Arrival at the Baby Centre!

     We arrived at the Baby Centre on Thursday, Aug. 23.  It was great to finally get here!! The Lord provides and knows exactly what we need each and every day, and He didn’t fail to come through on that Thursday afternoon.  Let me tell you the amazing things He did!! 
     When we arrived and got settled in our temporary apartment above the Baby Centre Staci the current director informed us that one of the toddlers, Faith, was going home with her new Mama!  Praise the Lord!  Her new Mama was so thankful and so happy to be taking her new daughter home with her!  This was such a wonderful blessing and reminder that this is what it is all about!  It’s all about the babies!  Thank you Lord for this reminder and blessing on our very first day!  

     That is not all God did that first day!  A mere few hours after Faith left with her new Mama, we received a new baby at the Baby Centre!  The police brought her to us.  God filled the spot that we had vacant from Faith leaving and filled it with another baby that needed to be here.  What an awesome God we serve!!  Thank you Lord for this other reminder of why we are here!  It’s all about the babies!!  Another wonderful blessing!  

  There are currently 63 babies at the Baby Centre.
     We have been in the process of getting things in order with immigration paperwork, phones, internet, etc.  These things can often take time.  We are getting along in the process though and moving forward.  We think we are good on phones and internet now, though the internet does not work consistently so there could be days that we are without service.  The immigration paperwork will take some time.
     We should be getting a vehicle this week sometime!  That will be a huge blessing as we have had to make many trips to and from town while trying to get settled.
     Many things have changed even since the last time we were here in 2011.  The area has sprouted up with new businesses near the Baby Centre and in Nakuru Town.    
     We will begin getting acclimated this week with our new jobs and the staff at the Baby Centre.  We know some of the staff, but there are quite a few new faces to get acquainted with. 

     My birthday was the day after we arrived at the Baby Centre, so Staci planned a birthday party for me.  She went all out and made a wonderful meal and cake and ice cream!!  I felt so thankful as I was missing our kids and families so much and it was a difficult day, but the party helped to make the day special.  Thank you to Staci, Wycliff, Gifton, Solomon, Eliana, Jim & Alice, and Dan & Carson, Wycliff’s Mom and cousin too, for making my first birthday here in Kenya a special one.  Love you all!!  I was blessed to get beautiful handmade cards from Gifton, Solomon and Eliana!!  Brought me back to when our kids were young and made cards for us.  It was so very sweet and touched my heart deeply.  I still missed everyone back home, but this was definitely a huge bright spot in the day.
      We also attended our first church service yesterday.  We went to Rehema Africa Gospel Church, this is the church where Wycliff serves as Pastor.  It is a nice church with lots of children!  We were warmly welcomed by the congregation and invited to attend there regularly.  We have a women’s prayer breakfast this Saturday morning that I will attend with Staci.  It will be a great way to get to know some of the women in the church.
     We want to thank everyone for reading our blog and staying updated with everything that is happening with us and our ministry.  Mostly I would like to take this time to thank Jesus our Lord and Savior for His abundant grace , mercy, provision, patience, and His unconditional love for all people.  We are nothing apart from you Lord.

 Blessings,

D&D

Safe Arrival!

     Hi everyone!  Wanted to blog quickly and let you all know that we arrived safely last evening in Kenya.  We had very good flights and had no problems with our luggage.  All 17 pieces of checked luggage made it!  We want to thank everyone for all their prayers for safe travel.
     Today, which is Tuesday, we had a day that was basically a day for resting, running errands, and checking things out.  We are staying at our good friend Robyn Moore's place, "Robyn's Nest", while we are here in Nairobi.  We thank her for her hospitality and willingness to have us stay with her.
     We went looking for a phone for Dan, and a printer for us to use at the Baby Centre.  Then we had a meeting with the gentleman here that we have searching for a vehicle for us.  He actually brought us a vehicle to test drive.
     Wednesday we have to do all the immigration paperwork and get our driver's licenses.  We are hoping to be able to head to the Baby Centre either late Wednesday or more likely on Thursday. 
     Also we want to say thank you to all that have been praying for us and all the goodbye's we had to say before we left.  If I was to be honest, saying goodbye to our three kids that we left back in the states was the hardest thing we've ever had to do.  Being apart is something that we will never get used to or like, it is really a difficult thing to do.  We just pray that the Lord will sustain us and help us to get through this difficult time.
     To our kids and family, know that we miss you so very much and the piece's of our heart will never be the same while we are apart from all of you.  We love you all so very much!!  To all of our friends and church family, we love you all too and will miss seeing you.
     Until we blog again, we pray for the Lord to bless you and keep you safe.

Blessings,

D&D

Good goodbyes!

     Yesterday was a wonderful day and a sad day for all of us. We said goodbye to most of our church family at our final service at NMC for the next two years. Pastor Dave did a great job as always of tying Biblical teaching in with practical ways to get engaged. He had told me on Friday that at our commissioning service he wanted to do things a little different than normal. Instead of us being commissioned by the congregation, he was going to ask me to commission the congregation. At first, I didn't really care for that idea. But, as we talked and I thought more about it, I saw Pastor Dave's wisdom in it. Ministry is never on your own, but is a team or "body" effort. We need the whole body to be involved in the ministry we are about to leave for. We are merely the hands and feet, Christ is the head, and our families and team members comprise the rest of the body. This is just the beginning of the mission, not the end. We are all called to engage in missions where ever God has placed us. We are also called to engage in missions both locally and globally, nobody gets a pass on this.
   We were blessed to have so many show us their love yesterday, it was a wonderful send-off. We were blessed to have all of our children, both sets of parents and all of our siblings present yesterday. It was a great show of support. We were blessed to have Deb from World Gospel Mission come to be with us yesterday also. We were blessed by the Acts 29 small church who took up a special offering to help with our shipping costs and a new printer for us. You will be able to read more about that in the newsletter.
   We will now spend our remaining days with family as we say goodbye to them. We will be leaving from the church parking lot at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday the 19th of August. We will then make our way to O'Hare where we will depart at 6:15 p.m. Indiana time and will land in Nairobi, Kenya at 2:00 p.m. on Monday Indiana time. There is currently a 7 hour difference between us and Kenya. It is 8 hours the rest of the year.
   Thank you to all who are a part of our team, thank you to all who came forward to say goodbye to us, thank God for Pastor Dave and his leadership, and thank you to the NMC staff that has help us greatly over the last several months.

Blessings
D & D

Three, Two, One, GO!

    We are in the final days here in the states. Time seems to be flying by. We have been able to share in many wonderful goodbye dinners over the last two weeks. They are great memories that we will cherish when we are gone. Our class Running the Race has been amazing and we will miss them very much. This Sunday on the 12th of August will be our commissioning service at NMC. This will also be our last time at church for two years. It will be a very joyous and sad time. We know though, that we have been called to the Lord's work in Kenya. We know that He is already there preparing the ministry for our arrival. It is only in the Lord's strength that we can do these things. Some days the tasks seem overwhelming, but that is when we remember who is on our team!
   Next week we will be spending all of our time with our families. Please remember them in your prayers also, as we will be leaving them all here.
   Remember Talia, as we leave her here at Bethel. Remember Nathan, Andrea & Mike as we leave them here. Remember our parents Harry & Nancy, Bev & Les. Remember our siblings Debbie, Dawn, and Steve as we leave them. We pray that none of them will feel abandoned, but know that we are merely an extension of the family in Kenya doing God's work and that they are a very important part of that ministry. Pray that we will be able to say goodbye well and be able to go in the peace of knowing that God is in control of all situations.
   The Lord has shown Himself faithful to us countless times over these last several years. We know that we can put our faith, our trust and our hope in Him!

Blessings

D & D