I’ve been trying to be very intentional in reflecting on things I’ve learned here…I know there are some things I’m forgetting, and most of the things I won’t expand much on here, but maybe these are things you can ask us about when we get back as we try and continue to figure out what God has taught us.
1. Missions
Surprisingly, I’m leaving here less convinced of my convictions on the idea of missions, specifically to Africa, and more specifically to sub-Saharan Africa. I’m 100% convinced of God’s command to all believers to spread the good news of Jesus to the corners of the world. What I’m not convinced of is Westerners role in that in this area. There’s a strong church here in Kenya. And sometimes I wonder if kenyans reaching kenyans or kenyans reaching ugandans may be a better fit than westerners coming into a totally different culture and “making christians.” I’ve seen things that disappoint me here about the influence of Western missionaries. I do very much still believe in the power of exchange- africans coming to the states and us coming to Africa, but in an exchange of ideas and beliefs about what it looks like to follow Jesus. As peers, not as one “teaching” the other the right way to do things.
2. Momhood
I’ve learned much more of how to be a mom. I think in a lot of ways I’ve stepped into that role more, and feel more equipped to be that for the rest of my life. ☺.
3. Slowing Down
It’s nice not to be going, going, going. I love being able to stop and have conversations with people. I enjoy sitting at each other’s houses, eating dinner, talking about whatever. I appreciate people’s availability to hang out or go do something, or lend a helping hand. Our family has time to hang out with one another, take evening walks, enjoy good conversation and have a sit-down dinner every night. those are things i’m not taking for granted.
4. Spiritual Warfare
I have a better awareness that what we see is not all there is. And that spiritual warfare is real, and powerful, and we need to be ready for whatever comes our way. I think there’s much for me to learn about this, but I think an awareness is the first best step.
So yeah, these are my things. I know jake has been thinking about a couple of the same ones, but then different ones too. I’m sure he’ll write a post about it as it gets closer to his departure.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
Catching Up II (or is it III)?
Website/Fundraising
In addition to starting classes, Jake has also started helping out of the NEGST fundraising team, who is responsible for brainstorming ways to help promote NEGST both in Africa and abroad. He’s been working mostly on website stuff. It’s been fun to brainstorm—since this is very similar to what I just sat in on during my past year at the BSU. A team of Americans are visiting NEGST this past week and this week—they are helping a lot with website stuff too, as well as teaching various computer skills to both children and adults on campus. I think they’re also doing an after-school VBS.
Starting school
For those of you who haven’t heard, I’ll be starting Asbury in the fall! I’m not exactly sure how many classes I’ll be taking. In theory, I have 7 years to finish the degree once I begin in. The pace will be contingent on our finances at any given point, along with how much time I feel like I can dedicate to it while staying at home with 2 kids all day! I’m excited to be beginning. I’ll be pursing my M.A. in Christian Leadership.
Bible Study
For the past semester or so, I’ve been attending a ladies Bible study on campus on Fridays. It’s made up mostly of the wives of male students on campus. We’ve been studying through the book of John; I’ve really enjoyed getting to know everyone better through this.
Praying for the simple things
As some of you may have heard, Kenya has been experiencing quite a dry spell. In some places it’s even been called a drought. Farmers are having a hard time growing food, which makes food a bit more expensive. Last week, however, it rained for parts of 2 days! It was great! Apparently everyone was surprised that it could rain in January. Praise God though, it really has been an answer to prayer- we even prayed about it for a good amount of time in our church service the Sunday before it rained. Since I’ve been here, I’ve found myself praying for simple things more often…
In addition to starting classes, Jake has also started helping out of the NEGST fundraising team, who is responsible for brainstorming ways to help promote NEGST both in Africa and abroad. He’s been working mostly on website stuff. It’s been fun to brainstorm—since this is very similar to what I just sat in on during my past year at the BSU. A team of Americans are visiting NEGST this past week and this week—they are helping a lot with website stuff too, as well as teaching various computer skills to both children and adults on campus. I think they’re also doing an after-school VBS.
Starting school
For those of you who haven’t heard, I’ll be starting Asbury in the fall! I’m not exactly sure how many classes I’ll be taking. In theory, I have 7 years to finish the degree once I begin in. The pace will be contingent on our finances at any given point, along with how much time I feel like I can dedicate to it while staying at home with 2 kids all day! I’m excited to be beginning. I’ll be pursing my M.A. in Christian Leadership.
Bible Study
For the past semester or so, I’ve been attending a ladies Bible study on campus on Fridays. It’s made up mostly of the wives of male students on campus. We’ve been studying through the book of John; I’ve really enjoyed getting to know everyone better through this.
Praying for the simple things
As some of you may have heard, Kenya has been experiencing quite a dry spell. In some places it’s even been called a drought. Farmers are having a hard time growing food, which makes food a bit more expensive. Last week, however, it rained for parts of 2 days! It was great! Apparently everyone was surprised that it could rain in January. Praise God though, it really has been an answer to prayer- we even prayed about it for a good amount of time in our church service the Sunday before it rained. Since I’ve been here, I’ve found myself praying for simple things more often…
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
And All the Other Stuff, Part I
How about everything between Christmas and coming back?
Jake has started classes…we’re in the 4th week. This semester he’s taking Greek II, Morphology and Syntax, Semantics, and Sociology of Language. He’s been approved to sit early for his exams, which means he’ll be taking them the last week of classes, instead of waiting through Reading Week and then Exam Week. We’re excited that the administration allowed him to do this—otherwise he would have not gotten any credit for them. From last term, he got his grades last week and they were great! He was pleased with them; I wanted to put his grade report on the fridge but he wouldn’t let me ☺.
Asante has been attending baby class almost every morning, and really loving it. So far he hasn’t cried when I left, which is a huge improvement from last term! He’s really warming up to the teachers and he loves being around all the kids. He’s turned into a bibliophile again- we’re reading all of his books to him everyday (about 20), and not just once, but over and over. He does that and play ball. That’s about it while he’s home ☺.
As for me, I’ve been working on getting things ready for my departure, making chore lists, menus, recipe cards for Grace and Jake, grocery lists, lists of things to give away and to who, etc. We’ve also gone to a few “going-away dinners” which have been fun and sad. I can’t believe it’s coming up so soon. It’s only been 6 months, but in many ways it feels like home. I’ve also been reading a lot during Asante’s naps (I’ve finished quite a few books)- trying to take advantage of both the library’s books and our friends- Ben and Christi’s books. Both have good books that have been on my list of books to read for awhile.
Jake has started classes…we’re in the 4th week. This semester he’s taking Greek II, Morphology and Syntax, Semantics, and Sociology of Language. He’s been approved to sit early for his exams, which means he’ll be taking them the last week of classes, instead of waiting through Reading Week and then Exam Week. We’re excited that the administration allowed him to do this—otherwise he would have not gotten any credit for them. From last term, he got his grades last week and they were great! He was pleased with them; I wanted to put his grade report on the fridge but he wouldn’t let me ☺.
Asante has been attending baby class almost every morning, and really loving it. So far he hasn’t cried when I left, which is a huge improvement from last term! He’s really warming up to the teachers and he loves being around all the kids. He’s turned into a bibliophile again- we’re reading all of his books to him everyday (about 20), and not just once, but over and over. He does that and play ball. That’s about it while he’s home ☺.
As for me, I’ve been working on getting things ready for my departure, making chore lists, menus, recipe cards for Grace and Jake, grocery lists, lists of things to give away and to who, etc. We’ve also gone to a few “going-away dinners” which have been fun and sad. I can’t believe it’s coming up so soon. It’s only been 6 months, but in many ways it feels like home. I’ve also been reading a lot during Asante’s naps (I’ve finished quite a few books)- trying to take advantage of both the library’s books and our friends- Ben and Christi’s books. Both have good books that have been on my list of books to read for awhile.
Coming Back
In addition to Christmas details, many have asked about our travel plans back to the States.
In exactly 2 weeks- February 10th, I (tiffany) will be headed on an airplane, back to the U.S. My plane leaves here very late at night, and I’ll be arriving in the States early evening on the 11th. As for Jake and Asante, they will be leaving Nairobi on the 16th of March and arriving the next evening in St. Louis. I’m definitely sad about leaving many people and things here, and especially sad about leaving Jake and Asante for 5 weeks. However, we’ve done the best we can in planning so that Jake will have plenty of study time, and Asante will have a routine that will not be too disruptful. I know the boys will be okay logistically, I’m just hoping they don’t get too lonely, especially on the weekends.
While back in the States, I’ll spend a couple weeks in Waterloo with my parents (a few days at the beginning and a week before Jake gets back), and then I’ll be spending the time inbetween in Columbia, getting some details worked out (where we’ll live, insurance situation, establishing medical care, catching up with people).
So that’s that!
In exactly 2 weeks- February 10th, I (tiffany) will be headed on an airplane, back to the U.S. My plane leaves here very late at night, and I’ll be arriving in the States early evening on the 11th. As for Jake and Asante, they will be leaving Nairobi on the 16th of March and arriving the next evening in St. Louis. I’m definitely sad about leaving many people and things here, and especially sad about leaving Jake and Asante for 5 weeks. However, we’ve done the best we can in planning so that Jake will have plenty of study time, and Asante will have a routine that will not be too disruptful. I know the boys will be okay logistically, I’m just hoping they don’t get too lonely, especially on the weekends.
While back in the States, I’ll spend a couple weeks in Waterloo with my parents (a few days at the beginning and a week before Jake gets back), and then I’ll be spending the time inbetween in Columbia, getting some details worked out (where we’ll live, insurance situation, establishing medical care, catching up with people).
So that’s that!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Catching Up I: Christmas
Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted. I’m truly sorry about that! I hope that this series of posts catches everyone up.
Christmas
We had a very quiet Christmas here in Nairobi. We had decided months before that we would not do gifts this year…we (or maybe just I) called it our “Christmas Detox.” I knew that many, most, here on campus wouldn’t be exchanging gifts, so I wanted to participate in that. Plus, last year in the States was particularly hard for me in that I had a difficult time celebrating the Incarnation of Jesus in the world. Too much other clutter filled my mind—shopping, gifts, parties, food, money, etc.
So, instead, this Christmas Asante and I woke up to find that our living room had been turned into a Winter Wonderland! Jake had gotten up at 5:00a to cut out paper snowflakes, which he hung all over the walls. In addition, Jake had set out a small “gift” set for each of us. For Asante, it included his bottle, a banana (which he eats EVERY morning), a sucker that a store clerk had given to jake for him a few days before, and a gift from the Rowburys (one of our good friends on campus). On my pile, was a can of chocolate icing and a box of shortbread cookies to put it on (yum!), a small chocolate bar, and a Kenya-patterned headband that Jake had bought for both me and Grace (a young woman who helps us with some of the housekeeping and laundry).
So, we ate breakfast (I made French toast), Asante opened his gift, we read the Christmas story from Asante’s Bible, and spent a little time praying. Then, we went on our morning walk to check email and talk to a few people online (since it was Christmas eve in the states).
Later on that day, for lunch, we went to one of Jake’s professor’s house for a multi-cultural Christmas celebration. There were people from the UK, Kenya, Cameroon, Australia, and of course us, from America. We ate a FABULOUS meal, and enjoyed conversation with one another for a couple hours.
For a late dinner, we went to the Rowburys where they prepared leftovers from their Christmas lunch, and hung out for a while. Overall, it was a great day. The interesting thing about Christmas here? The day after Christmas, it was over. No more “happy holidays” or anything like that. No more Christmas celebrations. Oh, and another interesting thing is that it was really warm here on Christmas—which throws you off for sure! ☺
Christmas
We had a very quiet Christmas here in Nairobi. We had decided months before that we would not do gifts this year…we (or maybe just I) called it our “Christmas Detox.” I knew that many, most, here on campus wouldn’t be exchanging gifts, so I wanted to participate in that. Plus, last year in the States was particularly hard for me in that I had a difficult time celebrating the Incarnation of Jesus in the world. Too much other clutter filled my mind—shopping, gifts, parties, food, money, etc.
So, instead, this Christmas Asante and I woke up to find that our living room had been turned into a Winter Wonderland! Jake had gotten up at 5:00a to cut out paper snowflakes, which he hung all over the walls. In addition, Jake had set out a small “gift” set for each of us. For Asante, it included his bottle, a banana (which he eats EVERY morning), a sucker that a store clerk had given to jake for him a few days before, and a gift from the Rowburys (one of our good friends on campus). On my pile, was a can of chocolate icing and a box of shortbread cookies to put it on (yum!), a small chocolate bar, and a Kenya-patterned headband that Jake had bought for both me and Grace (a young woman who helps us with some of the housekeeping and laundry).
So, we ate breakfast (I made French toast), Asante opened his gift, we read the Christmas story from Asante’s Bible, and spent a little time praying. Then, we went on our morning walk to check email and talk to a few people online (since it was Christmas eve in the states).
Later on that day, for lunch, we went to one of Jake’s professor’s house for a multi-cultural Christmas celebration. There were people from the UK, Kenya, Cameroon, Australia, and of course us, from America. We ate a FABULOUS meal, and enjoyed conversation with one another for a couple hours.
For a late dinner, we went to the Rowburys where they prepared leftovers from their Christmas lunch, and hung out for a while. Overall, it was a great day. The interesting thing about Christmas here? The day after Christmas, it was over. No more “happy holidays” or anything like that. No more Christmas celebrations. Oh, and another interesting thing is that it was really warm here on Christmas—which throws you off for sure! ☺
Friday, January 2, 2009
Keagan
In my 2009 goals over at tiffanymalloy.blogspot.com, I mentioned that we’re going to officially add a name to Asante. It will be Asante Samuel, Keagan Malloy. We’re going to add a name to each of the kids after a year or so, when we’ve learned some about their personalities. Some have asked what the significance of “Keagan” is. It’s Irish, and it means “determined, or fiery.” We’ve noticed that Asante is quite the determined boy, and has the fire in him. One example of this is that Asante will try and put the lid on a water bottle for 30 minutes because he wants to do it by himself. He gets pretty fiery if he can’t do it, but he’ll keep on going back to it until he accomplishes the goal he’s trying to achieve. This is just a small example of something that we see everyday in him.
Of course this could be taken as a bad quality, but we think it’s good. If we teach him to direct his passion/fire and determination in healthy avenues, we think it’ll be used by God for His Kingdom purposes. So we want the addition to become a tradition in our family- one that is meaningful and celebrated. We actually came across the name when we were thinking about boy names before we knew if the new baby was a boy or girl.
Of course this could be taken as a bad quality, but we think it’s good. If we teach him to direct his passion/fire and determination in healthy avenues, we think it’ll be used by God for His Kingdom purposes. So we want the addition to become a tradition in our family- one that is meaningful and celebrated. We actually came across the name when we were thinking about boy names before we knew if the new baby was a boy or girl.
One for the Grandmas
Most reading this post may not be that interested in the content that follows, but the grandmas certainly will ☺. We thought that we would highlight some of the new things that Asante is doing and saying- Grandmas are always wanting to know things like that.
Over the past couple weeks Asante has become more parrot-like, hehe. He repeats words that we’re trying to teach him, even if they’re not very clear. The words that he’s using everyday without us prompting him are “up”, “out”, “no”, “yes”, “dog” (which means, “I see an animal or insect”) and sometimes “more” and “bite” (as in, I want a bite of your cookie, mom). It seems that as we’re trying to teach him the baby signs for something, instead of learning the sign, he just learns to say the word instead. Oh well, we’ll keep on working on it.
Even though he doesn’t talk a whole lot, it’s been fun to see how much he’s understanding. Last night we asked him if he wanted another bite of spaghetti, and his back was turned to us. He shook his head no, and then looked at us for a brief moment, then went back to playing. Just now, as I’m typing this, Jake said, “asante, are you sure you don’t want to take a nap?” and he said, “yes” and hopped down. One of our favorite things to ask him is, “Asante, are you getting sleepy?” (along with doing the sign for sleepy). If he’s sleepy, he’ll just smile. If he’s not, he’ll make real big eyes and shake his head no and smile. It’s really cute.
Food-wise, he’s eating pretty much everything we are (as long as what we’re eating is decently healthy), minus most meats. Sometimes he’ll eat a little, but because he doesn’t have molars yet, it’s really hard for him to chew it enough to swallow it. Some of his favorite foods are bananas, chili, spaghetti, scrambled eggs, mangos, pears (canned is all we got here), mac and cheese, milk, juice, and rice. He also really enjoys pickles and olives when we have them around. And of course anything sweet. He’s been eating a cookie or two every day since Christmas (dad even let him eat some cookie dough with us- but don’t worry, I made it so there’s no raw eggs included).
He still really likes us to read to him, but right now he’s discovering that he can stack blocks, which is exciting to him. He made a tower of 5 blocks the other day- you should have seen his face! Also, he loves to take things out of boxes/bags/containers and then put them back in, and put the lid on. This can go on for a LONG time. We introduced him to crayons the other day, but so far he just likes to take them out of the bag and put them back in. Oh well ☺. As you’ve seen from the videos, he also loves to dance when we turn on music. He spends a lot of time standing on the bed, looking out the window at the kids playing below.
Sleep wise, he’s sleeping through the night for sure, but wakes up at 6:30a almost everyday. It’s like clockwork. It must be the sun or something. We’ve only been giving him his pacifier when going to sleep, so that’s been good to make that distinction for him. We’re going through an interesting thing with naps…I think he’s trying to give one of them up, but he’s trying to work out which one. For the past week he’s given up his afternoon nap, but that makes him VERY cranky by 5, which is then too late for him to nap. We got him to take his nap at 12:30 yesterday, which worked out pretty well, but he was incredibly tired by dinner.
He’s also become quite the little helper, which I’m so glad to see happening with the new baby coming ☺. He sometimes throws his diapers away and other things that he finds that he thinks is trash. When I (tiffany) am on a straightening/cleaning spree, he’ll walk around, “cleaning” too. one time he came out of the kitchen with our broom and dust pan and started to “sweep” the carpet. He’s starting to help clean up his toys after he’s done playing (if we ask him to and do it with him). I think he’s gonna be quite the little helper with Alethea.
There are 2 other young babies here- both girls- 3 and 4 months old. He’s really good with them- interested but not toooo interested ☺. He likes to bounce the 4 month old in her bouncer- most of the time he gets overzealous with it, but he’s just trying to help. He always tries to offer them his snack or bottle, which we think is really kind.
He makes up games with us too. He’ll pretend to be drinking the bath water so we’ll say, “asante, don’t drink the water.” Or he’ll grab a pacifier and be about to put it in his mouth so that we’ll say, “Asante, are you sleeping?” and then he’ll laugh. He likes us to chase him around the house. It’s good and cute; you’ll love it.
Okay well, hopefully that’s enough. I’m sure we’ve missed things, but this is getting really long ☺. He’s so different than when we left; I’m glad that you’ll get to see him again soon.
Over the past couple weeks Asante has become more parrot-like, hehe. He repeats words that we’re trying to teach him, even if they’re not very clear. The words that he’s using everyday without us prompting him are “up”, “out”, “no”, “yes”, “dog” (which means, “I see an animal or insect”) and sometimes “more” and “bite” (as in, I want a bite of your cookie, mom). It seems that as we’re trying to teach him the baby signs for something, instead of learning the sign, he just learns to say the word instead. Oh well, we’ll keep on working on it.
Even though he doesn’t talk a whole lot, it’s been fun to see how much he’s understanding. Last night we asked him if he wanted another bite of spaghetti, and his back was turned to us. He shook his head no, and then looked at us for a brief moment, then went back to playing. Just now, as I’m typing this, Jake said, “asante, are you sure you don’t want to take a nap?” and he said, “yes” and hopped down. One of our favorite things to ask him is, “Asante, are you getting sleepy?” (along with doing the sign for sleepy). If he’s sleepy, he’ll just smile. If he’s not, he’ll make real big eyes and shake his head no and smile. It’s really cute.
Food-wise, he’s eating pretty much everything we are (as long as what we’re eating is decently healthy), minus most meats. Sometimes he’ll eat a little, but because he doesn’t have molars yet, it’s really hard for him to chew it enough to swallow it. Some of his favorite foods are bananas, chili, spaghetti, scrambled eggs, mangos, pears (canned is all we got here), mac and cheese, milk, juice, and rice. He also really enjoys pickles and olives when we have them around. And of course anything sweet. He’s been eating a cookie or two every day since Christmas (dad even let him eat some cookie dough with us- but don’t worry, I made it so there’s no raw eggs included).
He still really likes us to read to him, but right now he’s discovering that he can stack blocks, which is exciting to him. He made a tower of 5 blocks the other day- you should have seen his face! Also, he loves to take things out of boxes/bags/containers and then put them back in, and put the lid on. This can go on for a LONG time. We introduced him to crayons the other day, but so far he just likes to take them out of the bag and put them back in. Oh well ☺. As you’ve seen from the videos, he also loves to dance when we turn on music. He spends a lot of time standing on the bed, looking out the window at the kids playing below.
Sleep wise, he’s sleeping through the night for sure, but wakes up at 6:30a almost everyday. It’s like clockwork. It must be the sun or something. We’ve only been giving him his pacifier when going to sleep, so that’s been good to make that distinction for him. We’re going through an interesting thing with naps…I think he’s trying to give one of them up, but he’s trying to work out which one. For the past week he’s given up his afternoon nap, but that makes him VERY cranky by 5, which is then too late for him to nap. We got him to take his nap at 12:30 yesterday, which worked out pretty well, but he was incredibly tired by dinner.
He’s also become quite the little helper, which I’m so glad to see happening with the new baby coming ☺. He sometimes throws his diapers away and other things that he finds that he thinks is trash. When I (tiffany) am on a straightening/cleaning spree, he’ll walk around, “cleaning” too. one time he came out of the kitchen with our broom and dust pan and started to “sweep” the carpet. He’s starting to help clean up his toys after he’s done playing (if we ask him to and do it with him). I think he’s gonna be quite the little helper with Alethea.
There are 2 other young babies here- both girls- 3 and 4 months old. He’s really good with them- interested but not toooo interested ☺. He likes to bounce the 4 month old in her bouncer- most of the time he gets overzealous with it, but he’s just trying to help. He always tries to offer them his snack or bottle, which we think is really kind.
He makes up games with us too. He’ll pretend to be drinking the bath water so we’ll say, “asante, don’t drink the water.” Or he’ll grab a pacifier and be about to put it in his mouth so that we’ll say, “Asante, are you sleeping?” and then he’ll laugh. He likes us to chase him around the house. It’s good and cute; you’ll love it.
Okay well, hopefully that’s enough. I’m sure we’ve missed things, but this is getting really long ☺. He’s so different than when we left; I’m glad that you’ll get to see him again soon.
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