Well, I‘ve been back at Tumaini for a week now and it’s been great seeing the staff and children again. This time it’s been refreshing to have some else from the US living in the house and serving with me. Lacey has really helped me process all that happens here on a daily basis and she is a blast to be around. God really answered my prayer by sending her to Tumaini. This week was the first week of the school year and we worked hard to help the teachers establish a schedule that will work for them. This term I will be teaching a class called Life Skills, which is sort of like a basic psychology class for kids. We will be discussing things like self-awareness, emotions, and communication skills. I will be teaching classes 3-7 on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week. Lacey and I will also be working with the kids during the lunch reading program. For those who have donated books, thank you so much for making this reading program possible. We still have a long way to go to get all the books over to Africa, but I am working on several options to get them here ASAP. These kids LOVE to read and are constantly asking me for books. They are really passionate about learning. Finally I will be helping the teachers establish a club program in the afternoons for the kids, offering such things as Bible Club, 4H, Science Club, etc.

In the evenings Lacey and I will be serving as tutors for the kids at the Children’s Home, and one evening a week we will be having a Bible Study with the young girls. God is really doing some awesome things already this New Year and I can’t wait to see what he has in store.

On another note, we have had several interesting adventures this week. When I arrived baby SaraBeth remembered me and we sang Oh Happy Day together. This week we will be perfecting Rocky Top! She was so cute cheering my name as we pulled the car into the carport. Loved it!!!!

Poor Toba fell on a stick that jabbed into his shin. We worked for hours to remove it, but it just wouldn’t budge. So that resulted in a fun little trip to the hospital in Malava. (note the sarcasm). They told us that Toba would have to go to the theatre or as we would say surgery. After seeing the wazungu girls coming they decided to charge us double what they would normally charge… which was about the same amount of money posted for an emergency C-Section. WOW!!!!! We decided to take him back to Tumaini and have Rose take him to Kakamega where he got the attention he needed. They removed the stick under anesthesia for about 1,000 ksh or about $15.00. We are glad Toba is back to normal!

Yesterday Lacey and I decided to go for a little walk and 2 hours and 15 minutes later we found our way home. Lets just say that we felt like we had just gone through pre-season from the old days. We are definitely a bit sore this morning.

When we arrived home from our walk all sweaty and sticky, we were informed that the well is now dry and we have to walk about a ½ mile one way for water… No big deal for the kids, but us American’s are spoiled. To top off the week, we were getting ready for bed last night and Lacey noticed this gynormous spider on the wall and forced me to kill it . We named it Leroy… it was HUGE, but I will let you be the judge!!!!!