Uvumilivu House: House of Patience

I'm thrilled to bring some great news across the sea.  In just two days we will officially open the doors to house four: Uvumilivu House.  Uvumilivu is the word patience in swahili, which is a fruit of the Spirit from Galatians.  

Due to delays in getting our house parents moved out, we postponed so they could get settled and make it a home to welcome their new children into.  We're glad for the little delay since Bud's parents just arrived a few days ago and will get to help us welcome the new children with us!  

There's a few ways you can help be a part!  One is to leave a comment for the children and house parents of house four.  We will read what you encourage them with on Friday.  

Another way is to make a one time donation to help us finish purchasing all of the supplies for this house. We make sure each child comes into their new family, having all their needs met.  This could mean you help buy a bed, blanket, clothes, school bag, uniform, shoes, storage units, or a bible.  Our children coming in for the first time might not ever have had the opportunity to wear shoes or go to school and you can help us provide this for them for the very first time!  

A longer commitment that is vital to meeting the child's monthly needs is to sponsor a child.  After opening house four, I will start featuring the stories of our new children so pray how you might be able to make this commitment to a child.  

There's a lot of excitement at Mattaw Children's Village.  All of our children and staff are very excited to expand our ever growing family!  We will soon have 50 children total!  

Most importantly, everyone can be a part by praying for these children as they come in and start a new family together.  Pray for Edwin and Judith, their new mom and dad.  Pray they will continually hear God's direction in how to raise these twelve new children up to be "oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord, for the display of His splendor"  Is. 61:3  

Long but hopeful day.

It's been one crazy past week, to say the least. I havent had internet on my computer since who knows when.  The past couple days, a bit tough. Today was full of more hope.  Im very thankful for today.  I  roamed around Mattaw showing my mom in law everything since they were here a year ago. Yes, my in-laws are here a month!  It's wonderful.  Its crazy to recall everything that's happened in the past year. God is faithful. We then all had chai in house three. I haven't had tea time lately near as much as I'd like to. This should be a daily habit.  We then had lunch with all the children. So great to see all their happy beautiful faces. I was then thankful to sit outside with Grace for a bit. She's our house three mom. She shared how much the children have changed by sharing specific stories. I was checking in on how her biological kids are doing and she had so many great things to say.  They love having a big family now with many brothers and sisters. I shared a gift with Angeline that my mom just sent. That's the picture of her, had to throw this one on her just for my mama. I know she so badly wanted to fit in my in-laws bags to come over!  Denise, my Ma in law, then went with me to check up on future children. So it's official: we WILL open house four on Friday!!  It's going to be a rockin party.  We spent a chunk of time at this rescue center learning a lot more on legalities for a certain case we are in regarding justice for children. Can't share details, but pray.  Then just happened to be giving some social workers a ride to town and needed to stope by to pay a hospital bill for a street kid, John. I thought he had left but no, he was waiting right near the gate when I showed up and yelled "Kimbali!" when he saw the car. The people with me happened to know him. One woman has many connections to other organizations in Nairobi.  After feeling we were at a dead end for his options to go, God brought in more hope. We are really hoping he will have placement in the next 2-3 days. After being harassed at this place last week by a doctor for leaving him there too long, today we asked if he could stay just a few more days so he won't return to the streets but be put in a drug/rehab place, the dr agreed without any hesitation. I like that dr.  John agreed to stay a few days longer. A few weeks ago he cried a lot, wanting to leave. But today he is doing better. Although the social worker said there's obvious brain damage, that some of what he was saying was scattered. So in case we aren't Facebook friends.... John's story... well, John has a story. Its long. I just share all this to say Jesus has a plan and it's full of hope. This is truth. Always truth. But days like this are nice to see that truth for my own eyes. John's story has hope. That kid has been faced with a hard reality of death and we hope he will receive the mercy and love he has right in front of him. This is getting long I'm sure. I'm pecking away at my phone and surely I've made a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes. At least I have an excuse this time.  We brought a girl home with us that we've had on our waiting list awhile.  Denise commented how glad she was to see a piece of the system on how we bring in kids. That there is a system and there are Kenyans that care and are helping. So yes, there's quite a process and it looks very different from the states but we do try and dot our i's and cross our t's according to Kenyan law. We work with government offices and organizations to bring in the most desperate cases and have them committed into our care. So it's not just like we ran to Africa and popped up an orphanage and started pulling kids out of the mud. There's more to it. :-) although we have seen people do something along those lines.  Ok, I'm rambling. We made it home today just in time for me to whip up the refried beans from the pressure cooker and get nachos and sweet tea in everyones belly. Nachos never fails with teenage boys. Thanks to my Ma-in law, the dishes are clean, so now I just sit here waiting for our fresh milk from Mattaw to finish cooling after boiling it so I can put it in the fridge and fall asleep on the way to my head hitting my pillow.  Thank you all that responded to Alex. He will be so happy to get his school needs met.  And I'm impressed if you made it this far through my random thoughts on today. I'll probably go back and tell some stories that explain some stories mentioned here later. Good night!

Long but hopeful day.

It's been one crazy past week, to say the least. I havent had internet on my computer since who knows when. The past couple days, a bit tough. Today was full of more hope. Im very thankful for today. I roamed around Mattaw showing my mom in law everything since they were here a year ago. Yes, my in-laws are here a month! It's wonderful. Its crazy to recall everything that's happened in the past year. God is faithful. We then all had chai in house three. I haven't had tea time lately near as much as I'd like to. This should be a daily habit. We then had lunch with all the children. So great to see all their happy beautiful faces. I was then thankful to sit outside with Grace for a bit. She's our house three mom. She shared how much the children have changed by sharing specific stories. I was checking in on how her biological kids are doing and she had so many great things to say. They love having a big family now with many brothers and sisters. I shared a gift with Angeline that my mom just sent. That's the picture of her, had to throw this one on her just for my mama. I know she so badly wanted to fit in my in-laws bags to come over! Denise, my Ma in law, then went with me to check up on future children. So it's official: we WILL open house four on Friday!! It's going to be a rockin party. We spent a chunk of time at this rescue center learning a lot more on legalities for a certain case we are in regarding justice for children. Can't share details, but pray. Then just happened to be giving some social workers a ride to town and needed to stope by to pay a hospital bill for a street kid, John. I thought he had left but no, he was waiting right near the gate when I showed up and yelled "Kimbali!" when he saw the car. The people with me happened to know him. One woman has many connections to other organizations in Nairobi. After feeling we were at a dead end for his options to go, God brought in more hope. We are really hoping he will have placement in the next 2-3 days. After being harassed at this place last week by a doctor for leaving him there too long, today we asked if he could stay just a few more days so he won't return to the streets but be put in a drug/rehab place, the dr agreed without any hesitation. I like that dr. John agreed to stay a few days longer. A few weeks ago he cried a lot, wanting to leave. But today he is doing better. Although the social worker said there's obvious brain damage, that some of what he was saying was scattered. So in case we aren't Facebook friends....
John's story... well, John has a story. Its long. I just share all this to say Jesus has a plan and it's full of hope. This is truth. Always truth. But days like this are nice to see that truth for my own eyes. John's story has hope. That kid has been faced with a hard reality of death and we hope he will receive the mercy and love he has right in front of him. This is getting long I'm sure. I'm pecking away at my phone and surely I've made a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes. At least I have an excuse this time. We brought a girl home with us that we've had on our waiting list awhile. Denise commented how glad she was to see a piece of the system on how we bring in kids. That there is a system and there are Kenyans that care and are helping. So yes, there's quite a process and it looks very different from the states but we do try and dot our i's and cross our t's according to Kenyan law. We work with government offices and organizations to bring in the most desperate cases and have them committed into our care. So it's not just like we ran to Africa and popped up an orphanage and started pulling kids out of the mud. There's more to it. :-) although we have seen people do something along those lines. Ok, I'm rambling. We made it home today just in time for me to whip up the refried beans from the pressure cooker and get nachos and sweet tea in everyones belly. Nachos never fails with teenage boys. Thanks to my Ma-in law, the dishes are clean, so now I just sit here waiting for our fresh milk from Mattaw to finish cooling after boiling it so I can put it in the fridge and fall asleep on the way to my head hitting my pillow.

Thank you all that responded to Alex. He will be so happy to get his school needs met.

And I'm impressed if you made it this far through my random thoughts on today. I'll probably go back and tell some stories that explain some stories mentioned here later. Good night!

Alex

Those that have followed us awhile might remember Eunice and her sons, Alex and Micah. Eunice has been blind since not long before the post election violence in 2007. We helped her for some time and Alex went to our school. She was pregnant when we first met her and was so depressed, she was ready to abort the baby. So we helped her a lot. We happened to have friends visiting when she went into labor. They helped pay her bill of $20. She later ended up running away and I havent seen her in almost two years. She's just showed up today though. I'm praying how we can help again. One way would be to get Alex a school uniform, school shoes, some supplies and a bag. If you'd be interested in a one time donation to help him, it'd be around $35. Just email to let me know: kimberly@mattawchildren.com. I wont go into much detail with this story but it's really hard to watch children suffer due to their parents bad decisions. I've had to see this several times lately and it's killer. Hoping God will sustain them using whomever so that these children can have a hopeful future.

KONY 2012

Please take time to watch this video and learn who this man Kony is and why we must stand up and say no more. How do you do that? Several ways, the easiest being to share this video or info on Facebook or through email. I'm thankful for this video. We must speak up and change the course of history. Be a voice for those that have none in this world. What would you do if it was your child? Start somewhere. Do something. Kony 2012. I pray this video will accomplish what it has set out to do....

Today

Vengeance is mine, declares the Lord.

Ive seen more injustice this past week than my eyes wanted to see or my ears wanted to hear. Selfishly, I wanted crawl in bed, watch sound of music and eat chocolate. But my heart wouldn't let me. Thankfully the Lord guards my heart.

We have to choose to see. Even living here I could be blinded to so much all around. And it could be overwhelming if i don't choose to see everything as Jesus does. Well, sometimes it is very overwhelming, the needs are vast. But we just keep walking forward, taking care of those He brings us.

Today we helped a former street girl find a home. She is sponsored by our friends untilthen.org. They have been friends with her for many many years. She is 19 and has 3 kids. The world has beaten and outcasted her but today there is another glimpse of hope in her life. We pray this will be a long term solution. I've watched her go from one place to another for the past four years. Hopeful that today is a new start. Only God can make something beautiful from such heartache and pain.

The little miss sweet pea

Last weekend we celebrated Claire turning two!  I still need to upload photos from her day but thought I should at least post a picture for the family back in the US of A.  I was gone this past week in Nairobi so after coming back to her I realized she turned into a little girl, no longer a baby.  How dare she do such a thing without me realizing it!  Oh, how time flies.  I have precious time with her that I don't want to miss at the stage she's at now. 

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