Reflections on 2011 – by sara

39 weeks pregnant... and counting!

I can hardly believe that another year of life in Africa is coming to a close.  As I write this, I am 40 weeks pregnant with our surprise blessing baby girl, Aviya Zuri.  It has been over 20 months since Sabra, Samuel & I were in the United States; 15 months for Chad — we are hoping to visit sometime in 2012, but have no definite travel plans yet.  Chad is continuing his role as Operations Director for Christian Mission Aid (CMA) here in Nairobi, Kenya and already has a full year’s schedule ahead of him.  Click here to go to the CMA website.

Sabra is one quarter into grade 11 and in addition to enjoying the fellowship of a great international youth group that meets weekly, she is completing her Kenyan ballroom dancing medal certificate requirements with plans to earn her International Ballroom Teaching Certificate through Dancesport early next year.  Samuel is into the second quarter of grade 8 and is keeping up with his guitar practice on his own.  He has made some friends at the apartment complex where we live; although he would love to live outside the city where he could run and play and raise chickens.

Sam in his school uniform.

2011, like most years, has held it’s share of blessing & pain — each joy & sorrow an opportunity for us to run toward God and seek refuge in His unchanging love.  In the 15+ years Chad & I have been married, this year has been the one where I simply could not “see”  or anticipate the changes that were coming for our family.  At first, the “not knowing” was really uncomfortable and scary for me, but as the months have passed, I’ve found myself learning to trust in who God is instead of in the things He’s doing.

Our 15th anniversary. We had no idea that baby Aviya was part of God's plan. What a blessing!

January found us living on the south coast of South Africa, along the Indian Ocean in Kwa-Zulu Natal nearly to the Wild Coast region of the Eastern Cape.  Our family of four plus dogs, Ginger & Poppy, lived from January through April in a converted 2-car garage just steps from the beach.  During January and February both Chad & I worked each weekday at an independent Christian School that ran on the ACE system.  All grades were in one classroom, and students worked at their own pace to achieve their academic goals.  Think homeschooling in a classroom with 30+ students.  Chad really enjoyed the students and his pastoral/administrative role there.  I worked as a classroom monitor and assisted students with their daily work and grading.  It was also Samuel’s first time in a school.  Though he continued with his current home school curriculum, he wore a uniform and kept to a regular schedule along with the other students who ranged in age from 7 to 19.  It has been a joy to keep up with almost all of the students via facebook even though our time with them was brief.  To read Chad’s blog post about our ministry at school, click here. 

Chad ministering with Larry Kitchel on a Sunday morning.

March was a tumultuous month in many ways.  My Grandpa Ted continued his struggle against cancer and moved into a hospice care home.  It was hard not to be in Michigan to play a role in the daily life of my Grandparents, especially when they need a helping hand more than ever.  We also received word that our friend, Larry Kitchel, the founder & director of Christian Mission Aid, was battling cancer as well.  On March 27, 2011 Larry went home to heaven, leaving behind a legacy of love in Africa that spanned more than 25 years.  To read Chad’s blog post honoring Larry’s life, click here.

In April we said good-bye to life at the beach and to all our friends from the south coast.  At this point, Chad & I knew some change was once again on the horizon.  Plans that seemed “in the future” were accelerated towards a transition from life in South Africa to Kenya.  On Easter weekend, we left Kwa-Zulu Natal and drove north to Johannesburg, South Africa where our dear friends, the DiCocco family, welcomed us into their home with open arms.  Click here to go to the Dicocco family blog – Trace’s photography is a visual feast documenting their life of love in Africa.

Chad left for Kenya the following week but the kids & I stayed behind to make travel arrangements for the dogs and our belongings.  I can’t begin to imagine making such a sudden international move without the home-base that Bill & Trace Dicocco provided for us — from home-cooked meals to listening ears to dependable internet to coordinating cargo, the few weeks at their home provided exactly what we needed to be able to transition into our new life.

Our last day living on the Indian Ocean.

As May began, Chad jumped into his new role with Christian Mission Aid and worked to find housing for our family.  Nairobi is a huge international city and he quickly discovered our budget would not allow for a house that was near enough to the CMA offices.  He toured many different places from apartments to maisonettes (similar to a stand-alone townhouse in a complex of many identical houses) to townhomes.

Our Nairobi apartment is the top two floors on the right.

The cost of customs fees in Kenya on top of the transporting of cargo put us in a position where the few household goods we had purchased in South Africa had to be left behind, so in addition to finding a city home near the office that allowed for pets, Chad also needed to find us accommodation that was furnished.  On May 13, Sabra, Samuel & I flew from Johannesburg to Nairobi, Kenya with Ginger, Poppy & all our suitcases flying as cargo.  The flight was quick and easy, but had I known about the challenges we’d face bringing the dogs and our belongings through customs, I would have been discouraged before we even began.  With an empty wallet from doling out “gratuities” (the polite word for bribe money) and more than 10 hours in customs offices, we were now home with Chad in Kenya and on the way to our apartment!  Little did we suspect that by the end of May we would discover after thirteen years and one vasectomy, that I was pregnant.  Talk about surprises!  To read my blog post written just after my positive pregnancy test, click here.

Sabra with one of the babies at New Life Orphanage.

June and July are typically cooler months in Kenya, though the rainy season was late in coming this year while the drought ravaged Eastern Africa.  My Grandpa Ted passed away but life simply didn’t allow for us to travel back for the funeral.  I spent most of June feeling nauseated from the pregnancy and as a family we worked together to adjust to big-city-life in a new country with a new language, new foods, and new people.  We’ve never lived in an apartment before — not even before we had kids, so even though our current home is more spacious than the 2-stall garage conversion, we are still getting used to the “closeness” that apartment life in the city brings.  It didn’t take long for Ginger & Poppy to adapt to their “porch potty” on our third story balcony and after a while we all adjusted to the rhythm of city life, too.

On our third-story balcony with Poppy and Ginger.

The neighbor children in our apartment complex affectionately refer to Poppy as “the barking cat” and to Ginger as “the dog of Sam”.  Many Kenyans are afraid of dogs, since traditionally they are viewed as “guards” versus pets.  At this point, it had been over a year since I had driven a car and the cooler days cooped-up indoors sometimes seemed endless.  As a home schooling family, we enjoy being together at home during the days while Chad works in the CMA office but we are blessed to be able to accompany him during ministry and outreach.

Veronica & Jeremiah Hamlet of Sports Power with Pastor John & Mama Gladys and us at God's Grace Mission Church

August, September and October all run happily together in my mind with a flurry of visiting ministry teams joining us at CMA from the US and Canada.  The teams came to bless the people we work with in Kenya with their own sets of unique skills  including dentistry, photography/video production, sports ministry, youth outreach, food distribution and medical care, plus teaching and training of all kinds.  As we began making preparations for Aviya’s arrival, many teams kindly brought along suitcases for our family packed with baby gear and goodies for the rest of the family.   We also found a wonderful local home birth midwife named Lucy Muchiri to provide prenatal care and attend Aviya’s delivery.  One luxury of daily life here that we didn’t have in South Africa has been having internet service at home.  It is much easier to communicate with all of you, and we’ve been excited to reconnect with old friends via facebook.

By November, another rainy season was upon us, and Sabra & I began to wonder if our laundry would ever again be dry.  Chad traveled for two weeks to South Sudan to catch-up on the ministry happening there with CMA.   To read more about Chad’s trip to South Sudan, click here. 

Chad sitting in a school visiting with one of the students in South Sudan.

Sabra and Samuel preparing for tea at Pebbles and Stone training.

I was already having a lot of contractions and am so thankful for all the extra responsibility that Chad, Sabra & Samuel have graciously taken on to keep our home running smoothly.  Thanksgiving is not a holiday here, so it was business as usual in Kenya.  We found that weekend this year to be much harder than previous years for missing all of you and longing to be together again.  One November week, we were without electricity for more than 60 hours, but believe it or not, even that is beginning to seem “normal”, as we experience at minimum one random 12-hour stretch without it every week in addition to the daily “flashes” of on-off-on-off electricity.  We are excited that our Vonage voice-over-IP phone line works here at our apartment as long as there is electricity.  Did you know we still have our same Michigan phone number, and that calling us all the way across the ocean is a just a local call for you?  We are 8 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, though, so remember to take that into consideration.

Sam's first taste of nyama choma (roasted meat). It's mbuzi choma (goat meat).

Summer has come to Kenya and as for December, I was holding off writing this entire post with the hope of sharing the happy news of Aviya’s birth, but now on the 30th, there is not much more year to wait on!  Chad & Samuel accompanied Sabra to her ballroom dancing lesson this afternoon where she is being introduced to the Kenyan ballroom examiner, who has agreed that if she can prove herself with her dancing, that he will waive the age requirement for her to enroll in the teacher’s course. ***** Whoo hoo!  Exciting update: instead of just a meet-and-greet with the ballroom examiners, Sabra’s instructor had the “real” dance exam planned for her (which he didn’t tell her about, because knowing her personality he didn’t want to stress her into “performing”).  Sabra excelled in all 12 dances, earning her Dancesport Kenya Ballroom Medal certificate!

Shalom and Sabra.

Tomorrow we are looking forward to a day of visiting in our home with friends from Naivasha: Pastor Francis & Jocelyne and their children, Shalom & Emmanuel.  They’ll be coming by bus in the morning and we’ll spend the day together at our home in Nairobi.  If Aviya arrives, I certainly couldn’t be in better hands since midwife Lucy is nearby and both Francis & Jocelyne are RNs.  Then on Sunday at 2:00 a.m. (New Year’s Day),  my Mom, Patty, arrives by plane from Michigan.  Samuel is counting down to her arrival — and to the all the gifts, gear & supplies that are accompanying her!  Perhaps Aviya is simply waiting for Grandma, too.

Praying for a woman during a training session at Charisma Tumaini in Sinai.

Please continue to pray specifically for our Kenyan visas & long-term work permits, which have still not been processed.  We really need that paperwork to be approved in order to move forward and finalize our commitments.  I know most of you are as excited about Aviya’s impending arrival as we are, so keep watching facebook for an update.  I have been trusting God that it will not be a birth-by-candelight and that we’ll be able to share with you throughout the home birth process.  One of the best ways to follow our lives is by reading our blog posts at Journey247 and enjoying the photos we’ve shared.

Learning about Kenyan plants during a visit to a friend's shamba (farm).

Though communication via a blog-style format is still relatively new to us, we really love to share our lives with you — even the day-to-day stuff.  To read one of my posts about everyday life, click here.  In fact, even Sabra & Samuel have begun to blog on a regular basis to give you their perspective on Kenya.   To read Sabra’s latest post, click here.

We want to thank you for your prayers, encouragement and financial support working together to allow us to live a life of love & ministry as missionaries here in Eastern Africa.  Please prayerfully consider how you can come alongside our family in 2012.  Our Michigan registered non-profit organization, Journey 247, will provide you with a receipt for tax purposes.

You can give quickly & easily (before you forget your good intentions) by using the Paypal link in any of our blog posts or you can write a check made out to Journey 247 with “Hoffmans in Africa” indicated on the memo line and mail it to:

Journey 247
PO BOX 275
Hudsonville, MI  49426-0275

May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be yours!

With love from Africa,

Chad, Sara, Sabra, Samuel and Aviya

At church in Maasailand.

“Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.” ~ 1 Chronicles 16:8