This
blog is one I never thought I would have to write. I guess I am trying to say I
didn't see life coming the way that it has. Yesterday on my 27^th
birthday I had a doctor's appointment. I headed to the appointment with an open
mind about what Dr. Silverstein was going to tell me. I went into his office
and sat down and he looked at me and said, "Here's the deal. I have looked at
the MRI results and they found abnormalities in the arteries in your ears. That
means that because of those abnormalities you are affected by living in places
of high elevation. (Quick side note: Nairobi is 5,000 ft. above sea level).

 Honestly I still don't understand the
medical aspect of this news, but he went on to say that because of the high
elevation that I have lived in the past month, along with travel and the
abnormalities my vertigo has gone to an extreme level.

The
thoughts were whirling inside my head and I was not quite sure what to do with
this news. As I left the office and walked outside to wait for my taxi and all
that kept coming to mind was God – is this for real? You called me to Kenya and
now here I am 2 weeks into this journey and I am being told to go home.

So now
here I sit two days later and the thoughts are still whirling in my head as the
world around me whirls too! I don't doubt who God is and the plans He has – He
always has a purpose and a plan in place for us. But I guess my struggle is
when do I decide to alter this dream for Kenya? I would ask that you pray with
me as I seek God and the new plans or changed plans He has for my life these
upcoming months! I have not yet made a decision as to what to do. I am aware
that my vertigo will progressively get worse the longer I stay in high
elevation... But I also very aware that God is bigger than this stupid vertigo
and He is taking care of me. What an amazing reassurance to carry around in my
heart. I love my Heavenly Father for his constant strength and grace to face
each day.

So
unexpected grace, here it is in a very tangible way -

 I was able to spend my morning on Friday
in the New Adventures School observing. I was overcome with emotion most of the
morning as I watched the 6^th and 7^th graders learning
math and English. In the middle of chaos, dirt, sewage, extreme poverty and
filth there is a group of children learning not only the basic subjects, but
also learning the truth about who God is and how He loves them. God has done a
great thing in New Adventures School. The teachers are dedicated to providing
quality education to the best of their abilities. Even with a crudely hung
chalkboard that has seen better days, a rag as an eraser and a stumpy piece of
chalkboard, they were able to turn simple pie charts into the hope of a future
for each student.

Three
or four students share one textbook and most of them do not own enough
notebooks to complete their work in, but yet they are eager and ready to learn.
They sit in dark, musty classrooms that have cement floors and low ceilings,
but yet their smiles do not portray their surroundings. The beaming faces
surrounded me as I sat in a desk with some of the students. They shyly asked my
name and where I was from and then giggled quietly when I told them America.
They asked me how I liked their school and did I like math? I had to answer
honestly and say yes I loved their school, but no I do not like math!

The
response was huge grins that lit up their faces.

I
decided in that moment that no matter where God takes me, whether I am here in
Kenya or home in America I will pray diligently for these students by name,
that they will fall in love with Jesus, succeed in school and pursue the dreams
they have hidden in their hearts.

For I
know looking out across the sea of faces that there are very big dreams hidden
deep inside - Dreams of becoming teachers, doctors, nurses, mothers, fathers,
singers, pastors, missionaries, shopkeepers, the list goes on and on.

Dreams
that do not require computers or expensive, filled classrooms, but that require
God's strength and an eagerness to learn all that is before them.

Please
do not wish for these students a better life, but do pray for a life that is
filled with God and his love. For when that is what you possess you are richer
than any human who has every material "thing" that there is to have.

Ephesians 3:18-19

"And I pray that you, being
rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints, to
grasp how wide and long and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love
that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the
fullness of God."