to be surprised . . .

This entry may come as a surprise to some of you. Which is great, because I absolutely LOVE surprises. And I've just had the most wonderful surprise of my LIFE. For the past six months, I've decided not to treat this blog as forum to discuss falling in love . . . You may remember a certain running partner from the half marathon, the one who actually finished, elsewhere referred to as my "good friend Matt."

Well, now he is officially referred to as my "good fiance Matt."

!!!!!!!!

It's quite a story. The short version: Matt was working as a dentist at Kijabe Hospital when I arrived this summer. We met on the flag football field, started running together, and I spent some time trying not to start a relationship with him, since he was leaving in December. But somewhere in there we decided it was fruitless to postpone the inevitable, started dating, met each other's parents, and then his six-month term was up and he moved back to the States.

After he left, he called me every day from Kentucky and we started to plan when to see each other again. I was excited about the potential for a visit in April, when, out of the blue . . .

there he is, in my living room, asking me to marry him.

and I said yes!

and we are VERY very happy and floating around Kijabe right now.

happy happy happy right after he popped the question.

my ring. (aaugh!!)
sweatshirt = surprised erica.

cutest couple ever, i know.

the future dr. and mrs. yezerski

God is amazing. When I was on my way out here, this was definitely not what I expected, but I just love how God's plan is so perfect, so much more wonderful than I could ever dream up.

So of course that is the short version. But not feeling too motivated to sit in front of the computer when I could be spending time with Mr. Wonderful Matt . . . but if I get 25 comments requesting more details, I'll consider an engagement story post. Just for you.

Mama Mia

I'm living with two girls for the next couple weeks while their parents are at ABO. Remember my fun days in Machakos? I met this family at candidate week over a year ago and they just moved to Kijabe this term.

It's been fun! This Friday we celebrated a 14th birthday by having a picnic up on the hill and watching the sun set over the valley. Not bad for squeezing between the school day and the Friday night activity. The senior dorm girls that I hang out with keep calling me 'mom' . . . that is definitely stretching it but we're eating 3 meals a day and just having fun!

Titchie Field Day - the Water Edition

I LOVE water field days! They are soo fun for the kids. And . . . teachers! We got a new pump at RVA and with it approval to go ahead with the fun and games despite the water shortage. It was a hot and sunny and sunburny and perfect for a day outside splashing around.

I signed up for tug-of-war . . .

Maybe because I think it's fun . . .

I didn't factor in out gross the rope would smell or how dirty the slip-n-side mat would bet, or how dirty I would get after getting dragged down the mat a few times . . . fortunately I had these great high school helpers to give me a hand:

When they weren't busy perfecting their acrobatics.

Of course we had other games, like the traditional sponge toss and musical buckets . . .


But the highlight was definitely the giant slide that went down the side of the hill onto the field. The kids lined up and went down it for hours!



You'll notice how brown the grass is right now. It rained once, last weekend, but not enough to make any sort of difference. It's ok, the rainy season will come. And our blue sky makes up for it. We've been learning about weather in science and keeping track of the clouds in cloud journals. My students apparently can not stop learning and were yelling across the field at me, "Miss Anderson! I think it's a cumulonimbus!" Unfortunately I haven't committed the types to memory yet . . . but I trust them. Little lifelong learners that they are!

Community Outreach Day

RVA does an outreach day once a term where students have a chance to volunteer in the community. This term kids planted trees, helped serve in the hospital and RVA kitchen, went to orphanages and hospitals, picked up trash, and played sports with kids. I took half of my fourth graders down to the CURE hospital.

CURE caters specifically to children and the patients there on Saturday were all precious little kiddos. And combined with MY precious little students, it was quite an adorable morning. One of the parents had come in on Friday to prime my kids on what to expect, kids with injuries or handicaps who might not be able to get around as easily as them. Our intent was to go visit and show the love of Christ by spending time with the kids, not by bringing them things.

My students paired up with the patients that could get to the playroom and spent time coloring and singing songs.

This little guy couldn't get out of bed so some students took turns sitting with him and coloring pictures.
Lameck is four years old and from a town near Eldoret. According to his mom, a mobile clinic saw him and suggested that he come to CURE to have his spinal curvature checked out. Turns out it's inopperable, but they were able to do an unrelated procedure and he'll be going home on Monday.

Brian is only two years old and the oldest kid in his orphanage.

Both of his hands used to be so large that he trouble walking, but he just came out of surgery on one arm. After it heals, he'll come back to the hospital for his second surgery. His caretaker has been living at the hospital with him for the past week and explained that while they weren't able to make his hand as small as it should be, it would make life much easier for him. He was a favorite of my students and his wall had several pictures taped to it by the time we left.

My students had a great time down at the hospital and all of them want to go back. Before we left we hung up pictures that my students had colored by the patients' beds and took pictures back with us that they had colored to remind us to pray for them. Some of my kids prayed for the patients right there and sang a final song. I'm told that Kijabe Hospital will be needing many more doctors next year. And we're looking for staff in all sorts of positions here at RVA. So . . . just letting you know . . . planting some seeds.

badbye . . .

there's nothing good about bye's, you know?

And I've had to say a lot of goodbye's over the past few months. Brings to mind the sweet words of my dad as he drove me away from Charlotte, bawling, last June, "But Erica, with every goodbye comes a new hello!" Sweet, but not all that comforting at the moment.

Mom, Dad and Elyse left last Tuesday, after the first day of school. They had such a great visit, and I loved having them here in my world! Of course, no family trip is complete without it's share of Anderson Drama. This year's came in the form of the "Kijabe Virus." I got it first and spent some quality time on the couch, achy, with upset stomach and such. The next day we all 5 moved into my tiny "cottage" for the last three days of Anderson together time, and Mom caught the virus, too. Fortunately, though it hits with great force, it leaves quickly, and within 24 hours we were through with ice chips, Gatorade, and pathetic moaning. Thanks to the three well ones for putting up with us!

Ryan spent his last days here filming away. He got some quality footage of my classroom - someday soon it'll be up on the blog. You can also look forward to a tour of RVA and a bit of Kijabe . . . we took a trip to the dukas with Anna and baby Hope. Today Ryan went to an IDP camp and filmed an outdoor church service that some of the local elders hosted for a tent-village of people who have been unable to return to their homes since the post-election violence . . . a year ago. I stayed here to teach my new Sunday School class of 12 freshmen girls - I'm sure you'll be hearing about that soon. :)

He left this evening, and, call me a bad sister, I stayed here and sent him in a taxi. As much as I love him, I was not up for what would be my 6th airport trip in a month. So I stood by the hedge and waved my final goodbye.

At least I can sit and console myself with wonderful photos from vacation, such as these:

Family dinner, jammed around the table in my house. I hope you can see how thrilled both Dad and Ryan look in this picture. We call this the Last Supper, because after Mom slaved away making this fantastic Thai chicken dinner, she fell ill . . .

Reunion - Mom and some friends from our days in Abu Dhabi. Who knew they'd see each other again in Nairobi? It had been about 13 years!

Ryan posing by the upper room above my house. Mom kept talking about Swiss Family Robinson. It's a ROOM, it just has a weird outside entrance.

Back at it - teaching Bible on the first day of 2nd term. I was happy to see those little faces again!

One last family picture, taken by the hazy overlook on the way to the airport. On good days you can see an amazing view of the Rift Valley. I'm not sure if you can see the fear in their faces - the floor was a bit rickety . . .

The View From Elyse

The Anderson family piled into a van this morning to climb Longonot, a dormant volcano about 20 minutes away. We were privileged to drive on the newly "paved" road down into the valley.

Apprehension building as I see Longonot from a distance...

After getting to the base, we began trudging through the ash that covered the ground. The upward hike took about 2 hours, and, according to my dad, we climbed around 120 stories. We were all pretty beat the time we got to the top, even with the rests we took during the hike.

Family picture showing us covered with dirt (apparently I won the dirtiest award - I'll let you judge though.)

We stopped to take this picture; balancing my camera on a tree kind of posed a problem, resulting in a tumble to the ground, forever ending its life. There was an option to walk all the way around the rim, but since it would take another 2 hours we decided not to. The way down was fun, composed mainly of running down and the occasional wipe out (which may have contributed to me being the dirtiest). Now that I'm showered and I don't look like Pigpen - complete with the cloud of dust following me - and have finally caught my breath (I blame the altitude), I can say it was a fun experience. But- I am definitely glad we vetoed the Mount Kenya climb!

Kitengela

For the past few months I'd been anxious to visit the glass factory out in Kitengela, so when my family showed up, it was the perfect excuse to make the trek out there. We went on their second day in Kenya and is was an appropriately long, dusty trip over a bumpy dirt road and we got lost several times on the way. BUT totally worth it to arrive in this fanciful world of glass and pottery. I'm not sure I got all the history correct, but I think the place was started by a German woman and they use recycled materials to create awesome stuff.

hmm, where to?
barrels of bottles

glass blowing

bead making
happy birthday, mom!

I bought a set of glasses as well, meaning I can FINALLY return most of my RVA kitchen rental! Someday when my family leaves and I'm bored and lonely, twiddling my thumbs, I take a picture so you can see how well my recycled-glass stemware matches my zed-made dishes. (happy erica.)

After our dusty adventuring, we met with old friends in Karen for dinner before heading back to Kijabs. . . and took this fantastic family picture.

So if you ever want to go to Kitengela, give me a call. I'd go again . . . and again!