"It's a little bit funny... this feeling inside..."

I felt the baby move last night!! There was NO DENYING IT! CT was playing the guitar and I was sitting on the couch looking at pics of my niece and nephews and I felt it- 2 kicks to the left. I grabbed my belly and said "Chris, I think I just felt the baby move." He sat there paralyzed smiling at me. "Well, try to feel it again!" I said "I'm trying" so I unbuttoned my tight jeans to give him/her a little more room. There it was again several flutters more to the right. :) Definitely NOT gas.

SUCH A COOL FEELING!!

I told Chris that now I want to feel it ALL the time. But today I have a dodgy stomach so he/she is being quiet as a little mouse, trying not to disturb Mama. Must be a girl...

Proud Pet Owners...

(If you haven't checked out the ministry blog- you should. k?)

Just a few shots from our crazy Christmas with 20 kids and 6 adults. :)

We were so proud of our pets they did not bite or scratch any child. They didn't mind one bit that their ears were pulled 24/7, that they were flipped upside down and inside out, or that they were hugged, squeezed, and kissed non stop. GOOD dogs, GOOD kitty!

Carter reading to Lana- I actually think she was interrested...

Katie carrying around the "Tiddy Tat"- it was hilarious...
Megan was found constantly with Wallace and the cat. They were always arm in arm... or... paw in arm. Whatever. Becky took this of them laying in the doorway to the kitchen (Wallace's favorite place)
Here she is again- the animal whisperer. I laughed so much at Megan and these animals. They were all inseparable.

I wish I had gotten the first part of this on video, but I wasn't fast enough. Kate is saying "Wallace- bite my fingers" over and over. Before the I got the camera she was on top of him like she was going to kiss him in the face, but he was pushing her with his paws. Sorry I missed it. TOO FUNNY!

Boys, Carols, Baby and Tree

Soooooo

Needing to post some new pics of our boys.

This week the International Criminal Court released the 6 names of individuals involved in the post election violence in Dec 2008/Jan 2009. It was a big deal. No one knew if the "followers" of some of these individuals (some wanted to run for president and some were Members of parliament) were going to break out into more violence b/c of their names being released. I'm happy to say that all is well. Even up country in the home areas of some of these individuals no fighting broke out that we know of.

Everyone huddled around the radio to find out the names...

Well... all except this silly boys who went to fetch a pale of water

Those boys make me wet myself. They are so funny!

Want to know something so sweet? Wednesday CT and I went to spend some much needed time with the boys. We played soccer for a while until Chris needed to go have a meeting with Meshack. Since we were loosing a key member of the game we switched games to something like "monkey in the middle"- we make a circle and one person is in the middle. The middle man has to do a lot of running trying to get the ball from those passing it on the outside. The boys were so sweet. They absolutely would NOT let me be in the middle. They didn't want me running around or possibly getting hit. They are so protective of me! Isn't that tender? I surely thought so. Mama always cooks extra beans to send home with me. She says they will make the baby "strong". Well, I dunno about the baby, but they'll make something strong. ;)

This was our carols by candlelight at the Karen Blixen Museum. It was another outreach opportunity through our church. It was a huge hit and it REALLY felt like Christmas. Everyone brought a picnic dinner and we sang carols. It was so fun!! Can you see the Ngong Hills in the background? Gorgeous Huh? Yea... we live here. :)

The cute Kenyan girl with the blondish hair is my friend Peace and that is her bald husband. She's pregnant too. But she's way ahead of me. Due in Feb... but our babies still kiss. teheh!! We LOVE them- they're also in our home group... till they have their baby- then I bet they'll be drop outs.

I told Chris he should start taking a pic of Wallace and I every 2 weeks. Since we are growing together. This is us at almost 4 months. He's just a week or so over and I'm less than 1 week under. I think he's already gained a good 15 or so since we got him. I surely cannot pick him up any more. (Can I just say, once again, that my bump is not nearly as HUGE as it looks in this pic.)

Baby like chocolate! I promise I've not been eating like this. I've been a good girl craving veggies like mad. I've actually not had much of a taste for chocolate.... until yesterday. Some new people in our home group are from Holland and they brought me some chocolate. It was amazing. And CT has been saving these M&M's Jess sent for "just the right time".

He thought it was funny that we were sitting around eating chocolate and my belly was popping out of my shirt. He found it a photo opportunity.

Our little African Christmas Tree. It's cute here, but wait till you see it's makeover the boys gave it... when it's finished.

14 Weeks, Ultrasound and Vacation!

Here is your 14 week shot. It was only appropriate to do it at the coast in my swim suit!

I wanted to update with the US pics, but I just ran out of time. I had a sick dog Friday who had tick fever and we were trying hard to tie up loose ends and pack so I just didn't get it done. So here you are! Our Lil' bug actually looks like a baby rather than a dot or a blob! We were like chester cats the entire time. It was just so cool seeing him/her moving around kicking me and stuff. It seemed so surreal that I could see this baby on the screen and he was pointing the device at MY tummy so therefore it really was OUR baby!! Sometimes I think to myself "Am I really pregnant?" But then I say to myself "Self, if you weren't pregnant you've been missing a key part of womanhood for the past 4 months." Any way- I just felt like since I could see this baby moving around and kicking me, that I should be able to feel it, but I guess I have a few more weeks. I can't wait to feel it. I just wish CT and I could BOTH feel it for the first time together. Once I feel it, I have to wait several more weeks before he can :(

So here are your pics, this first one is for Ma, she would have wanted to be there so this is our attempt.

Sorry but those look like some chicken legs on the left!

OUR BABY HAS A BRAIN!! YAY!! Now, I know they MUST take after their Father!
This is my favorite. Us Rollins/Chandlers have a problem of no butt and/or no hips so sometimes our pants come down. I love this b/c this baby has a proper Rollins/Chandler crack showing. It just makes me laugh every time I look at it!

Now for the vacation pics. As I said before we didn't end up in Zanzibar due to the crazy cost of the flights. They were $600 more per person than we had originally found. Who knows why, but we did NOT care. Watamu near Malindi was AMAZING! We went snorkeling, Kayaking, swimming and we ate... a lot. We ate LOTS of seafood which you just don't get in Nairobi.

We played volleyball, water polo, we read, napped in the sun, walked on the beach, CT and I worked out together one morning and went running on the beach. Then jumped in the pool. I mean how often does one get to jump in a nice cool pool after working out and getting sweaty? Bottom line, we had a blast. We figured out that we hadn't been on a week long vacation in 3 years. Last one was to Florida with Matt and Beth when she was pregnant with Levi.

Despite all our car issues we finally made it to Watamu after 13 hours of driving. We had to pull over every 10-20 minutes when the car started to overheat and put more water in it. Su and I had to make use of these stop and climb into the bushes for our potty breaks. Somehow I managed to get a thorn bush stuck UP my dress. Yea- ouch. These stops made for some good laughter amid our frustrations with the car. We stopped 1/2 way at Voi Wildlife lodge in order to split up the trip. Gooooood choice!

At Voi

Mark and Su at Voi checking out thr hippo.

we saw a ton of eels

This coral is a brownish color but as soon as you touch it, it turns a whitish-gray.

This is a "sea cucumber" and a baby crab.

The "cucumber" did not feel or look anything like a cucumber. It felt more like... well you just look at it and figure it out yourself!

Sea urchins!!

I just think my man is the CUTEST!

Hims with Hims GIGANTIC prawn. This coast-raised boy was in seafood heaven!!

We found this sign on the side of a building to be quite funny.

Mark and Su, also happy about their seafood

So glad we went with friends!

on our island where we saw our first african kill. An octopus came up and ate a crab. It was awesome!

This is where we ate dinner every night:)

CT bought a delicious Tuna! It's massive, huh?

We went to a snake show and learned so much. This lady is "milking" a puff adder!

okay- thats all i've got in me. i'm starting to fall asleep typing...