WE'RE ON OUR WAY!!!

OK, the first leg of our trip was supposed to take us from Kansas City, to Atlanta, To Paris, to Nairobi, then FINALLY to Kisumu, Kenya. Should have taken three days total, with a 10hr layover in Paris...Jason had the whole day there planned out. He even found a walking map on line that took you turn by turn, with pictures, that took you where ever you wanted to go! He spent A LOT of time planning it all. Which is pretty funny because, this is how our trip actually went...4 hour drive to KC, extra 2 hours in the air waiting for a storm to pass so we could land in Atlanta, not enough gas to stay in the air, land in Birmingham to get gas, then fly BACK to Atlanta. TOTALLY missed the Paris flight, wait in line for HOURS to figure out how to get to where we were going. Spending the night in the airport along with the couple thousand other people that missed their flights from the storm, working with the Airline staff for 6hrs and finally getting flights. *NEW ITINERARY* Atlanta to New York, New York to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Nairobi, Nairobi to Kisumu...SO NO PARIS!!! Little bit of a bummer, but what can you do...so instead of Paris, I got China town! Not sure that's a very fair comparison, but I had never been to NY so that's something. And I ate some super yummy vendor food...I think it was some kind of chicken on a stick....I think(I hope!)

NYC (somewhere)

Anyway...our flight left way late, there was a problem with the hose connected to the thing that starts the jets so we could take off...we were more than a little worried about missing another flight!

FINALLY over the Ocean!!!

But our pilot made up over 2 hours in air(didn't know that could happen) and when we landed in Amsterdam, we literally got off at one gate, walked down a few, and got right on a plane at another. No time to spare! Praise God for that!!! We were NOT interested in spending the night in another airport! Not sure how it all worked out, but some how Rian got First Class seats on almost every flight!!! Big turd....hehehe....No, it was cool....I think he need the extra rest, and I had Jas to travel with...that's an even trade right? Jason or First Class.....HHHMMM!!! So, we got to Nairobi late in the evening, and had to get a hotel room in town...we weren't sure what to expect, and it cost an arm and a leg, but the room was OK...it had 3 smaller than twin size beds in it, but I did get a hot shower...it was like heaven! And, the lobby had "I Know My Redeemer Lives" playing when we checked in...kinda cool! We left for the airport the next morning @ 6:30am and passed a herd of GIRAFFES grazing on the way...Totally random, and totally cool! It was too dark to get pictures though. Everything went well on this leg of the trip, and we landed in Kisumu on time, and still tired.

Where Jason almost got arrested..hahaha!

This airport is probably about as big as the Ankeny airport(and yes there is an Ankeny airport) It was pretty cute...Jason took a few pics, and a security guard confronted him....He was scared he was gonna lose his brand new, just for this trip, camera! It was pretty funny...but the guy was cool, and he said "well the pictures already in there, just don't take anymore. They're not for ill intent are they?" Jason is REALLY bad at understanding little kids, and people speaking English with an accent, and he couldn't figure out the second part...He didn't understand the "ill intent" part at first, it was pretty funny, but we didn't get arrested...which is always good :o) And FINALLY that got us to Kisumu, and Pastor Kefa(The "father" at the Shangilia Orphanage) It was a long bumpy rainy ride into the mountains, but I think next to Northern MN of course, it was the most beautiful place I'd ever seen! It was so good to be there, but I was EXHAUSTED!! I think I took a 5hr nap and still slept through the night!

Our Hotel, I mean Hut, for 2 weeks

It was an overwhelming trip, but God got us there in His timing, and in His plan...because it was obviously not our plan! I've always known that when you're trying, wanting, to serve God, Satan will do what ever he can to discourage you. But, I've been learning more and more, that sometimes when you tell God you want to do His will, He's got to make sure you mean it, and with adversity, if you're still serious enough to follow through! Our trip was in the grand scheme not that big a deal, and could have been worse, but at the time, it was pretty rough...But we all had the hope of what God was going to use us for to keep us going...And I've decided, that's not a bad outlook to have on all of life!!!

Shangilia Orphanage - Kisumu Kenya

Shangilia Orphanage - Kisumu Kenya

Here's a little video with just a few highlights of our trip...I'll be sharing PLENTY more pics in the days to come...hope you enjoy!!

How Quickly Plans Change!

We've been married 10 years now....does that make us old?!?!

March 10th marked our 10th anniversary, and I'd been craigslisting like MAD to get some cash to be able to go somewhere fun to celebrate....We started planning our trip the beginning of March to be able to go over spring break, and were hoping to get in on some awesome last minute deal...but no deal was there to be found!!! We wanted to go the week of March 14th while the kids were off of school, and my Mom was gonna come down to stay with them (She's amazing by the way...) well, March 1st came and nothing sounded that great, and no plans were working out...We decided to just go back to the same resort in Cozumel, Mexico where we had our honeymoon. It didn't even sound that thrilling. Not sure why, cuz who doesn't dream about the nice warm beach in the middle of an Iowa winter?!?! Especially this winter! Anyway, the resort turned into an "Adult Only" resort (probably not as creepy as it sounds) and with that, the prices jumped way up. We just couldn't stomach spending that much money to just lay around...it was totally not the right thing, and in our hearts we knew it. Well I think God was saving us, because the very next day He answered our prayers of what to do! Jason and I committed to praying about what to do overnight, and we had a bunch of others praying as well...and then out of the blue Jason's good buddy, Rian Bess called and asked for help on a Missions trip to Kenya Africa, leaving in only 2 weeks! Jason, good man that he is, said YES!!! But only if I could come too! SO, after 2 weeks of ups and downs, trying to make quick plans, we left for Kisumu, Kenya on March 21st. It was a week later than we'd hoped, so Mom had to get the kids to school and soccer and all that, but she was a trooper, and Jason's mom and quite a few others helped us out...good thing we're loved, or at least our kids are :0) I'm going to try to share all the details, a little everyday, of our trip and all the amazing people, and experiences we were met with. Mostly I want to share the amazing things that were accomplished for our great God's glory. I'll include some of my journal entries, too. Thanks everyone for praying, and if you think anyone else'll want to read this stuff please forward it on! Love ya!!!