The Best of Pals...

About 3 weeks ago I checked our mail... something we do MAYBE once a week because we just don't get mail. We get the monthly power bill and let me tell you, that always gets us excited to want to check it daily! (Not) To my surprise that day it was full of mail! I thought "When was the last time we checked this thing?" But then I looked closer. It was all our our closest pals from back home sending us tender encouragement, love, and scripture.

We major-ly failed the "count it all joy" of James 1:2 when we found out our Rwanda adoption came to a screeching halt. Neither of us had attitudes of Chris Jesus, and I'm so embarrassed to admit that, but it's very true.

Today, I went to check the mail. AGAIN, there was another box full of letters from our buds. I think Jessica has sent me one per week. I am brought to utter tears because we have such precious friends that love us so much that they hurt with us. I'm speechless. My heart just smiles at how thankful we are to have such great friends and family!

Please see below to get a small taste of how excited we were:

(insert snort and "hehaw")

my personal fav due to CT's face

Lil' photographers...

Something is being built...

You'll soon find out..

The boys spent their "free time" during their school day just watching and "helping" Glenn and Chris build.

They were fascinated to say the least because they got to participate.

Since I wasn't doing much in the way of helping I handed over our "big camera" (yes, we actually call it by that name.) Someone blessed us it and we often allow guests or friends to use it. This time, it was they boys turn! It has a lot of fancy buttons on it that I don't even know what they do. I tried to show them basic things like how to hold and support it. How to take a picture and how to focus on something. These are some of the picture they took. I was rather impressed!

David is being so tender here to James :)

"Okay, now focus on Thuku."
Nice try.

I'm changing my name to Thuku I suppose.

Though Thuku didn't mean to- this is a cool shot.

This one of dan... is my FAVORITE!

a Sally close up! this lady cracks me up!! miss her already..

free falling?
"how much tall are you?"
i think james looks like the grench here.

I don't know about you, but I think they did a pretty good job! I think there is much potential!

Please continue to pray for these boys... they are so special to us, but they face so many difficulties.

Fertile soil...

I just have to blog about this right now, while it's fresh and I'm still on a high from it.

2 weeks ago some dear friends came to spend 2, 3, and 4 weeks with us. We have been everywhere and done everything with them it feels like. They are Sally and Glenn Clark who are part of our OSM Accountability Board members. It's so much like having my parents here. They are about the same ages as them and they just love on us and spoil us like parents do. With them they brought a 22 yr old from their church who is now on her 2nd trip here.

Today we drove to Kasarani which is about an hour and 15 minute drive. This is where our partner Vitalis lives and pastors a church. I cannot truly express in words what a blessing this man is to our ministry. He has the most beautiful zeal for the Lord and the lost. As soon as we got there his wife served us Chai and mandazi's (think- unglazed doughnut). Then we went to share at a school of 500 children. Brooke, Sally and I did a little song and dance for them which they all enjoyed. Then Glenn and Chris shared. Of course the kids were so excited and so precious. After that we went off in different directions to do evangelism. CT and Glenn went with 2 elders from Vitalis' church. Brooke and I went with Vitalis and Christine who is a member of the church. We walked on a path that Rich had evangelized before. I was shocked that Vitalis knew who was "new" on that street and which ones he and Rich had already talked to. We spoke with and shared our testimonies to several different groups. With Vitalis accompanying us, it was okay to talk with other men. Some were already believers, some were not and "needed more time to think". Some prayed to receive Christ as their personal savior. 3 as a matter or fact! Mildred, Paul, and Bernard. While we were walking, a woman about 55-60 came up to me and asked what we were doing. I told her that we were so excited about what Jesus has done in our lives that we can't keep it to ourselves so we are telling others. She completely opened up to us. Weeping she admitted she was an alcoholic and has been to so many rehabs. Her Father used to pay for her to go to rehab, but is not alive any longer. I knew she had a problem with alcohol because I could smell it on her. But Christine spoke up and boldly declared "But there is one rehab you haven't tried. That is Jesus." She did not pray to receive Christ because I believe she needed to be a bit more cognizant of her decision, but when I prayed over her I FELT the Holy Spirit with us. I felt like I had more FAITH at that moment that she COULD BE healed. She really was a precious lady and I was so grateful that she felt comfortable to share with us and that I was able to grow my faith. We spoke with her about follow up.

There was another young girl whom I shared my testimony with and we found that we had a few things in common. I shared how I overcame my circumstances and struggles with the help of Christ and she opened up and shared about how she, too, was struggling with alcoholism. She seemed to be living a fairly normal life hiding it from the world. She prayed to receive Christ and we talked more about follow up, accountability, and discipleship.

Bernard, the other young man who accepted Christ also was struggling with an addiction. I think there was a bit of a theme today. I praise the Lord that he blessed us with this kingdom adventure today.

Chris and Glenn didn't have ground that was quite as fertile. They went to a very difficult area and had a harder time with the people. But we rejoice in the seeds planted today and for the one who understood and came to Christ.

Today was just such a blessing. We were so blessed to see Vitalis and his family along with his elders who were so biblically sound! That is always so encouraging to us.

Thank you Lord for the sacrifices our Kenyan partners make on a daily basis and Thank you for their zeal for you.

If you abide in me and my words in you...

Chingi- 1 Cor 13 from Lindy Thompson on Vimeo.

We are so proud of this boy!!

just keep swimming...

This past weekend was time again for "incentive weekend" for the St. Boys. If they had 24 stickers on their chart then they got to be a part of swimming, dinner, and slumber time with the mama na baba Thompson. They get stickers for good behavior, work and attendance. It really works well. They flip out if they think their sticker is in jeopardy and straighten up immediately.

PAMOJA!!!

Making a pitiful attempt at teaching them to swim. I told them to kick their feet then wondered why I had a face full of water and couldn't see.

Yes, I realize that I look like such a girl, but it was freezing cold!!

Thuku thought it would be cool to dive in the baby pool. Then he thought the deep end would be cool to dive in as well. Only... he couldn't swim. I just about had 3 heart attacks while I was there. Maybe my swahili needs to improve significantly so that I can explain what I mean by "the deep end is...DEEP".

This was the face I saw him making the majority of the time. (Choking on water)

Poor fellas didn't exactly know how to swim, but they sure did try

David loves some CT!

Nicolas... a bit shocked by the temperature

CT playing a mean trick to these cold boys

"Ever heard of a water bomb?"

Soooooo....

They thought it was hilarious to throw CT in the pool.

Collecting cans from our "can pit" to take back to the slum to sell for money to eat. I had no idea it was such a gold mine. 5 years worth of cans! They all made about 60 cents each! They were very excited and tithed 10% at church sunday. I followed this up Monday and one of them was quick to tell me that Julius (Masai) "tithed 10 bob" Which is twice what we had talked about tithing. My heart= BEAMING. I couldn't be more proud of the young men these boys are becoming!

CT and I were talking about how WE are the blessed ones to have them in our lives. We don't know what we'd do without them loving on us the way they do. Especially during our recent adoption struggles. THEY are our amazing blessings and have loved on us immensely.

Just a little something to make ya cry...

We recently sold the van to some friends to buy a cheaper vehicle. Our friends are letting us borrow their vehicle for a bit so we can haul the boys and some guests. They left a CD in their car that I had been listening to. Long in the short, by Saturday on the ride back to Kawangware I had played this particular song so many times that they knew the chorus by heart and were singing it, not really knowing what it was saying in english. I got Brian to translate to them so they knew what they were singing and explained exactly WHAT they were singing. After that, they began singing even louder these words of the chorus:

Open up the sky, fall down like rain
We don't want blessings, we want You
Open up the sky, fall down like fire,
We don't want anything but You

I'm almost in tears and trying to drive.

Now, how many people would actually take God if there were no blessings to go with the package? How many people could truly say "I don't want ANYTHING, except you."

Can I sing these words and mean it so much that my life reflects it constantly? I don't deserve any blessing he chooses to give me.

You can listen to the song HERE

Our trip to Tanzania... in a nutshell

SO.... about our trip to Tanzania. I'm only like a week and a half late posting this. Becky beat me blogging about it. But I beat her with the pictures. Let's just say being a little less rural helps us in that department.

We were SO excited to finally get to lay our eyes on the ministry our friends, the Helsby's, are part of. Mavuno Village- 250 acres beautiful Lake Victoria front property.

The concept of Mavuno Village started as an attempt to help the growing number of children who have been orphaned by the AIDS pandemic. Mavuno Village's mission is to build a Christian, family-style village, supported in part by farming, which will teach the biblical values of family as well as equip the children with skills for their future. (If you have 18 minutes, watch "Planting Seeds of Hope" at the bottom of the Home page. If you only have 4 minutes, watch "Mavuno overview". This will give you a wonderful idea of what we got to see, the people we met, and what the Helsbys are a part of.)

Before we left, I just kept praying that God would use us as much as possible in whatever way possible while we were there for 10 days. What did we do? Well, we sewed curtains (more me than CT), waxed floors, moved a few heavy objects, washed dishes, played some games, and aided in minor construction-like projects. Oh and did I mention we got to play with some awesome kids?? SO MUCH FUN! We had a great time. And what a blessing it was to finally move our friends into their first real home of their own in Tanzania. The Helsby's have been missionary nomads for the past 4 years moving 11 times. Hannah, 13 and the oldest of the six, has her own bedroom for the first time in her life! She was so tickled. It just made my heart so happy getting to watch all of this take place.

We did work during the day, but they are such suckers for having fun too. So of course we played games at night and CT and I got to go on a little night time safari. We always learn so many nuggets of knowledge when we hang out with them.

What we learned:

1. We learned how to go chameleon spotlighting

2. I learned so much about making cheese, butter, milk, creams, yogurt etc out of fresh cow milk

3.How to graft an avocado tree

4.That catching snakes with a dish towel is perfectly acceptable

5.That you can't actually swim or touch the water in lake victoria b/c of Bilharzia

6.What wildebeest tastes like (DELICIOUS!!)

7.How to tenderize it and other meats with unripe papaya

8.How to cook in a solar oven

9.That a stink bug can really shoot his stank

10.There are only 7 species of fish for consumption due to the introduction of Perch to Lake Victoria, over-fishing, and corrupt lake governance. (at one time there were over 250)

...And how much we love the Helsbys!

Bible club!

Now THAT is a big dog. The Dad to our new security dog.


Wednesday mornings the kids come to the Helsby House for singing/ worship time.
Jake- Just thinkin'
Dinner on the shores of Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria
Jake and Carter


Story time with Uncle Chris. What a lap full!

Jake reading a bible story to Kate.
Meg was such a crack up walking around the house with her head covered! It looks like CT is witnessing to her with his bible in his lap.
The Helsby's finally in their OWN house after more than 4 years of being missionary nomads!

Check out those eyes...

I can never brag enough on the Helsbys. We just adore that family. They scream purity in a way we've never seen. Their walk is so parallel to the way they live and speak. Their kids have such a love for the Lord and we have learned so much about parenting from them. We feel blessed to be their friends and are SO thankful we finally got to see Mavuno first hand.