Category: Transitions

Short Rains Blues

We’ve entered the “Short Rains” season. While September and October have been beautiful everyday, the last two weeks it has rained everyday and it has gotten cooler (58º-75º). The weather really changes life here. Remember all homes/offices don’t have heat – the temperature outside is the temperature inside. Solar powered hot water heaters also don’t work well on cloudy, rainy days.

There is a lot of uncovered soil and poor drainage so there is mud and giant mud puddles everywhere. For us that means our car is filthy and we were boots everyday, but most Kenyans walk everywhere through all of that, many in sandals.

So we’re suffering from a little seasonal affective disorder. Like everything else we have it much better than our Kenyan friends and coworkers. We’re just not used to it yet. It’s the short rains so we only have a couple weeks of it left. We can make it!

Thanks for being on this journey with us! Please pray for our family this week. Thanksgiving is (of course) an American holiday and not celebrated here. In the past we would have taken this week off and already be with family in Ohio. We miss not being there. We were able to order a turkey and will be eating a grand meal with our American teammates on Thursday. We are very thankful for our life here in Kenya that God has provided.

A New Chapter Begins…

We said, “I guess we’re moving to Kenya…” a year and a half ago, but in 24 hours we’ll be boarding a plane and in 48 hours we’ll be living in Kenya…
 
So many emotions right at the surface. Too many details swirling in our heads. Tough goodbyes to family, friends, and favorite foods. 🙂 Looking forward to doing nothing for 16 hours on planes.
 
Our job is to “Land well”, meaning it’s extremely important for us to focus ourselves on figuring out what life looks like for our family in Nairobi. Meaning we won’t be getting straight to “work”. We’re in it for the long haul. So let us adjust and figure things out and we’ll post updates when we can. Flexibility is the key! (Please sign up for our email newsletter on GerbersGo.com).
 
The tentative plans are Thursday and Friday to search for a house to rent and Patrick learns how to drive in Nairobi, move in over the weekend, Hannah starts orientation on Monday and Middle School on Tuesday. That seems like enough for the first week!
 
We wanted to end on a high note… and that’s that we recently were told that WE ARE FULLY FUNDED!! Thank you #TeamGerbersGo for praying for this day and for you supporters who literally made it happen! It’s the end of one chapter, but just the beginning of our next chapter… set in Nairobi, Kenya!