A Ride with my two Besties

I’ve really enjoyed sharing my pictures from my recent trip to Africa, but as promised, I will start sprinkling in other adventures. I’m not done with Kenya, though, so stay tuned if you aren’t completely bored with it yet.

Earlier this year, as I was beginning to make our summer camping plans, I found out that the state park that we always go to in the UP had a significant amount of damage over the winter. Lake Superior eroded away so much of the shoreline that they lost part of the road and there was damage to the water lines to the restrooms. They didn’t know how much of the campground would be open for the summer or what services would be available. With heavy hearts, Hubby and I decided maybe we should try a different place this summer.

 The last weekend in April, we took a ride west of here to check out a few places.

Of course, we made a lot of stops along the way. The first was the historic stone bridge in Spirit.

 Next we stopped at the church in Ogema, just because they had a rummage sale. We surely don’t need any more rummage at our house, but couldn’t pass up the baked goods.

  The South Fork of the Jump River at Copper Dam campsite. I bet the water is even higher now. The campsite, however, was a little too rustic for us.

 At Lions Memorial Park on the Chequamegon Waters Flowage. 

 My handsome Dino. 

 Chippewa Campground near Hannibal in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. Still rustic, but I think it could work for us. At least the campsites were large.

 The Chippewa River near Jim Falls.

 The only picture I took at Lake Wissota State Park in Chippewa Falls. I must have just been tired by then. Or else…

What are we remembering?

Hope you are having a good Memorial Day weekend. Memorial Day means different things to different people. 

Our younger generation probably doesn’t think too much about what it means. They’ve not lost a loved one in a war in a foreign country, or if they have, they don’t appreciate why that is significant.  The older generation remembers Vietnam and Korea. Much of our population who lived through World War II have passed away. World War I is now only in the history books.

 The Middle East conflict? I wish I could say that I understand that, but I do know that we have lost a lot of good people there.

 Looking through our old family pictures, I came across this one. Supposedly it is of my father’s father. It would have been taken before my father was born in 1915 in Germany. If the man in this picture had been called to duty to fight in a war, it would have been World War I and he would have been fighting for the Germans. Against the United States. 

 Does that make him a bad man? Does that make him an enemy? He would have been fighting for his country, whether he believed in what he was fighting for or not. He would have been fighting for the only thing he knew.

 But in the end, if this is indeed my grandfather, he came to America in 1923, with his oldest son.

 The following year, this woman, my grandmother followed him here.

 Along with four of her children, Paul, Frank, Klara and Emmy. That would be my father on the far left. 

Moral of this story, whatever you remember today, remember family and the good stuff. 

Faces of Faith

 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30 (New International Version)

One more round of pictures of the kids at Southern Cross Academy. As heavy as the burdens are that many of them carry, they still manage to smile and laugh.

May God lighten their loads. 

I may have shared some of these already, but it’s surprising that I don’t remember seeing some of them before, even though I took them all.

Very soon we will start planning our next project in Kenya. You can donate to our work there at any time by clicking this link. Or mail your check to Tumaini Volunteers, Inc., PO Box 726, Wausau, WI  54402. Thanks for your support. 

2017 Kenya Log Entry 14

I promise this will be the last post about my trip to Kenya in April. Or at least it will be for a while. I have more to share, but will probably spread that out over the next few weeks. You may or may not want to know other things that have been going on in my life, so I should get back to that. 

I need to close the Kenya Log series with the culmination of our work. The Rabbit Project.

After the 45 minute ride from the rabbit project farm in Kikuyu to Southern Cross Academy in Maai Mahiu, the rabbits arrived at their new home. 

 The kids were understandably excited and wanted to know all about the rabbits. 

 They also wanted to help, so we let them move the food dishes. 

 Peter, the caretaker of the rabbits, doing one final inspection of the hutches. 

 Each rabbit got their own cage, with one of the six males in each of the rows. 

 Rachel did not want to give up the sweet Angora rabbit she had brought from Kikuyu. 

 Hey, little bunny, not to put any pressure on you, but you have work to do. 

 Make lots of baby bunnies so these kids will have an income at their school, so they can continue their education, learn lots and make a difference in their own lives and the lives of those around them. 

Last we heard, the rabbits were doing well. I’ll let you know in a few months how it all turns out.  

2017 Kenya Log Entry 13

I will probably have more to say about my trip to Kenya last month, more pictures and stories, but I think it is time to share the outcome of the whole trip. The grand reveal. The purpose of the trip and the end result of a year of planning.

On Tuesday, our last day in Kenya, we picked up the rabbits and delivered them to Southern Cross Academy!

 First though, we needed to load their food bowls in the van. 

 This bunny is ready to go to a new home.

 So are these guys. 

 They were loaded in crates. Two. 

 Then four.

 Then six. 

 Ended up a little too crowded.

 So Mike ran for more crates before we left for the 45 minute ride

 Though the crates were a bit crowded, it was still safer for them then to roam free in the van. 

 Then each of us got to hold one on our lap on the way to the school. 

 Oops, I think that’s enough pictures for this post. I guess you will have to wait one more day to see them arriving at the school. 

2017 Kenya Log Entry 12

The day after our visit to Mary Faith, we took a tour of Kibera Slum. Take everything bad I showed you about Mary Faith and magnify it a hundred times, and you still aren’t close to experiencing the largest slum in Africa, and one of the biggest in the world. 

  Madfish was our guide once again this year. 

 How is it possible to find hope in this place?

 But it’s possible to find hope anywhere. 

 The “bone guys” make jewelry from animal bones, and the work they do is beautiful. 

 The day we were there, a woman from Toronto, Jacky Habib, had brought a group of people to make their own jewelry. 

 For a small fee, they learned how to make several articles for themselves, with a lot of help from the bone guys. 

 Finally we made a home visit. This mother has a college education and is a school teacher in Kibera. Her husband had been a matatu driver before he was injured and is now unable to drive. Besides the couple and their two children, Shadrach and Mary, two other people live in this house. I was almost in the doorway when I took this picture, so that’s pretty much the entire place. 

 Not much room outside either. 

Yet, there is always Hope.