about us


Rodgers grew up in rural Kenya. He had no chance of going to high school until a Sunday school class from Houston, paid his tuition to Mombasa Baptist High School. While he was there, one of his teachers was a 2 year missionary from Texas named David. Many years after returning to Texas, David invited Rodgers to come to Texas and work at Camp Tejas for the summer of 2003.

I (Rachel) have lived in Texas most of my life. In the summer of 2003, I was between my junior and senior years at UMHB in Texas. My sister got a summer job working at Camp Tejas. She was the youngest summer staff and Rodgers was the oldest. One weekend I went to visit Claire at camp. Rodgers and I met that weekend, and I thought we'd never see each other again. However...

Rodgers kept coming back to Texas! We became friends. Although no romance blossomed for quite some time, I always thought he would make an excellent husband! (And I was right, by the way.)

March 2006, he called me and asked if he could call me every day so that we could become better friends. Then, it was a long-distance relationship of epic proportions.

Five months after the phone calls started I left the country. It had already been planned for about a year, so it was not unexpected. For a whole year, we were 11-14 time zones apart. Even when I was back in Texas, we were still dating long distance. Texas is big.

In November 2008, we got engaged, and we lived in the same town for the first time, about 5.5 miles apart! We got married outside the following March on a chilly, drizzly day in Brenham.

Six weeks after the wedding, we found out we were going to have a baby! It was quite a shock, but a very pleasant surprise. Nathanael Joseph was born January 15, just 10 months and 1 day after our wedding day. Benjamin Richard, who was not so much of a surprise, was born 20 months after that, on September 15.

In March 2012, we moved from Texas to Kenya, with a 2 year old and a 5 month old. Are we crazy? Possibly.

We have established an organization called Maisha Kamili, which reaches out to orphans in coastal Kenya. Among other things, we help them with education sponsorship. Maisha Kamili means "full life" in Swahili, and it is our goal to to help them reach a point of having the full life Jesus talks about in John 10:10. Ultimately, our vision is that they would experience hope for the future through a relationship with Jesus.

Comments



  1. My name is Joe Pinzone and I'm casting an international travel show about expats moving abroad. We'd love to film in Kenya and wanted to know if you could help us find expats who have moved there within the last 15 months or have been there for 3-4 years, but recently moved into a new home. The show documents their move to a new country and will place the country in fabulous light. The contributors on the show would also receive monetary compensation if they are filmed. If you'd like more information, please give me a call at 212-231-7716 or skype me at joefromnyc. You can also email me at joepinzone@leopardusa.com. Looking forward to hearing from you.

    Joe Pinzone
    Casting Producer
    P: 212-231-7716
    Skype: Joefromnyc

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello Rachel, I love your blog!

    I was recently nominated for the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award, and wanted to pass along a nod to you... (http://mamamgeni.com/2015/08/28/the-sisterhood-of-the-world-bloggers-award/)

    Your challenge, should you choose to accept, is to:
    a) mention me in your post
    b) answer my questions and
    c) link to 10 other female travel bloggers.

    Here are your questions:
    What are the top three destinations or experiences on your wish list?
    What is the most memorable food you’ve had while traveling?
    When you are not traveling and blogging you are... (fill in the blank) ?
    Is there anywhere you would never, ever, in a million years return to?
    What do you enjoy most in other people’s blogs?
    What type of carry-on luggage do you have and what’s in it?
    What’s the first thing you do when you get to a new destination?
    What inspired you to start traveling?
    How did you come up with your blog's name?
    What do you never leave home without?

    I know you are probably quite busy, and this type of link-up / waterfall blogger activity might not be your thing, so please do not feel pressured to participate in the award if it isn't something you're interested in or able to give up your time for. If you're not into it, just accept my acknowledgement of you as a blogger I admire... I really enjoy connecting with other bloggers, especially other mommy bloggers in Kenya! ;)

    Thanks!
    Tara

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Rachel,

    I recently stumbled across your blog and I am so happy I did! My family and I live in Seattle, WA. My husband is Kenyan and we both lived in Nairobi last in 2008. We are now talking about moving back, but now we have my daughter who is 8 years old. I don't know any Americans in Kenya at all, just my husbands family and my Kenyan friends and I am looking to make some connections to people who can relate to being in a inter-cultural marriage with kids and living in Kenya. Wondering if you know of a way for me to keep in communication with others in Nairobi, including asking questions and making acquaintances. I will love to give you my personal email if this is something you would be willing to discuss with me. Thank You so much! Beth

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Are you registered with internations.com? It's all nationalities of expats. There aren't many members in my area, but there are a lot in Nairobi. You can email me, too. justrachet(at)gmail(dot)com

      Delete
    2. Are you registered with internations.com? It's all nationalities of expats. There aren't many members in my area, but there are a lot in Nairobi. You can email me, too. justrachet(at)gmail(dot)com

      Delete

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