Amboseli

Last weekend the five Kistlers went to Amboseli National Park, best known for its views of elephants in front of Mount Kilimanjaro.  Our time was great.  The road was surprisingly good, the best we've driven on in Kenya.  After a quick 3.5 hour drive, we were at the gate.  Unfortunately we were at the wrong gate, but the guard let us in anyway to pay elsewhere.  Our housing was basic, owned by the Kenya Wildlife Service, with power only 5 hours a day.  Yet, it was a peaceful place with plenty of room and a view of Mt. Kilimanjaro from the porch.

While we did not see a large variety of animals, we saw more elephants in three days than in the rest of our lives combined.  Seeing herds of 30-40-even 60 elephants became normal and even a bit ho-hum.  Multiple times, we stopped our car and just let the elephants walk around us.  Regularly, they came within 5-10 meters of us, and we held our breaths.  Elephants are so big, truly majestic.  They move with a grace of their own, and were free to play, eat and journey as they pleased.  Watching them was a true gift.

On the morning of the second day, we were also blessed by a parting of the clouds over Mt. Kilimanjaro.  Most days, the peak of the mountain is never visible, hid behind a veil of heavy cloud.  That morning however, the veil was torn until the entire mountain came to view.  We stopped and watched, enjoyed the majesty of God's creation there in front of us.   It was a blessed weekend and we praise God for it. Here are some of our favorite pictures....

A Kistler Visit

During the past two weeks, Matt's dad came to help us transition to Najile and to see his new granddaughters.  The visit was a great help to us and the girls.  Just hours after he arrived, he was driving to Najile with Matt to clean our house top to bottom.  Matt had to come back in the evening, so dad was left in Najile to fend off the dust and hyenas.  The next day, we arrived with the girls to a clean house. 
Over the next days, he was a constant set of extra hands and patience as we helped the girls adjust to Najile.  Having him to hold one (or both) girls was a great way for us to get the house organized or take some time off.  At night he was a great encourager, helping us stick to our plans and persevere when the crying didn't end.
Now dad is back home, and the girls are doing well.  They're sleeping through the night and generally adjusted to Najile-life.  Dad's time with us was a great blessing and we say to him, "karibu"-welcome any time you want to come back.

Visitors

Since the move back to Najile, we've had lots of visitors. Everyone wants to see not just one, but two mazungu babies! In the past when we've had visitors I've struggled to be friendly, often feeling like people just came to look at us and our house like animals in a zoo. But now I'm a proud mama happy to share my joy with anyone who comes. Plus, most people respect that babies are a lot of work, so they linger only for a short time, just wanting to say their hellos and see the girls for a bit. The cutest part is the kids. We have groups of kids come by on a regular basis after school is out, just wanting to see the girls. Many kids used to show very little if any respect to us: not following directions, hanging around, shouting at us; but now most of them are very polite, greeting us quietly, sweetly playing with the girls and then going on their way. If the girls are sleeping, the kids that visit don't try to argue or stay around, they go play somewhere else.

I've also found it interesting that no one wants to see Matt. Since I'm the mom, which here is acknowledged as the person in charge of the home and therefore the babies, if Matt answers the door, they just ask for me! This has given Matt the unique opportunity to take pictures of the throngs that have come to say hello, like the pictures we've posted here.