Ken-ya Dig it?

You know those days that are so full that when you think back on them it feels like three… Saturday I had one of those wonderful days!

It started with bible club where for the first thirty minutes I was the only adult with 50 kids who barely speak English… Praise the Lord that singing can cross language barriers. It is so fun for me to hear these sweet kids sing praises to Jesus in another language! Our God is so big!

After they sang and dances their little hearts out I got to watch the bible club teacher give them new shoes. Watching the joy they got out of something like a pair of shoes was really humbling for me.

Thhhhen I got to go to “Battle of the Dance Crews” (which is as awesome as it sounds). Since I have been in Kibera I have been hanging out with the dance team so watching them compete AND WIN in the Kenyan version of “So You Think You Can Dance” was the perfect end to the perfect day! 

Home Sweet Home

“And even though I realized I cannot always mend or meet, I can enter in. I can enter into someone’s pain and sit with them and know. This is Jesus. Not that He apologizes for the hard and the hurt but He enters in, He comes with us to the hard places”

Until I moved to Kibera a few weeks ago, I had never been immersed in poverty before.  Living in a place like this (just like anywhere) has its joys and its heartbreaks but it really has forced me to look at the question of suffering.  One thing that keeps coming up in my quite times since I have been here is the idea of great loss producing even greater gain, which is the beauty of the gospel. I have recently gotten to experience this in my own life and now I am getting to watch it in Kibera. What a sweet Savior we have who promises that even though something may seem hard that He will enter in, make beauty from ashes, and produce something great!

“We go on living in a fractured world, suffering one way or another the effects of sin – sometimes our own, sometimes others. Yet I have come to understand that even suffering, through the transforming power of the cross, as a gift, for in this broken world, in our sorrow, He gives Himself” – Elizabeth Elliot 

I think I fell in love with the 8th world wonder

Last week I was blessed enough to go on a safari with my sweet friend Amy! It was incredible! We got to go to one of the most beautiful places on earth during the wildebeest migration, which is apparently the 8^th wonder of the world!

It was such a blast and I made some memories that I will keep until I am old and wrinkled, when I will probably tell them over and over again to my grandchildren.

All ready to go safari! 

The highlight of the first day was getting to watch the giraffes at sunset 

Cheetah!

We are the lion king

Baby elephant for my Crews-man

Lions!

What a sweet friend the Lord has blessed me with! 

Since I am obviously not so hot a updating my blog on a regular basis, I figure I’ll just keep my animal updates to one awesome post. Soo here it is! The post we have all been waiting for. The kiss to top all kisses. I can die happy, I kissed a giraffe!!!! Three to be exact and I think I am one of the luckiest girls in the world!  

See THE kiss here: This Kiss

A picture is worth 1,000 words...

Since I know no one wants to read 1,000 of my words... here is what I have been up too in pictures :)

How could you look at this and not smile?

My heart 

That's a good group!

Walking to the duca to buy candy was a fan favorite!

The weaver birds that lived outside my window

And now people... meet "Nate the Great" or as he referes to himself "Nate the Schmidt"

They are awesome

Hand washing our laundry

Hiking 

Walking to town with my kikapu. Could I be any more Kenyan? 

Parachutes make everything more fun

Three weeks later. We love each other more, love Jesus more, and are worn out

Now I'm off to Kibera!