Coffee with Christine

It's been quite a while....FOUR years to be exact from my last blog!! Wow...time sure flies.  A lot of things have change since my last post.  Life happened but I am grateful to report that the changes have been good - they might be difficult and challenging but it was still good. We definitely have can testify to the tremendous grace and mercy of God - we sing of His goodness and mercies everyday! I will sharing some pictures as a mini-update. I arrived to the burnt down JOMO KENYATTA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT in my trip to Kenya last year. It was a challenging experience and reminded me how volatile our world is. I was delayed in Dubai due to this fire. The airlines provided me with a 5* hotel in Dubai and I had an unplanned two day vacation in Dubai - it was a great personal retreat that I had so needed at that time. All things worked for good! You can see the burnt airport terminal from this picture.

This was my seat in Business Class - so wide and a recliner.....can I fly economy again????? Yay for upgrade! Shalom and Shammah - two beautiful girls~ their parents were one of our first members and leaders in the church we pioneered. They were students attending the Bible school we pioneered. They were both single when they started classes with us. Mary, their mother passed away a year ago. I was so glad the girls are doing well and Anthony too. Shalom, the older girl looks exactly like her mom. I miss Mary. She was a wonderful Sunday School teacher and a wonderful woman of God. This is Pendo ( ithink! it means love in swahili). She is the beautiful daughter of Sach and Pauline. Sach is a former well known gangster in a slum in Nairobi. He got saved, spirit filled and went to Bible school. Today, Sach is one of the pastor at River of God church. What an amazing testimony of the power of the love of God. with church members of River of God church - I miss everyone so muc...

This is a picture of the girls with their brand new friends from church, Kelly and Suvien. This was taken in the bus where the girls went for their first Rangers Camporama! That was two weeks after we landed in Malaysia. The girls only lasted one night in the camp :-( it was too hot and humid for them and Vickie got really sick. Daddy has to go and picked them up from the camp! Our first trip to Singapore and the girls first Christmas away from Kenya! We stayed in a hotel on Orchard road itself and enjoyed the amazing Christmas deco along Orchard road and in all the malls. Tony graduated with his MA in Africa but did not get to enjoy his graduation with his fellow classmates. A friend organised a small party for him and we had fun. I am so proud of him! I want to be like my daddy when I grow up! Here she is singing a solo during awards night, she was also awarded an academic award. She scored the third highest GPA in her grade - yay! Kathryn was part ...

Every Christmas the girls and I decorate cookies to give as gifts to our friends and neighbours. The baking marathon begins each year around November. I would bake tens of dozens of cookies and freeze them. When the girls are out of school, they help me decorate. One of the reasons I started this tradition is that gifts are too expensive and there really aren't much choices - unlike in KL! And, if you know me, I love giving gifts - it's the most wonderful feeling! One year, we decorated a huge sugar cookie- about 4 inches big for each of our orphans. Now that we have over a hundred orphans- I don't do that anymore :-) Here are some sample of cookies we decorated and yes! it is a labor of love! We are still looking for things to put in the 800 goodie bags we are doing for our children's home. We have some pencils, cookies and candy. I ordered the toothpaste and toothbrushe- but only have 100 of each instead of 800. So I have to keep trying. Some friends here are wanting ...

School is out for the girls till early January. Before the school closed, the girls were involved in bands and Christmas concert. The girls sang, did handbells, flute, and piano. I know that many of you pray for us and our ministry. We want you to know we feel your prayers and one of the greatest blessings in our lives are our children. We are so grateful for all the prayers that is being sowed in our lives and our children lives. This term, Vickie received award as the Most Improved Player in her basketball team - she's the only 6th grader who received an award and her team are mostly 7th and 8th graders. We are so proud of her! Kathryn also had a first - she accompanied the middle school choir during the Christmas concert and did a fantastic job! She worked on her piece for only two weeks but she worked hard. As you can tell, the girls keep very busy. They both made the football team for next term. Tony couldn't be prouder. It will be another busy term for them!

This Wednesday, also a public holiday here, we organised a Christmas party for the kids on campus. My good friend, Trina and her dad who is visiting from America, helped me planned and organised the party which included lots of good (sugary and snacky), several games, a Christmas devotion, a Christmas craft and even a pinata (donated by another missionary on campus).... The pictures are not in a particular order...I am not quite sure how to move them around yet... Here the kids are enjoying their food. Kathryn and Vickie helping to serve the food .. A goody bag from Santa!! and an American one at that ! The girls had only met African Santa Clauses....now that I am thinkng of it, the girls have only had Christmases in Africa....they have not even seen an Oriental one yet...maybe we will make it home one Christmas to Malaysia!! If you look hard enough, you will see the boy trying to hit the pinata.... Helping the little ones with coloring pages.. Making a Christmas ornament with pipe ...

I didn't know what I was thinking when I invited the cafetaria crew to a Christmas lunch at our house. What was I thinking ?? Feeding a group of cooks????? Our kitchen crew cook for over 100 people everyday during the school term - breakfast, lunch and dinner. I thought it would be a nice change for them to have someone cook for them instead. I decided to do a Chinese meal since there were only 6 of them....I think I can handle cooking chinese for 8 people (including Tony and me). During the meal,we found out that none of them had had CHinese food before! They seemed to enjoyed the meal...I made chicken with mushroom, stir-fry vege, fried noodles and steamed rice. We also sent them home with a gift

We have been busy with Christmas activities since November! We hosted a Christmas fellowship at our house for the Ladies Ministry on campus. 35 women came for the fellowship. We had games, a Christmas devotion, and a craft. Look at the yummy food! This last picture is a gift to our aerobic instructor, Johnny, who has been giving us aerobic classes during the term. These are the ladies who faithfully exercised at least once a week!