Merry Christmas You Old Building and Loan
Merry Christmas Mr. Potter!
Merry Christmasss!!!!
Ah the classic finale to the greatest Christmas movie of all and also my mother's favorite movie, "It's a Wonderful Life" starring Jimmy Stewart.
I'm 8 hours ahead of the East Coast right now which makes it almost exactly 7am there. Most of you will wake up in the next 2 hours or so I imagine. Just so you know, the world didn't end, christmas is here, and even in Kenya you get Christmas cookies and I've heard the sisters are going all out tonight and cooking turkey and stuffing!
Anyways on with it! Last week we did some more painting! That exterior wall is really coming along now. The whole thing is black with a red stripe going along the top and a green one going a long the bottom. Then we started filling in the wall sections. So far we've got a map of Kenya, the flag of Kenya, a cross, and two Benedictine quotes. I chose the quotes as well as I could. One is the overall motto of the Benedictines, "Ora et Labora". It means prayer and work. I put it there for a number of reasons. One, it's a Benedictine establishment. Two, it's a quote of the founder of the order. And three, I think it reminds us why we do what we do. The paint job isn't just about painting a wall. It's about the activity itself. Painting can be pretty monotonous and boring or it can be therapeutic and healing. Everyday that I painted, kids flocked to me for the chance to hold a brush or just to hang out with the big white kid, the "mzungu". Most of those kids either aren't in school for holidays or the aren't in school all together. I gave them a week with a protected place to play and maybe even sort of learn a trade. It was a big deal.
The second quote I put up was from St. Anselm, another early Benedictine. He is the namesake of my High School and this quote is my school's slogan, "Pax in Sapientia". Literally, it says peace in understanding, but you can also say peace through understanding which I believe to be more accurate. There is a lot of misunderstanding and disagreement in Kenya. From matatu drivers to the intratribalism to even the Catholic Church, understanding is something that is missing. I thought I would post that quote as a hopeful reminder that peace is only totally found when both sides try to understand the other.
This above painting went from Wednesday to Saturday. On Sunday, I went to Karen to spend the remainder of the Christmas Holidays with the girls!
Monday was where some fun started. I got the girls some chocolate ice cream on Sunday and hid it in the refrigerator, so when Christmas Eve came around, everything was closed, and there was no real celebration during the day, I broke out the small pints and distracted them for awhile. It worked pretty well I gotta say. Throughout the course of the day we went to maybe 5 different prayer services. We had vigil mass around 10pm and afterwards there was a little get together in the refectory with cookies and muffins and hot cocoa. Then we went back to the apartment. I exposed my second surprise to be a bottle of white wine! So we popped it open and watched "It's Wonderful Life" as is tradition in Kate and my's families. Caitlin just went along for the ride.
We all passed out and woke up again at 7 to go to 7:30 Lauds and Mass. At a good size Brunch and then I took a 3 hour nap. Glorious. That pretty much takes you up to right now.
I know this post is little early in terms of how often I post, but I figured I give you all some reading material for the lulls in your day if there are any!
I posted that quote at the beginning because I can actually picture myself saying it all if I was back in the states. Don't be surprised in late April if you here of some crazy kid running around Charlotte, North Carolina screaming "Merry Christmas!" at everything.
Also since today is a day of Thanksgiving, I would like to appreciate all the donations that everyone has sent me. I'm not entirely certain of everyone's comfort level with me posting their names, so I won't do it. But you all know who you are and so do I and so does God! You're all amazing. And all of you who haven't been able to send money, don't worry! Your thoughts and prayers have been carried by the wind and skies over to me and they lift me everyday. I feel like I have the energy of a thousand people on some days.
Merry Christmas, America!! Sing an extra carol for me! I miss and love you all!
God Bless and Enjoy You Christmas!!!
Harris
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