Send Off

Today is a big day!

My church family prayed for what God is having me do in Rwanda.

Family and friends are coming over to say good bye.

It will be great to see everyone but will be hard to say good bye. With God's strength we can do it together.

Jr. Highers

The Jr. Highers at Bloomingdale Church are Awesome! They are very supportive of what God has called me to do in Rwanda.
Hannah and Kaitlyn even made pants saying they are praying for me!

Going to miss you guys!

Packing Already??

Yep, that's right!

I have stated packing for Africa.

It is a big task moving to another country and I am not sure if 2 weeks is enough time to pack but I will take what I can and leave or get ride of the rest.

Well, I have not actually put things into bags yet but I have started to stage my belongs to decide what stays and what goes......in other words I am making a big mess of all my stuff :)

Home Again

I am back home from Alaska and hit the ground running.

For those of you that do not know, my sister had brain surgery this past week. The doctors took out the part of her brain that was causing her to have seizures. She woke up after the surgery and is doing very well. After a week in the hospital she came home today!

There will be a recovery period; learning a few things over again but, she is doing great.

Thank you to everyone who prayed for her. Please continue to keep Mallory in your prayers.

Mallory and Me

Maddy Face

You may or may not know but there is a silly face named after me. Yep, that's right, it is called The Maddy Face.And after just a few days with Lexi she learned the Maddy Face! She is so cute :D

Up in the Mountains

This is the plane I got to fly in: My uncle flew it and I was the co-pilot. I even got to fly for a few minutes!
We flew through the mountains. It was beautiful!

Snow...

Grass...
Glacier...

It was so cool!! Thanks Uncle Steve!!

Ely the Eagle

This is my uncle's Golden Eagle named Ely. No, you cannot just go to the store and buy an eagle; you have to have a license and trap one from the wild. My uncle has had Ely for 19 years (that is most of my life). Today I finally got the courage to hold him!

That is right, I am holding a Golden Eagle named Ely. (he is 13lbs and standing on my arm!)

Lexi!

This is Lexi...She is my cousin Amy and Andy's daughter. She loves me! Lexi is 21 months and she can say my name!! It may sound like Manny but that is ok.

I love her :)

Off to Alaska

I am on my way to Alaska!

I have family and friends that live in Alaska. It will be nice to see them all!!

We get to spend 4th of July together.

Last Paper....Done!

I just finished my last paper for my online class!

This was the last portion of the training with International Teams and it is completed.

That means I am done with papers...at least for a while :) Woot!

June Newsletter

The June Newsletter has gone out. If you would like to receive newsletters via email let me know.

Shots!

I got my last shots for Africa!
No more shots for me... well... until 2013

Swamp Water

I found a swamp on the side of the road and decided to try out my new water filter water bottle.

That is what it looked like inside my water bottle.

I actually drank it!

It tasted like clean water. And good clean water for that matter!

Uncle's Wedding

My Uncle Bruce got married! He married a find lady named Beth. It was a B & B Wedding. It was wonderful!
Welcome to the family Beth!

Watch the wedding video I made for them.

Water Bottle

I just got the coolest water bottle!

It was made by a missionary in Uganda that did not have clean water. He designed it so he could scoop up river water and as he sipped his water bottle it would filter the water for him. Amazing! It will last forever as long as I clean it...now that is a good water bottle.

It came in the mail today! Next time it rains I am going to find a puddle and try it out :) I'll let you know how that goes.

To Do List

So I have this list of 'Things To Do'. I make these lists often and usually with some time they get shorter.

I started this one back in March and gave it some time to get shorter. Today I realized this 'To Do' list just keeps getting longer and longer.

Growing up is a lot of work and on top of that, moving to another country is a lot of work too.

I am hoping with more time this 'To Do List' will get smaller.

I'll keep you posted...

May Newsletter

The May Newsletter has been sent out

If you did not receive it and would like to please email me at: maddy.manden@gmail.com

Village Life

This is the village of Kayonza. It is about 1.5 hours away from the capital city.
A Home:

Sheep Herder:

This is where I will be spending my weekends.

*photos by Karyn Makins: to see more visit www.karynmakinsafrica.blogspot.com

Mother's Day

I got an opportunity to honor my mom at church this Sunday.Take a look:

www.bloomingdalechurch.org/category/stories/international

Capital of Rwanda

The capital of Rwanda is Kigali and it is right in the middle of Rwanda. It is a developed city with buildings, cars, taxi, stores, and even a mall.

Here is a typical day in the city:

Round-about:

Mini-bus, also known as a taxi:


*Pictures taken by Karyn: more at www.karynmakinsafrica.blogspot.com