Potatoes were everywhere! This is how a lot of people made their living... farming.

Dirt roads... with ditches.... but, the view was absolutely beautiful!

Not too far from the Havilla House. Most walk every where they go.

Street life. Garbage everywhere we looked.

An apartment building right down the road from Havilla. All I could do was to look and take in all that was around me... and thank God for what He has given to me. Often times I felt myself thinking why I am so blessed.

Our flight into Nairobi was a good one and I actually got some good rest. Our whole team made it through immigration fine~same with Ghana~ & the lack of the yellow fever vaccination was never an issue my whole trip. Thank you, God!

I am going to hit on different highlights of my trip now, starting with my favorite... which happened to take place on our first day in Nairobi.

Like I have said in earlier posts, we were blessed to be a host home last November for some girls who were apart of the Daraja Children's Choir. Well, our first stop after getting freshened up

and some food in our bodies was to visit the Havilla House. That is where quite a few of the children from the choir lived. That meant I was going to get to see Mercy, Rahab & Gladys again and love on them again!!! You do not know how

excited I was!! On top of that, our family started sponsoring one of the boys, Denzel, from Daraja

and I was going to get to see him as well. I was jumping out of my skin. Who knew that when I told those girls that one day we would come to Kenya to see them... that it would be within the next 8 months?!

This photo is of Denzel, along with his mom Roz and sister, Cherie and me. I got to meet his family and hang out with them. How cool is that? Denzel has Facebook so we keep in contact with each other pretty regularly now. I had told him the day we were planning to be at Havilla. His mom said he had them up really early that morning to make sure they were there in time to see us. they walked around an hour from their house that morning to be there when we arrived. Both his mom and sister told me over & over again how grateful they were for me and my family to help Denzel out with his schooling fees etc. I was the one that was so blessed that day!

Here is a picture of the new Havilla Home. Everyone there was so very excited to show us around their new house. It had just been completed 2 weeks before we got th

ere. We drove right by the place they used to live... for them, this new home is a major answer to prayer!

This here is a picture of part of the side yard there at Havilla. They have their own cows, chickens, rabbits and goats. Speaking of goats... we got in on a goat being slaughtered. FUN STUFF! We saw him running around the yard earlier that afternoon... and hung upside down later in the afternoon :( I believe there are around 45 +/- children living there at the home. They all pitch in with chores- meals preparations, laundry, animal care and caring for the younger children. A new building is underway right now that will be an all purpose type of structure for classes/eating/ playroom. It was nice to be able to see where Gladys and Rahab live.

kenya on my mind

who knew that still after 5 months that i would be revisiting kenya every week and sometimes daily, in my mind. my experience and time spent on kenyan soil left an impact on my life forever. i will go back one day, but until then... i have captured moments in my brain that i hope to never, ever lose.... feelings and fond memories of the dusty roads in karima. so many ranges of emotions on my journey 2 kenya. the anticipation of the trip covered in prayer with a thankful heart to get over and beyond what i needed in form of monies to make it even possible. it was such a blessing and encouragement to me to see friends and family pour out and give of what was theirs so that i could be the hands and feet of Jesus in a distant land. i knew God was all over it right from the start. i honestly did not doubt the fact that i needed to go. simply put. God had a plan for me there.... and i think he is still working on that plan, quite honestly, even with it being 5.5 months ago.

i am going to start trying to recollect some things from my trip with the help of my journal i kept while i was gone. some of you have waited a LONG time to read and hear about my time spent in kenya this past summer, so here you are :) enjoy it!

the LONG trip started early the morning of july 9th with our flight from charlotte to atlanta. i would say about a week or two before leaving i started feeling anxious about actually going. i think it had more to do with me leaving my family back home. i knew victor would be just fine and new my kids were in great hands with him as well as his parents who came in for the time while i was gone. i had never been apart from them for that long... ever! it was hard to say good-bye to them at the airport that morning. yup... tears were had! and not the only ones on that trip, that's for sure! our first leg of the trip was to atlanta where we met up with the rest of our team. we had 9 of us coming from charlotte, several from atlanta, some from alabama and some from texas even & all together we had 21 team members. we thought we were leaving from atlanta to head to ghana, but they stuck in a detour to ny first! we caught our 9 1/2 hr. flight out to ghana. we then had about a 10 hr layover there. i actually had one of my favorite meals in that airport which was jollaf & chicken, a spicy rice and chicken dish...yum! our flight was bumped an hour or two due to president obama and his family landing at that airport. we had to wait around until airforce one was unloaded and the president was safely on his way to his destination. pretty cool, i guess. we just were anxious to get on with our trip though... tired of being in the airport. we were finally able to board our flight to our final destination: nairobi, kenya. all in all, the flights there were really good. we did have a few gliches with boarding and seating etc, but we were greeted with such warmth & big smiles in nairobi.... made the trip worth it!

stay tune for day 3..... coming soon, i promise!

i am home

i know lots of you are anxious to hear about my trip. amazingly enough i feel like i don't have much to say. i mean, i do, but.... i am still processing thoughts and making sense of what i experienced. in a sense i feel dumb founded. my experience was amazing and i most likely will not have this same experience again. we took in so many things in so few days. my thoughts seem so random in my brain. our team was amazing.... coming from all over the place too. we had some members from alabama, georgia, texas, south carolina, ny and north carolina. God knew what he was doing when he pulled all the parts together. we did not have any conflicts amoung our group, which to me is amazing. our leader, jennifer was truelly a woman of God. you never really saw her get flustered (well, maybe that time in ny in the airport :))... but she had every good reason to be that way that time! we were joined by her husband once arriving in nairbi and the two of them together make a great pair :)

i will start off by telling you my favorite day of the trip was the day we visited the havilla house. this was our first stop (after showering) once in nairobi. it was about a 45 minute drive. let me tell you that one must be a very offensive driver to drive the streets there. it felt like anything goes there. cars going in all directions at all different speeds. there were cars and people in the road. they drive on the opposite side of the street as us so that was a bit confusing. we would be stopped in a traffic jam and having street vendors coming up to our windows trying to sell us anything and everything under the sun. they were not lazy. we made our way to the havilla house and were greeted by open arms. i was blessed to be able to hug denzel, mercy, rahab and gladys. all four of them were there :) it was so cool to be able to see them all again and to be in their native land... where they live and do life. i was introduced to denzel's mom and sister, cherie and got to talk with them and get to know them a bit. we got to tour the new house that they had just moved into two weeks prior to our arrival and they were all soooo proud of their new place. we got loved on, hair braided, and sung to. they blessed us again... by thier huge smiles and hearts for God. we got to meet moses and silome thier parents that have taken them in. i believe they have 45 children who live there now. we got to help them with some chores... chopping lettuce for dinner and getting some feed together for the cows. we did not partake in this next act, but lucky us got to experience the slaughter of a goat. got pictures/video to prove it! that goat was just given a name by emma... beckett... after her son. she did not realize the fate of that goat. poor beckett!

i continued to reflect on my time at havilla the whole trip i was there. we would listen to the daraja children's choir cd in the bus going on our many many trips to karima. i had been so emotional about a week leading up to the trip and then going into our journey and trying to process everything my eyes were seeing as i looked around. it was really hard for me. i started not feeling well going into the 3rd day there (which was the beginning of the time IN africa). by day 6/7 i was tired of being sick and noticed that i just wasn't being "moved" by anything. with the cancellation of our saturday home flight we added an extra day in karima, so we started off thursday by getting packed up at the hotel. we would be heading to karima to make a home visit or two and visit a clinic that was built in a close community by another 410 team. on the trip there the daraja cd was popped in and i started singing along with the cd and listening to the voices of last years choir (which included denzel, mercy, rahab and gladys) and my emotions came back full force. i was looking out the window and taking in the landscape and the people of kenya as they passed by my window and all i wanted to do was go back to the havilla house and pack each of those kids in my suitcase and tell them they can't breath till we get back to the states.... to what i see as a much better place for them to live. i was trying to make sense of thier faith... the God they were singing about in those songs... and still they had joy that lit up thier whole life despite thier circumstances that life has thrown at them. it is still overwhelming. very overwhelming and i have yet to make sense of it. those of you who have that cd, EVERY thing that jeff foxworthy says is true of that place. no one should have to live in such circumstances. WE are blessed here by soooo much. they have soooo little, but the smiles on thier faces and in thier hearts are genuine, because of the love and faith in God. i cried the whole cd. i will be praying extra hard for denzel and his family, mercy, rahab and gladys! and also for myself, that God will continue to show me things he wants me to see and learn from my time with those precious people.

african soil

just wanted to let you know we are now in africa... ghana. we head out in a couple hours for nairobi. pray for some restful sleep. our flight from nycity ( a new leg of the trip we did not know about) was a long one without much sleep. well.... not sure when and if i can get back on... just wanted to let you know that i landed on african soil safely. love to all!

Extra day in Kenya!!!

We got news on monday nite that our flight from nairobi to dubia on our return was cancelled!!! we are now getting to spend an extra day in kenya. 410 has been working diligently to move things around and find new flights and we are confirmed on the same flight on our return except we return sunday morning instead of saturday morning. this means for us that we will either get to have an extra day in karima or an extra day at the havilla house.... either way, it will be an extra blessing.

have been enjoying my last day before i leave... victor took the afternoon off so we did a few last minute errands and went to micky d with the kids and to tar-jay and now we are home for the rest of the evening. i have to double check my bags... and try to "rest" as much as i can. adrenaline may be my medicine for the next couple days :) we are off to the airport around 3:45 a.m. to be there by the check-in before 5! fun fun. all the kiddos are coming... gotta see momma off and give lots last minutes loves. pumping myself up here... it will all be good, i know. maybe a little rough, but good rough! till i return......

3 more days!

a lot of emotions are happening right now in me.  i am so very excited to do some traveling! some friendships with some team members have become stronger because of it and i am glad :)  i am excited to meet new people and see new things.  i know my eyes will be opened up to A LOT!!!  i have been on a few missions trips before in the past, the last one being to romania.  we saw quite a bit there on our journey.  u definitely come back changed.  i am expecting to come back different.  my husband nows i will come back different. my kids might be in for a rude awakening but they will soon see that momma has come back changed... and hopefully for the better! i hope that one day i can share such an experience WITH them and my husband. i have a feeling that this is just the beginning of a new and good thing in my life.

while we are there we will get a lot of time with the people of karima.  we will get some one on one time and group time and hopefully a lot of time with the kids there.  i will want to see how many i can cram into my suitcase, i am sure.  not sure if that will work, but if it did i would do it in a heart beat!!!  "hey baby... i brought home some living and breathing souvenirs :)"

they have asked us to have a verse to share when we introduce ourselves to the community.  so, i have thought about it and decided to use my "life verse" that i have fallen back on more times than not.  it is a powerful truth and sometimes i forget to tap into that strength that is always at my fingertips to use.  crazy why i don't, but anyway here it is:

Isaiah 40:28-31 

       Do you not know? 
       Have you not heard? 
       The LORD is the everlasting God, 
       the Creator of the ends of the earth. 
       He will not grow tired or weary, 
       and his understanding no one can fathom.

    He gives strength to the weary 
       and increases the power of the weak.

   Even youths grow tired and weary, 
       and young men stumble and fall;

    but those who hope in the LORD 
       will renew their strength. 
       They will soar on wings like eagles; 
       they will run and not grow weary, 
       they will walk and not be faint.

i know i will be tapping into it while i am away. i am going to try my hardest to make it daily!  why don't you do that too?

please pray for me while i am on my journey.  our itinerary has changed a bit as far as the travel goes.  i will be leaving charlotte on thursday morning at 7 and getting into atlanta alittle after 8.  we leave around 12:30 p.m. from atlanta for ghana.  we will be there at 8:30 a.m. on friday morning(they are 4 hours ahead of us... so that would be at 4:30 a.m. our time).  how many hours in the air is that???  14... WOW!  we then have a 12 hour layover there in ghana... flight leaving at 8:50 p.m. (4:50 p.m. here in charlotte).  we arrive in nairobi at 5:30 a.m. which is on saturday morning.  nairobi is 7 hours ahead of us here in charlotte( 10:30 p.m. friday nite).  i have a feeling we will be running on adrenaline at this point :)  

also, please keep me in mind and in your prayers personally.  i have been to other countries before, but at that time i was neither married nor had children.  i have been dealing with some separation anxiety for well over a week now and it is exhausting and i haven't even left yet!  i need to tap into that power that God has for me, right? :)  i know i will be balling when i say good-bye.  probably will ball when i return too!  pray that my kids are comforted as well as victor while i am gone.  thankfully, his parents will be coming in on thursday afternoon.  my parents and brothers family are in town too, so i am sure he will have all the help he needs. he has been so good to me with letting me go.  it wasn't even a question in his mind at all as to whether or not i should go.  i would have loved for both of us to go, but knowing that he will be home with our children while i am away is comfort in itself.  i love you, victor!  i love you eden, shea and abel too :)

i am not sure if i will get to write anymore before i go, but please take a look at the itinerary for each day and if you would like specifics to pray for me on a certain day that should help you out.  thanks to each of you for making this possible!  i told the girls that i had staying with us back in november that i would come and see them "one day".... and who knew i would be just days away from that.  i will be sure to post some pics and stories when i return.  we do not have internet access while we are there so i am leaving my computer at home.  i am taking a journal with me, so i am sure you will get to hear excerpts from that.   love you all~ beth