Pool Party

It’s summer in the southern hemisphere, and what better way to spend a Saturday than at the pool?  Several of our kids claim swimming as their favorite activity even though they’ve only been to a pool a handful of times in their lives.  Besides Tony, whose father earned a living as a fisherman working on Lake Victoria, none of our kids know how to swim.  Even though they can’t swim, they’re undeterred from splashing around and causing joyful mayhem at the pool.

So just how do you get 44 kids from a little village in the bush to a small but bustling, dusty city with a hotel boasting the only pool within a three hour drive?  It’s not as easy as chartering a bus, but if you have endless patience, the ability to bargain with the best of them, and aren’t too concerned about keeping to any semblance of a time schedule, it can be done!

At the end of a day at the pool, we usher 44 shivering but happy children back to the Hope Center where they spend at least the entirety of the next week cheerfully reminiscing about their trip.

God Makes All Things New

Aren’t you grateful for the chance for a new start each year?  There’s something beautiful about the clock striking midnight on December 31st.  The countdown, fanfare, celebration, and excitement confirm that humanity is perpetually eager to usher in a new year and a fresh start.

Did you accomplish all your goals in 2012?  If not, you have the opportunity to start on a clean slate in 2013.  As our pastor pointed out, “If you want something different, do something different.”  We won’t get different results from doing things the same way we’ve always done them. 

 

"Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap," (Ecclesiastes 11:4).  My interpretation of this quote: Stop waiting for life to happen to you.  Take action!

What are your goals for this new year?  What have you been meaning to do but just haven’t made it happen?  This is a new day in a new year.  Let’s resolve to do those things that are important to us.  Let’s stop putting things off and waiting for a more opportune time.  The time is here.  The time is now. 

“Behold, he makes all things new,” (Revelation 21:5).  January is the reality of all things being made new.  The gift of a new year is ours.  Let’s open it with intentionality.

 

Return to Sender

Our small neighbor is quite social.  He plays the role of greeter at church each Sunday where he’s careful to shake hands with everybody.  He often returns to The Hope Center with our kids for more socialization.  I snapped this picture one Sunday afternoon as Sherwood was escorting him home.

 

White Men Can't Jump. . .?

This white man is working hard to prove the familiar adage wrong.  He’s giving one Masai warrior a run for his money as they compete to see who can jump the highest in a traditional show of strength and agility.  John was a member of a medical mission team that treated members of our community in October, 2012 under the leadership of Cary Nail and Ginger Crocker.

 

Safari

These are only a few of the wild animals that visitors see when touring the Masai Mara national game park.  This arid grassland, only about a two hour drive from The Hope Center, hosts the largest wildebeest migration in the world every August.  Each August, the plains are teeming with wildebeests, antelope, and zebras.  The picturesque scene is reminiscent of Pride Rock in The Lion King. It is the ancestral land of the Masai tribe, which is one of few remaining traditional tribes in Kenya.