We haven’t posted in a while, partly because things have been a bit hectic and partly because we have been lazy on the blog front.  So, this is just a brief rundown of our last couple of months.

Like every other year since we have lived in Kenya, we were able to travel home for 3 weeks in December to be with our families for Christmas.  This year was even more significant because it was Sophie’s first trip to the States, and her first time meeting many of her family members.  Unfortunately, Sophie did get very sick while home.  She spent the first 6 hours (12am-6am) of her first Christmas in the ER.  She had a viral infection that left her extremely weak and dehydrated.  The highly qualified staff at Betsy Johnson Hospital (please read the previous statement with the intended sarcasm…if you knew all of the details of the 6 hour ordeal you would understand) diagnosed her with a viral infection that would run its course within a few days.  Well, six days later we were back in another ER because even though they hadn’t given her anything to help her situation at Betsy Johnson, they had given her the opportunity to pick up a secondary infection.  So Soph had both a viral and bacterial infection to contend with.  Lucky for us and our family, God blessed us with a sweet natured and kind baby, so even though she was dealing with all of that she still gave her very best to everyone.  That stressful situation aside, the time at home was amazing.  The holidays have always been a special time for us, but now that it is the one time of the year we get to be with our families, and especially now that Sophie is with us, we can’t put into words how much it means to be home for Christmas.

We returned to Kenya on January 10….Side note: We flew through Cairo where Egypt Air hooked us up with a free hotel room, hotel transfer, and complimentary buffet lunch and dinner to make our 10 hour layover more bearable.  Egypt Air is our new favorite…..Back in Nairobi, we got right back into the swing of things, starting back to work on the 11^th.  We have never had a tough time adjusting to jet lag, but we had never done it with a 7 month old.  Suffice it to say that the first week back was no fun…no fun at all.  But Sophie eventually adjusted and is now on a good schedule (excluding last night when she decided to throw a party from 1:15-2:15 in the morning….don’t know what that was about).

In the last few weeks we have gotten back into our work routines, visited some of the projects we support (more to come later), and have enjoyed the beautiful equatorial climate of Kenya (especially after that ridiculously frigid weather in NC/SC over Christmas!).

It is also amazing that in the 3 weeks since we have returned Sophie has started crawling (started in the States but really turned it on when we returned), eating solid foods (two hearty meals a day), pulling up and standing, cruising a bit, clapping to music (so cute when we are singing/playing guitar), waving goodbye, giving high fives on command (Daddy’s favorite) and she has cut two teeth…..a lot of firsts in 3 short weeks, but so it goes.

That pretty much brings us up to date.  We have a lot of exciting possibilities, hopes, and plans for this coming year so God willing, it is going to be a great one.