This the expanded version of the Peifer Family

February 14, 2002 by Steve Peifer

Merry Christmas
Happy New Year!
Happy Valentines!!!
There is something just darn special about being the VERY last to get their holiday letter done. We hate to mail until someone is leaving from this area because so much mail tends to get stolen, and we’ve had some life changes that are our excuse this year, but there were three major events for us this year:

The decision to return to Africa: leaving a great church, a wonderful job, beloved friends and family was so...

Up Mount Kenya

February 13, 2002 by Steve Peifer

In Jewish culture, when you are 13, you are declared a man. In many African tribes, the rite of passage is to be circumcised. I don’t remember my 13th birthday, but I wanted it to be something JT would always remember, and when he learned the African tradition, he was grateful he would not remember THAT for his 13th.Mount Kenya is the second highest mountain in Africa. The peak we were aiming for was 16,500 feet. We left school on...

Diaper Lotto

January 13, 2002 by Steve Peifer

Changing diapers with twins is tricky. You don’t want to sit in nasty stuff, but you don’t want to change them prematurely while an act of nature is on going. I call it Diaper Lotto, and at this point it is safe to say that I have not won any great prizes, but I have seen more works in progress in two weeks than I saw with all previous three children combined.
This has been a week to realize that the...

Battles, Wars, and Oiling Babies

January 6, 2002 by Steve Peifer

Life is all perspective, right? There is an old song that goes `One man’s ceiling is another man’s floor.’ I have discovered the ultimate example of this.
Assuming that you are an adult who is reading this, I would also assume that if a large rat made its way into your bedroom, your response would probably not be `Sweet!’ However, this was the reaction of my oldest son when he discovered the rat. The rest of the dorm quickly sprung into...

Always follow a schmuck

December 30, 2001 by Steve Peifer

My corporate philosophy in America was “Always follow a schmuck.” I figured if I followed a loser, I could be mediocre and still look good by comparison. I didn’t do that in my last job, and it was embarrassing. My boss was a genius tech who by some amazing accident was also cool, and I was a dwarf by comparison.
The same thing has happened to me here. The director of finance is a force of nature, and he went back...

They are here!

December 23, 2001 by Steve Peifer

Saturday, 23 December, we went into Nairobi to the New Life Home and brought back Katie and Ben. Yes, I know we told you he was going to be called Casey, but he’s a Ben! The home had named him Ben and all of us kept calling him Ben. We had no problem switching Betsy over to Katie, but Ben is Ben and so he shall be!
I was concerned that I might be ambivalent towards the babies. Actually I was...

Squatting Through Northern Kenya

December 19, 2001 by Steve Peifer

We had an unusual opportunity. We would spend 11 days in northern Kenya, and go to some of the most remote areas on the planet. This wouldn’t be a tourist trip, but a chance to see some different cultures that rarely get observed.
We rented a game tracker, a huge truck that can go over anything, and is accustomed to the non-roads of Kenya. In addition to that truck, eight other cars joined us. We camped the whole time, and had...

The Road to Katie and Casey

December 3, 2001 by Steve Peifer

With all due respect, Nancy doesn’t understand males. At the end of the term, we have our dorm clean up, and we write down the things they will need to do. On the list that she was going to actually GIVE to the boys, she had written:  “Wash walls if necessary.”
Sadly, it came to me to inform her that I was 46 years old, and had NEVER felt like it was necessary to wash a wall. If the walls were...