October

The end of October is drawing near, and I’m suddenly aware that I’ve done a terrible job in blogging this month. I wish I had a good excuse, but I just haven’t made it a priority. School is in full force, and my routine doesn’t include much computer time. Anyway, in an effort to keep you precious people in the loop, I’ll try to summarize the highlights of one of my favorite months.

We started the month with a little weekend getaway to Naivasha. We stayed at Enashipai Spa and Resort, which was fantastic. The boys loved the pool, the play areas and our visit to Crescent Island.

Aaron had the rest of the week off from work, so the boys and I struggled to maintain our normal school schedule. The co-op forced us to focus and the following weekend’s event gave us some things to look forward to. First, we had a missionary chili cook-off. Everyone wore their tie-dyes shirts and taste-tested 12+ varieties of chili.

Then, I spent Sunday at a 10th anniversary celebration at a local orphanage. It was a wonderful experience, and I am delighted to be helping with WGM’s orphan ministry. (I’ve been helping with the budget and record keeping. It’s not a glamorous job, but it uses the gifts God gave me…and it doesn’t require much travel or time, which is nice since most of my time is spent with school.) Below is a picture of a few of the hundreds of people who came out to celebrate and contribute to the orphanage.

The MK co-op observed Columbus Day with 2 days off of school, so I took the boys on a little filed trip to the river. They waded in this shallow part, and then they dug for gold and found ‘special rocks.’ Jacob insisted on carrying several of these large rocks home. The way home is all up hill…it’s a good thing Noah has become a kind and helpful big brother because I (being the meanest mom in the world) refused to help him. All boys and rocks made it safely home. Later in the week, as we studied rocks and memorized Scripture about Jesus being our Rock, I was glad that brotherly love got those stones up the hill. We decorated them and put them in the flower boxes on our front porch.

The week was full of travel. Aaron had to travel out of town 2 times for interviews. And then, I went to Nairobi with a friend to do some massive shopping. It was the first time I visited Nairobi since the Westgate massacre. The malls were heavily guarded and I never felt unsafe. In fact, the streets and malls were emptier than usual, so I felt safer than I have in the past. After 3 malls and Maasai Market, we headed home to our husbands and boys. Home sweet home…

were I attempted to decorate for fall. The weather is beautiful and sunny here, but my heart is back in Pennsylvania with the changing leaves, pumpkin patches and fall wardrobe. Since I can’t wear boots and sweaters or take the boys on a hayride, I’ve bought as many real pumpkins as I can find, I’ve been making pumpkin-y treats as often as I can, and I even bought this soapstone pumpkin from James, a local carver. Plus, a dear friend that I’ve never met in person brought me a few fall decorations. My dining room actually looks nice and festive.

But since we do live in Kenya, where leaves don’t change color and fall to the ground, we enjoy perpetual spring. The boys helped these two men make a swing…And then, Levi tested it. It works great!

Last night, we had a compound Fall Festival. The boys got their first taste of trick-or-treating. Noah was Darth Vader, Jacob was Black Spiderman, and Levi was Hulk. They got all dressed up, played games, ate sugar and collected a lot of candy. The little ones just went door-to-door to most of the missionary homes. Noah’s age group had to complete a photo scavenger hunt in order to receive candy. The oldest group did a movie scavenger hunt! Holidays are BIG deals here at Tenwek, and we are blessed by all the effort put into making these celebrations so special.

Once we got home from all the un-Halloween festivities, Daddy, Jacob and Levi had a little after-party face painting event. I think Levi looks more like Oscar the Grouch than Hulk, but he definitely acts more like Hulk. I’m not sure what Jacob is supposed to be, but the blue make-up won’t come off. He looks like he’s wearing blue eye shadow today. If another bath doesn’t work, I’ll have to get my eye make-up remover to do the job.

Well, that pretty much wraps up our month. We leave Tenwek again on Wednesday for a Samaritan’s Purse safety training/spiritual care event. This month has been an adventurous one…Maybe that’s why I’ve not been blogging. I’m too busy being adventurous. 😉

Praises and Prayer Requests:

1. Praise God for community. Life here is a blessing. While we miss friends, family and fall, we love raising our family here. We praise God for the community we have here!

2. Praise God that my dad’s cancer is only on his vocal cords. Please continue to pray for him as he finalizes treatment plans and then must endure them.

3. Praise God for growing, maturing, learning children! Levi is learning Swahili and so much more in preschool. Jacob is reading and becoming quite the know-it-all in kindergarten. Noah is developing a beautiful servant’s heart and is learning as much as ever in second grade. My cup runs over!

4. Please pray for our hearts as Thanksgiving and Christmas approach. While the holidays here are big and special, they will be hard without our princess. Pray for our families too. I’m sure the holiday season will be hard for them.

I Peter 1:22 “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.”

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Stephanie

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