Enduring and Every day life

Okay I think that I have sat down at least five times in the past month to write an update and then feel like there is nothing to write......I don't have any cool stories about trekking into the jungle and teaching about Christ or translating the Bible into an unknown language. We are just here running the race God has for our family. The past few months God has been teaching us about contentment and finishing the task of this year strong. We have been struggling with wanting to be finished and taking a break with family and friends. He is teaching us about being fully in the race He has given our particular family and not comparing our work with other's. So here is what we have been doing at school each day and in our daily lives.



We are excited to announce that our school and especially our high school has been accredited fully and for the maximum time frame of seven years. That is a huge accomplishment that we have been working towards the past two years. I can't tell you how many nights Eric pulled all nighters in order to make sure things were accomplished. Eric and the entire staff were excited to hear the news in February. In March we watched a lot of sports games at schools and helped with the referee duties, the girls enjoyed playing in the chalk lines after the game, they can't wait to begin playing sports at our school. We also had the 11th graders over for spaghetti and game night. It's been a fun year hanging out with them they are truly turning into some fun and gracious young people.



In April Eric had the opportunity to go on a 11 hour bus ride with friends from school to Uganda. They spent the night at a camp area and rafted the Nile River. From the pictures and video he showed me of their day on the Nile it looked like an incredible trip. It was a beautiful river to raft and the rapids were huge. The went down many fours and several fives. They had lots of safety river guides and watched one of the guys in the kayaks go down a grade six. He had a great trip but the bus ride wasn't that fun.


In April we had our first official banquet at school. I had fun planning out the details and setting up the venue. Our banquet theme was "All Decked Out". We had dinner and Karioke at a nearby restaurant in an open pavillion. We had a great dinner and about 30 kids turned out. Afterwards Eric and another high school teacher set up a stage with microphones and we sang karioke for awhile. Here is Eric and Jonathan singing Eye of the Tiger from Rocky 3. We haven't laughed that hard in awhile it was great fun watching everyone try and sing songs we grew up with but they didn't know anything about. You know that YMCA song is kind of weird when you think about the lyrics :) The kids were so thankful for the night and it was then as I was sitting back and enjoying the night that I looked around at all the kids and the Lord just reconfirmed to me again why we are here.

We continue to be plagued with drought/water problems. Since January our area in town has been receiving little water. Water comes from the city to our house and collects in an under ground tank. When that tank is full it pumps to our house. If water doesn't come from the city then we don't have water in our house. When it gets really bad we take our little blue bucket and scoop the water from the very bottom of the tank. The girls love helping me "get water from the well". So we have been learning what it means to truly appreciate water and how to ration it. We haven't done laundry at our house since January, we have been using buckets of bath water to flush toilets, and check each day the level of water to see if we can take a shower. It's been a constant source of frustration but the Lord helps us keep it in perspective as we drive down a few blocks from our house and see people with no running water to their house at all carting water in containers on their head. We continue to be humbled by how much we have. Pray with us that the water situation improves for our house and the people in Kenya.

Will you pray for us as we travel home at the end of May for our two month furlough. We have about $1200 a month to raise before we can return in August. The task seems huge but we know God can provide if He wants us to return. Please pray specifically that our "Support a missionary for a year" campaign will really connect with people and that they will be moved to join our team. We are heading home in a time of recession but we know God can provide. Pray our faith in Him will remain strong. If we aren't able to finish raising that support amount then we won't be able to return August 9th.