Trip to the Nairobi Animal Orphanage

Today I really wanted to go to a local church but I didn’t know of any close by so we just had some quiet time this morning. However, there is no real place to sit except near the pool or in the garden area, which is also near the pool. Dominic has come too close to jumping in to give me much “devotional” time in the morning. Then we decided to go the animal orphanage at the Nairobi national park. I didn’t know this but Kenya has 25 game parks (huge areas of wild life that are fenced off to protect the animals and the people of course) where safari tours take place. However you can still find some animals outside of the game park boundries. The cab driver says there is a lot of hippos near his village. The orphanage takes in animals when the mothers are killed or too hurt to look after their young and so they’re brought to the orphanage when they are very young.

I had a university student who volunteers at the park and studies wildlife, give me a tour and talk about the different types of animals. One thing I found funny was that a lot of these animals were given such English names. For example this young, but huge lioness was called Michelle…go figure??? The coolest thing I was able to do was pet a cheetah. Apparently she was quite tame but Dominic wanted nothing to do with her after she licked his leg. Her tongue is a bit rough. I was getting a bit nervous too. The keeper told me to rub under her chin so she started purring which kind of sounded like a growl. Then she licked me too and wanted to play, so she gnawed on my wrist and that was it… I got my picture taken with her and I was out of there! It blows me away that all these animals (lions, cheetahs, leopards, giraffes, crocodiles, hyenas, baboons, etc…) are just a few miles outside the city. There is also quite a population of elephants and rhinos in Kenya. There is a large orphanage for those animals also but it was located far from where I was, on the other side of the park. Anyways, that was the highlight of our day.

This weekend was peaceful. I was able to speak again with my family and friends by phone which encourages me a great deal even though a miss them such a great deal. However, I do start to get knots in my stomach when I think of the week that lies ahead. The Lord continually comforts me with His word…He also knows I have no one else to talk to. Today I read about the Shumen woman in 2Kings(that is probably not the correct spelling???). This story was told to me earlier in our adoption process through a close friend’s little boy. At that time it encouraged me a great deal and today I am reminded again of God’s faithfulness. This woman was hospitable to Elisha every time he passed by her city. He wanted to repay her but she didn’t want anything. So the people told Elisha to give her a son. Later that son got sick and died. The part that struck me the most was when she said to Elisha…I never asked you for a son and now that my hopes are up you take him away (totally paraphrased). I’m sure you know the rest of the story but the Lord obviously didn’t leave things the way they were. He blessed her and returned to her the son she thought she’s lost. In the same way I believe the Lord will get us through this it’s just so hard to not let fear get in the way.

I will try to contact the High Commissioner tomorrow early afternoon to see what progress has been done. I did have a huge blessing on Friday when I found out that I could post-pone my flight to Kigali for only $25 instead of having to purchase another ticket. My flight to Canada leaves Friday night (really early Saturday morning at 0400 am). I am praying so hard that I can go home with Dominic that day. I would appreciate your prayers as well because when 2 or 3 are in accord, it is bound in heaven.