Psalm 92:1 It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name O Most High:

 Today I realized that it has been two months since we updated our blog and the adventures here in Tanzania at the Rafiki Village. That is too long, but much has been happening in those two months. In this blog we would be amiss if we did not mention all the blessing we find living here in this beautiful country and serving these amazing children.
There were many things we thought we would leave behind of our "old life" but God has given us so much more in many ways and "restored" some of our hearts desires also. This orchid plant is one of the examples. I remember it was with a somewhat heavy heart that we "bequeathed" Kent's orchid collection to a friend. Here in Tanzania, we are the proud owners of many orchids that dwell on our screened porch as we have an orchid grower only a mile down the road. Kent is enjoying raising even nicer orchids than we did in Bismarck.

Mount Meru in the sunset

WE are also blessed by our location between two beautiful mountains. The Kilimanjaro mountain gets the most "press" as it is framed in our screened porch but Mount Meru only 40 miles away produces some of the most vivid sunset pictures you could hope for. Mount Meru can be seen for the front part of  our Village. There is also an amazing small game reserve at the Mount Meru location and we go there to take guests and often just to enjoy the scenery and wild life. The really good part is that we can enjoy the Meru park for only a bit more than $20 for the day. (Many of the game reserves are quite expensive). We saw these two lovely species of birds on our recent trip as well as zebra, giraffe, cape buffalo, water buck, bush buck, warthog and quite a few others.

Sacred Ibis

Blacksmith Lapwing

Since our last blog, Kent and I have been to the States, Florida only, for a week of "Enrichment". During this time we are blessed with Spiritual teaching and some updates from the Rafiki home office. Kent also made an appointment with a cardiologist as his atrial fibrillation had become less controllable.  We were amazed that with a change in medicine he has not had a single irregular heartbeat in over a month. This is even more amazing as jet lag tends to make the condition worse. Before the medication change he had several episodes while in Florida. Not even with jet lag on our return to Tanzania, did Kent have a single irregular beat. More praise to God who is helping us stay healthy to remain in service here.





You can also note a change in the weather by this new picture of our whole team (minus the two children of Sara and Phil). We are enjoying a month or two of cooler weather and because we have become accustomed to African temperatures, it only takes temps of 75 or lower to drag out the long sleeves and the sweaters. I must say I am enjoying the change!! Putting on a blanket at night is also an added benefit. This too will quickly pass as August draws near and the clouds are much less numerous. When the sun is out the heat returns.

Kent and Peggy, Phil and Sara, and Pat

The children have also been busy during their 3 week school break in late June and early July. Many of our children were able to visit relatives and extended family during this time. For the few that have no known family, some of the teachers, church partners, and Rafiki mothers take some of these children to their homes during the break. There are a few left here at the Village but you can be assured they get a lot of extra love and attention from the staff. They all wrote stories of their school break and the ones left at the Village has much to say about their fun also.

Another big part of raising 60 children is Birthday parties. Yes we have birthday parties here... a bit different that most of those in the U.S. but none the less a lot of fun. Each last Saturday in the month, we celebrate the birthdays in the that month. This is a much anticipated event. Each child invites 70 people to his party (all the resident children and staff). Each child has a cupcake WITH frosting. The children with a birthday also receive a gift selected by their mother. In addition to singing "happy birthday and how old are you now" from 3 to 8 times... we have a movie either in the afternoon or evening. I must say that the evening movies by far are more popular as the bed time gets shifted just a bit :).  On this month's birthday, we had a movie in the afternoon, followed by dinner then a marshmallow roast. We had gotten some of the mega-marshmallows while in the States and boy were they a hit!!! The nice part was that each child and mother only needed ONE each!! The bigger children helped the smaller ones with the roasting and fun was had by all. After the children had finished roasting and eating their marshmallow and had gone to take their baths, the guards came by to see what was going on. None of them had heard of marshmallows, much less roasting them. We had a few left and the guards enjoyed the new experience.

I hope you are beginning to see what a blessing it is for us to be here doing this work. Every morning we thank God for another day to serve Him here. One day while we were in Florida, the thought came to me "I could be really busy doing something useful if I was in Tanzania right now". Yes everyone needs some down time, but the days are short here and the work is great. You do not have to wonder what to do next. Consider coming out to enjoy the blessings of doing this work unto the Lord. There is a training at Rafiki www.rafikifoundation.org in mid September and after you attend, you too can be a part of this work for a few weeks, a few months, or a few years!!!