A Little Update...

We have been home now for a little over 2 weeks. Trying to get settled in and back into a routine. Missing my babies a lot ! Everything makes me think of them ! But everything is falling into place so I know this is where God wants us for now, and doesn't rule out us going back in the future for whatever period of time that might be. Jerry got a position at a local church as a Youth/College Minister which is very excited about and he's also trying to start his own lawn care business so he can have winter months off so that would allow him/us to go back for a month or so to Kenya. I got a job at a doctor's office and started this past week. It went well and I'm looking forward to see what else God has planned in our story and getting to see my kids again. I will update when we have new information and I will try and get Jerry back to posting regularly !! :) Thanks again for all the prayers and support.

We are not called to be successful, but we are called to be faithful to God !

As some of you already know we are going to be leaving Kenya on Wednesday night. It is not what we want but like the quote for the title above we are trying to be faithful to GOD ! As we have been here these last 6 1/2 months we have made some amazing connections and relationships with people here in Kenya. Our hearts have grown more and more for these people and we want to minister to them any way we can. We have gotten to start a feeding program and Jerry has gotten to take part in a church plant and minister at many different churches here. Our board in the U.S. and we talked on Thursday and if we were to stay with them we wouldn't be able to deny our heart for outreach missions, and they need someone that can be with the children 24/7. This breaks my heart because I have come to love these children as my own, and for now I can't imagine life without them, but we feel this is God's leading and have to be obedient and trust in His leading and timing. We have plans to return in the future, we just don't know the timing or the purpose. So to make this post a little more light towards the end here are few things I'm going to miss and won't miss about our time here in Kenya ! We will continue to update you on our journey. Thanks for all of the prayers, encouragement, and support that has been given ! Please keep us in your prayers as we make this transition and try to understand God's will.

Things i'm going to miss:

1. Of course the kids ! For the first time in my life I finally got to experience what I have been jealous of my whole adult life. The look on kids faces when you come in from being gone and they have a huge smile on their face and coming running toward you like no one else is around. I have gotten to feel what it is like to be loved unconditionally by these kids, and learned so much from them !!

2. The hearts of the Kenyan people. They have been so welcoming. I'm going to miss all of the workers so much . Especially Naomy, she is around my age and I've built a special friendship with her. She told me today and it almost made me cry that she wanted my email and she would try and figure out how she could get an email account and use a computer so she could keep in touch. She is one of the sweetest people you will ever met. 3. They way the people here truly worship. They have no other distractions, and they can sit in a church service for 4 hours and still not get enough, while I am ansy and ready to go. It's taught me I need to work on that and I am selfish with my time.

Things I will not miss :

1. Smigel (sp?) the dog. He does not understand calm. I think it is his joy in life to terrorize the kids because they are petrified of him. He jumps on you, goes between your legs and trips you, etc.

2. Sweeping up rice and noodles off the floor. Do you know how hard that is when you have a tile floor with grout ?

3. Being stared at constantly because you are maybe the only white person someone has ever seen.

4. Having to track down a piki piki to go into town, and then sitting three to a motorcycle. Then fearing for your life the whole time you are on it because they drive so crazy !!

I will post more later , just wanted to give an update !! Thanks again for everything. We are truly blessed by everyone in our lives.

You Have to Change Yourself First

"A monk wrote more than 900 years ago, “When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn’t change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family. Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation, and I could indeed have changed the world.”

Don Soderquist

If you are anything like me I go around most days thinking "If we would just change his attitude or what he thinks about a certain idea than everything would be better.", "Or if this would just happen things I would finally be happy." But after reading this quote the other day I got cut to the heart. How can I expect my situations or people around me to change without making a change within myself. It's very selfish of me, and I will never know true happiness ! We have to start with ourselves, as Ghandi said "Be the change you want to see in the world." How can I influence others if they don't see Christ in me ? It all has to begin with us. We have to be someone, that others see you and want to be like Christ as well. To be honest, that is not me most of the time. Like the quote says above all of the times in life I've been in turmoil over what someone else has done, if I had just changed myself in the first place or my thoughts things would have a lot different outcomes. So, all together we have to start working on ourselves, and maybe it will reach our families, and then our towns, and then other nations, and together we can change the world ! Please pray for me as I embark on this, and I will be praying for you !!!

Enock

Today is Enock's birthday !!! His paperwork given to us by the government says he is only 1 and this was the birthday given to him. But we know he is older. It made me sad at first that these children don't know their real birthdays but then I got to thinking. When they get to Heaven, God is going to get to share everything with them they don't know about. Their name given to them specifically by God (Rev. 2:17) and all of this won't matter anymore. God will give them understanding about everything that happened. I can't wait for that either !!

Enock came to us the day after we arrived in Kenya, so he has been here for 6 months. He is the heaviest of the toddlers ! ha ! He loves his milk and food ! He has the best laugh. I love making him laugh. I love when he dances ! I tried getting a video the other night so I could post it but I think he knew I was filming ! He just started saying a few words like Mommy and Baba, and gari (car). He loves Barney when they sing If you are happy and you know it because he likes to shout Hooray !!! I love him so much, he brings so much joy to this house ! Happy Birthday Enock !!!