Cucumbers for Jesus

Livi had a play date with her friend Isa on Sunday. The family asked if she could go to church with them to bring flowers and we of course said yes. When she came home, we had a very interesting conversation about her experience over dinner. She started out by telling us that they got some flowers and went to put them in a pond with a statue of Mary. Then they went to a small area to pray. She didn't know what everyone else prayed for, but she prayed for all the children without homes to find families and a home soon. (At the beginning of the school year, a guest author read a story about a little Kenyan boy who didn't have a family. He finds one in the end, and the story ends happily, but Livi was really upset by it and the topic comes up from time to time.)

Then we started talking about what we believed in, and Livi said she believes in everything - ghosts, ganesha, god, aliens, vampires, witches (Halloween was the day before)…. Oscar was providing comic relief throughout the whole conversation, saying he didn't believe in anything except farts in a jar…

Then the topic shifted to Santa Claus, which both kids believe in (for the time being, although Oscar has been asking questions lately. His best friend said Santa doesn't come to his house anymore and we told Oscar that's probably because he doesn't believe…that seemed to hold him off for now but this may be the end of the Santa line…although Oscar and I are never admitting it :) ). We talked about how a lot of people celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas. With this information Livi decided that when she leaves cookies and carrots for Santa and his reindeer, she also wants to leave something for Jesus in case he comes too. I asked her what she thought he'd like and she decided on cucumbers and bread.

Our nomadic lifestyle seems to fit in well with helping the kids understand that people believe different things and have different religions, and not everyone celebrates things in the same way. This is Livi's first real exploration into the idea of religion, and at the end of our conversation Oscar was talking to her about how you can find whatever you believe God is right in your heart, she looked at him so sweetly and said, " Dada, I think you just opened my heart." Hugs followed.

Livi's first school project - a shoe box diorama of a community helper.
She chose librarian (represented by Elsa).

Busy Halloween Weekend

kitty!

Halloween doesn't have quite the build up overseas that it does in the states, especially coming from New Orleans (which treats Halloween like Christmas in terms of the quantity and quality of house decorations that). Fortunately, we found nice orange pumpkins from a stand at the Embassy farmers market… but did forget to carve them :) The kids school also had a "Costume Party" last Friday - which was a Halloween party in every sense of the word, except they don't want to offend anyone so they refuse to say Halloween… On Friday they got out of classes early and had a costume parade for parents, followed by a few hours of games, activities and trick or treating around the elementary school. Oscar took off with his friend and Livi and I wandered around together collecting candy and admiring everyone's costumes. 

Livi and her teacher Mrs. Robinson (aka an alien)

Livi and her best bud Isa

1st graders on parade

photo ops after the parade - she waved the whole time

4th grade - Oscar's the grim reaper near the middle

the grim reaper and his friend Ultron

Saturday was a marathon that kicked off with a Girl Scouts activity to cheer on runners for a 5K to support Breast Cancer Awareness. The girls made their sign, cheered runners as they crossed the finish line, and were so excited to hand out water! We followed the morning with a few Halloween crafts, and even got a camel sighting while having snack.

5 little Daisies 

it was raining but a tarp helped keep the girls dry at the finish line

here they come!

We followed that with a BBQ at the Marine House...then a party at a colleague of Oscar's house on the big compound which rolled right into trick or treating. Kids came out of the woodwork, and it was the first time I realized how big the family presence is here in Nairobi! I thought our kiddos would want to take their time and head out with their friends, but they were on a mission for candy. They took off running and I followed Livi's trail while Oscar followed Oscar's as they ran from house to house collecting the goods.

photo by the grim reaper

ready to trick-or-treat

a rare family photo!

sorting out their loot