Friday:
We went into town after breakfast to do the Internet cafe thing, then went by the supermarket in town, Nakumatt, and did some shopping.  Alex and I had woken up that morning feeling quite crampy and we both took our Cipro, a pill to help deter any bad reaction we might have to the food here.  I took mine a little too late, it seems. By the time we got back to town, I was ready to drop, so I went to lie down until dinner time.  Once dinnertime came around, I decided to join the others and have some ginger tea.  Bad idea.  I had my very first missionary experience with projectile vomiting outside the room where we eat.  Some of the kids were fascinated and came by to inquire on the nature of my crouching beside the building.  The team did a good job of supporting me as I spewed, so I feel especially blessed to be with these good people.

The stomach issues continued through the night and well into Saturday.  Alex got better but poor Kristina got sick in the middle of the night and hurt her back on top of it all.  Moises has been having stomach issues but is recovering nicely.  Hopefully this will be the last time we get sick, but I can't say what God has in store for us for the rest of our time here.  But we can pray!

Saturday:
The KDPL (Kenya Deaf  Prayer and Leadership) conference took place at Sam's Place, another orphanage for deaf children about 15 minutes away from LDO.  I wanted to go, so I did.  Moises stayed behind with Kristina. We got the pleasure of seeing the grounds of Sam's Place, which is far larger and more established.  A large number of deaf Kenyans showed up for the conference which was a wonderful opportunity for us to interact with the locals.  I got in some socialization but started feeling quite bad again.  Moises and Kristina showed up at lunchtime and after the local Kenyans took turns singing their version of Christian songs, which are AWESOME, the ODO group (with the exception of Kristina and I) gave performances related to bible stories and morals.  Kristina and I decided to leave shortly after to go back and get some rest.

I look forward to Sunday because I'll actually have a chance to really focus on the orphans at LDO.  All week, we've been focusing on projects and shopping for projects and have had little time with the children :(  But come Monday, we officially start camp!  From there on, it'll be all about the kids and I'm really looking forward to that.  I know the others are too.

Sunday:
Awesome, awesome day today!  I finally got to spend nearly the entire day with the children.  We hosted church service for everyone this morning and it was wonderful, especially under the pavilion the ODO team built instead of cramming into one of the 12 ft by 12 ft classrooms like the children usually do.  Javier gave a sermon focusing on kindness, patience, love, self control, peace, etc. since the children have issues in some of those areas.   I have to say that I'm absolutely in love with the Kenyan way of singing songs about Jesus, God, anything Christianity-related.  The songs are simple and the message they send are simple as well but the dancing and the joy they put behind the songs are captivating.

Javier's sermon seems to have gotten through to most of the children because every time they started to misbehave, we reminded them of what they learned this morning and they mostly obeyed.  :)  But we rarely ever have to reprimand them, they're such good kids.

After the sermon, the kids did their chores and we did some of our own errands before going over to Nakumatt and doing some shopping.  We were back before lunch, as were Alex and  Dallas (they went to the 2nd day of the KDPL conference while the rest stayed behind).  Then it was..... PLAYTIME!

While the boys played soccer in the small field they have in the back of the property, I had a blast playing various games with the girls.  They absolutely love jumping rope, playing volleyball, and Pickle.  While it was all fun, I kept feeling bad that the only place the girls have to play is near the front entrance, between the cow and the bathroom (I call it the squat room because thats what we do in 'em...squat).   It made it worse when Twitchy the cow took a liking to me and kept following me around to get its ears scratched and its nose nuzzled.

After playtime, we did some work before the storm hit (it rains nearly every evening here). The tarp pavilion didn't survive the wind, unfortunately.  We're rethinking the design and will redo it since it has made such a big difference to this place what with providing shade against the sun and a place to gather.  Pray for that and please continue to donate to Alex and Alexa's fundraiser for projects around here!

Note:
They desperately need and wanted a bigger property when they bought this one but funds didn't allow for it.  Hopefully we can raise enough money once we go back to America to get a bigger property and build better accommodations for them.  There's so much we want to do for them but funds are limited.  I have faith that in the long run, we'll be able to do so much more for them with your help. It is amazing how just 100 USD goes such a long way here.