New Blog

We are so excited to announce that Ava's adoption was granted today by the Kenyan High Court. As of today we will be using our new blog address:

www.fivekennys.blogspot.com

We have a few more pictures posted there from today and you can see them by clicking on the link above. Although we won't be posting on this four_kennys blog it will still be online and available for you to look back over our first three years with CBM.

Emma

Emma's swim team finished up for the year with a final meet at Rosslyn yesterday afternoon. Emma swam in free style, back stroke and breast stroke. She came in first in all three events! She has improved so much over the past year and will move up an age bracket when swim team resumes in August. Thanks to everyone who has been cheering for Emma!

In Prayer:

We are scheduled to go to court tomorrow. We will know for sure whether our name remains on the list later today. Pray especially for Sam Mutisya who is our guardian. He will travel in from Machacos today to be with us for the hearing tomorrow. Pray for his health and safety on the roads.

Brownies and Badges

Emma showing her new Brownie badges!

On Thursday, Emma took part in her Girl Guides brownie celebration where she was awarded badges and had fun with her friends. With only two weeks left in the school year at Rosslyn Academy, sports and programs are winding down. Emma has enjoyed a busy year of swimming and after school activities. Way to go Emma!

Chegay and Nelius registering Somali refugee

families for child sponsorship case studies

While programs are closing down for the summer break at Rosslyn, the opposite is happening at the Eastleigh Community Centre as classes, vocational training and community programs are filling up with new students. On Friday, we spoke with a group of 25 prospective refugee families about the importance of education and opportunities for child sponsorship.

The mother's identified several obstacles to education for their children: cost, corruption, and access were among the top problems that they face. Thanks to the generous help of individuals, churches and outside donors, the Community Centre is working to scholarship as many as 100 new Somali students for primary education. A prerequisite for scholarship is a case study carried out by the centre's social workers. The social workers access the needs and make up of each family, and along with helping the children attend school, the centre then works to assist the entire family through various support programs.

Wood pile

Ava helping to pile our firewood this afternoon

just before a big thunder storm rolled in.

It was a wet day here in Nairobi, but still no water inside the Kenny house. Our new plumbers will be making the repairs tomorrow afternoon. Meanwhile, we have been on the notorious River Road bargaining for jewelry supplies. Erica and James are finishing off the last phase of the jewelry training.

Both Henry and Reese took great interest

in this Ibis bird that was poking around the yard.

Although they stalked him, neither was brave enough

yet to move in too close.

Happy Birthday

Ava was up bright and early singing

"Happy Birthday" to mommy.

Erica's Birthday Brownies with Tristan and Emma

It was fun to share mommy's birthday evening in front of the fireplace. The kids came up with their own birthday song with party horns. It was a great celebration after a hard day.

Unfortunately, our water problems have not gotten any better. After nearly a week without water (because of city rationing), the city water returned on Mother's Day -- Erica spent most of the day catching up on laundry, until the pipes burst again (for the sixth time). We spent most of today working with plumbers to restore the water. Erica was glad to be able to finally finish our last load of wash tonight.

Barbeque!

We had a great Saturday building the dog house with our friend Peter and visiting with our friends, the Enns family, Kerry and Gigi. Aaron was able to use his birthday present for the first time-- the barbeque!

The Grill King!

Kerry and Gigi

Tristan and Reese trying out the new dog house. Henry prefers to sleep under the dog house and Reese prefers our house, right in front of the fire.

Henry and Reese tuckered out after a long day of playing with the kids. Ava can say Reese's name perfectly but hasn't quite mastered Henry; she calls him "Honking".

Puppies

Henry and Reese!

Our family just keeps growing: today we welcomed two Bernese Border puppies into our lives. When we moved into our apartment on Brookside Court, two years ago, we were not allowed to bring our dog Maizi. Although we found a wonderful new home for her with our friend Andai and his family, we were very sad to lose her as part of our family. We had promised ourselves that one day when we were blessed with a home with a yard that we'd have a family dog. We never dreamed of two dogs!

Emma cuddling Reese

Last week, in our busyness of moving in, we began to research available breeds and puppies in Nairobi. On Friday, Paul & Kelly Carline introduced us to neighbours of theirs who had a litter of Bernese Mountain dog/Border Colie puppies -- Our search was over! Over our few visits, we fell in love with these gentle giants. The family have had Bernese dogs for about 15 years. We enjoyed not only the puppies but the five beautiful adult dogs. Together with the kids, we decided to name our dogs after candy bars. It was a tough choice, but in the end O'Henry and Reese Peanut Butter Cups won out. Neither are available in Kenya, so we've already had to explain what these chocolate bars are like to friends.

Tristan playing with Henry

until the last rays of the sun went down.

We pray that their first night goes well. Tomorrow we will be building a dog house together for Henry and Reese. We are looking forward to a fun family day with the puppies.

Back2School

ESL Students return to Iftin after the April break

The Eastleigh Community Centre was a buzz this week with students returning to the nursery, primary school, and adult literacy programs. While the students of these classes had a break, the women of the first jewelry training cohort have been working hard and have almost completed their training. The women were featured this week in a Kenya Television Network (KTN) about the ministry of Eastleigh Pottery and Eastleigh Jewelry project. We are so proud of them!

Settling In

We have been a week in our house now and it is starting to feel like home. We are starting to figure out when we will have water and when we won't (water is rationed in Nairobi and here in Runda we only get water from the city on Sundays) and we haven't had a pipe burst in a couple of days. We had our first fire tonight in our beautiful fireplace and it was lovely! It is starting to get quite chilly so we'll enjoy the fire over the next couple of months. Thanks for all your prayers as we enjoy the ups and downs of living in a house.

Emma competed in a swim meet today and she did fantastic. She swam in three events. She came first in freestyle and second in both breast and back stroke.

Home Sweet Home

Our new home on Daisy Road, Nairobi!

This past Wednesday, we moved into our new home on the Northern side of Nairobi close to our children's school and only fifteen minutes from Eastleigh. It was both an exciting and frustrating day. Once we got the electricity sorted out, our greatest challenge was water. The house has three separate plumbing systems and the local fundies (handy men) have been improvising in an attempt to patch them together: We've had several pipes burst in the ceiling over the past few days. Nevertheless, we are thankful for the first showers in our new house today as the many little details are coming together. This is home -- leaking pipes and all!

It has been wonderful to have a yard and a space for Tristan and Emma to ride their bicycles. They have been having a lot of fun playing together with Ava in the garden. Ava has been running barefoot around the house flapping her arms like a bird. The kids have discovered several chamelions in the bushes around the house, and throughout each day we've been blessed with many colourful song birds and even a heron. They have loved being able to play outside over the weekend and explore every inch of their new home.

Our kids making their mark!