Perspective

It is amazing how differently things look depending on where you are looking at them from. I've been in Kenya for just about two years now. When I moved here our house was under construction. I lived with a colleague until William and I were married. Then we moved straight into our little house.

At the time we moved in we had a roof but no ceiling. The walls were not painted yet and we had no furniture to speak of. The kitchen and bathroom were a thought for the distant future. It's been quite a journey but the house has come a LONG way.

At first the house seemed small. But with time I discovered it to be a lovely and actually rather good-sized home. That is until we went to the USA for two months. Some missionary friends of ours warned us right before we headed back to Kenya "Everything is going to seem really small after being in America." As we stood outside the door of our home with keys in hand I kept thinking "Remember it will probably seem small." We opened the door and William exclaimed "Wow our house is small!" However after nine months back home in Kenya I'm back to seeing our home as lovely and actually rather good-sized.

The first time I walked into what would one day be my kitchen I was shocked at how small it was. My first thought was "I have friends with walk-in-pantries bigger than my kitchen! But today I have to tell you that I have a rocking, awesome kitchen! It's finally finished (well almost!) and I LOVE it!

Starting out without electricity and running water gives you a whole new appreciation for those luxuries when they finally come. I actually have a small fridge, oven and stove in my kitchen. I have beautiful hand-made cupboards. And now I actually have a sink with water in it! I think I have one of the world's greatest kitchens!

The bathroom is still a work in progress but is becoming functional. The electric shower (yes I did say electric!) still needs some tweaking before it will be operational. The toilet is somewhat operational. We have to replace something in the cistern because it doesn't sense when the tank is full. So the tank fills up, overflows and floods the bathroom. No problem though. You just run outside, turn the main water line on to fill the tank and then turn the water line off once it's full. Well, no problem unless you forget that you turned the waterline on like 45 minutes ago. Then you just might walk into your bedroom and find that not only the bathroom, but bedroom is flooded. However I absolutely cannot complain because it is GLORIOUS to not have to put on shoes and find a flashlight to go out to the outhouse at night!!