Oh, Happiness!

Sorry I did not blog last night, but I was so tired last night. The jet lag finally caught up with me. Or, maybe it was such a satisfying day that I was finally content enough for sleep.

My heart is so happy to be back in Kenya and see old friends and be with the children. Philip and Thomas picked us up from the airport on Saturday and Philip drove us to HOREC on Sunday. It was so nice to see them and visit while we were driving. We are so lucky to have them to help us while we are here. Philip's wife is in Nashville for training until later in the year. Maybe that will have to be a visit I make when I get back to the US!

We met Christine and the children for church on Sunday. It is a small Catholic church about 5 or so kilometers from HOREC called St. Tobias. We met Christine at HOREC and took the younger children over in the van and her hatchback. The older children had walked over earlier in the morning. The babies are growing so quickly. Kaleche (Faith) climbed into Ike's lap and said "Uncle Mzungu." So cute!

We were playing English/Swahili games in the car on the way to the service. I had asked the kids to teach me to count and they said "one, two, three, four . . ." (as opposed to mojo, mbili . . .) Even little Jennifer, who is only about two years old, was counting with the other kids. She is so smart and full of smiles all the time. She is such a blessing!

When we arrived at the church, I was staring out the window of the van, about as close to the door as I could get without falling out. I was so surprised when I looked out into the sea of blue (they were all wearing blue t-shirts) and saw Alice, Leah and Caroline (Carol). They are all in high school, so I did not expect to see them. I had never met Leah and Carol before as they were always at school during my visits, and I was sad as I thought I wouldn't get to see Alice this time. Alice has superb English and she is not shy to talk to us mzungu (white people), so it is always so much fun when she is around. They return to school tomorrow. I feel so blessed to have met Leah and Caroline finally and to have gotten to visit with Alice.

The children were actively involved in the service, singing and dancing, worshiping God with such talent as they always do. The priest even did part of his sermon in English for the two muzungu that were there (a.k.a. Joyce and Ike). His sermon was about our faith and our responsibiliby to our sisters and brothers who go astray, to help bring them back to Christ. It was certainly not Spring Valley, but it felt like such a community at their church and the choir sang so beautifully. It was a really great service. Tomas and Jackson sat with me the entire service. At one point, Jack was staring at my nails, which are currently painted a milky pink color, like cotton candy. He kept rubbing the nail and checking his finger to see if the paint rubbed off onto it. At one point, he rubbed my nail and them smelled his finger to see if it smelled like anything. It cracked me up! After church we packed 34 children and 5 adults into the van and small hatchback. I think it may have been a record!

We spent the rest of the day taking a tour and singing and visiting. The grounds look so different from last year. They have more land, a boy's dorm, an office and library (which Ike and I hope to paint while we are here), a guard house, a pen for the cows, additional pens for the goats and a well! Praise God for the Durango UMC and Living Water. We are hoping they will start getting usable water from the well during my visit.

It is good to be back in Kenya and at HOREC!