I'd say it's been one of the busiest months of the year. This is good though. Not feeling overwhelmed and knowing God is leading us by the hand daily. People will see how much we are doing sometimes, sometimes asking how they can start an orphanage. I really don't have answers other than to be Spirit led in it all with a knowing deep with in that you know, that you know, that you know every decision you make is His leading. I do however recall the first several years of laying the "ground work" here. How it felt as though we weren't doing much at all. I see the value in taking time. Taking time to just learn to be a family here. Know the culture. Develop relationships with Kenyans. Know the laws of the land. Those kind of things. That takes years to understand. And although I just passed the 7 year mark of living here, I'm still learning on a weekly basis the ins and outs of living here. How did I start talking about this? Not sure. Moving along...
It's been a good and hard week all at once. God is still good in every situation. One of the highlights of my past week? I know, this will be so not monumental to you, but Claire is potty trained! She got her long awaited "princess" shoes from her daddy.
In the midst of busyness, we also made sure to honor the big papa of our family: Baba Bud. Claire and Elisha made him some art and we gave him wheat thins and a box full of chocolate bars. We also had chocolate donuts from our local bakery for breakfast.
Onto Mattaw updates....
We welcomed team 3 and 4 for this summer. Team 3 is sent through Servant Life and they come from South Carolina. Sweet team. They have been busy doing vacation bible school with our children in the afternoon and going around to schools and a rescue center in the mornings to share the love and games.
We also welcomed team 4, which is from Joplin, MO. They've been sending us teams for several years now. We love the teams they send! Always very flexible and servant hearted. This years team is of 7 people. They have been helping to paint the inside of the church, assisting with cleaning around the Mattaw houses, and they brought games to do with our children when they're on break in the morning from school. I haven't gotten many pics of teams due to hospital visits and such. We're thankful for the our leadership team at Mattaw who is so great with visitors. Bud has also been busy with teams and in between still doing the day in and day out needs.
While waiting for the teams to arrive, the boys went to get their head shaved at a local barber shop. It was about 20 cents per child. To transport the little ones down the road, they used a bike. Super cute...
Yesterday we were in town, rushing around getting teams and volunteers in different directions and I was stopped in my tracks as I saw a little boy leaning against one of our vehicles. There's a lot of street kids on the Kitale streets. Many have parents, most coming from rough backgrounds. There's a hand full of street kid organizations. Most of them aim to rehabilitate the child and reunite them with family, some holistically care for them and see them through until they are adults. Many of them are full. Street children are not our primary target but at times, Jesus will lead us to one and we say yes. Peter was put in our pathway and we are now following his story to see him placed either with relatives or at Mattaw. His mom died last year and his dad took off after she died. He's been smart enough to find how to survive, getting clothes from women selling fruit in the market, finding a security guard to sleep next to on the street in front of a grocery store, going to a drop in center for food on the days people don't give him on the streets, washing off at a water hose hidden behind a church. He's still so very innocent though and not addicted to glue, the substance most street children huff on all day to take away hunger pains, stay warm at night, and well its also the "cool" thing to do. Pray that we will be guided on what God's future is for Peter. He's six years old and has one of the sweetest personalities.
Yesterday we also went to visit Sharon. She was being released from the hospital. We stood in the ward she was in and looked around the room to find every child in there was severely malnourished. A grandmother next to us plops her 3 month old grandson in our arms and begs for a few dollars to pay for medicine to give him an I.V. I remember her from 3 days ago and realize the baby still hasn't been treated. We help her out and she was extremely grateful. Her daughter had abandoned the baby with her and it was encouraging to see her take responsibility of the child. He is three months old but smaller than a newborn with his ribs sticking out. It was heart wrenching. The woman caring for Sharon shows us a girl covered up with a blanket, severely malnourished, legs swelled and eyes gunked up and swollen shut. She's 8 years old and the size of a 5 year old. The mom abandoned her and the dad remained faithful to stay and care for her. We loved on her and prayed. Another mom plops her baby in Keela's arms so she loves on the baby. We all look at each other in disbelief and ask what to do. Anna buys a bunch of crackers and hands them out. There's over 20 children piled into this room, maybe 9 beds total? Another baby about 6 months old but the size of a newborn, we watch as they try and feed him through a feeding tube. The bed Sharon is on has two brothers at the end of the bed. Around 5 years old and not much bigger than Sharon, who is 3 years old. We share some food and they have the biggest smile on their face. We didn't want to leave the place but the time came to leave with Sharon. We were happy to take her home.
She smiled for the first time that day. She was a bit unsure of us since we're white, but some cookies and candy sure made her warm up to us quickly. Thank you Anna for keeping a stash on ya!
And of course we rushed to the market to buy her some of the most adorable clothes and shoes. That sure put a smile on her face too. She was pretty sad again until we busted out new shoes. She was so happy she giggled a bit for us. It's like she was having to relearn how to laugh. We couldn't tell if it was a laugh or cry but figured out it was indeed a laugh. Sweet Sharon...
The hardest part of our day was visiting Esnas. She was doing the worse yesterday than she has been since we met her weeks ago. It was the hardest thing ever to sit and watch her gasp for air and hang on for dear life. She was not able to communicate with us and could barely keep her eyes open. Last night I called to check in on her and her stomach was starting to swell. We are still praying healing over her body and for all pain to leave. She's in so much pain. We are overwhelmed with the response to help with her hospital bill. God is surely a Father who provides for his children. We are pretty certain the financial meet has been met completely. We thank all of you that contributed. Our hearts are overwhelmed with thankfulness. And for those that have prayed for her, thank you as well. We are still believing that today we will go back to see she is doing better.
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