An Extended Visit with Good Friends

Five weeks ago, we welcomed John and Lisa Cranmer for their first visit to Kenya.  John was a groomsman in Jonathan’s wedding; while pursuing a career in public health at Johns Hopkins he met Lisa Nutting, a doctor-in-training with a shared passion for improving health care in the developing world.  John and Lisa focused their [...]

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Our next post: Brussels!

A few weeks ago we received our second assignment: Brussels, Belgium!  The position was second on our ‘bid list,’ and we are delighted to be headed to Europe next.  We will be back in the US for training for about a year beginning next summer, and then if all goes well on to Brussels in [...]

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David is turning Four!

On Monday our David will turn four, an event he has been looking forward to with great anticipation for the past month.  This Sunday we celebrated his birthday during a neighborhood pool party, with plenty of food, swimming, and the dessert David was most looking forward to–birthday cake!  Though David couldn’t wait to eat the [...]

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Ethan…our Tiger Scout

After Ethan’s first week of school, he came home with a note announcing an informational session on Cub Scouts.  Jonathan took Ethan to the session…and didn’t have a chance.  Ethan saw several of his best friends from school, and was hooked when he found out scouting involves such things as camping and Pinewood Derby racing. [...]

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Elections in Western Kenya

Elections – as we seek to encourage accountability and transparency in governments the world round, the election process is irrevocably at the heart of democracy.  There are certain fixtures–campaigns and promises, volunteers, posters, and in the end a day in which people wait, often for hours, to cast a vote for the leader of their [...]

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A visit to RVA…and Ethan’s first Piki ride

This past weekend Drew Harding, a classmate of Jonathan’s at Wheaton College, stayed with us for a few days.  Jonathan and Drew both attended Rift Valley Academy (though for different years); RVA is a boarding school situated on the edge of the Great Rift Valley just 45 minutes from our house in Nairobi.  On Saturday [...]

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Snapshots from R&R

In the two months since we have updated our blog we have not, sadly, been on a long vacation in the States. Our R&R concluded in late July, when we flew back to Nairobi in time for Jonathan to help with Secretary Clinton’s visit.  The four weeks we spent in the U.S. were filled with [...]

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Back to the U.S. for R&R

At 5:30 AM last Friday a minivan pulled up to our house, and with the drivers help we quietly loaded the luggage without waking the boys.  Once they were up and dressed, the excitement set is as they realized that breakfast that morning would be on a plane!  Our day flight from Nairobi to Amsterdam [...]

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Knights…and a lost tooth

While sliding down the twisty slide on our compound’s playground last week, Ethan slid right into the back of a friend’s head and knocked out one of his top teeth.  A trip to the dentist confirmed that the tooth came out cleanly (a big relief), and that Ethan will be sporting a gap-tooth grin for [...]

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Kiambethu Tea Farm

A few weeks ago, we took advantage of a U.S. holiday (which Jonathan has off but are normal work days in Kenya) to leave the kids with Catherine and slip away for a date to Kiambethu Tea Farm.  Founded in 1910 by a second generation British settler, tea was first cultivated on the farm in [...]

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