God ALWAYS provides.

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I'm sorry that there hasn't been an update recently. We made it home on October 9th. We didn't have any problems during travel, so that was a huge blessing. We did have some fun going through customs coming back into the States, but it wasn't a huge problem. Since we had been on a farm, they had to bleach/disinfect all of our shoes. Took a really long time, but hey, it was one less thing for us to do when we got home, right? Everyone who was on the plane seemed sick, so for the first couple of days of being back home, I was battling a really bad head cold and ear pain. I guess that will happen after being on planes for 16+ hours with a bunch of sick people! After a while it all simmered down to just being a cough, which I'm still dealing with, but I'm feeling better in that sense.

God has really been showing us "who's boss" [He is, in case you're wondering]... He's just been blessing us in huge, huge ways that just leave us breathless, with our jaws on the floor. Here are a few of the ways, so we can praise the Lord together:

-we are living with friends who are taking care of us financially [groceries, rent, etc] until we are able to 'get our feet on the ground.'
-we were blessed with a car that cost us very little to buy, and a few friends put time and money into repairing it with Jake and making it drivable.
-Jake has a job; he is going to return to working at the Dubbe's farm on Wednesday. We are very blessed by this family!
-an anonymous angel sent us a letter in the mail along with quite a large financial gift. Although we don't know who this person is, God knows, and we pray that He will generously bless them for being such a blessing to us.

We serve a really big God! 

I had an appointment with a midwife today. Although nothing was 'figured out' as to why I've been feeling so miserable, it was reassuring to know that the baby is growing as he or she should be. My blood pressure and weight were fine. She had me do the 1 hour gestational diabetes test today, and I passed 'with flying colors,' they said. Supposedly it has to be under 140, and I was at 91. Yayy. The baby's heart rate was 140. She wants me to have an ultrasound done sometime this week; although I wouldn't have normally wanted one at this point in the pregnancy, since they [the doctors in Kenya ] didn't 'do' everything she [the midwife] would have liked them to do/check for, she asked me to have another one. She asked if we wanted to know the gender early, and I said no; she laughed and said we 'might have to look away at this ultrasound because it might be blatantly obvious.' So hopefully we won't 'accidentally find out' what we're having, but it's obviously not the end of the world if we do.

As for me being sick... I'm still having a lot of 'pain' and we're not really sure why. I was in tears on Saturday night because it was so terrible. It just does not seem normal! It seems to be intestinal but sometimes it feels like it could be in my stomach. It comes and goes no matter the activity, what I eat or don't eat, etc. It seems to be worse in the evenings, through the night and sometimes in the morning. The midwife wanted me to give some stool samples to be tested in the lab; she said it's possible that there are eggs or parasites or... something... going on inside of me making me sick. So, I... uh... get to... *whispers* collect some poo... and take it to the lab to get tested. If I test negative for all that, then we'll just take it from there and try to figure out what's going on. I'm still really nauseous a lot, but the pain is what bothers me the most. My appetite seems to be better... but maybe it's because we have access to a refrigerator here and it's easier/possible for me to just grab an apple or milk or something. I was looking through a pamphlet that I got today about eating, and my eyes bugged out at what a typical day of meals should look like for a pregnant woman... still not getting anything close to that, but at least I'm able to get down more than 500 calories per day now.

I think that's all on "us" for now... we'll keep you updated as we find things out. Please just continue to pray for us as we re-adjust to being back here [dealing with re-entry culture shock, etc], as Jake starts his job, ad as I try and grow a baby. We really do appreciate all of your prayers, support and encouragement. Thank you.

We think about Kenya often and hope that you will continue to join us in praying for those we left behind, specifically Eric, Juli and Sarah... and the four student leaders, Mike, Vitalis, Philister and Jonny. Please pray for them as they continue to invest into the students that are there, and that the Lord would renew them and give them strength as this is the point in the year when everyone gets very tired and is worn out. Also, please continue to pray for the students. Graduation weekend is quickly approaching [November 28th]!

We'll update as we are able. Praise the Lord for providing for our needs.

How time flies...

Remember this cutie from a few weeks ago?

Today, she looks like a completely different cat:

I know I said this before, but she seriously IS a cat after my own heart... she's perfect for me! She likes coffee, garbanzo beans, toast, snuggling, listening to Anberlin [okay, so maybe she doesn't care]... anyways, I still like her. A lot. I admit, I'm kind of hopeless when it comes to cute, cuddly animals... can't... resist...

Can you believe that we have been in Africa for almost 4 months?! As hard as it has been to be away from family and friends, God has given us the grace to sustain us and to help us make it through each day. Jake mentioned the other day that he thinks "culture shock" is hitting him hard now. The differences from our culture that we noticed in the beginning didn't bother us then... but now some things are annoying, just because we aren't used to them. We're still learning and adapting, but I think it's going well.

We only have two weeks of Swahili class left after today. Time is really flying by. I look back to the first week of class, and I remember thinking, "7 more weeks of this?!" But now that we have a basic understanding/foundation of the language, it's going a lot better. Supposedly we've moved past the beginner's stage and we're learning some intermediate things. So it's nice to know we're making progress! Jake and I make a good team.

It is definitely rainy season here! The bridge that we have to cross to go to town [well, really, to go anywhere] was under the water a few times. I'm kind of hoping that we'll be able to see a hippo or two! Apparently when the water gets that high, hippos come down the river. That would be a sight! 

It rained super hard here two days ago; the wind was blowing the rain so much that we couldn't see across the yard. There was so much standing water... it came down much too fast for even the extremely thirsty ground:

We could definitely use your prayers concerning a few things:

1. Jake became very sick, starting on Monday. His symptoms pointed to malaria, so he started taking malaria medication to see if that would help. Well, the three days of medication have finished, and he isn't better, so he's trying a stronger antibiotic for bacterial infections. During the day he 'feels' fine, but at night time, he is in excruciating pain. We both haven't been getting much sleep lately. I feel so bad for him... I've never seen him in this much pain before. We tried making an appointment to see the doctor today, but unfortunately, we know that all they would do is give him something to try, and if it didn't work, give him something else... trial and error, basically... and since we're already doing that, we figured it would be a waste of time and money. We'll give it some more time with him on this new medication and take it from there.

2. We started taking a 5 week class: "Ministering to Muslims in Africa." The class is held on Tuesdays at the church in Naivasha that we sometimes attend. It IS accredited, but we chose to not take it for credits this time, due to being extremely busy with 4-5 hours every day of Swahili class. Once we come back from Dubai [more on that later], we'll see if we can jump in with the next class [they do different topics] and maybe Jake can take it for credit. I don't think it's worth me taking anything for credit... my main ministry is to my husband and [hopefully, some day] to our children, and although it's a possibility we would stay in the mission field for some time, we feel it's maybe more important for Jake to get college credits. If we were to stay in the field long term, we would look at getting Jake some schooling... either at home in the States or here, online. We'll cross that road when we come to it, though. 

Anyways, we could use your prayers for this class because it added quite a bit to the 'learning/studying' factor that we are already doing a lot of for Swahili... it's a lot to remember all at once!

3. We're continuing to pray about what the future holds for us, whether it is here or back in the States. I was talking to a fellow missionary online recently, and she encouraged me to give every day to God and try not to worry about the future. I know I have a hard time with "the unknown..." I'm an organized person, and I like to have all the details planned out. It's a huge [continuing, and continuing... and continuing...] learning experience for me to wake up each morning and give that day to the Lord. His plans are so much bigger and greater than mine could ever be... I'm not sure why I sometimes think that my plans are better! If you could be praying for us as we try to discern where the Lord is leading us... that would be fantastic!

4. We are having some issues with some of the students who want to leave this place, for various reasons... mostly because of the relationships they have here. You know how things are when you live in a dormitory-situation... feelings get hurt, people get bitter and don't talk about it, and the issue continues from there. If you could pray for the students to learn how to resolve these conflicts the way Jesus wants them to, we would appreciate it. We want so much for them to learn how to do things biblically. We can't make them stay... but I really feel they are here for a reason and I would hate to see any of them leave. Please pray for their hearts!

In closing, I just wanted to thank you so much for being faithful in your giving and in your prayer life. When I got the update that all of our financial supporters are giving as they had pledged, my heart leaped for joy and could not stop praising God for answering that prayer with a resounding "YES!" God is doing wonderful things through your gifts... thank you so much for being a blessing to us, and ultimately, to the people we are ministering to. Thank you!!