Advent 2009

Advent candles mark our journey

as we prepare for the coming of Christ

Emma lighting the first advent candle

"In the beginning when God created

the heavens and the earth..."

Genesis 1:1

Our Advent Wreath

This year we are using a little booklet called "The Messengers for the Messiah" by Peter Mead as inspiration for our family advent devotions and candle lighting. Each day we gathering to pray and meditate on a different messenger (someone or something that points us to Jesus). Based on the themes in Mead's booklet, we will light five candles over the coming weeks. Today we lit the CREATION CANDLE: throughout this week we will be thinking about the ways that God communicates with us through creation.

We're decking the halls and trimming our tree

On Saturday, we had a wonderful rainy day at home decorating for Christmas. Since moving to Kenya, Christmas has become an important link to our memories and experiences of life in Canada. For some reason, the smoke of a fire and smell of apple cider steaming on the stove help us feel connected to a long a deep past.

New Traditions

Along with the old, we are incorporating new traditions into our Kenyan Christmas celebrations. One of our favorites has been making our own wrapping paper. We gather all the old markers, crayons, and coloured pencils together and start drawing and colouring our images of winter and Christmas on old newsprint and flip chart pads. The real fun is just sitting together and joking around with our kids.

A little masterpiece!

Kenya's National Museum

Tristan and Emma are enjoying a long weekend off from school as Rosslyn Academy celebrates the American Thanksgiving. We had a fun day today with Zach Rowley: after running a few errands in Westlands, we visited Kenya's National Museum.

Erica, Tristan and Emma on our

tour of the mammal room

Along with exhibits of Kenya's cultural diversity, the museum hosts a huge display of bird and animal life in Kenya. Emma was wide eyed as roamed the exhibit rooms that featured everything from the skeleton of a colossal elephant to some of the world's earliest hominid fossils found near Lake Turkana.

Zach and the hippo

After exploring the main museum, we braved the snake park where we had an up close look at Kenya's more dangerous residents. Kenya is home to the world's largest spitting cobras, vipers, puff aders, and the feared black mamba. After our tour, our guide offered Zach a chance to handle the 200 kilogram python, but we had to go and pick Ava up from Potter House -- sorry Zack, maybe next time!

An inquisitive Boomslang keeping a

close eye on us at the snake park.

Christmas Band Concert

On Tuesday evening, the Rosslyn Academy band department presented "The Celebration of Christmas" conducted by Mr. Jose Muniz

This was Tristan's first band concert

and despite some butterflies he was great!

Tristan playing percussion
in the fifth grade beginning band

Happy Club

Members of the weekly Happy Club with teacher Gladys and Iftin youth leaders Zahra Shariif and Tunis Shariif

Singing and dancing is a regular part of Happy Club

The Happy Club had it's closing party yesterday as the fall school semester comes to an end at Rev. Kareri Primary School. Over the past three months, the club has met each Thursday after school. It is a fun way for newly arrived refugee children to build friendships and find a listening ear from the volunteer youth leaders from Iftin.

Zach leading a game of pictionary relay with the students during their closing party


Teacher Gladys and her team were the winners of the game. We shared t-shirts and hats left by the Middleton Baptist Church volunteers as prizes for the team.

Aaron teaching the Happy Club

one of Ava's favorite songs:

"Here is the bee hive. Where are the bees?"