It's been a little too long since my last update and I apologize for that. I've been a rather busy girl the last few months. June was spent running around to all of the 5 KAK homes taking photos of all of our kids to send to their sponsors, writing newsletters, collecting stories, hosting guests, planning for future teams and getting everything ready for my 5 weeks trip to the US.
My brother Drew married his college sweetheart in Fort Atkinson Wisconsin on July 14th, and the Lord graciously allowed me to be there for the amazingly special, joyful and God honoring day. Since then, I've been blessed to be able to lay low for the last few weeks at my family's summer cottage on Lake Michigan in Muskegon, MI. This has been a very timely and needed space for me to rest, gain some perspective and recharge for the work God has called me to do. Spending so much quality time with family and close friends (some of whom I haven't seen or heard from in more than a year) has been so good for my heart. I've also LOVED being able to attend church and worship services in English! Not only has it been such a blessing to be able to fully understand what the preacher is saying, there's just something about praising God in ones' own "heart language" that is so soul-filling.
I can't believe my time in the States is almost come to an end. This coming week is Kids Alive Week at Maranatha Bible and Missionary Conference, and I will be participating in some presentations along with other Kids Alive staff members as we seek to raise the funds to build a kitchen and dining hall for our Hall Mead School in central Kenya. Hall Mead currently serves about 320 children from our residential care programs and the local community, providing a quality, subsidized education, nutrition and care for those precious children who otherwise would not be able to afford to go to school. Right now the "kitchen" is a lean-to shack on the back end of the school compound, and the "dining hall" is the grassy school yard. It is our hope that this week at Maranatha we will be able to raise the funds to build a proper kitchen and dining hall for our kids and staff.
After Maranatha week, I have about 3 days and then I'm on a plane back to Nairobi. I'm really looking forward to getting back to my Kenyan "routine, seeing friends and all of "my" kids again and getting back to the work and life I've been called to there.
For scheduling and funding reasons, I don't know when the next time I'll be able to visit the States will be, and so my ticket back to Kenya is "one way" - yikes! Now, I do LOVE my job and life in Kenya, but not knowing when I'll see my American family and friends next is kindof a scary and sad thought for me. Not having that safety net of a return flight is probably a good thing for me though I think - it's teaching me to trust God in a new, deeper way....more on that later :)
Some Prayer Requests:
- That the Lord would bless our time at Maranatha and we'd be able to raise the necessary funds for our school project
- that He would use us to be a blessing and inspiration to the guests, residents and staff at Maranatha.
- Praise for my time at "home"
- That I would be able to leave here with a fresh perspective and new energy for my work in Kenya
- travelling mercies
