A little bit of coffee and a lot of Jesus

Many of you may be wondering what a day in the life of Hannah Smiley looks like. I have to say, although there is a little bit of routine to follow from day to day, every day is different. Everyday has its good moments and bad moments, but everyday is guaranteed to be filled with (if only the slightest bit) frustration, anxiety, joy, exhaustion, laughter, goofiness, energy, and there is not a day that goes by that I do not feel like God has me right where he wants me. I want to tell you that I always have that "on fire for Jesus, bring it on" kind of attitude. I want to tell you that I never feel overwhelmed, frustrated or lose my temper, but that simply is not the truth. Contrary to popular belief, I am not a super hero. 

My morning usually consists of waking up, exercising (if I'm up on time), shower and breakfast. While Amy does school with little Hannah I usually have some kind of unconventional preschool lesson or activity with the midgets, and by midgets I mean Shaddie, Ellie and Esther. 

Left to Right: Esther, Ellie Shaddie

Up until recently I was teaching Lydia (Amy's 12 year old) math at 9 until Aunt Stephanie (Kelley) stepped in and graciously took over. She is most definitely a much better math teacher than I am seeing as she has a college degree. For the rest of the morning I'm usually running around outside with all the midgets, I mean children, on the compound. Sometimes I attempt to take a book and my coffee out and sit peacefully in the sun. Take note of the word 'attempt.' The word peaceful is a long forgotten term, which I honestly don't mind. I tend to thrive in chaos, sometimes. As you can imagine I get about one page read before I am summoned by someone or another. Fortunately, I do have moments where I am able to take a much needed sip of coffee. Coffee was already very important to my level of function on a daily basis, it has now become a vital necessity. Between Amy and I (and Chuck's one cup in the morning) we go through a minimum of five pounds of coffee a month, about two pots a day...

Then at noon Amy takes over the midgets and I get to teach a class called readers to all the 5-8 year olds on the compound. In this class I just read a book out loud to them while they listen, color and sometimes have a snack. We just started reading the Chronicles of Narnia and sometimes I think I enjoy the class more than they do.  

Ellie and Esther helping me make pizza!

After class lunch is usually ready or almost ready so we sit down to eat and (depending on his workload) Chuck will make it home for lunch. You're probably wondering what we eat for lunch around here... Well today for lunch I had a falafel salad with spinach and tomatoes along with seven layer taco dip and tortilla chips. We are having hamburgers for dinner tonight and tomorrow night we will have pizza. We eat just about everything around here, in the morning either Amy or I (mostly Amy because I have made the discovery that I hate meal planning and would rather have cereal for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but we don't have cereal around here because Chuck won't buy the cereal for $12 a box...why this is? I have no idea...) browse through one of her recipe books and choose something for our house helper, Hannah, to cook. Also, we always have baked goods or some kind of sweet in the house which I'm sure looks rather nice around my thighs... 

After lunch is one of my favorite parts of the day, drum roll please.... NAP TIME. Don't get me wrong, I love my midgets but three (or more toddlers, usually more) against two gets more exhausting than one may anticipate. Everyday I praise The Lord for nap time. I don't always nap but it is about as quiet as the house gets before bedtime. 

Playing some soccer!

Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2:15 while the midgets are napping, I teach the MK gym class!! We play a lot of soccer and kickball and if the Kenyans are off school we usually end up with 3 times as many players as we started with. With my God given energy I usually get into the games a little bit. 

The whole neighborhood enjoying yogo
 ice on our front steps!

Everyday after nap Amy and I sit out on the steps of the front porch and have Kenya's version of a freezie pop--nnnyogo ice (as Ellie would pronounce it, it's actually just yogo ice.) At first I was a little uneasy about the yogo ice because I love my freezie pops, but surprisingly they've really grown on me. And by 'they have grown on me' I mean I can't go a day without at least eating one... 

Afternoons tend to vary a little more than the mornings because school is over. Amy and I spend a lot of afternoons outside riding our wittle bikes. Okay, we don't ride wittle bikes, but the midgets ride theirs. It is currently the rainy season so there are a lot of rainy after noons. If it isn't too cold, sometimes we play outside in the rain. Most of the time though we end up inside all snuggled up on the couch with an oovie (movie) or somesing yike dat... 

Ellie and Shaddie going
for a ride in the car

Ellie riding her yittle bike

As you can see, I have a pretty normal daily routine. Some days are better than others, but all are God given and I know if I just open my eyes and look I can find blessings in each and everyday.

Just hanging with my buddy Levi

Although most of my days are kind of normal there are many bits and pieces of my day that are not so normal compared to life in the States. 

 I named him Leo.

One evening as I was getting ready for bed I just happened to find a chameleon sitting on my pillow (placed there by Amy...) Then just the other day I looked up and saw another one hanging from my strand of Christmas lights. I'm assuming that this doesn't happen to you very often.

Wing tailed centipede found in the basement

Another evening I was downstairs in the basement cleaning up the toys. You guys know those little rubber bugs? Well, I was bending down to pick up what I thought was one of those. Then it wiggled and crawled across the floor. I screamed and called for Mom, Amy. After we photographed it she picked it up with toilet paper and carried it to the bathroom (dropping it a few times causing us to squeal before we saw the last of that ugly thing.)

That same evening as I was stepping into my bathroom to brush my teeth, something fell on my head. As you may be well aware of, I tend to startle really easily and thinking the worst I screamed (fortunately I didn't wake any midgets up.) I jumped back and searched for what fell on my head fortunately it was only this little guy...

Just a cute little gecko

Amy came when she heard the scream to make sure I was alright, fortunately it was just a false alarm. 

A similar facial expression one may witness
while Chuck is battling with technology.

In the evenings, when all is quiet round the house there is one noise you can almost always here, Chuck arguing with technology. "Unbelievable!" "Oh, this thing is ridiculous!" I have never seen him more angry than when he is dealing with the iPad or his cell phone. His frustration is hysterical. Eventually Amy and I do our best to help him and ease his frustration, but of course only after we have had our fill of laughter. I suppose you could say that "first world problems" can even occur in third world countries. 

Ellie stealing my passion fruit, as per usual.

Every morning someone brings our eggs and our milk to our back door. I'm sure when we return to the states Amy will struggle with the fact that we will have to go out and buy our own eggs and milk... Also, the amount of fresh, delicious and cheap fruits and veggies available is amazing. Let me try and make your mouth water a little bit, avacado for fresh guacamole, juicy mango, passion fruit, the little bananas you have ever tasted. Just to name a few.




I'm fairly positive most of you have not spent your evenings attempting to extract scabies from your arm so you could look at the mite under a microscope...

I promise, we're normal people.

Many moments of my day catch me off guard and take my breath away. Sometimes when I am snuggling on the couch with Esther watching an oovie, sometimes when I take a good look at the beauty around me, not just in the landscape, but in the people, both Kenyans and missionaries. The best way to describe my everyday life is stuck in the frailty of my humanness, broken and relying on God's will and turning to Him for my strength instead of relying on my own. I don't always do what is right. I don't always have the best attitude. I would like to think that I am always trying my best to serve Jesus, but there are definitely some days where I could do a lot better. I am not doing anything amazing or incredible, God is though, and I am so unbelievably blessed that He is using me in many small and big ways.

View of the yard

Baby Andrew squeezing my thumb

Visiting and praying with patients
at the hospital.