a week in the life of jill ablott in kisumu!

Elaine and I

Julie and I

 I haven't blogged for a while so I suppose I will start with last Friday, the 13th. Julie,  Elaine, and I had a girls night out at Kiboko Bay. This is a beautiful restaurant right on Lake Victoria. It was somewhat of a stormy night so we got to watch the lightning reflect off the lake over a delicious meal. After eating lots of vegetables and ugali all week, I officially stuffed my self completely full of Masala Chicken. Shoulda taken a picture...it was gooooood. The above pictures are of Julie and I and Elaine and I. Elaine is the founder and director of R.O.C.K. Ministries and hands down one of the strongest and most incredible woman I have ever met. About 12 years ago she started to take children off of the streets to provide them with the care and love that they so desperately needed. Today, she has 35 "kids" that refer to her as mom : ) She loves them as her own and for some of them, she is the only mother they have ever known. So thankful for people like her in places like these. 

Julie and I with the Great Rift Valley behind us

 Julie and I ventured to Eldoret for the weekend with John and Connie. John preaches in a church once a month in an area about 2 hours northeast of Kisumu. They thought it would be a good opportunity for me to see some more of Kenya so we tagged along. I am so glad we did because it was beautiful! It was nice to get out of Kisumu and just enjoy some hills and countryside of Kenya. We left on Saturday and drove up, up, and up and by the time we were all the way up, we were looking over the Great Rift Valley : ) It was so wonderful and refreshing. We had a little picnic at the top before descending down into the valley. The farther we went down, the dryer it got. It was neat to see how the people of Kenya live out in the bush in the middle of nowhere in their mud huts. That'd be sweet. But it was sad to see that there was no water for them to really live. No water for their crops, their animals, or more importantly, their families. Praying for rain.

Check out the roots. It's a good sign that they HAD rain at one point...they are just needed more.

I love this picture.

 Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, yummy! Anyone want a slab of beef for a nice price? Just tell me how much you want and what part you want, I'll grab my nice clean knife, and cut ya off a hunk. You see these butcher shops quite often. I have been here for almost 4 weeks now so you'd think that I would be over it. Buuuuut, I just cannot seem to get over it. At all. I will try almost anything... I will eat a termite and stuff my face with ugali, but if someone told me that they were cooking this up for me...I might have to decline.

 It has been great to get to know the kids better at ROCK. I can't believe I only have 2 more weeks with them. It is sort of hard because sometimes I feel like I distance myself because I know my time with them is limited and I know that when I leave here, it is going to be a lot harder for me to say goodbye to them than for them to say goodbye to me. They are all so sweet. Most Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesdays I am in the preschool classroom with Julie assisting in whatever way I can. Those kids...HA. They are so sweet. But yet, they can be so naughty. Sooo, when they are naughty, what do I do? I laugh. So then I have to turn my head so that they don't see me and think that their behavior is okay. They are fun for sure.

Sometimes spending time with these kids reminds me of my time at Royal Family Kids Camp. In all reality, some RFKC kids and ROCK kids are coming from backgrounds that are very very similar but just in different parts of the world. Speaking of Royal Family...I am so so so sad that I will not be there this year. It will be the first time in 5 years that I won't get to be a part of the Hastings area camp. Such a bummer, but I know it will be a great week for everyone else! Again, I am constantly being reminded of the many many blessings in my life and I am also so thankful that I have the ability to serve and love these kids.

some of the children at ROCK singing (or posing...whichever) during devotion.

 BABIES, BABIES, BABIES!!! Ahhh, love them. Let's be real...I am officially the most talented baby feeder/diaper changing lady you will ever meet. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesdays when I am finished with ROCK I walk around the block to New Life and get puked on and pooped on FOR FREE!! It is so exciting : ) If you have children and would like to bring back the wonderful world of cloth diapers, let me know...I am your girl! 

In the next two pictures below you will see my two great friends at New Life. The one on the left (your left) loves me. I hate to be so forthright about it, but it's just the facts folks. No but for real, it is kind of a funny story. A while back New Life had a mazungu (white) girl who spent about 2 months with the babies. For some reason she was particularly drawn to this baby so they spent lots of time together and had sort of a bond. Well she left and I happened to show up about a week later. Lucky for me, he thinks I am her so when I walk in the room, this baby lights up like the fourth of July and lemme tell ya...I ain't complaining. He is learning to army crawl so he scoots his cute little self over to me every time I walk away from him. Love it. I have never been so overjoyed to have someone think that I was somebody else : )

here they are again. mr. chubby cheeks over here on the right is just a pile of seriousness. it takes a lot of work to get this one to smile, but when he does...well then, it makes you want to pack him in your suitcase when you fly back to nebraska : )

soo many babies...this is just a fraction.

This is a picture of me on a boda boda (bike). This past Saturday (yesterday, I guess), Julie and I were running around like mad women. We woke up and walked to the grocery store. Then we got a lift back. Then we turned around and walked to the market so I could pick up some cool gifts for my family (woops, cats out of the bag on that one). And then we walked back home. And then we turned back around again and headed to Jubilee Market (where we get our fresh fruits and veggies.) We met with our good friend Emmy who took us to her friend who is a seamstress. We had both bought fabric and got measured to have some legitimate African skirts and tops made. I am so excited!

 These two ladies Emmy (left) and Zipporah were so great. While we were in her little tin shop, it started to downpour so we had to stay there for about 40 minutes until the rain finally stopped. It is so fun to get to personally know some of these wonderful, hard-working Kenyan women. I so wish that I could stay in contact with them forever!

 Anywho, this is a really lame and boring blog, but I thought I would just inform you all on a couple of things that I have been up to. Sorry about the lack of effort. Blogging is hard, okay? : ) 

I hope that you are all well and enjoying the month of May!! Missing many of you and looking forward to bringing you all back with me to Kenya someday ; )

P.S. Sorry for any grammar/spelling errors. I tend to just type and type and not really think about anything. Woopsie.