2014

January

Nate turned 4 in January, and we pondered over how it was possible that 4

years had passed since that very eventful day when he came into the world.

My parents also made their second trip to Kenya in January. We took them
several new places, including Arabuko-Sokoke forest and Sabaki River.
And of course, we took some trips to the beach!

February

The highlight of February was Nate's half-term break.
We headed to Malindi for a long weekend. We spent our time in the pool,
on the beach, and at ice cream and pizza parlors, per Nate and Ben's request.

March

March is hot. While coping with the heat, we got ready for our trip to the US!

April

We went to Texas! It was a longer visit this time than the last time we went,
with break time worked in throughout the weeks we were there.
We started our trip with a real vacation - fun family time with no work on the side!

May

It seems (from the outside) that our time in the US should betotally relaxing -
after all, we aren't home cleaning our house, cooking for ourselves, keeping up
with the daily grind, and we're in the most comfortable place on earth (the US).
But, we are on the go all the time. We took a few days off here
and there, but it was still a tiring month of travel and visits.
Nate and Ben really, really love Texas.

 June

The end of our US trip. At one point I calculated the number
of miles we traveled, excluding trips within the towns we were staying in
at different times, just from one stop to another around the state.
I don't remember what it was anymore. Thousands. Texas is big,
and we didn't even make it to west Texas, the panhandle, the valley...
Nate got back to school almost as soon as we were home. He missed it so much!

July 

We got back in to the swing of life here.
The Maisha Kamili Transition Home became fully functional,
eventually housing 4 transitioners.

August

Kenya's school breaks are in April, August, and November-December.
While Nate was on break, we took a family trip to Nairobi to
renew his passport. We stayed an extra day or two to take
advantage of time in the Big City.

September

This was the beginning of the last school term in which
Ben would not be in school yet. We also celebrated him turning 3!

October

We started going to church in Malindi this year. It is quite a drive to make
(several times a week), but we feel it is a place we can
serve usefully. We are all making new friends, which is
something we really needed (especially me!).

 November

We celebrated Thanksgiving with great friends!
It was the best Thanksgiving I've ever had outside of the US.

December

With schools closed and many people on leave, December has
brought a lot of visits with friends!
We will spend Christmas with Rodgers' family, followed by a
Skype with my family during their Christmas celebration. 

It's hot, we haven't had running water for weeks,
Nate and Ben have spent way too much time with each other since schools
let out last month and they are getting on each other's (and my) nerves,
people disappoint us, we disappoint ourselves, but God is here.
He has brought us a long way this year, and he continues to
mold and shape us into the likeness of Jesus.
The year was good because God is. 

family praise history

Around the time Nate was born, Rodgers' and my Bible study class was studying prayer. Our study leader mentioned a great prayer study course called Disciple's PrayerLife, which was out of print. I mentioned this to my mom, and she said that about 20 years ago, she and my dad had done this study, and she still had her notebook. She gave it to me, and I managed to start week 1 during my maternity leave, but that was as far as I got. I really wanted to do the study, though, so it was one of the few books I brought with me when we moved here. I recently started it again.

During week 5, it teaches about a life of gratitude which involves (of course) expressing gratitude in prayer. Throughout the Old Testament, we see the Israelites singing the history of what God has done for them: rescuing them from Egypt, parting the Red Sea, providing manna in the desert. One of the assignments in week 5 is to write a praise history with your family. Recount the major things that God has done for your family, use scripture to thank and praise God, and read this as a family at least once a year, adding on to it as you go. This is about major events or blessings that have impacted your family. This is about a big picture perspective. We are to be thankful daily for "small" blessings as well, those things which we possibly take for granted. However, the praise history is for big, major things.

I love this idea, so I shared it with Rodgers, and he loves it, too. We wasted no time writing our family's history, starting with our marriage, though there are many big things that God did in each of our lives, before we got married, which impact our family. We may yet go back and add some of those. For now, I am just including our personal salvation. Since we'll be reading this as a family, I'm referring to us as "Dad and Mom." We are planning to to read through and add to our praise history every New Year's Eve, as a family tradition.

[God] chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
—Ephesians 1:4 

For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
—Philippians 2:13 

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
—Psalm 136:1  

family and life events

• As children, Dad and Mom both gave their lives to Christ
• Dad and Mom got married
• Dad was given permanent resident status in the US, miraculously hassle-free
• Dad graduated from UMHB
• Nathanael was born, active and spirited
• Benjamin was born, goofy, but thoughtful
• God sustained us financially through low paying jobs, unemployment, and beyond

He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
—1 Thessalonians 5:24

The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.
—Exodus 15:2 

Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.
—Psalm 111:2 

31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
—Matthew 6:31-33

maisha kamili [www.maishakamili.org]

• Maisha Kamili was dreamed up, at the encouragement of our pastor
• Maisha Kamili board was formed
• We moved to Camp to prepare for moving to Kenya
• We received the remaining 60% of our fundraising goal at once, making us financially able to move to Kenya
• We moved to Kenya to start Maisha Kamili
• Maisha Kamili began sponsoring community MKKs
• We had great support (in many forms) of Maisha Kamili during our trip to Texas in 2013

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
—Philippians 1:6 

He remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations.
—Psalm 105:8 

You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.
—Exodus 15:13

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
—Philippians 4:19 

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
—Hebrews 11:8

discipleship and spiritual growth

• Dad and Mom took discipleship courses and learned to disciple others
• We started teaching discipleship classes at one church in Kenya, with 2 others to join in the next year

Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high?
—Psalm 113:5 

1 Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord, give praise, O servants of the Lord, 5 For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods.
—Psalm 135:1, 5 

Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
—Exodus 15:11  

1 Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! 2 Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! 3 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice! 4 Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually! 5 Remember the wondrous works that he has done.
—Psalm 105:1-5a

also...

It's R&R Day!!!

I left the country 5 months after we started dating and was gone for a year. We didn't see each other for 340 days. (More details of the story are in the newly-added "history" tab.)

We missed our first Christmas, Valentine's Day, dating anniversary, my birthday, and everything except for Rodgers' birthday. It was his 30th, so I'm very glad that I was at least here for that.

I think it was around V-Day (2007) that I suggested to him we create our own holiday when I returned, so that we could celebrate the special days we missed. That day happened to be September 9. I don't remember everything we did, but I do remember we took a drive down a scenic highway and stopped at the top of a hill to watch the sunset.

Since then, we've spent most special days together, or at least we've been able to celebrate them the weekend before or after. We've no real need for R&R Day anymore. But we can't quite let go of having our own personal holiday. Rodgers has a meeting tonight from 6:30 to forever, so we won't really get to celebrate today. But, there you go.

Happy R&R Day!

Engagement Pictures

We had our engagement pictures taken this weekend. You can see them in my Picasa web album, or the slideshow below.

the proposal

(I'm not going to jump right in to the proposal story; I have to set the stage first.)

This weekend, I moved to Temple. I have been planning to move here so that Rod and I can be closer geographically and so that we can get married eventually. And so a long distance relationship ended after 2 years, 7 months, and 25 days (aka 959 days). We've not yet had time to enjoy our proximity because the entire weekend was spent moving, but we are very excited to be close together.

Saturday, I got into my apartment for the first time. Rodgers lent me a sleeping bag and towels, since mine were in the storage unit in Arlington, so that I could stay the night in my apartment for the first time. I had a car load of stuff with me, that I had carried around while I was being a gypsy, living with different people for the past 2 and a half months. We got all that moved in.

Sunday morning, we left around 7:30 am, went to Arlington, got the Uhaul, loaded up from my storage unit (with the help of Trey and the entertainment of Angela), had lunch with Trey and Angela, saw Melanie Stephens and family at Quizno's, drove to Temple, unloaded and carried stuff up 2 flights of stairs (with the help of Melanie, Ian, and Cal Lemley), waited for Dad to arrive, unloaded my dinette from his truck and carried it upstairs, returned the Uhaul, went to Ihop for dinner, came home, put my bed together, unpacked my kitchen, got a few things in order, then it was about 11:45 pm, and I was ready for bed. But Rodgers would not leave.

He started pestering me, saying that he wanted to annoy me. He wandered around talking about how he wanted to leave but couldn't find his keys. I was too tired to help him look, but I knew he left them on the bar and told him that. He tried annoying me again. Finally I went to the bathroom. When I came back, he was in the same place. He promised not to annoy me anymore and said that I could go to bed now and he would leave. I said, "Great," and sat down where I had been before. As I was taking a drink of water he asked me if I trusted that he wouldn't try to annoy me anymore. I said, "Yes, why wouldn't I?" As I was speaking, he swiftly got down on one knee and pulled out a ring box, in one fluid motion. He said, "Would you marry me someday?" I said, "ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" I had just realized why he had been acting like such a punk and trying to annoy me so that I would leave. And why he pretended to lose his keys. He had to get the ring out of his backpack, and didn't want me to suspect that he was going to do something nice. Once I recovered from this sudden realization that made the past few minutes make sense, I said, "Of course I'll marry you." And he put the ring on my finger.

the beginning of our story

Rodgers is from Kenya.
Rachel is from Texas.
It took a chain of people to bring us together.

Rodgers grew up in the countryside. He went to a nearby school until an American missionary in his area paid his tuition to Mombasa Baptist High School. While he was there, one of his teachers was a 2 year missionary from Texas named David Jones. David's parents were the directors of a Christian Retreat Center in central Texas, called Camp Tejas. After David went back to Texas, he worked at that camp. Eventually, the camp got into a program in which they hired international students to come for the summer to work. By this time, Rodgers was no longer a student (he was 27 and working as librarian for Mombasa Baptist High School) but David invited him to come for the summer of 2003 anyway.

Rachel has lived in Texas most of her life. Her parents move a lot, so she has lived all over the state. In the summer of 2003, she was between her junior and senior years at UMHB in Texas. Her parents and younger sister, Claire, had just moved to a town near Camp Tejas. Claire was 16, and some people at their new church suggested she could get a summer job at camp. She was the youngest summer staff and Rodgers was the oldest, so they had an immediate bond of friendship.

One weekend I (Rachel - Rodgers does not remember this day at ALL, so I will tell this part) went to visit Claire at camp. I had never been there before, and they had no campers, so I went. Most of the summer staff was gone off somewhere, but Claire had stayed behind since I was coming to see her. Rodgers and another foreign guy had also stayed. (I have never remembered anything about that other guy.) The summer staff live in cabins, but the full time staff have houses and kitchens. One of the full time staff families had the four of us over for dinner, after which we watched a documentary about Mt. Kilimanjaro. I remember Rodgers being friendly, funny, and charming, but it was not love at first site. I thought we'd never see each other again.

May 2004, Rachel (we're back to the part of the story that we both remember) graduated and got an internship in her field at Camp Tejas. She arrived a week after the rest of the staff because of a celebratory vacation. Rodgers was already there, and he did remember that we had met. He says this is because Claire talked about Rachel constantly, to purposely keep Rachel on his mind.

Over the summer, we became good friends, but no romance blossomed. Rodgers went back to Kenya at the end of the summer, but returned to Texas a few months later to go to school. He started in the spring 2005 semester.

We saw each other a few times over that year, and every time was progressively more weird. Rachel was starting to like Rodgers, but wanted him to make the first move. Rodgers liked Rachel but didn't want to make a move until he was sure she liked him too. Conversations seemed to lead nowhere. Rodgers didn't seem to pick up Rachel's hints and Rachel refused to be more transparent about her affection for him.

The most awkward conversation happened in August 2005. It was 9 months later when Rodgers finally asked Rachel if he could call and talk to her every day. Since then, it's been a long-distance relationship of epic proportions.

5 months after the phone calls started Rachel left the country. It had already been planned for about a year, so it was not unexpected. The time out of the country was meant to be 2 years, but Rachel was able to arrange to have the second year in Texas. For a whole year, we were 14 time zones apart. Our love grew strong during that time. When Rachel had been back for 9 months, Rodgers left the country for 3, to spend some the summer at home. So in a 29 month relationship, 14 of them were spent on different continents from each other. And the other 15 were spent with both of us in Texas, but many, many miles apart.

In a few months, though, we intend to change that. Rachel will move closer to Rodgers' school and get a job there. And we plan to get married in the next 12 months.