Sunday School Retreat

I have had the pleasure of teaching Sunday School to 10th grade girls for the past 6 or 7 years. We started using Barbara Mouser's curriculum, Five Aspects of Femininity for Young Women, but over the years we have supplemented the curriculum with a lot of extras. One of those extras is our annual retreat. During that weekend, we focus on dating, purity, and letting God write their love story. The past two years we tweaked our retreat curriculum even more to focus on Jesus being our Prince Charming, whether marriage is in the future or not. It has been great to work with a fabulous group of teachers, as well as invest in some sweet, precious girls. Here are pictures from this year's retreat...hot off the press!

Journal Time

3 of the 7 teachers

So fun to teach alongside a great friend!

craft time

the teachers treated the girls to pedicures

yummy meals!

my sweet small group

The whole group!

Winter in Kenya

I wish my blog had a temperature button. The following pictures do not do justice to the COLD we are feeling right now in Kenya! Winter has come, but around here, it doesn't bring snow with it, but lots of rain. We have been wearing our rain boots and carrying umbrellas every day. Our fireplaces are lit each day, in hopes of warming up our cold stone houses just a bit. Along with the rains, comes all sorts of bugs - slugs, flying termites, and my least favorite - the Nairobi eye. A very small insect - hard to spot - but it is filled with nasty acid, so if you see one, don't squish it or it will give you a horrible acid burn on your skin.

School has started up again and we are on the home stretch. I think the last count from my seniors in class was about 82 days until graduation! I am teaching Advanced Cooking again this term with a new batch of students.....all seniors! Keeping them focused this time of year is a challenge. But who doesn't enjoy cooking? You can see they are taking their culinary skills very seriously here!

My friend Julie

Today I woke up to devastating news on my computer. My dear friend, Julie and her son  Timmy were killed in a tragic car accident in Paraguay. Julie and her husband Norberto had been serving there as missionaries for the past 10 years and had recently adopted a little girl,  Anahi, to join their family.

Julie and I met in 10th grade at Northview High School. I was home for one year on furlough with my family and not a happy camper. Making new friends was hard. Going to a new school was hard. And being away from the familiarity of Kenya was hard. Then along came Julie. She was a strong Christian friend with lots of spunk! We had lots of fun together that year and I really feel like she was instrumental in getting me through that difficult time in my life.

Over the years we went our separate ways - we both married, had children, and pursued missions. She and her husband to Paraguay and Jeff and I to Kenya. We kept in touch via facebook and each other's blogs and I was hoping to see her this summer when both of our furloughs coincided.

The Lord had other plans and took her home to be with Him yesterday. My heart is heavy but I am rejoicing in the beautiful legacy she left behind - of a godly woman who was passionate about her family, her ministry and her faith.

School Break!

We are in the middle of our April break between terms 2 and 3 of our school year. We have year round school here, which means our three months of vacation are spread out to the months of August, December and April. It works better that way since most of our students board here and they get to have some time at home with their families woven into the school year.

I would love to have titled this post "REST" but alas, this has been a working break for us. Our trip back to the states is looming on the horizon and we have lots of work to do! Sort, pack, pitch, clean, sort some more...that kind of fun work! I know you can relate....right?

I used to hate the fact that every time we went to the States for a decent length of time we had to pack up our entire house. UGH....so much work! But I guess the hidden blessing in it is the forced weeding out process that we do each time. I really hope NOT to come back to stored junk when we return!

We have had some fun moments in the midst of sorting.....

• A fun weekend in Naivasha with our family - Jason and Lisa and kids. We played Dutch Blitz, ate yummy food, laughed and laughed, went swimming with the kids, and just generally enjoyed some great family time!

• Our high school principal organized an all school swim day at another missionary school in Nairobi on Easter Monday. What a fun day! 100 people gathered for a picnic and pool day - such a treat! As we were hanging out, I thought, "We work together every day, but rarely get to play together!" The highlight of the day? Watching the men have a diving contest into the little kiddie floating rings! So funny!

• We gathered as a mission community to celebrate our Risen Lord for an Easter Sunrise service. We were challenged to ask ourselves the question, "What does the empty tomb mean to you?" Do we really understand what that means and live it out? 

We are gearing up for term 3 to start on April 23. In the meantime, the packing and sorting continues....