Sunday, August 25, 2013

Masquerade Murder Mystery


Wayne Morgan as "Rocky" Nathan Rohl

An evening of intrigue, mystery and murder!


Miss Gray watches as Madam Beauregard places her 
gypsy curse on poor old Rock N. Rohl.



Emma celebrating her 12th birthday with a masquerade 
murder mystery with her school friends. 
We all had a lot of fun together playing our parts 
and hunting for clues to solve whodunnit!




The conniving Miss Debb U. Taunt (Audrey Statler) 
welcoming guests to the party 


Miss Gray (Erica) with Rock's cunning niece, Ivanna Zing (Emma)


 Everyone having lots of fun getting into character,...


.... until the gypsy curse took its terrible affect!



Inspector Hunt (Mark Statler) examines the scene of the crime


Thankfully he had some help!


Emma and friends are on the case


Guests search for clues at Madam Beauregard's tent



Suspects Debb U. Taunt and Penelope Adder (Kerry Jividen)


Guests consult the gypsy Besnik Bo 
and Lady Vadoma "the all knowing"

-- Three Questions Only --




The magic mirror giving a spooky glimpse of 
Rocky beyond the grave!


The guests giving their fantastic theories


and eventually... 


... solving the mystery!


Celebrating with birthday cakes!


And a wonderful time with friends!!!!






Monday, August 19, 2013

The Kennys from Calgary!




Great adventures with our family
visiting from Calgary, Alberta


Tristan and uncle Adam sporting their West African flare 


At the beginning of August, Aaron's brother Adam and his family visited for a week on their way their way to connect with Ivy's dad, Chris, and relatives in Ghana. It had been nearly ten years since we had seen Ivy, and our first time ever to meet our two beautiful nieces Livia and Laurel. We had a fun few days showing them around the city and a fun weekend camping in the Great Rift Valley. The time went by way too quickly, but here are a few snap shots of our time together.



 Erica and Ivy at the beautiful Mali Saba Camp, Nakuru

Mali Saba is an extinct volcanic crater in the rolling hill country beyond Nakuru. From our cliff side tents we watched plumes of steam rising from the black volcanic crater bed below. Although we didn't take in any of the hikes, the views from the rim were incredible. Another unexpected thrill was the plunge pool that one of our children stripped down for,... the dipper shall remain unnamed.


Mali Saba Crater


Baboon Cliff at Nakuru National Park


This was also our first time exploring Lake Nakuru. There has been such massive rains in the area, the Lake had actually flooded out most of the road. Our greatest challenges was making it through the park without getting stuck. We saw lots of baboons, buffalo, antelope, zebra and water bucks, along with an array of African bird life. The highlights were the Rothschild Giraffe and a pride of lions asleep in a tree near the lake -- probably grateful for some dry ground!


Uncle Aaron and Auntie Erica with Liam, Livia and Laurel
Playing in the gardens of Amani Ya Juu, Nairobi



Ava and Livia taking the helm
on a hippo safari on Lake Naivasha



Tristan and Emma ridding the lake of some of it's dread water hyacinth



Ivy and Liam on the look out for more hippos





We wish Adam, Ivy, Liam, Livia and Laurel
a great adventure as they continue their journey to West Africa
to visit with Ivy's relatives living in Ghana






Saturday, August 3, 2013

CBM Africa Team


Celebrating Caleb Bannister's High School graduation
from Rift Valley Academy, Kenya



There has been lots of transition within our CBM Africa team in the past year. We are so proud of Caleb who is beginning a year long program with Youth with a Mission (YWAM) this September. Caleb's parents, Tim and Diane Bannister, are also in a time of transition as they complete their ministry with CBM this December. We will miss the Bannisters, who have been such great team mates since we joined CBM together in 2006. While we are sad to see them finish their assignment with CBM, we are excited to know that they will be returning to Kenya in 2014 to begin new jobs with an organization focused on improving agricultural production in arid lands.



Erica leading a discussion at our first 
Kenya team meeting as Africa team leaders




 Fellowship time at the Kennys



Big transitions in Rwanda!!!

Kenya is not the only field where CBM is seeing some major changes. In Rwanda, our colleagues Bruno and Kathleen Soucy will be completing their assignment in September, and transitioning to Latin America where they will be serving as CBM's team leaders there. We are going to miss the Soucy's who have not only given extraordinary leadership to the Rwanda team, but have been a great support to CBM's operations in Kenya.


In July, we also had the joy of celebrating the installation of our colleague Gato Munyamasoko as the general secretary and legal representative of the Association of Baptist Church of Rwana (AEBR). Gato's secondment to the AEBR in this key leadership role marks an important step in the Rwandan churches strategic reforms to strengthen the church and deepen its impact upon the community. Please join us in upholding Gato and all of our team as they follow God's leading through times of change. 





Peer to Peer Monitoring and Evaluation



Canadian Baptist Ministries Peer to Peer
Monitoring and Evaluation Training

Brackenhurst Conference Centre
Tigoni, Kenya -- July 2013


Our colleague Pauline Kariuki instructing participants on the best practices of project management for church-based community relief and development. We are excited to have the 24 churches in Garissa District providing support and accountability to each other as their congregations engage their community in integral mission through peace building, education, food relief and sustainable community development. 

We are so proud of the CBM team who have been pulling together in support of these leaders and their churches as they work together for the good of their neighbours. Over the past three months, CBM has partnered with three churches and a local Muslim NGO in food relief and feeding programs in six villages within Garissa District. While the churches have been focused on short-term feeding programs for vulnerable children, the CBM team has been complimenting this with ongoing food for work projects that will help the villages with long term food security.



Our colleague William Wako sharing about the of the conservation agriculture intervention of Farming God's Way that five of the Garissa Churches are currently using in their community. 


Erica with our friends and colleagues 
Maureen Morgan and Diane Bannister



At this training, we were able to welcome five leaders from Cushtic Muslim Background Churches who are now a part of CBM's Urban Muslim Ministry program. It was inspiring to hear the testimony of Pastor Balate who shared with us the journey of his church.



Members of the CBM outreach team


Thank you for praying for and supporting CBM's ministry in Africa

Canada Day

 Happy Canada Day!

Ava in her Canada Day colours at the Canadian Association of Kenya's Canada Day Celebration at the High Commissioner's residence. Erica and I had the fun of leading children's games and activities, like the "Great Canadian Freeze Out" where teams tried to melt a block of ice to free the Canadian pennies.




 This Canada Day we enjoyed some backyard fireworks and games with our friends the Enns family. Wes and the boys had a store of cigar sized pyrotechnics. A great little crowd came together for the show!



Isaiah teaching us the viking game of kuubs!



We also had a sad good-bye as our friend, Melanie McKee, left for a year long Sabbatical in America. We will miss you Auntie Mel!