nakupenda

hey guys sorry i didnt blog yesterday- me and bailey skipped out and went to the orphanage to see the kids instead. church yesterday was absolutely amazing! a really great message--plus i got to see reagan and kelvin and geoffrey and JOHN!!! kelvin and reagan came over for lunch and entertained us for hours--they are absolutely hilarious!!! i love you both! then bailey and i left for the orphanage. all the boarders and staff went to rachel's house down the road. and thenn: the epic hike over the river and through the woods, to grandmother's house we went! (literally) kids on both sides of you and john tripping you while trying to climb a mountain is really no fun but i had a blast (: when we got back to rachel's we all sat around the tv and watched michael jackson music videos and watched benson show us some moves-it was so great! i guess thats about it, really...i'll stay in touch!

kwaheri
lauren (:

happy 4th!

hey guys! i miss you all so much but kenya just keeps gettin better and better!!! bailey shelby and i spent pretty much all day at the centre with the kids (grace stayed home sick). it was absolutely amazing! i met my new best friend, trevor, yesterday. he taught me some mad soccer skills after about 2 hours of soccer. it was so much fun! i got to see patrick's (patrick is the director of the orphanage) daughter caroline. she has grown so much from two years ago! the kids are also trying to teach me some swahili...i'm picking it up surprisingly fast!!! we had supper with AB and Pat (Pat's Feeding Program) last night at the Kentmere. Thatttt was so much fun! haha i guess that's pretty much it for now- us girls are fixin to head back to the orphanage for another day of fun in the sun (: i'll update facebook with lots of pictures soon..
nakupenda sana!

kwa heri,
lauren (:

finally here.

jambo!!! we finallyyy made it here wednesday morning at around 6:30am (around 10:30pm tuesday night mississippi time). after an hour or so of looking for Bailey's blue duffel (which never showed up...), we hit the ground running. We went to the Nakumatt (Kenya Kmart) and bought groceries, then went to the house we're renting..it's amazing! there's no heat, though, and our water heater has to be turned on an hour in advance for us to have hot showers. Even then, we have to be quick so the rest of the girls can have hot water. After we got settled into our new home, we went to the Limuru Children's Centre (the website link is in my first post) and visited with the boarders. The six new children are absolutely amazing! I absolutely fell in love with Jen, the youngest and one of the newest boarders. We played "tag" for a little while, before I moved on to playing soccer with the boys. My cheeks were hurting by the end of the hour from smiling and laughing- I'm so glad to be back!

We are about to head to the Centre now to eat lunch with the children and help the mums prepare supper for them. Then we'll go to Cheshire, which is the handicapped children's home to do a music night with some missionaries from London we met last night at the Global Connection's farm (again, link in first post). We're looking forward to another busy day!

love from kenya!
lauren (:

i feel that since i forgot my log-in and my password, it was time to update my blog:

wow-it's so hard to believe we leave in almost NINE DAYS!!! everything is flying by so quickly! mom and i finished up our last minute shopping today. i can't wait to get home and get packing! our flight was actually moved up a day and we go through Dubai so that should be pretty cool--never been to the middle east before!

i think thats all for now! gotta get to bed- i'm helping gov school make pillow cases for the orphanage tomorrow mornin!

so really the only reason i set this thing up is to keep everyone updated while i'm in AFRICAA! :) but i figured since i have it, i should probably update you on where we're at so far..

mom and i decided to spend 6 weeks in Limuru, Kenya. we're renting a house with Puckett girls so there's gonna be 5 of us in one house. with one shower. interesting, huh? but anyways we're jus gonna go Kenyan style- don't quite know what we're gonna be doing for suree..i definately wanna work with Care for Aids and at Tigoni Hospital.

Care for Aids is an amazing organization that a few American college students and two of our African friends put together. They work with HIV+ clients who have been cast aside because of their illness. i haven't been yet so i don't quite understand it all, but from what mom says it sounds amazing.

i also wanna work at the hospital, but i'm not sure how often i'll be able to..i think that would just be amazing!

and of course, i'll be spendin a lot of my time at the Limuru Children's Centre, the orphanage our organization supports.

lots of opportunities to help me figure out what i wanna be when i finally decide to grow up! i'll keep everyone posted as the trip progresses..not too long until we leave!!!

here are a few websites for you to check out in the meantime:

Global Connections- http://www.globalconnectionsonline.org/
Limuru Children's Centre- https://www.limuruchildrenscentre.org/
Care for Aids- http://careforaids.org/