Camping at Kembu

I'm about to make the grandparents really happy here! I've got a few pictures from this weekend to share. We have been wanting to go on a mini family trip especially since our Kenyan son, Ian, is on break from school. So we finally got a free weekend where no one was sick. Perfect timing since visitors and teams will start rolling through soon. And since we delayed a week, another group of missionaries were able to join in on our camping adventure!

First of all, a few days before we left it was our friend Jordan's birthday. We didn't find out till the morning of (thank goodness for facebook!) and since he was not going to tell us it was his birthday, we decided to go over to a friend's house to throw a surprise party.

My cake was an epic fail. I used a recipe from food network and forgot to adjust the recipe for high altitude. So it sunk in but in the process I came up with a life lesson: "when life gives you a sunken cake, make cake balls!!!!" (www.bakerella.com)

We went camping a Kembu campsite (www.kembu.com). It turned out being a really nice place. So this was our first time camping with our children and first time to this place. It was all a success though! (minus a few minor details) We enjoyed getting out of town and enjoying the out doors. We didn't really prepare for it to be as cold as it was but still managed to stay pretty warm at night. During the day it warmed up though. It was on a farm not far from Nakuru town. There were places to go hiking nearby and a castle to see. Since we were not there long and had many small children with us, we decided that the guys would all go hike and all us ladies and chillins would go tour the castle. It was built by Lord Egerton around 1920. He made a replica of one from England for a woman he fell in love with who did not want to move to Africa to live in a mud hut. So he imported all the wood and furnishings from England but by the time he built it, the woman had married someone else. It was interesting. A lot of history. I forgot my camera but hope to grab them off someone else who I was with.

So the pictures I took were kinda random. I kept forgetting about my camera. We got there Friday late afternoon. That night we had communion together. It was great getting to have with a big group of Jesus lovin people. One of the guys on the team that came with us brought his guitar and played worship music. SO refreshing.

Elisha woke up around 5:30 both mornings. We had coffee by the "fire"....

There were hot showers and the toilets were holes in the ground but they were super clean and the fact that Elisha would use them meant they were great...

We were thankful for the shade our friends provided that came with us...

It was a beautiful campground. Right next to where we stayed was a dairy farm. It smelt like lovely silage every morning and evening. And the first night they were milkin cows at 2am. The second night was super peaceful though. I mean, who expects to sleep well on a camping trip?!

They had a ping pong table, pool table and darts. Ian enjoyed playing games with the oldest child of the children from the other family that came with.

The only picture I got of my children together. Go figure...

The second day we were there, another family arrived. They were from Canada but missionaries in Nairobi. They had a big enough group to play a nice soccer match with the kids that were with us.

We packed up and left Sunday morning. We were all pretty tired, I know I was pretty pooped, but before leaving we had a chance to praise Jesus for His resurrection. Someone read the Word, we sang and prayed. Just looking up into the open sky and glancing into His eyes to see His great love for us and what Jesus did for us just about wrecked me to pieces! I mean, everyday we should be praising and thanking him for what he did and allowing Him to live through us with all He provided for us through His blood. My heart was overwhelmed with JOY all over again for His great love for us in dying on the cross, raising from the grave, and sending Holy Spirit as a gift to live within us. I stand astonished!

"Why do you look for the living amongst the dead? He is not here but is RISEN!" Luke 24:5

The campsite ended up being farther than we anticipated. On the way back we stopped about half way to snap shots on the equator.

It was a good trial run for our kiddos. I will definitely know what to pack and not to pack next time. We look forward to more camping adventures ahead. And going with our team members that are moving over soon!

It was a different Easter weekend than I think I've ever had. We traded our white paten eater shoes for mud boots, dying easter eggs for playing with sticks and dirt, making easter cookies and a bunny cake for smores over a fire, and sitting in a pretty eater dress on a pew for being in jamies at a picnic table and praising Jesus in the middle of nowhere Africa. I loved it.