Monday, April 22, 2013

Jeremiah :)

Wimbi means millet in Swahili, and the babies get a cup of wimbi porridge every morning for breakfast. 

Kathleen: she's 8 or 9 months old now, and she looks a lo like Dorcas, her older sister. This was so cute- we braided her hair while we were in the nursery, -and you can't really see the braids, but you can tell that all her hair isn't poofing up like it usually does. She has a lot of hair for such a tiny girl <3

JoEllen

BILLY.

Faith Ann <3

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Wednesday, April 17th - cookie-baking and icing party!

Wednesday morning, I woke up thinking "hmm, I want to bake some cookies," and so I made a few dozen sugar cookies and  whipped up some vanilla icing after lunch during our 'break'. Hannah came into the kitchen and she was really excited about (I wasn't quite sure what). She came dashing back in a few minutes later with a plastic bag full of different colors of food coloring, and she wanted to help. I told her to go get the other girls, too, and Judith was there pretty soon, so she and Hannah got to mix whatever colors they liked; and then Faith, Rose Alice, and Winnifred all decorated cookies with us. (Sadly Mallory and Courtney didn't come, I think they were tired from the long day, and they joined us later to eat them!). We saved the girls' beautiful creations up in our room until Bible Study that night, where we had hot cocoa and cookies, and Mal led a discussion about Purity and 1 Timothy 4:12. 

I love the light blue/green color, the dark indigo that Judith made, and of course the pink. -it's so light and fluffy.

<3

We had these two munchkins in there with us, and they (almost) behaved themselves. We've been trying to structure our days with toddlers a little more, so that they have something constructive to do. -and that's all they need. I also like to teach them something, give them a little exercise, and let them help with something interesting or important. They each decorated one cookie, and then -the best part- they go to eat it :). We're finding that they're well-behaved when we're working proactively to keep them occupied, instead of just supervising them doing nothing, and correcting them all the time when they get into trouble. It's not their fault: there really aren't many activities or anything for them to do. And it's hard work making activities for them, but it's worth it for them and for us. for example, yesterday after Prayer and Praise, we took our boys on a nice long walk, gave them their porridge for 'snack time' afterwards, played Follow the Leader and Simon Says, colored special pictures for mom, pushed them on the swings for awhile, fed them lunch, and put them to sleep at naptime. They woke up a little early, so we were still working out, but we let them watch and try our exercise videos. Then we watched and 'I Love Lucy' episode with them, bake banana bread and washed the vegetables for supper, and it was time for them to eat again. So we took them to eat, and then got them ready for bed, and that was the end of the day. :) It went more quickly, and was much more fun and much less stressful than other days, so we're going to try to keep this up. 

Faith 1, Rose Alice, and Hannah working on decorating the cookies. 


We covered them and put them in our room for safe keeping until Bible Study. 

Me and Hannah <3. Judith took this picture with my camera. 

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Hannah came running into our room a few nights ago- "come quick!"
I ran outside with her and we just stood staring at this beautiful sunset for a long time.
I love her so much <3 -she's like my little sister. 

Courtney and Mallory and considered this quote wall-worthy, so we have it posted in our room where we can see it every day now. 

Danita's card <3, along with one from Uncle Bill and Aunt Ellie :) 

March and April were on the same page, but we cut it so that we can see April and May. 


Joyce, Sandra, and Faith (one of the new staff ladies- she's really sweet) with the babies. We lay a blanket in the shade and take them outside on nice days. 

Mallory's artwork by the bathroom light switch.
We're slowly 'poster-ing' our room with verses and meaningful quotes. 

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Life back at 'home'

Mallory and Bumba, Courtney and Jeremiah; me and Billy. Usually the women tie babies on their backs with these scarves. I've tried it a few times, and it works pretty well. If you tie the knot tighter, it's more comfortable, and even though it looks like the baby could slip out easily, it's not really a problem.

Hannah and I made a play dough town. I love being her friend <3

We were playing with modeling clay with our munchkins, and Courtney made this turtle. His name is Louis :)

Courtney, Faith, Judith, Hannah, and Brian piled on Courtney's bed. We were watching Brian and Elizabeth that day, and coloring pictures with them in our room. Mallory got the guitar out and played worship songs for them, we took a walk, and we let them help us cook in the kitchen :)

Mallory journaling one afternoon. She's so faithful with that. 

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

More

Courtney, Zion, Travis, (me), and Mallory.
We were wearing our new scarves, which we purchased from 'the cloth ladies'  who walk the beach and ask everyone if they want to buy anything. As a general rule, it's better to just say no (even if you're actually interested), and use your bartering skills if you say yes. But Mal handles that very well, so she got the price down for Courtney and I, which was really nice. 

Zion :) He is a great friend, and adds a whole new dimension to our group. However, today he is leaving Kenya for a new season of life and more adventures; so we will miss him when we're at the beach next time.
 It's only two weeks until we go back to Nairobi, and then to the beach for the Team Retreat May 7-10. This time we'll be in Watamu, and we're staying in a beautiful castle with a pool and a villa next door.  What a great way to wrap up my assignment. I can't wait to run on the beach and swim again :)
Currently, I am trying to make these last two weeks last longer, and I'm finishing writing letters to each of the kids. (I want to give them a little something to remember me by). It will be weird not coming back to the home this last time, because that's the way it works at this point: we come and stay in Nairobi, and then go back. -and Courtney and Mallory have been saying how weird it will be to ride the bus home and walk into our room without me there. I will certainly miss them and all the kids, the babies <3, 'mom' and 'dad', Hannah, the staff, and everyone.
I'm ready for the transition home, though, and I also greatly anticipate learning some things through re-entry training, and then the best part: seeing my friends and family and animals friends again <3. 

Square. 

Travis's team. I think they were strategizing or contesting a call. The orange team is from Uganda, and they won the tournament later that day. 

hmm...the process of getting a picture with our coconuts

I love these two <3 (you can see we're a little sunburned in this picture: it was our first day there). 

<3

It's British English, so 'chips' means french fries. We had those with pizza and fruit salad (mango, pineapple, and watermelon), and it was scrumptious :)

Courtney and the camel :)

me, Courtney, and Mal :) 

Monday, April 15, 2013

The following is a list of inside jokes and memories from our vacation, which I had second thoughts about publishing...but I think it would be fun to read. 

-Tiwi beach/Twiga Lodge
-the scramble to get bus tickets
-crabs and hermit crabs
-"that crab has my shillings!"
-"oh bucket."
-the dogs: Limp, Scar Face, Square, and Road
-ocean swimming
-Courtney rides a camel!
-sea urchins
-frisbee w/ Brad Pitt
-Mwanza B & Nairobi Fun Team  
-FEAST FIVE :)
-Mallory's cartwheels on the bathroom wall
-Easter sunrise <3
-Zion climbing trees to get coconuts
-Dutch Blitz
-sleeping in a tent on the shore of the Indian ocean
-not wearing shoes (in white sand)
-"that's about 3 chapsticks long" -Zion
-"Courtney, you swim like a manatee" -Zion
- so good < SO GOOD!
-puppies under the tent
-Juba House pool
-the nice taxi driver that brought Zion's passport back
-waiting so long for food
-speaking in inside jokes
-pizza bombay and chips
-talking to Zion on the night bus (SCANDALOUS, lol) 
-Aram and Priska
-the cat at the restaurant <3
-Dreadlock Rudy, Luchie, and the cloth ladies
-No BEARD, No GOOD
-Travis.
-running sideways like a crab (me)
-snatching the frisbee in Mid Air
-the money man
-Alvaro and pineapple Fanta
-Zion's tiny green Ethiopia shirt
-Mallory/Salary, Tra-ves, Bolivia/Oblivia :), Zitron
-"_____ time Solomon."
-stargazing
-"hey seesta.... -NO THANK YOU" -Courtney/Mallory
-Olivia finding Zion's shirt in the ocean after the tide took it away
-pictures :)  -hobbies. 
-"find out what's happening." -Courtney
-would you rather  and "one time..." stories  -Travis


These are just some of the fun things that happened, and most of these come from a list that Courtney compiled while we were there. Instead of trying to catch you up on everything that we did, there's a summary, which I hope you can understand. If not, don't worry, and I would love to explain these things later. 


Saturday, April 13, 2013

Meanwhile back at the ranch

(Left to right) Gideon, Francis, Brian, Elizabeth, Gregory, and Manny. [Picture courtesy of Courtney Mast].

We arrived home Tuesday April 9th, after the vacation of a lifetime at Twiga Lodge/ Tiwi Beach, Mombasa, and stopped in Nairobi on the way back to renew our visas. I will post pictures of our adventures at the beach later, but for now I'll just tell you that it was great :), and I'm happy to be back working with the kids and babies. It's a short 3 weeks until I say goodbye to all of these little faces and head to Nairobi for the Team Meeting May 2-3, then on to Mombasa again for the Team Retreat May 7-10. Travis and I will be flying home from there, while Mallory and Courtney stay on until September. I can't wait to come home, but a month is so short and so long at the same time. I also can't believe that it's my final month in Kenya, an how hard it will be to leave. I'm already starting to prepare myself for the adjustment. Meanwhile, the kids have a break from school for the whole month of April, so I'm having a lot of quality time with them, and God keeps blessing our interactions every day. This week has already been a highlight, and that's all that I can ask for. I'm anticipating a great few weeks, Lord-willing.