Outreach Day II

We had Term 2's Outreach Day last weekend and, once again, it was absolutely wonderful. The 7th grade class decided they wanted to go to Old Kijabe Town - about a 15 minute drive - to do games with the Kenyan kids there like they did in 6th grade. Since I'm a 7th grade sponsor, I was asked to go along and, well, when do I ever turn down a chance to play with kids? Never, really. The thing I liked better about this time than the last time is that I knew the kids I went with. Watching my 7th graders play and teach and serve the Kenyans was... beautiful. They were full of joy and the Kenyans seemed to have a blast. We may not have worked as hard as some of the other groups, but there was definitely a huge amount of love that was shared and I believe that's just as important for everyone involved.










Beautiful...






"Happy the man whose hopes rely
On Israel's God; He made the sky,
And earth and seas, with all their train;
His truth forever stands secure;
He saves the oppressed, He feeds the poor,
And none shall find His promise vain."
- Isaac Watts

"You have been a refuge to the poor,
a refuge for the needy in his distress,
a shelter from the storm
and a shade from the heat."
- Isaiah 25:4

Dark vs. Light

This is a little late in the posting, but a couple of weeks ago there was an eclipse. Not sure if you saw it, but RVA definitely did. In fact, everything stopped for this eclipse, classes included. You see, the hype started a few days earlier for two reasons. 1: They didn't want students going blind from staring at the brilliant, blinding sun. 2: We wanted the students to witness what was supposed to be a unique and once-in-a-lifetime type event. The way we were told it would happen is that Kijabe was in almost the exact spot to have darkness for an entire 8 minutes - something that is absolutely thrilling to junior high and high school kids (and let's face it - the teachers too!) So everyone thought of different ways to view the event and we all piled out onto Upper Field after 1st period to watch.

Unfortunately, even though we were only seeing 8% of the sun, it was still enough light that it simply seemed like a cloudy day. The kids dreams of a dark morning quickly faded and they resorted to taking goofy pictures instead. Lucky for my 8th graders, I had a camera :)
Though it seemed a small disappointment, it was completely worth it later in the day to hear a couple students and staff mention how it's a beautiful representation of the fact that even though it was only 8% of the sun, Light still won. Praise God, He always wins.

Christmas in... January?

The following is a perfect example of why Kenya's postal service leaves much to be desired...

I got a package yesterday. That in itself is... thrilling, to say the least. There are currently three different packages I'm aware of making their way somewhere through Kenya to get to my mailbox, so it was a surprise in itself to see which would make it here. The winner? The package from my aunt and uncle in Pasadena. The contents? Fabulous.

The package was sent December 3, probably with hopes of arriving around Christmas. Well, it didn't, but I'm almost more excited this way. The package was filled with wonderful treats and surprises all with a common theme: Christmas! At first I was a little sad I couldn't hang my cute Christmas dishtowels and use my cute Christmas napkins for.. Christmastime. And then I realized - I CAN! See, mommy's coming in April along with one of my cousins and other aunts, and now I'll be able to have Christmas with them! Praise God for blessings in unexpected packages :)

Cutest part - spatulas with my name on them :)