Happiness is being where you belong!

Arrived well!Flights - uneventful! Met young woman moving to Mombasa site unseen - never having been to the continent to teach math to little rich kids at Aga Khan Academy. I told her when she's ready to learn about the real Kenya she can come to visit me. And when I need a break from the real Kenya - I'll go to visit her!

Walked out of international arrivals at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport into a rain storm. There is definitely not a drought in Southern Kenya! The street to Grace's house is a rutted muddy mess. Walking up and down it is hazardous, much less driving! (Note to Mom: care package item #1: mud boots - the one's you told me to bring... only I didn't!)

Arrived at the King'atua family compound at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday night. Judie, my daughter, and Sammy, Grace's son opened the gate for our car (one of Grace's neighbor's came to pick me up.) Omondi, my 10-year-old son, was waiting for me with a big bear hug! Judie, my 22-year-old daughter who didn't know how to give a hug when I met her, put her arms around me and didn't let go. It took quite a few years but I think she's finally an expert at the art of hug giving! I had slept a combined 3 hours in the past 24 hours. Grace had made food and everyone but the children had waited to eat with me. Never mind that I wasn't hungry and very groggy!

I finally made it to bed around mid-night. Thankful, I slept through the night, but still felt as it my head was in a bubble when I awoke the next morning. Grace took Omondi to church so I could rest and Judie could take care of me. I slept from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and woke up feeling more like a human being than I had in probably a week.

I went to visit Gladys, Sammy's very pregnant wife, we talked for a few hours until Grace came home from church (yes, they were there most of the day), and then Grace's nephew Benson joined us, unannounced. He spent the night at Sammy and Gladys's as their other children are staying with grandparents until after the baby is born. Benson is a policeman in Nairobi. Three months ago his wife gave birth, the baby died in the hospital. I told Benson how sorry I was to hear about his baby. Then I said, Benson, God will bless you with a family. And Benson said, we're working on that now... and smiled from ear to ear.

Judie and I finally went to bed around 10 p.m. and watched the movie The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants...very quietly so that we wouldn't disturb anyone else in the house. That included, Grace and John in their room, Ruth, a student Wezesha supports on the couch, Nyambura, Grace's 6-year-old granddaughter who slept on two chairs pushed together and Omondi who sleeps on a cot in the living room. All three rooms were full!

Today Judie, Omondi and Nyambura and I slipped and slid our way up to Ngong Road to take a matatu to Karen to buy the much needed new mattress and other supplies. After lying on a plethera of mattresses Judie and I finally decided on one. I called James, the nieghbor who had brought me from the airport and he came and picked us all up... Judie and Omondi rode on the mattresses in the boot of the car. Nyambura sat in my lap in the front seat. With all the baby talk happening at home... Nyambura loves to be the center of attention and the "small" child when she's out with my family.

We got home and situated the mattress in the bed frame that required us to break a sweat as the regulation 4x6 mattress (something akin to a super single) is just a wee bit too long for the frame. Yes, I sleep with my daughter in a tiny bed... she loves it. I tolerate it because she is only home a few months a year.

Then we headed down to the farm with another driver that we know to see the kids. Can I just say that they have all grown at least a foot in the last five months... I kid you not - rainy season doesn't just grow plants - it grows kids too!

We hitched back to town from the farm... it's not like what you think of hitch hiking, most of the vehicles coming by are neighbors and they stop and give you a ride if they have room. We crowded into the back seat of a white Toyota Carolla (car of choice in Kenya)and were given a free ride to town. Much better than the 700 shilling ride down with the mattress in the back of the car.

Grace has been updating me during breakfast and dinner about the kids and the projects. We will start work in earnest in a couple of weeks. First I will get my kids back to school and the house I will be living in organized. I will also try to find some Swahili classes. I'm bound and determined to learn this language. It wouldn't be nearly so hard if everyone didn't speak English so well!

Right now the tinge of jet-lag that grabs hold in the afternoon is making my eyelids heavy and my fingers clumsy. I'm off to collect my kids from the market (not exactly a soccer game but a motherly duty nonetheless).