Two Worlds

This gorgeous little girl is Pili, our most recent Mavuno arrival.  Pili comes to us from Forever Angels, so joining Michael, Aika and Bianca is just meeting up with great friends again.  She seems to be adjusting well.  If you want to read more about Pili on the Mavuno blog, click here!  We praise GOD that Pili has been able to become part of the Mbugua family and that she now has a mom and dad who love her (and lots of siblings to make her feel at home!).

We have been blessed to spend the last two weeks catching up with old friends and even meeting new ones.  It is hard to describe how FULL we feel from times of fellowship and encouragement--and we just got here! 

Musa got off to a good start at the Bible college and seems to be doing well adjusting to life here.  He went skiing on Saturday with Dave, the kids, and lots of friends.  He didn't turn out to be a big fan of the wintry slopes, but he did get past the bunny hill, which was a lot better than I did, since I didn't even go!

Musa continues to be amazed at various things in our culture.  It has been fun to watch, after all of our comments about the interesting things in his!  He has had a difficult time understanding the roles of dogs in our society.  In Tanzania where we are, people don't ever pet their dogs, and they don't feed them on purpose either.  Their only job is to bark if someone comes around.  You might let a chicken walk through the house, but NEVER a dog.  So trying to find words to explain a dog with a hooded sweatshirt on, its own bed, a picture of it in the house, was beyond us. :)  He has said more than once, "what is this dog's JOB?"

We had a candle lit the other day in the livingroom.  Musa asked Dave, "Why is that candle lit?  Is it for light?"  Dave said no, because the lights were on and it was also daytime.  "To warm up with?"  No, just for smell and sight.  That sounded kind of lame after we thought about it. :) It is enlightening to have him with us.  I am still enjoying candles in this snowy weather. 



Our African Kate, loving the SNOW!



Speaking of winter, I find it humorous that my one big goal for this time back was to not complain about the weather, as I am more of a fair weather kind of gal.  God obviously knew that the temptation would be too great for me at -10 and has given us this great warm(ish) air, right about 40 degrees most days.  I am SO THANKFUL.  Musa even took his coat off at 46 degrees the other day and declared the day WARM.  Our blood must be thickening. :)

What are you going to do until May?  Several people have asked us this.  Our plans are to spend lots of people time--catching up, sharing the great things God has done and is doing at Mavuno.  Dave is taking a Spiritual Warfare in Missions class at the Bible college, which he is excited about.  We are trying to fill up on times with others in the Word, individually and as a family.  We are also trying to combine trips that we need to make so that we take time to rest and get some perspective and have time to be still.  We are praying GOD would also speak to us during this time and prepare us for who we need to be when we head back.

Psalm 47:8 "God reigns over the nations, God sits on His holy throne."

Culture Shock

We usually think of culture shock in regards to heading overseas and eating goat intestines and the like.

It is harder to think about strolling the aisles of Wal-mart and staring blankly at the many choices looking back at me.  However, that is what I found myself doing as I searched in vain for PLAIN TEA and instead considered the many flavors available.  This included hot chocolate in new varieties including WOMEN'S WELLNESS HOT CHOCOLATE.  I thought I had heard of everything!

Watching Musa's reactions to things has also reminded us of how far apart our worlds are.  Imagine coming from a land where you carry every drop of water on your head to a land where (in the Minneapolis airport) there are fountains that run all day simply for visual enjoyment.  And from using precious wood to boil the water so that you can drink it, to being able to drink from that same entertaining fountain if you needed to!

While in South Caroline, we went to another astonishing place.  As Musa said to Kate, "Katie, you and me will see something amazing, called ZOO."  Musa stared at the aquarium of sea creatures and all he could say was, "God is very wonderful!"
Lauren and Megan were at the giraffe area and one zookeeper lady pointed out the baby giraffe that she said we were lucky to see, as sometimes it didn't come out.  The girls, having seen their fair share of giraffes, told her excitedly, "We saw a SQUIRREL EATING AN ACORN!"  She wasn't as thrilled as they were. :)

Musa started Bible college yesterday.  Last night I asked him what he noticed or what was different for him.  I thought he would be astonished most by the library (which was incredible to him).  But what he was most taken aback by was that the teachers and the students sat together at lunch and they even ate the same food.  In Tanzania, a teacher wouldn't lower himself to be with the students, and if they did happen to be in the same area, the teachers would be eating better food.  "We were there together, reaching for the same pizza."

One of the biggest blessings for us is just seeing our friends and family again.  The kids' friends welcomed them back like they were playing together just yesterday.  Aside from them being about a foot taller, we wouldn't know anything had changed!  And our Bozeman family had everything ready for us.  At the beginning of December, we didn't have a house or a car.  By the time we got here, we had three houses and so many vehicles we had to say no thank-you!  God has been so gracious to us in every way!  And so have you all!

Christmas, and beyond

I know I’m a little late, but I am going to have to cram Christmas and the trip home all together. We had a GREAT Christmas with Chris and Lindy, the Millers, and 8 of Chris and Lindy’s boys that they have gotten off the streets, helped get an education, and done some much-needed loving on! It was such a privilege to spend the day that we celebrate the humble birth of our Savior with these boys—ice skating, if you can believe it!—getting to know them and see their love for Chris and Lindy and the excitement they had. Our children enjoyed them and Jake in particular had a engaging time with them. Unfortunately, we shared our pictures with Chris and Lindy and forgot to save some for us. So if you want to read more about the day, click here to go to their blog and see the pictures.

Musa, Jake and Carter keep themselves busy

Our trip back went very well. We had a short 5 ½ hour flight to Doha, where the airline put us in a very nice complimentary hotel overnight. Musa wasn’t the only one who was amazed by this place—it was incredible! Definitely a quick start on culture shock for all of us!

Whoever makes kids’ meals on airplanes has never traveled with an actual child, I’m convinced. Every meal, including breakfast, had a bag of candy. Lunch had a bag of candy plus a candy bar, and breakfast had the same but also included a bag of chips! Maybe it was a cruel test the airlines was doing on small children—load them up with sugar, then make them sit still for 14 hours. Yes, the second flight was 14 hours long. Thankfully, the kids are television deprived, and could pass the time watching family movies.  We were all glad to finally arrive in DC.

Because we had a decent layover there, we weren’t worried about getting through immigration, etc. What we forgot was that Musa’s immigration line would take much longer as a non-citizen. After a lengthy waiting time, we finally decided the kids and I would go ahead and try to make the next flight to SC while Dave waited for Musa.

Long story short, Dave and Musa ended up getting on the later flight that night, and by the time the kids and I had gotten through the airport checks, the later flight was all booked up. SO, we spent the night in the DC airport and got out early the next morning. Not our original plan, and Dave sure didn’t sleep very well in SC, but we all made it just fine and the kids and I even slept most of the night. I’m pretty sure this was the reason we had listened to a sermon on Romans 8:28 on our way to Nairobi!

We are so thankful to be here at my parents’ house, and to see my brother and his family as well.

Cousin Alex and Carter

My brother just returned from Iraq two weeks ago, so it is extra special for us to have this time with them all. It is such a gift to be with family again.

Cousin Kaitlyn and Megan

We head back to Bozeman next week and are excited to see many of you again. God has been so faithful and good in every way. And Carter’s foot, while still a funny color, is completely healed.

“Every good gift and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, in whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” James 1:17

update on Carter's foot

Wanted to write a quick post to say thank-you to those who prayed for Carter's foot.  Two nights before we left Nairobi, he started walking on it again.  Within minutes he was running around on it!  He had no pain during the entire trip, for which we were extremely grateful to God.  And Carter was able to see God's great care for him during this time!