Wake up call

I woke up to the the tap, tap, tap of short little claws on my nose, and surprisingly pressure packed paws on my chest. This is my cat Jicama's way of insuring that yesterday's dinner is not his last meal. He does this at 5:30am every morning, give or take no more than 1-2 minutes, no matter what time of year it is.
We all have habits and routines. Some good, some not so good. In just a few days the habits and routines of everyone on our Kenya team will be obliterated. In fact as this trip approaches, they have most likely changed somewhat already. For the last week or so, I have been beating my "alarm clock" by 1-2 hours each day, as the to-do list for the trip swirls in my head. So for today, my usual wake up call was quite welcome. I'm not sure if this means that things are close to being in control, or if the 5+ hrs of driving to pick up my daughter from camp...twice yesterday had anything to do with my level of fatigue (that's another story).
I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone responds to the changes that occur during the 16 days we are gone. I am eager to see how those changes affect our routines and habits when we return.

6 days and counting

As the leader of this team, I have been preparing for the trip for close to two years. In earnest for more than 1 year. Now we are down to the wire of making sure all of our last minute arrangements are in order, and building networks to keep all of you informed while we are away. I have to tell you that today is a bit of the "calm before the storm", I think. That cross between excited anticipation, and all out last minute panic. I look forward to this weekend as a good busy one, of getting all of our gear packed up, and a few last minute shopping trips for the things you realize you really want to have along, or ministry supplies that you really want to provide. I imagine that between Monday and Thursday, the all out panic will set in, to have everything on the home front in order before heading to the airport. With the whole family going, all the details regarding the mail, paper, bills, dog, and cat, will culminate in the last few days.

1 week until we leave!

One week from right now our team will be waiting to board the first of two 9+hour flights on our trip to Nairobi. Everyone has passports, vaccines, sunscreen and insect repellant. Still a lot of last minute things to do before we can relax into our crowded airplane seats. Please keep our team in your prayers, and continue to follow along with this blog to hear about our day to day activities while we are in Kenya.

Gary Marshall

Follow along as we prepare and travel to Kenya

This summer our team of 12 from Grace Community Church will travel to Kenya to work with Christian Ministries in Africa. This is a multi-generational team with four parent-child families represented and two who have worked on previous CMIA trips.
We have a very busy 2+ weeks planned. Our team leaves from Seattle on July 2nd will return July 17th. One main focus of our trip will be facilitating a sports camp for more than 100 school children as an outreach to the local community surrounding the Langata orphanage. We will help in teaching and ministering to school children who live and attend school in the two largest slums in Kenya. Some will preach, lead worship and take part in the education of the children residents of CMIA. Others will assist in the care giving ministries for resident children with HIV/AIDS.
In addition much needed school and medical supplies will be delivered to the school children at the refugee community of Garissa. This school was made possible with funds donated by Grace Community Church members in 2007.