I see that the poll has generated quite a bit of excitement. Now, you all see why we can’t have babies yet, Sam would name it Zeus or Maddog (Nicole, I personally am thinking Ronald Reagan Seeley:))

Anyways.

Sam and I have the good luck to be in Kenya during Presidential election year. Now, they only start their campaigns a mere 6 months ahead of time, as opposed to 2 years, like the USA, land that I love. However, the process is just as hilarious and maddening.

We are faithful consumers of journalism- newspaper, tv news, radio- you name it. However, we have yet to hear a single stance on an issue from a single candidate. If you would catagorize the States as playing “party” politics, then here it is “tribe” politics. People often side with the candidate who is from their tribe. President Kibaki is from the Kikuyu tribe, which is, surprise, surprise, the largest tribe in Kenya (making up about 22% of the population)

Anyways, this morning Sam and I were driving to Nakumatt (our version of Wal-mart), when we see all these people from the busy sidewalks running into the gated parking lot. It was strange because the guards were actually letting all of them in, when usually they shoo away anyone who looks like a beggar. Eventually, we saw crowds of people walking down the street wielding sticks and yelling. It turned out to be part of a protest at a political rally, but it was pretty wild to see people sooo riled up.

As an outsider, I wish that people would just run for office based on the issues, rather than ethnicity. But, I suppose I don’t know the history of why things are the way they are. It does make me appreciate American politics. For as much as we complain about Republican and Democrat, at least the parties are somewhat based on issues.

I want to take a moment to update you on our prayers and praises.

Praise God for the opportunities I have with my students to teach them about history, but teach them about life and God’s will for them!

Praise God that the cockroaches seem to be gone (or close to)!

Praise God that when Sam got pulled over by the police, he had a Kenyan friend there to help him stand strong against a bribe!

Praise God for all the people who are faithfully supporting us financially and who are praying for us!

And some prayers;

Pray that we will figure out what is causing my migraines. They have gotten much worse since we moved to Kenya, and we are not sure why. We suspect pollution may be contributing.

Pray for Sam’s safety as he rides public transportation for 2-3 hours a day. It can also be quite a frustrating process because Nairobi traffic is so congested and unpredictable.

Pray for our health in general. We just seem to be a bit more susceptible to illness here.

Pray that we will find a home church, where we can contribute in a meaningful way and grow closer to the Lord.

And the last prayer requires a bit of a story.

As you all know, I am teaching middle and high school history. I ended up teaching 2 sections of 10th grade World History II, so one class is right before lunch break and the other is right after.

A few weeks ago I was giving a test to the first class, and I put them in my desk during lunch. When I came back from lunch, I opened the drawer to get out the blank tests for my 2nd class of 10th graders. ALL of the tests were gone!!

I thought I was the worst teacher ever because I lost an entire batch of tests. I spent all afternoon frantically searching ( I was literally sweating).

Gone. Totally gone.

So, I went home, wrote a retest and announced it to them the following morning.

Then, magically, 3rd period, this extremely shy boy, Gaithuma, comes up to me and hands me the lost tests with just a blank look on his face.

He told me he had no idea how they got into his locker, but he had just found them.

Once I gave the retest, it became painfully apparent who had cheated (not Gaithuma) because that student went from a 100% on the first test to a 55 %.

And yet, even when confronted with the evidence, he denied it quite vigorously for awhile, which was disappointing.

Now, I feel like I got to show this young man what forgiveness looks like. He was so afraid to confess to me, but I forgave him. He was terrified to fess up to his classmates. He thought they would think of him as a liar and a thief forever. And yet, he asked them and they did. I feel like this is a Christian School at its best- modeling one of the attributes of God, a forgiving heart.

Now, unfortunately, my heart has not perfected forgiveness, so I pray for patience with this student, as he is rather difficult. I pray that God will give me wisdom on how to deal with him fairly, but kindly. I know that the other students are looking to me as an example as well, so I pray that God will give me the strength to model a shadow of His character.

Hey ya’ll! So sorry for the long hiatus on the blog. We have no worthwhile excuse, only a plethora of frustrating experiences with snail-speed internet. I guess there’s a lot thats been happening here in the past two weeks. Teaching has been going well for Amanda, but I’ll leave that for her to talk about.

So a few weeks ago, I got some news, but i’ve had to keep i under wraps until I got permission to spill it out on my blog… my sister is having a boy!! Nicole and Bill are due in December, when we will still be tragically far away. I’m so pumped about being an uncle, though! Every time I’m at a market here, I see things that I want to buy and take home for him. I can’t believe I’ll have to wait a whole 6 months after he’s born to meet him! But we’re thinking about begging British Airways to re-rout our flight home to Philly. Anyways, they told me a few of the names they were thinking of for their boy. I thought polling the blog-reading masses might be helpful for their decision. (I added some of my own suggestions into the mix)

Here’s some of the sonograms:

seeley_kid_1.JPG
seeley_kid_2.JPG

In other baby news…. our great friends Grant & Veronica had their second baby boy a little over a week ago… another little fro-haired boy named Drew. Praise God the boy is healthy, Veronica is healthy! This is the second baby of their’s that i’ve missed due to being in Kenya, dangit! Grant & Veronica - we miss you guys and we’re so happy for ya! We have other friends who have recently gotten pregnant too, which were thrilled about, of course. But enough baby talk - we don’t wanna give the wrong impression about our family plans…..

So anyways…. I’m begining my third week of school today. Its been real good so far. I have four classes so far, and they already seem really challenging. Development Issues in Africa, International Organizations, African Literature, and Swahili. Interestingly enough, I’m taking Swahili from a English-speaking Russian man. Everythings been going well though. I’ve been meeting a lot of interesting people already.

Like, for example, today the President of Kenya was on campus. Pretty interesting guy, I thought! The campus was opening a new library, so none other than President Mwai Kibaki showed up to cut the ribbon. It was a pretty big deal - they showed up in an 11-car motorcade and rolled out the red carpet for him. They cleared out the dorms, and had swarms of police and bodygaurds around campus (and even on the rooftops). There was a big welcome party for him with bands and chiors, and eventually gave a nice - and yes, very long - speech.

So i hope everything is well with everyone. I should run to class now. Peace!

    The West Nairobi Staff took a trip to a retreat next to a mountain outside of the city.  It’s amazing how, once you leave Nairobi, all of a sudden the smog lifts and the sun is shining and the air doesn’t burn your lungs anymore.

No seriously, I am definitely a city girl, but the retreat was quite an oasis from the city. The grounds were full of perfctly groomed exotic flowers and arbors on the pathways, while right past the fence the wild open bush lands spread for miles. We took a great trip up the mountain, where we ate lunch and worshiped God together. As we ended communion overlooking the bush, the heavens opened and we were in the caught in a torrential downpour. Our bus skidded down the mountain amidst lightening and hail. In those moments, God just seems so incredibly powerful. He embodies the true meaning of the word “awesome.”

We also went on an early morning trip into the bush in search of some giraffe to chase (not joking). But all we managed to find was a whole lot of ticks and ants, which ended up all over our bodies. Needless to say, my adventurous husband eats up every minute of these little excursions. Every time, he disappears and runs off like a mountain goat through the wild. On Mt. Lukenya, he was missing, and then all of a sudden I see this tal, thin silhouette off in the distance on top of  bluff. Yup, that’s my man!

Thank God for providing us fellowship and rest in a stressful time. (I won’t even get into how we were driving 120- kilometers an hour and passing huge trucks on two-lane, pothole-filled roads the whole way up)

Man, life is moving fast. Faster, at least, than my blog entries can keep up with! I remember wanting to write a second blog post about Olepolos. I was on a high after being in Olepolos, after hanging out with some faith giants and exchanging all kinds of ideas and stories – I couldn’t wait to write about it. But this week has been a flash! I started school, started meeting people and getting oriented to my life on the other side of Nairobi. Last night we met with some guys from “The Reckoning”, a small Christian international development organization working in Kakamega, who we got connected to through Rich, my father in law. That was pretty wild, to summarize. This afternoon we head out for a short annual staff retreat with West Nairobi School. All I know about this place is that it’s an hour outside of Nairobi, where it’s much quieter and much less saturated with diesel fumes. Oh, and that people chase giraffes there.

But I can’t move on without writing about Olepolos, for my own sake at least. Olepolos was so refreshing for me, on so many different levels. Many of you probably don’t know what the heck I’m talking about, so here’s a little history. Olepolos is the community I lived with my first time in Kenya. Ten years ago, Olepolos was considered a “cursed” villaged. The communities around them considered them poor, backwards, drunkards, and uneducated, with no hope for the future. A missionary moved into the community, though, and went through the whole Bible with all the community leaders in about a year. The community as a whole, took on the gospel as the truth, as being for them, and they, as a community, turned their hearts to God. The whole community was transformed in a miraculous way - they started a church, a clinic, a school; they turned from drinking; they became hopeful and forward thinking, starting new agricultural projects, development projects, etc.; they began evangelizing their surrounding communities, and planting churches. The “cursed” became a blessing. Even during a bad drought, they began donating food from their stockpiles to local communities in need.

Watch a video on the Transformation in Olepolos

I had been wanting to see them again, so on Tuesday I just went. Being out of the city was great. I tell you what, if there is one thing every guy should do in his life, I’d say it would be finding his way in the African bush alone. To be out in the middle of nowhere, on barely passable roads, seeing nothing for miles but bush and an occasional herd of exotic animals, hoping I had gotten on the right matatu, was a thrill. It fun to marvel at skyscrapers and technology and the things that people have done, but to get to see God’s untouched earth can make you feel like you are close to your eternal home.

Anyways, I reached Olepolos and had an unforgettable 3 days. I spent virtually all my time just walking around and visiting people. I was happy to see them, and they were thrilled to have an old visitor return. It was great to spend so much time walking around on real scenic trails and red dirt roads, to breath in fresh air, and to be only able to hear the sounds of the wild. It was great to hang out with old friends again. These people are unbelievable hospitable - I probably drank over twenty cups of tea in those 3 days. I got unending questions about Amanda. They were upset I didn’t bring her! I got to have some deep conversations with David Shunkur, the stand-in pastor of the church. We talked for hours - this guy has got to be one of the greatest men I’ve ever met. He encouraged me in adjusting to Nairobi, and told me all kinds of experiences and ideas he has for further God’s kingdom. I mean, it wasn’t all a super-spiritual experience - I had some funny and even strange experiences. But man, after those three days, I was rejuvenated and ready to face Nairobi again.

So thats the short version, but I don’t want this post to go on forever. I thought I should also mention that I started school on Monday. Or orientation, at least. Its been great so far. I mean, most of the meetings have been really irrelevant to me, but I’ve got to meet some new people. Classes start on the 10th. I’m pumped.

Last night we met with a guy named Tim Troyer from an organization call “The Reckoning”. Thanks so much to Rich for hooking us up! We were blown away by this meeting. They know Rich, obviously, but he’s also met my Dad! His Father was a former paster at Countryside Chapel (a supporting church for us here in Kenya!), where my Dad was a interim pastor for a while. They were also connected wither Trevor Maxwell, the principle at Amanda’s school. These guys have an amazing organization. They’ve done some incredible development work in the name of Christ (i.e. buying freedom for 4th generation slaves in Nepal, and helping the develop sustainable businesses through microloans, etc.). We were all thrilled to meet each other, and we’re really hoping that this isn’t the last interaction we have with them. I’m, of course, feeling all charged up after that.

I’m out of time, I gotta run! Thanks for reading!