Overdue update

Being newly married and busier with TI stuff than I thought I would be, it has been hard to keep up on blogs. Not to say that nothing is going on because there is a lot going on. But by time the work day ends and 5:00 rolls around the last thing I want to do is sit down at my computer and write a blog. Especially when I can see the gazebo from window and know that there isn’t anything better than sitting outside with a cup of coffee while cuddling with my wife. Ya, wife cuddling overtakes blogging every time.

We have been to Nairobi more times in the last month than all of last year combined… and we are getting ready to go again. We have been going to either pick people up, drop them off, or work on my work permit. (Work permit approved, collected and passport stamped during the last trip… thank you Lord!) The 7 hour bus or shuttle ride gets old after a while. Thankfully the roads have improved drastically. And to make Nairobi even better, Ashlie and I have also discovered a few favorite places. The balcony at the Coco Lounge that overlooks a busy road, Savanna’s with its leather couches and amazing iced mochas, and our most recent find, the matatu that goes from town to the front steps of the West Gate Mall for 35 cents each. Saves on the $6 taxi each way and is almost as fast.

Tomorrow we head to Nairobi again to pick up this year’s group of interns who will be with us for three months. There is a lot of excitement and anxiety as this will be Ashlie’s first time to lead the program and my first time to lead with a wife.

This year we will have three girls and two guys in the internship program along with Ray Smith and Adam Pollock who are spending the fall with us in Kenya. We will be mentoring these young adults as we challenge them to re construct their foundational beliefs on Christianity, to dig into a deeper and intimate relationship with our Father while learning what it means to serve, give and care for the poor. This program is one of my favorite things that we do throughout the year. It seems that every fall, as we walk with a new group of interns, the Lord too challenges my relationship with Him. This too, might be the last internship program in Kenya, at least for a few years as I have no idea where Ashlie and I will be this time next year. Scary and at the same time, exciting.  

I have to brag about my wife a little bit, not that I feel obligated because she is my wife, but because she is truly amazing. Over the past months she has become a master chef. Every few days she tries out something new that she has never cooked before, and mind you, she is cooking in an oven that is from the 70s or 80s and that doesn’t hold a constant temperature. The most recent baked goods were biscuits and brownies made totally from scratch. I never much enjoyed baked goods before, but Ashlie is forcing me to get back into shape because I can’t stop eating all the amazing things she is cooking.

I have many blog ideas I want to put into words, I hope to find time in the coming weeks to do so.

Until then, I encourage you to check out all the updates on the TI web page. It will give you a good idea about what has been going on these past months. http://blog.transformedinternational.org/