that we wanted dinner at the house and it's 8:15 and there's nothing going on in the kitchen.  It's not like we can call Dominoes!  Yes, I know, I can afford to miss a few meals, but it's the communication that's so frustrating to me.  You certainly cannot be subtle when speaking with Kenyans.  With stories like this, people always ask me, "Why do you keep going back?!"

I must admit, today I've asked myself this question a couple of times.  I guess I do on every "first day" here, until we get back into the groove.  But, last night, while waiting in the airport for my husband to turn in his information for his lost bag, a young Kenyan man working at the baggage carousel said to me, "Are you having trouble, madam?  You just seem to have been standing there for such a long time."  I love the way Kenyans speak! The way they put their words together!  He made me smile and think, "Ok, now I'm starting to remember why..." 

A man on our plane was speaking to another man who was bringing his family to Kenya for the first time.  He said that Kenya is like a relationship, it can be volatile, have it ups and downs, but in the end you are bound to it because you are in love.  He's totally right!  That's why I keep coming back! Today I was looking through the old notes on my phone (because we had no internet connection at the time) and I had jotted down this statement from a past sermon (circa 1/27/14):  Love is embracing the inconvenience. How cool is that?  So as I sit here with stomach growling, I will reflect on that. Because I am in love with Kenya and am bound to it, even though others can't always understand that.

And hey, tomorrow will be a better day, right?  I'll be more in the groove!  Today might be an AWA day (as Tom always says), but tomorrow might be a different story.  (and of course tons of photos of the kiddos)

**UPDATE:  It looks like we may be getting some rice for dinner.  Africa may not take this one after all ;)

** 2nd UPDATE: Although we still haven't eaten, I think it's more than rice.  But, I have been informed that you can actually call Dominoes.  Wish I'd have known that 3 hours ago (but that would require me using my Kenya phone....also a challenge for me, ha, ha!)