I’ve never done it before, but because both Neil Diamond and the Cubs are number 1, I will be taking orders for lottery tickets.

When you are on a roll, sometimes you just need to roll with it.

I was at Mwiciringiri Primary School, and I hadn’t been since we started bringing food for lunches. The kids were all pretty excited, and I was busy taking pictures. One little guy told me “You are the first white man I have seen this year,” and I kept thinking I would come up with a funny retort, but I’m still thinking and nothing has come. If you come up with a good line, let me know, unless you are a friend from Kansas.

I was counting bags of maize and beans and taking pictures of the kids, when I saw someone near my car in the reflection. I turned around, and there was an infant on the hood of my car. I was a good distance away and there was someone right next to the infant, so I called to her. She saw me, grabbed the infant, and ran off.

I just wasn’t sure what to do. The headmaster told me that the children were waiting for me to speak to them. Was she trying to abandon the infant and then changed her mind? Should I give chase? What would I say if I caught her?

I just froze. There are so many abandoned babies in Kenya, and I’m praying that she was just putting the baby down for a moment for a rest or to rearrange herself. Or I hope that if she was planning to abandon the baby, she was convicted and is trying to do the right thing.

It is hard to get that baby out of my head.

I think the Lord knew I needed a boost. The next day, I got this from an RVA alum:

so … i thought i should tell you this …

i was sitting on my bed watching america’s next top model with two of my really good friends at harvard. we were talking about tyra and how the show discriminates against ‘ivy league’ girls and then we just kept going on and on about tyra …

and then …

i said, “my guidance counselor met tyra and stepped on her dress.”

they all said, “really?”

and then we looked for it on youtube. we found the clip, talked about how HUGE tyra was, and then i mentioned that you got an award and that i was really proud of you.

and then they started watching the CNN Heroes clip that showed the video of your work, you, the giving of the award, and your speech. they were both really quiet and stopped talking about tyra. they were actually teary by the end of your speech.

then one of the girls – who is into comparative religion and pretty aggressive when it comes to my personal beliefs – came up to me later and started asking me about what the term ‘evangelical’ meant, how important jesus was to me, and how i would define my faith.

we talked for a pretty long time … and this was one of the first times where she actually listened instead of just crushing my opinions.

it was a pretty powerful moment. she still holds the same views, and nothing has changed. but you definitely provided a positive view of christianity (one that is definitely not seen here very often) and encouraged a pretty important discussion.

it seems strange that this all started with tyra banks, but it was really appropriate that your speech touched my friends.

On Friday I went to Nyakairu Primary School, which is another poor school we have been able to add because of your kindness. It was another school that I hadn’t been to in years, and not since we have been able to bring food. The kids were so grateful, and they told me to send “Our happiness to them.”

In the midst of all the yelling and shouting, a little boy came up to me and said, “Our lunch is the only food I eat.” Often times, that is a prelude to a request for money.

He just told me and walked away.

Sometimes your great victory is to accomplish something wonderful. Often times for me, the great victory is to hold myself together until I can drive away.

Your pal,
Steve

I’ve had the thought for years that I should drop this shallow missionary stuff and go do what I was meant to do; become a male model. When we heard that Tyra Banks would present the award, it seemed like confirmation.

Nancy and I flew to New York on Wednesday and immediately went to the place where the event was going to be broadcast. We found out that we would be seated in the first row; the reason we found out was that there was a large picture of me in the seat. Behind us was a large picture of Glenn Close, and pictures of various celebrities were in the first few rows.

The show was going to be broadcast at the Museum of Natural History and it was a pretty spectacular set. A lesser man would have been intimidated, but I was already so scared that the Depends were on standby. As we walked into the area where the reception would be, we were struck with eighteen pictures that were huge (at least 4 feet by 5 feet) surrounding the hall; pictures of all the finalist. I immediately got on the phone and called Jenny Craig; I figured no one would be able to eat with my mug staring at them, and maybe we could make some dough on this.

After a brief rehearsal, we went to our hotel courtesy of our driver. They had sent a driver to pick us up at the airport, to take us to our hotel, and to ferry us about. The hotel was very nice, and at that point I learned the first important lesson:

1. Turn off the part of your brain that wonders how many kids you could feed and just roll with it.

One of my best friends lives in New York, and we had Wednesday night free, so we were able to go to dinner with him. He has lived a life full of adventure, and he knows too many things about me, so I was on fairly good behavior. He treated us to a wonderful dinner and then tickets to a Broadway show, so we had a chance to see Mary Poppins, which was really great. A guy from CNN arranged for us to go backstage and see the amazing set they had built. We took the long way back to the hotel to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Plaza, and just had a blast being tourists.

We didn’t have to be at the show until 6 on Thursday so we went to Ground Zero, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and wandered around the city. I had to submit the speech to CNN; they made me edit out the personal thank yous. One of the guys told me: `When a famous guy, who everyone wants to hear starts talking about unknowns, people get mad. Nobody wants to hear you to start with; when you start naming individuals, they will hurt you.’

I did want to share what I didn’t get to share:

John Stouffer and Solution Beacon paid for the first computer center and I will always be grateful for their support. Walter Middleton is the genius who designed the centers and Bruce Kinzer is the force of nature who builds them. Covenant Christian Academy has been such a home to my children when we are back in America; we don’t deserve it but we truly appreciate it.We drove up, and they had us get out and have our pictures taken like they might if Neil Diamond showed up. After the third set of photographers took our pictures, the dream of using my good looks for the greater good died; being a supermodel is tougher than it looks.

The show began, and after a few minutes they showed the video they had made during the wild trip to Kenya last month. I hadn’t seen it before, and then it was time. This was another time to roll with it: Who better to present an award to a 52 year old missionary working with hungry children than a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model? I’m sure in some alternative universe it made perfect sense.

I was trying to focus, and during the commercial break some woman came and started to put powder on my face because I was shiny. It was LOTS of work to make me LESS shiny, and certainly a GREAT way to focus. As I thought about shiny and how I had NEVER thought about shiny, it was time for me to go up on the stage.

It has been said that some people who are experiencing a crisis can hear the prayers of the saints. As I walked on stage, it was as if the prayers came to together and spoke as if they were one voice:

2. Don’t stand on a supermodel’s dress.

I was going to be interviewed, so they asked me to be in the talent room, where all the celebs were. I was five feet away from Norah Jones, Harry Connick, and several other big shots. I wanted so much to ask Norah Jones when she was planning to record a Neil Diamond song, but I started realizing that none of the celebrities wanted to talk to us. Principal three is this:

3. The whole point of being a celebrity is so you don’t have to talk to people like me.

The interviews and the show ended, and they had a big gala bash and we got to meet lots of nice people from CNN. They are giving us $35,000.00, which will build three more computer centers. It was a night that was as surreal as any I’ve ever had, and I went to college in the 70’s. You can look at the video at www.cnn.com/heroes .

When we met the other nominees, it was remarkable how much big money was behind many of their projects. We don’t have any big money behind us; we have you guys. We say it a lot but not enough: we are so grateful for what you have done. When all is said and done, what we hope for is to build more centers and feed more kids.

However, I just saw this picture and think I was premature about ending the male modeling:

I flew out on Monday around noon and arrived in Nairobi Tuesday around 10 pm. My luggage with my clothing did not make it, and we were scheduled to begin shooting the next day. We went to a hotel and I tried to sleep, but I had crossed many time zones and sleep didn’t come easily. I woke up at 6 and we went to the first school.

The producer was from South Africa, and the video, sound and stills guys all lived in Kenya, so they were all ready to go for it. We needed to stop and buy me some clothes, which was a first in all my years in Kenya. We bought some stuff, and I went into a bathroom to change when I discovered a slight issue:

Kenyan underwear has no openings

Not to be disgusting, but male underwear usually has a hole in it that allows us to easily USE the underwear. It was probably appalling to people seeing a sleep deprived guy desperately trying to get at an opening that just wasn’t there. The wonder of me is that I was surprised every time I tried to go to the restroom; and nothing makes a great impression like some old guy yelling at his pants in a public restroom.

After a day of shooting, I discovered an unexpected shocking empathy towards supermodels. They would ask me to walk to a school, and then walk again, because I didn’t walk good enough. They would tell me to walk with more PURPOSE, whatever that meant.

Have you ever wondered what the worst job in hell would be? I know what it is. You would be given a camera and be ordered to take a good picture of ME. At a certain point, he would ask me to smile and I would give him a look that indicated I had sat on something sharp. Towards the end of the day, I looked at his pictures and whatever the direction he had given me (turn right and look pensive; look up and be concerned), my facial expression remained the SAME in EVERY picture, which was an actual pretty impressive accomplishment when you think about it.

I got to spend the night at RVA and see some old friends and read many, many college essays, and then we were ready to start the final day of filming. We started at 7am and we filmed until 6. My flight left that Thursday night at around 11:30pm, so we ran to the airport and I was ready to fly back.

My flight got cancelled, and so around 1am they took us to a hotel. I had brought a bag of books and computers that had made it, so I left the computers and books at RVA and used the bag to put dirty clothes in, and I checked it and they wouldn’t give it back. So, when I got to the hotel, they opened the gift shop, and I bought the only deodorant they had; it was called Pearl and it made me smell like a daffodil, which further impressed all around me.

They told us there would be a van at 5am, and it was imperative to be on that van. I slept for about two hours, and showered and put back on the same clothes. We got to the airport, and in a lovely Kenyan moment, the airport didn’t open until 6. After a four hour delay, I headed off to France.

When I got into France, it was around 4 o’clock and my connecting flight was long gone. I was stuck in France; I would make the most of it. I would take the train and see the Eifel Tower, and use all the junior high French that I learned so well that I can make my wife twitch whenever I speak it.

But there was a transportation strike, and the train and buses were not operating. I hadn’t brought any money to speak of on the trip, so after waiting three hours, I was taken to my very French hotel, charmingly called the Comfort Inn.  . After a short night, I made it to the airport and got back to America.  My luggage was good enough to arrive a week after I arrived back in the US.

We did make the finals, so we are going to New York next week to be on a TV show. If you go to cnn.com/heroes you can see more about it. It is going to be televised live Thursday, Dec. 6, at 9 p.m. (ET) on CNN. We asked the kids if they wanted to go, and Ben got tears in his eyes and told us that he didn’t want to miss the bakery field trip, so we have discovered where this rates in the important scheme of things.

I lost a wonderful friend right as this happened, and it helped to keep it all in perspective. Jared was only 29; I knew him from the time he was a little kid, and our families had stayed close over the years. He was a great kid, and he fought and fought, and he never gave up.  He was such an example to all of us who loved him.

It isn’t original, and I can’t find who said it, but it really applies to Jared: In dying, he taught us all something about living.

Your pal

Steve

The other part that makes driving memorable with the twins is that we can eat a meal at McDonalds, but as we leave, they will spot the golden arches and loudly sigh `McDonalds.’ If we pass EIGHT McDonalds, they will deeply sigh over each one. There may be an interesting correlation somewhere, but I don’t know what it might be.

Matthew ran cross country and loved it, and has started driver’s ed. JT loves Wake Forest and we got to visit him this past weekend. It was a real blessing, and it did a lot for us parents. I asked Katie what her favorite part of the weekend was, and she said `When JT holded me.’ Nancy is taking three classes in French, so I am able to say that I go out with a hot co-ed.

I been traveling almost every weekend since we have been back speaking at different churches, and while it has been a blessing to meet and see people, it has been full of sowing and not lots of tangible reaping.  Coupled with our beloved pastor giving his notice and an implosion at work, it has led to lots of anxiety on my part.

That has turned into a blessing. It has brought me back to this: Jesus is my provider, and I can’t make anything happen. I worked harder than I ever have trying to make things happen, and exhausting myself in the process, but ultimately, it all comes from Him. It doesn’t mean I make peace with hungry kids, but in the end, it is only He that makes the seed grow.

We won’t make Disney this time, but we did get to take the twins to the state fair of Texas. Eating a deep fried latte and washing it down with a deep friend Snickers was as gross and wonderful as you might imagine. The twins loved the rides, until they went on a roller coaster that was too fast for Katie. It went around three times, and to see her face knowing there was nothing you could do was probably an apt analogy for a lot of parenthood.

We have had some amazing stuff happen lately. I was named a recipient of the 2007 Yale Counseling Award for high school counselors. The best counselor I know tells me only three people receive this a year, so it is a great honor, although I am so aware of my failings in college counseling that it is hard to believe. Some rude friends from Kansas were quick to make it a punch line to several unkind jokes.

We just got word that we are finalists in the CNN Heroes awards. CNN gets nominations every year for people who do good work, and they have narrowed it down to 18 people. Because we have made that cut, we will be awarded $10,000 to build another computer center.  If we make one more cut, we get to go to New York and get filmed to explain the programs. We are struggling for the monies for the feeding program, so your prayers would be appreciated: more exposure might help bring in more monies. We also realize how far we are from being heroes, and many more people deserve this than us, but we are grateful nonetheless.

We leave on December 27^th to return to Kenya. The clock is ticking so fast. Why didn’t that ever happen during math class?

Your pal

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