it's true! that is, in fact, a pic of mom in the Mara!

forgive me for the silence. my mom and sister are here and i am spending ALL of my time enjoying them! we've been to the Maasai Mara, elephant orphanage, giraffe center, baby orphanage, Church, celebrated Christmas, and they've met tons of lovely people. they leave on Tuesday. it's gone by too quickly. sad...

here are some pictures until i can add words to this crazy wonderful whirlwind of holiday celebrations month!

sunset on the mara

cass and me in the van on a game drive.

mom in the van on the way to the mara. she loved the crazy fast bumpy drive.

so we're having a great time. it's so good to have family here. this has definitely made my first christmas away from home much easier.

i am also really enjoying celebrating Christ in my community on this side of the world right now. today at Church one of my youth group kids was baptized. it was beautiful. beautiful! it is truly an honor to walk alongside these young men and women. most of the time i think they teach me more than i am teaching them.

i hope your Christmas has been filled with love, joy, and the Peace of Christ.

taking it a little slower

this is part of the ropes course. it has actually started to rain out there and it's turning from brown to green!!!

i'm at home alone right now with the back door open and it's raining outside. it's pretty nice: kind of cold, hard rain falling, a little windy. this has been the first weekend in a while that i haven't been crazy busy. i don't quite know what to do with myself. there's no youth group this tomorrow (finals week), i'm not teaching sunday school, and everyone is at home studying this weekend... or that's what they say they're doing. so i've spent today catching up on some reading, had lunch with one student, and laying around the house talking with the teammates. and tomorrow i will actually go to Church and sit inside the auditorium and be a part of the worship experience. and after that i may go out to lunch and maybe, just maybe take a Sunday nap or read some more. unbelievable, i know! this is not my usual weekend. it's weird.

i read some wonderful blogs about youth ministry and how many organizations are slowing things down this holiday season. one youth pastor suggested that we take some time to personally celebrate and enjoy this advent season. i totally plan to do that. i'll also be ordering cheer uniforms, planning the next semester of youth group, preparing for a trip to America, recruiting camp counselors, planning a staff retreat, choreographing a cheerleading routine, making up cheers, working on the ropes course, and entertaining my FAMILY! i will probably find some time for personal advent celebration. and thankfully there are sweet things like podcasts of my home church where i can listen to the advent sermons.

i'm coming to America!!!

a few weeks after Christmas, sometime in January or the first of February, i'm planning a trip Stateside. this is mainly for the summer camp staff retreat in Rome, GA. i'm also going to try to do some recruiting of camp counselors, personal support fundraising, attend a conference or two, and see family and friends. here's how you can help: i would LOVE to talk to any college students you may have an audience with. we really need quality camp counselors for summer 2010 who love God, love kids, and want to see Africa. do you know anyone like this? would they be interested in serving with us this summer? let me know and i'll be there!

also, i still need to raise some significant personal financial support. do you have a church gathering or small group or sunday school that might be interested in hearing about this ministry and how they can help? again, I will be there! :)

i'm also thinking of attending a youth ministry conference in Chicago. know anyone in Chicago who'd like to house me for a few days? ;)

and i would LOVE to spend time with YOU. so as soon as i know my official travel plans i will let you know and we can get some time together.

i'm looking forward to being in Georgia and seeing family and friends and enjoying the Southeast. i can almost taste chick-fil-a sweat tea now...

AND THE COUNTDOWN IS ON for Rhonda's trip to Africa. that's right, folks, my mom and sister arrive on SUNDAY night. unbelievable. i'm wayyyy excited, but trying to have an "i'll believe it when i see it" attitude in case something crazy happens and she doesn't make it. i will have pictures and updates. Kenya isn't ready for my family. it's gonna be awesome. haha! this is us right before i left Georgia on Easter this year. looks like i was really happy.

'tis the season...

... to stuff your face! :)

We had our youth group Christmas parties this past weekend. The high school youth group party was on saturday night at our house. Not our most fun party ever, but it was good. it was a little more chill than usual and a good opportunity to hang out with the kids. the leaders came over early to decorate our house and make cookies for the party. again, LOVE watching their leadership develop. they amaze me. sometimes i wish i was as wise as they are when i was a teenager.

decorating cookies around the table at the high school youth group party

the spread

eric and me at the party

middle school party white elephant

decorating cookies at the middle school party

the middle schoolers got all hyped up on sugar and went crazy. it was awesome! they stuffed their faces and then ran around the yard screaming and playing. i've never seen them like that. parents reported fast talking and hard crashing in the car on the way home. i call that success. :)

youth group meetings are over for 2009. it's a little hard to look back and consider if you've taught them everything you were meant to teach them. it is exciting to look forward, though, and think about the next year. each semester is different out here. some families leave and others return and some are new altogether. i've said goodbye to a few students and am looking forward to seeing others again. and there are some older siblings returning for the holidays that i'm really looking forward to seeing. some i haven't seen in years. it's just another reminder to make every day count.

i'm also looking forward to camp bluesky 2010. i'm headed back to the States in a month or so to recruit counselors and have a staff retreat. our camp staff team isn't very big as of yet. please pray that God would bring the right people to serve at camp this summer. and if you know of any cool college students, send them my way!

i'm still working on my Stateside schedule and will let you all know very soon!

thanks for reading about me!

let us bring Him silver and gold

"In all our trials born to be our Lord

He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger

Behold our King, before him lowly bend!"

(O Holy Night)

last night i attended the christmas concert at rosslyn. i was 30 minutes late and and by myself. i missed the handbells, which i why i went. some of the high school boys are in the handbell choir and hate it. and i really wanted to see them perform. :) but i did get to hear all of the choirs. it was beautiful. so beautiful. the congregation was invited to join in some of the songs. i had had a pretty stressful day (someone came into our house and stole some stuff while our house help was in the basement). let me say, it's been a pretty stressful week. it's a shame that the end of the year gets stressful. and i don't at all feel the stress of christmas shopping and commercialism like many of you in the States. that's one of the things i do not miss and i pray that you will all be able to get past it and truly celebrate Christmas. i just feel pressure to finish up the lessons for youth group, get in all the parties and hang out time before people scatter, and figure out camp staff stuff before college students go home for the holidays. and it seems like people here are falling apart. there are so many sick, tired, and stressed out families. everyone's just pressing on for like two more weeks. and i spent most of yesterday dealing with kenya police (a whole other blog post) BUT, for a few precious hours last night, we gathered to worship our wonderful King.

i wish you could have been there.

middle school, high school, and an adult choir performed and the congregation sang along to familiar Christmas hymns. when we sang the lyrics "In all our trials, born to be our Lord. He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger. Behold our King, before him lowly bend!" I wept with praise. i only thought i was sitting there alone. until i looked around and listened to the voices and realized that i was so accompanied. there were a couple hundred brothers and sisters around me and we were, for a bit, caught up in doing what we were created to do: worship. we were celebrating the most important moment in history: when God came to earth as a human to die for our redemption. everything that had happened in my day pointed to this moment. i was tired and weak and God reminded me that He knows. and that all my days are about Him. and no matter where i am and what company i am in (or not in) this season is about Him. and He sees me. and knows my need and my weakness is no stranger to Him.

let's celebrate Him with grateful and sincere hearts.

tonight is the youth group Christmas party and in a few hours the leaders will come over and decorate my house! we're going to eat pizza, bake cookies, and decorate the house! then everyone else will come over and we'll exchange white elephant gifts, play bingo, eat cookies, and sing songs. all of this to celebrate our King.

this is a picture from a party i went to last year. we spent like 2 hours working on this masterpiece. check out the candles in the windows. i haven't figured out how to do this in kenya. i'm spending some time today working on it.

i really miss all my family and friends in America during the holidays. and that gets me looking forward to the visits coming up! my mom and sis are coming here for Christmas!!! this is the best Christmas gift i've ever gotten! and then at the end of january i'll be headed to the States! stay tuned for details about that trip and how you can help!

i love you all! Merry Christmas!

full and thankful

i know this is a terrible picture! La, don't hate me! it's the best one from our family turkey dinner. lauren was so full and thankful she had a little food baby! and eric says "two thumbs up for thanksgiving dinner!"

we americans here in my little "family" (along with a German and a half) celebrated thanksgiving this past week. my life is so full and I am so thankful.

last week i was invited to attend some training meetings about a successful family camp program in the States. well, the training was at brackenhurst; the camp is in the States. what a blessing that was! almost all of the staff were from the southeast (GA and AL) and it was simply lovely to be around all those southern ladies with their familiar accents. i loved talking with them and listening to the faithfulness of God in their ministries. one of them even grew up 30 minutes from my home! she gave me a hug and a kiss when i left and said it was "from my mama."

-please pray about a potential partnership with this camp!

before the training was even over i rushed home to finish my pies (pecan and pumpkin... yum!) and prepare for our "family" thanksgiving at the minshew's. lauren cooked the turkey and everyone pitched in sides. it was rich.

while at the training, i couldn't get one of my dearest families here in kenya off of my mind. God kept prompting me to pray for them. so after lunch on thursday i called to let them know i was thinking about them and found out that the eldest son has some significant health problems sending the family back to the states. i have known this kid since i've been in kenya and have spent a lot of time with him lately because he's already hurting emotionally and spiritually. he ended up spending the weekend and working on the ropes course with me, which was great!

now, i know that one of the rules in youth ministry is not to pick favorites. but, i've recently learned that that rule is one that should be broken. we naturally have more of a connection with some people than others and there are some kids that desperately need our attention and our time. this has been the case with this student over the past few months. i am confident the Lord put our lives together for this season.

so after spending the weekend with him and all day yesterday (i substitute taught at his school and spent the entire afternoon with him) i said goodbye to him and i have no idea when i'll see him again. he's already been struggling with some heavy things and now who knows what's ahead. and my heart aches. so much.

now, here's the thing: a few months ago i was talking with a dear friend about life, spirituality, vision, purpose. this friend challenged me when he said, "there comes a time when you have to look at every area of your life and say, 'what am i not trusting God with?'" so i asked God to help me do that. i figure: i live in africa and i don't make any money and i'm away from my family, i must trust God a lot. but i don't. i confess.

i have learned that i don't trust God with relationships. any of them. i work so hard at them and i love so much and i don't trust God to take care of me and the people i love. i want to be a wife some day, but i don't trust God to make that happen. so He is constantly reminding me that He knows best.

i want to be a good friend so i try so hard to get people to like me. it doesn't always work and i get stupid and annoying. and God says: "Trust Me."

and i loooove these kids. and i worry myself sick about them. and when they are sick or hurting i carry it around in my heart all the time until they are better. and it hurts me. my heart breaks. it's broken now. and God says, "Trust Me."

and so i see that the only way life can make sense is if i actually do trust Him. i have to trust Him to take care of the ones i love and trust Him when He does things in their lives that i don't always understand (like moving to america and letting them have serious health problems). and i have to trust him to provide for me (wise friends, mentors, and a partner). and i have to trust Him with the friends, mentors, and partner that are and aren't in my life right now and that He will meet all their needs, regardless of how cute, funny, hospitable, interesting, or whatever i else i think they need from me.

so, i'm passing on the challenge to you: look at your life. where are you hesitant to trust God?

and i learned recently that i'm supposed to make my blog posts short or scannable. i'm afraid this is neither. i guess i'm still learning many things. please still read about me, and i won't be hurt if you scan. :)

birthday pictures and thanksgiving

i'm so excited for the holidays! my mom and sister are visiting (less than a month from now) and lots of friends i haven't seen in ages are coming home. it's going to be so good. and it all starts this week!

thanksgiving will be pretty different for me this year. i'm going to be at a training for family camp on thursday and friday morning and our "family" thanksgiving will be friday evening. we bought a huge turkey at mistletoe market at rosslyn and have invited other americans (and south africans, the love it) to join us. i'm supposed to make some pies today because i won't have time on friday. hopefully some of the ones we've invited will be able to make it, but it seems like everyone is traveling this week.

this week is also the last of youth group meetings for the year. there are only like 3 weeks of school left. this coming sunday will be the last "real" meeting and the next weekend will be youth christmas parties. there will be cookies, costumes, and white elephant gifts. i will post pictures for sure.

this past weekend after youth group we went out to dinner at diamond plaza (indian food). so good. i had some pretty significant conversations with some students. i LOVE that i am able to speak the truth of the Gospel into their lives and though it offends some of their beliefs and lifestyles, they still want to hang out with me and tell me all their crazy stories, and get advice. it's truly a miracle and blessing. i love them. and i had the high school leadership team over to our house last night for waffles. i love watching them grow in their leadership. two of them are sharing their stories this week at youth group. they are so nervous. it's going to be wonderful.

today i rode with a dear friend to the airport to collect her lost luggage that'd been found. the airport isn't very far away but it took a few hours. we got to have some really good conversation. Praise God for relationships! what a sweet friend. God is so faithful to provide and place people in our lives to bless us and show us more of Himself.

here are some birthday party pictures and hopefully i'll get some good thanksgiving ones. some day i'll catch the pictures up to go with the blogpost instead of always promising pictures later.

happy thanksgiving! i am thankful for you!

retreating and visioning

is visioning a word? spell check isn't pointing out that it isn't so i'm going with is.

this week we went on a strategic planning retreat. a great friend and amazing leader from winshape wilderness came out to facilitate. sometimes just being in her presence makes me feel better about life. she's someone from home. i love it.

tammy seems to be an expert on teams, vision, strategy, or maybe she's just an expert on facilitating things. at any rate, she did a fantastic thing with us. THANK YOU tammy!!!

we spent about three days talking about the vision, mission and plan for our organization. it's all at once frightening and exciting. we talked about 10-year plans and goals. we haven't talked specifics about that before. it's crazy how it makes the day-to-day easier and more exciting when you know where you're going and why you're doing the things you do. again, thank you.

we stayed at a house in the rift valley. people keep asking me where it was and i don't really know how to describe it. i never remember places and how to get to them when i don't drive there. and i've not driven myself on any of these roads before even though i've been there. the area was beautiful! i love living in kenya so much. we were in the hills so it was cold in the morning and at night and really hot during the day. our last night at about 4:30 a.m. the sky fell apart with a huge downpour. i was sleeping under a tin roof so the loud sound woke me. when the sun rose i looked outside, but couldn't see anything because of the low clouds and the thick rain. lovely. i tried to let it lull me to sleep, but my thoughts stayed with the muddy, rocky roads that got us to the house. the rain cleared up during breakfast at which we celebrated clay's birthday with chapati, eggs, bacon, and chai. delish! and, don't worry, we made it safely down the mountain. the mud was already dry. :)

this is the view from our porch. great rift valley. stunning. God is so good.

after the rain. you can almost smell this picture. ok, well, i can remember the smell anyway.

our retreat was from sunday to tuesday and the friday before was the football (soccer) finals. the school where most of my youth group kids attend was in the final. sadly, they lost the game to a team they've already beaten twice. such a heartbreaker. here's a pic of me giving relationship advice (ha! as if i knew anything about relationships!) during the game. and then all the fans on the field doing the soccer cheer one final time. i LOVE their soccer cheer. it gets me really psyched and i'm not even a student there, nor have i ever played soccer. except that once on the intramural field when i ran AWAY from the ball and then that other time in Western where i just laughed the whole time and ran around.

thanks for reading about me! keep praying!!!

thank's mom for having me!

yesterday was my 27th birthday. wow. this is not where i thought i'd be at 27... its way better! i LOVE how we can make plans all day, but the Lord directs our steps. and He is good.

i remember (painfully) when i was a teenager sometimes asking my mom why she even had kids if she dislikes me so much. that was usually followed by a smack or being grounded. now that i hang out with teenagers all the time i understand the smack and groundings. i see so much of my self in some of these girls and guys. i find myself thinking, wow, sorry mom, all the time.

these 27 years have been pretty darn good. thank you, mom, for having me. i know it hasn't been, and probably still isn't easy.

yesterday morning some of the students surprised me with a birthday party at java house before school! they're amazing! maybe i'll have pics in a few days. i didn't take any, but i think hannah did. there were balloons, flowers, cake, and presents! pretty sweet!

and last night the homies (this is what i call my housemates/teammates) took me out for sushi. awesome. and lauren made rum cake! delish! they're so great!

the homies (but lindsay left already and stu and lauren aren't pictured here)

today is the soccer finals at rosslyn. it's a big deal. i'm excited. and i had breakfast with a really sweet student this morning. this is a praise and a prayer request!

here are some pics of youth group that kim gave me. aren't these guys great?!

this is my girl hannah. we were giving the guys some advice about how to ask girls out.

i know you're not supposed to have favorites but....

ok, who am i kidding? they're all my favorites. these are the "under-appreciated" hot boys. haha!

thanks for keeping up with me and praying for me! God is faithful!

quotable

Things I’ve heard lately:

“I have been in youth group and I have never met youth leaders like you guys before.”

“to redeem is to love and to be redeemed is to love back again.”

“Bye!” Graham, in a strong southern (no, more like country) accent, as he’s walking backwards up the hill waving to the dog while Lauren is slowly walking backwards beside him slightly tugging him up the hill.

“so…I’m going home tonight,” says Lindsay in my room this morning.

“So, Kim, what’s up?” Tom to Kim at lunch today in reference to why she's single.

“We had a good conversation on the long ride home after youth group last night and I just want to thank you for what you do.”

“Um…Amanda…what’s gender mean?” Middle School youth group.

Amanda: “When is a guy ready to date?”

Middle School girl: “When he’s mature enough for a relationship.”

Amanda: “Good luck with that ladies.”

Amanda: “Dating is…”

Middle school boy: “A waste of time!”

“I think that’s right, but I just don’t want to believe it right now.” about a scripture passage studied at youth group.

“YAHTZEE!”

“We are just underappreciated. If the girls at our school only knew how hot we are compared to boys in America…” high school boys not thinking that I’m listening to them from the front seat of the car.

all in a day's work

leadership team for middle school youth group (plus david, the tall ginger in the back)

things have been really busy for me lately. i'm working so hard to prevent and treat burn-out as i have seen some early warning signs in my life. THANK YOU to Anne Jackson for writing a wonderful blog and publishing a very helpful book and burnout and ministry. i've been very deliberate lately to take a Sabbath (usually on Monday) and make sure i get personal time with Jesus every day. it's tricky to do when part of your job is studying the Bible and reading books about spirituality.

my busy-ness looks different every day and not everyone would call it "work." and I LOVE IT. and i just want to tell you about my tuesday...

6:30 a.m.: run with my new sweet friend and running partner mina. she's a gem!

8:00 a.m.: then i wrote some emails for camp: scheduling two phone interviews and sending out some applications. and worked on the message for youth group on sunday: moral boundaries and spiritual disciplines.

11:00 a.m.:from there i went to the copy store to get some things printed for sunday school. 12:00: then i took some pizzas to rosslyn for lunch. it was the prize from middle school youth group a few weeks ago. the kids were like, "i don't know what this is for, but thanks for the pizza!" not exactly what i'd planned, but i always love seeing them at school and they were pretty excited and felt special for getting pizza during lunch.

1:00 p.m.: from there i took hannah home and took out her weave and dyed her hair. yeah, i know that sounds random, but she's in the play and a pretty little blonde with green eyes and playing a Anne Frank, a jewish girl. so she needed brown hair. check out the pics on my facebook page.

3:00 p.m.: afer dying her hair i went back to the copy store to explain in more detail what i wanted copies of. essentially i was having them print out all the copies for sunday school for the whole year. so it was like printed the Bible in coloring sheets. it did generate great discussion among the employees and myself.

3:30 p.m.: from the copy store i went to cheerleading practice

5:00 p.m.: after cheer practice back to rosslyn to catch the end of a soccer game and take another student out for coffee.

7:30 p.m.: i finally made it to the house for team night with the homies.

dying hair, drinking coffee, making copies, talking about God, reading about dating, all in a day's work.

this is the hair i dyed. can't really see it in pin curls.

i will add that i am really enjoying facilitating youth group these days. i have to study a lot to prepare for the lessons and it's been great for me to get my thoughts in order about authentic faith, spiritual disciplines, and sex and dating. and if anyone has any advice on these topics with teenagers feel free to send them my way!

thank you so much for praying for me and for all my crazy days like this one. please continue to pray for:

-the students i'm blessed to hang out with (some of them are really hurting)

-our team

-my financial support (mainly that i won't worry)

-my friends who are getting married soon and currently, for two more weeks, live in seperate countries

-the Church at ICF

-my family in U.S.

-Camp BlueSky 2010: counselors, campers, program, and THEME (we're currently working on establishing the theme and will begin the devotion guide as soon as that's done).

thanks for reading, praying, and loving!

Diwali pictures

I promised to post some pictures of Diwali. Thank you Megan for letting me steal these from you! You can read my post about Diwali here.

yummy festival food!

homies enjoying the festival. i wish you guys could see the way kim was darting around all excited like a 10 year old. it was priceless!

bring it on

i'm coaching cheerleading again.

i've done this before at this certain school and it was a total bust. i mean i got to know some sweet girls and got on campus several days a week (i guess that was probably the point), but the whole cheerleading thing didn't go over well at that school. this time, though, it's different. it's totally student organized. i joined after they'd already been meeting and had picked out uniforms. so it doesn't at all involve me trying to recruit girls. and let's all pray that it doesn't involve me performing a dance routine in front of the entire school again.

it's also different because i'm older. i did one toe touch the first day of practice; the girls laughed at me and i was sore the following day. and every time i demonstrate one of my cheers i feel like i look like my mom. anyone remember that? when your mom says, 'here's a cheer i did in high school,' and you're thinking, "please stop doing that." and i can feel the flab on my arms jiggling when i do a high-v. i don't remember that from high school. so i started working out again this week.

the girls are so cute though. and i love spending time with them. and it's such a divine blessing to have this opportunity. we spend a lot of time at our practices talking about life and what's going on with them. i've even already talked about my faith! we meet twice a week and i think i might plan a saturday clinic (to include episodes of one tree hill and all three bring it on movies per their request). they make me laugh every time we hang out. we tried stunts yesterday for the first time and i just knew someone was gonna leave practice with a broken arm. everyone is ok and they finally got into a basic stunt. they were thrilled! it was precious!

so in between planning youth group, praying for kids, and recruiting camp counselors, you can now find me looking up cheers on youtube and practicing them in the hallway. clayton's dog zoe hates when i cheer in the house, by the way. she jumps and tries to bite me. weird. she also doesn't like my tap dancing or hip hop dancing. hmmm...everyone else just loves it. ;) will post video soon.

mother, mother ocean, i have heard you call

i finally made it to the beach! yea!!! what a blessing it was!

this is me being way cool. i'm such a rock star. glad my white legs are cut out of the pic. thanks linds! ;)

a friend of ours has some friends offer their house to him for a week and he invited us along. so we packed up our things in the blue van and drove down on thursday morning and came back last night. it was just what i needed.

about three hours into the trip on thursday morning while going over a speed bump the van just stopped working. some of the guys (and kim) looked and poked at the engine for a while but to no avail. we had "randomly" invited another friend of ours to come along with us. he just happened to know a pastor in the area and gave him a call. the pastor came with a mechanic and temporarily fixed the problem so we could drive to the next town and get it properly fixed by another mechanic. so after three hours, a cup of chai, some chapati, and a quick tour of a school, we were back on the road! anyone who's ever broken down in kenya knows this is a miracle! to know someone in the middle of nowhere on the highway and to find a legitimate mechanic and get your car really fixed is amazing. not only was our friend good company, but was divinely appointed to join us! :) thanks paul!

and then we did nothing at the beach. that's right. nothing. ok, well, i threw the frisbee a little and walked a good bit. and bought a khanga. oh, and ate brownies. but other than that, nothing. i also finished don miller's newest book (a must read) and listened to a lot of jack johnson. and had some good conversation. it was such a nice break. i did a lot of praying and reflecting. there's nothing like sitting alone on the beach with Jesus. i'm in love.

this is the banda in front of our house overlooking the beach. we hung up our hammocks so we could think and read rain or shine

it was lindsay's birthday on saturday so we walked down the beach and sat at a bar overlooking the beach. here are my mom's words about these kinds of pictures, "that boy clayton would be so cute if he wouldn't always stick his tongue out!"

on the way home i called to check in with the leaders of middle school youth group. we canceled youth group for high school this sunday, but the leaders for middle school are stellar and completely capable of pulling it off without me. i'm looking forward to meeting with them this week to discuss in further details. they finished up a 5 week series on spiritual disciplines and played uno baseball. i left the whiffle ball equipment for them in our garage, but they couldn't find the plastic bats or balls. so they improvised with a HOCKEY STICK. and a kid got hit in the face! they say he's alright. i'm calling his mom this week. i really missed seeing all the kids this weekend. i'm looking forward to being back in action next weekend. there's a football, basketball, and tennis tournament at RVA and it's halloween. lots of young friends around!

although there was water in the ocean and there is more water in our house these days there are part of the country still suffering from drought. please continue to pray for rain.

and please pray for these teenagers. there are so many hurting and struggling. pray that i will have the words to say and they will hear Jesus speaking to their hearts.

and i have cheer practice twice this week with some sweet high school girls.

thanks again for reading and praying!

Diwali

hopefully i'll have pictures soon of this past weekend.

it. was. awesome.

it's diwali!

it's the hindu festival of lights and includes cleaning your house and eating sweets, oh, and fire works. loads of them. everywhere. coming and going from all directions. we can hear them from our house and it makes the dogs hide under tables and chairs. on friday night we (members of my house minus clay) ate indian food with friends at a delicious restaraunt/convenient store/parking lot. it's actually called "occidental plaza." you can get great food in the parking lot (which is now covered with a canvas) and it's the only place i know if in nairobi where dipping tobacco can also be purchased. don't worry, i only go there for the food. and don't ask about why i know about the skoal. so we had dinner, remembering to order the "mild" version of everything because it's the spiciest around, and drove around like crazy white people looking for an indian party. we could hear fireworks, but never found the source.

BUT, on saturday night we found the party. we went to one place a friend suggested but the party there was dead so, again, we drove around our part of town following the sights and sounds of explosions. then we found it. there were a few tents set up on a soccer field and only two or three of them were selling food. oh, but the food was good. the other tents were like box seats at a sporting event; private parties for viewing the festivities. but it wasn't a sporting event. well, sort of. there were people of all ages standing around the field launching fireworks in all directions. 7 year olds (or younger) could be seen running quickly away from something they'd just lit and thrown into the air. my favorite sight was a middle aged man holding 4, read it again FOUR, roman candles in one hand with his face turned away from the direction he was pointing them. occasionally one of those huge fireworks (you know, like 4th of July down at the levee) would explode on the ground and people would jump out of the line of fire and we would all duck and cover. us whiteys seemed to be the only ones nervous from all of the loud sounds and shooting blazes. i felt like a 10 year old turning in circles and screaming, "wow! this is awesome!" over and over after i'd eating pizza, samosas, and spring rolls. then we went to DP for more indian food and ice cream. Happy Diwali!

yesterday was my normal busy Sunday. i was supposed to have lunch with a student but it didn't work out. i'm really looking forward to spending time with her. pray it happens soon.

it's raining so much now which is great but means making a "rain plan" and a "no rain plan" for middle school youth group. and yesterday we ended up inside while it cleared up and becamse sunny outside. we did have to clean our muddy feet though. mud is everywhere. don't even get me started on muddy dogs who have amazingly learned to jump over the even-higher-than-the-other-one gate when i arrive home from a long day.

i gave the message this week at high school youth group and felt like it didn't make any sense. i was pretty excited about it, but sometimes my words get all mixed up and when i say things aloud they don't make as much sense as they do in my head. by the end of it my face was burning and it felt like my toungue was swollen. that feels great when there are like 30 teenagers staring at you. but some encouragement was exchanged with a few students that i've really been thinking about and praying for. i was obedient and God is faithful; that's success.

we had dinner at the Conway's which is always wonderful. Eric watched my face and laughed at me when Holly announced we were having chilli dogs. it's such a BLESSING to be welcomed into a warm and loving home and feel like a family member. being taken care of for one evening by a mom and a dad (even if they're not your own) is so good for my soul. it's nice to borrow a family every once in a while. thanks Conway's.

this weekend i finally get to go to the BEACH. hopefully. that's the plan anyway. thank you to our good friend Shawn who has a sweet low-cost place (i mean, free) and invited us along. so we're leaving on Thursday morning and returning Sunday. i'll miss all the kids at youth group on Sunday, but i'm excited about this much needed rest.

the minshew's returned last night! i'm so excited to have them back. i missed them a lot. and their sweet baby, Graham. he's grown so much over the past few months.

hopefully soon i'll have pics of diwali and the beach!

love to you!!!

lately LOVING

It’s raining! And this time the guard on my compound says it will “set in” tonight. woo hoo!!!Here are some things I’m loving lately:

-my NEW HAIR! Some lovely ladies on a short-term mission team gave some of us haircuts and gave me some sweet highlights. They are some lovely ladies who were training some hairdressers in the slums in Nairobi. Most of them were from the South so it was great to sit in the kitchen with them and listen to their stories with those beautiful southern accents. Cindy did my hair and she did an AMAZING job. And what a blessing it was. I would never be able to afford something like this and now I feel like a rock star!

-HUGE Spiderman backpacks on the backs on tiny first graders. I wish I had a picture of this. I was a sub last week for a friend of mine at Rosslyn. She’s a fifth grade teacher and I got to spend time with her sweet class all day on Thursday. The kids at Rosslyn are so beautiful and I love being reminded of it. I was also reminded of how much I love these kids while I facilitated the high school retreat this past weekend. One of the teachers asked BlueSky to help out with activities. It turned out that Lindsay and I were the only ones available to help. It was perfect! I had worried so much about the program, but it turned out beautifully. I was also able to talk with some kids that have really been on my heart; to me, a success.

-Jacaranda season in Nairobi! I love these beautiful trees. Every time I see one I’m reminded of where I am and what I’m doing. There is a big beautiful Jacaranda tree near one of the schools where some of our camp kids go. When I lived and worked here before I prayed and prayed and tried to get involved in this school. I would go to games and after school activities and drive past that tree on my way home. I remember feeling relief every time I left this school last time and smiling and appreciating my life every time I saw that awesome tree. It reminds me that I’m supposed to be here.

love you! thanks for reading!!!! come to kenya and enjoy my new hair, sweet kids, and beautiful trees!!!

rain, mercy, and a God who sees

my homesickness has been waning. even though mountain day was this past weekend, the coosa valley fair starts this week, and i spent 5+ hours in traffic court on friday. thanks for praying for me. i surely need it.

it rained on saturday!!! that's right, RAIN. we, too, were wondering what the noise outside was and why there was wet stuff falling from the sky. we had a youth group party on saturday night and right before it began it started raining. it was raining water and kids at our house because, i lost count, but we easily had 40 people over!

before the party i also had the opportunity to go for a swim, lay in the sun, and take a shower. these things are all real treats for me. AND i got to hang out with some friends.

sunday, church was so sweet and we started our new children's curriculum. the teachers loved the it and i think the kids do too. please pray for a family at our church as on saturday after noon the father died suddenly of a heart attack leaving two very young children and his wife. this was shocking and will be very difficult for this family and our church family, but it is always sweet to see the Body surrounding its members and meeting each other's needs. she will have to move back to the States with her two children and organize a funeral for her husband. please keep them in your prayers.

sunday afternoon both middle and high school youth groups went very well. one of our high school leaders, is speaking at middle school youth group for a total of 5 weeks. we're in week two. she's doing such a fantastic job. it's beautiful to see these young leaders developing their gifts. and i wish i could record my 6th grade small group of girls. the things we talk through are so sweet! they are precious. we talk about spaghetti strap tank tops, boys, mean girls, God's love, and the Bible. i love girls.

here are some boys at youth group:

at high school youth group i talked about The Good Father. and how Jesus has not promised us all we ask for, but he has promised us mercy and grace in our time of need. there are a couple of students that i can't get off my mind and i really feel like God gave me that message for them. i was so nervous (i always am; i don't want to confuse anyone with my mixed up words), but the Holy Spirit delivered the message through me and TO me. indescribable.

i was reminded that Jesus has experienced all the emotions, fears, temptations, and struggles that we have. sometimes we feel so alone in the things we go through, but He knows and He sees us, and gives us mercy and grace.

we've had water steadily coming to our house all day today! it's a miracle. just to be sure i could completely wash my hair, though, i washed it outside in the spigot in front of our house. that is, after i washed the dog. he needed it more than me. i'm really glad no one drove by while i was bathing in the driveway. please continue to pray for rain.

love you all!

here are some pictures of things i've written about already, but now have pictures to go along! enjoy!!!

middle school youth group:

this is cow appreciation day. it was during the summer at camp. it was one of those days when everyone was out of the office except me, brittany, and brittany's camera. i was missing america and chick fil al this day.

this is the chair the ladies in western gave me. on the way to the bus station in uganda they had to tie it to the back of the matatu.

lament

ok, ok. this is a lot of complaining, i know. i want you to know that right now i'm sitting at java house with lindsay drinking coffee and just finished a delicious spanish omelette. i have absolutely nothing to complain about. later today i will go to a soccer tournament and hang out with some kids. then i will relax in my comfy house with friends and go to a sweet worship service with my loving community in the morning. no complaints. life is good. anyone who has been to or lived in kenya will find my experience yesterday very typical. and i want to share it with you.

so, yesterday:

the difficulty of living in africa comes in waves. today was one of those days.

i took a cold shower out of a jeri can this morning. this means that i dragged a big bottle of cold water from downstairs and lifted it above my head in the shower and poured it over me. i haven't had a real shower since monday when i paid 500 shillings to go to the country club. i haven't showered in my own bathroom since may. i do, however, drink more than 2 litres of clean water every day. and i can flush my toilet at least once a day. so no complaints about water since we have neighbors in kenya who have to walk miles for any kind of water and it mostly isn't ever clean.

i got a package from my mom!!! this was awesome. picking up the package at the post office wasn't awesome, however. i thought it was going to be at village market so i worked on children's ministry curriculum stuff all morning and put the post office off until the afternoon. i shouldn't have done that because everyone knows that friday afternoons at village are a nightmare in and of itself, not to mention going to the post office. they always require i.d. to pick up packages and you never know which i.d. you'll have to present. sometimes your driver's license will do other times you need a passport. just to be safe i brought 4 different picture i.d.'s. the lady behind the counter laughed at me. then she said i needed to go to city centre and pick up my package. i almost burst into tears right there. she felt sorry for me. so i got back into the defender (the beast) and drove downtown.

ONE HOUR later i text kim to ask about where in the world to park at the downtown post office. after 20 min of driving slowly on the four lane road i parked on the street. after getting hassled by the "security" on the street and refusing his "services" i walked two blocks, up the stairs and across the road. i then waited in line at the counter where i was told to go to the second floor to collect my parcel. i waited in the queue for the lift (in the line for the elevator) because that's what the sign by the lift told me to do. when the elevator door opened before all of its riders could exit three people pushed past me and onto the elevator. i rushed in before the door closed. i started to get out on what i thought was the 2nd floor but was pulled back by a woman who explained that is the 2M floor and i need to wait for the 2 floor. who knew there were two second floors?! so i got out on the 2nd floor and went to the counter. i waited for the guy to go in the back and get my package. this was, of course, after he looked at my package slip, said my name aloud a few times, asked where i'm from, and smiled at me for extended periods of time all throughout. he gave me my parcel and sent me to another lady behind the same counter. this lady gave me a really large knife and instructed me to open my package while she watched. after asking me about everything and what kind of sweets i had she wrote some notes on my package slip and sent me out in the hall to room 113, keeping my package with her! i went in room 113 and after the same "where are you from," "how long you been here?" and saying my name aloud several times the fellow behind the desk wrote something on my paper and sent me to another desk in the same room i was before! i talk to a lady behind some bars who looked at my paper, laughed at me, and told me i have to go outside, across the highway, and down two blocks to the bank to pay duty on the contents of my package. i asked for clarification because i couldn't believe what i was hearing. so i went. drenched in sweat. i passed the defender parked in the street on my way to the bank and the sketchy character who wanted to protect my car for a small fee was lazily leaning against my car. i didn't let him see me looking. i didn't want any more attention. i probably heard the word "mzungu" 5 times in my short walk to the bank. i had to fill out three forms and pay $10 at the bank. i got back to the post office where i had to go back into room 113 and get my paper stamped. then i spoke again to the lady behind the bars who commented that i looked tired. almost 3 hours had passed since i left my house to pick up the package. i told her that. she laughed.

the lady behind the bars stamped my papers too and sent me back to the counter across the room. that lady charged me another 70 shillings ($1), but didn't have change so i really payed more like $1.30. she took her time writing my receipt. i took that receipt to the original guy who went back again to the same room and got my package again. he said, "ok, fine." and i walked away.

as i sat in traffic on the highway on the way home i read the letters my mom had written. i cried. she sent me a picture of herself. i cried a little in the post office too when i saw her handwriting on the envelope. and i felt heartbroken for a second when they took my package away from me after watching me open it. the collection of that package was an emotional experience for me.

here i'm reading the card and then excited about the hair dye that mom sent:

i've been a little homesick lately. don't get me wrong, I LOVE LIVING IN KENYA. and this is exactly where i'm supposed to be. it's just a little sharp pain sometimes because just as much as i love being here and love following my Jesus, i love my family too and a little bit of me (ok a big bit of me) wants to be near them. i miss fall. i would love to go to the fair with my sister. i'd love to go to the mountains with my friends.

sometimes i feel like it's easy to live here. people say they're so proud of me and they admire me and that i'm brave, but i don't see what they see. this is fun. i love the kids here. i love kenya. i love my team, my house, driving our cars. i love camp. but there are times when i vividly remember the sacrifice of being away from family, friends, comfort, and familiarity. being away from things that "make sense."

BUT, in this memory and little taste of suffering, i praise God. he is constantly and consistently providing for me. i have a great church, a sweet small group, an amazing ministry, food to eat, a bed to sleep in, and right now i'm sitting at westgate (a mall my sister haley compared to perimeter in atlanta) drinking yummy coffee and using high speed internet.

and last night when i got home i made myself sick off of candy corn (from the package) and watched grey's anatomy that i downloaded with that high speed internet. and living here was a little easier again.

reaching the most receptive hearts using the most effective means

i was a camper last week. it was hard. i learned a lot about myself.

i'm "that" camper. you know, the one who asks a million questions about what i should wear and what to expect. it drove me completely crazy that i never got a schedule and i had to ask my counselor, that's right, i had a counselor, what was coming up next. j-mo, if you're reading this, i will never pick on you again. ok, i probably will, but i understand a little more now. also, i get pretty mad when other people break the rules. i'm also that camper. all of my friends probably already knew this about me. it's not the rules that i love so much, it's just that if i'm following them everyone else must follow too. i could probably talk more about this...

so anyway, i went to what i thought was a conference about Christian camping in Africa, but it was actually CAMP for grownups. i complained and laughed, but it was really good. i learned a lot about myself and got psyched for camp in Kenya. i was a participant (the only mzungu btw) in heaps of team-building activities. i was in a cabin with some beautiful African women (three from Kenya and one from Ethiopia). and i made some good contacts. there are so many people in Kenya doing camp! AND none of us are doing the same thing! there were some guys there from Christian camping international who talked with us about camp's all around the world. it was so encouraging to hear about other people who's lives are sold out to Jesus and dedicated to camp. i love it.

one of the cci guys talked about how camp is using the most effective means to reach the most receptive hearts. we've all heard the stats about how less likely you are to become a believer after your teen years and anyone who's ever been to camp knows how unique that camp community is and what a special place it is. i'm already getting excited about next summer!

Sock War session 5 this is what i mean by "special":

at the end of "camp" last week we took the youth group camping at the Tana river. it was a really chill weekend, but so much fun with those guys. please pray that more kids will come to the youth group and that we will make the most of our time with them on Sundays and other youth group events.

our camping trip:

it feels like i am just now getting started with "normal" nairobi life here. Haley visited for a few weeks, then i went away for a week to take a wilderness first aid course, then i had the camp conference, and this is the first week i've actually been able to go to the office and put some things in order. i guess you could call it order. i bought a file cabinet, a notebook, and some folders and started to get camp bluesky organized. we'll see how that goes.

here's the famous yellow folder exploding onto the floor: