The Month of December

When people visit us at RVA, we often hear, "I could never keep up this schedule." or "You guys are sure busy!" And that is true....for three months at a time. But thankfully, we get a month off in between each of our three-month school terms.

I remember our first year on staff at RVA and we didn't know how to pace ourselves. By the time we got to week 9 or 10 in the term, we weren't sure if we would make it to week 12 as we felt weary from the busy schedule of term.

We have now learned to pace ourselves - 12 weeks of wonderful, crazy busy-ness and then a blessed month of rest - continuing that cycle year round.

This December we have had the privilege of hosting Jeff's parents. They have pitched in and jumped on board with  our life here - helping us end the busy school term, and enjoying some much needed family time and rest during our month off.

We have been able to do a lot of fun things this break - including a trip to the coast, hosting our annual Christmas meal for our Kenyan friends, spending time with family out in Malewa, and Christmas activities here on campus. We are also trying to re-charge our batteries for next term.

Here a few snapshots of our month (if you want to see more, find us on facebook!)

visiting the Christmas craft fair with friends

our annual Christmas feast

Building a sandcastle at the coast

Family - such a blessing

All Good Things Must Come to an End....

...and that includes a great first term of school!

We have packed a lot of activity into this first term.

Actually, just this HALF term!

Last month, we celebrated Multi - Cultural Day. A beautiful day of watching cultures blend. As a school, our students hail from over 20 different countries. And that is just what is written on their passport. Many of them claim an African country as home. Our students are truly a diverse group!

Later that month, we attended Carnival - RVA's version of Halloween. The kids dress in costumes and play games and eat candy. A pretty fun night! I love the tradition of the high school kids "adopting" the elementary kids and calling them "little brother and little sister." This event was geared towards the big kids dressing up and hanging out with the little ones.

Here is our Megan with her "big sister" - also named Megan! They dressed up as M$M's and won a prize for the most creative costume!

And Ian and his big brother dressed up as the rat and the chef from Ratatouille. So cute!

Lyndsey and her big sister dressed up as Masai girls. They were adorable. 

A few weeks ago, our On Field Media team at  Africa Inland Mission launched their first feature length film, A Distant Boat. Oh my word. It was amazing! If you have a chance to check it out, please do - it is definitely worth the watch. One perk of being an administrator is that we got to attend the premier showing, in Nairobi, as representatives of RVA (along with our good friends). Such a cool privilege!

Here is the link:

http://distantboat.com/

This last weekend we had two fun events. The first was Pinewood Derby. This was the 40th PWD here. Talk about a cool tradition! I love how many kids participate in this fun day - building and racing cars. Our whole family raced cars and when we weren't racing, we were cheering on our students! 

And last, but not least, as we wrap up this term, a lot of fun parties were taking place. Our cousin Emily brought her dorm girls over Saturday night for a bonfire and s'mores. We had so much fun hanging out the girls. As I sat around the fire with them, listening to them play the guitar and sing worship songs, I was reminded of how lucky we are to serve here at RVA. It is truly an amazing place.

To the Bush and Back....Part 3

This blog post concludes our trip to the Bush. It is hard to put into words all that we saw and experienced, but hopefully these pictures will capture some of the adventure. It was so cool to see God at work here!

A sweet little boy who came to the house each day with his Mama.

We had a little birthday party for one of the kids.

The birthday girl!

Megan had her hair braided

We went into the village one evening for a feast!

The flash lit up this photo, but we were eating our food in the dark. It was delicious!

Church on Sunday morning - under the trees

Our pastor and musician :)

A small gathering of believers - a powerful time of looking in God's Word together.

After church - petting Koudie

we discovered Lyndsey had pretty good aim with the wrist rocket!

The village children brought an abandoned dik-dik (small gazelle) to the home one night. Our kids quickly named it, fed it, and had big plans to bring it back on the airplane (which did not happen).

She drank milk from a baby bottle. 

picnic in the bush 

Our family and Sam

thanks for a great weekend, S family! :)

all worn out from a fun weekend!

To the Bush and Back....Part 2

 Here is the process of getting water from the river back to the house to use. It took a couple of hours. It makes you appreciate your water so much more when you work for it!

To the Bush and Back....Part 1

This past weekend was our mid-term break. The bell rang at lunch on Friday to dismiss staff and students for the long weekend and we all came back to school today, Tuesday, by supper time. We are half way through the term and by this point, everyone needs a break!
We had the privilege of visiting a dear family in their remote bush village for our mid-term break. This family has had their kids at RVA for a long time. We have enjoyed having each of their four kids in our lives - whether in the classroom, the dorm, on a school trip, in our homes for activities, etc. We have talked about visiting them and seeing their ministry for years and with their youngest son graduating this year, we finally made this dream come true.
Had we driven, we would have been on the road for at least 12 hours one way. Since the mid-term break is only a few days long, we flew, with their youngest son, in a mission airplane to his home.

This is a shout-out to our amazing missionary pilots out there - they are great! Our pilot, Jim, not only did a great job flying the plane, but he stayed the whole weekend and pitched in - fixing the truck, piki (motorcycle), and helping out around the place. 

The plane ride, itself was an hour and a half long. Several of us got queasy on the ride and poor Lyndsey filled up a few "sic sacs" along the way but other than that, it was quite the adventure. Megan loved wearing the headphones and Jeff even got to fly for a few minutes!

Once there, we were greeted warmly (and yes, it was VERY warm there!)!  After lunch, we were able to take a tour of the rugged, yet beautiful terrain they call "home."

The kids especially loved the pet Kudu - nicknamed "Kudie." He eventually warmed up to Ian, but those two were pestering each other on day one. :)

This is an amazing family, who have faithfully been serving the Lord for over two decades. We were so challenged by watching and listening to them.

I will post part 2 later....stay tuned!