My Favorite Pics

 After going through my pictures from Kitangela Glass, here are some of my faves.  Check the post below for the story...

 All the glass used here is recycled glass- old windows, beer bottles, coke bottles, etc. 

Kitangela Glass

Today, some friend and I went to see this glass blowing place outside of the city. It was AMAZING!!! Seriously!! It was so cool!  I've never seen the whole process of blowing glass before, but this was crazy artistic with a great Kenyan flair!

Here's a picture of the craziest moment of the day.

Look close.  Its not that flames are spurting out of that furnace at the guy.  The crazy moment of the day was when I realized that these guys are pulling molten glass out of a 2000+ degree furnace, waving and twirling it around this little room with 6 other guys, and they are doing all this IN THEIR BARE FEET!!! (well they had sandals on but I'm not sure that would really make a difference!)  We asked about the lack of protective equipment, but the manager said its been made available, but most choose not to use it.  Fair enough, I guess!

 It was truely amazing to watch this whole process- its such an art AND a science!!  Here, the guys is shaping the piece that he has blown.

 Here is one of the more experienced guys adding a decorative edge to the vase- look at how screaming hot that glass is!!

 Here's another guy in a different part of the facility, blowing more glass.

 It seems to be just using air, gravity, heat and chemical reactions to do this- but once again, its the balance of science AND art- because there is no way its just that simple!

The grounds at this place were amazing.  It was like being in a story book- all the paths were made of mosaic glass, clay and cement pieces.  All the shops and workshops were little huts in the middle of the woods.  They do pottery, stained glass, industrial glass, metal work, and of course the glass blowing.  We spent a few hours here and still didn't see it all (including the illusive ostrich I only heard about later!)

Plus, the owner has these HUGE rottweiler dogs running around free- in the stained glass SHOW ROOM!! I was afraid of breaking stuff- how this monster of a dog made it through is a mystery to me! 

 I love Nairobi.  It literally seems to just appear out of nowhere!  This is the city skyline. 

And these are the Ngong Hills.  If you've seen or read Out of Africa, this is what Karen Blixen was talking about.  "I had a farm at the foot of the Ngong Hills once..."  We stopped by her historic home, so this was taken on her front porch.  The hills look like knuckles. 

So this was my fun, random day off!

The Earth is the Lord's...

 The Earth is the Lord's.....

 ... and everything in it....

... the world....

.... and all who live in it.  Psalm 24:1

 Happy Earth Day!

Youth Football- Day 2

So some of you don't believe I can PLAY football!  I'm shocked!!  Some of you even demanded pictoral proof (MOM- my own mother didn't believe me!)  So for all you doubters out there, here's the proof.  I got SKILLS!!!

Today, I even learned how to not only kick the ball in a somewhat straight line in the relative direction of another player, but I learned how to do that thing where the ball comes to you and you kick it up in the air and bounce it off your foot for a while (a little while being 2 or 3 times).  You can tell from that succinct description, that I have this ALL  figured out!!! or not... 

Lots of fun, and lots of sunburn (even with the sunscreen I wore!), lots of laughing (mostly at my lack of ability).  So its been a great day!  We even got the guard to play for a while! Even with the invasion of Nairobi Flies when we took a break.  Nairobi Flies are these crazy little bugs that are about the size of an ant but they are full of acid- so if you squash them on your arm or something  you get a big old acid burn.  They are SNEEKY!!

Term-Break Football

Schools in Kenya go year-round with 3 month long breaks scattered threw out the year.  This time, I figured we needed to take advantage of the fact that the youth are all out of school for an entire month and plan some stuff to do together- thus Teen Term Break Football!! (For all of you in the US, football is actually "soccer" to you- but the rest of the world calls it football so lets just jump on that bandwagon please! life would be less confusing!)

So we had a long, sun burn (for me) filled day of football.  I'm still not the most athletically inclined person you've ever met but its fun and the teens love to laugh at my lack of skill and ability!  I love these days.  The teens are themselves when they play. One girl was just laughing and smiling- I'm not sure I've ever seen her really smile before. 

We'll play some more football next week (and I'll try to remember the sun screen). 

Random Sighting of the Day:

I was walking home from paying my electricity bill at the grocery store, when I noticed these 2 dudes walking down the street next to me handcuffed together.  I did a double take and yup- 2 dudes cuffed together, meandering down the street while the police officer with an automatic weapon walks casually behind.  They must have been picked up for something and are on their way to the nearest police station? but that's a long walk!  Maybe the Walk of Shame on a busy street cuffed together is part of their punishment.  I guess the officer wasn't too worried about them taking off- people were walking in between the guys and the officer as they made their way towards Town. 

Random.

What To Do With Your Leftover Easter Peeps...

This is what I did last year on the massive bonfire in our yard (the one where we burned all the brush and trees we cleared over the winter) Yummy!!

Who Rolled the Stone Away from the Tomb?

Who rolled away the stone from the Tomb????

CHAR did!!!

All of you from Good Shepherd should remember this historic Children's Sermon. Everybody else- sorry! Its a long long story involving a children's Easter play and some slight confusion as to who was actually present at the Resurrection (for the record- Char was NOT there for the actual resurrection- just our recreation of the event!)

I love Easter. Some of my best childhood memories are from Easter. Not just the crazy Easter Play fiascos (like the Moldy Bagel Play, Char rolling the stone away, etc) but listening to my old school tapes of Psalty the Singing Songbook telling the story of how Charles Wesley wrote "Christ the Lord is Risen Today!" and someone else adding all the Alleluias. I remember great Easter Breakfasts at church, a few mishaps with strawberries and new white Easter dresses, a trio (or was a it a quartet) of dads singing the He Came Riding Into Town way WAY back in the day when we were still meeting in a friend's basement for services, and a sunrise Easter service on a beach in Florida when I was on a mission trip.

Easter has some of the best music (well except for Christmas). Easter also has the best message. Christmas is important (obviously)- Jesus came. But EASTER. Easter is the crux of the issue. Jesus came at Christmas, but Easter is WHY he came. He came to die- for us. Its all about redemption. Its all about new life. I love it.

So Happy Easter from the other side of the world!
Amefufuka! (He has Risen!)
Amefufuka kweli kweli! (He has Risen Indeed!)

Good Friday

Good Friday and Easter just seemed to come out of nowhere this year.  Part of it is probably because work has been crazy lately.  Part of it is the lack of Cadburry Egg commercial in East Africa.   Most of you are thinking "Geez Linds, just look at a calendar!"  which is true.  I'd have a better idea holidays were coming if I looked at a calendar more often.  But I think the real reason Easter snuck up on me this year is because my church here doesn't follow the church calendar. and I miss it.  I miss Lent and the 40 day march to Easter.  It puts it all into perspective.  Easter doesn't just come out of nowhere if you are anticipating it for 40 days. 

I know liturgy and church calendars are a little old school for some people, and that's fine.  But I love it. I love that all of the holidays and important things aren't just "stand alone" days that come out of no where. They all fit together in a huge puzzle.  Advent is connected to Christmas which is connected to Epiphany which is connected to Lent which is connected to Palm Sunday which is connected Good Friday which is connected to Easter which is connected to Pentecost which is connected ....  At the end of the year, we've walked through the entire story from start to finish.  It gives context and perspective. 

So have a great Good Friday! Even if it came out of nowhere and surprised you!  Please keep praying for the rain to hold off tomorrow during Youth Group- we've had yet another week of torrential rains and we still don't have a place to put the Youth if it rains.

Happy Birthday Danielle!!!

I hope you have a great day!!! If we were on the same continent, you, Annie and I would go out to TGI Fridays as per our tradition that started in India. But unfortunately we aren't. Next time I'm home, we'll go!
Wow - India was a long time ago! We all look so little!!! Take care of the newest McGrew and have great Birthday!