I am thankful for my wonderful family and friends!

As we are preparing to leave for Nairobi once again tomorrow morning to meet Steve's parents, I cannot believe that we are about to finish our time in Eldoret and Kenya, in general.  We've had another amazing few weeks as we have celebrated time with our friends here, and we also had a fantastic visit from our good friend Jim Vaca, and his dad, Campo.

Jim and Campo arrived in Nairobi on the evening of November 13th, and we were so relieved to finally see them!  I feel like we have been planning their trip for a long time, and actually seeing them in person made me feel so relieved.  Steve, Ellana, and I had an interesting trip to Nairobi as we decided to drive (instead of fly), and then our driver proceeded to run into some speed bumps about half way to Nairobi.  I couldn't believe his reaction when he looked at Steve and said "oh, some speed bumps" as we went flying through the air.  Needless to say, the car started making funny noises and wouldn't go more than 30-40 km per hour up the hills, and we were even getting passed by the huge semi trucks. When Steve asked the driver if something was wrong, he told us no, but we didn't believe him with the shakes and sounds that were coming from the car.  Once we arrived in Nairobi six hours later (it is usually a 3.5-4.5 hour trip), Steve called his boss, our good friend Javan, to investigate.  The driver repeatedly told him that the car was ok, but the driver finally decided to have it checked in the morning.  He was scheduled to pick us up the next morning at the hotel at 9 am, and when Steve called him, he was still at the mechanic, who proceeded to tell him that the car was not ok.  After two cars had to be sent to us from the Nairobi airport (the first one broke down), we were finally on our way back to Eldoret around 2 pm, and arrived safely around 6:30 pm.

We spent all of Tuesday showing Jim and Campo around Eldoret.  I think they were overwhelmed by the sites and sounds of the hospital as Campo told Steve that it was the first time he had experienced culture shock his entire life.  That is saying quite a bit considering that Campo was born and raised in Colombia and is an extensive world traveler!  Steve showed them the Eldoret produce market as well as Imani, and then we drove to Iten where many of the world's best long-distance runners train.  We had an amazing afternoon enjoying the view from the Kerio View Restaurant.  On Wednesday, we took our first trip to Lake Baringo, which is famous for its crocodiles, hippos, and hot springs.  We stayed at Island Camp, which is another tented camp type of lodge that has amazing views of the lake, and is located on one of the islands in the middle of the lake.  In fact, in order to get to Island Camp, you have to take a speed boat over to the lodge.  Steve, Ellana, and I were given the "honeymoon suite" which is more of a cottage style room except for the fact that the bathroom was completely open!  Steve kept saying that no one could see you when you were in the bathroom, but I was still nervous to take a shower!  Island Camp was another neat find, but I didn't like the enormous amount of bugs and birds that were everywhere in the cottage.  I was especially annoyed when the birds started waking us at 5 am!

Jim and Campo enjoying the view from Island Camp

The "rock" at Kerio View Restaurant

Thursday morning we took the boat back to the mainland, and then started our trip to Lake Nakuru National Park.  We arrived in time for lunch, and I was immediately impressed with the cleanliness and hospitality of the Sarova Lion Hill lodge.  We ate lunch and left for our first game drive.  I feel so fortunate that we have been able to show so many people the incredible experience of going on safari, and seeing Jim and Campo's reaction to the animals was such a treat.  I really like Lake Nakuru because it is one of the few parks where visitors are pretty much guaranteed to at least see the white rhino, and there are also many black rhinos.  I think we probably saw 30-50 rhinos on the two days that we were in Nakuru.  We also saw several giraffes, antelopes, a hyena, and we saw one lion three times.  Each time we were so close we could have pet him! We ultimately went on four game drives finishing on Saturday early afternoon.  I will really cherish the time we were able to spend with Jim and Campo, and I can't wait to share stories with Jim's wife Mary, and his three children (our Godchildren) Ava, Audrey, and EJ.  I really hope that they all come back with us to Africa sometime in the future, and I already gave Jim permission to give Ellana a hard time when she is older since all she wanted to do was watch DVD's the entire time.  She has kind-of gotten over the thrill of a safari!

Trying on Daddy's safari hat

Two of the white rhinos

I hadn't really thought much about Thanksgiving since we have not experienced the hype not being in the US, and the weather has been fairly warm, not what I'm used to around Thanksgiving..  However, once I tried to explain the holiday to some of my friends at Imani, I actually started to get choked up thinking about not being with my family.  By Thursday evening, I was starting to feel very emotional until I walked into the IU House dining hall.  Many of the residents had spent most of Thursday decorating, and everyone brought a traditional dish to share.  The amount of food was truly incredible and included three or four enormous turkeys that were specially imported for the occasion.  Steve and I made some macaroni and cheese, and I was very pleased that one of our friends had thought to bring Stove Top Stuffing, one of our favorites.  Ellana loved all of the decorations and especially the cranberry sauce!

Ellana ready for the festivities

Dr. Joe Mamlin carving the turkey

Incredible food

Notice anything?

Saturday we headed out to another one of our favorite local spots, Kruger Farm.  Kruger Farm is a large working farm that is also home to 12 giraffes that were rescued by the Kruger family several years ago.  The weekend celebration was a fundraiser for the giraffes, and many of their friends and family came to the farm to do some clay pigeon shooting.  For our friends from the IU house that came with us, it was definitely a cultural experience as most of the visitors were either descendants of colonial Kenyan families or were from South Africa.  I almost felt as though we had gone back in time to before Kenya's independence.  We enjoyed a relaxing evening around the campfire, and then headed back home yesterday evening.

Steve and I are very excited to show Steve's parents around Eldoret as this is their first trip to sub-Saharan Africa.  We also can't wait for them to see how much Ellana has grown up in the time we have been here!

Paradise, Kenyan Style

I apologize for the lack of blog entries lately and that I have been only writing after trips, but our day to day life has pretty much settled into a normal routine.  I cannot believe that we actually have so little time left in Kenya, but I must admit that I am ready to be home and to start figuring out our lives in Jacksonville.  I am very excited that we have still have friends and family coming to visit within the next few weeks as it is always amazing to see others' reactions Kenya and our lives here.  We have been so fortunate to see and experience so much in our time here, and this past weekend was no exception.

On Sunday night we got back from an incredible weekend trip to Rusinga Island Lodge, which is in the middle of Lake Victoria.  We went with a large group of 11 people who are mostly living in Eldoret and working at AMPATH for at least a year.  In order to get to Rusinga Island, we drove 3.5 hours, and then took a 45 minute ferry across the lake to reach the island.  Then it was a 20 minute drive, but all of the travel time was worth it once we finally reached the resort.  The resort started as just a fishing spot for people wanting a break from safaris in the Masai Mara.  The resort now has about eight cottages that are very well decorated and located just off of the lake.  We especially loved the large "Zanzibar bed" that was on our terrace where Steve and I could read while Ellana was napping.  All of the meals were delicious as the resort mostly uses fresh fruit and vegetables from the on-site garden.  My favorite meal was lunch, as it was served outdoors close to the lake. The meal was comprised of soup and bread (probably the best I've had in Kenya), then either a simple "salad buffet" or fish with lots of vegetables, and then a light dessert.  We also loved that wine for meals was included in the amazing deal that the resort gave us!  Ellana's favorite parts of the weekend were seeing all of the exotic birds (the lodge even had its own birding book), and the pool, of course.  We loved the fact that because we were basically the only people staying at the resort, she had the run of the place!  One of my favorite parts was the spa, and everyone on the trip had some type of massage.  We have stayed at some amazing places while in Kenya, and I think Rusinga tops the list for me!

Family picture before dinner

Mbita ferry to Rusinga Island

Paradise by the lake

Ellana loves hot tea!

Our bedroom

Before sunset on the jetty

Sunset on Lake Victoria

Back in Eldoret, I am still working at Imani and Tumaini (the street children's drop-in center).  I've been trying to organize the beads department at Imani so that it can be more efficient in getting orders out in a timely fashion, and I'm trying to find a good income generation project for Tumaini.  Steve has been fairly frustrated with the current state of the hospital as the supplies are still low, and the surgeons are attempting to strike to get more of the things needed to operate.  Its honestly a pretty sad state of affairs at the moment, but the hospital is hoping to get more money to pay for new supplies as well as for the salaries of the hospital workers that have not been paid for at least a month.

We also said an emotional goodbye today to our friends Meghan and Ben Wolfe.  Meghan and Ben are the parents of Ellana's dear friends Eden and Andy.  They have been trying to adopt Eden for the past two years and keep coming up against one road block after another.  Meghan is expecting another little girl and is due at the end of January, so they finally decided that she needed to return to the states and try to finish some of the US side of the adoption and so that she can be in good hands in January.  Ben will return here to be with Eden because they cannot get a visa from the US for her to leave Kenya until the adoption is finalized.  Ben is going to return to Indiana for a week so that their adoption home study can be completed yet again, and then he will return to Kenya next week.  Meghan left today not knowing how long it will be before she sees her little girl.  I cannot imagine the agony she must be going through right now.  We are planning to visit her in Indiana when we are there right before Christmas, and I really hope that the adoption will go through so that Ben and Eden will be there as well.

Below are some pictures from our amazing Halloween celebration for the kids at the IU house.

Ellana as a "twiga" 

She really loves candy!

Even Obama helped!

Gavin- lion, Ellana- giraffe, Eden- the guide, and Andy- elephant

What a wonderful world

I had been so excited for weeks waiting for my parents, my sister, Kristi, and her fiance, Tom to arrive in Kenya, and now I cannot believe that they are already back home in NC.  Overall we had a fantastic time, and the theme of the trip definitely seemed to be captured by one of my family's all-time favorite songs, Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World."

Steve, Ellana, and I left for Nairobi last Thursday to meet my family.  Fortunately they had found a really incredible deal on plane tickets that unfortunately meant they arrived in Nairobi at around 2 am Friday morning.  Steve persuaded them to get up at a normal time on Friday so that we could show them around the city.  I couldn't believe that they were actually in Kenya and Steve and I had a really difficult time sleeping Thursday night although I'm sure not as difficult as my Dad, Mom, Kristi, and Tom!

On Friday we took them to one of my favorite places in Nairobi, the Kazuri beads factory.  Kazuri was founded in the 1970's as an income generation project for single Kenyan mothers.  The fair trade organization makes incredibly beautiful ceramic jewelry that has even been given as gifts for award shows such as the Oscars.  There is even an amazing photo of Meryl Streep in the gift store wearing some of necklaces.  We were given a tour of the facility and got to see every aspect of the jewelry being made.  Of course the tour ends at a stop at the gift shop, so we had to take advantage of the incredible prices since the jewelry is much more expensive in the US when export prices are attached!

Ellana outside of Kazuri Beads

We had lunch at one of our favorite Nairobi spots, the Rusty Nail, and then headed for the Masai Market.  The market is a collection of many of Kenya's most interesting handcrafts, and while a good deal is attainable with lots of bargaining, the constant in your face harassment of the booth owners starts to get a little overwhelming.  Steve managed to find some amazing metal statues, and my mom, Kristi, and I purchased some beach hats for latter part of their trip.  That evening we enjoyed dinner outside at our hotel (one of my favorites, the Fairview Hotel), and listened to the guitar musician who played a range from Bob Marley to Elvis Presley (and of course, Louis Armstrong).

On Saturday morning, we caught a flight from Nairobi's smaller airport to the Masai Mara.  Steve, Ellana, and I had been to the Mara a few weeks prior with the Duke group and didn't think we could handle the incredibly bumpy 6 hour car ride from Nairobi to the Mara.  We were pleasantly surprised with our first landing on a dirt airstrip, and we were happy to meet our guide for the next couple of days.  Dickson, who is a member of the Masai tribe, helped us with our luggage, and then we took off in his Land Cruiser.  I couldn't believe it when we saw a couple of female lions about 15 minutes from the airstrip, and then we saw one of the most amazing sites in the Mara, a male and female leopard.  Steve and I have been trying to see a leopard for the past seven years we have been coming to East Africa, and I was shocked to see two on our way to the lodge!  We also saw several giraffes and numerous types of antelopes on our drive to lunch.

Our home for the next two nights was the Mara Eden Safari Camp, which is a permanent camp similar to others I have talked about in other posts.  The camp is fairly new and small, and only has six tents currently.  We were greeted by the owner, a South African named Jay, and I was impressed immediately by her hospitality as well as by the food we had a lunch.  We were not disappointed by any of the subsequent meals.

Once lunch was finished, we did another game drive and this time saw more lions and some elephants.  We then drove back to the lodge and witnessed a beautiful sunset.  After dinner, we sat out by a campfire and could hear the sounds of the hyenas and hippos that were just a few meters from the camp.  There were several guards around the camp, so I wasn't too worried!

pride of lions

On Sunday, we headed out in search of rhinos, and ended up seeing another leopard much more closely, as well as a cheetah and her three young cubs.  We enjoyed a "bush breakfast" as we were able to stop the car in a safe place, and my Dad, Steve, and Tom enjoyed a bow shooting lesson from Dickson.  We also saw several more elephants and buffalo, but never did get to see our elusive rhino.  Dickson definitely tried his best, but I think they were all being shy that day!  I felt that we were very lucky to see four out of the "big five" (elephants, lions, leopards, buffalo, and rhinos).  For dinner we ate beneath one of the trees at the camp, and had a lantern-lit feast.  We were entertained by Masai dancers and enjoyed talking by the campfire.

Sunset on the Mara

After our bush breakfast

Leopard or "chui"

Ellana still loves "twiga"

Our driver and guide, Dickson

Monday, Dickson took us on a short game drive on our way to the airstrip, and then we took off out of the Mara.  The time spent there with my family was truly amazing, and we were so blessed to have such incredible hospitality as well as a fabulous guide.  I will always treasure our time there together!

Monday afternoon/evening we rested back at the hotel and then enjoyed dinner at an Indian restaurant.  On Tuesday, we took our next flight to Malindi on the Kenyan coast.  We arrived to rain, and this was definitely the theme of the second half of the trip.  We stayed at an all-inclusive resort, Turtle Bay, which is kind-of the opposite of the Eden Safari camp due to its size and it is fairly touristy (although the staff and food are really amazing).  While Ellana was probably able to spend an adequate time at the pool between rain showers, and the all-inclusive nature of the resort made it very relaxing, Steve and I were upset that my family wasn't able to enjoy more of the activities available at the Indian Ocean when the weather is nice.  At least each of the evenings were rain-free, and we did get a little sun on Wednesday afternoon.  However, it rained so hard that some of rooms flooded on Thursday (luckily not ours), and we couldn't do much that day except eat and drink.  Of course the sky opened Friday morning, and the day looked like it was going to be beautiful as we headed for the airport.  Although I was disappointed, the most important aspect of the trip was that we were able to spend quality time together, and Ellana really enjoyed getting reacquainted with her "Babu" (my dad), "Mema" (she's trying to say Grandma), Kristi (she loves Kristi's giraffe impressions) and Tom (who taught her some great dance moves).

Kristi and I at Turtle Bay Resort

My family left Nairobi early Saturday morning (2:50 am), and saying good bye was very difficult, much harder than I thought it would be even though I know I don't like good byes.  I had so enjoyed seeing Ellana with my family, talking with them, and seeing their reactions to Kenya.  Hopefully it will not be their last visit to Africa, and I'm already excited to see them at Christmas.  Thank goodness for skype and for more friends and family coming to visit soon!

Here comes the sun

"Here comes the sun" definitely explains my current mindset towards living in Eldoret and Kenya in general.  For better or worse, my attitude is very much controlled by the type of weather I am experiencing (hence one of the big reasons we are moving to Florida, at least in my opinion).  Although all of the normal frustrations still exist, we have had about five consecutive days of absolutely glorious weather with amazing "Carolina" blue skies,  as my NC friends would say.   This has certainly helped my outlook on life in general.  Ellana and I, or her babysitter, have spent almost every day, all day outside with her friends either in the pool or in the swing, or just simply walking around enjoying the sun.  I really think that we are experiencing a little bit of Heaven right now.  The highs are in the mid-80s with zero humidity and the temps probably reach the low 60s at night.

One of my favorite memories of the past week was when Ellana and I were out by our main front gate just watching people walk by and talking to one of the friendliest people I have ever met, our guard, Michael.  About 10 cows came strolling by, and as Ellana really loves cows and making the "moo" sound, we stood and watched them for several minutes.  These were some of the largest and healthiest cows I have seen in Kenya, and Ellana went right up to pet them.  Although I'm sure they didn't know what to think of her, they tolerated her very loud "mooing" until they decided that our grass wasn't adequate.  I'm really enjoying seeing the world through the eyes of a toddler!

My attitude has also changed after visiting the Tumaini Children's Drop-In Center located about 5 minutes from the IU House.  I had been wanting to visit, but just hadn't made the time.  Our housemate, Matt, has been working there since May and encouraged me to see the organization to see if there was something I could do to help.  Tumaini was founded by a former Indiana medical student (now a Duke resident) named Tim, and one of his research assistants, Kimani.  After doing extensive research, Tim and Kimani decided that trying a drop-in center would be the most effective way to deal with the growing amount of street children in Eldoret.  This problem was compounded after the post-election clashes in Kenya in 2008.  The center officially opened in January 2010, and has successfully placed many children either back with their parents or with other families, and has gotten many back into school.  As part of the Tumaini program, a "livelihoods" project was also developed.  This is the part of the program that Kimani and Matt are hoping that I will be able to lend some assistance.  When I visited last Friday a group of young women (Tumaini works with street children up to the age of 25), were working on beaded pins that are going to be sent for Purdue's Homecoming in October (one of Tumaini's board members is the head of Purdue's Pharmacy program in Eldoret).  Many of the women have at least two children.  I suggested that adding a brief story and picture of the girls, along with information about Tumaini would be helpful, so we set to work getting the backgrounds of the girls and designing an informational card.  I was sorry to give Matt more work, but hopefully the pins will sell better and people will be able to learn more about the program!

Once again, by hearing the women's stories about what they hope to do once they finish the Tumaini program, I realized that I have gained so much more from the people here than I can ever give.  Also, many of the women mentioned that they wanted to start businesses of their own someday.  Not that I haven't realized this many times before, but I was brought back to the fact that I am so incredibly lucky to have been born in the US and to incredible parents that said I could do anything.  Because of this support, I was able to have an amazing education and attend an incredible business school.  I kept thinking one of my favorite phrases over and over "to whom much is given much is expected."  I have tried to carry this attitude over to my work at Imani, and as a result, had a much better week working there.

Other than work and hanging out in the sun, Steve, Ellana, and I have enjoyed spending time with our friends at the IU house.  I must say that it is so nice to be able to walk outside of our front door and always have something to do.  For example, last Sunday a big group of us made homemade pizza, Steve helped a friend brew his first batch of beer, and unfortunately, we watched Chelsea lose.  Tomorrow we are heading out to a working farm about 20 minutes outside of Eldoret, and Steve is making his famous shrimp etouffee and red beans and rice.  The farm is run by a third generation South African family living in Kenya, and they have rescued several giraffes.  We are excited for Ellana to see "twiga" very soon!

Ellana feeding a twiga at the Giraffe Sanctuary in Nairobi (with the Duke group)

Can't believe she wasn't scared of Daisy at all!

Ready for the Chelsea match

Go Chelsea!

Happy to be home

We're very happy to say that the Duke Neurosurgery team made it safely to Eldoret...and has now made it safely back to North Carolina!  I'm sorry that I haven't posted for a while now, but the last week and a half has been extremely hectic.  We calculated that we spent about 2 hours on a plane, at least 10 hours on a bus, and about 20+ hours in a safari van.  Steve has promised to talk more about the surgeries, so stay tuned for a guest blog!

We started the adventure last Friday, September 2nd when Steve, Ellana, and I flew to Nairobi to pick up the group.  We had a fabulous day exploring the city as we had not spent much time there previously.  We enjoyed our time at the Village Mall that had everything from a gourmet meat and cheese shop to one of the largest toy stores I have ever seen.  Nairobi is definitely an interesting place as it harbors one of the largest slum areas in the world but also has completely modern, upscale areas.  I often have a difficult time wrapping my head around the enormous disparity between the rich and the poor in East Africa, and Nairobi is one of the places where that disparity is most evident.

We were very pleased that the group had no problems with their flights and arrived on time in Nairobi.  Once they arrived at the hotel, we had a late dinner and enjoyed seeing everyone for the first time in months.  Most of the group had been to either Uganda or Rwanda with Dr. Haglund (the head Neurosurgeon) in the past, but this was the first time for the Duke Neurosurgery program to be in Kenya and to not be going to a capital city.  At dinner that night, we were all pleased to be sharing the hotel with the actress Olivia Wilde as she was sitting just a few tables away from us!

On Saturday morning we attempted to cram all of the luggage into the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital 25 seat bus.  We had decided to drive back to Eldoret because we couldn't get enough plane tickets for the group, and we thought that it would be easier with all of the luggage.  We had also been told that the trip would take around 4.5 to 6 hours at the most.  In order to give the group a feel for the city, we took them to a giraffe sanctuary and had lunch at a beautiful restaurant in one of the suburbs outside of the city.  Then we headed to Eldoret only to arrive about 7.5 hours later!  An exhausted and hungry group sat down to dinner around 9 pm that night at one of our favorite spots, Mamma Mia.

On Sunday the group divided up so that one half could attend church and the other half started unpacking the 4 tons of supplies that had been shipped by DHL.  Yes, everything made it to Eldoret!  The total value of the supplies was about $400,000.  The team set up the operating rooms and prepared for the first operations on Monday, and also saw patients that would be operated on through the course of the week.  One of the more interesting cases was a young man who had been shot by a barbed arrow a day or two prior.  The removal of the arrow was set for Monday morning.

On Sunday afternoon, we took the group to a restaurant at the top of the Rift Valley so that everyone could see some of the amazing views of Kenya.  The restaurant is located in Iten, which is where many of Kenya's most talented long distance runners are trained because of the altitude and the incredible hills.  We have learned that on important training days, the runners are driven down the bottom of one of the enormous hills twice a day, and they run up the marathon distance both times!

On Monday, the team held a teaching conference on neurological trauma for the doctors, residents, nurses, and medical students of MTRH, and as well as some visitors from Nairobi.  Everything went well both at the conference and in the OR, as the team was able to remove the arrow successfully.  After a long day, we ate dinner at an Indian restaurant and had a brief Kiswahili tutorial given by our teacher, Wycliff.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday pretty much followed in the same fashion with me taking many of the members on small excursions around Eldoret including numerous trips to Imani.  I think that the Imani artisans enjoyed having many of the members tour their facility and do lots of shopping!  The team ended the time in Eldoret with a wonderful celebratory dinner at the Eldoret country club on Thursday evening.  We were treated to traditional Kenyan fare, lots of thank you speeches,  some traditional Kenyan music and dancing, as well as amazing gifts.  Duke Neurosurgery's contributions to MTRH will hopefully be treasured for many years to come, and I know the team members will always remember their time at the hospital .

At 6 am Friday morning, we set off for our safari to the Masai Mara.  Although the trip took around 6 hours, the final two hours were on some of the worst roads I have ever traversed.  I'm not sure how Ellana slept for about an hour, and we were extremely happy to finally arrive at our home for the next two nights.  Steve and I weren't sure what to expect, but we were incredibly pleased with our accommodations at the Olasheiki Camp.  Olasheiki is in the style of a tented camp that is very popular in the Masai Mara.  The lodge was also entirely run by members of the Masai tribe who helped to guide us around the park.  We were able to see cheetahs and lions on the brief 1.5 hour trip we took on Friday, and then saw numerous animals on our day-long drive on Saturday.  Ellana's favorite were by far the giraffes or "twiga," which is the Kiswahili word that she uses for them.

Overall, I don't think we could have been any happier with what was accomplished by the Duke Neurosurgery group in Eldoret or by the fun times we were able to have with everyone in the Mara.  And despite all of the hours in some sort of transportation, Ellana was absolutely amazing and has already become a seasoned traveler.  Now we are just looking forward to my family members arriving in early October so we can see more "twiga" again soon!

Our Masai guides and the staff at Olasheiki

The bridge from the camp into the national park

Our beautiful breakfast area

Cell phones are everywhere!

Ellana and the "simba"

Ellana in search of "twiga"

Mara River

So glad she napped, but she would have loved the lion cubs!

Rain, rain go away

First of all, we are glad to hear that Irene has passed as we had been watching closely for our friends and family in the east and northeast.  So glad everyone is ok!  In terms of Eldoret, on Saturday we thought we had turned a corner as it was beautiful, sunny, and actually hot in the morning, but the happiness was short-lived as it rained most of the afternoon and evening on Saturday and Sunday, and was rainy and cold the entire day yesterday.  I know that rain is generally good and that given the drought in the other parts of Kenya rain sounds like it is needed, but the rainy season in this area as been changing rapidly over the past several years and as this isn't a normal time for the weather to be this rainy, the farmers are starting to get worried about this year's crops.  We had heard that it should get less rainy and warmer in September, but now I'm hearing October.  All I can say is that I am missing central heat tremendously and will never take it or a hot shower with lots of water pressure for granted again.  I'm also really excited about moving to Florida in January as I am definitely not a cold weather person!

We are currently suffering through Ellana's first ear infection, but at least we have lots of pediatricians around to make sure she is ok.  Although having a sick toddler is no fun, we have really appreciated the numerous "house calls" we have received from the doctors living on the IU House compound.  If there is any place to get sick, I guess this is it!  Our only major concern is that we are supposed to fly to Nairobi on Friday morning to meet the Duke team, so hopefully she'll feel better by then.  As I right this post she is sleeping on my lap and has been the most cuddly she has ever been.  I was supposed to work at Imani today but didn't feel that leaving her with our babysitter was a good idea.

This past weekend we had a relaxing couple of days.  On Saturday we celebrated Ellana's friend Gavin's first birthday.  Ellana loved the balloons, pizza (one of her new favorite words), and cake as well as the bucket swing that Gavin received as a gift.  Ellana would have been in the swing for hours if we had let her.  Someone commented that it was the happiest they had seen her!  For dinner we went to a potluck hosted by one of long-term ex-pat couples living in Eldoret .  All of the people working for the hospital and AMPATH who are living here for more than a few weeks were invited, and we enjoyed the amazing combination of food including Ethiopian dishes, macaroni and cheese, and cake and ice cream.  The food was quite an eclectic combination!

Ellana and Andy in the kiddie pool

Ellana has a great "zombie" walk!

Chrissie, Gavin, and his adorable monkey cake

Eden and Ellana helping Gavin open his gifts

Before church

Fun in the swing

Happy girl

On Sunday we tried a new church with Gavin's parents, Chrissie and Geren.  Ellana enjoyed the music for a few minutes, but then we retreated to the nursery.  She liked playing with the other kids and the toys, although I had to laugh a little when the kids started saying yangu or "mine" in Kiswahili when trying to get or keep a toy.  I guess the word works well in any language!

We can't believe how quickly the time is flying and that the Duke team is arriving this weekend.  Hopefully next week will lead to lots of effective surgeries as well as good training sessions for the people here.  Keep your fingers crossed that our huge DHL shipment with the equipment arrives on time!