Green is Beautiful

Patience and water and all Robbie's (and friends) efforts have produced a beautiful expanse of green in our front yard!

Yard transformation is begun!

Robbie worked all day yesterday transforming our front yard. Now we will water and wait.











Here is what it looked like 2 years ago.

a quiet country setting

We were able to spend our anniversary at The Barn north of Topeka. It was a quiet, relaxing evening and morning.

a beautiful wedding

Carly Geiger and Kyle Walters had a pretty near perfect wedding in the back yard of her parents' home on Satuday, July 1. Here are a few pictures of the festivities.

First, we have a little personal shower and a pose with both mothers.

Then, a nice shot of Martha and Emily preparing a delicious drink for us all

Colorado in June

Well, we are traveling again, or I should say, we traveled to Colorado and we are staying in one place for a week of quiet reflection and rest. This is the view from the deck of the condo where we are staying. Isn't God good to provide this? (and much thanks to the generous friends who are letting us stay here!) We even have wireless internet access.

We are Home!!

We had a very uneventful trip home, thankfully. All flights were pretty much on time, and there was nothing exciting going on at the various airports, for which we were thankful. We had enough computer battery to watch one episode of "Alias" in the London airport. Waiting for us as we arrived in Kansas City were Dee Anne, Todd, Robbie & Gail and their children. We were so excited to see them. Then, when we arrived home, Lynn & Jean, all the staff and some of their families surprised us by being here to greet us. Thank you all for making us feel so welcomed and celebrated! We are still getting our bodies to believe we are in this time zone instead of Kenya's, but gradually it is happening. We are both occasionally surprised when our body says "okay, I'm going to sleep now!"

Thank you for following along with us in our travels and blessing us with your comments and encouraging emails. We are so thankful for God's protection as we were gone. We certainly felt your prayers. God bless you all, Sandie (for Bob, too!)

Mombasa and the Indian Ocean

We just got back to Nairobi after 10 days with friends at a beachside resort in Mombasa. The time there was spent meeting new friends and learning about their lives and work. We did get a little time to play, too!















We got to walk along the beach a number of times. There are people with their wares set up all along the beach, and they are not shy in approaching you to buy their goods. It was difficult to get them to understand that we wanted to walk quickly for exercise! This picture was taken when the tide was up and most of the vendors had packed left for the day.

Below you see me walking when the tide was a little lower. The weather was quite warm there, and the water was too! It was refreshing to swim in the hotel pool after a walk. (I didn't intend for the picture of me to be so big. Not sure why that happened, but don't want to risk losing it by redoing it!)

We're back at our Africa home!

We had a wonderful and very full 2 weeks with our lovely daughter and son-in-law which ended with some fun train travel and tourist stuff, and then some not-so-fun intestinal issues (all 4 of us!) I won't give details on anything except fun stuff. Our impressions of this city run the full range of fascinating, friendly people to crazy traffic and overpowering noise. We walked with S & J as they visited friends and neighbors on a special holy day. We participated in their group meetings, were invited into the homes of their co-workers, and experienced what it means to "shop" in their city. There are lots of tiny little shops everywhere, so you don't have to go too far to get what you need, but there is no phone book or yellow pages, so your feet must do the walking to find what you need. Most little shops carry only a few items, so you must go to many places to complete your shopping. J is asking for a special friend who will enjoy exploring the city with her.


Here you have the full view of the Taj Mahal, one of the best known monuments to love the world knows. It is truly a beautiful sight. The symmetry is amazing, down to the smallest details



This closer view lets you glimpse a little of the detail that went into the construction. It was built of white marble and inlaid with jewels and precious stones.

Due to the aforementioned intestinal issues, no one was very photogenic during our "tourist" phase, so I won't be able to post people pics here!

Back by popular demand!

Hello folks,
I know it has been a long time since my last post. We have not had easy access to the internet, but I'm making a special effort tonight. Everyone else is already in bed, and the computer is all mine (actually, S&J's computer!) We have been having a wonderful time with J and S in their city. Here are a few pictures to let you see some of what we've been doing! This one of S & J was taken at a friend's house on the roof. In the background you see a couple of temples. This roof overlooks the famous river at their city.








On the left you see us walking out of their street. This was taken on Sunday morning on our way to a meeting.






A couple of blocks from the home where we had our meeting, we ran across this family taking a morning siesta.











This is one of the major forms of transportation.





And here we all are in the garden of the restaurant where we enjoyed lunch after the meeting. Great day for fellowship and meeting friends.

Cape Town

Our sightseeing today took us to beautiful Hout Bay and then on to Table Mountain, then to the waterfront in the city bowl of Cape Town. We have been so blessed to see so much of God's beautiful creation! Here we are at Hout Bay.












Then we took a cable car to the top of Table Mountain (1,086 meters above sea level) and had a view of the city of Cape Town which covers all sides of the mountain.

South Africa!

It's been a while since we've been able to connect to the internet, so I'll try to get caught up while we are connected. We left Nairobi on Feb. 26th and flew to Johannesburg for a conference of leaders in central, eastern and southern Africa. We met in a lovely conference center just outside of town. The weather was a huge contrast from our earlier travels! It rained almost every day we were there, buckets and buckets of water!! The grass and foliage was lush and the temperatures were cooler and very pleasant.

From Johannes we flew to Cape Town on the 3rd. We are absolutely the farthest South we have ever been!!



On Saturday we visited the African Penguins at The Boulders,






and then went to Cape Point. The beauty and variety of God's creation around here is amazing.

Special Request

I've had some requests to put up more pictures with me in them. This picture was taken in Zanzibar. I've been trying to be sensitive to appropriate attire wherever we've gone. I still don't quite have the technique for applying the head covering, but at least it stayed on.

Okay, I took the bait!

You Are a Frappacino

At your best, you are: fun loving, sweet, and modern At your worst, you are: childish and over indulgent You drink coffee when: you're craving something sweet Your caffeine addiction level: low

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Tanzania -- on the Island

We stayed with friends on the island of Zanzibar in a lovely house right on the beach! We were able to spend leisurely mornings on the upper level of their patio under a thatched roof. The breeze off the Indian Ocean was cool and refreshing. Our friend took us on a walking tour of Stone Town. Buildings are so close together it doesn't look like you could get a car in there, but some of the streets were open to traffic!







I just had to include a photo of the spectacular sunset!









And one of the beach on the east coast of the island! I know, we are really suffering!




The beach in front of our friends' home was covered with the nets of the local fishermen. They spent most of the days we were there mending their nets. It was easy to imagine I was observing fishermen from centuries ago. Their voices were audible, but didn't disturb the peace of the scene before me.

Tanzania -- Life in the village

Our first few days in Tanzania were spent with dear friends, Mark & Cara, in a village about 3 hours west of Dar es Salaam. Here you see the fellows who bring water to this family. They each haul 3 of these big containers on their bicycles, making 5 trips a day, 5 days a week. When the rains come (and please pray for all of East Africa to receive rain. It is sorely needed), they will be able to collect water from the guttering around the roof.









Family time around the table learning a new game, Skipbo. It's been years since I've played, so we had to have the directions out to learn it correctly. Caitlyn, Lauryn and Benjamin were quick learners. Natalyn couldn't sit still long enough to get into the picture!






We took one morning to drive through a protected wild life area. These elephants were very close to the road. I'm taking this picture from the car.






The fee for driving through the game reserve was a stop at the lodge for a cup of tea or a soda. Then we loaded up and drove back through.



I wish I had a picture of the dear lady that Cara and I stopped to see. We sat with her on the dirt floor of her home and chatted about her new life in the Lord and the upcoming delivery of her 3rd child. What a privilege to be there!

Kibera

Today Bob and I went to observe what is being done by AfricaAid in the largest slum in sub-Saraha Africa. There are more than one million people living in an area less than 3 miles square. You can see there are small businesses set up in small temporary structures.





There are little huts as far as you can see, packed together so tightly it is difficult to navigate. Most people live in one room and that one room will shelter up to 7 or 8 people. About 20% of the population of Kibera has HIV. AfricaAid is seeking to care for victums of HIV/Aids. They are also helping people with very small loans to set up their own business and support themselves. These people then band together to help others. AfricaAid is also seeking to bring the Gospel to these people.

Independent Business Owners

About 20 of these small business owners met with us in the building that AfricaAid is improving to provide a place for some of them to work. They will bring in a loom for weaving fabric and some sewing machine for them to use to make mosquito netting and other items.









We were able to walk by some of the stalls where these people were selling their wares.

Happy Birthday!!

One of our very dear friends is celebrating her birthday today, and we have been unable to contact her directly.
Jenn, I hope you see this message! You have been much in our prayers and on our hearts. We hope you have a very happy birthday!
Love,
Bob and Sandie

Java House Coffe

Nairobi has an excellent chain of coffee shops called Java House. This one even has wireless internet access. And I'm told the coffee is top notch!

Parklands Baptist Church

This is the largest Baptist church in Nairobi. Many of the students attend this church, and it is where the students meeting is held on Friday evenings. Last night Bob had them discussing
1 Thess. 1.

Kenyatta

Bob went out to Kenyatta University with Samuel Mwiti (back row on the right). He is working faithfully to train disciple makers among the students there.

Cuteness

This is Teresa and her two youngest children. Teresa worked with us on staff for several years before she married Clinton. Cory and Ian loved having their picture taken. That's dirt on Cory's face. He attracts it as easily as "Pigpen." But oh the fun he has doing it!