Oh, the Roar of Lions in the Morning!

Our Campsite at Sunrise

Hello All!
Easter week end!  Can you believe it?  From what I hear, the weather in Michigan actually feels like spring this Easter, not like the middle of winter as it usually does.  The girls can wear cute Easter dresses and not have to wear their snow boots with it!
Tomorrow (Sunday) we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  What a special day.

Acts 2:31-34
31 Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. 32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. 33 Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. NIV
John 11:25-26
25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
NIV

We wish you all a great Easter Celebration and all the Love that God poured out on you this day!

Last week-end we went camping at Lake Nakuru National Park.  We had a great time and came back in one piece.  At 3:00 the first morning, I heard the lions roaring in the distance.  That has never happened to me before while camping!  Also, on the second night, a hyena ran through the camp right next to us!  They were friends from RVA and had 4 kids with them, none too small as to be snack size, but they all piled into the car and came over.  It was dark by then (it gets dark here every day at 6:30ish) and since Craig had a huge spotlight, he went out into the field with them to see if it was still there.  They spotted the hyena and a huge heard of Cape Buffalo.  They tell us to stay away from the buffalo because they can charge and be very dangerous.  But it was night and I think they were settling in because they were still there in the morning after we had about 3" of rain overnight!  We were all soaked!  I think Jim pulled out about 1 gallon of water from Trevor's tent!  I myself was fairly dry with just one drip coming on my head, but Jim was getting sprayed.  Thank God the rain was done by light and we made a bacon and pancake breakfast and started the drying out process.

We had a great time and took some really good pictures.  But it really did feel like we were camping "in the zoo!"  I am going to put a bunch of pictures here.  Not sure of all the names of these animals, but I will try and find out:

I know this one is a Timothy Animal

And this one is a Sallie

Grants Gazelle

Greater Blue-eared Starling

(we see these everywhere)

Think this is a Dickenson's Kestrel

Hartlaub's Bustard

Superb Starling

Common Fiscal Shrike

Zebra with a Candelabra Tree in the distance

This was cool as it was a zebra crossing.  They were all going somewhere and we waited till they crossed the road one by one.  

Cape Buffalo

Southern Ground Hornbill

Our first of many Hyena spottings

Black-backed Jackal

(We saw a pair of these moving away - it was very cool!)

The Black Rhinoceros

These come in Black and White varieties although that is not really a description of their color.  The "White" name comes from a corruption of the Afrikaans word "Weit" meaning "wide."  This refers to the shape of the mouth.   The black rhino has a narrower mouth with a prehensile upper lip.

We saw both varieties this week end.

Zebra on the hill

Zebra on the hill looking nervously at the hyenas coming!

The Greater Timothy Muffin Eater

The Flat Topped Acacia Tree

Defassa Waterbuck (Females)

A typical African Scene (Zebra in the distance, Giraffe, Impala and a Baboon)

White Stork

Baby Baboon checking out his toes

Male Lion

This was my favorite part.  Seeing this lion lying right next to the road.  We almost drove right by!

At this point he looked right at me.  If I wasn't in the car I would have been very, very scared.

Blacksmith Plover

Sallie at the Lake Nakuru Lodge swimming and getting sun burnt!

This was the relaxing part

Timothy horrified with the Father Daughter kiss!

Cool Butterfly (Sallie took this picture)

Helmeted Guinea fowl

Zebra and an Ostrich

Another Cape Buffalo (there were hundreds of these)

Baby Giraffe

Trevor ringing out his "sleeping" bag!

The Puddle that Trevor slept in

Impala

The boys loved hanging out of the Sorely's Car

Kirk's Dik Dik

(These are so cute.  They all look like babies and are very elusive)

Overlooking Lake Nakuru from the Out of Africa Lookout point

Agama Lizard

Overlooking the Lake again

Another snack stop (very important to keep everyone happy!)

Warthogs and 5 babies

Timothy and Nathan

I know this was a lot of pictures.  Hope you enjoyed it.  I am just glad that the kids were able to see a lion after living in Africa for over a year!

We just bought our tickets to return to Africa in Aug.  We will be traveling to Michigan in July on the return leg of the tickets we used in Dec.  We actually stop over in Rome for a week on the way home.  We are going to head to La Maddalena and visit Cynthia and Reno Panzani, and Nonna. We are very excited about this trip.  I used Vayama Search engine and was actually able to get a stop over in Rome for a week at no extra cost!  When we return to Africa in Aug, we are going to go through London.  What Jim and I didn't realize is that the Olympic and Para-Olympic games are in London this summer!  We actually will be there for one night right in between the 2.  We land at about 10:45pm and our flight to Nairobi doesn't leave till 10:30 the next morning.  In our young 20 something days, Jim and I would have just hung out at the airport, but those days are long gone!  With 3 kids, it will be much easier to just get a room and sleep a bit.  Wish we had time to see the city, but maybe Timothy can get some Hagas for breakfast!  That is something he has been wanting to try (not sure why)!

Our prayer is that you have a wonderful Easter.  Remember that God has so much love for you that he gave his son to die on the cross to cover your sins.  We all sin because of our humanity, but he has a plan to cover us because of the love he has for us!

In His Hands (always),

Jullie T.