The "C" word

I know the news has been bleak lately. Many of us have seen major changes to our lives, our daily routines, our relationships, our plans for the future. Maybe some of you have been thinking, "When is Kim finally going to write a post about the 'C' word?"

Well, here it is.

My first blog post on...

Crafting in Kenya!

As you may have guessed, Hobby Lobby and Michael's have not yet opened branches in Kenya. So, craft time requires a little more than the usual amount of creativity. We have been very blessed to receive a few care packages from our friends at World Medical Mission, including some very fun crafting supplies. I also used up some valuable luggage space on our return from North America in January to pack some yarn and knitting supplies. Here are a few of the projects we've worked on in recent months.

Display shelves

A few colored popsicle sticks, a little stiky tack, and we finally have a place to store Dominic's "collections" of buttons and small rocks. If it doesn't fit on the shelf, it has to be given away or thrown out!

Earring/Jewelry organizer 

All the homemade earring organizer ideas I saw online include things like empty picture frames...harder to come by than you might think here in Kapsowar! But I did have this item sitting around in a cupboard...can you guess what it is? I'll have to figure out how to hang our Christmas ornaments next year since I used the little ornament hanging hooks to hang the necklaces. That's not too big of a deal though...our Christmas tree is about 14 inches tall!

Picture frame

This one is self explanatory. I think the sticks complement the beachy theme :)

Easter "baskets"

We brought Jelly Bellies and chocolate eggs back with us in January (yep, we found chocolate Easter eggs in January in British Columbia) but had to find a creative way to pass them out to the neighbor kids. 

Tree costume

Hat + safety pins + fresh foliage = a tree? Good enough for Dominic's preschool play, anyways! 

Alright, enough about crafting. Seriously, here's the news on coronovirus in Kenya. Schools remain closed, meetings including church services are prohibited, non-essential travel is discouraged and Nairobi and Mombassa are completely roadblocked...no one in or out by plane, train, or automobile. Or bicycle, actually. 

Out here is Kapsowar, we have completed our contingency planning, our isolation and quarantine wards are built, we have no more short term volunteers, and now...we wait. We read the news, we pray for all of you who we know are in affected areas or working on the front lines, for all of you who are in vulnerable populations, and we pray that our little corner of the world will be spared from the pandemic. And we wait. 

And craft!

See, it all comes around in the end :)

Lots of love to you all,

Kim