Look Among the Nations and See; Wonder and be Astounded: February 2013

So about 3 weeks ago now Momma Jenny, my mom, came to Kenya! I was spoiled to the extreme while she was here. She arrived on my 6 month anniversary here. It was so exciting to be back in the airport at the exact time I arrived 6 months earlier to pick up my mother who has never traveled to Africa before. This may be a long post, but I want to capture as much as I can of what we did.

Our adventure started immediately the next day when we flew to Mombasa, which is on the coast of Kenya. We spent a few nights at a hotel on the beach there just relaxing and catching up on the last 6 months of life.

The beach at Mombasa.

Next we headed out on safari. Our guide Ibrahim picked us up and we drove out to Tsavo East and did a game drive through the park. We made it to our accommodation for the night in time for lunch. It was called Galdessa Tented Camp. It was beautiful! However, it was in the middle of the park and since it is not fenced or anything animals can rome freely so we had an escort throughout the camp. That afternoon we did a walking safari. Again escorted, but this time by a ranger with a giant gun. We went to Lugara Falls and saw so many crocodiles and hippos. I have never been so close to a wild crocodile!

View from our tent at Galdessa

Crocodile!

Lava cave

After Tsavo East, the next morning we woke up and headed to Tsavo West where we again had a wonderful game drive in the morning and then in the afternoon we picked up another ranger and headed to some caves created by lava and did some exploration underground. There is an active volcano there and after our underground exploration we went to this giant hill created by lava rocks. It was basically a HUGE pile of rocks and we climbed to the top where we could look out and see the whole park. That night we stayed at a lodge that was situated right on a watering hole where all night animals would come and go. I think my mom stayed up all night to watch the elephants, then the zebras, the buffalos, the giraffes, the baboons, and even more. We were so close to them!

Lava rock hill we climbed.

Watering hole right outside our room.

Mzima Springs.

The next morning we were off to Amboseli, but before we left we stopped at Mzima Springs. They are these beautiful natural springs in the park. Then we joined the convoy of vehicles going to Amboselli National Park. It was a bumpy ride, Ibrahim said it was a free massage. After a short game drive we decided that once we arrived at the lodge we would take the afternoon off and hang out by the pool and get real massages. This lodge was FULL of monkeys so they has Maasai warriors around to keep them away from food. They used sticks and sling shots to accomplish this. Before we left the next morning the security guard at the lodge took us on a run around the edge of the park. We were running with a Kenyan at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro!

One of the many lions we got to see!

Once we arrived back in Nairobi we had some dinner then headed out to Rongai for part 2. We spent the next couple of days in Rongai. I took her to a few of the children's homes we work with. She even rode in a matatu! I was proud of her. Living out here can be exhausting and you never know what to expect, but it was such a blessing to share it with her. Saturday we spent the day doing tourist things. We went to the baby elephant orphanage, ate at Karen Blixen Gardens with Mike, went to Kazuri Beads, then stayed the night in Nairobi. Sunday we went to church at Mike's church then ate lunch with my friend Rev. Zach Drennen who runs a project in Western Kenya and then stayed the night at an interesting place called Rolf's Place. That was an adventure in itself that I won't go into. Monday was her last day here. We visited Kitengela Glass then spent the day with my friend Edwin. He took us to eat in Karen, through Nairobi, and to a park where we got to play with monkeys before heading to the airport. We had a wonderful visit and as you can see we crammed a lot into 12 days!

Baby elephant orphanage.

Suspension bridge we crossed to get to Rolf's Place.

Mom at Kitengela Glass.

Next week are the elections here. As I have mentioned before there was a lot of violence after the last election and I can only ask you to continue to pray for this country! So much has been leading up to this and right now nothing is certain. We are praying for peace, unity and wisdom for the leaders and the people.

Here are just a few more pictures.