Dec. 4, 2020 ~ Welcome Home
2008, Lorna, Pamela and Sally. Kibera On my second trip to Kenya in 2008, I landed at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi. After making my way through the usual immigration control and customs, I headed out to the semi-circle of people awaiting arrivals. Scanning the crowd, I spotted the familiar face of Kenyan […]
Aug. 13, 2020 ~ My Mama and Me, 2017
When I think of the days of the week, or the months of the year, I picture each one in their own particular color. I don’t know how this happened, but it’s been a part of the way I see the world (or at least days and months) for as long as I can remember. […]
June 14, 2020 ~ You make a Difference
Hanging out with Kenya Deaconess Sisters in 2009 A big huge thank you to all of you who take the time to read my little blog posts. My last post in April, 2020, I focused on the needs of the suffering in Kenya due to the pandemic, the flooding and the invasion of locust. And […]
May 10, 2020 ~ Mother’s Day 2020
Mother’s Day 2020 is different. (That’s an understatement, with a twist of sarcasm.) Me, mama, Greg and Mark. Note the bun warmer on the stove. I still have it! I’d been dreading this Mother’s Day–my first without my mama. I remember many years ago, a friend of mine whose mother had just died, told me […]
April 27, 2020 ~ Essential Words
I open the light blue binder, faded by time and use, to a page filled with words written in teeny tiny cursive. My mama’s writing. The first page, undated, contains verses from the Psalms. Words of Poetry. Pleas for mercy. Pleas for comfort. Pleas for strength. And, yes, gratitude and praise. Essential words. Tested by […]
March 29, 2020 ~ COVID-19 Closures–Heart Openings
It can close schools. It can close libraries. It can close just about everything–my yoga studio and even my church. But it cannot close my eyes to the gentle sway of the birch’s pale green heart-shaped leaves. Not the coal black olives still clinging to silvery branches. No it cannot close my eyes to the […]
March 7, 2020 ~ Traveling Mercies: Through the Back Door
I am finding my way home through the back door of poverty, disease, despair and sorrow. These are places where the darkness is pierced by a small window of the noonday sun, or dimly lit at night with a flame from a tiny tin of paraffin. I’ve been invited in through narrow doorways made of […]
Feb. 18, 2020 ~ Twilight Dreams
It was evening. The sun had slipped down into the horizon, sharply silhouetting trees against the twilight. We pulled into the hard-packed dirt parking lot outside the Jalaram Nursing Home—a private hospital in Kisumu, Kenya. The noise of city traffic churning past us. Pastor David Chuchu was responding to the distress of a friend whose […]
Feb. 10, 2020 ~ Traveling Mercies: Home
I am home. Fairly rested. Unpacked. Laundry done. Back to cooking. Daffodils and narcissus are blooming in the backyard. Looking in the rearview mirror at my three weeks in Kenya, brings a collage of images: Driving for hours on paved and unpaved roads, sometimes dusty, sometimes muddy and slick. Packing and unpacking. Laying my head […]
Feb 2, 2020 ~ Leaving Home to Come Home
I am always torn when I leave Kenya. I am ready to see my family and friends in California, AND sad to leave those I love in Kenya. I have been cared for in so many ways here. Pastor David Chuchu has been my steadfast pastor, colleague, friend, driver, organizer, cheerleader and so much more […]