Wyatt is 7!

This sweet guy woke up early on his birthday to gather and wrap gifts for his siblings. 

Who does that??

And he was so excited to surprise everyone by decorating the house.

He received his first nerf-like shot gun and a wooden airplane.

Wyatt has always amazed us with his unique way of describing things, almost as if he has a special connection with our Creator.

Our favorite example is the day he was blowing on his cereal and got milk all over his face. 

"I wonder if God got his face messy when he parted the Red Sea," he said.

This boy has stolen our hearts.

Happy birthday, buddy.

Christmas Day

One of our family traditions is giving our kids an ornament to open on Christmas Eve.

This year's find... giant paper bead baubles.

Christmas Eve service at Christ's Church Rwanda

Christmas morning at home

Gifts

Hugs

 Nana's Books

Cookies

Christmas festivities at the Koonce's with Africa Transformation Network

These people have become a second family for us. 

The ache of being away from family back home is always there, but God provides.

And what did they give away? We had a school-wide effort to bless the people at a local girls' home with food and cooking pots. 

Our kids were able to provide porridge, rice, and indigara (small dried fish). Those fish are pretty smelly, but they do a good job of filling bellies.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Christmas Party with our Staff

We are so blessed to have a wonderful staff of people who help make our household run smoothly. 

Ritah manages the house, cooks our dinners and cares for Presley when she's not at school.

Faustin is our day guard who maintains the yard and helps with cleaning.

Patrice is our night guard who tends the garden. 

At his last house, even the fence he made sprouted. 

Fils helps out on some Saturdays with whatever work we need.

It kind of sounds luxurious to have so many people working for us. 

I guess it is, but without these people, we don't know how we could live life here. 

For Christmas, we wanted to throw our staff a party where we would cook and clean and they would enjoy the food and company. Patrice was able to bring his family of 6 and Fils got to bring his little son. Ritah and Faustin also attended.

a few gifts

a doll for Ritah's daughter

Patrice giving a speech in Kinyarwanda

the meal

To end the night with fun...

Wii Dance.

We are so thankful for reliable workers who bless our home every day.

Baby Shower - Rwandan Style

Coach Jeph and his wife Esperance became parents this year.

We decided to throw them a baby shower - Rwandan Style, with a western twist.

In a traditional Guhembe Umubyeyi, friends parade into the couple's home with gifts to bless the parents and baby... mostly food, like porridge for a nursing mother, beans, sugar and a

LIVE CHICKEN.

I was officially heading up this baby event, so my sister Becky and I headed to the market on the day of the shower to buy gifts, including INHOKO (the chicken). When the chicken guys at the market found out we wanted to buy one, you'd better believe they wanted to sell us six or seven. We settled on a feathery friend at a reasonable price. Then they tied its legs together and put it in our bag. Once back at the car, the chicken was placed in a box for the remainder of our trip. We made one final stop at a store near our school and when we got back to the car...  

the CHICKEN WAS FREE, 

inside the car.

The smiling parking attendant was kind enough to catch it for us and get it back in the box.

Once at school, the chicken was very well behaved and mostly pecked around near the front gate until the school day was over.

PARTY TIME!

To do this event well, we wanted to follow traditional customs, 

so we started with the crates of FANTA

Followed by IGITOKI (bananas that you cook)

Next came 

INHOKO

(you've already met her).

Then, BASKETS of porridge, milk, other food and soap.

                                              After that came other gifts and party snacks.

Once we were in the house I realized that 

ALL of the gifts had been put away in a back room.

"NO NO NO." 
"how did this happen?" I'm asking myself.

the Western Twist comes in now - 

"WE WANT TO SEE YOU OPEN YOUR GIFTS!"

So, we brought everything back out.

We had a prayer of blessing, led by our Director.

Then, a brief welcome...

MURAKOZE

thank you

NITWA MELIA

I am Melia

TURI UMURYANGO WA KICS

we are KICS family 

WE ARE SO HAPPY TO HONOR BABY JOSHUA GWIZA.

THANK YOU FOR WELCOMING US TODAY.

In keeping with the custom, we gave an envelope of money directly to the baby. 

Then, we started eating snacks and opening those gifts.

The parents were excited and so very gracious.

mobile of fabric animals

Our Rwandan celebration with an American flair was a success.

I guess the meshing of two (or more) worlds is where we find ourselves most of the time.

Isn't it always a challenge to meet the deadlines and experience the realities of our physical world and at the same time remember, honor and live out the realities of the spiritual realm as well?

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness." ~ 2 Peter 1:3

Joshua Gwiza, we are so glad you're here!