Coffee with Christine

I had a wonderful time speaking at the WOW (Widows and Orphans of the World) conference last week. Before I go to that, let me finish with the pics of Mt Kenya.... These are Rock Hyraxes and they are supposedly distant relatives of the elephants!! I think, if they are truly related to the elephants, it must be quite a distant away :-)) Can you see the peak of the mountain between the clouds? Mt Kenya! Bush pig...Vickie loves ALL animals... Vickie named this baby buffalo, Babu! Hybrid of zebra and horse, Kathryn calls them Zorse~ I think they look mostly like horses except for the stripes Speedy, the turtle, giving free rides!!! We were told that he can carry up to 300lbs. Our favorite monkeys...all three of them :-)) There is a brick wall with the names of the donors to the orphanage...this is not our Kathryn's brick but she thought it was cool to take a pic of it anyways! I love the expression of Kathryn's face in this picture. She suddenly look like her two year old self...

Here we are finally at Mt Kenya, at the animal orphanage. Vickie feeding the crown crane This is a Bongo, it is an endangered animal. This orphanage was started as an effort to protect this unusual animal. The stripes on their bodies makes them very special and vulnerable as you can imagine how beautiful that piece of "rug" would be... Feeding the ostrich, Patricia...she pecks hard! Porcupine. ..we were told this kind does not shoot their needles...phew.. This tortoise is at least 100 years old and can live up to 300 years old. His name is Speedy - appropriate, don't you think? At the entrance of the orphanage...sorry my pictures are not in any particular order!! Some kind of wild cat, with special looking ears.. me and my roomate! this monkey is still a baby, I think he is 6 months old.. We didn't realise that Mt Kenya is at 7000 ft above see level. It got cold when we were there. A quaint little chapel. me and my pastor :-)) father and daughter, look at the way they...

Tony was invited to preach at one of our HIM (Harvesters Inst. of Min - the layman Bible school we pioneered) alumni, Stephen Wanyoike's church. It was almost an hour away but it was so worth it for us to see how he his church has grown and out of this "little" church, he started another 27 churches! He is in his 70s! Still expanding and building the congregation this is how dry the area has been, we have not had good rains for a long time...years, I think my favorite Pastor with Stephen and his wife. Early this month, Tony also preached at Nairobi Pentecostal Church, Parklands. He speaks regularly in this church. This is a strong, dynamic and vibrant church. We always enjoy their services, especially when my favorite preacher is preaching :-)) My goofballs! On our way to Mt Kenya! We took a wrong turn on our way there and had to get gas AND directions!! We saw this hotel sign on our way there - it even has the signature green!! Our destination! This time of the year,...

While we face many challenges here in the missions field, we also reap many blessings. One of the biggest blessing to us is the great school that the girls attend : Rosslyn Academy. It started many years ago as a missionary school to cater for the needs of the missionaries' kids. The school has since grown and it is now one of the best schools here in Nairobi. We are very grateful for the quality education that our girls are getting. One of the highlight of the school year is CFS (Cultural Field Studies). The kids get to camp out someplace in the country to learn more about the country they live in. This year, the 7th graders went to Elsamere Park and Crescent Island. You can tell from the photos that they had a great time! They visited a local school and played soccer with the kids. Sports is such great way for kids to get together! These are dung critters..having a feast, I suppose....eewwwww... Miss Gac, she's a great teacher and Vickie loves her! She taught Kathryn...