Catching Up

I know there has been a long delay since our last blog. I will try and hit a few highlights. We met with 30 pastors from Kopsiro last Friday. Kopsiro is an area hit hard by the clashes. The government shut down the IDP camps and told the people to go live with relatives. Those who could did, others are "just around" as the pastors say. We had the opportunity to explain the vision for this year. We will assist about 10 churches, 600 families in all. We also met with the farmers we sent to Manor House who will now train the future recipients of the maize project. They were all so grateful for what they learned and are eager to share their new found knowledge with others. They are all so giving and willing to serve. It is awesome.

We had Lucy for a few nights and our parent child talk went well. She is actually very compliant- whew! We sure lucked out on that one! We tried to help her with her math homework. She is doing Geometry in 6th grade!! I barely passed Geometry in high school. Mike, the math wizz even struggled. We just told her she had lame parents and unfortunately, we could not help her with her homework. She sure works hard. We found out from one of her teachers she won two first place trophies in track and Field. We asked her, " Lucy, can you say world record holder, future Olympiad, professional athlete?" We asked if she was going to take care of us in her old age and she said yes. We also found out she was elected by her classmates and teacher to be Prefect for Class 6. It is a position of leadership. One has to demonstrate discipline, leadership and respect. How puffed up our our chests right now!! For the past few years we have been saying, "Lucy, are you a leader or a follower?'' She laughs and says, "Follower" just to be cheeky. We are so proud of her. She did not even tell us she has been Prefect this whole school year. One of her classmates told us.

We had to meet with a judge twice this week so we can try and get Lucy a birth certificate. Again we were granted legal guardianship and sole custody of Lucy (thought we already did that and we even have documents to prove that but oh well, it is Kenya). She also gave permission to seek a birth certificate which will officially have our last name. It is now the last name she uses on a regular basis.

Dan, Kathleen, Erika arrived last night and surprised us by bringing Charles, Thomas and Joseph. They are orphan boys between the ages of 5 and 8. I know you are all laughing right now, Mike and I with 3 small kids running around the house. They are actually really cute and very good. Besides, we told them if they are bad, we eat small children. I am sooooo kidding. Seriously they have been great! Of course company arrives and the water company turned the water off and one of the workers turned our pump off so we have very little water right now. We should have water by 5:00am tommorrow. We won't hold our breath, it is Kenya.

Tonight we had our traditional dinner with the boys. There were 20 people at dinner and it took 2.5 hours. It was ok though because we loved visiting with them. They are all getting so big. It was great for Dan and Kathleen to see them. It was a bit emotional for them as Philip played a significant role in assisting with some of these boys.

Tomorrow we go back to Mt. Elgon and we are distributing 100 blankets to widows who were previously staying at the IDP camp in Kopsiro. We are looking forward to being with them and ministering to them. If you read this soon (we are 10 hours ahead) please pray for me as I feel a burden to share something with these women and don't have a clue what to say. I pray God shows up in a big way!

Love you all and talk with you soon. Kwaheri for now.