Day 15

The pressure of getting this blog out is starting to get to me. I’ve begun to think about what I should say 2 or 3 minutes before I start writing…..you may laugh, but I rarely think about what I’m saying…..just ask Sandy.
It’s taken a couple of weeks, but I think (there’s that word) I have figured out the electricity system here. Somewhere around here they have a huge tank of electricity. Now if not too many people use power, the tank has enough room to hold all the electricity that is needed…..but if too many people use it, it must empty the tank and all the lines empty out too, leaving us without power until the men come with buckets and fill the tank again. Some times they are pretty fast, and some times….well, lets just say that it’s harder to see for long times. So, I am looking for a bunch of extension cords to fill with electricity and have on standby for those darker moments. That way we will always have some in reserve.
Sandy went on meds last night for malaria, as I stated before, and slept pretty well. She woke up this am…which is pm to most of you….feeling better and is as we speak out with the unwashed masses (they are just finishing dinner). She ate well tonight and is helping to get the little buggers into jammas.
This morning…which is last night for most of you…..stay with me, you’ll get it…..once more, something came over me and I actually produced another masterpiece…..a 2’x2’x8’ storage cabinet. Now Carla can get some the stuff out of her room and store it in the new box. The first thing that she sent to be stored was Jeff. She said it served two purposes…..it gave her some more room…AND some peace and quiet. There isn’t much room for anything else, but Jeff said he could hold some stuff on his lap.
I didn’t tell you yesterday about ol’ boreholer and his tools. Seems he is heading back the US soon for short time and had a few tools that he wanted Jeff to have. I took Jeff aside and explained to him that “I” was his tool supplier and was feeling like boreholer was invading my domain…..Jeff gave me that “what a dumb*** look and tactfully said “GET OVER IT” Going back to boreholer, we found that he had some good stuff, including a belt sander, planer, router and some hand tools. The strange thing for me was it was all very useful and ran on African power. Boreholer said he wasn’t using the stuff and he would count it a blessing if Jeff would take it and put it to use……Jeff said OK, although he doesn’t have a clue how to put them to use, I say feeling that I might have value again. So, now Jeff has some more stuff to hold on his lap.
Our well calloused kidneys took another workout this afternoon, ….which is last night for most of you….getting it yet?….as we made our weekly pilgrimage to Kesogon for the ’bible study’. Last week Carla asked me to lead the study. Somehow word got out and almost nobody came, so we did a slight of hand and rescheduled me for today…..evidently, the word didn’t get out and about 14 people showed up and because of Kenyan politeness stayed until the bitter end. Everything I said was translated into Swahili by Josai (sp) one of my favorite people here. He must have taken everything I said and made sense of it because all there smiled and nodded their heads. I don’t even know what I said let alone what Josai said…..but I got a standing ovation as they all got up to leave. After almost 2 hours of preaching the word, I realize that I was beginning to yawn right along with them. I was almost as relieved to stop as they were to have me stop….but at least I showed them how spiritual white people are!! Home again via the test track and Jeff did exceptionally well, only missing 2 or three major potholes.
Of course it rained again, all to help prepare us for Washington, I suppose. I’m beginning to freak out……Yeah, I know, you’ve known longer than I…..but I think I’m going to sad to leave this place…..kinda getting used to all the malaria and typhoid and other disruptions to life….oh by the way, Snake Charmer (Ashley) thought she was coming down with another bout of malaria, but it turns out to typhoid…..thank God it wasn’t something serious…..just kidding. There seems to be a bit more stuff than usual so we would appreciate your prayers….mostly for the kids….and if you have time mention us.