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Dear Friend, As you may know, Mama Carla is spending December in the United States with her family for a much-needed break so I want to share a mini-Jambo letter with you in her absence. Babu Jeff and missionary, Beth Ann, have been sending updates from In Step! Luci, the fundi (Swahili for seamstress), has made new pajamas for the kids and you can see how much the children are enjoying the new threads. The kids are continuing to help with chores around In Step with food preparation, learning how to take vegetables off the stem, and washing the vehicles and dishes. The children have been…

Jambo everyone!Wow! November! It’s weird how fast this year has flown by, despite its challenges! It has been a year none of us will ever forget and it’s not over yet! A few days from the time of this writing, I will be in Washington State! I got up Monday morning, inspired to start making my lists! (Yes, I am an avid list maker, especially when it comes to travel!) I need a list of: 1. Everything I need to get done before I leave. 2. What to pack. 3. Start my list of what to bring back with me.…

Jambo everyone! I hope this finds you all doing well! I have been enjoying seeing fall pictures on your Facebook accounts, especially from my friends on the East Coast! Someday, I will visit that part of the country during the fall season! Here, it’s still raining! Seriously! It has been raining for about a year, with very small breaks in between rains! The rains came later than usual last year, but once they came, they decided to stay! It’s crazy! I have exciting news! Step one to getting life back to pre-Corona is about to happen! The government is allowing…

Jambo everyone!I hope you are all doing well and getting ready for fall! Here, it is still raining! The flowers are beautiful, but everything else is a big, fat mud puddle! Nothing is changing. Every day is the same. I guess I’m getting a bit stir-crazy! LOL! I’m hoping to get to the U.S. in November, but still not completely sure about it! Here at the children’s home, we are just carrying on one day at a time, like the rest of the world! We have noticed an increase in babies coming, probably somehow related to the economic situation, due…

Jambo everyone! Here I sit, outside in my new favorite place, a wonderful patio under the bougainvillea trellis, listening to birds, drinking a cup of tea and enjoying the slight breeze. Let’s see if I’m able to focus enough to get you guys updated! This patio was a gift from an old friend of Jeff’s. I have dreamed of this space since the day we purchased this land in 2007! I remember everyone laughing at me for planting a row of bougainvillea before we even started construction of the house!   The bougainvillea grew quickly and after only a few years, it was necessary…

Jambo everyone! I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your summer! Here, it is still cold and rainy with lots of MUD! There is no such thing as a clean floor right now, especially when a Great Dane lives in your room! LOL! We, like many of you, are still living Groundhog Day. School remains closed, so the kids are home. They are still having homework time a few hours per day. They are still doing chores every day. They are still having specially planned activity time every day. I feel like my updates are the same every month! The President of Kenya has, however,…

Jambo everyone! I hope you all are happy and healthy, enjoying nice weather with family and friends! Here in Kenya, we are doing well! The kids are still home from school. The rains have come, giving a huge sigh of relief to the farmers, while at the same time causing floods that are leaving people with nothing! Isn’t that how it is? A blessing to one person can be seen as a curse to another! Here at the home, we are still on Groundhog Day, except that we have opened up enough to allow our staff to come and go from home to work. What a…

Jambo everyone! What a weird time, huh? I hope you are all staying healthy! It’s such a strange thing for the whole world to be going through something together! I mean, this is not a typhoon in the Philippines, or a tsunami in Japan, or famine in Ethiopia, or war in Congo, or a hurricane in America, or a nuclear accident in Russia, or a heatwave in Pakistan, or locusts in Kenya, or wild fires in Australia, or an earthquake in Haiti, or a flash flood in Egypt, or landslides in Malaysia. This is COVID-19 in the whole world! I’m seeing lots of people posting…

Jambo everyone! I hope you are all doing well! I have been seeing posts about unpredictable weather on that side. Ours has also been different than usual, but we did get a few weeks of “dry season” in February! (Dry season normally lasts about three and a half months!) I must admit, it’s nice to have some days when my solar powered hot water actually gets warm! I know that many of you are following the high school kids’ stories. Well, we were blessed to have them home for a visit for a week during their half term break! They all seem to be doing well…

Jambo everyone! I hope your 2020 has started well! Here at In Step Children’s Home, January has been a very busy month! The Kenyan school year is the same as the calendar year. School “opens” in January and “closes” at the end of October. So this month, there was lots going on, getting all the kids ready for school! In Step Academy is now a complete primary school with grades starting from preschool and going all the way through eighth grade! I remember when we first started our school with seven students and one teacher, all crowded into a 10’…