We are in Nairobi!!

We landed last night (Monday, Dec. 22) at 9:15pm Nairobi time, Dan, Connie, Rachel and Josiah were there waiting for us. They have a land cruiser that we all piled into with all our luggage, It's beautiful here today! About 80 degrees and sunny. Nice cool breezes are flowing through Crum's house, which is just beautiful. We slept well last night and are feeling pretty rested by today actually. Today Connie, Kyle and I (Carlye) went to the produce market first thing. Connie bought all sorts of fresh veggies and fruits - papaya, mango, pineapple, potatoes, apples, bananas, etc. We met several nice people that she buys from regularly. Lots of hustle and bustle there. Then Connie, Rachel, Claire, Kyle and I went to a baby orphanage nearby to pick up Mercy, a 7-month-old baby that the Crums have been caring for now and then. We will have her until Friday. When we got there, it was time to feed the babies lunch, so we all helped. They were all old enough for solid food and were all hungry! Kyle was feeding 2 little ones (about 10-12 months each or so) at one point! Mercy just takes formula in a bottle. We all enjoyed helping out with the babies, Tonight we will go out for supper at the Java House restaurant, that we have heard about often from the Crums. We also went to the mall today which we were surprised to find very modern and Western looking.

London was quite an experience. We were on the plane for 9 hours because of sitting and waiting - first to de-ice the plane in Chicago, then since we were late getting into London, sitting and waiting to get to a gate. We took our pre-arranged shuttle to our hotel after we got through customs (which was a breeze). At the hotel, that I had booked online, the guy gave me a map and drew a dot about 4 blocks away. We had to walk to a "sister" hotel with all our luggage and carry-on bags! Yikes. We were pretty surly and beat after that. The room we checked into was tiny, about 61 degrees with the window open. We did however have a private bathroom with a shower. We did not feel secure really much at all, but took a nap and then left for the London Eye. We got a look at Big Ben right out of the subway station. Then riding on the London Eye (big ferris wheel - clear capsules to ride in) was awesome. You can see for miles. We took lots of pictures of the London area from up high. We got something to eat, walked around alittle then took the tube back to the hotel. We were relieved to see that our room had not been ransacked... (I just chuckled to myself...) We took another walk around the neighborhood and bought some baked goods for breakfast Monday morning. Then we turned in for the night. It finally got warm at about 3am when Pat figured out how to turn up the heat. We were happy to check out and say good-bye to that hotel! We had to walk the 4 blocks back to the original hotel in the morning to catch our shuttle to the airport. Our flight to Nairobi was smooth and on-time.

I'll write more later in the week. We are planning a trip out to Maasailand Friday through Monday. Christmas day will be spent at the Crums house. Bye for now!

Details

As we get ready for our trip, we are organizing, shopping and packing. We will be taking Christmas gifts to Dan, Connie and Rachel from their families in Indiana. We are also taking some items to them that are unavailable or expensive in Kenya like cereal, granola bars, taco sauce, lotions, candy, etc. Since we can check 2 suitcases each for no extra charge, it works out great for us to take stuff to them, then we will have several empty suitcases to fill up with our own stuff we buy there! Seems like we are going to have plenty of room for everything we need. Don't forget the sunscreen!

Another thing: We are driving to Chicago the night before our flight to stay in a hotel near O'Hare airport. The hotel will shuttle us to and from the terminal plus we get to park at the hotel the whole time we are gone. Breakfast is even included! What a great deal...

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Notice down a bit on the right side of this page, you can "Follow this Blog." You may need to sign up for a Google or eBlogger account, but it will be free. I believe you have to be a follower (?) of the blog to put a post on it. I am new to blogging, so I am learning as I go.

Crums

I posted a picture of Dan and Connie Crum's family today. We will be staying at Dan, Connie and Rachel's house in Nairobi. Josiah, who is a student at Azusa Pacific University in Los Angeles, CA, will also be there. We are all sorry that Sarah and her husband, Chris will not be there for Christmas! They also live in LA. Dan and Connie and their family have been missionaries in Kenya for over 20 years with Christian Missionary Fellowship. We have known them since our Ball State University days. They lived in North Manchester during their furlough from June 2006-June 2007. We LOVED having them a mile away from our house for that time! The Crums and McLaughlin's lived life together in Indiana- celebrated holidays, birthdays and Sarah & Chris' wedding, watched the Colts win the Super Bowl, took walks, drank coffee, got snowed in, etc. - so now we are excited about living life with them in their home in Kenya!

Picture

Thank you to our nephew, Zach Bagley, for the beautiful picture of the giraffes. Zach visited Kenya in the fall of 2006.

Getting Ready

We are getting excited about our trip to Kenya! We have all gotten the required shots (Yellow Fever and Hepatitis A) so we are all set in that area. I talked to Sandy Oler, whose family visited Dan, Connie and Rachel Crum in June 2008. She gave me lots of good advice about various parts of the trip we will take, which is similar to their trip. We will be spending alittle more than 24 hours in London, England on the way there, as a long lay-over. Sandy suggested some good ideas for traveling around London when we will be very tired from the new time zone. Kyle and Claire are getting very excited about the trip since we have been talking about it for months now! More to come later...