oops!

We're still in the middle of rainy season, but the rains seemed to have lessened lately. It's not raining everyday now. But last week, we were in for a surprise. I was tutoring Kang-Hee at my house, and the biggest, most powerful, coolest thunderstorm I've seen in a long time came roaring through. Our house is at the end of the street, with nothing on the right side, protecting it. A powerful wind came through and tore our gate from the concrete pillar! The next morning, we left for school, gently pushed our gate open, and it fell flat in the road! Of course, then every moto driver and worker on our street came crowding around and looking at the mzungu spectacle and asking for a job to repair it. Mr. Maxwell was able to help us find a welder to fix it that very day!

house pictures

Many of you have asked about my home in Kigali, so here's some pics! I've lived "on the hill" in Gaculiro community ever since coming to Rwanda. But each school year, I've had to move houses for different reasons. Many of the houses are similar, kind of cookie-cutter like. This "Vision 2020" Estates is President Kagame's "vision" for many neighborhoods in Rwanda; a church, school, small shops, grassy park to play football, and community homes, all in one neighborhood. He chose our hill to build the first estates on, as they were many, many deaths on this hill during 1994. While our neighborhood lacks a lot of character and charm of other older areas in Kigali, it's just so convenient to school and church....only a 5 minute walk away! So theres's really no other option as good as this one for me. And I love the diversity here. We have neighbors represented from all over: United States, Canada, Korea, Rwanda, Congo, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, England, Sweden, and many more. I think I liked my hosues the first year the best. I had a much better view of the valley, and a cute straw gate, and back yard. Last year, I also had a great, big bedroom, but a view of the road. This year, I was rather unlucky, and ended up with a tiny, tiny room (which I don't so much mind,) but the view is the worst possible view I think I will ever have in my whole life! (I sure hope it doesn't get any worse than this!) :) I love looking out at nature. But I get to look out at an old, beat up generator this year. :) ha! But our front "yard" has two basketball goals, so that's been a fun way to relax! The Nash family gave us their straw porch furniture, so this has been the first house I can grade and chill outside. All in all, it's not bad! We are blessed!

View from the front

Our kitchen. We have a gas stove, fridge, and water filter.

Our living room. We've since added many more Rwandan baskets to decorate our walls!

My tiny bedroom. Now, I have a gorgeous quilt made from African fabric on my bed. It's MUCH better and added sooo much mroe color to my room! :) And I've put up some pictures too, so it doesn't look so bare now.

Our "store." In America, we would call it the pantry. Our fridge is in here too. And cleaning supplies.

It took the workers over a month to finally figure out our water situation this year and get us hot running water. Our side of the house used to be offices, so there was no water. So they dug up our "backyard" and ran some pipes through it, and fixed our pump too.

Our water tank. Most houses have one, some have more than one! It's for when there's no water coming from the city, which happens frequently!

Our new place used to be an office, so there's this old generator in the workshed. This is what I see when I look out my window....four feet away. ugh

The workshed. And behind the shed are our backyard neighbors. I can hear their workers singing African songs very loudly at almost all hours of the day and night. Earplugs have been the best thing ever this year! :)

chapel

My sweet kids, performing a Bible skit in chapel, based on 2 Timothy 3:16.

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that all God's people may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

Beauty of Rwanda

"God saw all that He had made, and it was very good." ~Genesis 1:31

Napoleon's Bat Island, Kibuye

The view from the Presbyterian Guesthouse, Kibuye

The peaks of the Kigali hills, as we climbed upward into Virunga Forest

wildflowers in Virunga National Park

Lake Kivu, Kibuye

Lake Bunyonyi, Uganda

Hello again!

Hello again! I first must apologize to all of you for my lack of blogging! I really intended to blog as soon as I was healthy again, (those dang amoebas had me down for a good while!) and then when I was healthy again, life just keeps coming, and I never seem to be able to make enough time for all the wonderful things like writing, and processing and story-telling; the things that I love to do and that help me reflect. I apologize. I am healthy now, and will do my best at writing on here, because I know many of you enjoy hearing stories from Rwanda. :) I'm working on uploading some pictures as well!

School was out last week, and it was a nice break from the usual, even though I really missed my students! I enjoyed sleeping in a bit, going to the market for colorful fabric and interesting finds, spending more time with my sweet babies at the orphanage, and even going to the dentist! No cavities, yay! The parents of one of my students are missionaries from the Philippines, and they head up the Adventist Dental Clinic here in Kigali. They are super gentle, kind, educated, and awesome dentists! It was such a blessing to have a wonderful dental experience so far from "home," where they have all the same, modern equipment, and it was about a fifth of the cost in the U.S.

I've been busy at school with teaching my lovely students, after school Science Club, and a Girls after-school fitness club for middle school students. It's been a great way to get to know these girls, and help empower some of the Rwandan girls to lead a physically active lifestyle. I've been blessed to lead these girls and pray with them, as we strive to be "fit" in every way. I'm still learning, myself, how important it is to create sacred time and space every day to be with God, because being spiritually and emotionally fit is fitness too! :)

We're all super busy at school now writing accreditation reports for ACSI, which have been necessary, but very time-consuming. You can pray with us next week, as we host an ACSI visitor on our campus who will examine us and offer suggestions on the timeline of how to proceed with accreditation. Our goal is to become fully accredited by next April. This process is laborious, but really helps give our school credibility in the eyes of parents. By the way, ACSI stands for: Association of Christian Schools International. We are also striving to achieve accreditation with Middle States of America (MSA) as well. KICS is growing and God's provisions are real! We now have the resources to begin building a Science laboratory and a library, which is a first for a school in Rwanda.

My evenings are spent tutoring my sweet Kang-Hee, the Korean boy who was in my class last year, and also tutoring a young Rwandan girl who doesn't go to our school, but is the daughter of our community "Umudugudu." This is probably my most favorite kinyarwanda word to say. U-mu-du-gu-du. And what is an "umudugudu" you ask? An umududugu is a "village chief" or "community leader." Our community leader is Marguerite, a wonderful lady, who runs a preschool in the basement of our church. It's been a joy working with her daughter, Nicole, and cultivating in her, a love for reading!

My sweet little ladies at the orphanage, Genina, Josephina, and others, bring me so much joy on the weekends. These girls are growing so fast and are so strong! It's just incredible seeing them now, and remembering the young, tiny babies they were two years ago. It's been such an answer to prayer to see the kids thriving at the Home of Hope under new leadership and management that allows them to have physical fitness and not be cramped up in dark rooms. Visitors and volunteers are readily welcomed now, and they are acceptive of donations and ideas. A wonderful answer to prayer! Adoptions are still closed in Rwanda, as of late last year, because they are trying to update their policies and become aligned with the policies of the Hague Convention. There are still many families who have dossiers at the Ministry, and are eagerly awaiting for Rwandan adoptions to reopen. It's our prayer that it will happen soon!

My Sundays are spent worshipping at CCR (not the band!) :) Christ Church Rwanda is a non-denominational community with a rich, diverse congregation, from many, many countries. I love worshipping alongside my students, parents and neighbors. We're a real community! Right now, CCR is looking for a new lead preacher, as Dave Jenkins and his family are heading back to the U.S. to be closer to family there. Teaching Sunday School to 50 young, eager kids who speak many different languages, with a translator, is both challenging and a tremendous joy! An afternoon usually consists of quiet time and lunch at home, or a group of friends hitting up the new "Mr. Chips" hole-in-the-wall concrete establishment owned by a Canadian man, who actually serves a pretty remarkable Pork BBQ sandwich! It rocks! Then I hurry to Home of Hope before the afternoon rains come, and spend the afternoon jumping rope, making beds, folding clothes, feeding children with disbilities, singing, singing, singing, and loving the sweet children.

I've enjoyed having my dear friend, Anna, back in the country recently, after the death of her dad in Arkansas this summer. She's here until Thanksgiving, but hopefully returning soon! We've enjoyed some fun weekend adventures lately, visiting our friend Frances in the mountains of Musanze, and exploring the Musanze cave, where many Rwandans were killed during the events of 1994. I had the neatest experience ever with our friend, Betsy, being able to trek into the Virunga mountain range and visit with the mountain gorillas, only five feet away! I'll be sure to post some gorilla pics soon! It was amazing seeing the similarities we have with the gorillas. crazy!

Life is rich and full here! His blessings are real and evident! Thank you all for your prayers, emails, encouragement and support! I miss you all there, and hope you are doing well!

Love from Kigali,

Emily

heartbroken

Erin and Levi Fletcher are two friends who taught here at KICS in 2009. They are from California, and Erin's sister, Kristen is the mom to the Urquhart clan that I mentioned in my earlier blogpost.

This week, The Fletcher's 4 month old baby boy, Josiah Robert, died in his sleep. They are heartbroken, and I want to ask for prayers for them at this time.

When they were in Rwanda, they were praying that God would bless them with a child. We were praying for them. The door was opened for a Rwandan adoption from Home of Hope, but after many months, God closed that door. Erin and Levi moved back to California, and they were blessed with little Josiah in April.

While their hearts are broken right now, they have a deep faith and a deep peace in knowing that Josiah is with Christ who loves him even more than they do! They know that God is still good, even in this tragedy. Would you please pray for this family, especially this weekend, as they lay Josiah to rest on what would have been his 4 month birthday.

I'm back!

I arrived safely back in the land of a thousand hills (after a record SIX planes!), and I survived the first week of school! The first week of school always seems tough to me, no matter where in the world I am, or how many years I've taught. I've got a great bunch of kids; a lot of them missionary kids this year. I have 16 students, from places as diverse as Madagascar, Oregon, Canada, India, Ukbekistan, Afghanistan, England, Rwanda, and a host of other lands!

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