Life in Kijabe - September

September has been a very busy month here as I am sure it has been in most countries. School started for Luke, Tracy and Emily on September 2nd and for Baxter the next day. The school is about a 10 minute walk from our house and it is all up hill. We actually calculated the increase in elevation the other day and it is approximately a 500 foot rise. Needless to say, we are tired and winded each and every morning. I keep thinking that we will get in shape but it doesn't seem to be happening very fast. We walk with our dog Carly and the walk involves going through the cemetary by our house, through the hospital parking lot and up a large flight of stairs and then along a dirt road into the school gates and then up more stairs and across a field and then more stairs and then we are at school. I have included some pictures below of the walk and of the first day of school.



Emily, Tracy, Luke and our neighbor Paul on the first day of School



Hospital parking lot



These are the steps that are commonly refered to as the "deathinator"



This is the final climb up to school which you can see in the background



Tracy and Luke visiting with friends on the first day of school

The 3rd day of school, the entire Titchie campus took a field trip which was a hike around Kijabe. Here are a few pictures of the hike. It was really interesting and very pretty. The kids enjoyed learning a little bit more about Kijabe and the history of the school and the area.



All of titchie at the beginning of the field trip



Emily's class before the field trip



The kids going through the forest on the field trip



An old tree on the field trip



The bus back up to the school. I thought it was funny because the door is on the other side of the bus because they drive on the left side of the road over here.

My birthday was September 9th and the kids and Philip surprised me with a couple of presents wrapped in a Kikoy (skirt type wrap) and a trip to Lake Naivasha on the Saturday after my birthday. The drive was only about 45 minutes and only had one bad area which I have included a picture of. It is a very steep and bumpy dirt road but we made it without too much trouble. After we ate at the restaurant, we went swimming for only about 10 minutes because it was a bit cold. We then walked down to the lake because the people there said we could see hippos in the water. We walked awhile and then turned to go down to the lake and were surprised to see a giraffe standing right there behind a tree (not behind a fence just behind a tree!).
We were able to see hippos but they were very far out in the water and they really looked like rocks to me.



Birthday Morning! We look very tired and we really were in this picture. We get up much earlier here because Baxter has to be in class at 7:45 and we have quite a walk. It is always an adventure but it does wear us out!



This is the day we left for Naivasha. We saw some monkeys on the road before we even left Kijabe.



This is the dirt road leading down the mountain that we took on the way to Naivasha



When we arrived at the restaurant we again saw monkeys. They say here that eventually you don't get so excited when you see the monkeys. We are beginning to think they are quite common.



Swimming at the pool at Naivasha





Another view of the pool area and Baxter, Tracy and Emily by a small bridge leading to the pool area. Luke stayed back in Kijabe to go on a hike with his class.



Here is the first giraffe we saw





We took some pictures of the giraffes in the background so that you could see how close we were to them



A closeup of a giraffe



Not a closeup of the hippos. They really look like rocks but we can zoom in on this picture and you can see that they are actually hippos.

On September 20th Titchie had field day. It was a lot of fun for the kids and consisted of different activities that each class for the younger titchies or group of older titchies rotated to. The theme was Pirates of Kijabe.



Tracy swabbing the deck.



Tracy playing tag at field day



Luke in the three legged race







Emily and her team of classmates playing tug of war. They were undefeated!



Emily in the three legged race

On Saturday, September 27th, all of the school participated in Outreach Day. Tracy and Emily baked cookies and made cards and delivered them to patients at the hospital. Luke went to Kijabe town and took firewood to some widows and then they played soccer with some of the children. I don't have many pictures of this because I had a different group of children that I was baking cookies with and so I wasn't able to take pictures of our kids.



Luke on top of the car waiting to drive down to Kijabe town



I had a group of Korena girls here at our house and they were fascinated with the cow rugs we brought from Texas

The kids are also doing Pinewood Derby at school. I have a picture of Tracy and Luke working on their cars.



Tracy and her car



Luke and his car

All of the kids are playing soccer now. It is a recreational league for Luke, Tracy and Emily although the games have been very exciting! Here is a picture of Luke blocking a shot.



Baxter is also playing soccer and Jr. High plays intermurals first and then after mid-term plays other schools.



Baxter is in the blue jersey # 15 and assisted the other blue jersey in making a goal

There is a baby that was abandoned at the hospital at the beginning of September. My friend Miriam and I are taking care of her in our homes until they can find a place for her. It has been such a blessing for everyone involved and we are really praying that she will find a Christian family to take her. The kids have enjoyed having her here and I have also. I don't want to get too attached because I know it is going to be heart breaking to let her go. Please pray for her also that she will be place in a loving, Christian home. Her name is Hope.



Tracy burping Hope after a morning bottle



Luke and Hope



Baxter and Hope

Emily has been helping also but I don't have a picture of her and Hope yet.



Hope is wearing a hat that Gramma (Philip's mom) crocheted.

Here are a few other random pictures.



This rainbow cropped up one evening. It was quite a site and a nice reminder of who our creator is and how perfect He is.



These cows were grazing in Nairobi on the side of the road on the way to the airport. When it is dry, the Maasi bring their cattle to graze wearever there is grass.



These are the scrawny chickens that we bought from the man who sells chickens door-to-door. They had so little meat on them that we were not even able to eat them. They were as hard as a rock!



This is a jakaranda tree in nairobi.



Getting crushed rock for the driveway.



Youth Sunday at church.