Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from Kenya!

We rang in 2016 last night after a great evening of board games and a campfire with our family. We are so thankful for the past year and the blessing of life and ministry in Africa. There are so many reasons to give thanks: our wonderful colleagues, the health of our family and great friends. We are also deeply thankful for the churches and our supporters in Canada that are partnering with us and Canadian Baptist Ministries in our shared work of integral mission. We wish you all a blessed New Year!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we celebrated with our church, singing carols and reading scripture. This year, Tristan joined the Christmas Eve worship team and sang O Holy Night with his friend and class mate Janet Lee. As we drove home, the clear night sky was filled with the light of a brilliant full moon. It was a peaceful night together as we lit our advent candles together and opened our Kikoyi pyjamas -- another great tradition.

Christmas morning at the Kennys

On Christmas day, we had lots of fun with our children and our friends Kerry and Zuri, and Melanie and baby Angel. We were able to try out some of the new board games that our children received for Christmas, and the girls had lots of fun colouring.

Christmas Trifle

We enjoyed all of our traditional Christmas goodies, but this year we added Erica's homemade marshmallows to our campfires and hot chocolate! 

Making Peanut butter balls with Malcolm and Patty

in the week leading up to Christmas

The view from the tree house in Naivasha

On the weekend before Christmas, we had a great weekend retreat with the Slaughter and Gilmer families near Naivasha. Our family stayed in our friend's treehouse cabin amongst the curious monkeys and beautiful tropical birds. Since Christmas is the start of summer here in Kenya, this is the season for camping and beach getaways!

Aaron and Emma under the treehouse

Erica and Tristan in the treehouse

The beautiful tea hills above Nairobi

Leading up to Christmas, we also enjoyed some time with our great friends Malcolm and Patty Card who were visiting from Canada. The Cards joined us for CBM partnership visits in Kenya, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, but they also had a few days to enjoy some of their favourite spots here in Nairobi.

Exploring the gardens at Kiambethu Tea Farm with Malcolm and Patty

Christmas Eve

We have had a full day connecting with friends and family over Skype. Being far apart from our Canadian family at Christmas is certainly the most difficult part of living in Africa, but we are grateful for the wonderful memories that we are making together.

We wish you all God's richest blessings and fullest joy throughout 2016.