Meet Chumba and Franco

According to the UN World Food Programme, over 1 billion people in the world don't have enough to eat. That's more than the entire population of the United States, Canada, and the European Union. Every 6 seconds a child dies from malnutrition and related causes.

This past week we had two children referred to us.  Actually there was about 15 but how do you decide who to take and who to wait on?  It's incredibly difficult.  We decided with our social worker to take the two neediest.  Leaving the place with kids hanging on us wanting to leave with us was so hard to say we will be back.  But because of those that have partnered with us to save lives, we can rest knowing we will be back to get them.  This is part of what sponsorship enables us to do.  

So meet our two newest babies!  

This is Kennedy Kipchumba, he knows his name as Chumba.  

 His mom is now in prison for wanting to kill him.  There was no family that wanted him.  We were told they thought he is about one years old since he just learned to walk.  We knew he was sick, we just didn't realize how sick.  The first time I picked him up, he was just in a tattered shirt, his bottom so very rough.  Diapers are hard to come by here and using cloth would just mean more laundry with more soap that cost something.  I took him to the doctor and found that he is probably almost 2 years old, he is just very malnourished.  I was a bit shocked but then again, not much surprises me these days.  The first time in the car ride, he cried and held on tight.  He probably had never been in a vehicle.  He was incredibly timid at first and it was obvious he cried a lot as a baby since his cry is so, well, off.  There's not much of a sound but you can tell he's sad and weak.

We also brought Franco home.  Franco is at least 5 years old.  He is a funny little kid.  He was orphaned due to the post election violence back in 2007.  He's smaller than our son Elisha.  Elisha just turned 4.  They are best buds though.  It's sweet to see them play together.  They both talk to each other in a different language, expecting the other to understand.  Neither of them understand each other but somehow continue to communicate without frustration.  I guess trucks and superhero action figures can bond any two little boys, regardless the culture.

 Chumba is now getting strong and healthy again.  Amazing how quickly a child can bounce back with medicine, good diet and a lot of lovin.  It turns out that Chumba is a very happy baby with a joyful personality.  We just couldn't see that at first from the malnourishment.

Thankful to see lives saved and restored before our very eyes.  Consider how you could sponsor the life of one of these boys.  They are orphans no longer but have a big family that loves them very much!

Everything's Rosie

I've been a little out of touch on updates. We now have 7 children in our home! OK, so technically one is an adult now (19yrs old) and two are teenagers, but none the less, we are a big family. Which I am so enjoying. But it means we're a taaaad more busy :-).

About a month or so before going back to Texas for a visit, we rescued Sharon and Phillip, who I recently wrote about. They were temporarily at a street kid rehabilitation center. This place is good for what they do which is get kids off the street, rehabilitated and back to their original homes. We have a huge heart for street kids but our mission is mainly to rescue orphaned, abandoned and completely destitute children. The two are quite different. And this street kid place is not a good permanent place for them. It's not a home. Every child deserves a home.

So when we rescued Sharon and Phillip, we met several children needing homes. Two of them were Josephine and Rosie. Josephine is 12 and Rosie is 3. They are sisters. Come to find out they also had a sister born in between them but she died. Their mother died in the hospital and had no extended family to go to. So they were abandoned in the hospital until placed at this rehabilitation center. When first meeting Rosie, she was in rags with no shoes, a snotty nose and bloated belly. But when she smiled, it lit up the room. My heart was won over very quickly with her beautiful smile and super shy but quirky personality. Josephine was similar, with a huge beautiful smile. She is tall and very thin. They were strongly on my heart while we were in the states. When we came back I just kept wondering when we'd be able to go get them. We wanted to settle in a bit and not overwhelm Claire and Elisha. As soon as it felt like the right time, I was there. Last week we went with our social worker to visit the girls and see what other children were needing placement. It was heart wrenching to hear many children's stories filled with destruction, abuse, and brokenness. The urgency to see love and justice show up rose up within me.

I couldn't leave without the girls and our social worker along with their staff felt it was great timing. So I picked them up under my arm and ran out as quickly as possible. No, not really, but the football liking side of me pictured myself doing that a few times. Actually there were about 10 others hanging off of me that would come too. We'll get them soon.

I'm thankful for a husband that was happy to receive them in our home temporarily. He was quickly won over too.

It's always a joy to see their fun personalities come out within days of staying with us. Going from being shy and timid to laughing and full of joy. They are really precious girls. Rosie has shown us what a hard headed little girl she can be. But with Jesus, he gives us grace and guidance needed with her (a pretty cool story on that I'll share later). Josephine and Rosie have been able to bond as sisters better. They are now going to school at Mattaw everyday and like it out there.

We are still trying to open house four by next week but might have to delay a week. Wanting to ensure all is in place and ready for a house full!

Until then, we just keep lovin on these precious girls, showing them what family looks like. Elisha and Claire have welcomed them in with arms wide open. We have the occasional tiffs between Rosie, Elisha and Claire over toys. Normal kid stuff to work through. And teaching them how to use an actual toilet has been, um, interesting. Overall though, it's been a sweet time.

Rosie is almost four but not much bigger than Claire, who will be two in a few weeks.

And she is finding new friends at Mattaw. Some pictures just don't need explaining :-)

Around here.... Everything is Rosie.

swings and sharon

It was so sweet the other day when Claire was swinging and I caught Lucy Lou go and push her while I had my back turned. She can push kids on the swing! Her life is a living miracle. Pray with us that she'll start speaking soon!

Elisha caught on too.

(we're back to dirty bums and feet, at ALL times)

At the end of October this past year, we took in two children, Sharon and Phillip. Phillip was fostered for a few months by a missionary family that lives in our neighborhood (I'll update on him soon) and Sharon stayed with us for a few weeks. You can read about them by clicking HERE. She is now living at Mattaw in house one and will transition to house four permanently here in a few weeks. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly children transform by simply being placed in a loving and Jesus centered environment. I have so much to learn from the children. How quickly they forgive, forget and live so joyfully.

She has many many reasons to be a resentful, rebellious, sad little girl. But because of God's great love for her, she isn't. She is funny and is learning to love again.

She is often found laughing again.

I'm so grateful for the lives we get to see transformed over and over again. We have such a loving Father whose heart is near to the orphaned, poor and brokenhearted.

(we've got two new precious girls living in our home now. they've been here three days. i'll share about them SOON!)

The Dumm Farm

This past weekend we went to Joplin, Missouri to stay with the Dumm family and speak at Forrest Park church. The Dumm's have a farm outside of Joplin that we stayed at and were so blessed! It is such a beautiful place. And they are such an incredible family. They are the family that came to Kenya this past January that Bud went and met up with. They have four girls but had brought the two oldest to Kenya, ages 10 and 12. The wife, Krissy, had come on a team last year in March. Their church will be sending a team again this summer in June so we got to meet with them Sunday night. I'm just overwhelmed with thankfulness to have them be a part of Mattaw. We ask the Lord often to bring the right people along to be a part of Mattaw Children's Village, whether it be in a big or small way. We had prayed way back for where we needed to visit before going back to Kenya and felt we should make it up to Missouri. I'm so glad we did! And I thought Texas was the only place that has such great hospitality and made you feel right at home. I was wrong! There are indeed people outside of Texas that do and we just so happened to stay with them this past weekend :). Lets recap the weekend...

We drove there Friday. It was a 6 hr drive from where my parents now live. Have I mentioned they moved? Yep, moved AGAIN. Northwest of Ft. Worth. The time went by super fast to get there. We timed it well so that Claire and Elisha slept most of it. Elisha was nice to us and slept 3 hours of it. We got there around 4ish. Bud went around the farm with Matthew. Elisha liked seeing the horses, cows, tractors, and bunny. Take note I said "seeing". He wasn't too interested in getting close. They have a baby calf that is orphaned and missing one ear. They have to bottle feed it. Elisha got all excited at first until the calf ran full speed up to him and he realized when we said "baby" it was a baby that was bigger than him. I pretty much didn't see Elisha all weekend. He spent most of it running off playing with all the girls. Everywhere else we went there were children that would take him to play too. The girls we stayed with were so sweet and played with Elisha and Claire all weekend. Bud teased Makensey that she was our nanny for Claire. She was awesome with her that's for sure. That night Matthew and Krissy had their parents over for dinner as well as their aunt and uncle. They cooked a delicious meal with brisket and all the fixins. You could have fooled me and made me think we were in Texas with all the good food and hospitality. Even sweet tea. We enjoyed getting to hang with all of their family. Matthew's parents came on the trip this past January as well.

The second daughter, Reagan, is a great softball player and had a few games this weekend. Bud went to watch them Saturday morning but it was delayed because of the rain so we never got to watch a game. Lunch Saturday we went to another family's house, the Meneval's. What a precious family. The husband, Carson, went with the Dumms this past January as well. He and his wife plan to come to Kenya next year. Very excited for them to come! They made us a feast for lunch. Bud ate three steaks. Yes, I said that right. They have a two year old little boy that is a few days older than Elisha. Also a four year old little girl. That night we went to the church and spoke to the children at their night service. We had a Mattaw table set up and were grateful for those that signed up to sponsor.

Sunday morning we went to church again and did the same thing, different group. That afternoon we went over to the Towery's house, who were the couple that led the team last year. Another awesome family. The wife is leading the team this year. That night they had a big cook out. They invited the people that went on the team last year as well as those coming this year. We were able to talk to those coming this year. There were A LOT of kids running around but it was fun none the less!

This morning we took our time having breakfast with the Dumm's and then left at about 10. It felt like a little bit of a longer trip this time but it still went well. We were a little sad to leave! But glad to be back with my parents and spend our last week here before flying out NEXT MONDAY!!!!

Here are some pictures from the weekend. I got them from Krissy's camera because I forgot to charge our camera's battery. And when we got to my parents, I found that we had the charger the entire weekend. Oh well, Krissy got some good ones...

From left to right: Krissy, Makensey, Claire and I, Bud and Eli, Abigail, Reagan and Livia. Matthew took the picture.

Livia and Abigail with Claire. So sweet!

Reagan feeding the calf, Jordan. Elisha not so sure about it.

Makensey and Claire at church

Claire smiling and talking to Reagan

Bud and Eli playing a game with the girls. I'm pretty sure he was cheating.

Matthew, Bud and Makensey at church

Alicia and I. Alicia will be coming with the team this summer and staying a month!

Bud and I talking about our precious Kenyan children, it never gets old!

Did I mention that we leave for Kenya a WEEK from TODAY?! I'm glad to have this last week for last minute packing, running errands, and spending time with family but gosh, I'm so ready to be back! Oh and please pray for my sister in law, Kim. She is scheduled to have her fifth baby this Wednesday. What perfect timing since we'll fly out of Houston. I'm excited to meet the little guy.

3-12-09

Hello! Another week has flown by. Well I guess this week isn't quite over. It's Thursday morning now. Gail and Jim left Monday evening and their daughters, Sarah and Lisa, leave today on the evening flight to Nairobi. It has been so great having them back. It was really great having them around to help for our first few weeks back in Kitale. Now a team would have been difficult to have the first week back but having just four people around that have been to Kenya has been a huge help. From what they say it sounds like their time here has been wonderful. Elisha got super sick this week (not emergency sick). I took him to the doctors on Tuesday. It was quite an adventures, not a good adventure. There is only one pediatrician here in town. He was at the hospital working in the morning so we had to go back at 1pm. I waited in line for awhile, then was sent to get him malaria tested, then stood outside waiting for an hour for the results. Usually the results are given in 10 min or so but because of the mass amount of people there was a long line. It's very unlike the states, here you don't have an appointment, you just go and wait. I found out he has malaria AND the flu, along with ulcers in his mouth and on his lips. SO SAD! So I then went and stood in line again to get the prescription. Then loaded up Elisha and went to the pharmacy to get medicine. By the time Elisha and I got home, we were both crying! I felt so helpless with him being so sick. The first three nights of him being sick was so sad. He would wake up every hour or two just in pain and achy. He really like his pacifier but can't suck on it because of the ulcers. Yesterday was day two of the malaria medicine so last night was much better. He slept through from 11pm to 6am. Today is the last dose of malaria medicine so tonight should be pretty much back on sleeping schedule. He is also on antibiotics for 7 days. Baby Georgie is staying with Hollie and is also on antibiotics. He seems much better. Yesterday was a good day. Bud kindly stayed home with Elisha in the morning while I took Hollie, Sarah and Lisa to Captain Davies. We had a blast. It's about 45 minutes away at the bottom of Mt. Elgon. We walked through their animal sanctuary where we saw zebras, gazelle, and rhinos. While taking pictures in front of the rhinos, who are behind an "electric" fence, Hollie and I noticed a gazelle jump through the fence and the fence didn't shock him at all. Sarah and Lisa didn't catch this so we kept trying to hurry them along. We then fed George, the largest kind of gazelle. Then off to feed Tom, their only giraffe left. (there was 3) Then to end the safari, the girls all rode ostriches. Yes, ostriches! It was a fun girl outing. Thanks babe for keepin our sick lil guy! Today we're off to have a birthday party for John. He is the oldest boy in our home right now. He'll be 11 yrs old. Well, we think. His birthday was in January so we're making up. While the team is here next week, we'll have a birthday party for Obadiah and Euni. Elisha is home with Violet today. He is doing better so mom and bud's mom- don't worry! Here's some pictures...

Hollie, Gail with Georgie, Lisa, Me, Bud, Elisha, Sarah, Jim

On our compound in front of banana trees

Elisha in his new swing at our house

Eli playing with his daddy


Elisha riding boda boda style. This is Protus, our night guard

Elisha riding off saying "yeeeehaw!"
Noah under the new tree house

Nehemiah going down the new slide in the tree house

Some of the children in the new tree house
Jeftah sliding


Me and my baby boy

"aw mom, come on, i'm not feelin too great here"

Elisha going into Hollie's house

"im so sick, look at these awful mouth sores!"

More to come... We will get internet in our house soon... so we think...

Back to Work

Well its time again for another update, things are going great here, we've gotten 4 more roofs put up for the village, the land looks completely different now. You can really start to see the whole thing taking shape, we still need to put up one more roof to have the 6 we need for the first phase of houses. Next week we will resume construction and get house 1 Penda house (love in swahili) finished, we're hoping we can get it done within a few weeks so we can go ahead and get started on house 2 Raha house (joy in swahili) We are in the process of filling out our applications for drilling permits to put in a borehole, and also trying to get a quote from the power company on how much it will be to get electricity installed at the site.

Its been pretty hard the past 2 weeks not being able to go out and work at the property everyday, but its been good getting to settle back in, which we did very quickly, and get to spend time with friends and visit other projects. We still plan to go to Uganda to spend time with Watoto in Kampala but it might not be for awhile. The weather has been wonderful everyday, getting to wear shorts everyday is a big plus!!! We've been getting rain the past few afternoons, the rainy season is trying to get started all the farmers are trying to rush to get their fields prepared to planting, and its pretty hard for everyone since all the civil unrest prices have increased and nobody has money to buy enough seed and fertilizer. It'll still be another month or two before the rainy season really starts though, i dont know if i'll ever get used to rain every single day!

We'd like to be putting more pictures on here but we dont have a good enough internet here at our house, so maybe we can go to town and put more up from there. We're settled now and ready to get back to work on everything, kinda weird being gone this long, but we've come back and it feels like we never missed a beat. more to come soon



Bud

Coming Back

We are headed back to Kenya this Friday on February 29th and we will land in Nairobi on March 2nd. We are so excited to be getting back!! Even though it looks like the peace talks might be failing we are still confident this is the Lords timing and this is when we are supposed to be heading back. We will be bringing a friend, Hollie, along with us who will be staying with us for 3 months. She just got back from spending a few months in Mozambique with Iris Ministries so we are excited to have her with us.

We just got back from spending the weekend before last with our new ministry the IMAGINE network in Mcallen, Texas. its way way down in south Texas. Imagine stands for International Mobilization and Global Impact Network, we moved under them in Jan and are very very happy to be working with them. During the weekend their church Calvary Baptist, hosted a weekend AIDS experience by World Vision. and its was absolutely amazing, it was the most complex setup i have ever seen. It took up their entire gym and it looked like a huge maze with 4 different routes with each one being a different child, you went through with a ipod and listened to the childs story and seeing pictures and actual setups of bedrooms and shops with all African props. It was really cool to all the things they had and how they all smelled exactly like Africa, it was a real comforting experience kind of feeling back at home again!! The exhibit really gave people the chance to see and hear what these children deal with everyday. and at the end we were able to set up a table for Mattaw Childrens Village and give out info to people and sell some crafts and try to introduce people to our project to get them involved. below is a picture of us sitting at the table. you can see our new shirts hanging on the wall behind us!! yeah our own shirts!!!! we'll be back in Kenya in a matter of days, we are soooo excited... more to come soon


Bud