Bread and Other Provisions: November 29, 2013--wrapping up the trip---

On Friday we began to wrap up our journey. We packed everything up from our hotel in Meru (the Alba) and began the 5 hour drive. Linda and Paul had a 3 a.m. flight the next morning so we needed to be in Nairobi Friday night. The boys and I didn't leave until 10:30p.m. on Saturday so we had a little extra time in Nairobi during the day Saturday.
A few views from The Alba Hotel before we left: (The boys and I spent 4 of our nights in this hotel)

You can see the farmers are very happy during this time of the rainy season. We saw plants grow just in the few days we were in this hotel. Every spot of land that can be used for growing things is used.

This is the hotel pool but it was a little cool while we were there so Lucas only swam once.

This was a newer hotel in the area. And as you can see very modern looking. Overall a very nice hotel and not excessively priced by American standards. However, the funny thing about it was they still are in Meru, Kenya. That means they occassoinally just randomly lose power. One evening while we were there, the entire hotel power kept going out for brief periods. An alarm would go off and then "poof" no lights for a few seconds to a few minutes. That evening it happend at least 20 times. And hot water? well that's kind of random too. And who knew they just turn off the hot water to your room when nobody is in it? Well, we didn't know that until day 3. Cold showers. Then finally they flipped the switch and ta da..hot water.

Since it was the rainy season, we experienced more grey skies and rain than normal.

This also meant that there were more mosquitos. Not a friendly thing to think about when there are diseases like Malaria in Kenya and in particular in Meru where we were staying. I could not keep those little buggers off of Lucas. I sprayed him, etc. even at night. And we never really saw them, but he would wake up in the morning covered in bites. He was vaccinated against Typhoid and Yellow Fever, and is on Malaria meds, but it still freaked me out because he swelled up so bad from them. And it takes several days for the bug to hit. So I'm keeping a close eye on him.

Our precious driver, Pastor Godfrey, had to deal with an overheated engine on our 5 hour journey from Meru to Nairobi. So we all got out and let the engine cool down and added more water. Lucas sat on the side of the road, with his iPad and headphones. Just kind of a funny site with the Kenyan children and goats in the backround.

And of course Isaac was shooting pics the whole time.

The kids loved seeing their pictures on Isaac's camera. A simple way for Isaac to bring them joy.

And John was of course being "John". Sharing the last of our suckers, and talking with them. Love this guy!

My pics are not nearly as awesome as Isaac's, but LOVE the subject...precious children.

Once we got the car running again we stopped off in Nanyuki one more time at the Nakumatt shopping center where we had met the boys, to say our final good byes...Robert didn't come for some reason. But, George did...

As you can see by Lucas's face, he was very sad and in tears to say good bye to his friend. We are hoping to stay in contact now.

Lucas loved taking shots along the road with my camera. Just sharing a few...

We saw these carts being used everywhere for just about everything walking down major roads in Nairobi and rural dirt roads in Meru and surrounding area.

Saying goodbye to our precious driver Pastor Godfrey. He and I had a wonderful conversation in the car on the way from Meru to Nairobi this trip. He wanted to know everything about our church. His wheels were turning and he has some ideas about the Church that seem very much in line with Passion City Church's ideas of what church should be. It was such a rich discussion that I will always treasure. To speak to a pastor ministering in Kenya and talking in agreement about Christ's Body the Church. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that stuff. He took PCC's web address and is going to go look at some of Pastor Louie's sermons.