We're out . . .

I bet you thought you'd be reading about cool things like lions, tigers, giraffe, water buffalo, maybe some amazing ministry with street children, medical clinics under mango trees, or African cuisine? Well, it's coming, I promise. But for now, you're stuck hearing about our adventures in trying to educate our children in a 3rd-world country.

I've had a lot of advice, encouragement and prayer in the last week, and for that, I'm grateful to you all. I haven't even replied to several messages, partly b/c of poor internet this week, and mostly because I was totally overwhelmed and exhausted. But thank you for your support and prayers. God has been so gracious in carrying us through this journey of faith and surrender.

Here's the low down: apparently when Kenyan schools say "we don't use corporal punishment in our school," it's code for, "we do whatever we want and we have no accountability to anyone, and we're just telling you what you want to hear because you're white." I know I sound extreme, but it's pretty accurate. In the last 2 weeks, we've been lied to three times about "policy", our children have been threatened, Kenya was hit with a book, and finally on Friday little Howie was hit with a ruler across his back. Game over. Our kids are officially school-less again. Is that a word?

We're going to the school tomorrow to let them know we are not pleased with the situation (I'm sure they'll be very torn up), and to request a refund of the school fees for the term, which was approximately $300. Please pray that they issue a refund! We've been told that they will probably be reluctant to give us our money back.

We've been traveling this journey with another mzungu (white) family here in Kitale, which has been a total blessing. We enrolled our children at the same time, and pulled them out at the same time too! In the process, our kids have made new friends, and so have Howie and I, and we're grateful. I can't imagine having to go through this by myself, without having another American mom to call and say, "what do we do?!" God always provides; in this case, it was another family to walk this unknown road with us.

In case you're wondering about the kids, they're doing great. They didn't enjoy their experience, but they know that they're safe and loved, and they were very happy and relieved when we announced to them that they would not have to return.

So now, we're praying about the next step. We're totally open to homeschooling and always have been, but it's a different animal here on the compound. We live with 15 people and in 3 weeks, it will be 35 people. It's not quite the "quiet home environment" that we would have if we were homeschooling in America. We're praying right now for an American teacher or tutor to come and help us educate our children. We know that there are a lot of people in the States who elect to teach overseas for a year or two. If you know such a person, or you are such a person, we'd love to talk to you! You can email us directly at howienamy@yahoo.com.

That's all for now. I've promised my sweet mother that I would blog about food, and given the recent situation, it seems like a nice departure in topic. Mom: Chapati, Ugali, Chips Masala and Samosas, comin' right up.