home already...

i know i'm already home, but many eventful things took place in my last weeks in nairobi so i'll be doing a little catch up on the blog in these next days. shall i start off with shauna and her braids? i haven't uploaded all our pics of our 8 hours of being plated, so this one will serve as a preview. my scalp might be itching like poison ivy, but i'm holding out 'til my buddy sees me...because she's gonna want them asap when she gets back:)

initially when i was going to stay until Christmas, shauna and i had big thanksgiving plans for the house. we wanted to share a traditional american thanksgiving with abraham, thomas, and noah and their families--right up to the pumpkin pie. so even when i had to come back early, we continued with thanksgiving plans--right up to the pumpkin pie:) we made chicken and stuffing bake, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, pineapple coleslaw, garlicky mashed potatoes, homemade bread, and sakuma wiki...followed by made from scratch pumpkin pie and very strong tea (which they pointed out to us). it was so great. even if the power went out an hour before they were to arrive and we had 4360987 things in the oven. awa. AWA.

everyone eating....i think they enjoyed it because we didn't have too many leftovers!

isaac, abraham's son, is at the end (he reeealllly like the chicken:)), next is thomas' wife, zippora, and their daughter, diana (L and T, i think diana liked this better than the cabbage skillet).

now, we didn't share this with our guest...BUT, in attempts to quickly thaw this chicken, we sat the tub on the driveway in the hot sun. good idea right? well when we went to get it, we found it like this..."sampled" if you will. the culprit: PEPPER (the cat who is already on my bad list because he bites my toes for no good reason). thomas gave him a beating to which i didn't object. we figured the pressure cooker would 'pressure' the bacteria right out...which it DID, because no one got sick and it was delicious in our chicken stuffing bake. no need for the guest to really know this.

look how big this zucchini is, really. and stop looking at my hair...yes, i prolly haven't brushed it.

shauna and i matatu'ed it out to kennedy's home for a meal with his precious mother, mama nancy, and his sister, nancy. (note: our ride was quite the trip down memory lane...featuring the classic rap hits including snoop doggy dog. we might have busted a few moves in the back of the matatu, just for old time's sake:)) anyways, they were so excited for us to come and share a meal with them and fellowship in their home. once again, their hospitality was nothing short of the love of Christ in the flesh, leaving you humbled and wishing you had words better than 'thank you.'

kennedy and nancy

mama nancy cooking dengu (beans) on the giko (coal stove).

me rolling a chapati, or attempting rather. (and i'm pretty sure i was wearing this same shirt when you guys saw me cooking ugali...must be my cookin' shirt).

our feast! dengu, chipati's, sakuma wiki, stew, and my favorite...white rice:)