Micah's first soccer game

We had a great time watching Micah in his first game today. He is playing as a defender. They had a really good game and won against Hillcrest 6-1. His coach plays a flat 4 defense and he is one of the middle guys. It was kind of fun to see one of our boys playing soccer again! Looking forward to more games in the next few weeks.

They have a great coach. He seems to have quite a lot of experience and is a great encourager and supporter of the boys.

Their defense marked up well as you can see.

Celebrating their first win!

On the Job with my Hubby.....

Last week Kurt made it happen for me to go along in the DC3 on one of the Samaritan Purse trips they make every two weeks. I wan't so excited about the flying part - but was wondering how, what, where etc. of how things worked when he was away. Our day started Wednesday getting up at 4:50 a.m. to leave home by 5:30 and be at the hanger soon after. Below, Kurt is looking over the DC3 and doing a preflight. We taxied to customs by 6:30 t0 get all the cargo and passangers. I certainly didn't realize how much stuff this plane can hold! We had some interesting things to take from luggage, huge tires, rolls of wire, a wardrobe, boxes, crates of fruits and vegetables and even a crate with 2 ridgeback puppies!

Ok, these pics didn't come out quite right, but we then took off soon after 9:30 and headed for a day of adventure - for me that is. We made a total of 3 stops I believe before we ended the day at the Samaritan's Purse camp in Sudan at about 4:30 p.m. I was amazed at how much physical work it is do all that they do! Sorry honey...I didn't realize how much loading and unloading, loading and unloading, making sure this and that is placed in the right places, the heat and humidity, flies, pumping fuel - literally - physically (as you can see below from the barrels!), smells, mud, serving the passangers and making sure they are ok, and then of course flying the airplane!

Here in the pic below - one of the airstrips....

It really wasn't as smooth as it looks to place 2 cinnamon rolls on the dash and they not fall off - ok, maybe at that moment only....my seat was right there behind them. I have never sat up in a cockpit of anykind for more than a minute, honestly - that is not a place for me....so, it was quite interesting for me to listen and watch Kelly (left) and Kurt (right). It is quite a process for taking off, landing and in the air stuff. Did you know that you can fly this plane and have the windows up there open! :) ok - a first for me. Also, after about the 6th take off and landing I got used to hearing a few things that were a bit interesting like - each of them looking out the window saying, "I have a wheel", counting up, counting down, cross check this, cross check that - fuel here - flaps....etc

Ok, the next few pics are when we landed to stay the night. More unloading and making sure the plane is ok for the night.

We had quite an interesting evening at the camp. A number of workers were finishing up their contracts and leaving with us the next day. After dinner, they had a time for everyone to get together and tell each one of them (the workers) how much they were appreciated and how much they will be missed. I was touched by the bond all these people had with each other - some knew each other for only a few months - to a few years. They were people who were working on church and bible college building, starting aids clinics and health care workers. They were placed in a remote area there to do a job and to do it in a way to make it happen. These workers were done here now, and moving onto another place or heading back to the US. This was a reminder for me again of the real Africa, to me, Nairobi isn't exactly that and was a good reminder for me to see God at work in these people.

Of course, I couldn't not take any kid pics. These two pics below are just so precious! Don't you just want to just scoop them up! :)

This little guy (below) didn't want to smile - but when I showed him the pic of himself in my camera - he had a big smile! :)

Ok, so we left then that day - Thursday, to make about 2 or 3 more stops before our final destination of Nairobi. I believe we took off about 7 a.m and arrived back to Nairobi around 5 p.m. This is a trip I won't forget - people, places, workers etc. Thanks honey for taking me along and also for phenergan......

Good Samaritan's Orphanage

A few weeks ago, I went with a friend of mine again to do a health clinic. Her name is Robyn Moore and she is totally amazing! She has been here in Kenya for over 25 years. She is with World Gospel Mission and has an organization call, the Least of These. Robyn is a nurse practioner and more! She goes to a number of orphanages over Kenya. This day we went to one called Good Samaritan's and is located in Mathere Slum - maybe it's the 2nd largest in the Nairobi area? I'm not sure. This was my first time actually inside a slum of any kind. We went with another nurse practioner and 2 student nurses from Ireland that had just arrived the night before! Ok, they are young! :)

While we were there we saw 81 kids, including 3 babies. This girl here (above) is actually 3 years old - she doesn't look like does she? She's had a number of health issues, but according to Robyn, she is doing better. We saw a lot of kids with ear infections, scabies and signs of HIV. It was so refreshing going with Robyn, as she has so many connections to doctors and clinics in the area. If she had any question about tests needing done, she could just call and set things up. It just felt good to know that things would some how get followed up with - and she will be back here again in a few weeks or so. Plus, Robyn is so easy going - and so good with nationals.

If you've noticed, the kids are eating PIZZA! When we were done, 2 families from Robyn's mission came with pizza for all the kids! I wish I could really explain how amazing that is for these kids and really to just bring what I think was 20 or 30 pizzas into a slum area! I was actually a bit scared things would get out of hand, but the guys really made sure it was under control. They made all the kids sit by the walls (below) and stay sitting - or no pizza, and then handed each child a piece. :) I think this may have been a first for them. The way they ate it was so funny, they picked off all the toppings and then folded it over and ate the rest! :) It was such a treat for them!

Here are the kids all lined up - and one of the daughters of the families that brought the pizza. Sorry, no pics of Robyn examining the kids - I was trying to keep up with her getting the meds ready and having them take a dose etc. At one point we heard a rat crawling somewhere and were hoping it wouldn't decide to come out. Also the flies were really bad - it wasn't a hot day, but they just wanted to stick on you. These are times when I wish I didn't have such a good sense of smell....These kids were so amazing too - just holding them or playing with them - you could tell they enjoyed it.

Catching up...

Wow, it has been sometime now since I've attempted to get this updated! So, this blog is just a mixture of this and that. Many of you know that we have decided to return to the US at the end of October. We appreciate your prayers as we make yet another move and find where and what God has for us. Below is a pic of my friend Margaret and 2 of her friends. I think it was 2 weeks ago, we had made a list of all our things we needed to sell. So Margaret came with her friends to see. It was really amazing, we had a number of people just stop by that weekend and just about claimed everything!

Ok, here is my one and only pic of Twix...(for this blog) He just loves to lay on me everytime I get this white blanket out. Then he finds such goofy ways to position himself. Oh, he is really our best cat ever! ...don't you all think we should bring him back with us? He is just priceless!! right?! :)

One evening Micah said he needed dessert and we didn't have anything really, so he went into the kitchen and came out with this plate.... here it had 3 sweet bananas sliced with peanut butter on and a few peantbutter chips put on top .... too funny!

Also a few weeks ago, we went to Diamond Plaza to eat Indian food and walk around the shops etc. This evening they had a few different entertainment things going. Here was a funny sign...only in Africa...

Ok, this is what I'm talking about! They had 2 people dressed up and walking around - one was a weird looking bunny (on the right) and the other this rather scary wolf thing! I mean it was scraggly, dirty and well - scary! A number of kids would start crying when it walked up to them! Maybe they think that is funny?

One day I was watching Dinah, John and Ruth. They enjoy playing with the play kitchen set that I have here, so I thought maybe we should have a picnic with them. So we have peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches on these little plates and water in the little cups - even Dinah's stuffed animal joined us.

These top pics are just for fun. Sometimes when I'm at the grocery store, I am amazed at where some of the products come from.

The bottom pic is a rather large papaya! Papaya are in season now and you can buy big ones like this or smaller. Are friends Robb and Char found this one at a market a little ways from here. It lasted for at least 4 or 5 breakfasts!

The last one is funny....Kurt went to a veggie store and was looking at the melons, I guess this little one got his attention. He asked the clerk what kind it was and he said "cantelope". I think that is the smallest melon I have ever seen! plus, it sure didn't last long.