Wow, so lot's has happened since my last post. After getting over the wonderful chicken pox, life got increasingly busy; trying to catch up from being gone for a week and a half from school, prepping for Christmas break, etc. As soon as Christmas break hit, my fiance'...hehe...Jonathan and I took a trip with our good friends to Uganda for a week to raft the Nile. Upon return of that trip, got to deal with my first Christmas away from family and friends (not easy). And then finally, got ENGAGED on January 5th (very fun!). Needless to say, blogging has taken a back seat, but I would love to share in a little bit more detail about all of this fun stuff!
Well, I guess the fun really began once Christmas break hit (we get three weeks off here..woohoo!). Jonathan and I headed out on a 14 hour bus ride (no air conditioning) for Uganda to check out somewhere different and to go white water rafting down the Nile. My friend Sarah's parents are doing ministry work there, so we got to stay with her family and parents for the week. It was great getting out of Nairobi for a bit and checking out someplace new. The biggest adventure of our week, besides the bus ride, was getting to white water raft. It is something I wanted to do coming here...little did I know what that entailed. Let's just say, a couple 15 foot water waves makes you see your life flash before your eyes, and I was THRILLED when it was all over. 6 hours down this river and through several rapids filled my adventure quota for a while. I'm glad we did it, but I was happy to come back and have relaxation awaiting us back in Nairobi.
Once back in Nairobi, Jonathan and I got to spend our first Christmas and New Year's together. Even though it was hard to be away from family and friends, it was a sweet and memorable time for us. Five days after the first of the year, Jonathan had something else in mind to cause room for celebration...
On January fifth, and after three months of dating (yes, I know it's quick...but when you know you know right?!), we took a day trip out to Crescent Island. For those of you who have seen the film, Out of Africa, this is where most of the movie was filmed. It's an 'island' where there are animals left from the film still roaming around. You can just walk along with zebra, giraffe, buffalo, sometimes Hippos, and other fun animals. Anyway, I had no idea what was going to happen. All I thought we were doing was walking around in intense heat, no water (we forgot that) looking for these animals to take pictures of. Little did I know Jonathan was looking for a place where giraffe were. We both LOVE giraffe and zebra and he thought it would be special to have them around. We found an old hut with seating and he suggested we sit there and rest from the heat for a while. We looked up from sitting and saw giraffe outside eating in front of us. I guess he said that was his sign that that was the spot to propose. After sitting for a bit in awe of these animals, he got down on one knee and proposed! It was a very African proposal with giraffe and zebra as our witnesses and just perfect! We will be getting married July 10th of this year, will be continuing to teach together at West Nairobi School for the following year, and then seeing where God leads us from there.
Phew! That should cover it for now. Please continue to pray for the ministry happening here and the months ahead!
