All the Fun Things

For the first time in our five years of homeschooling, we have taken a legit ‘summer’ break. I say ‘summer’, because technically it is winter in the southern hemisphere, but whatever. In years past we have just taken breaks when we had people come to visit or when we went back to the States. This is the first time we have been on school break while in Tanzania. We needed the break! We were dragging by the last few weeks of school. And let me tell you, it has been so much fun! The girls picked to take a trip to the snake park to celebrate the last day of school. I will tell you that this is so not my favorite place because it is full of LOCAL snakes, and that just make my imagination go slither in the night.

Goodbye 4th and 2nd grade!

Our first summer break stop was to our favorite spot on the Indian Ocean coast; Peponi Lodge in Pangani. We spent the time with dear friends laughing and playing. We have a great story of how we weathered a storm on a rickety sailboat. Matt and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary with a beach-side date. The kids played from sunup until sundown, and I found out that my hard limit for camping in the sand is six nights.

Next, my sweet college friend, Kim Dean, came to visit us! This was an amazing time for me personally. She is an encouragement and we spent ten days letting our iron sharpen iron as we talked about our faith, family, ministry, and passions. Even now as I think back on that time I am thankful to tears that God allowed us to spend it together. Thanks Phil for holding down the fort and pushing her out the door! While she was here, she spent three days transforming the Walk In Love playroom into a TingaTinga Tales wonderland.

Kim and Camille share a birthday. She turned 40 and Camille turned 10. We celebrated with a hike to a favorite caldera and eating Ethiopian food.

 Hiking the caldera. Tanzania is beautiful.

The girls got to go to a local summer camp, where they had a blast doing arts and crafts, hiking, meeting new friends, and playing. It was an amazing time for me to do planning for our upcoming school year and get caught up on lots of things with Walk In Love.

Camp was followed closely by a sweet, sweet visit from Matt’s aunt and uncle, Judy and Keith, and cousin Liana. We showed them all the sights of Arusha and also got to show them the work we have been doing at Walk In Love. We also went on a fabulous safari, where we almost died because of a bad driver (seeing a theme here, thank you God for protection) and then had a great time in the crater! Again, it was a time for all of us to encourage and be encouraged. To talk and strengthen each other as we shared our journey in God’s kingdom.

Keith took some fun pictures for us at the center. This is our Market Center staff and the kids playing in the newly completed playroom. It is so much fun to show family and friends the work going on at Walk In Love.

Throughout all the fun, we have been steady at both Walk In Love centers. After the kid’s at the Market Center moved into the new playroom we can officially say that both centers are operating at 100%. We are looking forward to developing some exciting new programs in the coming months, including a chicken project and community classes at both centers. This week we have started school. We are starting early because we plan to take off while we are back visiting in the States. Don’t forget, we will be Stateside October 15 – November 26 and would love to see you. If you have a group that might be willing to listen to our presentation about Walk In Love and the great work that is happening in Arusha to transform the care of at-risk kids in our area, please send me an email. Kelly@tzorphan.com.

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