counting blessings and looking forward

Haley and me at Hell's Gate

I cannot believe that I have come to this place and time! This time last year I was only dreaming of living in Kenya again. And that it has come to pass still amazes me. Camp has ended and the last of our counselors left to the States only a few nights ago. I was filled with emotions as I waved goodbye in the airport. I am so blessed, grateful and amazed at God’s faithfulness in this ministry this summer. We saw over 400 children at Camp BlueSky. There were around 30 college students in and out of camp preaching and living the Gospel all the time every day. It was beautiful! I’ve said it before and I’ll likely say it again, but the men and women God brought to Kenya this summer to work with us are amazing. I am still praising God for their lives and for intertwining them with mine.

So now camp is over for this year and I’m currently sitting at a lodge in the rift valley on a planning retreat with our full time staff. We’ve debriefed the summer and have started making plans for the coming months. I have had different students on my mind throughout the summer and have seen many of them at camp. I’m looking forward to doing life here again. School starts on Tuesday, which means hanging out over the weekend and youth group on Sunday. I’m planning on leading a girls’ small group at high school youth group. There are some girls I’ve been thinking about and I’m really looking forward to spending time with them. I’m also hoping to become involved with the middle school youth group that I helped start a few years ago. Since I left in 2007 it became completely led by high school students. I attended before camp and was really impressed at how well they were doing. Many of them have graduated, though, and the new leaders are inexperienced. I’m looking forward to serving with them as they lead.

I’m also looking forward to really working on the camp program. It’s already time to book dates for next summer and I’m starting to get emails from potential staff for next year! This summer’s barely over and I’m already excited about the next one. God is so good. He keeps giving me abundance and it is “more than I could ask or imagine.”

How can I have forgotten to mention that MY SISTER IS HERE! This is like the most incredible thing! Haley is the first family member to ever visit Kenya! I have loved having her here. We haven’t done anything particularly incredible; just hanging out is amazing for me. I have missed her so much. We went on safari with the camp staff, hung out in town, kissed giraffes, and now we’re at this retreat. I’ve been in meetings a lot and she’s read an entire book or two, but for the next week its hanging out all the time for us! Pray that we’ll have blessed time together.

in the middle of the middle

well, we are in the middle of our "in between"  time. every time i interview a potential camp staffer or tell someone about camp i talk about the weeks "in between" camp. we are currently experiencing those weeks. it's good. 

last week (Sunday through Thursday) we stayed with the Calvert family in Ngong. they work with the masai people group doing church planting and discipleship. praise God for the faithfulness of the Calvert family. they let us take over their lives for a few days and partnered with us in ministry. it was amazing. they have four children, all of whom have been at camp their whole lives. zac, the youngest, is a senior at rosslyn this fall and is working as a junior counselor with us right now. so they were pretty great parents to us. nancy cooked AMAZING food for all of us each night and then we crowded around the table and made lunch for the next day before eating brownies with ice cream or jello poke cake. Bob told us tons of stories about years of ministry and the faithfulness of the Lord. they poured into our lives and it was overwhelming. we went into the rift valley with Bob each day to help with different projects. Monday we helped pass out food and encouraged some children at a school. Tuesday we cut grass and took it to a village where even their cows are starving for food and water. and when i say cut grass i mean we used pangas and slashers. and we  gathered the grass with walking sticks. not gonna lie, it was pretty sweet. it turns out i'm pretty skilled at cutting grass with a panga and could get quite a few cows in a dowry. :) mr calvert assured me he could find me a good husband. i cannot describe to you the look of surprise and joy the pastor had when we brought that grass to him. we ended tuesday with a bit of bouldering. wednesday we hiked the entire Ngong hills, something i've always wanted to do. it started out a bit rainy (which we'd been praying for) but then we could see clear to tanzania. it was stunning. God loved us so hard those three days, through hospitality, testimonies of ministry, encouragement of loving parents, the example of a beautiful 27 year marriage, his beautiful creation of the masai people and their wonderful homeland, and i was in awe of the effect of all of this on the camp staff. i love witnessing people being changed by the Gospel. God is indeed so good. 

now we're back in nairobi and preparing for a week in western. 24 of us have been staying at our house in nairobi. it's a bit cramped, but there are some sweet times in there. we have, however, been without water almost the entire time. so yesterday i took everyone to hampton house (baptist guest house) for showers. never saw such happy and good smelling people. after church today we've been lazing around. 

tuesday we will hop on a bus early in the morning and head to western where we'll meet eric. the plan is to stay in people's homes there, plant trees, play with orphans, encourage churches. if you know anything about kenya, though, you know that plans are just that: plans. they never really go how you expect them to. i am confident in God's sovereignty and am excited about what he has for us. 

please pray for all of us over the next week. after being in western for a week we'll head to Jinja, Uganda to raft the NILE! this is a highlight for some. the river is so large and powerful and such an illustration of so many characteristics of God. all creation sings His praises! 

so pray for our safe travel, for God to speak to and through us, and for the Gospel to go forth in everything we do. 

thank you for all your support! i love you with the love of Christ.

so i'm sitting in a straight back chair with about 50 misquotes buzzing around me, my shirt is wet and has been all day, and i'm exhausted in every way. there's nowhere else i'd rather be than right where i'm at. 

i just finished partying it up with junior campers at the disco. it was almost a disaster. well, you'll laugh at my idea of a disco disaster because it wasn't really all that bad. it's just that the music didn't work (ok that's a major disco ruiner), the one light wasn't bright enough to light the field, they had served us dinner rolls instead of doughnuts and no popcorn or hot chocolate. i was slightly panicked. after about 20 minutes of amazing counselors doing their camp counselor thing and creating fun even when the situation is struggling, the music started working, the doughnuts and popcorn came out, and stu and clayton got some tiki torches lit. we all danced the night away. 

I cannot stop thanking God for letting me be here and be a part of camp and be a part of these lives. we have some incredible counselors and amazing kids. 

thanks for being a part of it too.

Blue Sky Let's Go!!!

I. Am. Amazed. 

God is so faithful. My heart is so full and it's been wayyyy too long since I've written a post that there's no way this post will suffice to update you. 

Camp has begun. Our counselors have been here over two weeks now and I can't believe how wonderful they all are. God is faithful! Staff week was great. Everything was, for the most part, smooth and everyone had a great time. We talked A LOT about camp, planned for some of the programs and took a sweet camping trip across the street to a game ranch. It rained all night, but as we stood around the bonfire picking ticks off of ourselves and each other no one cared about the rain. We sang hymns a cappella and burst into spontaneous prayer. Then it quit raining and we went to bed while the lions were roaring in the distance. I haven't even mentioned the hotdogs, beans, and s'mores yet! It was incredible.

I need to back up and tell you, too, that the Preston's and Stoever's came out to help us with our leadership retreat, staff week and a marriage retreat. During the marriage retreat I took the kids camping at Hell's Gate. We drove all around looking for animals and saw giraffe, wildebeest, wart hogs, baboons, gazelles, zebras, and a dic dic which Wesley and Charlie were really stoked about. We saw a half-eaten zebra which was really cool to the kids and a buffalo skulls. Dead things were awesome. Then we had a huge dance party around the bonfire as we ate hotdogs and s'mores. I never dreamed I'd be doing the cupid shuffle at the overlook at Hell's Gate, but it was incredible. Those kids are too much fun!! After a beautiful Kenyan night we hiked the gorge the next day. It was beautiful and enlightening and we bought spears and bracelets to remember our trip. 

Then the leadership retreat was so great for all of us. We learned more about each other and how to work together this summer. Shawn, Dave, and Tammy are amazing. What incredible leaders to learn under! We stayed at Naivasha Country Club which was beautiful. It was very colonial and i kind of liked it. Except the desserts were gross. Nothing new there though.

So, like I said, staff week was great and now we're in Wednesday of the first session of camp. There are a lot of adjustments and I'm pretty exhausted from all the confirming and instruction i'm giving to everyone. I get to teach Lukenya Getaway staff things like how to serve meals on time and make biscuits and tacos. And then almost all of our counselors are new so they get to learn a lot too. I've not really been in a leadership position quite like this before and God is so faithful at giving me what I need. I'm a witness to my own growth and change. It's very different and as I process all that's happening in me I will definitely write more about it. 

Right now, I'm tired from dancing at the junior camp disco, and am about to get ready for sports day and commandante. I LOVE CAMP!!! I might take a little break and swim during rest time with Lauren and Graham. 

It's amazing to do what you are called to do. There's nothing else that feels quite like it. 

Thank you for being a part! 

Amanda

scouting

today is friday. i'm at java junction. it's kind of cold this morning which is odd because it's been really hot. i've been in kenya a whole week now. things have calmed down a bit since my first few days. seriously, i barely slept or rested at all until wednesday. i arrived on thursday night, had a full day of seeing old friends on friday, a ballet friday night (i'm so sorry Belarussian ballet, but you put me to sleep a little. it was warm and dark and there was nice music and i had jet-lag), Rosslyn spring fling on saturday and a party saturday night, church and two youth groups on sunday, a scouting trip on monday, and checking out lukenya getaway on tuesday. so wednesday i slept in a little bit before all day meetings about camp. yesterday was a little more chill and here i am today, just made a camp announcement at an elementary school chapel and am having coffee at java house. 

i'm fighting feeling overwhelmed because i know there is much to do before camp happens. and that it about one month. all of us are working on the various camp projects so i know it will all get done and camp will be great. please pray that everything will come together and that i and our team will trust the Lord with all of it. pray that children will sign up for camp and that we'll get all the counselors we need. we still need guys. i feel like needing guys is the story of my life lately. for camp staff, not personally. :)

so on monday i went with clayton and eric to mt satima in the aberdare national park. it was beautiful! and quite an adventure. we wanted to check it out to know whether we could take our high school adventure program there during camp. that is yet to be known because after driving for 5 hours and paying too much to get into the park, we got stuck in a ditch and didn't have time to make it to the mountain. this was nice welcome back to africa. i got to lay on my belly and dig dirt out from under the van, stack big rocks in the ditch and under the tires, hang off the side of the van while rocking it and weighing that side down, and then changed the tire. this is all to save us from going to the ranger station on foot past the buffalo and elephants. i was scared. i'm not gonna lie. but God is faithful even when it's hard to trust him. it took us a few hours to get out of the ditch. we didn't talk much during those few hours. we were all thinking about the lack of cell service, the buffaloes, and the impossible car situation we were facing. i was so happy to return to nairobi monday night and eat lasagna at lauren and stu's house. 

well, i'm in kenya, i'm safe, and i'm getting ready for camp. thank you all so much for praying. 

                          Mt. Kenya is in the background, but the clouds were covering her. Clay is                                                                    scouting a good spot for our kids.

goodbye America!

i wrote this a few days ago while traveling. I was unable to post it then bc my plane was boarding while writing. i've been in kenya for a week and have just now been able to procure good internet. i'm in the bluesky adventures office!!! woo!! 

Well…I’m almost there. I’m on the plane from London to Nairobi with 3 and a half hours to go. I still can’t really believe it. Even the travel has gone by so quickly. It seems like just a second ago I was kissing Cass and my mom goodbye in Atlanta. As we stood near the security checkpoint hugging and crying passersby kept asking if we were ok and if we needed some help.  Then before we could answer they would look at us and say, “oh,…oh I’m sorry.” Here is something beautiful and interesting that I’ve come to notice more lately: I am deeply passionate about people and relationships. I think I’ve known that for some time, but I’ve become acutely aware of it recently. I guess it’s the leaving I’ve just done. And it has only opened my eyes more to the beauty of God. The beauty of God in who He made me to be. There have, however, been times in my life in which I have prayed begging God to harden my heart and not let me care deeply for anyone anymore. See, I pour myself into relationships. I love people. Love them. And I want to know them and make them feel valued. But when that relationship turns around and the person I’ve poured so much into hurts me, it hurts.  I mean, it really hurts. And so that has happened a time or two in my short history and has caused me to wish not to care so much. The beautiful thing about God is that when I pray prayers like that He give me just what I need, “more than all I could ask or imagine:” He gives me the capability to love deeper and harder. And he gives me the sweetest friendships that I couldn’t have imagined. It is this I have seen over the past few days while saying goodbye to my friends and family. I know I will see them again. I know I’m embarking on an exciting adventure and I know it is the Lord’s will. Because I care so much about the people around me, my heart is broken when I have to say goodbye. I want so much to convey how important these people are to me.  So saying goodbye to everyone in Rome and to my family was extremely painful. Painful yet beautiful. I know that the reason I’m going back to Kenya is because I care so much about people and relationships and at the same time the reason it’s so hard to leave is again because I care so much about the people around me. I think that maybe, and I don’t really want to say it because I want to be humble, but I think this part of my character is a reflection of my creator. This is why it’s so beautiful to me: as deeply as I love people, He loves us so much more. Unfathomable. 

sisters

God has truly blessed me with some beautiful women in my life. I have several women around me that I hope to share life with forever. Two of the most beautiful women are my sisters. The funny thing about my sisters is that they are not related to each other. Sometimes when I explain this it gets confusing to outsiders. It’s simple really: both my parents got remarried and each had a daughter. So I having prayed, asked, and dreamt of having a sister, got two! I wasn’t satisfied with my brother Chance; I wanted a baby sister. Before Haley, now 18, was born I used to tell my teacher that I was getting a little sister. The thing is, I started saying that like a whole year before my step-mom was pregnant with Haley. I guess I prophesied about her. J Neither of these girls are very much like me. Oh, we have things in common and can absolutely laugh and have a great time together, but they are each so unique. And I adore them. I think it’s mutual. I hope so. Cassidy used to embarrass the crap out of me in high school. She insisted (the independent 4-year-old that she was) on wearing my t-shirts every day. She called me Danda and would scream and cry and refuse to leave the house unless she was wearing one of my “big shirts.” My mom worked the concession stand at all the basketball games while I cheered. Cass’s dad was already out of the picture and since everyone knew our family my mom let Cass walk around the gym. Cassidy also insisted on carrying sticks with her. These sticks varied according to her phase. I distinctly remember her screaming once so much that we had to go back home for her stick, which was a white PVC pipe that was longer than she was tall. Then, more than once she found herself on the basketball court wearing the oversized t-shirt over her cute outfit carrying that pipe. The refs had to stop the game while I, in my cheer uniform ran out on the court to get her. My friend Sarah whose dad coached the boys’ team said that in the videos of the games you could always see Cassidy in her white t-shirt marching up and down the sidelines. Cassidy is her own person and is pretty confident in that. She’s 13 now and stunning. I love who she is becoming. She wears clothes that fit (though they’re still sometimes weird in my opinion) and doesn’t carry a PVC pipe…most of the time. Haley is my other half sister and is about to graduate high school. She and I are pretty different but much the same. She’s beautiful and very stylish (here’s where we’re different). One day soon, hopefully, she’s signing me up for that TV show, “What Not to Wear.” I love spending time with her because she makes me laugh, she’s really smart, and she loves me. I mean, she’s really smart. Sometimes I get embarrassed because she knows more about what’s going on in the world than me.