Trust His Heart

This afternoon we attended the memorial service for Loren. It was strange to have a service for him, while his family is still in the US. But I think it was good for us to have this chance to process, share, grieve, and remember as a community. I brought my pack of tissues, expecting lots of tears, but really...there were so many wonderful memories shared of Loren that brought lots of smiles and laughter. It was good. 

Of course the song at the end had me choked up. Here are the words:

All things work for our good 

Though sometimes we don't see how they could

Struggles that break our hearts in two 

Sometimes blind us to the truth

Our Father knows what best for us

His ways are not our own

So when your pathway grows dim 

And you just don't see Him 

Remember you're never alone

God is too wise to be mistaken 

God is too good to be unkind 

So when you don't understand 

When you don't see His plan 

When you can't trace His hand 

Trust His heart

Trust His heart

He sees the master plan 

And He holds our future in His hand 

So don't live as those who have no hope 

All our hope is found in Him 

We see the present clearly 

But He sees the first and the last 

And like a tapestry 

He's weaving you and me 

To someday be just like Him 

God is too wise to be mistaken 

God is too good to be unkind 

So when you don't understand 

When you don't see His plan 

When you can't trace His hand 

Trust His heart

Trust His heart

He alone is faithful and true 

He alone knows what is best for you

God is too wise to be mistaken 

God is too good to be unkind 

So when you don't understand 

When you don't see His plan 

When you can't trace His hand 

Trust His heart

Trust His heart

When you don't understand 

When you don't see His plan 

When you can't trace His hand 

Trust His heart

Trust His heart 

Heavy Hearts

Today we lost a friend.
A nurse.
A father.
A husband.
A mentor.
A beloved staff member here at RVA.

Our hearts are so heavy today, grieving for his family left behind. Grieving for ourselves who have lost a special part of our RVA family. Yet in the midst of grief we rejoice for Loren. Ian said to me this afternoon, "Mom, he is lucky! He gets to go to the golden city!" Yes, Loren is truly dancing on streets of gold right now...no more tears, no more pain. Yet, we, here on earth feel the pain and loss greatly and there are lots of tears.

Please pray for the Harrison family. They are currently in the US. Pray for Vicki and their 8 children as they process and grieve. Pray that God will be glorified.



We will miss you, Loren.

Loquat Pie

It's loquat season again! Loquats are small yellow fruit that grow in abundance around here, when the year is right!  And this year seems to be right....because our loquat trees are heavy-laden with these juicy fruits this season! Last week, we made loquat jam with our bounty (but forgot to take pictures!) and this week we made loquat pie.

Lyndsey and her friend Emily collecting the fruit from the tree.

One of many bowls collected.

The girls worked hard to pit and peel the fruit. This is a VERY labor- intensive chore so I was hoping everyone would savor each morsel of pie that they ate since it took so long to prepare it.

And finally, the finished product....a very sweet and tasty loquat pie!

Titchie Field Day

Every term we have a Titchie Field Day.   "Titchie" is a British slang word for "little ones" and that is what we call our Elementary students here. Field day is a fun day for all and this a busy weekend full of classroom visits for parents (on Friday), Senior Store (the seniors sell yummy food for fund-raising for their Senior Safari), the field day (on Saturday) and a great worship service geared toward, and involving, lots of Titchies (on Sunday). 

Here are a few shots of the Titchie Field Day...

Ian trying to grasp the elusive donut in his teeth.

The awesome balloon artists

face painting

Megan has found herself a new friend! 

I can't believe she is growing up enough to be the "big kid" now!

Lyndsey is also drawn to babies like a magnet!

The high school kids do a great job at helping at these events and  loving on the little kids!

The "tight rope"

Our nephew Aaron mastering the stilts.

wheelbarrow races

the clown

Ian on the stilts, with a little help!

the tumbling mat

basketball toss

Locked Up!

The other day Ian’s preschool teacher was reading a story about Curious George. George made a false alarm call the fire department and was put in prison.  Ian blurts out,   “My dad was in prison!  They put him in a locked the door and he couldn’t get out.  Later on they let him out, because he was locked in.”  Well other than making me look like a hardened criminal Ian was mostly right.  I was in prison, and I was locked inside and eventually they did let me out.  Only thing he left out was that I was there with nearly 40 students to play a football (soccer) match against the prisoners.

This was our second year to visit the Naivasha Maximum Security Prison.  However this year we did things a little different.  The RVA varsity team that I coach joined forces with the varsity team from Rosslyn Academy in Nairobi to play two matches against the  inmates at the prison.  The first game we lost 5-0 the second we lost 1-0.  I was not upset about losing either match.  When you are playing on a field surrounded by 25 foot high walls and lining the small space between the playing field and the wall are 3,300 inmates I’m happy to let them score as many goals as they’d like.  Actually the inmate fans are a lot of fun.  They are just happy to see some good football, so they cheer for anything that happens no matter which team does it.  If they score a goal, the crowd goes wild.  If we make a great, the crowd goes wild.  Its a lot of fun.  The best part of the day and the reason we go is the time after the game. We were able to have a time of sharing and prayer with several hundred inmates, players and fans alike.  A few of the boys shared some words of encouragement with those in the crowd, and explained to them that despite their current situation in life, true freedom can be found in Christ Jesus, even behind stonewalls and bared gates.  I don’t know that our short visit and a couple football games made a huge difference in any of those inmates lives.  But we were able to tell them that even though they are behind bars, they are not forgotten and someone cares enough to come spend the day with them.  The day was a blessing to us as a team, and me as a coach.  I can’t wait until next season.

The coaches.

One of our boys sharing his testimony after the game.

Outreach Day

Each term we have an Outreach Saturday, where staff and students reach out to and share God's love with our community around us. Almost everyone is involved - from the littlest kindergartner to the juniors, seniors and staff of our school. There are lots of opportunities to choose from and every year we find more and more ways to reach out. Some examples of service projects that we do on a day like this are: building a house for a widow in the community, visiting a local orphanage, tree planting, collecting and delivering firewood for widows, garbage pick up, road repair, playing sports with kids from a local school, preparing food for the sick people down at the hospital (within walking from our school), playing with kids who are patients at the hospital, and the list goes on!
This last Saturday was Outreach Day and our family spread out in three different directions. Jeff will tell you about his day in a separate post, Megan went down to the hospital with her fourth grade class and disinfected toys in the playroom and played with the kids. Ian and I accompanied Lyndsey's first grade class and the kids made pictures and sack lunches for the guards who work day and night at our school to protect us. We had a lot of fun and the guards enjoyed hearing the kid's stories, seeing their pictures and listening to them practice Swahili!

Here is Megan, in the toy room at the hospital, disinfecting toys.

This is the fourth grade class (plus Mrs. Hall - the teacher- and a few high school girls), standing outside the hospital. This is a hospital that specializes in helping kids with burns, deformities and other crippling diseases.

The first graders are hard at work making cards for the guards. They also made hamburgers and cookies.

Here we are, delivering the cards and the lunches. In each lunch: a hamburger, a bag of chips, a bag of peanuts, a coke, and some cookies.

The kids practiced their Swahili greetings that they are learning in class. (Ian also gave his new guard friend Peter a big stick "to keep the bad monkeys away!")

This was a special day, not only to bless others, but it was a blessing for all of us to think of others before ourselves. As Lyndsey's first grade class is learning.....JOY means "Jesus, then Others, then You."

Two Classrooms

It's time for a peek into two different classrooms! The first one is Ian's preschool classroom. It is not really a classroom, but rather the dorm lounge of Tembo Dorm....one of the Elementary School Dorms. Our friends, who are the dormparents there, were gracious enough to host preschool there this year. Here is Ian, on his first day of school - very excited, as you can see! There are 8 kids in his class and the moms each take turns teaching. This month - September - I am teaching with Bethany. She is an expert!

Here is the whole gang - including Bethany and I. Can you tell who the class clown is? Yes, it was quite the morning...

After teaching preschool in the morning, I headed off to my other teaching job....

6th grade Social Studies! It was quite the contrast from herding 4 year olds around!

This week we are doing an archaeological dig for Social Studies. The kids were super excited about this. We were supposedly in the year 2452, digging up the remains of "an old school called Rift Valley Academy" to see what we could learn about that time era. It has been fun so far!

Tomorrow the kids will dig a bit deeper. They have to record everything they find. 

After Social Studies, I wrap up the day with the kids with silent reading time and signing their planners on the way out the door.

I will try to get a class picture one of these days, when they are not digging for treasures in the dirt!

A week of firsts...

We are starting a new blog, in efforts to keep in better touch with our family, friends, and supporters! I hope you enjoy seeing a peek at our life here at Rift Valley Academy!
This week was a week of firsts.....

The first week of school!

 
Here is Megan with her 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Hall. We are in Bible Study with the Halls, and they are GREAT!

Here is Lyndsey with her 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Kinzer. She doesn't look old enough, but she was MY fourth grade teacher (before she was married), Megan's 1st grade teacher and now....Lyndsey's teacher!  

Here is Jeff, in his office, this first week of school.

And guess what? I went back to school too! This term I am teaching 6th grade Social Studies. Here is our team, a.k.a. "The Fantastic Four!" I am enjoying being back in the classroom and hope to post some pictures of my students soon.

Also in the news....Lyndsey and Ian learned how to ride a bike on the same day! Despite a few scrapes and bruises, we had some pretty happy (and tired) kids last night at bedtime. Now, with all three kids on bikes and weather starting to turn a bit warmer, we have some fun adventures planned.