Beautiful Deaf Children of Kenya

Hi everyone!!

Jarred and I spent the past two days visiting the school for the deaf in Machakos, Kenya. It was absolutely AMAZING!! The children were so, so beautiful. Just thinking about how much I love them moves me to tears. I instantly felt a special connection to them the moment we arrived because of my sweet nephew. We are so thankful to report that God made it very easy for me to communicate with them using my sign language skills from college. Although the children are now working on learning Kenyan Sign Language, they've traditionally used ASL at their school, so they were able to understand everything I was saying. They were also very willing to teach Jarred and our good friend Boaz several signs as well. No words were even needed for Jarred to share his love of American football with the kids! He had them throwing spirals in no time, even though none of them had ever seen a football! It was so cool. Many of the students there were orphans, some were children the school found wandering the streets with no way to communicate with anyone. However the school took them in and now they are doing very well. All of the kids were very loving towards one another, like a big family. So heartwarming and yet heartbreaking at the same time, especially to see the few who also had some other disabilities. The school is boarding, so they live together most of the year. I'm so incredibly thankful God gave us the opportunity to meet them and be even a tiny, tiny part of their lives. And I can't wait to show you pictures and videos!!

Staying in Machakos was also great because we were able to spend a lot of quality time with our friend Boaz. He's an incredible man with a very special story and God has used his life to impact me forever. Having Jarred get to know him was such a dream come true.

Thank you so much for your prayers. Keep them coming. We'll be home before long but we're getting quite tired. Pray that our energy will keep up for a few more days!! Tomorrow we're off to volunteer with the CARE for AIDS organization. Can't wait!