KICS is really growing, and God has now provided us with a staff of 25 teachers. One family, the Gaskills, are from High Point, NC! I couldn't believe it! But they don't have an accent like mine, because they lived in Colorado for many years. :) Another KICS family, the Raymonds, work for ManaNutrition, which is based in Matthews, NC. You really have to check out their website. www.mananutrition.org. They work to combat hunger in East Africa by providing children with Ready-to-use Therapeutic Food. Mana is an acronym that stands for Mother Administered Nutritive Aid. Mr. Raymond also told me that they have visited the Research Campus in Kannapolis to inquire about partnerships there. What a small world! I will blog more about this later, but check out the website!
To be honest, I was really excited about coming back home to Rwanda, but the transition this time has been one of the most difficult ones. I think it's perfectly normal though, to be missing things from my other home, and to not feel totally settled yet. I really miss sweet Aiden, and fresh blueberries and Cheerios, Mom's cooking, and pimento cheese. I miss my family. And a host of other things! Is it bad that I miss the microwave too? It is nice to come back to swift and thrilling moto rides to the lively market, and the long runs on the red dirt paths in the village. And the dirt cheap mangoes, avocados and pineapples! But I'm realizing that I didn't miss the multiple power outages, slow internet, and no water that is currently our situation. boo :( One thing that is the same....the sounds of drumming in the evenings. I enjoyed sitting on the porch this summer and listening to the Big Green Machine practice at my alma mater. And my first night back here, I heard the drums, and had to think, where am I? It was the same sounds echoing similar rhythms. Only here, it was the traditional drummers with their cowhide drums.
I had to move into a new house this year, with two new roommates, and we still don't have water yet, so I've been resorting back to the old bucket baths I took when I lived in Mombasa. But it's been pretty cold here at night; cold enough to sleep under a down comforter. So I've been "spoiling" myself and boiling a pot of water each night to pour into the cold water. You know, it's not that I can't take baths like this forever. I really know I could. But I think it's just tough when you go from having something, and then you don't have something. That's when it's tough and you feel like you need it! Even though I know that's false.
Last night I was kid-sitting for the Urquharts, my favorite family here in Kigali. I taught their son, Weston, two years ago. It was a privilege to hang out with their two youngest, Ava and Marcel. We have all prayed for a long time now for Marcel's arrival. He is 5 years old, and we first met him 2 years ago when he was living at the Sisters of Charity Home of Hope orphanage. Weston adored him from the beginning, and loved their play times together each week. And soon the whole family fell in love with Marcel. It took them over a year to complete the adoption process, and Marcel came to be an Urquhart in May, right before summer break. It was wonderful last night to see how he has grown, to see how much English he's learned in such a short time, and to hear of his trip to DisneyLand this summer! And it was beautiful to hear him pray the special kinyarwanda prayer at dinner that all the children still pray at the orphanage. He still remembers it, and I'm glad.
After tucking Marcel into bed and singing him the same songs I sang to Aiden this summer, Ava and I enjoyed watching one of my favorite movies, Swiss Family Robinson. I haven't watched that movie (or any movies) in a long time, but I still remembered how much I longed to live in a treehouse, and still do! :) I had to smile in one scene...where the Father and Mother were talking about their new lives on the uninhabited island....How would they raise their boys here? What would they continue to do for food? How would they continue to defend their treehouse from the pirates who are trying to attack them? And the Father leans in to the Mother and calmly says, "Don't you sometimes feel this is the kind of life we were meant to live on this earth? If only people could have all this and be satisfied; I don't think there'd be any real problems in the world." And then he responds to his wife, "Honey, don't worry about tomorrow. It will take care of itself."
That was my lesson....the way God chose to speak to me last night! And yes, I am satisfied. No matter the circumstances, no matter the things I am missing, or the things I think I need or don't have. I am blessed, and I live in a beautiful land of a thousand hills, my one of many "homes" in this great, big world. I am beyond satisfied! I have joy beyond circumstances.
My prayer for this week...Lord, help me to live Your way, and to be content with where I am right now. I know that when I walk with You, You are always taking me somewhere! I also know you will not leave me where I am forever. Help me to continue to grow and step out of "where I am" and refuse to be content with anything less than ALL of what You have for me! Continue to teach me and let my ears and eyes be opened to Your way and Your leading. Amen.
Thank you for your prayers!
peace,
emily
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