Going on Vacation and Other Assorted News

We are preparing to leave Kenya for a forced vacation, courtesy of the Kenyan immigration office. Not that we aren't complaining, we are actually looking forward to a little rest and relaxation. However, we were supposed to leave Kenya on Friday, heading for Tanzania, but a funny thing happened as we were about ready to head out of town. We knew that after six months were done we would have to leave Kenya for about a week or two, but we didn't know that Kenya had just changed their immigration laws in January requiring us to leave East Africa for a week or two if we wanted to return to Kenya.

Matt had already spent a great deal of time planning a vacation in Tanzania spending some time at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro and visiting some of the national parks to see some more scenery and wild animals. It is surprising how much harder it is to plan a vacation here since no travel search engines include the continent of Africa and no local travel agents cater to planning trips outside of Kenya. Nevertheless, Matt persevered to create the ideal itinerary only to be detoured after a brief visit to the local immigration office the day before we were planning to leave for Tanzania.

The detour has left us in Eldoret a few days longer, but rest assured we will leave Kenya before our visa expires. We were actually able to throw together another vacation at a beach on the coast of Mozambique. Nevertheless, we will be back in Kenya in two weeks with a new visa. Perhaps all this is for the best. We will probably enjoy a more relaxing vacation on a warm sunny beach and we won't run the risk of being eaten by lions in the Serengeti (Matt actually watched a movie a few years back where tourists ran out of fuel in the Serengeti and they consequently became a tasty meal for some local lions).

Speaking of tasty meals, Matt and Cheryl enjoyed a delicious Valentine's Day dinner today at Mamma Mia's Restaurant in Eldoret. It wasn't what Matt had quite envisioned, spending the evening looking into Cheryl's eyes at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, but it was nevertheless a romantic evening in Eldoret.

Things are progressing well at the Open Arms Village this week. We will be bringing on a new set of house parents, Paul and Sarah Maswai tomorrow. As they move into Home #4, we will prepare to accept 20 more children over the next few months. We are already planning on accepting 4 or 5 new children at the village in the next week.

We are also doing well at the school. We are planning on hiring one more teacher in the next few weeks to help prepare for the influx of new children at the village. Of course the babies are doing well also. We have had a lot of fun with all three babies back in the house. You'll enjoy this video of Baby Esther using the Johnny Jump Up to do a little dance.

There will be a lack of hands to help with the babies when Matt and Cheryl depart for Mozambique on Tuesday. Rachel's mom Miriam will be leaving on the same day which only leaves Renee to assist Rachel with three babies while we are gone. Please keep Rachel and Renee in your prayers as they will be knee deep in dirty diapers, formula, and baby wipes while we are gone.