Dad and Uncle Jim come to Kenya!

Last Monday we left Dad and Uncle Jim in Nairobi to fly back home.  it seems like yesterday we were picking them up!  Click HERE for some pictures of Dad’s first day in Kenya when we took him to the giraffe center!

Dad spent over a week in Nakuru with us and we loved being able to show off the kids and our lives over here.  It was wonderful to be able to take him to the baby center and introduce him to the kids but also just to relax and let him experience everyday life in Nakuru.  We got fresh squeezed juice and mandazi, met the ladies I buy vegetables from and were invited into their home, got pedicures (after lots of convincing), led youth group, relaxed on our porch, and much more. 

One of the highlights was getting together with one of Dad’s old friends from college.  They haven’t seen each other in 30 yrs but Dad had sent us a name about 3 months before asking if there was a way to find him.  Cason asked one of the women he works with and her response was “well I know him, he lives just down the road, let me give you his number.”  It’s a small world.  So we had him and his wife over for an American meal along with another couple from our church.  We had a great time fellowshipping together and the best part of the evening was creating an “elf yourself” video with them in it and playing it for them.  It was so much fun and I don’t think we’ve laughed that hard in a long time. 

Dad also spent a lot of time at the baby center.  The children loved him and keep asking where Babu John is when I come.  Momo’s response is always wisely telling the other children “he’s in Nakuru with Cason”  or sometimes “he’s playing football with Cason.”  Momo and Mesh consider themselves the wiser of the kids and like to keep the other smaller children updated on where all their visitors are :)  Click HERE to see some picture of my dad at the Baby Center... the kids loved him so much and we had so much fun!

While Dad was here we also got to have a traditional Kenyan meal with a family from our church.  It was so much fun and they surprised us with ice cream for desert!  They sang us a fun parting song to send us off at the end of the night.

At the end of the week Uncle Jim joined us and we headed on to the Masai Mara for a “safari camping” experience!  The tented camps are nothing like traditional camping - They are complete with tile floors, four poster beds, showers, bathrooms, and robes!  We felt quite pampered and had some great game drives.  Dad brought rain everywhere he went and it definitely followed us to the Mara.  Our second day there we have a torrential downpour and hunkered under blankets in our canvas topped safari jeep while the plains we were attempting to cross quickly filled with water and began to look more like a lake than African plains.  We eventually found higher ground and where able to watch the water rise from a safe spot.  It was pretty incredible to see.  Click here for some of our safari pictures, including some of an elephant family and lions – we’ll post more when we have some time.

On Monday after a tearful goodbye we left  Dad and Uncle Jim in Nairobi while Cas and I headed to our Christmas field meetings.  It was very hard to leave Dad but fortunately we are back in Nairobi today to pick up Corinn (Cason’s sister) who will be flying in tomorrow morning to be with us over Christmas!

We’ll post more soon, including more pictures from our safari!  We hope you all are having wonderful holidays with your families!

Love, Colleen

Links… with more to come!

We’ve been having a great time with Colleen’s father John and her Uncle Jim the last few weeks.  We were just at the Masai Mara in southern Kenya for a few days going on safari and staying at the nicest “hotel” in Africa… it was awesome.  We saw lion, giraffe, cheetah, rhino, elephant, hippo, and so many more… all except leopard :  ( .  We’ll put up pictures as we have time… we are getting really behind with albums and blogging! 

Lots has been happening that we haven’t posted about… Thanksgiving weekend I went with the Ngata Youth group we’ve been leading to hike Mount Longonot.  It was an amazingly beautiful hike, and such a great time… until a torrential downpour swept in and soaked everyone to the bone.  I still had a great time, but a few of the youth swore they wouldn’t do it again :  ) Click here is a link to pictures of my hike with the Ngata Youth group – pre downpour.  I thought my camera was ruined from the rain, but thankfully it survived. 

While in Nairobi to pick up Colleen’s dad and Uncle, we celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary… actually it was our 1 year 11.5 month anniversary.  The real day is Tuesday (the 15th), but we knew we’d be too busy to get away.  Click HERE for a few pictures from our celebration... and by sure to tell Colleen congrats (and thanks) for putting up with me!

The weekend of Thankgiving, three of our friends who are student teaching in Nairobi came to visit.  We went to Lake Nakuru Park (the one we can see from our house) for the first time.  HERE is a link to an album of our day at Lake Nakuru National Park with Heidi, Mark, and Ashley.  Check it out if you like giraffes, zebras, rhinos, lions....  In addition toe park, they also joined us for Thanksgiving, spent time at the Baby Center, etc.  Here is an album of Mark, Ashley, and Heidi in Nakuru and at the Baby Center.

Thanks for checking in with us… we’ll post more pictures of our time with John and Jim, and at the Mara. 

PS-We’re trying to get out a Christmas letter, but we’ve got more meeting next week and then Corinn (Cason’s sister) comes to visit… so it might be more like a New Years or Valentine’s Day letter. 

Some kids and Lake Baringo

In the past week and a half, we’ve camped with hippos and boated with crocodiles at Lake Baringo, seen giraffes, lions, and rhinos at Lake Nakuru, housed our friends from Taylor for some nights, eaten a wonderful Thankgiving dinner at the Vanderhoofs, kissed a giraffe, and been to/from Nairobi to pick up Colleen’s dad and uncle.  It has been so busy, but so much fun! 

We’ll get up pictures of all those events as we have time, but now I’m focusing on catching up on the dozens of emails in my work inbox… can’t be all fun and games I guess (except for Colleen, who is playing at the Baby Center with her dad… ;  ). 

A few weekends ago we had some of the kids from the Baby Center out to play at our house for some hours.  It was Momo’s first time to come, though he had heard all about it from the other kids.  He is the oldest at the Baby Center and I had so much fun with him on our backyard ropeswing.  Click HERE for some more photos of Manu, Precious, and Momo playing at our house - they were so fun and cute! 

Like I said in the first paragraph, we also went to Lake Baringo with our Danish friends Mikkel and Margit.  There we got to see crocodiles and hippos right along our campsite, and we went on an amazing early morning boat ride on which we saw so many kids of birds and beautiful scenery.  Click HERE to see the entire album of our Lake Baringo photos… we got some really great ones of the birds and landscape. 

Thanks, as always for reading our blog… we’ll put up some more photo albums soon.  We really appreciate your prayers and support! 

A mzungu plays football

“Mzungu” is a friendly swahili term for white person, and it is what we get called all of the time by strangers and kids.  I am especially called mzungu when I am playing in away soccer matches with my team, Ngata FC.  The other players use it and especially kids that come to watch yell my name and try to get my attention.  Two weeks ago, Colleen joined me for one of the matches so she could take some photos… and she was a bigger celebrity that I (no surprise there).  I wish I had had the camera to take pictures of her surrounded by 30+ kids trying to talk to her in English or wanting to touch her hair, etc.  It was really funny.  The game was fun – we won 4-nil, I scored a goal, and managed not to embarrass myself too much… :  )  CLICK HERE for the full album of pictures from the match.

Since tribal and socioeconomic differences can be real problems in many communities, sometimes leading to violence, I am hoping that we can register the team as Ngata United Football Club.  Using soccer as a way to bring people together and hopefully unify the different factions in the community is something that I am passionate about and hope to work towards.  It is interesting that we “mzungu” often can’t even tell the tribes apart or figure out who is who, yet there is underlying tension ready to surface at anytime.  Please pray for Kenya and our ministry here, that we can preach Christ’s messages of reconciliation and unity. 

One of my friends from back home is sending some cleats since many guys on the team don’t have shoes (though we usually share enough for most to have during the games).   I am so thankful that he was able to collect so many from the High School team he coaches and can’t wait to pass them out!  If you are interested in supporting the team, they are currently trying to raise funds to purchase some new uniforms.  Let me know if you are interested!

“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as your follow Christ Jesus” – Romans 15:5

As always, thanks for reading!  

Cason

We’ve been busy…

Last Monday, after the youth group sleepover at our house  over the weekend (see previous post), we attended the missionary fellowship in Nakuru.  It is hosted by Danish missionaries in town, and is attended by  any missionaries who want to join that live in the Nakuru area.  We have people from Germany, Faroe Islands, Denmark, Scotland, America, Ireland, Ethiopia... all over.  We have really enjoyed getting to know the people in the group and it has really created a network of support and encouragement.  We have made some great friendships with another couple our age from Denmark and are really excited to go to Lake Boringo and Bogoria for a little vacation with them!  We have been so blessed by this fellowship and the friendships we have made. 

Life at the Baby Center are still going well.  We have finally moved the toddlers into a room of their own which has been an incredible improvement.  I can actually put toys in for the babies to play with and they are still there when I come back the next day.  The toddlers get a lot more individual attention from the caregivers because they aren't having to care for the infants at the same time.  We can already see an improvement in attitudes with the kids and the caregivers love the change.  Click HERE for a new album of kids from the Baby Center, as well as some others including Kenyan birds, Irish Priests, and the infamous Mike Henderson.

Cason and I recently took four of the boys on a walk into Ngata, which was so much fun.  We had Momo, Andrew, Owiti, and Mesh.  One of the women in our church owns a  shop there so we stopped in with the boys to visit her and she gave them each a sucker, which is a rare and wonderful treat in their eyes.  Other than getting incredibly sticky from the sweets, the boys got to chase chickens, talk to dogs (mostly telling them to go away), explore a hotel, and get some quality time with Cas and me.   HERE are some pictures of our walk with the boys!  They love it when Cas tosses them into the air! 

About three weeks ago Andrew got to video chat with my parents and sister.  My dad brought out a pumpkin to show him and this normally quiet little boy began screaming and chanting "pumpkin! pumpkin!"  He was so excited and throughout the rest of our conversation he would begin chanting "pumpkin, pumpkin" quietly and would get louder and louder until dad would bring the pumpkin out again.  It was hilarious and he hasn't stopped chanting "pumpkin" almost daily since.  During our walk to Ngata he pulled me down close to tell me a secret, which was of course "pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin..."  He even got the other boys to chant it on our walk!  The boys were sad to go down for a nap after a fun day out.  Cas and I are hoping to do more walks like that with the kids.  

This past Sunday we had  Momo, Emmanuel, and Precious over to our house to play.  It was so much fun.  We love seeing the drastic change in personality upon getting some individual attention and being away from the large group at the BC.  Momo chattered away in swahili the whole time, Precious chatted back in who knows what language and Emmanuel showed off his new walking skills and responded to every question with one of his only words "eh?"  Momo loved the new rope swing Cason put up and Emmanuel collected every toy and brightly colored object that he could and tried to carry everything with him.  He is our little hoarder :)  He found a bright green pitcher and would put all of his treasures in it and carry it with him. 

After dropping the kiddos back at the center I joined Cason when he went to play some soccer.  I have never gone to watch one of Cason's games so far, I've only ever picked him up from practice (makes me sound like a soccer mom).  So I thought it'd be fun to go to this b/c I was told it was nearby and then I could slip out and go to the baby center after a little bit.... Well... TIA.  It was not close at all and you had to get there through tiny dirt roads that I feared would destroy my car.  I took my camera so I could get some good pics of the team. In the first 10-15 min I struck up a conversation with another bystander and found out that he is currently a teacher and pastor but was a compassion international child!  It was really neat, and the family that sponsored him was actually from very close to home in Soron OH.  It's a small world. 

Crowds of children started showing up partway through the match, most of them to see the Mzungus (white people) that were there.  All the kids wanted to touch my skin, play with my hair and have their pictures taken.  They did think that Cason was a little rough in how he played :)  but other than that I think we were a hit and drew the crowds for the match.  At one point I had at least 30 children crowded around me all claiming to be my great friend.  It was fun but I was thankful when it was finally time to go home. 

We drove the soccer guys back to Ngata and were about to leave when we got a call that someone had a cat for us! We had asked around looking for a female kitten... what we got was a male full grown cat with no ears!  But he is very sweet, purrs constantly and is getting used to indoor life quickly.  Because he is missing the tops of his ears (we don't know if they were bit off or cut off)  we have named him Evander Van Gogh – after the unfortunate boxer and troubled artist.  Now hopefully he can catch any little critters running around our home.  Click HERE to see an album of my new friend!

The last week or so has been really busy as Cason has been getting the budgeting and other things ready for the Executive Meeting this week.  The budgets from different missionaries and Kenyan church leaders were due November 1st, but he is still receiving them… even though the budgeting meeting was the last two days!  He worked some long nights, and still has lots of work to do before the next meeting in mid-December!

We have a very busy week ahead of us and are trying to prepare for a whirlwind!  We are currently at Tenwek for meetings and will arrive back home on Sunday.  We’ll try to rest up a bit and maybe go to Cason’s football match, and then we head to Boringo and Bogoria with Mikkel and Margit (our Danish friends) Monday after work.  We get back from there Tuesday evening and Cason has to close all the books for the month.  Friday Ashley Donnell and a few others from Nairobi will be coming to stay and we are going to Nakuru park for the first time!  I'm so excited!

Saturday  Cason, Margie, and Mikkel and Margit will be climbing Mt. Longonot with the church youth group while Ashley & Co. and I head to the baby center to play with kids!  We'll get back in time to help with thanksgiving dinner (and hopefully the Longonot crew will make it back too!)  We are going to have a very fun thanksgiving and our numbers of guest keep increasing, which is wonderful! Then on Sunday we go to the local craft fair and head to Nairobi to pick up my Dad and Uncle Jim!  I am so incredibly excited to see them and they are coming sooo soon!

Thanks for reading!  Love, Colleen

Youth Group Overnighter

We’re started the help out with the youth group at Ngata AGC where we go to church, and we’ve really enjoyed it.  The youth were planning some overnighters and asked if they could come to our home for one.  There was going to be another overnighter before ours, so we figured it would be OK since we’d be able to see how it went before we hosted one.  Well, that Sunday at church, the people who were supposed to host the first event cancelled, so we were told that we were hosting an overnighter that Friday.  A little shock to the system, but we (for the most part) took it in stride. :  )

As Friday approached, we coordinated with some of the youth and with Chip, the interim youth pastor, about the details.  Some of the youth leaders came over early that Friday to assist Colleen with shopping and cooking, which was such a big help.  We’d been saying all week that we didn’t have enough beds/cushions/pillows/towels for 20+ people, but we were told not to worry about it… most people wouldn’t be sleeping anyway. :  )

We ended up having 26 youth + the two of us in our house – we ate a combo American/Kenya dinner (roast, potatoes and vegetables plus ugali, chapati, and "green grains"), played games, had a great Bible Study/discussion on temptation, used our new rope swing (which  was a huge hit), watched movies, and didn’t get much sleep…  It was so much fun and we were so impressed with the spiritual maturity of some of the youth.  The discussion on temptation was especially good, as we talked about way to avoid vs. overcome different temptations, like planning ahead, memorizing scripture, and praying about it daily.  HERE is the album of pictures from Friday night.

Even though most had hardly slept, they were up with the sun wanting some breakfast.  Colleen made cinnamon rolls, which was also a first for many of the youth and another big hit.  Pastor Chip led a devotional and we sang praises to the Lord outside in the beautiful morning.  The rest of the morning was spent fellowshipping and playing outside.  I got out an American football and some frisbees which were fun to toss around.  Kenyans don’t plan many sports where they have to throw and catch… so throwing the American football around was interesting.  I might be the Peyton Manning of Kenya!  Click HERE to see the album of pictures from Saturday. 

There were a few interesting/funny cultural things that took place, like the fact that our bathrooms were kinda disgusting and we wonder if everyone knew how to use a standard toilet…  we also found that some of our American candy just happened to disappear as the night went on.  :  )  They also had Kenyan music playing all night, and tried to teach me to dance… which I’m glad was not recorded on video.  But it was a great time, we had so much fun getting to know the youth better, and we are excited about continuing to be involved in the youth group. 

Please pray for these youth, that they would grow into mature believers in Christ and would avoid the many temptations that they face as 18-20somethings in Kenya. 

We’re going to be out of town at Tenwek this week for meetings from Wednesday – Sunday.  It is budgeting time, alot of which is my responsibility, so pray I get all of my work done timely and correctly!

Thanks for reading our blog!

Links to photos!

  It’s getting cold at the Baby center because of the rainy season, and all the kids are getting bundled up due to the weather.  Even though it will only get to be in the lower 60s/upper 50s the kids are dressed in snow suits with mittens and hats and aren’t allowed outdoors.  : )  We had a full week of cold and rain so the children had to be indoors for a week straight!  Needless to say they got a little stir crazy and are happy to have some sunny weather back.  Check out this album to see the kids bundled!  They also ran out of snow suits so they put Emmanuel in a frog costume to keep warm!  It was SO cute! So check out the album “Elias Enock and a frog” to see some more pics of our new babes as well as Manu in his frog outfit. 

Thanks so much for checking our blog!  Don’t forget to click the names above to see profiles on some of the kids that you can print to help you remember to pray for them.  We’ll post again soon about last weekend when we had the youth group overnighter at our house!

  

News on the New Babies

Friends,
We cannot believe we have been here for over 2 months now! The time is flying by and we are getting more and more acclimated into the culture. We have started getting more involved now that we have somewhat scheduled and normal lives. Cason has been playing soccer more often and is working on finding ways to witness to the guys and I have been trying to find ways of incorporating Christian education into the lives of the orphans.
We have received four new babies at the Baby Center in the last two weeks! We are so excited to welcome Elias (6 months), Dorcas (2 months), Enoch (2 months), and Grace (2 weeks). I have loved cuddling these new babies, working with them and discovering their personalities.

Elias has some pretty major health problems and could use a lot of prayer. His blood tests he had some leftover antibodies from his mother, so he has to get an IV in the top of his head every 6 hours - sounds so painful!  We are praying hard that with good care everything will clear up as he gets older.  He is such a sweetheart! 


Grace is jaundiced and has been in the incubator with special UV lights the last few days to help her condition.




Enoch is severally anemic and they are hoping with a proper diet he will improve quickly.  He also has a large hernia where his umbilical cord was cut, which is very painful for him. 

Dorcas is over two months old and only weighs about 5 lbs or less. She is slowly gaining weight but is having a lot of trouble keeping her milk down because her stomach isn’t used to eating so much.


I am already in love with the new babies and can’t wait to see how them blossom in a loving, healthy place like the Baby Center.  Please pray that all of them continue to get healthy and adjust to their new environment! 
We’ll post more later about our weekend… we had 26 Kenyan youth sleepover at our house on Friday night! 

Love,
Colleen

PS – Here are some photo albums from lately:

Last week we had Cason’s co-workers and their families over for dinner… to reverse roles a bit, we served American food (pizza) so they were the ones wondering how to eat it!

We also had Joshua, Andrew, and Ida over to our house last week to play… the caregivers said it was Joshua and Ida’s first time out of the Baby Center!

Links to pictures of cute kids

We’ve been so busy lately, we haven’t had time to write about all of our goings on!  Here are some links to phtoto albums, mostly of the Baby Center kids. 

On the Baby Center Porch  - Last week when the NMC team was here, we spent an afternoon playing with the toddler aged kids while the older kids had nap time. 

Dress Up Day - One of the last days the NMC team was here, they let the kids dress up like a nativity scene… they loved it so much! 

New Babies!: Grace and Dorcas – We got two new babies to the Baby Center last week!  You can read more in the album, but they were not the healthiest when they initially arrived, but have been eating so well and are getting better.  As you will see in the pictures, even though Dorcas is 2 months and Grace is 2 weeks old, Dorcas was smaller when they first arrived – but she has been eating to make up for it since she got there!

From Colleen, with love

Friends and Family!
We are creeping up on our two month mark here and are getting more and more acclimated to the culture. There are many things that we love about the culture and many things we are realizing could cause some barriers and frustrations. For instance: I go to buy eggs from a little shop on my way to the baby center, each time I go I am greeted with kisses and hugs and am asked to stay for tea. I love how incredibly friendly and welcoming the people are of outsiders.

At the same time there are some real frustrations. Example 2: Cason and I were supposed to help out with a meeting and arrived a little late (the meeting was at 1 we arrived at 1:15pm) Well no one was there so we went to the baby center to play with some kids. Around 2-2:15pm some of the people started arriving but there were no leaders yet so Cason winged it and got the meeting started. At 10 till 3pm the leaders showed up and then at 3pm the meeting was over b/c another group needed the facility… So we are beginning to pray for patience and understanding.

Cason just finished up executive meetings in Tenwek and I got to teach some science!  It was a lot of fun getting to know the MKs and  especially fun brushing up on my teaching skills. This picture is one of my classes.  We studied the characteristics of living things and watch yeast breathe!  I know... not many of you get excited about that :) 

Cason has been playing soccer pretty regularly and even got to watch Liverpool beat Man U in a little wood hut out by the baby center  He's had a lot of fun building relationships with these guys and is really hoping that a solid ministry can be started from it.  Most of the guys play soccer in bare feet on the hard rocky dusty ground – Click HERE for some pictures.  We are amazed at how tough they are!  If anyone has extra soccer cleats laying around or wants to donate money for shoes or uniforms, Cason is hoping to collect a bunch to give to the guys he plays with.  shoot him an email at casonandcolleen@gmail.com if you are interested!

This last week a work team from Nappanee church arrived and was incredibly helpful to the caregivers and myself. They played with the kids non stop, and did several projects around the center that needed to be done. They had so much energy and even amongst being around sick kids, and getting sick themselves, they stayed positive and loved the children. They had such servants’ hearts and I could tell that God had prepared them to love on these kids. It was very hard for us to let them leave, and hard for them to leave the kids. I am praying that God uses the heartbreak of parting with these beautiful children to further his ministry here and to use the passion and love they have to touch others for the orphans of Kenya.  The team dressed the kids up as a nativity to take some pictures… left is Ida and Jessie as cute little sheep.  Click HERE to see more pictures of the team with the kids. 

Life is back to normal now… as normal as life here gets ;) and we are preparing for the super busy next few months. We have quite a few visitors coming and we are getting very excited to see some family in December and January! It is starting to get difficult not being an active part of our friends and family’s lives. We are realizing that following God’s will means missing out on some very important phases in people’s lives and we are trying to reconcile that and to not get discouraged. We love you all so much and welcome any news or updates on your lives.

Love, Colleen

PS – In our last post we talked about the Greenlees goodbye service… Click HERE to see some pictures of the service and the church we attend.

Dinner with Friends / Microfinance / Greenlees

Hey, sorry for the lack of posts this week.  We’ve been busy and then on the road for meetings.  Click HERE for a hilarious album of pictures of a few of the Baby Center kids playing with sidewalk chalk - more chalk made it onto the kids than the sidewalk! Here’s a few highlights from recently:

Last week we had dinner at the home of some Kenyan friends, the Muchiras, from church which was wonderful – we ate a whole fish with our hands and it was so good!  Fortunately, we avoided the head and the tail… We had some great conversation with our hosts and learned more about the violent clashes in Kenya during the election two years ago.  Much of the conflict was tribal based, so it was interesting to hear the Muchiras perspective since they are an inter-tribal couple.  During the fighting, people had been friendly neighbors for years were suddenly aggressive enemies because of tribal and political pressure; some people displaced from there homes during that time are still living in camps with no home to return to.  The next presidential elections are in 2012, and there are many who think the violence will be even worse then.  The only real hope for the country is if enough people have a change of heart and realize that tribal allegiance is … The churches of Kenya need to be the leader of this revolution of thinking, and many of them are working towards changing attitudes through the love of Christ.  However, even in the body of believers, some tribal tensions are often just below the surface, so we need to be praying that the love and unity found in Christ penetrates deep into the hearts and psyche of this culture.  

On Saturday, I had the opportunity to accompany Eliud Muchira (the friend at who’s house we had dinner) to a microfinance ministry that he helps facilitate in a poorer area of Nakuru called Shabob.  The ministry gives financial guidance, spiritual encouragement, and small-business loans to women with little shops (called “dukas”).  The program provides funding to those who need it at a much lower interest rate than a bank, but requires that they present a business plan and holds them accountable for repayment.  The 40 or so women meet twice a month for encouragement, both spiritual and business-oriented, and for scheduled payments.  I loved the meeting, because the women praised the Lord with such passion and really wanted to better their lives.  The picture above is Eliud sharing with the group, and below is the women worshipping the Lord.

I had the opportunity to (impromptu) share with them, and I spoke on the story of Joseph – how God made him second in command of Egypt, showed him that there was going to be 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine, and used him to bless his family and nation because he planned ahead.  Foresight is something that some Kenyans really struggle with, so I used an example from scripture of preparing for the feast during the famine.  We also discussed how, because of his preparation, Joseph was able to bless his family and friends.  “As you have opportunity, do good to all people, especially to the family of believers.”  Galatians 6:10  I am so excited to be involved in

 On Sunday, the Greenlees, who were volunteers with WGM like us, left to go back to the US after serving in Kenya for 9 months at the Baby Center and Ngata AGC.  HERE is an album of pictures from the Greenlees farewell at the Baby Center.The picture at left is the Greenlees with the Muchiras.  We will miss having another young couple like them around and hope that the Lord continues to lead their lives.  They are prayerfully considering returning to Kenya, but don’t know what the Lord has for them.  The church service on Sunday was a typical Kenyan farewell to them complete with traditional African dress (for Jeremy and Nicole), speeches, presentation, prayers, gifts, dancing, and (of course) chai!  Needless to say, it wasn’t a short service : ) , but it was a great send-off.  They will be missed! 

That’s all for now – as always, thanks for reading! 

Weekend in Nairobi - Part Two (see below for Part One)

I (Colleen) finally got to see some wildlife!  On the drive to Nairobi we saw Zebras grazing beside the road, warthogs rooting around and baboons hanging out around signposts.  It killed me that we were driving and I couldn’t get out and take a closer look at them all!  Cason locked the door and told the Vanderhoofs to floor it so I couldn’t try and get out ; ) 

The real excitement happened on Saturday, because we went to an elephant orphanage!  This organization rescues baby elephants from all over Kenya that are stuck in wells, sick, whose parents have been poached, etc.  Their stories are very sad but they are so happy at the orphanage.  They have them in family groups and help them to bond and adjust. Go to  www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org  if you would like to read the stories about how each elephant was found.  We watched the caregivers bottle feed all of the babies and then they played in a big mudhole, wrestling and spraying each other with water.  It is amazing how intelligent elephants are!   They even kicked around a soccer ball.  Some were very curious about the people standing around watching them and would come over to check us out with their trunks.  One even got a little frisky and decided to take a detour through the crowd instead of sticking with the group as they were all leaving.   I wanted to take one home!  Click HERE to see some more pictures of the baby elephants. 

While we were watching the elephants play a very friendly warthog walked in and out of the crowd of people hoping to catch some leftover milk formula or hay that the elephants were eating, and later on we met a not so friendly warthog who tried to charge Jim!  We were also visited by a partially blind rhino who kept wanting to walk right into all the spectators to get a closer look much to the dismay of the caregivers who were trying to keep us all out of it’s way.

We reluctantly left the elephant orphanage and went to the Duncan’s (WGM Africa Regional Directors) house for a wonderful Peruvian meal and fellowship.  After which we went straight back to viewing more wildlife! 

We decided to go to another animal orphanage connected to Nairobi National Park.  We had a wildlife intern named Richard who took us around the orphanage to introduce us to the animals.  We were very excited to learn that we could go in the cage with two of the cheetahs!  They were both abandoned at a very young age and had been hand raised so they really love people.  This picture is us petting a one year old girl named Wendy and she was purring like a kitten! We also got to meet a monkey named Barack… I thought that was pretty funny…   He looked like a Who from Whoville and loved to have his belly scratched.  Click HERE to see some pictures of our time at the animal orphanage, including some of us in the cage with the cheetahs! 

Overall it was a very fun weekend to Nairobi and I am very excited to return and visit both animal orphanages again.  I am very glad to be back home cuddling my own 30 orphans at the Baby Center, even though they aren’t quite as fuzzy as the cheetahs or elephants…

Please Pray:

~ We have 8 new babies to bring to the Baby Center but unfortunately are not able to get them out of the hospital until we have a few more caregivers hired. 

Pray that the application process goes quickly and that the women who are hired are strong Christians who will love these children.

            Also pray that the children who are in the hospital can survive until we can pick them up.  I am trying hard to get into the hospital to feed and hold the babes until we can bring them to the BC but am running into red tape and cynical attitudes.  Pray that hearts will be soften and the babies will not suffer due to the delay.