I promise . . .

I know. It’s been three months and seven days since I returned from my last trip to Kenya. I promise this will be the last blog post about it.

 

I wanted to share some pictures from The Hub mall in Karen. We went there our last Saturday in Africa; I needed to buy some nuts and treats to take home.

On the back side of the mall there are beautiful gardens surrounding a pond.

Since I was there last, they installed a bouncy house and a climbing wall, along with a zip line over the pond.

On Sunday, our very last day in Kenya, our host Marta took us and her two boys to a park outside of Kikuyu.

It’s called Leilani Gardens and has space for outdoor weddings and other events.

Parks like this always seem out of place in the dust and clutter of the cities of Kenya or the desert-like landscape of the Rift Valley.

There is a name for this grass by the way. We called it lumpy grass.

Speaking of lumpy, I never did tell you about how on our first full day in Kenya, I missed the last step going downstairs for breakfast.

This was my foot the second day.

And five days later. No, I didn’t bother going to the doctor or getting an x-ray. It finally stopped hurting and my full mobility returned around Christmas.

It was another eventful trip. And though I hated the thought of flying into Chicago at the end of it, it’s still always nice to get my feet – broken or not – on home soil.  

Searching

  When Jesus’ parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why did you do this to us? Your father and I were very worried about you and have been looking for you.”

 Jesus said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand the meaning of what he said. (Luke 2:48-50, New Century Version)

The story of Jesus’ birth is covered only in the book of Luke. He grows quickly from that Baby in the manager to a twelve-year-old Boy.

I’m sure He was the ideal Son, never giving His parents any grief. Yet, there stood Mary and Joseph at the Temple in Jerusalem, worried sick that Jesus had disappeared on them several days before. Then, they finally found Him conversing with the rabbis there.

“Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

These are the earliest recorded words that Jesus speaks in the Bible. At first glance, they seem a little sassy. His parents have been franking searching for Him, and Mary reprimands Him when they find Him.

But at only twelve years old, He’s already speaking to us.

It shouldn’t be so hard for anyone to find Jesus and the peace and salvation He offers. Many people search for happiness in all the wrong places. Instead, all we need to do is turn to God and His Word. The answers to our questions are right there in the Bible – our Father’s House.

Thank You, Jesus, for coming to this earth as an innocent Baby and showing us the way to our Heavenly Father and to salvation. Amen.

The Beach, Mombasa and the Trip Home

Back to my last trip to Kenya. Yes, I know it was over three months ago, but I just want to keep reliving it, especially with all the cloudy days of winter that we have left here in Wisconsin. 

I've shared a lot of pictures and stories from our four day stay at Diani Beach. 

 But how is it possible to not continue to imagine this beach with its blue water and that blue sky above and wish you were there. 

One of the big forms of transportation along the coast was the Tuk-tuk. These little motorbike cabs which motored up and down all the streets, with the nicest young men driving them. But after those four days, Friday morning it was time to head back to Nairobi. 

Unfortunately, the airport which we flew into on Monday closed for repairs two days later, forcing us to fly out of Mombasa. The airline loaded us into a coach bus at the airport and drove us the hour and a half to the Mombasa airport. Not a bad ride, but I anticipated what was coming. 

The city of Mombasa is mostly on an island, and though there are several bridges, I knew we'd have to take the ferry across the channel at one point. The picture below isn't from this trip, but is one which my daughter took when she boarded a pedestrian ferry in Mombasa in 2010. This is the kind of vessel you picture making news headlines when it sinks from being over loaded and over half of the passengers drown. 

I'm so thankful that our coach bus drove into a large vehicle ferry operated by the Likoni Ferry Service.  

And the crossing was so smooth, it didn't even feel like we were moving. 

Once back on land and in the city, I caught a few pictures out the bus's windows. 

Coz I'll take pictures of everything I can. 

Once we got to the airport, we unfortunately had a several hour wait for our plane to board. Time we would have rather spent on the beach. But there's always next time...

Okay, but I did find this blurb on Wikepedia: On April 29, 1994, the MV Mtongwe ferry bound for the mainland capsized just 40 meters from port, killing 272 of the 400 people on board.

Shredded

    But he was wounded for the wrong we did; he was crushed for the evil we did. The punishment, which made us well, was given to him, and we are healed because of his wounds. (Isaiah 53:5, New Century Version)

Every January, Hubby shreds a box full of our old financial statements. There probably is nothing in any of those papers which would compromise our finances, but sometimes I am still paranoid about that kind of stuff. I need to ask myself why there is still so much paper in this day and age of electronic records. But that's not today's story. 

I have all these papers, but I need more than to discard them in the trash or recycling. I'm compelled to shred them. 

Just like we should shred our sins. 

Which got me thinking. (And I hope I'm too graphic.) Maybe it wasn't enough for Jesus to die on that cross to take away our sins. Perhaps when the Roman soldiers were whipping Him and tearing His flesh, our sins were also being ripped and torn. 

Think about all the sins you commit every day. Ask for God's forgiveness, then rip those sins out of your life and start fresh. 

Lord, God, thank You for sending Your Son to suffer at the hands of the Romans and die on that cross so that we could be cleansed from our suffering. Amen. 

 

Dino the Wonder Dog

My handsome Dino

 

He always liked the other animals. Here with Wesley. 

And baby Buddy

 

With Buddy nearly grown up

With baby Bleu

With all the pups

And even with Lady, who didn't like many other dogs

He especially got along with the cats. Little Alice

Difficult Fred

Special Emma

And even visitor Brewster

His best four-legged friend, tho, was Ches

What a handsome pair.

He even liked our bear

But his favorite activity was camping

And favorite thing to do while camping was playing fetch in Lake Superior

He went through three different campers with us even. Two pop-ups

And the travel trailer

Oh, sweet, sweet Dino

He had always loved Christmas too. But this year? Not so much. Didn't even open any of his presents.
I guess that's when we knew it was time. 

I don't know why or when I started calling you the wonder dog.
But you will always be the Wonder Dog in our hearts. 

God loaned you to us from April 16, 2007 to January 4, 2023, and it was time God had you back.