Every time I visit my Louisville friends from Somalia, it is an adventure. Last time – I went to their home, I was greeted with much excitement. They wanted to show me their new family edition… at first i thought they just wanted to show me the chicken that they made for dinner. But no, they wanted to introduce me to their family pet. Ha. i had to get some photographs. And as i followed the little boy back to his room in his small louisville city apartment…. out in the hallway came running a little white chicken. The smallest girl screamed and jumped on the couch as the pet chicken went running around the room. I must admit that i jumped too as i didn’t expect a live chicken to come out of his room much less for a boy to have a pet chicken in the projects. I asked their mom – “Are you planning on eating him?” Reasonable question considering these are African refugees – killing, plucking and cooking a chicken is a normal part of culture. But no, this was just their pet. By the way.. his name is chicken.

The funniest part was when ‘chicken’ jumped up on my American friends lap and she screamed but she couldn’t get the chicken off of her.. he just kept flying toward her. And by the way, the chicken is not potty trained – i got proof when i tried to help my friend. Awesome!! I had to get my iphone out for some special photographs and video – i mean no one would believe me.. ha, it’s true.

he loves his pet chicken

On of my missions in life is to love on and get to know the Somali people here in Louisville. God has really opened my missions heart towards these people and i have really enjoyed getting to know my new Louisville friends. If you have kept up with my blog, you will see – i have taken quite a few pictures of them. I hope one day to visit their country or take a photography mission trip there to just see what kind of life they led before they were forced to leave – some of the people i know here in louisville have lost family members in the process of escaping from their homes in Somalia. One of my dreams as a photographer is to use my photography for not just weddings but to impact the world however i can through pictures and images and to hopefully create in your heart – a love for people all over the world.. just as i love my friends here.

Recently .. we had a cookout just for fun and they got to roast smores and eat hot dogs (beef – of course! they are muslim) And we played for hours on the trampoline.. so much fun!!! We wore those kids out .. haha. They pretty much all fell asleep on the way home. Here are some pictures of all the fun:





Most of the night – we played on the trampoline!! They had so much fun and i got some great pictures





Say goodbye – baby Himysa