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

CRAZY HAPPENINGS IN FIRST GRADE....

The boys making a "big A"

The girls' practicing how to make a "little b"

searching for living things...

she found some :)

They have clay to play with when they get done with their work...just keeps them occupied and in their seat for a bit longer...messy but so GREAT!

working together on a Bible project...they are good friends :)

working on drawing out the story of the paralyzed man who was healed...they like artistic things

Best looking PE teacher!!! :)

Here is a little bit of what Craig's new job includes...teaching MS boys' PE. I must say I was definitely ok with passing that class off to him! :)

Explaining what happened during the play...and why he is out. Good job teach!

Making sure everything is going as planned!

Little bit of sunshine on rough days...

Pray for Craigo....

Please pray for Craig as he recovers from malaria. He is feeling much better but the last few days have been pretty rough. Things in Kenya continue to be unstable. Please pray for the administration at our school to know what is best for the safety of the children. God is at work...I am sure of it!

Still uneasy..

Just wanting to remind you all to please continue to pray for Kenya and reconciliation and peace. Today at school we had to keep the kids longer than usual due to rallies and violence on the road. Thankfully it clear up quickly and we were not delayed too much. However sports games and practices were canceled. There are going to be rallies again tomorrow possible. KEEP PRAYING!

Getting Ready for the Kids to Come

Writing out the name tags for the kids' desks.

Craig getting the desks ready to stick the name tags on.

Magnetic letters have LOTS of uses..not sure what the kids will think :)

Daylan helping to get the bulletin boards ready!

WELCOME TO FIRST GRADE!

First day of first grade...FOR ME!

Here are a few pictures of the first day back to school. It was a short (1/2 day) on Tuesday and then school was canceled Wed, Thur and Friday so I am excited to start back on Monday. I know it is going to be a fun semester...LOTS OF ENERGY!!! I could use the prayers!

School Canceled

Kenyan Parliament House opened yesterday. Due to this, there are scheduled rallies all over Kenya for today (Wednesday), Thursday and Friday. Schools have been canceled all over the country.
Yesterday, was our first day of school. It went really well and was really fun! I will post pictures soon!
Thanks for your prayers!

Vacation in ZANZIBAR

For my family....

So, I have lots of great beach pictures that I would love to share with you....HOWEVER I am holding them ransom until I get to see some Christmas pictures! HA!!!

Hanging out on the beach...

Back in Nairobi

The flight from Dar Salaam to Nairobi went well today. Besides a flat tire in the taxi on the way to the air port things went well. I must say that a 1 1/2 hour flight was A LOT better than the 16 hours on the bus! MUCH EASIER!!! The taxi ride from the air port to home went really well and the roads were calm. Definitely a heavy presence of police along the ride, but things were fine. Thank you all for prayers. At this point we are just going to lay low at home for awhile and hope that things will pass. Rumors are that rallies could pop up at any time and possible road blocks at any point. NO THANK YOU! I will keep in touch as I can.

Our vacation was really fun and relaxing. Unfortunately it didn't really end the way we had hoped for and now we are need a vacation from our vacation. Between staying three extra nights and having to fly instead things ended up a little crazy, but now we are home and tan! :) Zanzibar is beautiful!

Still unsettled...

Just a quick update. Currently we are still in Stone Town of Zanzibar. This afternoon we will take the ferry to the mainland and stay there for the evening. We hope to catch a flight in Nairobi some time tomorrow. Our original plan was to take the bus, however the bus is not running at this point and not sure when they will start up again. Our holiday finances are getting low and our skin has had enough sun. It is hard to know what the best thing to do is. We will stock up on food while we are in TZ to bring back with us. We plan to just stay in the airport in Nairobi until things are clear enough to go home. Please keep us all in your prayers! I know that some schools have already delayed their starting date, unsure of what our school will do. We are supposed to resume on the 15th (I think). At this point it is hard to think about things like that. It is hard to think that when we go "home" things will not be normal. TIA...is all we can say! If you don't know what that means then you need to take a trip to Africa...you will understand quickly! God bless and thanks for the continued prayers!

SAFE...but please pray!

Not sure if you have seen on the news or not but Kenya is having a lot of political unrest at this time. Currently Craig and I and three of our friends (other teachers) are in Tanzania. The situation has not affected us, but we would like to get home at some point :) Please be praying for the safety of our co workers and students in Nairobi. A lot of them have not been able to leave their houses for about a week now. I will keep you up to date as we learn more. We plan on arriving back in Nairobi on the 4th. please keep us in your prayers!

WE ARE ENGAGED!!!

Here we are just after it happened. As you can tell I am still a bit in shock! What a perfect Christmas Eve!!!

This is where it happened...what a beautiful place for a special moment!

OH WOW OH WOW OH WOW...this is MY RING that I get to wear for the rest of my life!!! :)