new looks

I have finally figured out a few thigns about blogger. Good grief, I'm probably the last, but we're good now. I deleted all of my sidebar last week and so have added it back with some changes (forgive me if I forgot you, please remind me).

Enjoy.

Kenyan blogs

Here are some blogs that are written mainly by Kenyans for a different perspective on current events than mine. I’ve only been in Kenya since mid-September and that is very different than what you will read on these blogs.

One
Two
Three

latest update from Kenya

Happy New Year!

What a month it has been. Most of you received word from me at the beginning of the month about all the post-election turmoil going on in Kenya. We all thank you for your thoughts and prayers and are blessed to have you praying for us. Thank you.

Things remain tense, but on Thursday Jan. 24, Pres. Kibaki, opposition leader Raila Odinga and African Union representative, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan emerged from a meeting with everyone saying they were open to dialogue. We praise God for that and pray that it is true and hearts, minds and eyes will be open to what lies ahead.

I have not been out of Westlands since returning home from Christmas holiday. Westlands is the area of Nairobi where I live and work and things have remained fairly ‘normal’ here. I have linked on my blog to several other blogs of friends and strangers who are more ‘in the trenches’ than I am if you would like to see and read more. Please be aware that there are a lot of resentments and fears and hurts and not everything you read is balanced or even entirely true. These links are in posts and others are on the ‘Resources’ page.


These are snapshots taken by Alida as we waited in line two hours to purchase groceries during the early post-election crisis. Many of the food shelves were sparse or bare, like this shot of the veggie area.

While current events in Kenya have changed all of our lives and the way we work (all visitors with CRC have been postponed or cancelled until further notice), life still goes on.

Christmas was good, different but good. I called the family that evening for me, morning for them, and got to talk to everyone except that somehow I missed Aunt Janet. As I was talking to my cousin, Steve, I looked up and saw a crocodile in the lake not 30 feet from me. Merry Christmas?! The Lake Baringo Club, where we stayed, had entertainment for the holiday complete with native dances. The men in the photo are Maasai dancers and the woman with the necklaces is Turkana. The day after Christmas we took a boat tour of the lake and came a little too close to some hippos. They can be quite vicious as well as fast so we quickly moved to give them way and got a few good pictures in the process.


We had a lot of time on our hands while we were away and it was quite warm at Baringo with no AC anywhere to be had. We did take some time on one day and drove over to Lake Bogoria nearby to see the flamingos and hot springs. You can see more pictures of my Christmas holiday here.

After returning to Nairobi we just stayed in our homes for the next week. Venturing to the nearest grocery, the office, each other’s apartments and the Mennonite Guest House, all within a 25-minute or less walk, although we did have the office car the whole week which was really nice.

Alida and I were going stir-crazy in my apartment and so we stayed with Amanda for a couple of days to ‘shake things up.’ Our friend, George who is Kenyan, was also staying there. I think he stayed to comfort us as his home area was safe. It was such a blessing to have him with us to help us understand the political implications of everything. We had a TV, radio and bought the papers most days to help us stay informed, but as newbies we had a lot of questions.


I have been keeping up with my blog and trying not to post too many things on any one day. I do know that you are visiting and I believe that I have set it up so that you do not have to use a password to leave a comment anymore, so please do so.

Finally I would like to share with you something I think is very exciting. The following is from Calvary Christian Reformed Church in Edina, Minnesota, where I attended church the four years before moving to Kenya. They are a tremendous support to me in everyway. If you are anywhere near the Twin Cities the next two weeks, I encourage you to stop by for the fun. Copies of the DVD that will be used on Feb. 10 are also being sent to Beth and Marty Christians in the Osbourn, Kansas area, Laura Hitt in Longview, Texas, the Grand Rapids Home Office in Michigan, Sterling United Presbyterian Church in Sterling, Kansas and my parents in Liberal, Kansas. If you would like to see it (it is nothing close to being professional so be prepared) and are near any of those folks, just give them a call or contact Pastor Todd at Calvary in the Twin Cities. (If you need any of those contacts, please let me know.)

MISSION EMPHASIS WEEK
Mission's Emphasis Week Kick Off begins next Sunday, February 3 with an extended worship service (aprox. 90 minutes). We will talk with Amy Thompson live, via the Internet, and will be blessed by the music of the Minnesota Teen Challenge Choir. We welcome Pastor Bob Pollema as guest preacher and Andy Ryskamp, the executive director of CRWRC. There will be an all-church lunch after worship. During lunch Andy Ryskamp, the executive director of CRWRC, will share what the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee is doing to further the Gospel around the world.

Come and join us for this wonderful celebration of God's missionary heart.

I close with a verse that my dear friend, Chris, sent to me recently, along with this photo taken of a dessert rose up at Lake Baringo. May your lives be filled with the Joy of Christ, dear friends. I praise God for each of you and think of you often and pray that we may all know that in the midst of trials, we are never alone. Praise be to God!

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 46:10

hello friends

Hello, friends!

The weather here is just beautiful today. I walked to work yesterday and it was the low 60’s and not too sunny so it was a nice walk. There is a lovely breeze and I really wish I had on a sweatshirt and was swinging in a hammock with a good book. However, I am at work instead, which is also good.

We have devotions every Monday morning and I am also blessed. Yesterday morning we had half the staff since several are at training for most of the week.

I have started collecting African music and am enjoying that a lot. I’m listening to some from Senegal as I write this to you.

A big thank you to all of you who have emailed, called, SMS’d (short message system, it’s like a text message), sent letters, cards and packages. They are wonderful! I have a lot of fun sharing what you send with my friends and coworkers. As soon as I get more bulletin boards in my office, more pictures will go up. Whatever you send I put in my office to remind me of how blessed I am.

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for the big International Pancake Day celebration coming up Feb. 5. I will be introducing the joys of Pancake Day to Kenya this year. I hope they are ready.

Things in Kenya have not settled yet so please continue to pray for a release of pain, poverty and violence.

Thank you all! You are a treasure to me and I thank God for each of you.

sandals

I wore a new pair of sandals today. I walked to the PO then to work. They hurt one of my toes (next to last on the left, to be specific) and when I took off my shoes this evening when I got home there was a huge blister. It is so bizarre to look at. Have no fear – there are no pictures.

I hadn’t blogged in too long here and thought I’d drop you a note. Aren’t you excited.

missing links

I am so frustrated, argh!

I tried to change the template here and lost all my sidebar links. I have a friend who also uses blogger and hers is so much easer to edit the template so that's what I was going for. Instead I lost all those fabo links. Let me say again ARGH!

other blog

my other blog is updated with more to come and there is a new look. I've also changed it so you don't have to have a password to comment (I think). So come on over!

I hope to post a few things here in the next week as well. We'll see.

other blog

OK, just checked and some of them are up now. yea!

at home on a Friday

I’m currently sitting on my loveseat (alone, so sad) and watching the only thing in English on TV right now. It’s newstime on the other channels and the 7pm news is in Swahili. The 9 pm news is English.

Right now I’m watching some show about the catwalk. That’s all it is. The catwalk. Runway show after runway show. Tonight it’s mostly men and they are dressed horribly, with bad music. The designers are then coming out and they fumble and stumble and carry themselves poorly. It’s just so odd to see that after a bunch of skinny, unsmiling, make-up covered, slick-haired guys.

I need movies. I only brought two and one is just atrocious. I mean, I’m embarrassed I have it it is so bad. The other is Cinema Paradiso which is stellar and one of my faves but I can’t watch it too often, it’s too much. I need to get more. It’s difficult to find legit movies here but you can by pirated movies everywhere. So if you want to send me a carepkg, movies it is. I have several TV series and trust me. I watch them all the time.

I’ve written at least five posts for my other blog this week that have yet to be posted. It’s so frustrating. It really is you know. Argh. I did just post one about being on tv that will be rebroadcast live online tomorrow (Sat). I hope I remember and go to the office to watch. Seriously though, the odds of that happening are slim. I’m just hoping that the folks will get me a copy of it.

I am however, getting a massage tomorrow morning. Oh my, I can hardly wait! I’m so sore and have been carrying way too much stuff in my bag this week. I thought I might lose my arm last night. I’ve got to stop that. I actually saw an article on yahoo about how women are carrying too much in their bags. I didn’t read it but I’ve known it for years anyway, I just don’t’ do anything about it.

I gotta see whatelse is on. Ooooo, celebrity news. Argentine Albums chart. What is that? They are all US artists that I know. Hmmm

Have a good weekend, friends!

updates

I've made a few changes that are probably mostly unnoticed as they are in the sidebar. I added a link to my Africa photos and deleted a friend's shop that was no longer running.

Nothing exciting, just letting you know.

I almost got to go to Kibera slum today, one of the most famous slums of Africa but it was decided that it was not safe enough yet for me to go. I was going to go with a coworker to take photos for our relief work, but not yet.

Safe

I am safe in Westlands, Nairobi. Thank you for checking with me. I have a meeting at my office this morning for those of us able to get there safely. I am not far from the office and have an office vehicle so I think I'll be fine. My area is calm and safer. I will let you know how the meeting goes.

Please pray for justice and peace in KEnya and safety for all of us living here.