Finally Here!!

It's 6:30 am in Kenya. I can't sleep (this jet lag thing is no joke!) so I quietly crept out of the room to find a place I could dig into the Word. I'm sitting on some wooden stairs, listening to foreign sounds as Nairobi comes alive for the day. My heart is deeply peaceful. I won't say the past week has been easy, but I will say this week has been good. Long flights, unknowns, lack of sleep- can be hard for adults to endure but incredibly hard for kiddos. Our three have held up like troopers and I am so incredibly proud of them. As I was helping Anna get ready for bed last night- I asked her how she was doing. They played a categories version of sharks and minnows yesterday in the yard of the guesthouse. When the leader yells out a category that applies to you- you run as fast as you can and try not to get tagged before you make it to the opposite side. In childlike simplicity she responded, " Well, Ms. Alyssa called out "whoever has had a great day today" and we all took off running.... So I think we are all doing good." It made my heart happy. There have certainly been stretching moments along this journey and many more of those to come, but arriving in Nairobi early yesterday morning felt wonderful and led to a day of joy among our kids.

Because I don't want to forget what this has been like- I want to fill in some details. We flew to Atlanta on Tuesday. It was our kids very first flight and we experienced it all! Turbulence, delays, the entire airport shutting down so Air Force One could land at Dallas Lovefield, racing to our next flight without time for lunch or even to stop for a bathroom break, corralling a crazy number of bags when we landed in Atlanta.... It was a full day! In Atlanta- we had exit training- international banking, last minute details, a beautiful send-off....then it was back to the airport Thursday! We left with a group- so our extra bags were spread out (huge blessing!! Saved us lots of money!!) and it's just easier and more fun to travel with friends. And these people who we launched with have become incredible friends. In true AIM fashion- they try to take extra care of their people- they brought in three short term girls who love kiddos to travel with us and help us along the way. It has been AMAZING. They watched our kids in Atlanta and will go with us Tuesday to our Africa Based Orientation (ABO). These girls have beautiful hearts and we have already adopted a few to be honorary Matchell's. :) We also had a super fun treat in the Atlanta airport- some precious friends of ours from NWA "just happened" to be traveling internationally and had a lay over in Atlanta! I know it was God's tender gift to my heart to see familiar faces after so many farewells. We had a few moments of sweet catching up, gave tight hugs, then they sent us off with gifts for every flight and layover. It was SO FUN!!!

Our layover in Amsterdam went by quickly. It is a super cool airport and a fun place to spend a few hours. Then we boarded the largest plane I have ever seen for our last leg of the trip. There were at least 70 rows of 10 people across. It was so interesting to simply sit and wonder about all the different type of people boarding the flight and speculating what was bringing them all through Nairobi. The airline we were on (KLM)  has their own area in the Nairobi airport- so the exit process was very smooth. We waited in lines to get our Visa's checked for a long time... But while our kiddos laid on the ground with their heads on their backpacks, we got to chat with our fellow AIM travelers and enjoy time with them. With so many adults to help- grabbing our luggage and getting through customs was incredibly smooth. We loaded it all on a crazy number of carts and every big kid and adult just pushed out a cart into the Nairobi night. I had heard rumors of what other African airports are like- but my expectations were blown away by our experience. It was a clean, safe-feeling airport. AIM workers met us with buses to take our luggage straight to RVA and the rest of our luggage and our sleepy selves to Mayfield Guesthouse in Nairobi. We stumbled into bed at 1 am Saturday morning and slept until 11 am. (For those of you counting- it was only around 17 hrs of airtime... So no worries. It will go quick and easy for you when you come to visit us!) Our kids woke up- threw on jeans and long sleeve t-shirts and ran out to play with their new friends. There is a playground, soccer field and lots of space for them to run. The weather is AMAZING here! Coming from hot, humid weather in Arkansas and Atlanta- this is a very pleasant change! Anna declared the dry, 60 degree air "freezing". Ha! Little does she know how much colder it feels at RVA! Some friends came from RVA and took Brian to get our phones set up and our money changed over. Having instant community has been the biggest blessing! God certainly went before us in preparation for people to open their hearts to us! We have wireless here at the guesthouse- but not sure what type of communication we'll be able to continue- we load up Tuesday and head north about three hours for ABO. It is a three week training that we've heard is rather intense. We'd love your prayers for that! Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers up until this point! We'll do our best to keep you posted!