Solution To Boring Blog Posts

Well, it's tough to blog when your life is not all that interesting. I mean, day in and day out I go to work. And go to work. And the next day I get up and go to work again. Get the picture? Anyway, I like finding time to blog cause it's almost like a journal (except it's online and pretty much everyone can see it) But no one wants to read boring posts like this one right here. So what should I resort to? Making up stories that didn't happen to me??

Example:
Today was quite eventful. I got up at 6am to go on a 4 hr. bicycle ride with a guy with a mohawk, a girl who used to be a famous actress, and this little kid who acts about 22. Yeah, they're some of my best friends. We started out going up a mtn road and then we came to a lake where we leisurely swam for a while and soaked in some sun. While on the way back, Joe (the mohawk guy) fell off his bike and started rolling down the mountain. The little kid, Danny, jumped off his bike and somehow or another managed to save Joe from certain death. Joe was hospitalized but is home tonight safe and sound, except for a broken leg. The rest of the day was spent repelling (without Joe of course), being nearly eaten by 2 crocodiles, riding in a helicopter, eating new and interesting foods, going to a concert, meeting the band, and turning down 4 marrage proposals. Yep, all in a day's work.

Ha... yeah right. I'm going to bed now so that I can start my day tomorrow. What am I going to be doing? Just take a guess.

Back to Work

So tonight was my first night back working at Cracker Barrel in a month.

I've been working for Dad off and on even while I was sick a little bit but now I'm doing two full-fledge jobs. So I got there and everything was the same as it was when I took a doctor's leave last month. Funny how things don't change without me around. ;) Cracker Barrel is a lot different than Kezzi's job at Steak & Shake in that we're always a lot busier. Kezzi gets time to hang around, talk, and discuss things whereas I have to spend ALL of my time bustling around with trays of food. So I've been thinking, how can I be a light to these people I work with day in and day out if I never get time to talk with them besides passing words? Then it kind of hit me one day when the girl who trained me, April, corrected another lady for cussing in front of me. I thought, ok I've never really had the chance to tell April much about me but somehow she knows I don't cuss and am different from the other girls who work here. (This does not mean that everyone avoids cussing around me... by no means) ;) So I realized all of a sudden that I don't have to SAY anything to be a light. Not that I don't try for chances to share my faith verbally with my co-workers but even more than my words, my actions are being watched and people somehow know that I am different by the way I treat others and in the way I work cheerfully (hopefully) :). So the Lord brought peace to my mind. I don't have to stress about not getting time to be a light. It is a constant thing, we are always influencing the people we are around whether we speak or not. It is a weight off my mind but at the same time it is a great responsibility. People watch you. They scrutinize you. It's just what people do. It's our job as Christians to remember that and try to humbly point them toward Christ as the only perfect being who will live up to their expectations.

Thus ends Priscilla's thoughts for the evening. Good night.

Socialization?

Of course, what homeschooler has NOT heard the question? The mother of my dearest little 8 yr. old friend did a wonderful post regarding homeschoolers and socialization. You can read it here.

I know I'm a slacker. I've accepted the fact. It just takes too long for our computer to load pictures so I put off posting and put it off and put it off. Anyway, here we are a LONG time later... most of you have already heard about my trip to Kenya but I'll sum up the rest.

That Sunday we went on a long hike up a nearby mountain with a LOT of kids. I will never forget it. It was SO much fun just walking along listening to all of them talk to each other and laugh. They are definitely the toughest kids I have ever met. Some of them were barefoot and those trails were covered in sharp rocks! The next day, Monday, we walked around the community witnessing. We only made it to two houses, they don't live in close neighborhoods out there, :) but at those two places we were able to witness two people accept the Lord into their lives!!! It was amazing! That was our last day there and our goodbye to the children was full of tears. The next day we got to drive around a game reserve which was SO COOL!!! We saw giraffes, zebras, flamingos, water buffalo, lots of birds, gazelles, and... lions!!! Apparently you're pretty lucky if you get to see a lion there and we saw TWO!!! A male and a female. We even drove off the path and got to see them up close!!! That day was so much fun. That night we ate at an Ethiopean restaurant and it was different but very good! The next day was our last in Kenya. We spent it in Nairobi with Shane and his family walking around the Nairobi marketplace and experiencing a delicious Indian lunch. The flight back was long but us girls had a lot of fun together. I don't think I've ever laughed that much. We had fun watching all the different characters that were on our flight. :) Anyway, I'd love to go back to Kenya this year but I'm planning on college instead. I'm hoping that someday I'll be able to go back and visit the dear friends we made there. I will most definitely never forget my experience.

Anyway, so if you're wondering how I got time to post this... I got sick with mono over three weeks ago so I have not been able to work or do much of anything. I'm a little concerned about not earning money for college these several weeks but I'm learning (continually) to trust the Lord. He has already shown His faithfulness to me by providing money for me to go to the Worldview Academy Camp this June!!! I'm very excited to go and learn even more than last year and I'm pretty excited about going with best friends from MO too!!! :)

Anyway, I'll sign off for now. Maybe I'll be back to post soon, maybe not. I am hereby a blogger not under any obligation. ;) But if you feel the need to nag anyway, go right ahead. ("Sticks and stones may break my bones..." Lol. You know the rest.)

Africa!!! (Part 2)

Ok, I'll just apologize up front to everyone for how long this took. I really have been incredibly busy and working on this in snatches at a time. It takes longer than it looks.

Anyway, continuing on...

Sat. SEPTEMBER 8th

This was our first REAL day with the kids at Chepemma. We decided to "break them in" by playing kickball in this large field they had by the chapel.

Here we are organizing the game. This was harder than it looks considering many of them couldn't understand us.

At first, the children were shy about playing and none of them wanted to throw the ball at the opposing team or even kick it very hard when it was their turn. Fortunately Ellen (the other American in the picture besides me) :) is quite competitive and I was on her team SO... she and I made sure we showed those kids how to play ball. ;) Once, though, I accidentally hit a boy in the head/face with the ball... (cringe) Thankfully, he only kept running and smiling... tough kid. :) Despite the misshaps, the kids caught on fairly quickly and hours later, they didn't even want to stop for lunch. We did though and while we ate a snack lunch under a tree, the kids all went home (or back to the orphanage) to eat their lunch.

That afternoon, since we'd forgotten the craft projects we had planned on doing, we ended up just setting up three "stations" around the area. The guys station was balloons, Kimber & Ellen's was face painting, and for Bev's and my station I got to teach an impromptu art class!! I taught them the color wheel letting them mix the colors with the crayons we brought. For some reason, it really hit me that day that they're just like us. I've taught a few art classes over the years, and I realized that teaching kids in Africa was the same. They're just normal kids who love new, exciting things... duh, right? Well, I don't know why, but that hadn't struck me before. Maybe I just always thought that the way a person's culture is, drastically affects him. But the truth is... it doesn't.

The big difference I did see was how appreciative these children were of our activities and time. They don't get candy and balloons and crayons all the time. In fact, they think a handmade milk jug car is a wonderful toy and beans as your one meal for the day is plenty. Imagine if you had grown up like that. Wouldn't you be more hesitant to complain about what you DIDN'T have?That afternoon we also learned two Kenyan worship songs. It was so much fun crowding around with a bunch of the kids singing the beautiful Swahilii words. (The girls behind me in this picture kept reaching over and touching my hair. It was so sweet.) I think they really appreciated us taking the time to learn something from THEM. So often we expect to only teach while on a mission trip but in reality you always end up learning way more than you bargained for. :)

We went back to the cabin that night and had an awesome time of worship and sharing of testimonies. Afterward, I stayed up talking with two of the ladies from the group til almost 3:00am! I grew really close with all of these women. It's nice that all of them are from my church so now we can continue on in the friendships that began thousands of miles away! We even have a monthly get together planned for the five of us to fellowship, chat, and re-live the memorable experience of Kenya.

Sun. SEPTEMBER 10th

Wow. Sunday was such a blast! We got up and prepared to be at the Hope Center at 10:00am sharp for church. Since we were going to be introducing ourselves, and leading a few songs (including the ones we had learned the day before) we couldn't afford to be late. Just putting into effect the good manners we've been raised with, right? Well... we had forgotten we were in Kenya. Apparently it's common knowledge that if church starts at 10:00, you don't start arriving til about 11:00. Sure enough, we didn't actually start the service until about 11:15. Ever seen Lion King? Well, Hakuna Matata is the Kenyan motto. I just like to call them kindred spirits. ;) Nevertheless, church was well worth waiting for. We started out with some hymns (sung in Swahilii of course) and then it was our turn. Rachel and I each shared short testimonies and read a few verses. It was definitely a brand new experience speaking with a translator. I thought it would be very distracting but instead I found it gave me more time to think about what I was going to say next. (As you can see, I'm not the most photogenic person in the world.)

And here we all are singing our recently learned songs and a couple from home which we had to come up with on the spur of the moment.

After this, we listened to a sermon on a verse in Isaiah... quite long I might add and thankfully, quite good. And then came the really fun part: The offering. The pastor had everyone line up in the aisle. Elders, men, women, then children. As each one came to the front the pastor would announce to the entire congregation what each one was giving. Sounds pretty different, huh? We thought so. But it wasn't over yet. One of the last people to give was a little old lady who gave... not shillings like everyone else, but... a chicken!!! A little hen who was tied at the feet and looking scared to death. "Ok," I thought, "she's giving that to the orphanage." Nope. As soon as everyone sat down there was an auction. We called it the great chicken auction because along with some papayas and sweet potatoes, the chicken was auctioned off in the middle of church. Who bought it? Shane contributed 500 shillings to the church and gave the chicken back to the orphanage. Here he is with his prize. By this time it was well past lunch and I'm pretty sure these two were both getting hungry. Mmm... fried chicken. (Yes, there IS a chicken between them.) ;)

After church (and lunch), we decided to take a hike up one of the mountains nearby.

I'm going to be a softie and go ahead and publish this. Call it my conscience, but I feel bad for making y'all wait so long. For all you naggers out there... I hope you're happy! ;) (I'm in the middle of a day too.)

I'll be back... no really, I will. ;)

The Much Waited For... Africa Post!!!!! (Part1)

Ok, I finally decided to snatch some spare minutes and post about Africa!! The best way to do it would probably be to just go through each day... journal-like. :)

Wed. SEPTEMBER 5th
I left around 4:00pm for Africa with 5 others. My first time out of the country!!!! Our flight schedule was as follows. From Knoxville to Detroit - 2 hrs., from Detroit to Amsterdam - 8 hrs., from Amsterdam to Nairobi, Kenya - 8 hrs.

Left to Right: John (founder of One Vision International and leader of the trip), Kimber, Bev, Rachel, Ellen, and yours truly.

Thurs. SEPTEMBER 6th

Still in the air... It was hard to sleep on the plane and I never thought I'd appreciate the horizontal direction so much!!! The airport floor started looking very tempting during our layovers but time didn't allow it. We had small screens in front of us for one of the flights and so I watched movies, and slept... sitting up. When we touched down in Nairobi that night, I started to get really excited. I couldn't believe we were actually there after so much planning and expecting!! A missionary named Shane came to pick us up with his two little boys. We were soon to find out that Shane and his 5yo son, Abraham (called Hammer) were going to accompany us and provide us with entertainment the entire week! :) That night we stayed in a convent in Nairobi. We were thankful for nice rooms and decent showers. During my quiet time that night my mind was brought to this verse in Ephesians and I wrote it down in my journal.

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."

Ephesians 6:10-12

I knew the Lord was reminding me of what this trip was for. We were starting a battle... a battle to win souls for Christ, being prepared with the armor of God to withstand the schemes of the devil.

Fri. SEPTEMBER 7th

We got up to start the day at 7:00AM Kenya time, midnight our time!!! Suprisingly the time difference didn't affect me all that much. I guess the plane ride wore me out just enough to help me sleep well through the night.

At 7:30AM all nine of us (a native named Shadoa was driving) and at least that many suitcases loaded up in a van and started the 4 hour drive to Chepemma Hope Center.

Along the way, we went through insane Nairobi traffic, saw beautiful scenes of the countryside, and ate at a nice Kenyan restaurant for lunch. For the most part, I wasn't prepared for what I saw. I never imagined Africa so beautiful. I guess I pictured it to be more dry and desert-like but instead I was met with the striking contrast of huge green mountains rising up out of flat widespread pastures. It was amazing how far we could see when we were driving up on one of the mountains.

That afternoon, we got to the Chepemma Hope Center where we planned to spend most of our time that week. It was in the land of the Maasai tribe, set in a valley with mountains surrounding.

Pastor Lemech showed us around the place and as we walked, children started appearing out of nowhere glancing at us shyly and following the group. We found out soon that they LOVE having their picture taken and we happily obliged. Here are some from that first day.

This is one of their classrooms (don't exactly know what I'm doing here);) ... they were doing Social Studies that afternoon. Written on the blackboard was, "How Kenya Became A Nation"... it made me want to sit down and start studying with them.

There are about 99 kids at the school, of which about 60 are orphans. At the school, the orphans are provided with a place to live (buildings made out of mostly tin), one meal a day, and school supplies. Even with so little, it was amazing to see the contentment in the children's faces. They had everything they absolutely needed, and were satisfied with that. It really made me start thinking about how we, as spoiled Americans, have such a warped view of what we truly "need". I have so much to learn from their example of contentment and lack of complaining.

That evening we travelled about 30 min. to "Sunrise Acres", the place we were staying for the week. It turned out to be a nice set of cabins built to house mission teams. Our cabin had four bedrooms, a nice livingroom and kitchen area, and a bathroom.For dinner we drove to a restaurant down the road and ate very African"ish" food. Back at the cabin, the team hung out for a while listening to missionary stories from Shane (some not so very pleasant to hear) and planning out our schedule for the next day with the kids. I went to bed that night very excited about what the next day would bring.

**I'm realizing how long this is going to be so I'll just post in sections. Part 2 (and 3, if necessary) coming soon.**

To Post or Not to Post... That is the Question

If that's the question what's the answer??? (What a weird quote)
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Anyway, it's late I'm tired and I've had a VERY busy week so beware... Proceed reading at your own risk.
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So every night this week I spent in Knoxville teaching at our church's Kamp KidStuf(yes, I did spell that right). Kezzi, Hope, and I all taught a dance "track". We ended up with 12 girls... all very sweet girls... some hilarious girls...and a smallish stage to practice on.
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I have found that it is quite interesting trying to "herd" little girls. They tend to stand in clumps squealing, talking, and having way too much fun to want to listen to "teacher"... yes, that's actually what a few of them called me.
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"Teacher? Can I tell you a secret?" a 4-5 yr. old Indian girl named Irene asked me at snacktime. She then proceeded to put her mouth right against my ear and whisper one of quietest whispers I've ever heard. The VERY SECRET conversation went something like this:
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Irene - "Do you know about buried treasure?"
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Me - "No I don't. Do you?"
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Irene - "Yes. Shhhh." Whispered story I couldn't hear half of, telling an intricate tale of pirates of old and how they sailed round the world and gradually each one died and no one knew where the treasure was but now she did (for some reason I didn't catch) and wasn't that cool?
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Me - "Wow. That's a great story. Where did you hear about this?"
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Irene - "Oh... it was in the TV" (notice the uncommon usage of "in") ;)
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Me - "Oh ok. That's great."
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Irene - Sighing and proceeding to sit in her own seat again, giving my ear back it's personal space, "Yes... the TV can be very helpful"
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This same little girl would go around the room we were practicing in, collecting all sorts of odds and ends. At the end of one night I had two handfuls of 'stuff' from her pockets that she had to give back... and I mean worthless stuff like washers, random pieces of plastic, wooden blocks, etc. I don't think I've ever met such an observant kid. I don't think I would have found all that stuff if I'd crawled around on my hands and knees!
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There was another 5 yr. old girl who was such a sweetheart but I don't think she said a single word the entire week. Every time I asked her anything, she'd nod and smile shyly and keep going. Funny thing was, she listened the best and knew the dance better than most of the girls double her age.
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Needless to say, the week was quite interesting... and a ton of fun. All the girls learned their dance beautifully and performed it tonight (the last night of Kamp) for their parents and families.
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I probably have more to write about but I don't know what it is...
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Oh yeah, Abel got bit by a snake. He didn't see it... he just reached down into the grass to pick up something. At first they thought it was a bee sting but Mom took him in when she realized there were two fang marks and it was swelling and looking bruised. Anyway, they think it was a baby copperhead. The swelling has gone down now and he's been to the doctor about twice now just to make sure everything's ok. Pretty scary... I hate snakes but not as much as I despise spiders.
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And I got my shots for Kenya last week. Total of 6 shots in my arms. The actual shots weren't too bad but I didn't feel too swell the next four days. I'm going back for a couple more in 3 weeks - Polio and second series of Hepatitis B. I'm pretty much fine now just a little soreness in my left arm from (I think it is) the Malaria.
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If you happen to have a lot of time on your hands, patience for ignorant people, and a longing to hear some good fatherish come-backs, stop by the Screaming Penguin's blog and check out the comment section.
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So this is probably the randomest post I've ever done and the most exhausted I've let myself be while posting.
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I'm sleeping in tomorrow morning...
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...And eating eggs and toast for breakfast... mmm...yes... I think I will.