Back in Kenya!

Hello everyone!  We are now almost a week into our second trip to Kenya, Africa!  It was so good to be back on the red soil, to see the children again, and to just be in Kenya.  We all were worn out from the long flight and arrived in Nairobi the evening of May 31.  The following morning, June 1, we set out on a bus with 10 pieces of donated luggage along with our backpacks and drove around six hours to Kisii.  We finally got to LDO (Lance's Deaf Orphanage) around 5-6 in the evening and was greeted by a crazy group of very happy children.  

Five of us are here for our second time - ourselves (Alex n Alexa, Moises/Kristina, and Javier.  Our newcomers are Jason and Mistie Suhr, their baby Jamri, and Chris Less.  We and the children miss last year's missionaries Kat Roberts and Dallas Brock!  

Enjoy the pictures!

Above Greece on our way to the stopover in Amsterdam.  

Finally in Nairobi.  Here is Jason and Mistie/Jamri just outside of the airport.  

We were thrilled to see Lucy and Sheila, two of the seven new orphans that were added to LDO since last year.  They are so cute and they finally had some form of language development and were constantly laughing and smiling (just not in this picture).  

Mike, one of the kids we love!

Lance, the founder of LDO, went with us and will be with us for 10 days.  We are very thrilled to have him here, and you can see the kids love him!  

Here at LDO, there's never a shortage of people!

Sarah praying during Sunday morning service.  

Chris Less taking in the experience.

Moises, always popular with the kids!  It is because he truly loves them.

Evans

Carol, a new teacher at LDO.  (Carol is not a woman's name in Kenya ;) )

Nicholas.  This is the first orphan that we met in our survey trip last year.  He did not even smile last year, and now look at him!  He is very happy to be at LDO.  

Aww

Alex with Nicholas and Alphonce, 2 of the new orphans.  

Felix.  You can always count on him for a brilliant white smile.

You can say the same about Kevin.  

Japheth, always laughing and being mischievous.  

Stephen, one of the new orphans.  His mother just died and he moved to LDO from Nairobi.  Very polite and mature!  

Last year, the brains behind building projects were Kat and Kristina.  This year, it is Kristina and Lance!  It is such a blessing to have them.  

Kevin playing with a cool frisbee.

Jamri has many new friends!  People in Kenya are constantly wanting to hold the "white baby."

12 suitcases total were donated!  Thank you to all who donated!  They all made it here!  

Ephy.  This orphan is also a new orphan, one whom we met in our survey trip last year.  It is amazing to see her laughing because she couldn't stop crying because she was so scared of us last year.  Orphans really need our help!

A storm is looming!

The cute trio of Lucy, Sheila, and Ephy (3 new orphans)

Sunrises and sunsets are always beautiful

Mistie will sometimes switch babies!  This is Marcy, one of the LDO staff's daughter.

Tabitha, our  very friendly cook!  

Frederick, one of the cutest boys.  He can dance and sing very well.

Alexa teaching English!  

Chris has that touch

Mistie teaching about the differences between America and Africa.  

Kristina teaching science!

Mary with the nursery class.

Lance in his element: at LDO and working on a project.  We are building a permanent "pavilion" - last year's tarp got totally torn up.  It is looking really good and we will put the completed project in our next blog.  

Orange Javier looking all cool!

John is loving us in his spiderman pose.  

Leading devotion in the morning.  One of the new things that we are doing this year is to lead morning devotions with the children before school.  

Aww