Kenyan Exams

So the wild cat in the previous post is called a Civet.



So we recently went over the discussion of social structure and class in ethnography with the interns. The questions were asking what determines upper class in the society and how to you get there. Is it possible to change classes and statis. We concluded one aspect that really can make a big difference on your future is how well you do on the KCPE exam that is given at the end of grade 8. Depending upon your grade you will either get to go to a good qualified government or national high school where the quality of education is best or you will have to go to a local high school. High school here costs a good deal of money, not quite as expensive as college but still a lot. Jason and I had the privileged of going to pray for the class 8 every morning for 2 schools (the exams is 3 days straight and the will not find out the results until after christmas). There were muslims and christians both in the room but they still all gave respect when we surrendered the day to the Lord and prayed for worries to be pushed aside and prayed against the temptation of cheating. The first day of praying some Muslims started screaming words from the Quran in rebelliousness and they got scolded right away because that was not appropriate even if they disagreed.
Now that the class 8 students have finished there exams they are now finished for the school year. The younger grades had to take exams and when they were finished we (Jas and I and Bethany interns) went to entertain the students while the teachers made corrections on the exams. We split them up into groups and had them go to different games we organized. Mine was coloring contest which brings me back to childhood memories with my siblings. I made awards of 1st place, most colorful, and most unique and the kids loved it- thanks for the ideas mom!

This is the craft I made at one of the schools in the village- the teacher glued all of them up on the wall.
We have a new butchery which sells minced meat (ground beef) how exciting! Now we don't have to go all the way to Nairobi and get it and even try to freeze it and hope for the best when we lose electricity every other day for 18 hours straight. On the opposite day from that we only lose it for 6 hours- not bad one bit. Notice the lovely colors of the butchery and the sign that says unique above the hangin meat.

Catching a wild predator

The dogs have killed two of these cat thingies two night in a row. The cat was making this horrible howling sound and then it just stopped making the noise. The next morning Jas went out and saw this dead. I think he searched online to find out what the name of it is. We were watching episodes from NCIS and there was a character who stuffs a bunch of animlas and he had one of these cats stuffed in his house. Anyways when Jas comes home later I will write the name of it. Way to go Hercules and Aquiles! The dogs are now totally comfortable with Righteous and Nevaeh hugging on them and tugging on them. I was hearing from neighbors that they are the talk of the town. Everyone in our area knows that the Muzungu's (the white people) have ferocious dogs. I went to introduce myself to a somali neighbor two days ago and after explaining where I leave she said "oh you are the ones with the dogs." I keep asking myself is this a good or a bad thing and so far I think it is just neutral.

The 3 wise men

It is so unreal to me that we have Tim Freeman (he has been a father figure to Jason and I when we were in college and even after) Mike Neter (he and his wife were one of my supporters when I was on my internship to Kenya and got a heart for these people), and Matt Hedrick (what the Pastor of Bethany Church is staying at my house in Africa that is so cool!) Jas was joking that since they arrived we have had electricity for 24 hours straight and for long periods of time so we cannot have them leave. Yesterday the 3 of them got to talk to the interns here and it really got us all excited to see what God is doing to connect the church in Minneapolis that teaches many somali's english as a way of building relationships and the town we live in here. God is doing things all over the world and as always it is humbling to be apart of it. Matt really brought something to my attention when he talked about the different seasons of life. We all get the growing seasons when God is speaking a lot and giving us visions. We read about Joseph who had dreams that he would be a leader. Right after those wonderful dreams he got sold by his brothers and ended up in prision. That defiently didnt seem like what God foretold about his life was coming true. While Joseph was in prision, Matt explained he was in a different season where it was of character building. Oh how when we are in that stage of life we long to get back onto the track of the exciting visions and dreams. Character building is so necessary even when it causes you to as the questions "Did I really hear God's voice before". This message was so perfect timing for me to hear.
Matt Slaughtering his first chicken.

Mike was able to buy camel milk and said the first sip was a little tough to get down but if you just continue to drink you get use to it. I was trying to have him descibe the taste but he said it has a much stronger kick to it than cow milk. We made sure to boil it before intake and there is so much fat in it because we have had to clean off the top skin several times. I am told that when nomads drink camel milk it gives them the strength and endurance to be able to walk the many kilometers in the hot sun. This is some nutritious milk!

Challenges- up for it with Jesus only!

So, I am pregnant and my hormones are out of whack so little things that are a common African occurance are driving me crazy lately. I already mentioned about the flies. We always lose electricity everyday but as of late it has been extra bad. We now will lose it for 24 hours at a time. This would be somewhat manageable if it wasn't getting hotter everyday. We have had it several times reach 113 which is just not fair- not when there is no electricity to sit under a fan. Besides all this I have been craving American food like nobody's business and there is no where to find that here. What I would give for chipotle or subway. I was telling Jason that despite these challenges what I am realizing that God still deserves my utmost devotion, my surrender and all the rights that I think I'm due. Above all else he deserves my praise. I have been remembering all my childhood songs I learned in Sunday School and teaching my kids them. Righteous likes "this little light of my mine" and "I've got the joy, joy, joy,joy down in my heart". I am sad that they will not grow up in Sunday School being around other christian children but hey they have each other which I am indeed blessed. Righteous always points out the many mosques we have around us. I am excited for when she will understand about muslims and that we are to show them Jesus' love and be ready to tell what He has done for us. I can already tell she will be bold. God has been good to us. He continues to protect us against malaria. I ask that you will pray for me that I will not get malaria at all during my pregnancy. God is so faithful.
I have finally finished "Hinds Feet on High Places". One of many favorite passages: "She began to understand quite clearly that truth cannot be understood from books alone or by any written words, but only by personal growth and development in understanding, and that things written even in the Book of Books can be astonishingly misunderstood while one still lives on the low levels of spiritual experience and on the wrong side of the grave of the mountains."

Jess's parents came to visit

Jess's parents brought 4 big suitcases full of wonderful books. My childrens's library more than doubled and tripled and now I have all kinds of scholastic books to read to Righteous and Nevaeh. They also brought us fantastic gifts that mean something to our hearts. For Jas that is tools and for me that is People magazines and dove chocolates.
We tried twice to spot some giraffes that are a little ways down the road in the Giraffe sanctuary. For somereason none were to be found but they did get to take pictures of dik-diks, gazelle, and of course our local goats, camels, and donkeys that roam everywhere.
While they were here for the week they got to see several schools, the solar cooker projects, attend a hyena night with the guys, and helped paint some of our friends shelves in their new home. I was hoping that God might call Trisha and Gary to come live here inbecause they fit right in and really adjusted well to the unique environment.



It was such a blessing to have a mom here to hear stories of her homeschooling her four daughters. While they were here Nevaeh got a really high fever of over 103 and it send me into worry mode. It was calming to my nerves to hear her tell me that Jessica had a super high fever and they would just alternate between cildren's motrin and children's tylenol. I will be honest to admit it is the most frustrating obastacle being on the missionfield when your child gets sick. There is no pediatrician to turn to and get our kids checked up. We ended up taking Nevaeh to 3 different clinics and eventually the hospital where she got a blood test and there were no infections that they found. She is completely back to normal 6 days later and my only answer for that is prayer. I was reading 2 Corinthians 1:10-11 today "He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many." I know people are lifting us up in prayer and that is the reason we remain here and that is the reason we are protected.

Shoo fly don't bother me!

We had some heavy rain 2 weeks ago where in some parts there was about 2 feet of flooding. The tall wall at the boys house completely came down. When such flooding happens many people's pit latrines overflow making the surroundings quite unsanitary as well as all the animal droppings now floating on top of the water in which people are walking in. Last week I went to the clinic with one of my neighbors and was amazed at the amount of people lined up to get injections. I was having major cabin fever at times but blessed we had the students over one night to spend the night and play games. One yucky part of rain is all the bugs it brings. We made chocolate chip cookies and termites got into the dough. One morning as Righteous was holding her blanket Jason had to quickly snatch it away because there was a big black spider on it. Since that occasion we have had to kill 3 others like that one. Last but not least the rains have brought many aggravating flies. For a good hour or so everyday we all take time out to fly swat as many as we can. The kids find it to be a fun game to play. Even though we kill them they still keep coming back. I hope this fly season will soon be over.

Jason's G-MA gave Righteous a book last Christmas that makes a story out of Zachariah 3:1-5 "Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. The Lord said to Satan "The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?" Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, "Take off his filthy clothes." Then he said to Joshua, "See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you." Then I said, "Put a clean turban on his head". So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood by.
Each of the kids took turns going outside to put dirt from the ground onto there pictures. I explained that the dirt on the clothes represents "dirt" on our hearts from the sin we have. Their teacher asked to borrow the book from me so she could really emphasize that we all have sin and there is nothing we can do ourselves to get rid of it. This goes against everything their parents say and how adults interact with children. I have had lots of people tell me not to spank my children simply because "They are just kids". My housegirl gets worried about what our neighbors will think if they hear Righteous crying. I reassure her "it is okay for kids to cry when disciplined- and further more it is okay for kids to get disciplined even biblical". Lastly I had the students dress a man with a beautiful clean coat with glitter crayons and sparkly stickers. Their faces were so smiley.
The last time I came to this class I taught them a song about God being the Shepherd and then we did an art project with cotton balls on sheep. All of their sheep were all over the walls and the first thing they did when I entered was sing that song to me. It makes my heart tremendously satisfied to know nothing is ever a waste- when you take a few minute out of a day and spend time with children the conversation that takes place is long lasting and not forgotten. I sometimes feel guilty that I cannot spend more time every day out of the week investing into people but the Lord is clearly telling me that is not the case. How I think should be done the proper way in order for "success" to happen is not how God works- thank goodness.
Here is our second dog, Aquiles. Now they have each other to go exploring, howl at every call to prayer, and protect us from many a small animal that enters our compound. Just the other night they had something stuck up in the tree that looked similar to a cat but had a white striped tail. The dogs are doing well with the kids- when Jason was training Aqulies not to be so hyper around them he would pee all the time. I definitely feel even safer now.