Getaway

Weekend Getaway!

This past weekend, our friends Charles and Eva treated us to a wonderful retreat at their cottage at the Great Rift Valley Golf Club overlooking Lake Naivasha. After an intense month, it was an incredible gift!

Mommy and Emma at the driving range

See the resemblance?

Like the old hippo, our little Ava lost her second tooth over the weekend.

Daddy and TK

Saddle Up!

In the hills above Lake Naivasha

This past weekend, we took our children away to our friend's cottage in the Rift Valley near Lake Naivasha. On Sunday afternoon, Aaron took Tristan and Emma horseback riding at a neighbouring ranch. Along the way, they saw a wild herd of cape buffalo and some beautiful rugged country.

Turkeys at the farm

On the trail!

Cape Buffalo

Tristan Back at the Ranch

Emma on her gentle giant

Great Weekend!

Ministry Connections

We had the pleasure today of spending time friends from the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC) visiting Kenya with Irving Whitt and our friend Maurice Potter, who serves in Nairobi with Pan Africa Christian University. We met to discuss the work of Canadian Baptist Ministries in Eastleigh, and the wider Muslim/Christian ministry happening in Nairobi.

We pray for a safe journey as the group continues to connect with groups working in Muslim communities throughout East Africa.

Shrove Tuesday

PANCAKE DAY

2 0 1 2

Today was "pancake day", or Shrove Tuesday for many Christian brothers and sisters, it is a tradition for our family to have breakfast for supper and to give up something for the next forty days leading to Easter. This period is known as Lent and is traditionally a period of fasting where Christians give up rich food or luxuries to devote themselves to prayer, preparation and identify with the suffering of Jesus.

"Giving up something for lent" is a good practice of self discipline and reminds us of what is really important in life. It is about living simply, justly and generously.

Emma is giving up junk food.... "What are you giving up Ava?"

"cigarettes"

Rather than hiding coins in our pancakes

we have some fun prizes at supper...

... Ava found 20 shillings!

Happy Pan Cake Day!!!

Final Show!

This afternoon was the third and final show of Rosslyn Academy's Middle School production of "30 Reasons NOT to be in a Play". The students did an outstanding performance of this comical warning against the the hazards of being a part of a drama.

"Why... that Aunt Gladys she's amazing!"

... that Aunt Gladys!

... a "GIANT BUT" hanging in the air above TK

poor poor Morty

Our narrator running into some trouble

Reason 27: Sometimes certain "feelings" develop between actors

... poor romantic "Nate and Mia"

Taking a bow

The Cast & Crew

30 Reasons NOT to be in a play

Rosslyn Academy Middle School

Proudly Presents

30 reasons

N O T

to be in a play

This year's Rosslyn Academy Middle School production is a comedy by Alan Haehnel, directed by Mark Statler. But unlike past year's this is NOT a play, this is a warning and a lesson:

"This is not a play.

These students are here to teach you.

These students are here to warn you.

These students are prepared to do

what ever it takes for you to learn....

30 Reasons NOT to be in a Play."

February 16, 17 and 18, 2012

Tristan as the love sick "Nate" in the opening night

Everyone did fantastic!

The students had the audience in a uproar of laughter

it was a great performance!

February 2012

Ava lost her first tooth!

Greetings from Nairobi,

We want to thank everyone who has been praying for Erica's recovery. She has been home from hospital for ten days now, but it hasn't been an easy time. Please continue to remember her in your prayers.

It has also been a challenging month on other fronts as well as we manage the complexities of ministry in diverse cultural settings. We are deeply thankful for our team here, and for the support we are receiving from Canada. This week we met with Judy Webb and our new Africa Program Officer Lenny Mbogo who are visiting from Toronto. Along with connecting with CBM's development projects in Kenya, they are participating in a two week food security assessment with our colleagues. Please remember Ruth Munyao who is hosting this gathering of our partners in East and Central Africa.

In a few weeks, we will be travelling back to Kigali to facilitate a Guardians of Hope leadership conference with our colleagues Bruno and Kathleen Soucy and our other friends in the AEBR development team in Rwanda. This is an exciting time of change in the Guardians of Hope program as CBM is working to help groups become more autonomous and strengthen their local income generating activities. We will certainly keep you posted on how this goes.

In Garissa, the first of three food for work projects has begun with great success. Both Somali and Waliwana villages are working to clear thorn bush from vital road ways between their villages, the local town and farmland. Once the paths are finished, the community will be moving into clearing farmland on the flood plain of the Tana River. We are so thankful for the drought response support that has come from our friends and supporting churches from around the world that is making these projects possible.

Finally, the BIG NEWS is that our little Ava has lost her first tooth. She was overjoyed to learn about the tooth fairy, and after scoring a major payload for her first one, she is now systematically checking every tooth in her mouth for the next candidate.

We want to thank you all for remembering us and the ministries of CBM in your prayers.

In Christ,

the Kennys

Food for Work Project

North East Province, Kenya

(Photo by Gabriel Craven)

Canadian Baptist Ministries Drought Response Project continues this week as we begin a "food for work project" with two vulnerable villages along the Tana River, South East of Garissa. Our colleagues Yattani Gollo and William Wako are coordinating efforts with village elders to clear scrub bush from roads and the flood plain. The communities have selected the sites for the work that will open travel between their villages and the larger town. "Removing the thorn bushes will improve security," shared Yattani. "Many women and children walk these paths in fear of attackers lurking in the mathenga (local thorny brush that covers most of Northeast Province)." The opened roads will also provide improved access to the community farms that will be cleared of mathenga over the coming months by the community members. Over the next three months, approximately 2000 people will receive supplementary food rations through this project as we help the community recover from the drought and rebuild their farms.

Thank you for praying

It is a beautiful sunny Saturday morning here in Nairobi, Ava and I are just finishing breakfast before heading to the hospital to see mommy. We want to thank everyone who has been praying for Erica's surgery and health. She is doing well, but we know that she has several weeks of recovery ahead. We all appreciate the many friends and family both near and far, who have been so encouraging and have shown us such kindness.

I'm sure some of you have read the work of Frederick Buechner, this thought below is a wonderful gift we received from a friend and we wanted to share it with you.

Becoming Human

Frederick Buechner

I don't think that it is always necessary to talk about the deepest and most private dimension of who we are, but I think we are called to talk to each other out of it, and just as importantly to listen to each other out of it, to live out of our depths as well as our shallows. We are all of us adolescents, painfully growing and groping our way toward something like true adulthood, and maybe the greatest value we have both to teach and to learn as we go is the capacity to be amazed...which is a power to heal us and bless us and in the end maybe even to transform us into truly humanbeings at last.

From The Clown in the Belfry

CBM Kenya Team Gathering

CBM Team Kenya

Yesterday we had the joy of meeting together as a team for the first time with our new colleagues Wayne and Maureen Morgan. Our director, Terry Smith, also joined us as he was in Kenya for meetings.

Please keep Erica in your prayers as she enters hospital today for surgery. She will have her operation today at 2 pm.