Graduation

Gabby will be graduating on June 4, 2010 at 7:00pm at NRCA's High School Gym. We are very proud and excited for her accomplishments. She will be attending Wake Tech for her Freshman year and then will transfer to UNC-W or ECU. She will be studying communications.

Congratulations, Baby Girl! How did you grow up so fast!?

Gabby is Graduating

 

 

On June 4th, 2010, Gabby will be graduating from North Raleigh Christian High School. She is hoping to study communications in college. She has always enjoyed sporting events and music. Because of this interest, she hopes to be able to learn how to film and edit awards ceremonies and televised sporting events. She was privileged to be able to work with ESPN at the UNC vs. NC State basketball game in 2009. She said there was so much behind the scenes work that she never realized how much it takes to put a college basketball game on TV.

Gabby's Senior Year

These are some of Gabby's Senior pictures photographed by Phoebe Blankinship (Marilyn's daughter). Gabby chose the picture with Bun-Bun for her yearbook shot.

Gabby's Senior Ski Trip

On March 1-3, i embarked on my last school ski trip ever. We woke up bright and early Monday morning around 5:30 to ride on the exhausting 8 hour bus ride to Snowshoe, WV. Usually on our trips we take around 4 buses for middle & high school girls and boys but this year we had only one bus...ugh. There was only about 15 total highschoolers while there were about 35 middle schoolers..most being the oh so energized boys. It was a LONG ride.

We arrived at the top of the mountain only about 100 yards from our hotel when our charter bus couldn't seem to get past one rather large snow bank. After 35 minutes of shoveling snow from under tires and many failed attempts we got past. We had some spare time before dinner and me and my best friend Katherine decided to make a snack from snow and blue gatorade. Then we discovered we had a large & deep sink in our kitchen area so we decided an ice sculpture was an order. We made a bodacious mermaid with no arms and put blue gatorade water around her and threw some goldfish in there you know to make it more realistic. We always have a chapel service in the evenings at my school for our trips where we were talked to about words of encouragement and trying to lead a positive influence on our peers.

After our service, we went over to Silver Creek for a tubing adventure. We were handed giant intertubes while instead of riding down them first, we chose to beat eavh other with them. Once in line, we were attatched to the "lift" to the top of the hill. Being the classy seniors we are, we decided to break every rule possible at the hill. This includes eating chemical snow (we didnt know till someone informed us), getting 4 people on one tube, contuniuing to beat each other with the tubes, and sing obnoxious songs. Silver Creek staff LOVED us. We got back on a bus to our hotel cold, bruised, and exhausted. I had a few new holes in my clothes too..

The next day we got to hit the slopes. Katherine and I went down every blue & green slope we could find. Katherine likes to take her time going down hills..I however am a straight down kinda gal. At times this had the potential of killing me cause once your going so fast you feel like your lifting off the ground it can be hard to stop...But me and katherine only actually fell once which is a new record! It was a COLD day with temperatures around 20 degrees but it was perfect conditions. We had a new fresh layer on powder and there was little wind which was quite the blessing.

Once we were in after around 6 hours of skiing we went inside to rest up before a group of us went to dinner. Katherine, Meghan, Becca and myself decided to go to a pizza place which has a reputation for bad service. Well the reputation was still true...20 minutes to take our order, 25 minutes to get our food..then we made the mistakes to get a pizza to go for our late night cravings. Well once we FINALLY paid for our food and got our pizza i relised i needed red pepper for my pizza so you know what? I took the whole shaker and I felt even :)

Later in the evening knowing it was our last trip here together we had to do something crazy. The 4 of us walk down to a place called the Shaver's Center where they have food and things of that nature we notice o one was in there when we walked in. SO we got 4 food trays so we could sled where ever we could. We tried tray-boarding which often left us on the ground. Pulling each other by scarves and the traditional go down way to steep of hills with bad equipment. WE had quite the laughs. After that we had a giant snow fight where we would take our trays and get a hefty amount of snow on them and nail each other with them.

I was very happy with my tray and now I have to tell you a story for this next story. Throughout the day for some reason i couldnt explain i would always nail metal pole on ski lifts with my ski pole and yell "CHECKPOINT!". SO i took my tray and saw a smaller metal pole and yelled "CHECKPONT" where the entire tray went through the pole and shattered. Me and katherine where on the ground laughing until we yes...peed.

One more memory in my senior year. Any time spent with the people I will no longer be able to see often next year was fantastic and memories will always be remembered. Last ski trip. Until we meet again...

Legacy School in Narok, Kenya

Against all odds, a Masaii woman named Margaret Koileken started a school in Narok about five years ago. She was motivated by the oppression Masaii girls live under and the lack of hope within her district. These young Masaii girls bear little hope of finishing school when puberty sets in. After missing days of school each month, they will eventually be unable to pass their national exams and qualify to go to state run high schools and then college. As a result, their fathers will marry the girls off for a few heads of livestock and they will start having babies at the age of 12 and 13 years old.

The school takes children at 3 years old and they can stay through what would be our 8th grade. They have facilities to board about 60 children at this time. Their school fees are about $900/year. Most families in Kenya struggle to pay school fees to any school which average $450/yr. Every Kenyan student has to buy uniforms or they cannot attend any school. The tuition for Legacy includes 2 meals/day and tea/snack. (The British influence, you know!)

They just started their new school calendar in February with 203 students. Margaret was thrilled to show off their National Testing results to us. In a very large district, Legacy scored the TOP IN THE DISTRICT with her first class to complete 8 years! WOW!!! Also, they scored the highest score recorded to date and all her students were invited to the top High Schools around Kenya. I told Margaret she ruled with an Iron Fist! These children never have any discipline problems!

Our first day with them, the entire student body charmed us with an assembly on their back field. It was a lovely and pleasant day to be outside and watch these precious children sing and dance for us. They worked so hard for us! If you want to see the face of Jesus you gotta go to Legacy! At the end, we were all invited to get up and dance with them! What fun!

The second day was more serious. We were prepared to teach 3 x 1 hour classes. I love the little ones (4,5, and 6) so I volunteered to teach them in the morning. It was Rhett's 15th birthday, so I had the children sing "Happy Birthday" to him on video. We made fun bracelets with pipe cleaners and beads.

I also taught the 1st,2nd and third grade classes. I showed them pictures of our family and pets which they loved. They also sang Rhett "Happy Birthday"! I taught about who Jesus really is and about a few of His miracles. With great joy, we had 47 children accept Christ that day!

Margaret begged us to bring science curriculum's when we were there in September, especially concerning sex education. I put together a lesson plan including "True Love Waits". Two of our team members taught the 5th-7th grade girls about sex and were faced with some very tough questions. Many of the girls are violated by their families or fathers. They are very frightened and need someone unbiased to talk to.

Mimi's 2nd Kenya Mission Trip

Kenya Missions February 14-27, 2010

I have been very blessed to be able to go back to Kenya for the second time with Bayleaf Baptist Church. I am just an ordinary woman with no seminary training. What allows me to go and teach and evangelize is my tremendous love for the Lord. I have a very special place in my heart for the Kenyan people. They have the loving ability to make one feel very welcome (karibu) and have the warmest and most comforting smiles. They are so generous and welcome us into their homes and churches. They always offer us hospitality, even if taking the food from themselves.

This trip was set up for us to teach and evangelize. We are not there for medical missions or disaster relief. We may be giving pastors continuing education,evangelizing in the villages, conducting a Women's Conference or teaching an impromptu group of children. We also support orphanages and The Legacy School in Narok. Each trip itinerary varies with each team which travel in September and February.

The people have so many needs and so much to do daily. The first priority of the day is to find water. Even in Kisumu, which is on Lake Victoria, the people do not have water service in their homes Lake Victoria is the worlds second biggest freshwater lake in the world, yet they cannot easily transport this water to their homes or gardens. There is always health concerns which goes along with man and animals sharing the same water sources.

I have only been to two homes that have electricity and most homes are made with dung and mud mortar. Because of the way these homes are self-built, there is no way to keep them 100% free of predator threats at night. (ie snakes,scorpions,etc.) Also, these hand-made structures only last about 10 years.

Kenya experienced a terrible drought last year while we were there. The landscape was much greener everywhere we went this time after God has blessed them with sufficient rain. Many people lost livestock and everything they had. One Masaii lady told us that many men killed themselves because they were so despondent. It made their daily struggles unbearable. So sad.

God willing, I plan to go again in September. I will be in prayer over it. My family is so sweet about me going and they know I have a heart for these people!