Another unpredictable week and its only half way over! I really dont know where to start so I'll just go by the order of the pictures below.... Oh and Im done changing the background of our blog. I finally found one I like so I'll stop for now.
Below is Elisha in his stroller. Today is Wednesday which means Violet is not here and I'm spending the day with Elisha. I can't stand being inside all day so we took a stroll in the neighborhood this morning. First we went to the meat lady's house to pick up, well hints the name of the place, meat. We got beef cubes, chicken wings, and ground beef. We also ordered a turkey for Thanksgiving! Then off to the gas station to get phone credit. After that we went to the Karibuni Lodge where my friend Whitney stays and had some juice on their beautiful back porch with her. It was a fun morning.
This was at church this past Sunday. This is Elisha's Aunt Linda. She is a great friend of mine that I first met in Lemoru. Great news, she got accepted for a green card to the US! She is currently in college but will stop for a bit and go to the US to see what the Lord has for her there. Its been a difficult decision but good. She is still waiting to see about support and a host family. Selfishly I want her to come live with us! She is such a super help around here when she comes to visit and loves to take care of Elisha. Not real sure what face Elisha is giving me.
This is our "stove/oven" at Mattaw home. This was lunch for the kids. Its potatoes and carrots with a soup and seasoned with onions and bell peppers. In the back corner is rice. They're using charcoal to make the fire to cook on.
Here is Bud workin away. He was putting up rain gutter on house one to help out with the water situation until we get a bore hole in a few weeks. Hollie's camera was on some setting that gave it a blue tint. Bud is hard workin right now. Thaddeous, the man that usually is helping Bud oversee construction is away for two week. So Bud is out overseeing it all till Thaddeous comes back to help. He leaves at 7:30am in the morning and is out working till usually about 5pm. Sunday after church he stayed after and worked some as well getting ready for Monday. House two is perking up. They're making stone blocks now and will start building walls next week. In the picture Bud is on a typical home made ladder. A bit scary!
Here is church this past Sunday. I take the kids to our school hut and teach them while Bud stays with the adults and is going through a foundation course bible study with them. We first all sing worship together, then split up. I usually finish before him so I snuck over to take a snap. Our home fellowship is going great though. I have a lot of fun with the children. They've never had bible stories told and then play games that have an application to them. Such as for the story about creation, afterwards we played an animal game where they would be the animal, say a monkey, and tag someone and that person becomes a monkey. The creative part of their brain isn't used much at all since in school its all memorization. So when we teach a new game or have them try and use their imagination it takes longer.
If you noticed in the title of this blog I put funeral. Yesterday was the funeral for the grandmother of our children Eunice and John. Incredible testimony. When Euni and John's parents passed away (unknown why, but most likely HIV) their grandmother took them in. The relatives really were against it because they thought they were just a burden for the grandmother. Eunice was born with a physical disability and because her grandmother took good care of her, she can walk today. Otherwise she probably wouln't be able to. Their grandmother also got them treatment with the NGO, Ampath and was very good about getting them to their apointment every month and having them take their meds everyday. Last year the grandmother had a stroke and could hardly care for them anymore much less herself so they moved in with their Aunt and some other family. When we first went to met Euni and John we met the grandmother too. Such a sweet woman. We saw she had a stroke and was paralyzed on her entire left side. She didn't have the funds to get treatment. We saw the urgency to take John and Euni and they were our first official kids. They've now been with us about two months and we found out this past Saturday their grandmother went to be with the Lord. I think she had another stroke or heart attack. Euni doesn't quite understand it but John does. He was/is sad but is doing good. The funeral was aweful for us. I just kept reminding myself we were there for the kids. It was four hours long! Mostly everyone saying sorry with a speech. Some people would talk politics and what not. Some people would come and throw their bodies on the ground screaming. Then the burrying of the body dragged on forever. It was in the village so they burry on their property. There isn't a cemetary anywhere around. I think Nairobi is the only place that has one. In their culture they leave the body inside the house for three days then burry it. Thank goodness we weren't there to see them actually burry the body. They open the casket, reposition the body to face away from the house, then burry it. And unfortunately when they did that a gust of wind blew through and well, I'll let you read in between the lines. It was bad. I'm so glad we took the kids though. It was especially good for John. They got to see their family as well so that was good. Sorry if you're not into the details!
Below is Elisha in his stroller. Today is Wednesday which means Violet is not here and I'm spending the day with Elisha. I can't stand being inside all day so we took a stroll in the neighborhood this morning. First we went to the meat lady's house to pick up, well hints the name of the place, meat. We got beef cubes, chicken wings, and ground beef. We also ordered a turkey for Thanksgiving! Then off to the gas station to get phone credit. After that we went to the Karibuni Lodge where my friend Whitney stays and had some juice on their beautiful back porch with her. It was a fun morning.
This was at church this past Sunday. This is Elisha's Aunt Linda. She is a great friend of mine that I first met in Lemoru. Great news, she got accepted for a green card to the US! She is currently in college but will stop for a bit and go to the US to see what the Lord has for her there. Its been a difficult decision but good. She is still waiting to see about support and a host family. Selfishly I want her to come live with us! She is such a super help around here when she comes to visit and loves to take care of Elisha. Not real sure what face Elisha is giving me.
This is our "stove/oven" at Mattaw home. This was lunch for the kids. Its potatoes and carrots with a soup and seasoned with onions and bell peppers. In the back corner is rice. They're using charcoal to make the fire to cook on.
Here is Bud workin away. He was putting up rain gutter on house one to help out with the water situation until we get a bore hole in a few weeks. Hollie's camera was on some setting that gave it a blue tint. Bud is hard workin right now. Thaddeous, the man that usually is helping Bud oversee construction is away for two week. So Bud is out overseeing it all till Thaddeous comes back to help. He leaves at 7:30am in the morning and is out working till usually about 5pm. Sunday after church he stayed after and worked some as well getting ready for Monday. House two is perking up. They're making stone blocks now and will start building walls next week. In the picture Bud is on a typical home made ladder. A bit scary!
Here is church this past Sunday. I take the kids to our school hut and teach them while Bud stays with the adults and is going through a foundation course bible study with them. We first all sing worship together, then split up. I usually finish before him so I snuck over to take a snap. Our home fellowship is going great though. I have a lot of fun with the children. They've never had bible stories told and then play games that have an application to them. Such as for the story about creation, afterwards we played an animal game where they would be the animal, say a monkey, and tag someone and that person becomes a monkey. The creative part of their brain isn't used much at all since in school its all memorization. So when we teach a new game or have them try and use their imagination it takes longer.
If you noticed in the title of this blog I put funeral. Yesterday was the funeral for the grandmother of our children Eunice and John. Incredible testimony. When Euni and John's parents passed away (unknown why, but most likely HIV) their grandmother took them in. The relatives really were against it because they thought they were just a burden for the grandmother. Eunice was born with a physical disability and because her grandmother took good care of her, she can walk today. Otherwise she probably wouln't be able to. Their grandmother also got them treatment with the NGO, Ampath and was very good about getting them to their apointment every month and having them take their meds everyday. Last year the grandmother had a stroke and could hardly care for them anymore much less herself so they moved in with their Aunt and some other family. When we first went to met Euni and John we met the grandmother too. Such a sweet woman. We saw she had a stroke and was paralyzed on her entire left side. She didn't have the funds to get treatment. We saw the urgency to take John and Euni and they were our first official kids. They've now been with us about two months and we found out this past Saturday their grandmother went to be with the Lord. I think she had another stroke or heart attack. Euni doesn't quite understand it but John does. He was/is sad but is doing good. The funeral was aweful for us. I just kept reminding myself we were there for the kids. It was four hours long! Mostly everyone saying sorry with a speech. Some people would talk politics and what not. Some people would come and throw their bodies on the ground screaming. Then the burrying of the body dragged on forever. It was in the village so they burry on their property. There isn't a cemetary anywhere around. I think Nairobi is the only place that has one. In their culture they leave the body inside the house for three days then burry it. Thank goodness we weren't there to see them actually burry the body. They open the casket, reposition the body to face away from the house, then burry it. And unfortunately when they did that a gust of wind blew through and well, I'll let you read in between the lines. It was bad. I'm so glad we took the kids though. It was especially good for John. They got to see their family as well so that was good. Sorry if you're not into the details!Today I woke up 5 minutes before the countdown to who won the American presidential election. I don't want to get into politics on here so I'll stay away from that. I am glad I can take comfort in knowing our God is sovereign, He isn't surprised by anything, He is who places people in positions and has a hope and future for us. I will tell you about the craziness of Kenya though. Since Obama, or should I say President Obama, has roots in Kenya, these people have been celebrating and saying crazy things. Some guy is in town today running around with an American flag yelling things about Obama. In the biggest grocery store in town, they are playing an Obama song all day that was written by a Kenyan. BBC news broadcasted in the home area of Obama's grandmother and showed people going crazy celebrating. A friend of ours was in town and Kenyans came up to him almost in tears telling him about Obama. Now that its over I can tell you that there were actually threats, not sure how real they were, but threats made on Americans here if Obama lost. Here's the craziest, President Kibaki of Kenya announced that tomorrow is a national holiday for Kenya... because Obama won! Its all so interesting because the ones celebrating are so uninformed. From my understanding Obama's father, the one that gives him Kenyan roots, abandoned him when he was 2 yrs old and then went and married 3 other women. In Obama's book he just wrote a few years ago he talks about how difficult it was for him growing up with no father. In the majority of Kenyan's minds they think that Obama is going to bring loads of help and money to this country. Anyways, I could keep going but this blog is way too long and I'm sure I've lost half of my readers by now. I know we must pray like we've never prayed before. It's so interesting for us to be in the place we are with all that's going on the world. It makes me ask God why here? What is it I'm to do and pray here? Yes we have our vision and know our calling. But what are some strategic prayers God has for us to pray where we are today? God places us where we are for specific reasons, maybe to be salt to preserve a nation? Could it be? More to come....
Here's Elisha just now... He just woke up.... He slept hard as you can tell from the hair
Created for this,
Kimberly
1 comments:
Thanks for sharing...love the hair-do on Elisha after a long nap...!!!! Again, keep us informed...love and miss you all, ruby
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