Dorm Outing

Yesterday we had our second term dorm outing. We loaded the bus with all 32 dorm kids, 10 adults and our own 8 kids for a beautiful day at Simba Lodge at Lake Naivasha, about an hour north of here. They had a kiddy pool and a clover leaf shaped larger pool and a nice, big playground for the kids. Our boys all covered themselves in sunscreen and headed to the pool. We spent about 4 1/2 hours there, with some of the kids hardly leaving the water. It is still pretty warm here and with solar panels to heat the water, it was just perfect swimming weather.

Levi loved the kiddy pool and had company most of the time, with other kids coming and going from the big pool, to try the shallower water for hand stands and whirlpools. Abby and Rachel also swam the majority of the time there. James and his brother, John, had kids climbing onto their shoulders, then would do back flips or just jump off into the water. I don't know how they held up so long, but the kids had a blast flying out over the water.

We ended the day with a big dinner up at Tembo dorm, the 2nd-4th grade dorm. We had lasagna, garlic bread, ramen noodle salad, and cookies. The boys were all tired and quite sunburned, so were ready for bed early. We all turned in and it was even pretty quiet this morning. Just under 2 weeks of school left, then we begin our April break. Everyone is getting pretty tired and ready for some down time.

Pics

Ok, I have to remember how to write comments on photos. The following pics are:

Rachel's 9th birthday
Luke and his cousin, Jonathan, wading through a deep part of Hell's Gate. We chose to find another way around
Fixing a flat tire on the way to camp at Hell's Gate.
Campfire at Hell's Gate, Luke and Abby roasting bacon over the fire
Lizzy and friends getting ready for Banquet
Liz and her date, Stan, at BQ
Levi, scraping the ice cream off his shoe that fell off his spoon. We try not to think of the germs!

We're Back

Since it has been 2 1/2 years since we last did any blogging I am probably not really writing to anyone, but we will try to get this up and going again. It took us awhile to remember our blog address and find a way back to it. Now we seem to be back in business.

We are currently dorm parents at RVA for the 5th and 6th grade boys. We have 10 boys in our care, plus our own 5 kids, so the house is an active, busy, noisy place. We have 3 1/2 weeks left this term, then one more term (12 weeks) after our break. The kids are ready for some time off to be with their parents and siblings. They have had a busy term so need some rest. Swine flu arrived on campus in January and made its rounds on campus. It seems many are still trying to recover from fatigue and various viruses that came with the flu.

We have enjoyed being back at RVA and getting involved in campus life again. Lizzy is a junior so recently went to the Junior/Senior banquet. The junior's are in charge, so pick the theme (Ancient Greece this year) and do al the planning of food, decorations, drama (comedy/drama) and all the logistics that go along with that. They had a great time getting ready and looked great the night of BQ. They dress up as they do in the states for Prom, getting their hair and nails done too. I will try to post some pictures of her.

We hope to share more of our daily lives here. There are details I want to share, but they don't all fit in our prayer letters. I hope to let you feel more of Africa through our weekly messages.

Thank you all for your prayers for our family. We are having a great year and have really been quite healthy, despite all the illnesses that have gone around. We are so thankful for that. It is hard to keep things going when we are sick. We would love to hear from you all too!

We're Back

Warmer days in Kenya

Hi,
It is a beautiful day here in Kijabe today. It is getting warmer and not as much rain. That is nice for a change. We are entering the "spring" here, so it will get warmer as we head towards Christmas.

The school year is going good. We are just a couple of days away from midterm. The kids will be off from Friday at 11am through Tuesday. Wednesday is Multicultural Day so a lot of fun activites here on campus. There are 24 countries that will be represented. There will be a flag carrier for each country then music, skits and fun. The kids all wear outfits from their home countries. They tie flags on their backs, paint flags on their faces, etc. It is a great time to show your pride. Many of the MK's represent the country they have grown up in here in Africa. The cafe has a great lunch planned and then school will get going again on Thur. I think we start SAT's then.

The monkeys have been busy here at our house. They like the trees in our front yard so jump around through them or run across the roof. Levi has been woke up from naps several times by them running above his head. The roof is metal so very loud when they are jumping on it. One even came into our kitchen and took some banana's a couple of weeks ago. Our worker, Sarah, was here and chased it out. The baboons come and dig in the trash, but not as often as they used to. Levi thinks it is all great and gets very excited to see them.

The past 2 weeks have brought a lot of sickness to campus. We started with Rachel sick a couple of weeks ago then Luke and Lizzy not feeling well. Last week Abby started strep and we had 4 of our 5 with it by Monday. Lizzy is holding out until midterm I guess. I hope we are done with it all though. They didn't get too sick since Abby was first and we caught the others quickly. Student health has seen a lot of us lately though.

We would love to hear from you all. Our email address that we check often is jsmyrick@yahoo.com.

Levi is calling and a little fussy.

Colobus monkey

This is a colobus monkey in our tree. It might be the banana snatcher. Does he look devious? They are all so cute

Random pictures of the kids over the past few weeks...

First day of school

Making cookies

Liz and her friend, Rachel Wagner making cookies. Levi has important business to take care of



Lizzy and a few friends making cookies again. It is nice to have them able to bake now!

Levi, Luke, and our house

Abby and Levi

Colobus Monkey

We have had colobus monkeys in our yard the past few days and Levi loves them. He had a hard time getting down for a nap today, but James got him to sleep. The monkeys were jumping from the trees to our roof and I think they woke him up. He cried for awhile after getting up and was very tired so not ready to wake up yet. Lizzy told me later to listen and they were very loud, thumping around.

Here in Africa

We have arrived in Kenya and are getting settled now. The kids started school this week and are enjoying their classes. Lizzy is in 9th grade so is in high school. They just had classes for the first time today. I am sure she will be busy soon, but not too bad yet. They all get chai break and the middle 3 get recess still. Soccer is a big draw for Luke at recess and the merry go round is very popular for the girls. Levi and I have enjoyed going down too. He likes to sit in the dirt and dig until he is covered with dirt. He is thriving here, just being outside all day long. He plays in the dirt, rocks, grass, whatever he can find. He climbs, runs, rolls in the grass, jumps and bangs his head often. He does love it here.



We are getting back into the groove of things. It is always hard to get accustomed to the difference in cooking and trying to plan ahead so we can get all of our groceries in Nairobi when we go. There used to be a small store here on campus, but it just carries student supplies now. There is a small store in Kijabe, just down the hill from us where we can get basics. It involves walking downhill from our house and carrying it back up, so I have not used that option much. We did drive down with James' brother once and got a few things. I hope to get to Nairobi a couple of times a month and am keeping a very detail list of what we need. I was excited to make applesauce this week that turned out good. It tasted much like baby applesauce and the kids all liked it. Some things are just hard to live without. I had our worker make bagels today and they are very good. We can buy english muffins and flour tortillas here so make different things with those. Any recipes would be greatly appreciated.



I will try to send some pics too. This is all new to me so might take some time to get them on. We are on dial up here so it seems very slow after high speed.



Have a good day. We are enjoying nights in the 50's (not really enjoying that since we have no heat and it is cold) and days in the 60's. It is beautiful and sunny. You can see all the way to the Rift Valley.

Here in Africa

Two weeks and one day until we leave

We are down to just over 2 weeks until our Aug. 7th departure. We had a great visit with Shelly's sister, Paige, and her family in Florida. Now it is time to start packing and get everything ready to go. Please pray for us as we have many changes in the next 2 weeks. Levi will have a hard time with the travel, new house, 8 hour time change, new surroundings and all the packing and unpacking that will take place in the next few weeks. Please pray specifically at this time that we can make the move to a new time after traveling for 24+ hours and can get settled into a good routine with sleep fast. That will help everything fall into place easier.

Welcome to our blog

This is our new blog, to keep you posted on our RVA journey! So, for now, hello from Florida!