NO INTERNET AT HOME YET!

O.K. Still no internet!

This blog thing is hard to do with no internet connection. I promise there will be content when that happens! For now I am going to be lazy and cut and paste the second e-mail that I sent out to some folks, this one mostly regarding the adventures of our cat Jackson! He is doing fine. I am trying to teach him how to be a true jungle cat, but the hawks that circle overhead, and these large crow/raven like birds freak him out a little. He does love the yard though!

Here is that e-mail…

oh yeah!

Jackson made it too! How did I forget that! When I picked him up for our layover in Nairobi he was a little freaked out, of course I picked him up in cargo (had to take a car there) in a concrete building with lots and lots of bars that looked like it was built to house elephants. A huge building with lots of caged cells and 40 watt bulbs, and nothing...I mean nothing, but Jackson in his little bitty crate in the middle (literally) of cell 53 something or other behind padlock and key. It was surreal to say the least! Leaving Kenya was a lot easier.

He did not want to get back in his cage the next morning! We had a quick hour flight though, and made it to our new home "relatively" quickly, with all 12 suitcases! They all arrived!

Needless to say Jackson is much happier now. He is fine and eating scrambled eggs with the rest of us each morning (a bag of cat food is 70 bucks here!).

Anyway...we love you all, and I will write something with a little more weight soon.

Eric

P.S. For those concerned...Ava's culture shock was due to, um...the culture. People's dress, babies on backs, another language, etc. She is doing well, and happy as a clam playing in the yard. I am sure that each day will be easier than the last.

…and I want to add something! After the ordeal that was the Nairobi Airport, once we landed in Rwanda, they just sent him out with our luggage on the carousel! I could see and hear him meowing going around and around as we were trying to pass through customs! No one asked for forms, documents, or anything! In Kenya, I might as well been trying to smuggle in any number of illegal products/substances with the hoops I had to jump through. Rwanda? Who cares! Who would want to bring a cat here?!!!

We made it!!!

We made it!!!  I will post pictures soon, but until then here is a copy of the e-mail I sent out, for what that's worth.

Hey everyone,

We made it!!!! I would say that it was the longest trip I have ever been on, and that includes touring across America in a van with five other people! We are very happy to be here though.

I think from door to door the trip was 40 plus hours, that includes a 15 hour layover in Nairobi. We arrived yesterday around 2 in the afternoon Kigali time. The kids were great all in all. We are all very tired, but I think the worst of it was actually the last few days before we left. Michele (Jaime's Mom), thank you for putting up with us!

The kids love the house and yard. Today we went out for a bit shopping and Ava experienced a bit of culture shock, but besides that they are doing better than I expected.

I walked to the closest hotel to us, Novotel, to access e-mail. I will post on the blog soon to write and post pictures, and hopefully we will have internet connection at home shortly. I also plan on "jailbreaking" our iPhones. Has anybody seen / bought a new one yet?

Anyway, I hope all is well. We will be in touch, and try to check e-mail again tomorrow. We love and miss you all.

Love,
Eric, Jaime, Ava and Ian

ONE MORE WEEK!

We move on July 9th, so...only one more week!

Jaime had her last day of work at CARE here in Atlanta today.  She has been there a long time and will miss it, but will still get to work with a lot of the wonderful people there in her new position.  We have been lucky enough to see a lot of friends and family the last few days and will get to visit with more this weekend before we leave.

I will do my best to document the upcoming trip over, airport and all!