Here

So I just realized the picture I posted below under "coming soon" is not showing up. Dang. Well I'll just go ahead and share real quick. It is the logo for "Sprouts", Mattaw Baby home! We are absolutely in awe of how the Lord has brought this all together. It has been part of the Mattaw dream and vision for years and we had no idea the complete provision for this project would come in this year. We do not plan to break ground and start building until January 2012. And so next year we will be looking forward to welcoming home our new babies! We will start with just a hand full and slowly grow. And THIS is what our friends, the Erhardts will be doing! I want to go more into detail on them coming over so I'll just have to wait.

We are home. Our hearts are so content and full. The feelings come back all over again once stepping off the plane. That sense of this is where I belong, at least for now. It's like you take that leap of faith again and again but the newness never wears off of feeling fulfilled in doing what you are made for. Of course we were wiped out coming off the plane, it was hot and humid, and the smells hit us like a load of bricks. Ha! Our new work permits are in process so we had to get tourist visas again. Our passports are pretty full so it could have been debatable if they'd let us in. Bud went up to the counter though and his swahili instantly came back. He rattled off a decent conversation with the lady and she liked it that he could speak the language. So no problems there.

Should I dare even admit to our plan ride from London to Nairobi? Well, in short, Elisha ruined two airplane seat cusions and three seat belts. Stink-o-rama! It was so embarassing. The entire trip went fairly well. It went pretty quick and I actually watched a full movie at one point. (miracle!) But then four hours out Bud and I were talking how it's been pretty smooth to wish he says "we still have some hours left, lets not say that too quick". I should have prepared, I didn't. Within 30 minutes of that conversation, Elisha starts screaming and the seat belt light goes on. I can't calm him down and not sure what is wrong. Then the explosion came. Poop went EVERYWHERE. Heads turned in disgust at us and everyone was covering their nose. And I couldn't get up because the seat belt light was on! We finally got it all clean and I basically gave him a bath in the bathroom... gross. We get all settled again and then pretty much push the reset button. Yep, Eli screams, seat belt lights come on, and poo goes everywhere! The airplane crew quickly attended to us and gave us a bottle of air freshener and said to spray it every so often. Once all was cleaned up, Elisha was bouncing off the walls and felt much better. Rightly so. And we were THOSE people.

Watching our children adjust back into our house and Kitale has been great. Jet lag, not so great. But we're just happy to be in our home where they can run freely and not have to be quiet. Elisha points out several times a day that he has "his room" with "his toys". You could say we shared many rooms and toys in the past 10 weeks! We also had a great time reuniting with the children and staff out at Mattaw. Elisha was talking the whole way about how he was going to see Noah, Lucy and Georgie. We get out there and he had something in his hand but once he saw Georgie, he dropped it and ran to Georgie. He exclaimed "my Georgie!" and they both gave big hugs. It was so precious. And of course all the girls and women staff passed Claire around, she was happy about that.

We found all the children in great health, what a blessing. The staff are all doing great as well. It is such an answer to prayer to be able to leave for a short time and leave Mattaw in the hands of Kenyans and come back to them thriving and at peace. Kenyans raising future leaders of Kenya... man, I like how that sounds!

Obviously I have much to update on. For now I will get back to making pioneer woman cinnamon rolls for our guests! It is absolutely WONDERFUL to be back in my kitchen. I keep forgetting my camera when going out to Mattaw and the one day I had a camera I discovered we've lost the cord. Soon enough you'll see some of the most precious children on the planet on here.

Thank you all for your prayers and love. It is a joy to have you all walk alongside us on this journey. Updates to come!