Water Cycle by First Grade

MR. SUN SUN-----MR. GOLDEN SUN-----PLEASE SHINE DOWN ON ME

Being gathered up into the sky!

Cute little rain drops!

(Director Kayla)

Cute sunshine...collecting up the rain drops!

It is hard getting a group picture with everyone looking!

My class has been learning about the water cycle in class. We have also been working on oral reading so...I mixed the two and we did a small skit on the water cycle. Most of the kids were water drops and then there was also a sunshine. They really got excited about it and the parents came and watched. GOOD TIMES TEACHING FIRST GRADE!!!

SOCCER!

Soccer Game!!!

Our friend works for Ambassadors in Sport and plays for a team here in Nairobi called World Hope. We have been able to go to a few of his games! They are always a fun experience! This was his last game as he will be going back to the US to do a little fund raising for a new project they are working on. The team won...which was AWESOME! GOOD TIMES!!!

Ethiopian

I tried the boiled egg for the first time and enjoyed it. But my favorite are the vegetables on the right side and the meat on the bottom. GOOD STUFF!!!

Some friends that went to dinner with us. Big groups are good to share Ethiopian food with. It helps to have a large variety! :)

Craig has learned to really like it. Actually I think it would be best to say that I have learned to like it. The first time I had it I said, "NEVER AGAIN!" But now I actually enjoy it. I think Craig liked it from the beginning!

Crazy Kids

We got our class pictures back from the company and this was the one I got to keep! So great! Some fond memories with these kids...but this shows it best! Gotta love them!!! Unfortunately I missed out on the first grade picture, but I am sure it would have been just as crazy...
if not more! :)

Wedding Shower

This weekend some of the moms of my first graders had a wedding shower for me. It was a pretty far distance from town so it was nice that so many people were able to make it. I was humbled to see both new and old students, as well as, some families that I have never even taught their children. It was a very special time of sharing and prayer and of course...good food!

They blessed Craig and I with some awesome Kenyan gifts! :)

Of course we had to play some silly games.

Above are some of the parents who attended. And below are some of the high school students.

What a blessing and encouragement the whole day was. It was so great to hear the encouragement and advice that these amazing women and girls had for Craig and I. I was truly blessed!

Lake Nakuru National Park

Safari...

Craig and I just got back from a short trip to Lake Nakuru. We had lots of fun and saw lots of animals...we will post pictures soon. They are just so big so we have to make them smaller and then will upload them! COMING SOON!!!

SLOBBER TRIP :)

BIG KISSES...not sure what else to say. But he did let the giraffe eat out of his mouth/off his face about 3 more times. I guess he life giraffes! :)

So...here is the story. Craig and I went with Daylan and her parents to the Elephant and Rhino orphanage. They find the animals in the reserves and places, that have been abandoned or injured and they help them live. So, we were visiting and watching and just enjoying and of course taking lots of pictures. So, we were posing for the next picture and all of a sudden I hear this elephant running (and my back is turned) and then I hear the elephant keeper guy start running...so I freaked out...and this was the picture we got. As you can see he was going for the guy next to us, who was squatting down (BIG NO NO). We were not attacked...but I did freak out a bit! HA! GOOD TIMES!

Easter Wedding

This is one of the teacher's from our school who got married this weekend.
It was very beautiful!

Here is the happy couple after they were announced!

We were practicing taking pictures...ha!

We got better! It was a fun cultural experience.

1st place after all!!!

After a long season of soccer games and tournaments...yesterday the league finals were announced. WNS girl's soccer won 1st place in our league. We did not even know until we showed up at the awards ceremony so it was quite exciting! Not only that, but we were also awarded the sportsmanship award. This was especially exciting to me! I mean last semester we got the sportsmanship awards and I was so proud of the kids...but they did not have a very good record. But to beat everyone and still get the sportsmanship award, was really exciting! I am so proud of the girls!!! The boys' basketball team got 2nd place in the league. It was a good sports season...maybe because of our excellent new Athletic Director ;)

Team pictures at last!

They were pretty excited to make into the final game...they worked SO hard all day!!!

The boys' MS team accepting their first place award!!! They were REALLY excited!!!

Accepting our 2nd place award...we were excited!!!

Here is our team of middle school girls that worked so hard! It was a beautiful sunny day!

Another 2nd Place

With the size of our soccer team this year we were able to fit into to leagues. We had a junior varsity team as well as a middle school team. Earlier in the season we took the JV team to a tournament and got 2nd place. It was an awesome day and the girls worked hard. On Saturday we took our MS teams to another tournament. Last year the boys' basketball team got 2nd place but this year they were able to get 1st. They played well all day and it was fun to watch their games in between ours. Not only did they do well...but so did our team. Last year we placed 9th out of 9 teams :( OUCH! But this year we were able to get 2nd place. We missed 1st place in a shoot out that went to 8 people shooting. It was a close game the whole way. The girls did AMAZING and it was so fun!
....I will try and add pictures soon...internet is SLOW today! :( TIA!!!

One year of love...many more to come!!!

Craig and I celebrated our 1 year of dating on Feb. 28th (Brookie's Birthday). Probably the only time we will ever celebrate our "dating" anniversary, but it was a nice night out. He surprised me with 20 AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL white and yellow roses. Thanks baby! It was a special day for us...LOTS MORE TO COME!!!

LONGONOT TOGETHER!!!

After my many hikes up Mt. Longonot Craig and I finally got to do it together. It was great to finally get to share the time together. We were able to hike up last Sunday with some friends. Now that Kenya is really headed in the direction of peace (PRAISE THE LORD) we are able to get out of the city again, we are enjoying it! Thanks for all the prayers!!!

2-1-1

The Junior Varsity girls' soccer team that I have been a part of coaching this semester is off to a good start. Last year I think our record was about 0-7. So it is exciting to have TWO WINS IN A ROW!!!! The girls are really learning a lot, not only about soccer, but about team work and trusting each other to play their position on the field. Good life lessons mixed in. Of course we always encourage the girls to be a good example of Christ through all of our games. It has been really fun...two more games next week. We will see how they go!

Check out my Slide Show!

Story of the tournament...

Today we had a soccer tournament at Brookhouse school. There were 8 teams involved. We were split into two separate pools and we played the first game. The girls started off a bit sleepy but they worked hard. The team we played against appeared like they were not going to be that good (did not really have uniforms, some in pants, some with hats…things like that) but they ended up doing really well. The first game ended 1-1 and we knew we were going to have to work hard. We rested one game and then played the next which we won 1-0. YEA! We rested another one and played again and won that on 2-0…YEA YEA! After the games for our pool finished it ended up that we tied with the first team we had played (with points) so we had to have a shoot out. WE WON THE SHOOT OUT! Which put us directly into the semi finals. We waited one game and then played our fourth game winning 3-0. This then put us into the FINAL game. The girls played hard the whole game….1 minute left and the referee called hand ball in front of the goal (TOTALLY WAS NOT A HAND BALL…EVEN THE OTHER COACH SAID SO). So, they get a free kick….shoot…and our goalie blocked the goal and caught it. WE REJOICE! Referee blows his whistle and calls a re-kick. He had not blown his whistle before the penalty (HIS FAULT) and the girl kicked too soon (THEIR FAULT). So, they got a re kick and scored on the second one. 30 seconds left in the game….we pushed our whole team up the field and attacked hard…but unfortunately were not able to score. It was sad end to an AWESOME day. The girls ended up in 2^nd which was more than we hoped for. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had a lot of fun! YEA YEA YEA! Much better than 7^th place like last year! HA! We have all learned a lot since then…thankfully!

Girl's Soccer Tournament...WHAT A FUN DAY!

Hanging out between games. Trying to find some shade!

Some of the boys came to support the girls also...they had lots of coaching advice too. They are all very good kids!!!

Little bit of coaching during our semi final game.

Our AWESOME Athletic Director came to support the team!!!

Accepting their awards for 2nd place.

We were excited that the day had ended well!!! So proud of those girls!

Crazy Hair Day