School is out! Yeah

Hey everyone

Wow where did the time go since our last update. The last month of school is always so hectic. I can't tell you how many graduation and goodbye parties we went to. This end of the year was tough for us as we said goodbye to many good teachers we have grown to love. We finished this year in a whirlwind with Eric trying to get a front office program going for the entire school before the year ended. This program will help with schedules, grades, and general info. This year the kids in the Jr. High and High school dedicated the yearbook to Eric. He was surprised and honored, I still think he's the best teacher they have but I am a little prejudiced. This summer we are just sticking clost to home and trying to recuperate. Eric will work some this summer trying to plan for his new AP Biology class and a new Bible class called Chrisitians in the media. This summer we are welcoming The Ommen family to our school and he will be the principal for the high school. We are hoping this will relieve Eric of the many Administration responsibilities he has had for the last 3 years.

The past two weeks my parents have been here visiting. We had a great time doing daily life with them here. The first week of June we celebrated Kayla's birthday and then we went to the coast for four days. The weather was a little cold but we had fun playing on the beach. My dad was able to snorkel on the reef at the coast and my mom loved connecting with the many missionaries who were vacationing at the coast. The girls loved making sand castles and taking walks on the beach to find treasures.


It is always fun having family here as they can share our life for a little while, offer encouragement and really give us the love we miss from family.

This month we plan on continuing to recuperate and

to get in shape. Eric is planning on hiking Mt. Kenya in early July with the guys on our team. They plan on driving about 5 hours to the base of the mountain and then its about a two day hike up and back. It sounds hard but fun. They will pitch tents on the way up and have a guide to show them the trail. In the middle of July we have our new High school Principal coming and then end of July we will be coordinating the new staff orientation. The girls will still be in preschool so hopefully mom and dad can have some time to hang out together. We hope you are doing well.

Will you pray with us for our monthly support. We have been consistently undersupported since we returned last year due to loss of supporters and the recession. Our fiscal year is coming to a close and we are in the red for the first time. We will be sending out more information in our next paper newsletter but will you pray with us for the Lord's leading in this financial situation.

Blessings

Kara for the Gibsons

March/April Update

Hey everyone

It has been awhile since we last updated I think it has been due to our month of illness with the girls and trying to emotionally recover from all the political mayhem. Things have quieted down mostly, the government has decided on a sharing of power and are now in the midst of a battle to choose a cabinet. This last week was yet again another stalemate regarding who is on the cabinet and if the existing government is actually doing things legally. We have a tribal gang called the Mungiki and they are now causing problems. Just this morning they shut down public transport going into town and several riots were thankfully resolved along our kids bus routes in the early morning. So needless to say we are still living in some unrest. Many thousands of people are still living at camps set up by the red cross. We don’t know how long they will stay there as there hasn’t been mention of any aid coming in to help these people rebuild their homes. Last week we were able to send money with our friend Peter to help rebuild another house upcountry for his family. It has been a long journey for him as he only makes about 40$ a month and has been supporting at least 10 people for food and shelter. Family is a major priority here even when you have nothing. There is value placed on taking care of each other.
A month ago the girls started with a cold and then recovered just in time for school to let out for the month of April and then Kayla came down with a bladder infection. We had three really great months with her and we felt like we could take a breath and then this infection came. It has completely upset her little world. We weren’t aware she had it as she didn’t say anything was bothering her but we noticed a rapid decline in how well she had been doing. We are hoping that after the infection and antibiotics are over that she will return to doing so well. We are meeting a new speech therapist this week as our previous one didn’t jell well with Kayla. She will be traveling to our home and then hopefully will be able to see Kayla at school. We unfortunately found out from insurance that none of OT will be covered as they say therapy for Autism and Kayla’s disorder is currently experimental. Obviously whoever stated this doesn’t live with kids like Kayla. We have seen so much growth this year and are pleased with it however she does continue to dominate many aspects of our family. Eric and I continue to work through the stages of grief as we process how she affects our family dynamics and how she will affect our future.
Emma continues to grow so quickly. She is now successfully living without diapers and as of this weekend sleeps in a big girl bed. We were taking down her crib this weekend, as we sold it to another missionary family, and she just kept watching us saying “ hey guys watcha doin with my stuff , where you taking my bed”. She has slept fine so far so it doesn’t seem to have traumatized her too much. Most of the time she is skipping around singing or dancing and holding her babies in a blanket. The Lord knew we needed a sweet girl like her in our family. It’s rainy season here and so this morning the girls were out front in our driveway running around with rain jackets and boots dancing in the puddles. They are continuing to grow as friends. We are praying the Lord gives Emma a special understanding for Kayla’s needs. She seems to be sensitive so far.
Last month we were able to take the 10th grade bowling and then back to our house for a movie marathon all night long. Unfortunately we hadn’t gotten any water into our tanks the previous several days and so our house was dry of water with 14 teenagers. You know what is funny though these kids just adapt they didn’t complain at all and just poured the buckets of water into the toilet to flush it without a single word. You would have laughed if you saw us pulling small buckets of water from our underground tank, it felt like we lived on a farm. We were just thankful we had enough water in the tank to get buckets to flush the toilets. This month we have a donut making party as we have our annual bizarre at school. The 10th grade will come over and make several hundred donuts to sell at school to make money for their senior trip. Many times this year we have been thanked over and over for our willingness to stay at the school for more than two years. The trend in missions now especially at our school is short term. We want to thank you for helping us to stay here long term. We have most of our new teacher spots filled thankfully as how can you really advertise for people to come teach here in the midst of civil unrest.
We know the recession has hit many hard in the states and we know even more now it is a continued sacrifice for you. Thank you for your continued part in what God has called us to. The recession affects us as well as the dollar continues to drop against the shilling and because of the recent political problems inflation is happening here. We are currently paying about 6$ a gallon for gas. So no complaining those of you who live in California J The Lord continues to provide for us and living here it is always easy to be thankful for what we have as there are so many in need near us every day.
We have family coming in June so that should be a fun time of reconnecting. We will be showing them around town and hopefully going to the coast for a few days. We hope you are all doing well and thriving we would love to hear from you.

Blessings on your week
Kara for the Gibsons

Hey Everyone
We had a busy December. Kayla was on holiday from preschool for almost two months and I didn’t know how she was going to do with the change in routine but we have seen so much growth in her this past month. Thank you for all of your prayers we see them reaching into her little spirit. She has become more peaceful, playing with Emma more, and the biggest change has been in bonding more with Eric. That was one of our major prayers was that she wouldn’t be so attached to mom but that she would go to Eric more often. She has played so well with him this past month and really loved swimming with Dad in the pools at the beach. She is back to school tomorrow with a new teacher and we are hoping the adjustment goes well. She is continuing to get therapy once a week from a great European lady who is an Occupational therapist and will start speech therapy this month. Our big prayer request now is that the insurance will cover both services.

Emma continues to grow quickly using so many words and sentences. She is in the independent stage and loves to do most things on her own. She too will start preschool tomorrow for a few mornings a week. She loves to play with her babies and color. She also loves to follow Kayla around and do whatever she is doing. She continues to be a sweet natured little girl and loves to play with others. Although she is honing the skill on how to push big sister’s buttons. How do they learn that so quickly. In another couple of months we are going to try potty training.

Eric really enjoyed being off school this past month as he had about 4 weeks total off with all of the holidays and then political stuff. He has caught up on sleep and watching movies. He had planned to hike Mt. Kenya with the guys on our team but because of all the political stuff the trip was postponed. He has really enjoyed being able to teach Bible at school and this semester is going to teach New Testament/Basic Theology/Apologetics. He will be preparing to start the new 11th grade and helping continue to get the school ready for accredidation.
With both girls in preschool several days a week I am hoping to start/host a woman’s Bible study on Tuesdays and to also catch up on some fun activities that have been neglected (scrapbooking and time to myself J ) Please pray for me as we institute a home therapy program for Kayla this month which involves 30 min of specific play each day. This will be as much a new habit for me as for Kayla. We have been praying for quite some time to really meet a few couples and make some deep friendships and we have really been able to connect with two couples this month and look forward to deepening our relationships with them so that is an answer to a long prayed prayer. We hope you are well and would love to hear from you. Take 1 minute today and connect with us.

The Gibsons