Dear Friends and Family,
Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. Zach definitely made both holidays more fun for us. He hugged his stocking before opening it on Christmas morning, and on New Years Eve abandoned his sparklers and glow-in-the-dark ball in favor of playing with a slug :).
We are still very thankful to be in Kenya where there is better health care, but it has not been the restful and productive time of waiting we had anticipated. We would like to ask for your prayers again. You are probably getting tired of hearing about our continual crises, but probably no more tired than we are of being in the middle of them.
A week ago today, Kenya held presidential elections. The race was very close, and though the incumbent was declared the winner the other side is still disputing the results. This has resulted in riots (more than 300 dead, 35 of these burned while hiding in a church building), protests, etc… The worst of this has been in other cities but things are not good here in the capital either. We are staying in a gated community and have so far felt safe, though we can hear the rioting and the police firing tear gas, etc… Early this morning a small mob did attempt to break into this community, but they failed and the home owners are meeting now about how to make sure our guards are still able to show up each day (they live in an area of town that is pretty bad right now and are having trouble getting in and out). Jesse and Tim Ryder went out grocery shopping in the middle of the day on Tuesday and stocked up with enough to last us about a month, and so we are just staying home. We have plenty of movies, puzzles, books, and work to do. The next rally for the challenger's supporters is scheduled for next Tuesday. The government has pledged not to allow any protests or large gatherings. Desmond Tutu has arrived in Nairobi to try to broker some kind of way for the results to be tested by an independent source or for power to be shared or something… The last time a result was disputed in the courts it took four years to settle, so that's really not a good option. Everything is very tense. Please pray for peace!!!
All this means no trips to the doctor or anything unless it is an emergency. I am still having contractions, but they are no worse than before, so things seem to be going well. This weekend will be 30 weeks, and we are thankful for each day. I am continuing to stay on modified bedrest.
Zach seems to be adjusting to life here in Kenya except as far as sleep is concerned. He is having bad nightmares and occasionally when we hear him crying it seems like the nightmare continues even after we pick him up and it takes us several minutes to get him to really wake up from "sleep-talking." He is waking up four or five times a night, and we can't really let him cry since we're in someone else's house, so none of us are getting much sleep. We are going to try switching him to a new anti-malaria drug next week since nightmares and insomnia are some of the side-effects of mefloquine. If we can't figure this out by the time the new baby comes it could prove interesting since it would be impossible to leave him with anyone overnight for the delivery and adjusting to two kids that aren't sleeping would be a challenge.
We are having some good family time, though, as well as extra time to study our Bibles. I have been able to draft the first eight lessons of a purity curriculum for the HS Sunday School class, and Jesse and I are working together to outline the new class on Interpreting the Bible that he will be teaching when we get back to Burundi. Zach has been able to play outside on the driveway and go to the neighbors to visit, so that helps him get some energy out.
Would love to hear from you, even though our email often refuses to send well from here (My parents are sending this one because we can't send it to the whole list), we have been able to get on to our gmail to read. We always enjoy hearing about daily life and what Christmas was like on the other side of the world!
Thanks for your prayers!
Love and prayers,
Joy, Jesse, and Zach
