Our weekend at Rift Valley Academy (RVA)

As many of you remember, I served at RVA way back in 1997-1998. I still have quite a few friends there, including special friends Jan & Matt. We were at the same Candidate Week January 1997, had become quite close while I was there and kept in touch all these years! We stayed with them and their 4 children. Micah and their youngest child, Torrie, had great fun playing together!
This particular weekend at RVA was pretty busy. They had Pinewood Derby - tons of kids design and construct little cars and they're raced in scheduled heats all day Saturday. It was also Senior Store. The seniors make and sell donuts and omelets Saturday morning, then all kinds of great food for lunch. If I remember correctly, they're raising money for their banquet and/or their senior trips.
It was so nice to get away from the city to enjoy beautiful views of the Rift Valley, fresh, clean air, lots of trees and open spaces! It was also nice to be back and reconnect with old friends! It sure made me feel old though when people would tell me that all of their children are grown, in college and/or married, some with kids of their own!

Another special part of the weekend was visiting my old friend, Harriet, a sweet married Kenyan woman with 3 boys! This picture is (L to R) Samuel, Harriet's husband, James, the youngest, Abraham, the middle child, and Harriet. John, the oldest son, lives a few hours away so he was not able to be there but he did call on James' cell to talk with me! I was introduced to Harriet by another missionary friend. I used to walk up to her house every Wednesday and have chai and chat for several hours (it is not culturally appropriate to just pop in for a quick visit!)

We did not have a way of getting a hold of Harriet so we stopped by her house to let her know that we would be at RVA for the weekend! Needless to say, she was shocked! She stood and stared at me for a while then gave me a huge hug! Harriet gave Robb a hug then picked Micah right up and gave him a big hug! She knew I had desired to be married and have a child back in '97-98 and she prayed for me all these years! She used to always say, "Char, God is never late!"

The most exciting part of seeing Harriet again is that I had never seen her walk on her own. She had a congenital hip disorder and when I met her she was no longer able to walk, but was only able to move around a bit with a walker. Several other missionaries who had known Harriet before me had sent money over the years for her to have hip joint replacement surgeries. While I was there, I kind of took over and arranged with the medical center there for one of these operations. There just happened to be an orthopedic surgeon there for a month who not coincidentally specialized in hip joint replacements! Harriet had the other hip joint replaced after I was gone so I was seeing her walk for the first time! God is so good!!

Our weekend away was wonderful! Robb caught up on some sleep, I got to see many old friends, and Micah, well, as usual, he had fun!!