New Friends

Here are some new friends that are having a big impact on us. 

We'd love for you to meet them.

 This is Mensye.

He is a precious soul. Mensye founded an organization for orphan children. 

He works in a local school. 

And he's our language teacher. 

He comes over twice a week to teach us Kinyarwanda. 

He also plays with our kiddos - always a good time.

Mensye was only 7 during the genocide and lost many of his family members. He's been through a difficult life, but his heart is huge, his smile is infectious, and he gives the glory to God.

 And this is Ritah. She is our nanny, cook and house keeper.

We don't know what we'd do without Ritah. She helps keep our household running smoothly and treats our little Presley with gentleness. She has a beautiful 2 year old daughter of her own in Uganda, but she is sacrificing for her family by working in Rwanda. Ritah laughs easily, works hard, has a humble spirit, and is trustworthy. She likes to attend weekly Bible studies, loves Jesus and is fun to be around. She even comes on Saturdays and does some of our shopping.  This last week was difficult for Ritah - she came down with Malaria (Don't worry. We think she got it on a recent trip back home.) She handles sickness with such grace! Thanks be to God, she is better now.

New Puppy

WAG is a local dog rescue.

We had our eye on a pup, but he didn't make it through a sudden outbreak of Parvo.

 But this little girl survived and won our hearts.

 Isn't she cute?

 She started out very timid. Maybe even terrified. 

This is Wyatt trying to get to her.

 She began warming up to us in no time.

 

 After much brainstorming, researching, and consulting our friends who speak Kinyarwanda, 

we finally decided on...

Keza (kay-zah)

 

(Keza means "good")

Football!

In Africa, like most parts of the world, soccer is called football.

Afton is on the KICS football team. This is an away game at Star School.

 

Can you read the welcome message they wrote in the dirt?

(WELCOME TO STAR SCHOOL)

  

 Getting ready.

                   

  Stretching.

   The cross bar of the goal only had an impact on the score a couple of times.

 Lots of people came out to watch game...

 students from Star School

 

                                                         and viewers who live nearby.

Where else do you put your sweater when you get too warm? 

On the sidelines, another game was going on -
Mabigabi

School girls in Rwanda spend a lot of their free time playing this game.
They let us join in, but it was tricky to understand.
When the two girls stop jumping, if they land on opposite legs, the girl in the center continues.
If they land on the same side, the outside girl moves to the middle and gets to play again.

 We played hard, but did not win the game.

Game over. Time for mingling.

the Thief

It's been a tough week.

Wyatt missed school all week, due to sickness.

On Tuesday, our gate was left unlocked. An intruder opened the gate, opened the front door  and walked into the living room where our Wyatt was trying to rest.

As he gathered up our laptop and its charger, Wyatt asked what he was doing.

"I'm keeping it" he said, and walked out with Wyatt's backpack.

Wyatt called for help and our worker ran out into the street, asking if anyone had seen anything.

No one was willing to help.

Infuriating

Irritating

Confusing

Violating

Aggrevating

the list goes on.

But, no one was hurt.

Thank you, Jesus!

And many friends came to help and encourage us.

Thank you, Father.

And now, our boy is well again AND has a new backpack for school. Here he is...

 Love this kid.

^"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; 

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10

Lake Kivu

The KICS staff retreat at Lake Kivu was our first adventure out of Kigali.

Africa definitely broke us in. Read on to hear more.

The van with kids is ready to roll out.

         

       A few sights along the way

First stop - Nyanza

(The King's Palace)

 There are 3 replica huts... one for the virgin milk maid, one for the king, 

and one for the boy who tested the beer.

The original palace of the king had about 20 different huts.

It was nice and cool in the king's hut. Those layers of grass really block out the heat.

The king's cows are specially bred.
This cowboy entertained us with his cowboy call.

Everybody hold still.

This is the "modern" palace for the king. 

It was build by the Belgians who took control of Rwanda for a time.
Side note: there is currently no king of Rwanda.

 After our stop at Nyanza, we were off to Kibuye.

 From our hotel, we took some boats out for an afternoon adventure.

 Michal was happy.

Presley and Afton were happy.

Poor little Wyatt was not feeling well.

If you look hard enough, you might make out land in the distance.
This is the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Our first stop - Napolean's Hat Island,
based on its shape.









 




It's other name is Bat Island,
for obvious reasons.

 

We left our little ones on the shore with a few friends
and took the older kids on a hike up the mountain.

 Michal took off, but Afton was pretty hesitant...
earth that slips beneath your feet,
steep inclines, and of course, BATS.

He was a trooper. With a lot of encouragement, he kept climbing.

 .

We stopped near the top to catch the view.

 

 

  Nearly there.

 Look who made it to the top!
Michal had a great time and Afton conquered some fear today.
This experience was so cool.
All of you who have seen Afton struggle with sensory challenges would have been so proud of him!

 



 Taking a break at the top...



before we head back down

The trek down was a little intimidating.

Meanwhile at the shore.. 

Crazy girls.

Our next stop - Peace Island. 

We heard there was a 

monkey on this island, but we couldn't find it.
Some from our group thought it was a trick or that the monkey had been long gone.

.

 It's no monkey, but we found this poisonous guy.


We began loading into the boats, a bit disappointed when...

the monkey came out to say goodbye! Perfect timing.

On the way back to the lodge.
Our Lake Kivu adventure was a great way to spend the afternoon.

For the first night, our family stayed in "the apartment". It sounds neat, but, in reality, it was infested with mosquitos and did not have adequate nets. Aside from the incredibly uncomfortable beds, water that ran out mid-shower, and cockroaches we had to sweep ourselves, we managed to get a little rest.

 

By morning, every member of our family had hundreds of mosquito bites. Poor Wyatt had them all over his face. Thankfully, we got to spend our second night in a VIP room. Ah... sweet relief.

Despite the accommodations, our retreat was somewhat restorative. We had great worship with our staff and encouraging time in the Word with Chris Shelby.

Here's hoping for another family adventure where nobody's sick and the mosquitoes aren't biting.