saturday, 6 january

11.30pm local time
Doha, Qatar

Rod says that things in NBI are slowing down and becoming more calm. As of yesterday evening, after their last evac flight, AA had flown about 500 evacuees from Western Kenya into NBI. I am not sure where the people went from there -- some to the international airport to transition out of the country, some into other areas of the country. Rod does not think that things will get worse. There are enough people -- from the outside – that are appealing for peace and for Kibaki and Odinga to work things out. Desmond Tutu was there the last few days and is working on helping them to resolve the disputes.

Keith and Jen and the kids even went to the NBI Game Park yesterday and all was well on the streets to and fro. Rod is out with them today at the markets where you can buy souveniers.

We are settling in nicely here with Angie and Daryl. We have our own “suite”, which consists of a bedroom and an attached bathroom. So, that gives us some privacy, but also keeps us out of their areas for the kids and stuff. It is working well. Mendy is returning to NBI tomorrow (Mon), as she has been given the okay to do so and she is needed there.

I go to the doc here on Tuesday evening and will find out how things are. I had some cramping last night, which is not real good, but am okay today. I am just taking things easy. Rod is ready to come as soon as he is needed here, or a day or two before the scheduled c-section. He will stay then for about two weeks. He will return to NBI then until we are close to being ready to go back. We will schedule the c-section and all of that on Tues, I hope.

Cristiana is enjoying the kids here. That has been a wonderful gift for her. We went to the park yesterday and they played hard. She had a nap, and then did not go to sleep last night until about 10.30pm, so no nap today for her. Angie is out with the kids and Mendy now, trying to get the ticket changes. C and I are reading and having some “Mama/Nana time”.

Last night we went to the store to get some groceries, and when we first got there, Cristiana said, “Mama I wanna go home.” I said we would in a bit after we got groceries. Then, she said, “No, I wanna go home to where Daddy is.” I cried! We both are ready to go home, but know that we need to be here for now. I am hoping that we can get the birth certificate quickly (that is something we need to find out about) and then the passport takes two weeks. We need to get C’s passport renewed, as well, so we’ll do that all at the same time.