A month that changed my life

Hey everyone

We want to thank you all for your continued support for our minisitry and thank you to all of our supporters for helping us to return in August to continue our ministry. The Lord helped us to raise around $800 of the $1000 that we needed a month in order to return in August. We are still waiting to hear from a few contacts but once again the Lord continues to affirm that being in Kenya is where He wants us now. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us a great deal this past month.

I have sat down to write this entry so many times and I still don't think I have figured out how to convey all that the Lord has lead us through this past month. It has been a life changing month for us and a very intense return from our furlough this summer. For those of you who don't know what has happened in our lives, we lost two friends in a tragic airplane crash in Kenya at the beginning of August. One week before we were due to come back to Kenya I found out through facebook that my friend Ryan was in serious condition in the hospital due to an airplane crash. I tried desperately for days to get a hold of my good friend Dawn who is his wife to find out exactly what was going on. After a few days in the hospital in Nairobi Ryan was airlifted down to a special burn hospital in South Africa. One week after the airplane crash Ryan passed away due to internal injuries and burns over 70% of his body. In a quick moment he had decided to take a short airplane ride with his friend Frank, (the other pilot who died) they were taking 2 filmmakers over the slums to make a documentary on what life is like for Kenyans and living on $1.50 a day. The engine of the plane just stopped and they were unable to get it going again. Ryan and Frank both died doing what they loved best and living in God's will for their lives. I feel like God had great mercy over Ryan in those last days and took him to be home with him because he knew the great multitude of pain and suffering he would experience in trying to recover from his wounds. I don't think Ryan would have been able to return to the work he loved most and that was fixing airplanes. I have never really seen this side of God in this way and it was such a unique thing to experience.

We returned on a Monday night and by Tuesday at noon I was sitting with my friend Dawn supporting her through the first of two memorial services for the men. The following Saturday we had the service for Ryan. I don't think anything can prepare you to be the type of friend that a person needs when they have lost a loved one. I have never been so intimately a part of someone's deep soul wrenching pain. It feels even harder knowing that the loss is felt by 8 children who were left behind. I petitioned God for a ton of wisdom and understanding. I felt your prayers as I tried to just do life with my friend who had just lost the love of her life. God has taught me a lot this past month, there were days that I felt like I had aged 10yrs overnight. It has been an unforgettable experience to be a part of a missionary community that has surrounded these two women and helped them through the first difficult month. The two women and families were well taken care of day and night. My friend Dawn is currently in the states but plans on returning in November to finish out her term until June. After a year long furlough she is hoping to return to Kenya to continue her work as a missionary. If you want to read more about these two men and their story you can find it at http://www.aimair.org/page21/page21.html

On top of this emotional turmoil with my friend we were also dealing with a multitude of adjustments with Kayla. Honestly there have been days this past month where I just started crying out to God asking Him how much more Lord.... how much more can I take. I am broken.... I think one major thing we have learned with having a special needs child is that there are few things that are easy with her. This month has been a major month in transitions with Kayla and we had a difficult beginning with Kindergarten. Poor kid having to deal with jet lag, a new school, new friends, new medications, new diet, and on top of that a two week long nasty virus. Having to give Kayla 10 new supplements and medications 3 times a day has added a whole new level of intensity to our family life. On an emotional level we have had to work through grief again and accepting again that our child has special needs and we need to do life with her where she is at. It's humbling having your child at the school where you work and now other people you work with are invited into your own personal family life. We are hoping all of these new supplements and diet changes will start affecting her for the long term. We will know more in 6 months whether or not all the new things we are doing are actually making a difference. We also just recently started reading a book on understanding and parenting easily frustrated and chronically inflexible children. I am hoping for some new insights and more tools on how to live a more peaceful family life with Kayla.

In addition to the above difficulties if those weren't enough we have returned to a Kenya even more in drought than when we left in May. We came back to continued and worsened water problems and are now buying water from private truck companies to supply us with water almost every week. We are also under power rationing going without power throughout the day on Monday/Wednesdays/Fridays. Not a fun way to live but I am continually thankful that God is providing for our needs and we aren't going without like many people here.

This has been a heavy blog and it accompanies a heavy month. Our God is good and it has been amazing to watch him provide for us , for Kayla, and for my friend Dawn. His love endures forever. I am glad my hope is in God and that someday all of this pain and suffering will be taken away . We feel like we are coming out of this dark month and starting to adjust back to life in Kenya. Kayla is improving in school and making friends. Eric is concentrating on just teaching this year and I am slowly trying to find my way again. A death of a friend changes you, I will never be the same. My friend Dawn will never be the same and it feels like God is strengthening us as friends and taking us through this valley of grief.

Will you continue to pray for the two situations above for me and my friendship with Dawn and our life with Kayla. It seems like those are the two huge prayer requests in our lives right now. For Kenya would you pray again and continually for rain. Many are predicting heavy rains in the next couple of months and for the sake of people's survival here would you pray that as well.

Thank you for your prayers and your support they are constantly being felt.

Kara for the Gibsons