Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us. – Hal Borland

As I transition in to a new year, I like think about what is in store. Before me are three-hundred sixty five twenty-four hour periods, at my disposal, to do with as I please. What will take up my time? What new things will I learn? What old things will I get better at? I am not one for new years resolutions, but I do like to at least think about what I would like to achieve in the next year. There is less pressure, and less disappointment.

This new year has me in a very different setting than I would have ever imagined. I will be starting my new job with Kingdom Building Ministries this next week, and that will bring in so many new experiences and new faces into my life. God has been so good to me in the ways he has guided me and revealed the places he is going to be taking me. I am so very grateful for the position that I will be filling with KBM. It is amazing how well suited it is to all of my interests and giftings. It is clear to me that KBM is where I am supposed to be.

And so I have an idea of the course this year will take, but the specifics are still unknown. I am excited to see where the journey will lead, but I can’t see very far ahead. I don’t know where the currents will take me, but I am going with it with my sails up, and my rudder down.

I’m heading down to a continental breakfast at a Super 8 in Wentzville, MO. I drove, with my friend Brian, from Johnson City, TN in a U-haul truck for ten hours, and we have another thirteen hours today until we reach my new home, Denver, CO. I am praying that the truck will start today. We had issues with it yesterday and I had have people jump it off three times. Not an ideal situation for a cross country drive, but it’s getting us there.

Back in Nairobi, at the end of things. It both feels like this trip went very fast, but also feels like I have been gone a long time. I need a lot of time to debrief what exactly happened on this trip, and I am looking forward to getting home and reliving it through the many thousands of pictures I took and then sharing those pictures with their corresponding stories. I can’t think very well right now, but the past few days have been very good, aside from a slight fender bender on the way to Nairobi today. We are here in Nairobi until tomorrow evening and then begin the arduous journey home, or for me, the place that will be home one I find a place to live. It is a process that I am both excited about and also not looking forward to. I will attempt to share more when my brain feels less like mush.

I’m heading out to meet up with my team. It feels good to be going back with them, but it was also good being here with the Steurys. I’ll update again when I can.

Plans have been made for me to meet up with my team tomorrow. They will send a driver up to the Kenya / Tanzania border crossing to pick me up. Plans after that are still unsure, but it sounds like we are going to drive through the serengetti park up to Kenya and then continue on through the Mara. I am excited to be back with them after what feels like a very long time.

I am still hanging out with the Steurys in Olderkesi. I finished a round of malaria treatment yesterday and am feeling much better, but still feel like I have a cold. I don’t know that I actually did have malaria, but the doctor here said it sounded like it could have been based on some of my symptoms. The plan right now is for me to meet back with my team of Friday morning and go through the Mara with them. I talked with them yesterday and it sounds like they are having a good time in Tanzania. I am a little sad to be missing out on those experiences with them, but it has been good being here.

VERSION 3.1 – KINGSIZE

We have made quite a fix changes in this release. Including an important one, updating the Timthumb script to the most current and stable version. Below here you will find a detailed list of all the changes we have introduced in this version.

1. Timthumb was updated. The entire “timthumb.php” file should be replaced with the new one.
2. /lib/portfolios/portfolio-functions.php
   
   - Line #78 to #79, removed the placement photo. No default photo will show in portfolios if no image is selected.
3. /template-portfolio.php
   
   - Line #41 to #45, removed the extra “_” from the paging issue. A typo on our part in the previous version.
   
   - Showing the meta “Read more” text of portfolio lit page added line #115.
   
   - Added a new “fixed character” setting for Portfolio Excerpts to remove the issue with breaking columns. Found on line #118.
   
   - Added the option of for Custom Read More, disable of the button and ability to insert a custom link to read more buttons.
4. /single-portfolio.php
   
   - Line #6, added new template body ID to be called to enable the ability for the ‘lightbox’ galleries to work.
   
   - Line #38 to #52, made the “Portfolio” image/video conditional by enabling/disabling in the Theme Settings.
   
   - Added the check for comment panel control from theme setting. Added #55 to #61 (new coding in the template).
5. /lib/theme-options.php
   
   - Modified to include the new Portfolio conditional “Single Item Image”.
   
   - Control of the Read more text of portfolio listing. Added #219 to #224.
   
   - Added in a new CSS Style Preferences where you can insert CSS to override the defaults in style.css.
6. /js/options.js
   
   - Updated to include the new Theme Settings “Help” tooltips when mousing over the Help Icons inside Theme Settings.
   
   - Changed the jQuery from “$” to “jQuery” to provide better compatibilities with many of the conflicting plugins.
7. /css/stylesIE7.css
   
   - IE FIX: commented out the first 2 lines for the IE navigation alignment issue.
8. /header.php
   
   - IE FIX: Added new style in header.php #85 to #91.
   
   - Changed the jQuery from “$” to “jQuery” to provide better compatibilities with many of the conflicting plugins.
   
   - Line #71 has been updated to include a call to the Custom CSS, a new feature in General Theme Settings.
9. /functions.php
   
   - Custom fields removal from the all post type. Added #379 to #385.
10. /lib/theme-page-custom-fields.php
    
    /lib/theme-post-custom-fields.php
    
    - Applied the same styling to the Post and page custom write up options
11. /lib/portfolio/portfolio-media-php
    
    - Added in new write panels options to correspond with new Portfolio settings.
12. /lib/portofolio_template_style_js.php
    
    - Changed the jQuery from “$” to “jQuery” to provide better compatibilities with many of the conflicting plugins.
13. /lib/portfolio/portfolio-meta.php
    
    - Added the new meta box for the portfolio page background meta options and read more and cutom link to read more.
14. /lib/portfolio/js/kingsize-portfolio-upload-button.js
    
    - Attach the new action to open the background button gallery for including custom backgrounds to the portfolio item posts.
15. /lib/theme-background.php
    
    - Added to override the pages default background.
16. /php/contact-send.php
    
    - Fixed the email issue with the contact form. Now it is sending email using the native WordPress email function.
    
    - Applied new styling to the Contact Form so the success message is not overlapping the footer as it did in previous versions.
17. /footer.php
    
    - Changed the jQuery from “$” to “jQuery” to provide better compatibilities with many of the conflicting plugins.
18. /style.css
    
    - Applied some minor updates to the styling to compliment the Portfolio changes, Contact changes and a few other areas.

I am a bit shocked to be updating this blog right now. I was sure that we would not have Internet until we returned to the states. I am using my friend Vera Steury’s iPad and wifi in Olderkesi. We had an interesting past few days as we began our journey from Ewaso to Tanzania. We had two cars run out of gas, two flat tires and one vehicle had the strut that holds the back tire on just break. And ivhave been feverish and having difficulty breathing for the past two days. I am feeling very dizzy a I write this out. When the strut on the rav4 broke, we ended up being right by a church that meets under a tree, and were able to join them and share in the service. I know that God planned it that way. I don’t believe in coincidence anymore. A mechanic came out and “fixed” the car by securing the strut back on with very thin wire and twine. I prayed the whole hour and a half that we were driving on it, but feel asleep due to feeling terrible. When we stopped, I sat up and saw a sign for Olderkesi, and I thought I was dreaming. I was here 15 years ago on my first trip to Kenya, and the family that lives here is friends with my family. I went over with one of the Maasai that lives here and he took me to their house. Our whole team came and met them and had tea and sat in recliners and couches. It was an amazing little breath of fresh air in the middle of a tumultuous day. And seeing God provide two amazing moments in the middle of it was so refreshing and encouraging. John Steury is helping repair our car, which is another blessing, because the shops aren’t open today to fix the car. I cant wait to see what God has in store for us next.

I am sitting at the Nairobi Java House in Nairobi, Kenya. We are starting the next phase of our trip today, and I am excited for what God has in store for us in the next 11 days. Chances are that this will be the last time we get Internet until we are back stateside. We will be traveling out in to the bush in Kenya and Tanzania to visit with some Maasai pastors and come alongside their ministries. I am excited again for all the photos I will have the opportunity to take. I think that’s about it for now, I am extremely tired and my thoughts are flowing just a little faster than molasses. So until next time, thanks for your prayers!

We are back in Kigali. Our time in the DRC was eye opening. I have so many pictures and stories that I can’t wait to share. I feel a burden in my heart to do what I can to help make people aware of what is going on there. There is so much oppression on the pygmies from everyone, and it breaks my heart. We visited three different centers that have been set up for them to have safe places to live, but there is still so much need. They don’t have access to clean water and don’t have much access to food. They are treated like slaves and animals. The rebel groups in the area will force them to carry water and supplies for them, and if the rebels are displeased with them, they will kill them and eat them. There is so much more need than I can even fathom, but I hope to be able to continue to help them out in the future.