First day of "Rowda"

 Rowda is the Arabic word for Kindergarten. We found a good Arabic school where the boys can be immersed in Arabic language and socially interact with other children their age. So this week we enrolled them all in the same school just in time for the first day of school, June 1, which was today. School is 5 days a week from 9-12 am. They have different levels. The "Red" class is a playgroup for children ages 2-3 (Joshua's class), Yellow class is 3-4 year olds and the Green class are ages 4-5. Isaac is a little old but he needs to start with the basics like the other boys. They're going to learn the Arabic alphabet, numbers, colors, shapes, etc. Today I went along with the boys for the whole day to help them feel at ease. As you can see in the above picture of the boys as we headed out the door this morning, their uniform is jean shorts (which I bought at the market here) and the color shirt of their class.

 The school van will pick them up at our street tomorrow but for the first day of school we went by ruckshaw. :)

 Joshua did a great job in his class. We are using this first month as a trial period to see if he can handle going to "school" every day or not. All the teachers are wonderful and are determined that our boys will be speaking well in 3 months!

 Isaac and Evan were being praised for their wonderful truck drawings.

 In this culture they have a late breakfast around 10 am and lunch later around 3 pm so the kids pack a little "snack" for lunch time around 10.

 The playground is great fun.

This is one of the classroom buildings. It's a beautiful school and very well taken care. It's only a 5 minute drive from our home. We are so thankful for this amazing opportunity for the boys to learn Arabic as well. We know it will really help them in the future to be able to communicate with their friends since they will spend most of their childhood in Sudan. When they came home today they were full of exciting stories to share with Eli. I'm glad they're excited about "Rowda" too!

Habuub!

There are a few times in life where pictures are truly the only way to communicate.  I could tell you that we had a dust storm (called a Habuub).  I could tell you that it layers the entire city in fine dust.  I could tell you that it takes your breath away to see this massive wall advancing quickly towards you and makes everyone in the house spring into action to close windows, doors, etc.  But pictures...that is truly the only way to communicate this phenomenon.  Enjoy.

The Habuub advancing on the city is an awe-inspiring sight.

Did I mention it the dust was thick?

Fit Fit Anyone?

Yesterday was a stretching day.  I went to a local market to buy several items including a transformer, extension cords, screws, mollies, caulk, and a couple tarps.  It went well and I found an older man, Rashid, who helped me find several items.  In typical Sudanese fashion, he was extremely hospitible and invited me to eat breakfast with him (it was 11 AM).  I declined, he insisted, I declined again, he insisted...on and on went the game.  Finally, he got me very interested in trying something called fit-fit.  I had never heard of this before so he ordered some and while it was being prepared, I tried to inquire into what exactly fit-fit was made from.  I couldn't tell whether the issue was my limited arabic or his dodging the question, but I never got a straight answer. 
The fit-fit came and it was DELICIOUS.  I could see onions, a bit of white sauce, and some chewy dark pieces of thinly sliced meat.  They kindly left the ridiculously hot spices on the side instead of adding them to the fit-fit. 
We would tear off a bit of Kisra (sorghum pancake) which was flooded in a soup and eat that.  We would chase that down with a small hand full of fit-fit.  It was an excellent meal.  However, I noticed that after we had finished eating, either my Arabic got suddenly better or Rashid felt he could tell me what fit-fit was.  With a laugh, a smile, and a wink to his friends, he shared that it was raw cow stomach.  Now I understand!  
Fit-fit and I spent the rest of the day together, happily watching the Manchester United-Barcelona game at 10pm (what a game!) but this morning was a different story.  That might be my last fit fit for a few days. 

Our new home

 I want to give you a brief tour of our new home. For those of you who know me, I usually enjoy blues and more neutral colors but our new apartment is painted orange through most of the apartment and our 2 bedrooms are mustard yellow! At first it made me cringe but I've now decided to embrace the bright happy colors and when I went shopping for towels the other day I purposefully chose bright yellow! The best part about our apartment was that it was furnished. Since we paid 6 months of rent up front the landlady also installed a water filter, a brand new washing machine, air conditioners in the bedrooms, and even a water heater in one of the bathrooms. So far we've enjoyed the cool showers but we're told we'll want warm showers when it cools down. :) The picture above and below are our bedroom.

 This is my picture wall. I had one in Yabus and it was daily encouraging to pray for our friends and family back home and be reminded of all who love and support us.

 This is the boys' room. Eli's going to buy or make bunk beds so they'll have more space to play in their room.

 My beautiful orange kitchen. It originally only had a stove top as you can see on the counter but Eli bought us a small oven from a family leaving - just big enough for a 9x13 pan.

 This is the living room. Isaac and Evan have their rest time here every afternoon.

 I discovered a great way to keep Joshua happy for an hour at a time! Basin with bubbles and cold water and he's happy.

This was the amount of dirt I swept up after the giant dust storm we had on our first day here. But I sweep up just about this much every day.

Settling into our new home in Sudan

 Bethany and the boys in front of our new home.
Today is Day #3 in Khartoum. We live in a 3 bedroom apartment/flat on the 2nd floor of this building. It was already furnished and we even have a fridge/freezer, gas stove, and air conditioners in the bedromoms! We are very thankful. I have been unpacking like crazy and everything is out of trunks and already set up. Now it's starting to feel like home.

 Views from our balcony

 Eli and the boys playing soccer in our medan (backyard that we share with about 20 other families)

Lunch time - we love the fresh Sudanese bread

Here we go!

Our flight today is at 5:20 pm. We are so excited and a little nervous too. Please pray for safe travels, smooth interactions at the airport with our visas and luggage, and good settling into our new home. More updates to come...

A Wonderful Weekend with Family

 We got to spend our last weekend in Kenya with family on both sides! We had our niece Anna stay with us for a whole week while her parents were in Burundi. Then Bethany's parents came from Uganda for a special rugby tournament for her brother Stan and they stayed with us for 4 days.

 Jason and Heather returned from Burundi in time to see the end of the tournament and spend a night with us.

 We had a special meal at Java House with Stan before he headed back to Rift Valley Academy for the last 5 weeks of his senior year.

Bethany and her bald bro.

A week with our niece Anna

 We have the joy of spending a week with our 6 year old niece, Anna. While her parents travel to Burundi to get a better idea of where they will be moving in about a year's time, Anna is staying with us. This is day 2 and we're all having a blast. This morning she joined us for school.

 Then of course we had to go for a swim. So far it's becoming a daily thing

 The kids did a great job reading and coloring quietly from 1-3 while we had our last Arabic lesson with our wonderful Sudanese friend, Butrus.

And finished off the day with a good Bible story on the couch.

God really blew us away this week!

This was a big week for us! Not only did God grant us visas for N. Sudan but within the next 3 days we got plane tickets for May 23 and a 3 bedroom apartment secured to be our home for the next year. We are so excited and grateful for our wonderful friends/teammates Jeff and Heather Ladine, who have worked tirelessly the last few months to help us get to Khartoum. We will update you with news of life in Khartoum, the capital city of North Sudan, in only one week's time.

VISAS!

Yes - you guessed it! Today we heard great news from our teammates in Khartoum that our visas have arrived! Thank you to everyone who has been praying and trusting with us that God would provide in His time. We are now buying plane tickets and wrapping up things in Kenya to head back to our beloved Sudan.

A Mama's heart made glad

 I can't express how happy it makes me to hear my boys' voices playing happily outside. I am so grateful that our boys make new friends so easily. Now that we've been here for a full month, their friendships have deepened and no day is a boring day. Thank you Lord!

The Crocodile Farm

Today we had a wonderful Saturday excursion to Mamba Village. We thought it was called Mamba village because they had mamba snakes. But when we arrived we learned that mamba in Kiswahili means "crocodile" so we got to see a TON of crocodiles. First we saw the full grown crocs, then the croc eggs, croc babies, and last we saw the pre-teen crocs. We had our own guide who was full of all kinds of fun info. This was a leopard tortoise that we got to touch and pet.

This is a Kenyan style carousel. The boys loved it.

There was a lot more to do at Mamba village than just see the crocodiles. We also got to see peacocks, rabbits of different kinds, geese, ostrich, and a friendly giraffe named Wanjir. The boys made quick friends with the gentleman who hands out carrots so you can feed Wanjir yourself and they each fed the giraffe about 5 times from their hand.

These are the baby crocodiles and they were all lying out in the warm sun. These ones were about 2-3 feet long.

These were the big guys. Our guide even hopped the fence and started prodding some of them to get reactions out of them! We couldn't believe how brave he is and it sure made us think twice about every swimming in the Nile River knowing that crocs live in it!!!

A bright patch in April

As many of you know, we've been waiting in Kenya for the whole month of April for our visas to go back to Sudan - but this time to North Sudan. It's been a stretching time of "waiting". And as Eli and I have tried to make the most of our time here, one of the BIGGEST gifts God gave is our new friend Butrus. Butrus is from Darfur and had to flee Sudan a few years ago. He spent a lot of time in Khartoum, the capital city, so he's very familiar with the culture, ways of life, food, and of course language. He comes every day from 1-3 pm while our boys have their rest time to teach us Arabic. We decided to start at the very beginning with learning how to read and write in Arabic script. This is no easy task. Arabic has all kinds of crazy and very unfamiliar sounds! And as I'm learning to write in the Arabic script from the right side of the page to left, I feel like my 5 year old son Evan who is just learning how to write his ABC's too. Even as we're slowly learning how to sound out words in Arabic script, it reminds me of a child first learning how to read. You slowly make each sound out loud and after saying it a few times you realize what word it is! :)
Another reason we're enjoying Butrus so much is all the life stories he shares. We try to only speak Arabic when we're together and he's full of many adventures across Sudan, stories of his family and the beautiful land they lived in, but also some very heartwrenching accounts of war, killing and horrible suffering and torture.
     Meeting with Butrus every day reminds us more and more of why we live and work in Sudan. God has put such a love and great compassion in our hearts for the people of Sudan. We have a love we can't explain. God knew we'd grow restless here in Kenya since our hearts are craving to be back in Sudan so he sent us this wonderful new friend to build a friendship with and still have a part of Sudan in our lives.
   We are working hard trying to study whenever we have a free moment. We are so glad we have a chance to recall the Arabic we learned last term and buff it up before we head into North Sudan. We continue to wait on our visas but as Eli keeps reminding me, "It's not a matter of IF, it's a matter of WHEN."

Missing Friends

Isaac in his favorite spot - up in a tree

Evan is close behind

When did Joshua become such a big boy? Is he really almost 3?

Our boys have done a tremendous job adjusting back to life in Africa. There are a lot of differences between life in South Carolina and life in Kenya but thankfully it's a good in-between adjustment before we go to Sudan. There is a lot about Kenya the boys enjoy: lots of trees for climbing, mangoes, and new friends.

But lately they've really started missing the friends they left behind in the States, especially Isaac. At almost 7, it's been the hardest for him. During the past 3 weeks since we arrived in Kenya we've tried to have several skype dates with Isaac and Evan's best friends, our neighbors from Columbia, SC. But each time we try, the internet has problems and we can't get a good connection. This afternoon we tried off and on for almost an hour. By the end, Isaac had melted into a pile of tears saying, "I just want to have 10 minutes to talk to Jesse!"

It broke my heart to see the pains of being an MK begin to affect my little guy. I know them all too well and today I thanked the Lord for my background as an MK because I could tell Isaac I knew exactly how he felt and tell him how God helped me when I missed my friends. We sat down together for a while and I hugged and comforted him as I sent up a prayer asking God to touch my boy's soft heart.

We're so thankful for the wonderful people God brings into our lives as we walk this "journey" He's laid out for us. Unfortunately we spend large portions of time far away from many of you but know that we hold you dear in our hearts and we love you from across the ocean.

Thankful for friends

We are so thankful that April is the month of "no school" here in Kenya so there are other children to play with. Today I brought out some sidewalk chalk and bubbles and the kids had a wonderful time.

They made a beautiful mural in the parking lot and here they posed so proud of their artwork.

Settling in Nairobi until our visas come through

We are now experiencing the very common "headache" that many missionaries have to deal with and that is: VISAS! We are trying every possible option we can to get visas for N. Sudan. Please keep praying for a miracle because we are very eager to begin language school as soon as possible. Once we are more fluent in Arabic, we will be ready to move on to God's next assignment for us somewhere in Sudan. So while we wait in Nairobi, God is challenging me to blossom where I'm planted. So that means no matter how long or short we will be in Kenya, I want to make the most of it. I am back to homeschooling the boys and Eli will begin helping out in our SIM Sudan office here in Nairobi. The greatest joy of being here is the chance to enjoy our sweet friends. In the above picture, I got to spend a lovely Girl's Night with two of my lovely teammates, Amy and Beverly, at a local coffee shop. It is such a joy to walk through life on the missionfield, on the frontlines, with these amazing women.

Thankfully Isaac, Evan, and Joshua have already become re-acquainted with their friends who live in the same compound as our SIM Sudan guesthouse. The boys have been playing a lot of soccer and recently, taught their friends how to play Uno.

A few pics from our conference

A team came from Christ Community Church in TN to lead the worship and provide childcare while we enjoyed the sessions taught by Leigh Robinson, a pastor from South Africa.

From Monday through Friday last week, we relaxed at a beautiful placed called Brackenhurst, in the mountains amidst tea fields, an hour outside of Nairobi. Our entire SIM Sudan team came together to be spiritually renewed and refreshed before continuing our ministries in Sudan.

At the end of the week, the children sang a few songs for the rest of the group and were dressed up like little angels.

The best part for me was hearing testimonies of God's work at each of the bases and how God is using our missionaries in Sudan. There couldn't have been a more inspiring way to start our next term. It was also such a joy to reunite with many of our teammates, who are family, and hear how God's been working in their lives since we left last May.

We had a lovely time of sharing on the last day. This is our group of brothers and sisters sent from North East India. They sang a Hindi song for all of us.

SIM Sudan Spiritual Life Conference 2011

Tomorrow, April 11th, we will get on a bus to head to our annual SIM Sudan conference in the lush tea fields of Limuru, about an hour outside of Nairobi city. We are looking forward to a week of fellowship with our teammates, new vision for these coming years of ministry in Sudan, reports from each base, and beautiful worship led by a team who came from TN to serve our team in this way. We will report back when we return.