photoshop. finally.

I would love to learn how to use photoshop.

But so far, every experience has left me frustrated and feeling helpless, because I have absolutely NO IDEA what I'm doing. Opening a picture in photoshop reminds me of eighth grade french class - I feel so lost . . .

Until today. Finally, high speed internet capabilities meant I was able to finally use a blog I'd been following and download some action sets and go to town on a few pictures. Granted, nothing fancy, just clicking some buttons and letting these sets do the work . . . but I'm starting to understand the principals of photoshop. I'm a bit embarrassed to put these up, amateur as they may be . . . but hey, here goes nothing. And it's about time I put something up from the great state of Oklahoma!

Matt let Elyse drive his car the other day. In a parking lot. It was a tiny bit scary, but I have no place to complain/judge. I'm still a horrible driver.

We took a little trip to the Murrah building memorial.

At the site is this awesome tree that survived the bombing.

and this can fondly be referred to as the "cheeseball editing tool." This is why you should never put photoshop in the hands of anyone short of a professtional. It's the dark rim that really did me in.

Except here, I did it again.

We went to a real Oklahoma experience - Eischen's fried chicken out in Okarchee. Miles of driving that sometimes led us astray on to red dirt roads (see below), complete with storm clouds and fields of waving wheat. So I had to stop for some pictures. Eischen's is hilarious, by the way - you can ONLY order fried chicken and fried okra. No plates, just some layers of wax paper to throw your greasey food on. The floor is oddly slippery and it attracts the most interesting clientelle . . .

Ok, so that's it. I'm off to bed now, althought I think I could stay up and learn how to edit all night long. The pressure is on, time is running low for opportunities to use high speed internet. Kijabe approaches.

and now, meet moose

One of the first things I learned about Matt was that he was the VERY proud owner of an English Bulldog, Moose. And now it would seem that I will be gaining an instant family with little Moose-boy as our son. I was nervous to meet him and gain his love . . . but after a few days he started to follow me around the house a bit and sit outside my door. He got very sad when we packed to leave. Behold, the Moose.

meet the parents

(and the brother and sister-in-law and nephew and aunts and uncles and great-aunts and friends and puppy)

Our first stop in the US was the famed Murray, KY, Matt's hometown. I really like Murray, and how they know everyone everywhere they go, and Matt's friends are great, and the trees are budding and spring is here! I have really loved spending time with Matt's family and getting to know this important part of his life. Besides spending time with his mom and dad in Murray, we met family in Glasgow, KY and Nashville, TN. I also got to spend time with my TU friend Kerry who drove to meet us in Nashville. We had a great time talking a mile-a-minute, catching up on the last nine months and looking at . . . wedding dresses! We spent the night with Matt's brother and sister-in-law and adorable nephew. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of any of these moments . . . but I do have some from Murray:

Matt's mother presenting us with our wonderful goodie-filled Easter basket!

spring time. american gothic style.

And I had a special visit from Jenny! She flew home to Cinci from Charlotte for spring break and then tackled the 5 hours to meet us in Murray. Jenny is headed to RVA this summer to teach English. Hooray! I'm so excited for her! (check our her blog!)

back there . . .

oh my goodness.
i just uploaded these pictures in literally TWO SECONDS.
that can only mean one thing . . . i'm back in AMERICA. (aaaahhh. . .)

These pictures are from our way out of Kijabe to the airport. It was Matt's last trip to Nairobi for who-knows-how-long, as he'll be staying here and starting his residency in June. It was the typical trip, crammed in a mini-van, surrounded by luggage, huffing exhaust . . . but also a beautiful afternoon, impressive clouds and a view of the valley. I never get sick of that view!

if you click on this picture, you can see that the crater on longonot is smokin'.
good news - they tell me the rains are on their way!

More on those Fires . . .

This morning one of my students said the fires had made headlines on BBC. So I did some investigating, and sure enough, there's a picture of a soldier standing at the crater on Longonot. Apparently lots of animals were trapped and died in the crater or from fires on the sides of the mountain. We can see smoke coming out the top of Longonot.

Then I landed at the surprisingly well-organized website for our local paper, the Daily Nation. They had this picture, with the appropriate caption below:

Ill-equipped army officers use tree branches to put out a raging fire at Nasuit Mau-East forest on Tuesday, March 24.

Ill-equipped? Tree branches? No kidding.

There were some interesting comments on the page about lack of equipment and also one on the "natural cycle" of forest fires and how we should stop blaming people for arson and just leave it alone . . . (and watch the world burn down?) but they are gone now, so they must've been edited away. See for yourself: www.nation.co.ke

But we're a-ok and keeping it real and praying, as always, for rain.

Sights and Updates

Over the past couple days, I've been packing to head back to the States for a month of family time and wedding planning. VERY excited about this! As I anticipate all of the conveniences of America, I'm also noticing some of the special things that make this place different. Interesting sights from the past couple days:

Spiders making themselves right at home in my house:

(This one is still at home in my house, simply too big for me to kill. Also very inconveniently situated on the curtain. After zooming in on him and catching sight of his big hairy body on my camera viewfinder, I couldn't stomach the thought of taking care of that. Ick.)

Monkeys getting bolder in the dry weather. Today on my run one of the guards was throwing rocks into the trees to try to dissuade the monkeys from crossing the fence into RVA. I was grateful. This guy was really close to my open front door during lunch yesterday, but I scared him away when I got up to take a picture:


There's a polio 'epidemic' in Kenya so all kids under 5 are required to be vaccinated. Last I heard, the epidemic consisted of two cases but I'm thankful that the government is getting involved. This is rare. I heard there are some cholera cases at the hospital this week, too. Just a reminder that we live in Africa.

Carjackings, unrest in Madagascar and Yemen, evacuations, fires . . . there are many things on the minds of these kids.

But there are many blessings as well.

Hanging out with Baby Hope. Such a joy, and such a privilege to watch the Riches as they trust God to care for her, as He cares for all His children.

A doctor riding his dirt bike home from the hospital with a bunch of roses peeking out of his bag.

My flowers are blooming.

And three days until Vac.

Kijabe Fires

It is so dry here.

This weekend we could see fires on Longonot. On Monday fires started up on the hill just above Kijabe. For the past two days we've watched smoke pour out of the trees as the fires eat away at our already-suffering forests. At night we can see flames in several areas on the hillside. Obviously it's not like California forest fires here but it is sad to see our trees go. And there is no way to put out the fires, not water, no fire brigade . . . and no road up there even if there was water.

Tonight Matt and I were headed down to visit a family and say goodbye before we take off this Friday. On our way we passed a smoldering pile . . . apparently someone had tried to burn leaves earlier the day but had unsuccessfully put out the fire. After contemplating the strength of the fire, we decided that the dryness of our area and the fires raging for the past two days definitely required some intervention. So we formed a two-man bucket brigade and that little fire is no longer a danger to middle station. We can sleep peacefully tonight. And we looked like Jack and Jill with our buckets when we finally showed up to hang out with our friends.

While we were there, the fifth grade teacher showed up to ask for a medical opinion. He'd felt sick today so he asked Dr. Congdon to check out his throat. The living-room diagnosis: strep throat. So guess who's subbing next door tomorrow afternoon? Matt! I'm highly amused by this little turn of events.

Just thought you might like a glimpse of some of the events of our day.