Coffee with Christine

It's summer in America and Tony has flown to be with our girls, whom he hasn't seen for 18 months.  That's a really long time. I don't know how other empty nesters feel, but to be honest, I hate it. But that's really no two ways about it, so the best is to embrace it. I was with them last summer, so we figured it was Tony's turn this time.  That means I will be home alone for almost an entire month! It was defintely time to catch up with some girlfriends over coffee or tea, I guess! A girlfriend wanted to properly introduced me to tea drinking and generously gifted me with some fancy tea cannisters and tea and a vintage looking strainer - reminds me of the scene in Out of Africa when Meryl Streep was straining tea for one of her visitors out on a patio. I do like tea...especially Kenyan tea. Let's be honest, I like everything Kenya - coffee, tea, cheese, bacon, bratwurst, cookies, bitter lemon soda, the list goes on! This sure added a fancy touc...

One of the privilege we have is to speak in camps and retreats. Camps and retreats give us the opportunities to be part of a church or team for a few days and to speak into their lives individually and corporately. We always feel so blessed and privilege that we get to be part of their journey in the Lord.  An additional benefit is that we get to stay in different retreat centres and camp sites which we otherwise would not have visited on our own. This was a camp at  Tanjung Sutera  in Johor. It took us more than 5 hours to get there but it was a lovely campsite. The organisers gracioulsy gave us a room facing the ocean. We had incredible ocean views everyday! This camp was at  El Sanctuary  in Melaka. This campsite owners are also celebrity chefs and has a cooking show in the Malaysian tv channel. The food was amazing! I have been so slack in blogging that I have forgotten to take more pictures...I should have more pictures of...

In this post, I want to share with you the people whom we share our lives with the 17 years we were in Kenya. Some of them are church members, many are our missionary family - people who are aunts and uncles to our girls, some are new friends we met in our more recent trips. Our lives are so blessed and enriched by all these special ones. We have fellowshipped and spend time with many others not featured in this blog, If your picture is not shown here, please know that our time with you is just as special,    I just don't have the pictures to show for it :)  It might be in one of many other devices that I have not sync yet!   We were invited to have supper with Jon and Molly and their parents. Jon's parents, whom many call Papa and Mama Stern are our spiritual mentors.  Mama Stern is third from the left, continue the ministry that Papa Stern left behind when he passed away. A great woman of God.  All around this table are great men and women of Go...

We left for Kenya end of January for a month long missions trip. We were beyond excited as this is our first trip back as a couple since we life in June 2009. We were looking forward to meeting with missionaries, friends, and church members and the ministries that we will be part of during our time in Kenya. These are some of the pictures and special moments we had that I thought might interest my friends who read this blog :) Tony preached both services at Nairobi Christian Centre, the church of the General Superintendent of Kenya. Kathryn was dedicated as a baby in this church! We also met several bible school students who had studied with us in the layman bible school we started way back in 1993. It was such a special moment when they came up to greet us after all these years. We had a great visit with Lucy and David, the directors of the orphanage. Lucy had a hip replacement several years ago and we were so glad that she is finally pain free and happy and smili...