Signs of Christmas

Here in Eldoret, signs of Christmas are a bit different than they typically might be in the US. Some things we take for granted in the US are rare; some just don't make sense; others are non-existent. Not to say people don't celebrate Christmas here. Actually most do. However, there isn't the sense of overwhelming materialism as people rush to the malls to do their last minute Christmas shopping in America.

First of all, there are no malls in Eldoret in spite of the fact that it has a population of over 600,000. The closest thing is a Nakumat, or an Ukwala, both supermarket chains here that are like a VERY small Walmart but about 10 percent the size of a normal Walmart. One sight that always makes me scratch my head is a lifesize robotic Santa Clause in front of Nakumat who jiggles and shakes (not completely out of the ordinary) but who likes belting out "The Yellow Rose of Texas (a major disconnect even if you are from Texas).

The stores here are not all decked out in Christmas lights and other Christmas decorations and neither are the houses although a few businesses and houses have artificial Christmas trees (the don't grow natural Christmas trees here). Of course we have a Christmas tree at our house/office in Eldoret and we have strung up a few Christmas lights.

We celebrated a Christmas party with the children in the feeding program at Kambe Teso on Friday, the 18th. The party focused mostly on giving these children beef stew for their lunch meal (beef is a luxury here and most families eat it only on special occasions; this is probably the only meal with beef these children will eat all year). Cheryl also baked several cakes the night before, enough to feed 120 children, and it was a big hit with the children. Several families that have sponsored children with Open Arms were also given food baskets purchased at the local Nakumat that will give them plenty of food to feed their families through the Christmas season.

We also had a Christmas dinner with the Open Arms staff here in Eldoret and out at the village. There are 26 employees in total and 22 of them joined Cheryl and I for dinner that evening. We took them out for dinner at Mamma Mias, a local restaurant owned by an Indian businessman who offers some good Indian, African, and American cuisine. We had a great time as most of the staff enjoyed their only dinner out all year, and some of them likely enjoyed their first dinner out ever. We had a Christmas quiz that evening which had some interesting results. I made most of the questions centered around the Christmas story in the Bible, but Cheryl thought some questions were too difficult so she added a few cultural questions that may seem obvious in our culture. Interestingly, most everyone did excellent on the Biblical portion of the quiz but most people didn't do as well at the cultural portion of the quiz (my theory is that most Africans did not inherit the cultural portions of Christmas from their colonial counterparts - in the case of Kenya, the British - but they do tend to be more Biblically literate than Americans or Europeans).

Here is the quiz as follows. I made it up myself, and I've given it or a similar quiz in various venues, but no one has gotten 100% as of yet. The best anyone did at the Christmas dinner was 15 out of 20 correct. Try your hand at it and e-mail the answers back to me.

To be fair to those who took the test in Eldoret, try and take this without consulting the Bible or any other resources other than your own memory.

A Christmas Quiz

1. How many wise men or Magi came to visit Jesus?
a. one
b. more than one
c. seven
d. three

2. Where was Jesus born?
a. Nazareth
b. Jerusalem
c. Eldoret
d. Bethlehem

3. To which continent did Jesus’ family flee when King Herod tried to kill him?
a. Africa
b. Asia
c. The Middle East
d. Europe

4. Which two people prophesied at Jesus’ circumcision?
a. Zechariah and Elizabeth
b. Simeon and Anna
c. Ananias and Saphira
b. Mary and Joseph

5. Where did Jesus grow up?
a. Nazareth
b. Jerusalem
c. Bethlehem
d. Caesarea

6. How old was Jesus when he was circumcised?
a. One day old
b. Eight days old
c. Eight years old
d. Fifteen years old

7. Jesus was born in a manger. The manger was also used as:
a. A storage container
b. A room for storing grain
c. A feeding trough for animals
d. A hostel for travelers to sleep in

8. Who was the Roman Emperor during the birth of Jesus?
a. Augustus
b. Quirinius
c. Tiberius
d. Julius

9. Who witnessed the birth of Jesus?
a. Mary, Joseph, shepherds, angels, and wise men
b. Mary, Joseph, shepherds, King Herod, angels, and wise men
c. Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, Zechariah, angels, and wise men
d. Mary, Joseph, shepherds, and angels.

10. Which prophet prophesied where Jesus would be born?
a. Isaiah
b. Jeremiah
c. Zechariah
d. Micah

11. Who started the tradition of celebrating Christmas with a Christmas Tree?
a. Jesus
b. St. Nicholas
c. Martin Luther
d. St. Augustine

12. In which modern country was St. Nicholas born?
a. Greece
b. Germany
c. Turkey
d. Israel

13. Where does St. Nicholas currently live?
a. Eldoret
b. The North Pole
c. Heaven
d. Jerusalem

14. Who started the tradition of hanging Christmas stockings under the chimney?
a. Jesus
b. St. Nicholas
c. Martin Luther
d. St. Augustine

15. Who is the most famous reindeer of all?
a. Donnor
b. Blitzen
c. Comet
d. Rudolph

16. What sign did the wise men follow to find Jesus?
a. A rainbow
b. A dove
c. A star
d. A road sign

17. What day is Christmas celebrated?
a. Saturday
b. Sunday
c. 1st January
d. 25th December

18. What is a White Christmas?
a. A Christmas when it snows
b. A Christmas where everyone wears white clothing
c. A Christmas when all the presents are wrapped in white
d. A Christmas when the Christmas tree is sprayed with white flocking

19. What tradition takes place under the mistletoe?
a. A special kiss
b. A special dance
c. A special gift
d. A special poem is recited

20. What does the phrase “deck the halls” mean?
a. Decorating a house with holly
b. Dancing at a Christmas party
c. Attending a Christmas church service
d. Wearing a special Christmas outfit

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we will be spending time at the village with the children and the house parents and introducing them to the tradition of Christmas stockings, a tradition they are completely unfamiliar with. They do exchange gifts every year at Christmas and the children typically receive a gift of new clothing but stockings will be a new and hopefully exciting tradition for them. The second existing home of children at the village, the Upendo house (that is Kiswahili for "love") which includes Peter and Stella Kimeli and the 14 children they care for, moved into their new home just in time for Christmas. The children were excited as they wandered around from room to room exploring their new home.

In addition, shortly before the house was ready, both houses were hooked up with electricity from the generator that runs the well (this is a short term solution for electricity but it provides electrical power for the village at least a few hours every day). As the electricity was turned on for the first time earlier this week, at least one or two of the house parents and all of the children got to experience their very first hot shower. What a great Christmas present (although we have to ration the time some of them want to spend in the shower, with it being such a novelty).

Tomorrow, on Christmas Eve, Cheryl and I will go to the village laden with Christmas stockings for the children and house parents. We'll fill the truck full, eat lots of lamb at the village Christmas dinner, and share the Christmas story with 28 children and 4 house parents. We will send another blog this weekend after all of us have celebrated Christmas with our families. Cheryl and I want to wish you a Sikukuu Njema (Merry Christmas) for you and your loved ones.

Mungu Acuba Riki (God bless you)

Matt and Cheryl

Police, cars, and Cheryl's knee again

This week in Kenya had a few interesting occurrences. The week started out with Cheryl bedridden with a prognosis of a torn miniscus in her left knee and the likelihood of not being able to walk for 4 to 6 weeks and the possibility of surgery according to the physical therapist. She had been stuck in bed for three days already and Matt went into town to find some crutches so she could pull herself and her gimpy knee out of bed.

After one day of hobbling around on crutches and much prayer from a lot of friends and family, Cheryl was happy to have some sense of mobility but her armpits were getting sore from the crutches so she sat down to do some e-mail on the computer. While sitting at the desk doing e-mail, she heard a pop in her knee, and got up to grab her crutches. While getting up she put a little weight on her left knee and realized there was no pain. From then on she has been walking pain free. In fact, yesterday Matt saw her running across the street. Thanks for your prayers and God's healing touch. Now all Matt needs to figure out is what to do with the crutches; but I'm sure someone we'll need them here in Eldoret.

We spent the rest of the week meeting with teachers who are helping us to get the school started. Lots to do between now and January 4th when we open the school, but we are making progress. In the interim, most of the children are taking some extra tutorial help until Christmas with the help of our new teachers in order to catch up on their classes. Many of the children are several years behind in their education because of their circumstances (many of them missed out of several years of school because of the loss of their parents, a loss of income to assist them with school, or simply because some of them were living on the streets).

On the way back from the village this week to meet with the teachers, Matt got pulled over by a policewoman for the first time. Matt was determined not to give the officer a bribe, but she was determined to find something wrong with the truck. She spent several minutes walking around the truck and discovered the annual inspection sticker had expired. Matt caught some interspersed comments between Swahili and English regarding court dates and jail and decided to call the Open Arms office in Eldoret. One of the staff members talked to the police woman and mentioned that they had the truck inspected but that they had still not received the new sticker. Eventually the officer let Matt go and Matt hopped in the truck only to realize the vehicle wouldn't start. Matt called the Open Arms office again and one of the staff members came out and helped him push start the vehicle; later they realized the battery terminals were dirty and needed cleaning. The problem was corrected; the truck, Matt, and Cheryl are mobile again, and no more officers have pulled over Matt. However, Matt is carrying the paperwork for the inspection report with him from now on.

Progress at the village is carrying on at a good pace. The 12 children in Home #1 are beginning to make their new house a home. Homes #2 and #3 will be completed before Christmas and Matt and Cheryl plan on spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with the Tumaini and Upendo Homes as they enjoy celebrating Christmas in their new homes. Home #4 will be completed possibly before the end of the year and more children can move into the village as we begin a new year at the Open Arms Village. In addition the Visitor Cottages for guests coming from the US and the UK are almost halfway completed with preparations being made to place roofs on all three Cottages before the end of the year so that the Village can accomodate teams and individual visitors as they arrive in 2010. As you prepare for Christmas this year, and complete your busy holiday shopping, as many of you try to stay warm in frigid winter weather, we will keep you informed of our everyday events as we prepare for Christmas. Bear in mind as your hands go numb in this wintry weather that it is 80 degrees and sunny here for Christmas, so consider not only reading our blog but come and visit us in this New Year.

Blessings,

Matt and Cheryl

Cheryl's knee and other assorted news

Most of our interesting news this week has been overshadowed by Cheryl's knee. On Friday night as she was going to bed, she felt a sharp pain in her knee and just about passed out. For most of the night she was in pain and got very little sleep. Matt gave her advil and ice packs but otherwise felt helpless. The next morning she was still in pain and could not walk on her leg or even get out of bed.

By the grace of God, it just so happens that a physical therapist from Connetticut had just arrived to stay with some missionary friends one block away, and we called her. She came over in ten minutes and gave Cheryl a brief examination. Her initial diagnosis was a torn miniscus or torn cartilidge but she will come by again today to examine Cheryl further. Either way, without a miraculous recovery (which we are praying for), physical therapy is the first and best prognosis for treatment outside of surgery which hopefully and prayerfull won't have to be considered as an option. We are very thankful that Kim, the physical therapist, is staying here for five more weeks. We are also grateful to God that with the help of Advil, ice packs, lots of bed rest, and God's healing touch, Cheryl got a full nights sleep last night, her pain has subsided, and she has begun getting a little more mobility in her knee.

Other than this major incident, we are busy with getting the school started. We invited ten people to come and interview with us on Tuesday and twenty people showed up. We had to turn quite a few of them away unfortunately, but I guess word gets around when the unemployment rate in Kenya is over 65%. We are grateful that we found some qualified applicants and we will be meeting with them this week to help get the school started and begin meeting with the children before school starts on January 4.

We are also busy preparing the school building classrooms by refurbishing the old temporary orphanage homes and making them into classrooms. We are knocking out some walls to enlarge rooms, put in new and larger windows to add natural light, and painting the inside of the rooms before January 4th. In addition, the building of the new orphanage homes is progressing nicely. The second and third homes are almost completed and the Kimeli household along with their fourteen orphans will be moving in sometime in the next ten to fourteen days. I included a cute photo of Lizzie, one of the orphans in the first new home, who has already settled in and is enjoying her new diggs. As the fourth house nears completion possibly before the end of the year, we will be looking for more house parents and orphans to fill up empty homes as we approach a new year. On our way to check on the village construction I took this photo of another overloaded vehicle. I don't know how they do it and still keep the suspension of these vehicles above the speed bumps and pot holes on the roads here.

I have included a brief video of the Tumaini household moving into their house along with a few photos from our past weekend retreat to celebrate Matt's 50th birthday. We'll update you on the progress and recovery of Cheryl's knee in the next blog.

Adios or Kwahere for now,
Matt and Cheryl

Move-in Day, Turning 50, and other Assorted Items

Today, November 30, Matt is turning 50 years old. He has appreciated birthday greetings from afar, especially the ones reminding him how old he has become. Last weekend when we were at the village, Matt's lovely wife Cheryl announced to the children that he was having a birthday and she wanted them to guess how old Matt was becoming. The first response came from Joseph who guessed that Matt was turning 100 years old. That seemed appropriate since Matt has not received any rude or funny birthday cards yet. However, as the kids contiued guessing eventually one of them guessed he was turning 50.

Speaking of eventful days, that same day, Sunday, November 22, the children in Tumaini home were moving into their first permanent home. They have waited for almost 2 years while living in temporary housing in a mud hut with no electricity or modern facilities. Electricity and water are being hooked up this week and for the first time in their lives many of these children will be enjoying what we take for granted except when we go camping: a hot shower and a flush toilet. They were so excited to be moving into their new homes, it's like they were celebrating Christmas a month early as the children began running around the house, exploring all the rooms, setting up their beds, and beginning to make their new house a home.

On the way to the village that same Sunday, Matt almost hit a blind man, a goat, avoided a close call with a truck driver, detoured around two broken down cars, passed one car that was operating on one cylinder, and almost collided with two Matatu taxi drivers, which gave everyone else in the car quite a thrill, and aged Matt ten more years, so he is really 60 years old in Matt years.

This weekend, Matt and Cheryl enjoyed a peaceful weekend, celebrating his birthday in the quiet solitude of a small retreat center overlooking the Rift Valley. On Saturday afternoon as they were relaxing, reading a book on the deck of their cabin, they heard a loud cry and screaming erupting from the valley below them. At first they thought either a small war had broken out in Kenya or somebody else was turning 50, but as it turned out, a local village had gathered to honor a longstanding custom in villages throughout East Africa - the rite of male circumcision - a way to painfully introduce young African boys into the joy of becoming men. As several young boys in a small village in the Rift Valley became men, Matt realized he was becoming an old man by some standards (53 is the average life expectancy of a male in Kenya). Of course some of his friends might try and remind him that he is becoming an old man by any standard. To those who would say that, Matt would respond that "you are only as old as you feel" and as Matt drove back to Eldoret from their retreat center, he was feeling pretty old.

Graduation Day, Move-In Day, and Just Another Ordinary Day

Good afternoon (or good night in the U.S.). As all of you in the U.S. are fast asleep with it being 1AM on the West Coast and 4AM on the East Coast, it is noon here in Eldoret. We had a fairly eventful week as we said goodbye to Rachel Gallagher last Sunday as she travelled back to Portland, Oregon with Baby Belle.

The week began fairly busy but uneventful as Cheryl went about her work of learning the process for becoming the interim director of operations, while Matt continued to work as the Open Arms mule, delivering eggs from the farm, picking up supplies for the village, delivering food and workers for the feeding program, and trying to prepare for the start of the new school at the village. On the way to the feeding program, some children took quite literally what it means to be the family mule, as they transported themselves and some supplies to their home.

Towards the end of the week, on Friday, we were invited to a graduation ceremony, for some of our oldest nursery school children, who are graduation into Primary School. Now mind you, I barely remember nursery school but nursery school for Kenyan children is a bit more arduous beginning at 3 years old and continuing for the next 2-3 years as they go through three levels of nursery school in preparation for primary school.

Because Open Arms won't have an operating school until January, we have been sending our older children to a nearby school, and the school decided to have a "simple" ceremony to celebrate that ancient passage of graduation from nursery school to primary school. About two dozen children were being honored in this ceremony, along with 150 parents, family, friends, and about 250 other students, teachers, and administrators from the school. Five children from the Open Arms village were participating in this ancient rite of passage.

We were told that the ceremony was starting at 9AM, and being time conscious Westerners, we wanted to be there on time, but alas the pressures of Kenyan culture are beginning to change us. Matt had to run an errand delivering 20 trays of eggs to the market at 7:30AM. Unfortunately, for various reasons, he was still at the market at 9AM as Cheryl and the other girls were patiently waiting for them. They arrived at the graduation ceremony at 9:40AM and found themselves as the first arrivals for the ceremony. Matt had to go and run a few more errands as the Open Arms mule, and finally arrived with some of the rest of the Open Arms staff at 10:30AM. The ceremony had still not started, but Matt was surprised to find that he was the featured guest speaker at the ceremony. Fortunately the ceremony did not start until 11:20AM so Matt actually had 50 more minutes to collect his thoughts. As the ceremony dragged on with every faculty member, student, and village elder in the community eagerly wanting to share a poem, a song, a speach, or a dance, Matt had 3 more hours to collect his thoughts before he came up and shared a 10 minute speach about the importance of education, perseverance, and a relationship with God. Cheryl was also surprised when she was asked to hand out some of the diplomas during the ceremony. The ceremony ended about 2 hours later with some refreshments. Matt and Cheryl now wonder how long the primary school graduation will be for students at the first Open Arms Academy graduation ceremonies in a few years.

Matt and Cheryl are enjoying a relaxing Saturday as this blog is being written. Tomorrow, they get to celebrate another rite of passage for the children at the Open Arms Village. Moving In Day for the first children at the orphanage as the first permanent orphanage home is completed. After several months of patiently waiting, 12 of the children and their house parents will be moving into Tumani Home (Hope Home in Kiswahili), the first of many homes to be completed in the next few months. Will show some photos and videos of that special day in our next blog. Hopefully it won't be a five hour ceremony that starts two and a half hours late, but you never know in Kenya.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day,

Matt and Cheryl

Planes, trains, and automobiles

Good morning (or good evening back home in Portland - although it's past midnight there now, so it's no longer evening). We are doing well, staying busy with plenty of activities this week. Cheryl got on a plane on Sunday night with Ruth and two of our babies, Belle and Esther, to Nairobi to try and acquire visas for the two babies, so that Ruth and Rachel can take the babies home to family for Christmas. The babies, Ruth and Cheryl, did surprisingly well with the babies, and they were met by David and Rachel who arrived to Nairobi late Sunday evening. They got up at 4:30 or 5AM the next morning to cart babies, diapers, formula, and bottles over to the UK and US embassy where the US embassy had requested a 7AM appointment for which they had to arrive at 6:30AM. The visa for Belle was granted and Rachel is going home with Belle this weekend for a two month stint back in the states. Ruth got a notice that her visa is ready so she is going back to Nairobi on Monday to pick it up. What a process!! Anyway, they got to spend a little fun time during lunch and the early afternoon to shop in Nairobi and eat lunch at Java House, the Kenyan equivalent of Starbucks, and it is a treat. There's nothing like it in Eldoret, and shopping here is still very limited. It's surprising that for a town of 600,000 plus (Eldoret had about 250,000 people when I first came to visit four years ago) and growing fast that Eldoret has the shopping store capacity of a US town of 6,000 with about 4 to 6 moderately sized grocery stores (nothing close to a Walmart). It's interesting that most of the essential shopping here is done in open street markets, where locals often get the best deals but where muzungus (white people in Kiswahili) will often be charged higher prices than in the regular grocery stores (that's why we have Matrine, one of our Kenyan staff, do much of our shopping at the market). In addition, it is quite likely because of the predominence of subsistence farming throughout Kenya, that most people eat what they can grow on their own property and often do not buy groceries at the store or at the open street market.

We have even began our own subsistence farming initiatives at the Open Arms Village with growing potatoes, beans, cabbage, maize and raising hens for eggs, goats, sheep, rabbits, and dairy cattle for milk. So far we have been able to raise enough of all these items to feed the entire village and our office staff plus raise additional money from the sale of eggs, potatoes, and milk to the community. Matt seems to be the local egg delivery man in Eldoret since we are now producing nearly 100 eggs per day at the village, more than enough for the children at the village, the staff in town, and also to assist with the feeding programs. He has a local restaurant in town that regularly buys eggs, and they are encouraging the Open Arms Village to take on their next project, raising broiler chickens for the village and to sell to the restaurants in town. Matt now feels like his next purchase at the local Nakumatt variety and grocery store in town will be a pair of bib overalls.

Matt has also taken over most of the primary driving responsibilities for the village and the Open Arms staff since the other two staff drivers are on leave or on vacation (Metrine is on vacation and Levi's sister passed away so he is on leave). Matt started the week by taking the girls and the babies to the airport on Sunday. Then on Monday he began by taking Daniel, the village farmer and house parent, to the Eldoret feed store to buy chicken feed, molasses for the grain to feed the cows and goats, and a large variety of other assorted items for the farm and the village. Then he began taking three of the staff to assist with the daily feeding program at the Kambi Teso slum of Eldoret. On Sunday he will drive the staff to the village for church in the morning, drive Rachel and Baby Belle to the airport in the afternoon, drive Ruth and Baby Esther to the airport on Monday morning, drive Roselyn to see one of the sponsored Open Arms children at a school 40 kilometers away, and probably deliver some more eggs and other errands in the afternoon. (A lower percentage of Kenyans and exptriates here have drivers licenses or simply prefer not to drive - I can't say that I blame them). He really hopes that Metrine and Levi will be back soon.


Meanwhile, Cheryl is as busy as ever with taking care of babies, changing diapers, sterilizing bottles, filling them with formula, while at the same time learning Ruth's job as operations director so that when Ruth leaves for 3 months in early December, the wheels of this Open Arms operation in Kenya will continue to operate smoothly. We appreciate your prayers so much and hope that all is well at the homefront. We will miss our family, friends, and loved ones this Thanksgiving, but nevertheless we are so thankful for where God has placed us, and the opportunity we have been given while we are here. Of course we will also miss shopping at Walmart, turkey, and pumpkin spiced lattes at Starbucks, but surpisingly, and I know this is shocking news, a human being can survive without these three seemingly basic essentials. We hope to talk, and see you soon. Feel free to Skype with us on the internet or e-mail us at mattandcherylinafrica@gmail.com because we'd love to hear from you.

God bless you,

Matt and Cheryl Tallman

Two months and counting

As of this afternoon, we have been in Eldoret for two months. We are starting to feel like we are settling in, but there are still some unsettling or unusual experiences we have to deal with on a regular basis. Matt was driving through downtown El.doret yesterday, and he is starting to get used to the feel of driving in Kenya. However, there is no sense of common courtesy on the road, it is pretty much everyone for himself (and every chicken, goat, and cow for that matter). As Matt turned right to go down one of the main streets of Eldoret, two cars behind him turning right didn't just follow him - they passed him in the intersection as people, cows, and goats dodged the oncoming traffic. However, that wasn't an isolated incident. The same thing happened about eight times before he got back to the house (and Matt is not normally a conservative or slow driver by US standards - he has quite a collection of speeding tickets in the past thirty years to prove that).

What slows drivers down here in Kenya is not the goats, cows, pedestrians, cars, or even the police, but speed bumps and pot holes, and lots of them I might add. On a one mile stretch of road leading out of Eldoret, one would usually encounter about 25 speed bumps and about 200 pot holes. What usually keeps the mechanics around here pretty busy are broken axles, worn shock absorbers, and bent wheel rims. The tire shops also do a pretty good busy with tires being constantly out of balance.

Earlier this week, Cheryl took a road trip to Kisumu to pick up passports for two of the babies at the house, Belle and Esther. Kisumu is approximately 75 miles from Eldoret but it took about 3 hours to get there (apparently there are quite a few more of those speed bumps and potholes on the road to Kisumu). She left Eldoret at 6:30AM with a car full of people including Ruth who was holding one of the babies, Roselyn, who works as the local child sponsorship director for Open Arms in Kenya, Levi who also works with Open Arms and was driving the car, and a local immigration officer from Eldoret, along with two babies. Actually seven people (albeit two of them being babies) is actually a fairly uncrowded vehicle by Kenyan standards. Kenyans, as well as many other Africans, have taken car pooling to a new level.

After a long day at the immigration office, and a quick glance at Lake Victoria (a first for Cheryl)the five people and two babies clambored back in the vehicle for the long road trip back to Eldoret. Along the way, Roselyn mentioned she needed to drop something off to some relatives of hers just off the main road, which in Kenyan really meant that they needed to drive on a side dirt road for 30 minutes and drink Chai tea for an hour. They arrived back at home in Eldoret very tired at 7:30PM that night and grateful for some dinner and sleep.

In spite of the driving in Kenya, or maybe sometimes because of it, there are a lot of things we love about being here. The people are wonderful, the scenery is spectacular, the climate is perhaps the best in the world (it was sunny and 75 degrees today), and we love spending time with the babies and the children at the village. We hope that things are well back in cold rainy Oregon, where the car pooling is less crowded, and the drivers are a little more courteous.

Matt and Cheryl