A New School in Kenya and How it Came to Be

Below is a short clip of Pastor John Omoke speaking about a theological college that he was able to start in Kenya.  John Omoke was a student at KTC during our first year here.  He and 2 other Kenyans would travel from Kenya to Uganda for weeks at a time to study and train.  Their families really suffered and struggled through the years.  But for the sake of the gospel they pressed on.  When they graduated, they felt like they were at a cross roads.  They didn't want to see their fellow men to suffer the way they had, but they also wanted their men to get a good education.  So they decided to take all of their courses and course work from KTC and open a training facility in Kenya.  What an amazing blessing to see the fruit of the labor at KTC being exported to other communities where it can continue to grow and produce more fruit.



Here are some more pictures that Pastor Omoke gave to us.

This is the group of students that are studying in Kenya.

Pastor Omoke teaching.

The students taking an exam.  The gentleman on the far right is using a Youth Bible.  Maybe that's surprising to some of my readers that a man training for ministry would use a youth bible for his exam.  These men are so thankful for all the Bibles they can get.  When Pastor Omoke and the other Kenyan students would visit us in our home while they were students, they were always amazed at the amount of Bibles our family owned because many of their elders didn't even own Bibles.  Bibles and other theological books are a precious commodity in these communities.

Pastor Omoke preaching in his home church.

Pastor Omoke and his wife.  Maybe you remember when they were married on our compound in a triple wedding?

Please pray for this exciting. growing and fully indigenous ministry in Kenya!  Praise God for growing his church!

Baby Elephants

The last very fun thing that we did in Kenya was to go to a baby elephant orphanage.  They are so cute!  The facility has about 35 baby elephants who were orphaned because their mothers had been killed by poaching or died of natural causes.  They take elephants from all over and rehabilitate them.  Every day for one hour, they open up the facility to the public while they feed the elephants their milk.  

And everybody say, "Awwwww...."

haha!  Someone is being a bit nosy...

When we got there they told us to not crouch down or else the elephants might start to play with you like they do with their soccer balls.  In the back of my mind I was wondering about Talitha and if they felt the same about small children.  Sure enough, before long one of the elephants came over and charged right at her to "play."  Quick thinking Daddy reached down and grabbed her out of the way just in time.  :)

As we were leaving we passed the garbage can that had all the tins of formula that they had mixed to feed the elephants that day.  A monkey was licking out the remains of milk powder. 

Here's a video that shows their character a bit... :)

Ice Skating!

The kids absolute favorite thing that they did in Nairobi was ice skating... crazy, right?  There was a super fancy hotel that had built an ice rink.  We all had a blast!

We spent a lot time trying very hard to stay on our feet... haha!

My Canadian husband was thrilled, scored major dad points, and thoroughly impressed the kids with his skills... haha!

Jimmy was Mr. Crazy Man on Ice...I only managed to get this picture of him flying around with a seal, but he didn't hang with the seal for very long.

How often does a family that lives on the equator get to take a family picture on ice??

Giraffes, Tortoises, and Kisses from Katelyn...

In between doctors' appointments we did some really fun activities!  Call it a week of no-books but lots of fun field trips!  :)

The first thing we did was go to the giraffe center.  At the center we were able to feed and pet all the giraffes.  They were so cute and so fun!  If you tried to get near them when you didn't have food, you would get a solid head-butt.  Haha!  We also learned some really fun things about giraffes... like the fact that in the wild they are the security guard for many other animals, so they almost never sleep.  At the most, they get about 15-30 minutes every day or two.  (My kids all said that they wish they were giraffes...haha!)  They also have really heavy bones so their kicks can kill a predator.  And they have reeeeaaalllly long tongues!  

Katelyn, oh Katelyn...haha!  Apparently their saliva is antiseptic...at least that was the other "fun fact" that they told us... haha!

Aren't they such amazing creatures?

Talitha loved feeding the baby giraffe...he probably loved having someone on his level to feed him!

They also had tortoises at the center.

What's with all the kissin' around here??

Kenya for a week...

We just arrived home from visiting Kenya for a week.  The purpose of the trip was to get some more medical attention for Benaiah.  He has continually been struggling with his breathing ever since his asthma attack a year ago.  In a wonderful answer to prayer, God helped us to find a pediatric pulmonologist in Nairobi.  Since Benaiah was also born with a heart murmur, we were also able to go see a pediatric cardiologist.  We praise the Lord that his heart is completely normal now!  yay!  The pulmonologist also happened to be an allergist and was able to do allergy testing...another answer to prayer, as we haven't been able to do that easily here in Uganda.  And, it turns out that Benaiah has no allergies!  yay!!  It seems as if his asthma has just not been well controlled so far with the medicine that we have been using.  He got new meds, a new spacer and new dosing for his current daily inhaler.  Hoping all that will help...time will tell... but if not, then we are so thankful that we now have someone knowledgeable to ask.  So thankful for all the answers to the prayers of many people who have been concerned for Benaiah and our family!  Thank you!  We also praise the Lord that Denise was able to make it across the border just fine!  The immigration officer carefully studied her foster care order in a very good way and then said "no problem!" We were so thankful that she was able to come!  What a blessing it was for our family to all be together!

In addition to all of that, we just had a blast together!  The drive there was gorgeous and in between doctors visits we were able to do a LOT of fun things!  Ready for pictures?  Here are some from our drive...  stay tuned for more!

We were amazed at all the wooden structures!  Here in Uganda we have so many termites that if you leave wood on the ground within a couple of weeks it could be completely eaten by termites.  But Kenya is significantly higher in elevation...apparently most termites don't like it that high.

The Kenyan Highlands...

In the mountains they sell carrots on the side of the road.  Talk about fresh and local!!

We also saw a few herds of zebra on the side of the road.  One herd in particular was just a couple feet from the road!  So beautiful!

Yellow acacia trees...

As usual, we are always entertained by slogans on the backs of buses and matatus.  This one made us laugh.  So did the one that said, "Never drive faster than your guardian angel can fly."