Home at Last

I am finally back in the US of A. 

My flights home went well, I have been busy like a mad person since I got back. 

Thursday I came home to my entire family, Loriann, Sarah, and Cody. It was wonderful. We had the best lasagna I have had in the last 5 months. And....DR. PEPPER! Delicious!

Friday was spent running errands. I was reminded how much I love Texas and about all of the in your face TX stuff that is out there. I picked up Skylar from daycare and she gave me a typical kids say the darndest things... "Hey Cathy-guess what!-There was a brown girl at daycare today ....but she wasn't from Africa."

Texas display at Walmart

Saturday Cody and I went up to T Bar M Camp Travis and saw some of my old campers and our friends. It was SO great and I miss camp so much. But it was a little bit weird to be on the other side of camp (more of the parent side). We got to hang out with some of my friends from SACS at the Goudge's lake house which is like a summer tradition for us. It was a GREAT day. 

Saturday was also a big day in the Bean family because Skylar lost her first tooth!! She was so excited she carried it around with her everywhere.

Skylar's first lost tooth!

Sunday Cody went back to Dallas. My family and I celebrated my dad's birthday and father's day. We had a great afternoon with the family hanging out and eating cake. And we made homemade ice cream!! YUM!

Monday morning mom and I packed up my car (mattress and all) and I went to lunch with Abbey then started my trek up to Dallas. I beat the traffic and made it into Dallas just in time for Cody to come help me unload my car as he got off work. 

My full car including my queen sized mattress

I am living in a town home that is pretty new and absolutely beautiful. I love having a garage I can park my car in every night. It's night and day from where I was staying in Arusha...I have a big, huge couch and a comfy mattress and comforter. I feel so spoiled.

Tuesday was spent running errands, getting groceries, and meeting my new bosses. 

Wednesday was my first day at work at LibertyLinked which is a grassroots site which provides networking tools and a place of community for conservatives to get active and do something about the government. It is a great place for discussion and gives you the opportunity to see all of the political events that will be occurring--all organizations-- all on one page. Check it out and join! --Really, do it.

Thursday and Friday was work, work, work. Friday night Cody, Mitch, and I babysat which was ... let's just say.. full of laughs. 

Saturday Cody and I went garage sale hunting and I found some cool mason jars which are now my drinking glasses. I also found great old books and a cute dresser! I need to repaint and give it new hardware. Cody had a great find and got a $150 racket for 5 bucks. He was on top of the world. 

My new dresser! It was 60 bucks -- i love the old timey look to it

Sunday I got to go to the RANGERS GAME! It was my first Rangers game and one of the things I really wanted to do while I was here. Even though we lost and it was incredibly hot, it was really fun! Thanks Chris and Rachel!

After my first Rangers Game which was a VERY hot and sunny afternoon.

We also drove by the billboard Cody created at The Richards Group for Patron congratulating the Mavs win. For all the Dallas people it on the Tollway at I35. (He came up with the tag line) I'm so excited for him!

"A basketball comeback five years in the making. Perfect." GOOD JOB CODY!!!

Monday was a really cool day at work. I had the opportunity to attend a meeting recapping the 82nd legislature that was held by the Texas Public Policy Foundation. It was a very informative meeting. Then I went along for the ride and ended up at David Barton's personal office. If you don't know who he is, click HERE because you need to learn. He wasn't there but my two bosses, a fellow grassroots activist from FL, another grassroots activist from the DFW area, myself, and one of David Barton's historians got to spend some time with his personal collection of over 100,000 historical artifacts. The room we were in just smelled full of history and age, it was beautiful. The historian, Tim, gave us tons of information and let us have some hands on learning with Bibles, documents, and letters from the late 1700s. We were also able to handle some of the weapons from war that were used in the 1770s. This experience was absolutely amazing to me and I am so thankful for the opportunity.

Today was another busy day at the office. We were able to attend another meeting, this one held by Americans for Prosperity and America's Next Impact about the need for reform in higher education and the problem with tenure. Did you know most college grads graduate with at least $20,000 in debt? Also, the debt accumulated through college loans is $829.785 BILLION. Pretty scary, right? 

I have been trying to learn how to play tennis in my free time with Cody and his roommate, Mitch. I definitely need more practice. 

My adjustment process is still something I am dealing with daily. I have times where Swahili is the first response that comes to mind. Times where I am confused about what side of the road to drive on. Times when I have no idea about the conversation of the new (or old) movies, TV shows, and music that is all the rage right now. I have moments where I just want to cry (or have cried) because I don't know when I will be going back and I miss the simplicity and community of the East African lifestyle. Times when I forget that I can drink water out of the sink or pet a dog I see. Times when I get so excited because of grapes, Icees, mac and cheese, ice cream, couches, comforters, Reeses cups, hot/full pressure showers, salad, LUNCH MEAT, and carrying a sweater with me at all times. I have been finding JOY in a lot of little things lately.

All in all, I have not had time to sit down and dwell on my last few months. It won't be for a couple more weeks till that happens, but I suppose it is better than sitting and moping all the time. 

I cannot thank you enough for all of your prayers, thoughts, and kind words that have given me courage, encouragement, and endurance over the last couple of months. I am going to try to keep blogging... at least for a while. So if you want to keep reading, add me to your RSS feed or keep checking my blog! 

Spring Break

Spring break, the mid point, the marker of the middle. I can't believe it already came and is about to leave. Two more months of school then a few weeks of service, it will all be over so soon. 

This week has been such a blessing to me, such a refreshment, such a much needed break while getting my hands dirty, and being in community with fellow Christians. 

Tuesday we travelled down to "south coast" where R4C is in the process of planting a new church then school. This area is very heavily populated by a tribe who believes they are born muslim. This area is very poor. Church is currently being held under the mango tree and water is fetched by bucket daily. Due to the severe drought going on right now, the bore hole has been dried up. Therefore, the community walks 10 minutes (from the church to the pond) to a pond in the middle of a field where they fetch their water, do their laundry, and then walk 10 minutes back. I was able to make this walk and see this water for myself. It is so hard to see this and think that never once growing up was I concerned about having to find clean water or carry water for drinking, cooking, bathing, or washing. 

Beautiful! You can see the ocean in the distance

Church under the mango tree

Wednesday was teacher fun day! We woke up to a beautiful rainbow, which means it had rained the night before!! We arrived at the school and I found all the ladies in one of the rooms using face paint as make up and painting their nails to ensure they looked their best for their special visit. Everyone was dressed to impress. We all traveled to Vpingo, another school which is run by Crossroads Church (here in Mombasa). The teachers spent the morning talking and exchanging ideas with each other. We then stopped to kill some time at the super market.  Can you believe this was some of the teacher's first time to ever be inside a supermarket??? I could not believe it. I was buying candy for the staff and asked Lucy, one of the teacher assistants, to help me pick out what they would like. She had no idea where to begin or where to end. After we picked out all the candy, she was still searching for something. I asked her what she was looking for and she asked me where the biscuits (crackers) are. She thought everything was on that one isle. We found the biscuits and then she was overwhelmed with the selection she had to choose from. Let's just say this was an eye opening experience for both of us.

God's promise

Immanuel, the music teacher, dressed in his best

house across from the school

Grandmother of the house and 3 of her grandchildren she wanted me to take all sorts of pictures with her and the kids

she moved nextdoor and had me take pictures of all of these kids. 

They make their own cars out of cardboard and sticks and use the wheel and a stick to drive it. Super cool invention.

Mbewau staff!

Jackson, Chris, and Rama wanted some MBEWAU pride and had their thumbs painted with blue nail polish

 We then took the staff to the animal and environment reserve park. The excitement they had about seeing these animals was childlike and beautiful. It was everyone's first time to see giraffes, crocodiles, hippos, turtles, and water buffalo in real life. They even were able to feed the giraffes. They were at first very afraid of getting close to the giraffes but then became very excited and all took pictures in front of them and were yelling and calling each other and oh, what a sight! There were a good amount of Europeans in the park with us. Everytime we passed one, one of the staff members would come up to me and ask me if I knew them because they are mzungu. They figured we all come from the same place and all know each other. They were quite shocked when I told them that some of the mzungus didn't even speak English.

beautifully colored birds

Mbewau staff: changing lives

HUGE, real turtle

 Thursday morning was game day for the staff. The church youth volleyball team came out to play against the staff and beat them pretty well, in all three games. However the games were very intense and very entertaining to watch.

Preparing the chicken for lunch

Immanuel, always dressed ready to go

Jackson, going up for a block

 Friday we set up for the sale we were having to raise money to buy reading books for the school and today we had the sale. The sale was similar to a garage sale. There was an overwhelming amount of children's clothes. Everything had been donated by Americans, mostly from mission teams that came over and a children's resale shop. Everything was sold for under $2. Most items ranging under $1. The most bought items were the travel sized soaps you get at hotels which were sold for about 8 cents. We raised almost $200!! Praise the LORD!

Gymboree from the 90s

Some awesome overalls for a little boy

HUGE millipede/centipede 

look at all those babies on the backs!

shop till you drop

this poor boy had no idea he was wearing women's heels. He knew he needed shoes and he found himself some shoes. 

Simon the gardener who served today as Security and crowd control. I LOVED his hat!

acrobats came to perform

My namesake, Kadzo. She came and sat with me and told me how her kids were doing and how much they had grown and asked all about how I have been. I feel so blessed by these loving people. She later told Jackson I need to hurry up and get married and come live in their village because "we want to see Kadzo every day!"

Last night I had the wonderful opportunity to get dinner with my friend Kristen. We both were in Mombasa in 2008, 2009, and now. She has been here for the last year as a missionary and is getting married in July to a missionary in Mozambique. I am so incredibly excited for her and know that the Lord will bless their marriage. It was so nice to sit down and share our hearts and talk about the problems we are facing and the grace and mercy of the Lord and how he provides. We are very similar and both share a deep passion for this wonderful country. This was the first time I could truly talk to someone who shares and understands what I feel for these people. If you are looking for a way to give, she has set up a sponsorship program for the children at the schools around Mombasa. I strongly encourage you to get involved if you have the means. Her organization is called Operation Give Hope. She is also in the process of trying to help the water situation in some of the villages to get more info on what Kristen is doing, click here: operationgivehope.org

Feeling blessed,

Cathy

Community

Community: the word to define this weekend. 

I had the humbling opportunity to spend the weekend with a local family at the base of Mt. Meru from Friday to Sunday. Friday afternoon we showed up to their church to receive a SPECTACULAR choir/Maasai performance. I hope these videos work, if you would like to see more, shoot me an email and I can send you them or send you the recording I took on my voice recorder which will play on iTunes. Lemme know! 

Maasai choir

The Maasai don't use drums or any form of percussion,
therefore the necklaces and beads on their dresses serve as the beat

Jacob--he is 73 and I loved him. I wish I could speak Swahili just so I can talk to him

 We went home with a girl named Catherine (she's a music student at the University I take school--she is 28) and her mom. Catherine's father is working in Zanzibar and two of her siblings are in middle/high school at a boarding school in Arusha. The most moving thing from this weekend was being able to witness the peace and joy they had after Catherine's brother died 9 months ago at the waterfall we went to Saturday. She referred to him as her best friend, he was only 2 or 3 years younger than she was. Once we walked over a makeshift bridge and through some corn fields, we were spoiled with a delicious African dinner! We had some form of banana stew (which was surprisingly delicious) and the best meat I have had yet and lots of fresh fruit for dessert. One of their neighbors was there to help Mama Auera cook. We then sat around and talked and read a chapter of the Bible together before going to bed. Catherine read in Swahili out loud while we followed along in English. I loved the family atmosphere of those 30 minutes where we read and prayed. I hope that this will be something I will do with my family in many many many years from now.

The next morning we woke up and went hiking up the first ridge of Mt. Meru with all of us American students and at least one or two people from our host families. In total, there was probably 35 of us hiking up and down Mt. Meru to see the beautiful waterfall that was HUGE! This was a very, very humbling experience for me. This was one of the hardest and most physically challenging things I have yet to do. This was the first time I can remember not being able to carry my own weight. I was about a quarter up the most challenging part of the climb and didn’t think I could make it any farther. Some of the dads from the families were hiking in the back with us and just chugging along (because they have done this numerous times) while the rest of us were DYING! One of the men noticed my struggles and offered to help me by carrying my bag. It took some debating within myself before I became humbled and handed him my bag. That was the only reason I made it through the trip was because Lucas was willing to carry my bag. 

top of the ridge

The rest of the hike was pleasantly enjoyable as we walked along a ridge, through a pine tree forest, tasted some wild berries, and journeyed down the other side of the ridge, and then through the river bed. The river was an instant reminder of the creek at our ranch. It was such a wonderful familiarity that brought warmth to my heart. Then we saw the waterfall. Oh my, it was breath taking! It was HUGE, beautiful, magnificent. It reminded me of God's presence and the beauty I know He takes in His creation.

PINE TREES in AFRICA!

looked just like the creek at the ranch!

the WATERFALL!

huge and beautiful

Catherine & Catherine

We climbed up to the ridge in the waterfall!!!

hanging from a vine

wild berries I tried

 

the hills literally rolled

The hike back was just as rough, trying to climb back up the steep ridge on all fours and then collapsing at the top. We finally made it back home after a long walk back and everyone collapsed in the grass of Catherine's house. I also never thought my legs would literally give out until we were on the last part of our climb down. Some of the men bought us all sodas and required us to each drink one and eat a banana. I was somehow forced into drinking two. That night we had the best pasta I have had yet. We had spaghetti with tomato sauce and mmmm mmm mmm, it was yummy! Catherine had to go back to school to practice for her music exams & all of her aunts and uncles came over for dinner. We all laughed as we attempted to communicate in our broken swahili and their broken english. We read through some more of the Bible and hit the sack early because we were exhausted from our hike.

The next morning we went back to the church where the performance was held and attended the "short" church service that lasted a solid 2 hours in pure Swahili. The message was on the parable of the seed and the different soils it tries to grow in. We were caught off gaurd after we gave our offering that we were supposed to go up and give it 3 times total--we ran out of money. We then all walked to another families house where we were served the huge African portions of rice, beans, and meat. They all then walked us to the end of town where Mama Auera insisted someone come pick us up in her car and take us home. I told her we didn't have any money and she assured me not to worry that it was her pleasure. After all she had done for me this weekend, she still continued to amaze me. 

I was blown away by the selflessness these people had. They did not get paid for this weekend, Arcadia gave the choir some form of a monetary donation, but the families do not receive any money from the weekend.  Still, out of the graciousness of their heart, they fed us, gave us a place to sleep, laughed with us, shared their stories, patiently tried to listen to us butcher swahili, and make us feel as part of their family. It was so refreshing to be in a Christian environment and be in a home where the Bible and their beliefs were a fundamental part of everyday life. 

This week has been a trying week for me as it has marked my 1 month here and I feel a little disappointed in myself for not finding an organization in which I have completely fallen in love with and pour my heart out to. However, Wilson & Cody have graciously reminded me that I do not need to have my sights set so wide that my main purpose is not just spreading God's love to the East Africans, but more so making that my everyday mission to everyone I interact with on an everday basis. I feel like this was something I knew, but needed to hear it for it to truly resonate.

I continue to remind myself, this is God's 4 month trip, not mine. It is God's will I am living out, not mine. It is God's time I am given, not mine. It is God's words that I pray to come out of my mouth, not mine. 

Romans 9:17 -- I raised you up for this very purpose, that I may display my power in you and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.

Joyfully His,

Cathy

PS: I just booked my trip in two weeks to Uganda. If you want something, let me know!