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!

Westgate Heartache

Last Saturday was our Field Day at the elementary school. I helped to run one of the game stations. The theme was super-heroes. Many of the children came clad in super-hero costume, ready to save the day. My game was called, "Catch the Villain." The children had to roll a hula hoop down the field and toss it over a bucket (with a picture of a villain on it) and then run back to the next person in line. Little did I know that true villains were lurking not far away.

After the field day was over, our family decided on a quick trip into Nairobi. I have not been into "town" yet since we returned, nearly a month ago. I was excited to get some groceries and supplies. We hopped into the car with Ian and Megan (Lyndsey opted to stay and play with a friend here on campus).

Spirits were high as we traveled to Nairobi. We treated the kids to one of their favorite treats that they had been missing all year in the US: Mahindi, or roasted corn.

Then the news came. We were nearly to the outskirts of Nairobi when our friend called to tell us the news that a grenade had gone off at Westgate Mall and were we anywhere near there? No, we told her, we were heading to a different part of town. Our light spirits instantly dropped and we were on high alert. A wail of an ambulance was heard in the distance. We quickly made our way to the our destination and got our supplies as fast we could.  All the while we kept waiting to hear word of the attack. At that point, two families from our school were at the Mall and we prayed for their protection. Several hours later, we heard the good news that those families had escaped unharmed.

Over the next few hours....and then days.....we watched the news, gathered to pray, waited.....  Hushed conversations on the path as we tried to carry on with life, but felt consumed by this tragedy - only a mere hour away from us. Last night, Ian woke up in the night screaming that bad guys were after him. It is hard to say if it was a result of his fever (he has been sick the last few days) or if this is how his little brain is processing the limited information he has been given about the situation. We prayed with him and brought him to sleep near us. 

This morning, Day Four, we hear news that the seige is nearly over - the police have Westgate under control - and we cautiously hope that the end is truly here. But it is hard not to let the fear remain. Fear that our lives are no longer as we know it. We could have been in that shopping mall on Saturday. 

People say that the terrorists win if they instill fear into our every day lives. We certainly do not want to live in fear. We do know that our ultimate security is in the Lord. But the truth is, we are human and this tragedy has shaken us to the core.

Our hearts go out to the many families - across the world - affected by this horrific event. May God comfort each one and give us peace that passes all understanding.