It’s been awhile since I last posted anything on my blog and lots of people have asked for pictures and news on how we’re doing. Thank you so much for your prayers! We are doing well and feel more “settled” everyday.

Here’s a few pictures of our new home and life in Kigali…

This is our house in Kicukiru, Kigali, Rwanda. Notice the beautiful porch colors. We asked for white and got blue and yellow instead. Don’t know why but Rwandans LOVE these colors:)

This is the view from our front porch on a typical morning. Yes, we are living in the clouds (and freezing!). This particular morning was in the 70s! Burrrr! That’s cold for those of us coming from Togo:)

God blessed us with an awesome vehicle! It’s a 2005 Toyota 70 series Land Cruiser. When we sold our truck in Togo it had 70,000 kilometers on it. We purchased this two weeks later with 70,000 kilometers:) Pretty cool…

Our vehicle is a 13 seater. Instead of bucket seats in the back, there’s four benches. Wow, we can haul a ton of people around! Every morning we take 11 kids to KICS and pick them up in the afternoons.

Stephen and Matthew are well into their second month of school at KICS (Kigali International Community School pictured above) and having a great time! It took a couple of weeks to get in the “groove” of new classes, teachers and homework, but they are doing great now. Thank you for your prayers for a smooth transition, God listened and answered!

Matthew LOVES dogs. One of the hardest things to do for him was to leave Buster (our family dog) behind in Togo. God has blessed us with a new playmate though and he’s having a blast. Meet Marley, our 15 month old Yellow Lab. The Becks, who are leaving this week after two years in Rwanda, were very kind and let us have her. We are still looking for a puppy and hope to get one soon… Pictured above is Matthew teaching Marley how to play fetch.

One of our prayer requests was to find a house in a good neighborhood where the boys would have friends to play with and learn Kinyarwanda. Wow, God really blessed this prayer! We live right across the street from a family with three boys! Pictured above is Matthew playing soccer this afternoon after worship. Everyday when Matthew and Stephen get home from school, the kids begin calling out their names to come play soccer. Thank you Lord!

Meet Joseph and Fredrick (left to right). Joseph is a new university student here in Kigali and Fredrick is waiting on his high school results before beginning at the university this spring (Rwanda’s school year is from January to December and the results come out in February.) Both are genocide orphans. Christine and I are employing them and helping them go to school through an XtraMile Ministries program which helps orphans recover and rebuild their lives after the genocide.

Meet Felix, our Kinyarwanda language teacher. Everyday, Christine and I, (along with the Kimbrows, Shelbys and Shewmakers) study from 1:00-2:15pm. It may not sound like a lot, but we are moving along and advancing a little everyday in the language. Some days are good, others are frustrating, but we are making progress!

Well, that’s a quick tour of our new life and home in Kigali. Thank you for your prayers asking the Lord to bless our transition. He is listening and answering!