Rebers in Kijabe

2007-12-12T07:07:00.000-08:00

2007-12-12T04:10:00.000-08:00

It's been a fast week, like every week seems to be! The tooth fairy has been very busy here...JT lost another tooth and Cecelia lost one this week as well. We are working on our "soft foods" menu these days!

Jill had the chance to attend a very "American feeling" Christmas Craft Fair in Nairobi at the racetrack. It gave her some great ideas for Christmas gifts and decorating--along with time to get to know the other women she rode with. Their car broke down on the way home and they had to wait over an hour for someone to come to their aid. Thankfully they had a pull-off right where the car died and didn't have to sit in the middle of crazy Nairobi traffic during that time.

Tim had the opportunity to travel to Naivasha and visit the orphanage. He spoke to the children through an interpreter, then had lunch with them. Their lunch consisted of bread and meat--seeing the little food they were given, it was difficult for him to eat with them, but it may have been offensive if he had declined since he was their guest. There were all ages, from two through teenagers and there is a vision there to see God provide for these kids as a few families step out in faith to care for them. We will be going to Peter's house for lunch tomorrow as a family so we look forward to another opportunity to get to know them better and hear their heartbeat for this ministry.

We had a fun time yesterday as we celebrated Ben's birthday. Ben is our outside help here and does a great job with our grounds. He has planted a shamba (garden) for us with many potential crops--but the jury is still out on whether we'll get to enjoy them or if the baboons and monkeys will get them first. (So far, primates are winning!) Ben invited a number of his friends to join us for the birthday lunch and it was a fun afternoon. It also helps us to get to know more of the local community in ways we wouldn't otherwise be able to.

Just in Time for Christmas...

2007-12-05T00:57:00.000-08:00

Just the other night, JT came running to us with his front tooth in hand! He lost it just in time for Christmas! He did comment that he can't say his "s, th, or f" sounds! It's quite humorous. He also discovered that the Tooth Fairy does indeed have Kenya on her itinerary...but she pays in shillings instead of pennies!

The kids are happy to be done with school for the Christmas break. The schedule is quite nice, with 3 months of school, followed by a month off! They have been filling their days by playing with friends, redecorating/rearranging their bedrooms, helping to make Christmas cookies and a gingerbread house...Nathan even had the excitement of killing a chicken with our outside help. He was all too eager to do that, but that's a normal part of life here.

We enjoy having time to get to know some of the other families here better, as well as taking part in ministries in the community. There is little time for this during the school term. We visited an African Baptist church up the hill last Sunday and were treated to a delicious lunch of stew, chapati and irio at a Kenyan friend's home afterward. It was a very enjoyable day--although the kids wouldn't agree completely with that. They complained about the long hike home--at least it was downhill!

Today we visited with Peter and his wife, who have just left their jobs here and are planning to move to Naivasha to begin an orphanage. At present they have 135 children who need care. They will be directly parenting 30 of these kids and are working in conjunction with another family there. We are visiting the ministry this weekend to see how God would direct us to be involved as a family. It's exciting to see their faith as they step out to meet this need that God has placed on their hearts. God has already supplied the funds to equip the orphanage with beds, bedding, tables and chairs, and kitchen supplies. Now they are praying for their support as a family so that they can adequately care for the kids.

On Christmas Eve we will join other school families and distribute 60 food hampers to the needy in the community. We are looking forward to this project since our kids collected the money and then assembled the hampers through their Sunday School classes last term. It is exciting to follow this project through to it's fruition and see how God uses their offering to meet practical needs and bless people.