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I would like to thank you all that have been fireflies and stars in my life, you have all made a huge impact on me, I am thankful for each one of you!
Love you lots and be blessed...Joelle
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Just good sense, or common sense!
Have you ever just said something and you wish just as fast as it came out of your mouth you were able to take it back and say it with a much softer approach?
Have you talked about someone and as it got belittling and as the conversation went on, more gossipy, do you regret it?
As I have been thinking about this, often what comes from the mouth, even the thoughts of others reflect what their heart is occupied with. If their heart has been hurt, then those feelings are going to come out in frustration and in a flurry! If it is gossip, perhaps they have been hurt by that in the past and know no other way of talking about someone.
Our mouth is a reflection of the state of our heart, if we are encouraging and lift up others, if we share the truth in love, reveal the overflowing joys and peace it all reflects our relationship with Christ.
The good heart will produce good words; the evil heart will produce evil words. Christ’s heart produced perfect words.
Fill you heart with God's word, prayer and love those around you, in good times and hard times! You will be better for it, and those around you will appreciate it!
Have you talked about someone and as it got belittling and as the conversation went on, more gossipy, do you regret it?
As I have been thinking about this, often what comes from the mouth, even the thoughts of others reflect what their heart is occupied with. If their heart has been hurt, then those feelings are going to come out in frustration and in a flurry! If it is gossip, perhaps they have been hurt by that in the past and know no other way of talking about someone.
Our mouth is a reflection of the state of our heart, if we are encouraging and lift up others, if we share the truth in love, reveal the overflowing joys and peace it all reflects our relationship with Christ.
The good heart will produce good words; the evil heart will produce evil words. Christ’s heart produced perfect words.
Fill you heart with God's word, prayer and love those around you, in good times and hard times! You will be better for it, and those around you will appreciate it!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
The Adventures of Mt Longonot!
Well Saturday morning started off quite early, ok...I was barely with it at 6 am but it didn't help that I didn't wake up until 5:45 am, without the coffee to get ready for a day of adventures.
Saturday we headed out to Mt. Longonot, about an hour drive just pass Kijabe, (where RVA is located) located in the Great Rift Valley, with amazing views of Lake Naivasha off in the distance and incredible terrain of ash, and lava pebbles made it an interesting climb.
Interesting fact: Longonot is derived from the Masai word Oloonong'ot meaning mountains of many spurs or steep ridges. The park covers 52 km2 most of it being occupied by Mt. Longonot a young volcano rising to 2,776 meters above sea level, the base of the hike starts at 2150 meters. The last eruption was in 1863
The trail ahead of us looked do able, we were going to climb to the top of the ridge, hike around the edge of the crater and back down. The conditions were unforeseen! I unfortunately have been struggling with the dryness this past week and my asthma has flared up, I thought hiking would help me in the breathing process but I wasn't ready for windy dry dusty ash blowing in my face. This trail slowed me down.
So about 600 metres later I made it to the top of the ridge and it was well worth it! The view was spectacular from the top, if there wasn't the haze, you could see forever through the Rift Valley and the inside of the crater was a dense forest. But this point the ridge looked like it was easy to take on. So as we all took a needed rest at the top and refueled on fruit, we set off to take it on.
As we were hiking, there was three peaks, that gradually got larger and my first thought was, do we know what we are getting ourselves into? The peaks were very much able to do, but we had six year old children with us! So our group started to diminish, no we didn't leave people behind, but some of the kids opted out. I unfortunately didn't make it beyond the third and largest peak, my lungs were not going no further, the dust was unbearable for me.
But that was the best part of the day, taking in the view, checking out Lake Naivasha, Hell's Gate, and trying to pin point where RVA was on the hill side...even SMS'ed my brother, said...I am waving from Mt. Longonot!
Looking back at what was accomplished, was great, we came back with dirt in every exposed part of our body, my hair was grey with ashes, everyone had dirt smeared on their face, it was just filthy after we were done. This picture is looking down toward the gate entrance, you can vaguely see the trail etched in the green terrain.
We raced back down the trail to the picnic lunch that we had packed, dirty as we were, all the food went down as we were famished from a day of hiking! I ended up with a pretty good wind and sun burn, but it was all worth it in the end!
It was a great day, with great weather, with great people!
Saturday we headed out to Mt. Longonot, about an hour drive just pass Kijabe, (where RVA is located) located in the Great Rift Valley, with amazing views of Lake Naivasha off in the distance and incredible terrain of ash, and lava pebbles made it an interesting climb.
Interesting fact: Longonot is derived from the Masai word Oloonong'ot meaning mountains of many spurs or steep ridges. The park covers 52 km2 most of it being occupied by Mt. Longonot a young volcano rising to 2,776 meters above sea level, the base of the hike starts at 2150 meters. The last eruption was in 1863
The trail ahead of us looked do able, we were going to climb to the top of the ridge, hike around the edge of the crater and back down. The conditions were unforeseen! I unfortunately have been struggling with the dryness this past week and my asthma has flared up, I thought hiking would help me in the breathing process but I wasn't ready for windy dry dusty ash blowing in my face. This trail slowed me down.
So about 600 metres later I made it to the top of the ridge and it was well worth it! The view was spectacular from the top, if there wasn't the haze, you could see forever through the Rift Valley and the inside of the crater was a dense forest. But this point the ridge looked like it was easy to take on. So as we all took a needed rest at the top and refueled on fruit, we set off to take it on.
As we were hiking, there was three peaks, that gradually got larger and my first thought was, do we know what we are getting ourselves into? The peaks were very much able to do, but we had six year old children with us! So our group started to diminish, no we didn't leave people behind, but some of the kids opted out. I unfortunately didn't make it beyond the third and largest peak, my lungs were not going no further, the dust was unbearable for me.
But that was the best part of the day, taking in the view, checking out Lake Naivasha, Hell's Gate, and trying to pin point where RVA was on the hill side...even SMS'ed my brother, said...I am waving from Mt. Longonot!
Looking back at what was accomplished, was great, we came back with dirt in every exposed part of our body, my hair was grey with ashes, everyone had dirt smeared on their face, it was just filthy after we were done. This picture is looking down toward the gate entrance, you can vaguely see the trail etched in the green terrain.
We raced back down the trail to the picnic lunch that we had packed, dirty as we were, all the food went down as we were famished from a day of hiking! I ended up with a pretty good wind and sun burn, but it was all worth it in the end!
It was a great day, with great weather, with great people!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
A Room with a View
So many of you have been wondering...where does Joelle work? If you haven't...thank my sister who wanted to see these pictures!
The picture on the left is the view from my office looking out towards the city, the Hangar is located at Wilson Airport, on the South end of NBO. Located near here is the Nairobi Game Park, to West and to the East is the International Airport.
The picture on the right is what I look out to from my office door, the BIG plane was in for maintenance this day, it is a cool sight when they do this! This is SP's plane, I believe it is a DC3 usually there are many 206's sitting around. (Yes, I am learning all that I can about airplanes).
There are many options for eating around here, the best so far is the fruit lady, which is a good 20 minute walk away, but you get a whole bowl of fruit, fresh fruit with Mangos, papaya, pineapple, banana's, passion fruit, and avocados! Yes, even avocados, it is the best!
There are a few other places that serve ethnic Kenyan food, some are a little unknown in what exactly they serve! Some of these places I do refuse to eat at! So far though I haven't seen any heads of anything in stew...ok...as I say that I do recall a fish, a whole fish that looked back at me from someone else's plate!
There is a normal eating establishment not too far from here that you do find your usual fair of normal food! That serves Latte's and Cappaccinos to boot!
Well that is the brief synopsis of work life here!
Action Packer!
Well, as this is my attempt to write more and keep this blog updated! Here I am!
This past weekend was an action packed weekend, the days leading up to it as well!
Let me tell you about it...
It all started about last Wednesday night, I got a phone call from my brother who had wanted me to come out and visit the family at RVA, even Cassidy got on the phone and was like, are you coming Aunt Joelle? Well, I felt torn, we had been making plans here in NBO to hang out with a friend that is leaving this week, but I hadn't seen my family in a few weeks! So then as I was deciding I get this email from my mom...saying, you should go to RVA this weekend, if you do you will be mighty surprised!
Ok...first of all when someone says something like that...you think...who is coming?
Well, curiousity kills me...I tell you if I don't know what is going on...I find out! Well, I texted my sister and asked if she knew anything more, I had emailed friends to ask them to call my mom and find out where she was! I even emailed mom asking for more hints! It turns out the answer I got from mom, was like it is a care package arriving at RVA this weekend!
Ok...so my friends and I were convinced that I needed to go...it was obvious that there was more to it! I was excited, and curious all at the same time, I was pretty impressed that someone could surprise me so well!
I hate to be the bearer of bad news...there was nothing "surprising" about the weekend! I ended up babysitting and taking in the events of the Alumni weekend, hosted by RVA! It was great otherwise, but this is a reminder to mom, full details are needed when sending a package!
I got some great family time in and got to hang out with my friends here in NBO. Though they made fun of me....some more Canadian jokes! This time...have you all heard of the Canadian version of itunes? "eh"tunes! I was quick to remind them that it actually is itunes.c"eh"...silly Americans! It was an afternoon dedicated to teasing Joelle.
We ended the night with Ethiopian food, in mass numbers we got a large group together and enjoy eating with our hands!
It was a great weekend!
This week we have a new roommate added to the house for the next 5 weeks! Here name is Lindsay, and from Las Vegas! She is here working with AIM Air in the hangar!
There is also two new shortterm guys, Lance and Kevin here too!
We also said goodbyes to Luke and Philip who are done here at IS! It has been a week of transitions!
So that has been my week, no new pictures...as I was cameraless all weekend long!
This past weekend was an action packed weekend, the days leading up to it as well!
Let me tell you about it...
It all started about last Wednesday night, I got a phone call from my brother who had wanted me to come out and visit the family at RVA, even Cassidy got on the phone and was like, are you coming Aunt Joelle? Well, I felt torn, we had been making plans here in NBO to hang out with a friend that is leaving this week, but I hadn't seen my family in a few weeks! So then as I was deciding I get this email from my mom...saying, you should go to RVA this weekend, if you do you will be mighty surprised!
Ok...first of all when someone says something like that...you think...who is coming?
Well, curiousity kills me...I tell you if I don't know what is going on...I find out! Well, I texted my sister and asked if she knew anything more, I had emailed friends to ask them to call my mom and find out where she was! I even emailed mom asking for more hints! It turns out the answer I got from mom, was like it is a care package arriving at RVA this weekend!
Ok...so my friends and I were convinced that I needed to go...it was obvious that there was more to it! I was excited, and curious all at the same time, I was pretty impressed that someone could surprise me so well!
I hate to be the bearer of bad news...there was nothing "surprising" about the weekend! I ended up babysitting and taking in the events of the Alumni weekend, hosted by RVA! It was great otherwise, but this is a reminder to mom, full details are needed when sending a package!
I got some great family time in and got to hang out with my friends here in NBO. Though they made fun of me....some more Canadian jokes! This time...have you all heard of the Canadian version of itunes? "eh"tunes! I was quick to remind them that it actually is itunes.c"eh"...silly Americans! It was an afternoon dedicated to teasing Joelle.
We ended the night with Ethiopian food, in mass numbers we got a large group together and enjoy eating with our hands!
It was a great weekend!
This week we have a new roommate added to the house for the next 5 weeks! Here name is Lindsay, and from Las Vegas! She is here working with AIM Air in the hangar!
There is also two new shortterm guys, Lance and Kevin here too!
We also said goodbyes to Luke and Philip who are done here at IS! It has been a week of transitions!
So that has been my week, no new pictures...as I was cameraless all weekend long!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
July 4th....Just like any other day!
Ok, I know that we just recently had Canada Day, but being in the extreme minority here the 4th of July 2009 was a day that I wa
s not to forget!
American's and their "day" I was told not to mess with it, it is a day that American's are extremely Patriotic...hence the what the card says!
Well, this day started off on the right foot, not the left..ha ha but our day started early at 8 am, yes a little early but I had requested it to be that way. So all my friends were just a wee bit excited to get this day started, like I said the 4th of July is big to them. So we had a perfect day packed with excitement and fun, and laughter.
Stampede Breakfast!
Ok...so the Canadian in me decided that if we were spending the day doing American Traditions...we had to start it off with a Canadian one.
So I sent a text out earlier in the week and said..."Breakfast Sat am...dress in style-SC". I also requested for them to bring the country music, as most of you know...I don't do country music. So when they arrived they were all a little worried that I was there to mock their American ways, as I had been made fun of all week long, they were a little worried.
They came bearing their bandana's and ready to celebrate! So as we sat down to breakfast I welcomed them all to their "First Stampede Breakfast" Calgarian style, complete with scrambled eggs and pancakes, I might add that these were Mickey Mouse Pancakes. I explained to them that the Stampede is a big rodeo/fair that happens every year in Calgary, starting the first Friday in July and lasting for 10 days, these 10 days being filled with rodeo, fair food, and every day there is a breakfast or bbq to attend throughout the city. Out of everything they made fun of me for this past...they were pretty excited to be able to take part in a fun tradition and learn something about Canada.
Machokos
So from there...our road trip took us across many bumpy roads...some not avoidable...and some very avoidable...but it all added to our experience. We even at one point took a wrong turn and were headed to Tanzania (oops) but we quickly got back on the right course...driving down the ravine...unpaved...all dirt and rocks in our little car on the way to Machakos. All the while listening to a comedian, Brian Regan, that is pee yourself funny, we listened to "I walked on the Moon", I highly recommend it.
Ok we don't just randomly drive out to little towns in the middle of no where! But we were on a mission to pickup my roommate, Sammi who had been volunteering with ABO (Africa Based Orientation). ABO is a three week orientation that all Full term missionaries with AIM go through, they learn lots or everything that they possibly need to know.
While we were waiting for Sammi, we took the time to walk around the campus, swung on the swings and then watch Kate jump off the swings...!
Mt Lukenya
So our trip continued...on to the next event of the day! This was the actual 4th of July Celebration where I as the lone Canadian, didn't stick out as much as
I thought I would. This BBQ was put on by the Pastor's family at the church I have been attending, they live about 40 minutes out of town at a camp, 100 acres of it on the edge of a game park, on the other side it was Mt Lukenya.
It was so beautiful out there, it was quiet and the perfect place to get out of the city and the weather was perfect. As we were the last ones to get there we quickly ate as they had a fun game of big ball volleyball planned. Sorry no pictures, and surprisingly...I didn't get hurt, especially with my attraction of balls coming towards my face! The ball was 3 feet in diameter and a little awkward, I really think that this would be a fun FNS activity! And no rules to the game, ok...I would say the only rule that I learnt was don't duck! At one point I did...I got scared the ball was coming towards me.
Here is Kate, myself, Sammi, Philip and Luke
It was an amazing afternoon, then Kate and I took off on the 4 wheeler, ok...we didn't carjack it or anything, but we went zipping through the field, I really felt that Kate was trying to dump me off the back cause a few times I got air! It was a blast! And still no injuries!
To check out their ministry there, here is the link:
So then as we were hanging out, Paul, the Pastor's son invited us over to see his house. So sometimes to me...a house is just a house! This was a house beyond just a house, Paul built this house and just moved in three months ago. It was so incredible, I could go on and on about it but the highlight for me...was the large kitchen with a window overlooking a game park, where their is giraffes, wildebeests, etc. We all thought that it could be featured in a tv show back home, I know a few of you would love this place.
Celebrations...continued
So sadly we left the beautiful camp and headed back into the city for our dinner celebrations! This time it was a homemade dinner, non american style bbq, I was explained that the "normal" day is spent eating burgers, hotdogs, baked beans, coleslaw, corn on the cob, etc. Our dinner consided of bbq chicken and wedge potatoes and steam beans, everything spiced just right. Topped off with our dessert, Kate's brownies...and Joelle's "special brownies". (not that way...silly there is rather a funny story behind these too). We also had an addition added to our team, Shane a friend of Sammi's from the States came to join us.
We continued our evening with more laughter, a game of Apples to Apples, and topped off the night with a few episodes of The Office. It was a great day, with some great people even it if was an American day.
So happy 4th of July to my American Friends...just another day for all of us in Canada!
***I didn't get the memo to wear red, white or blue!***
s not to forget!American's and their "day" I was told not to mess with it, it is a day that American's are extremely Patriotic...hence the what the card says!
Well, this day started off on the right foot, not the left..ha ha but our day started early at 8 am, yes a little early but I had requested it to be that way. So all my friends were just a wee bit excited to get this day started, like I said the 4th of July is big to them. So we had a perfect day packed with excitement and fun, and laughter.
Stampede Breakfast!
Ok...so the Canadian in me decided that if we were spending the day doing American Traditions...we had to start it off with a Canadian one.
So I sent a text out earlier in the week and said..."Breakfast Sat am...dress in style-SC". I also requested for them to bring the country music, as most of you know...I don't do country music. So when they arrived they were all a little worried that I was there to mock their American ways, as I had been made fun of all week long, they were a little worried.
They came bearing their bandana's and ready to celebrate! So as we sat down to breakfast I welcomed them all to their "First Stampede Breakfast" Calgarian style, complete with scrambled eggs and pancakes, I might add that these were Mickey Mouse Pancakes. I explained to them that the Stampede is a big rodeo/fair that happens every year in Calgary, starting the first Friday in July and lasting for 10 days, these 10 days being filled with rodeo, fair food, and every day there is a breakfast or bbq to attend throughout the city. Out of everything they made fun of me for this past...they were pretty excited to be able to take part in a fun tradition and learn something about Canada.
Machokos
So from there...our road trip took us across many bumpy roads...some not avoidable...and some very avoidable...but it all added to our experience. We even at one point took a wrong turn and were headed to Tanzania (oops) but we quickly got back on the right course...driving down the ravine...unpaved...all dirt and rocks in our little car on the way to Machakos. All the while listening to a comedian, Brian Regan, that is pee yourself funny, we listened to "I walked on the Moon", I highly recommend it.
Ok we don't just randomly drive out to little towns in the middle of no where! But we were on a mission to pickup my roommate, Sammi who had been volunteering with ABO (Africa Based Orientation). ABO is a three week orientation that all Full term missionaries with AIM go through, they learn lots or everything that they possibly need to know.
While we were waiting for Sammi, we took the time to walk around the campus, swung on the swings and then watch Kate jump off the swings...!
Mt Lukenya
So our trip continued...on to the next event of the day! This was the actual 4th of July Celebration where I as the lone Canadian, didn't stick out as much as
I thought I would. This BBQ was put on by the Pastor's family at the church I have been attending, they live about 40 minutes out of town at a camp, 100 acres of it on the edge of a game park, on the other side it was Mt Lukenya. It was so beautiful out there, it was quiet and the perfect place to get out of the city and the weather was perfect. As we were the last ones to get there we quickly ate as they had a fun game of big ball volleyball planned. Sorry no pictures, and surprisingly...I didn't get hurt, especially with my attraction of balls coming towards my face! The ball was 3 feet in diameter and a little awkward, I really think that this would be a fun FNS activity! And no rules to the game, ok...I would say the only rule that I learnt was don't duck! At one point I did...I got scared the ball was coming towards me.
Here is Kate, myself, Sammi, Philip and LukeIt was an amazing afternoon, then Kate and I took off on the 4 wheeler, ok...we didn't carjack it or anything, but we went zipping through the field, I really felt that Kate was trying to dump me off the back cause a few times I got air! It was a blast! And still no injuries!
To check out their ministry there, here is the link:
So then as we were hanging out, Paul, the Pastor's son invited us over to see his house. So sometimes to me...a house is just a house! This was a house beyond just a house, Paul built this house and just moved in three months ago. It was so incredible, I could go on and on about it but the highlight for me...was the large kitchen with a window overlooking a game park, where their is giraffes, wildebeests, etc. We all thought that it could be featured in a tv show back home, I know a few of you would love this place.
Celebrations...continued
So sadly we left the beautiful camp and headed back into the city for our dinner celebrations! This time it was a homemade dinner, non american style bbq, I was explained that the "normal" day is spent eating burgers, hotdogs, baked beans, coleslaw, corn on the cob, etc. Our dinner consided of bbq chicken and wedge potatoes and steam beans, everything spiced just right. Topped off with our dessert, Kate's brownies...and Joelle's "special brownies". (not that way...silly there is rather a funny story behind these too). We also had an addition added to our team, Shane a friend of Sammi's from the States came to join us.
We continued our evening with more laughter, a game of Apples to Apples, and topped off the night with a few episodes of The Office. It was a great day, with some great people even it if was an American day.
So happy 4th of July to my American Friends...just another day for all of us in Canada!
***I didn't get the memo to wear red, white or blue!***
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