What a month!! December was jam-packed! There is so much to write about. To begin, one of the first weekends in December, I hosted a Christmas party with some friends. It was an opportunity for me to try out a ton of fun cookie recipes and have a Christmas sock exchange! I enjoyed being able to have people in my home.
December 15th marked the arrival of my parents!! Oh, what a special day. I did some date checking and the day I picked them up from the airport marked exactly 500 days since I’d last been with them in person. After all of the COVID regulations and protocols, last minute flight cancellations and rebooking, this felt like a true Christmas miracle. It was a sweet and exciting reunion. Currently, as I write this, my parents are still sitting in the next room. What a gift that they were able to stay for three full weeks! Because they arrived on a Wednesday night, they were able to come and visit my school, see me teach, and meet my wonderful kiddos and coworkers. It was so nice being able to show them the school campus and a huge part of my life. It is so nice being able to put faces to names. My parents were able to help with the class Christmas party and see the students’ Christmas concert. I don’t think they were used to seeing an outdoors Christmas performance in December!
After school closed, our adventures quickly began! I was a part of my church’s Christmas concert performance at a mall here, so while my parents were still trying to recover from their jetlag, I took them to the outdoor performance of carols under the stars. I had a lot of fun singing with the team! All of our Saturday practices paid off!
The next day, I took my parents on a little road trip outside of Nairobi to see the Great Rift Valley and a place called Hell’s Gate National Park in Naivasha, a park known for zebras, giraffes, and other wildlife. It was a fun little road trip and it’s times like these where I am so grateful to have a car to be able to adventure like this. I think my parents are still getting used to me driving on the right side of the road!
Next, my parents and I went on a 3 day safari! This was truly what made this trip, the trip of a lifetime. We had the most amazing guide who had been driving around this park for over 18 years, so he knew where to find all the animals. By the end of the second day, we had seen all of the animals (lions, zebras, elephants, cheetahs, a leopard, ostriches, buffalos, giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, warthogs, the list goes on!) What a beautiful trip to reflect on God’s incredible handiwork in creating nature and animals. I know this will be a trip to remember forever and I am so thankful I got to experience this with my parents. We even got a chance to visit a traditional Masaai village where we learned about Masaai cultural tradtions and ways of life.
We celebrated Christmas Day by inviting some friends from church and school over for brunch, games, and stockings. The holidays can be a difficult time when family isn’t around, so it was nice to welcome friends to celebrate the day together.
Something else that was special was for my parents to see some of my day-to-day ministry. I was able to take them to my market friends many times. It was so sweet watching these women shower my mother with flowers, every time we swung by the market, they were quick to give her yet another bouquet. It was beautiful to see how quickly they love. We were even able to have one of the ladies and her children over for dinner one night.
Even more, my mom, being the amazing lady that she is, had the idea to cook meals for all of my friends at the market. So together on Boxing Day, we were able to make 14 plates of food for the adults and 5 sandwiches for the children. What a blessing to be a blessing! This is a part of ministry that is just so fun.
December 28 marked the BIG day to bring pizza and new shoes to the children at the Creation of Hope orphanage! My friend, Rachel, and I had been planning this visit for over a month and it was so fun watching it all unfold. Rachel’s mom was visiting too, so we all got to go together. We spent the beginning of December getting the t-shirts printed, going around to numerous store depots to get the right sizes for 70 kiddos and arranged to pick up 25 pizzas along the way to the center. It was a beautiful day and despite some of the chaos, God’s hand was so clearly at work in every detail. The children were SO excited to get pizza, soda, and cake. It was so precious to see their joyful faces and hear their giddy giggles and whispers. Here are some pictures of the day.
It’s been a DREAM to have my parents here in Kenya. It has been so fun showing them around my new home and this country that I have grown to love so dearly. It was special for me to see them experience every new thing with open minds and open hearts. I am thankful to have parents who have travelled before too, so Kenya’s culture wasn’t too shocking for them (I hope!). They enjoyed eating Kenyan foods, exploring Kenyan landscapes, and meeting Kenyan people. I will be forever grateful that God made this trip happen.
Prayer Items:
-Praise for this special trip with my parents
-For my parents to be able to travel safely back home on January 8th
-Continued prayer for the children at Creation of Hope orphanage, that they would stay healthy and do well in school this new term
-A prayer of thanksgiving for the generosity in people who donated to make the pizza party and new shoes a reality
-For my new classes this term both in teaching and with my Masters courses
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
-J.
jocelyn's adventures in kenya. 
Jocelyn, you’ve never looked more content and joyful. Christ’s love is so evident in you! That being said, we wish you were back here at RCA!! Alas, only He is omnipresent! They’re blessed to have you there in Kenya. Miss you!
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