What to call this?

So it has been almost two months since I last wrote on here. Since then I have gone to the states for three weeks, started my second semester here, had our first foster baby get adopted, and took home another sweet little boy. Yes, I have been busy, hence the no blog writing. I enjoyed being home for three weeks over Christmas. It was an unexpected trip but a great one. It was great to celebrate my 25th birthday with my sweet birthday buddy who turned nine :). Of course, I wanted to see snow. But did it snow? NO. Oh well. It was great seeing my friend's new little baby. I also enjoyed spending time with other friends' kids who are all getting so big!

The baby my roommates and I had been fostering was adopted right before Christmas! We found out the day before I left to go to the states so we were able to say goodbye to him. I am glad he is now with his forever family. We have another sweet little one who is a year old but barely 14 pounds. We are working to get him fatter and stronger. His name is Leo and he is the sweetest little boy! He smiles and laughs at everything and LOVES to go swimming. He has been so fun to be around!

We had Sports Day, or Field Day, last Friday. The kids loved it! All the teachers were exhausted afterwards but it was good. We have a long stretch without any breaks so we will see how that goes. I have enjoyed seeing how much my kids have grown in their faith and knowl

Here is little Leo swimming with my roommates.
You can't swim without a rubber ducky!
Yay! A surfing duck!
Bumbo seats also make great drums!
Look at how I can sit because I am so skinny! This was taken about two weeks ago and he is already fatter! YAY!

Moses, the weekend before he went with his family. He loved being upside down!
Moses and I on the last weekend that he was with us. Emily and I saying goodbye to Moses at the orphanage
Three and four babies in a bed! You can tell there was a fourth one next to them. It's crazy.

I hope to post more pictures soon!

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving! This was the first year I just stayed home since I moved overseas. The last three years were either spent at the beach or in the mountains. In some ways it was sad to just stay here, in other ways I really enjoyed it. I spent Thanksgiving with about 40 other people from Rosslyn. I think that was the biggest Thanksgiving I had ever been to, besides those at church and school not actually on Thanksgiving. We actually had another Thanksgiving meal before that with some other friends! I am going to use the word Thankful to tell you more about the things for which I am thankful.

T--traditions. I love that even in Kenya we had turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie!

H--health. I am thankful that it has been 2 months since my stay in the hospital. I am also thankful that I can go to the hospital when I am sick.

A--abundance. I have so much. I need to be more thankful for all that I have.

N--night sky. This one is random, I know, but I LOVE the night sky here in Kenya. If you were to catch me walking on the track at night, I would most likely be looking up. I love that special time with just me, Jesus, and the stars shining brightly.

K--kids. Not my own, but my students. They are crazy, but I love them!

F--faithfulness. God has been so faithful to me this year. He has brought me through a lot. Lately He has been doing a great work in my heart, and for that I am thankful.

U--umbrellas. With needing umbrellas comes rain. I am thankful for the rain falling on this land that so desperately needs it. I am still praying for rain in the northern parts of Kenya.

L--little babies. I think this one is obvious :). I love all the little babies at the orphanage. I now officially want to take two home. I know, that's crazy. Will you pray with me that they will all be adopted by loving families?

What about you? I would love to hear what you are thankful for this season. Above all else, I am thankful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Without him, I am nothing. May I spread his love to all those I touch.

Field Trip Craziness

What do you get when you take 37 second graders to a huge outside park with caves, waterfalls, boats, camel and horse riding, and lots of places to run around? The answer is CRAZINESS!!! Haha. But it was fun. Let me see if I can paint a word picture to you of our field trip.

The place we went to was called Paradise Lost. One of the boys, upon arriving, said "This really IS paradise!" I am glad we could go to paradise for a day! It basically is a big park with all the things mentioned above. When our buses arrived, we paid and headed down to the boats. And when I say boats, I really mean floating pieces of wood with slight sides that sit really low in the water. Yes, my second graders rode on them! They had way too big bright orange life jackets on. Thankfully none fell in!

When we finished there, we took them to the cave. In front of the cave is an amazing waterfall. The path actually went behind it, which is fun. Before we went to the cave, they told us the power was out, so only one class could go in at a time. We took 18 kids with only three flashlights! It was crazy but super fun! The cave was 20 meters under the ground. It reminded me of my sixth grade field trip to Mt. St. Helens and going in the caves there. It was super dark and hot and hard to breathe. It was cool turning the flashlights off and having it be completely dark. Most of the kids had never experienced that before.

After returning to the outside world and eating lunch, it was camel and horseback riding time! I RODE A CAMEL!!!! It was crazy! They are very bouncy and it is crazy when they stand up with you on their backs. Sitting down was crazy too! But it was a lot of fun. 9 of my kids rode the camel, and 17 rode horses. They LOVED it! It was also a time when we just let them run and play. This was a perfect field trip for a class with 12 boys! They had so much fun! Needless to say, I am tired now, but it was so worth it! I love being able to see the beautiful world God made for us!

Camels! The other lady is one of my student's moms. She is super nice!

God's creation is amazing!

Rickety boats!

Random

So little unconnected thoughts are all I can think about, but that's what I will share anyways. Get ready for brain disconnect!

-This weekend I kissed a boy and then he proceeded to throw up. This story would be so much funnier if I didn't tell you he was 5 months old. Haha.

-This week is Spirit Week. It also happens to be the week where my kids lead chapel tomorrow for all of elementary and we have a field trip on Friday. Yes, I know, that is crazy. I didn't know about Spirit Week when we planned all this.

-The first day of Spirit Week was clone day. My whole class dressed up like zebras, complete with masks and tails. We looked amazing. I will post pictures when I am not so tired I might fall out of my bed.

-If anyone saw me walking on the track tonight, they would have thought I was crazy! I kept being blown away by my God. The moon was beyond beautiful tonight. I kept stopping to look at it. And then I was listening to my roommate's ipod since mine was stolen and blown away by the words about my Jesus. I am so thankful for Him! May you see His presence today. He truly is worth worshiping.

-If you think of it, pray for my kids at school. I want them to really see Jesus. Some of them have never heard about Him before. I want them to see how amazing He truly is. Please pray that that parents would also come to know Him. Thank you!

Babies, babies, Babies

Look who is getting back into the habit of blogging! Let's hope I can keep it up.

Today I helped out with a track meet here at Rosslyn. Some of the kids from other schools ran the races barefoot! They say that wearing shoes slows them down. I love being in Africa! And this was on a very rocky track!

I got some pictures of the babies from my roommate Emily. Hopefully you aren't tired of seeing them yet. I sure am not!

Can you tell they want attention? :)

LOVE this one! He was also in the hospital.

Happy John!

Chilling outside

My roommate Emily and I. I am glad she loves the babies as much as I do!

Cuties!

They sleep three to a crib, even the big ones who don't fit sideways very well. They are SO crowded! The one on the left is Moses, the baby we are fostering on the weekends.

I love this baby! His name is Japheth. He was one of the ones in the hospital recently.

My roommate Emily and a very happy baby.

This might be my favorite picture of all time! Trying to get them both to look at the camera. Yeah, that didn't work so well :)

Privileged

I have been thinking a lot about how privileged I am. I have more clothes than I need. I have a fridge full of food. I have running water. I don't have to go hungry. I eat way too much. I will be honest with you, at times I struggle with why I have so much when so many have so little. Why did God bless ME? Why do I have so much? It is easy for me to be stuck there. And that becomes a problem. I can't get stuck there. Yes, I am privileged. Yes, I have way more than I need. So what am I going to do about it? If I just wallow in self-pity about being too privileged it's not going to do anything. The fact is, I have a lot. Now what am I going to do with it? Do I reach out? Do I feed the hungry? Do I love the unlovable? Oh God, may it be so! May I truly share what you have blessed me with. May I reach out and touch others' lives with the blessings He has poured out on me!

Three months

I have now been in Africa for three months. It's hard to believe. It seems like so long ago, yet also just yesterday. I have laughed, cried, danced, fallen to the floor, been sick, been healthy,and so much more. Jesus continues to blow me away every day, though so often I don't listen to His voice. My prayer is that I would open my heart up to Him more and more every day. He blows me away. I love hearing my students talk about Him. I love hearing them tell other students that Jesus is the only way to heaven. I love being able to foster a little baby on the weekends. I love the way he laughs and smiles at me. I love the privilege I have to love on him and all the other babies at the orphanage. I want to love more. I want to have Jesus' love just spilling out of me.

As I posted last time, I was really sick last month. I am feeling much better and thankful for that. I am loving my second graders, at least most days :). They keep me on my toes. The best story this month is that a few of them saw writing on the bathroom walls and decided they wanted to solve mysteries. So one of my boys brought a briefcase to school the next day so he could better solve the mysteries! I love their imagination! Their passion for life convicts me. I love how they believe what Jesus says without thinking twice. Oh may I have a faith like that!

I cannot believe it is almost November! This school year has flown by! I am going home for Christmas, which I was not planning on but I am super excited for the opportunity! It will be so good to see friends and family there. If you live in Dubuque, let me know if you want to get together!

As I mentioned earlier, we get to foster a baby on the weekends. I absolutely love it, and him! The next three pictures are of our cute little dude!

This last one is the baby girl we were supposed to foster. The day we went to get her for the first time, she was sick so we didn't take her. Less than two weeks later she died. It was really hard, but I am happy that she is with Jesus!
I am excited to see what God brings my way in the next few weeks. I will try to keep the blog world posted!