Lots of Things Happening at the Baby Centre

   We have welcomed so many new little faces to the Baby Centre recently.  We are up to 18 babies in Wing A!  It is wonderful, and busy, to have such a full house.

Asher

Joy

Allan

Sarah

Tamara

Jeremiah

Victoria

Brian

Nehemiah

Mark our newest arrival

Babies, babies everywhere and this is just some of them!

   There have also been a number of children adopted!  With another one going home tomorrow.  We continue to be amazed at what God is doing here.

Amos and his new family.

Baraka and his new mommy and daddy.

Emmanuel and his new mommy.

Kathleen and her new mommy

Mercy and part of her new family.

Noelle and part of her new family.

   We are getting ready for the Board Meeting coming up in two weeks.  Please pray for the meeting and all the Board members.  There is much to be accomplished at this meeting:  the budget for the next year,  approval of the updated Employee Handbook, approval of the Child Care Policy Manual, and much more.

Amalo AGC

   This past Sunday we were invited to go and speak at Amalo AGC.  It was an area meeting so there were so many people we had to hold it outside.
   They wanted us to speak about the Baby Centre, about tithing, and hear from Dana because many in this area were praying for her when she was in the hospital and thereafter.

Amalo AGC

   We did get some wonderful news Monday as we received the travel order from the court for Hope so that we will be able to travel back to the states with her when Dana needs to come back for her next PET scan, etc.  Now we just need to get her Visa.

   Thank you for all the prayers and support of us and the Baby Centre!

Blessings,

D&D

Pray for Joshua George

Dear Baby Centre Friends,

   As a normal practice here at the Baby Centre, we do not intentionally take children with special needs because we are not equipped for that. However, from time to time, God blesses us with a child that needs some very special care. Our Joshua George is one of these children. He has been here with us at the Baby Centre for more than a year now waiting for the right time to act on his behalf. He is a wonderful young boy, now 3 years and two months old that was abandoned in the Nakuru area. Joshua has a Club foot on his left side and on his right side, his leg below the knee never formed. On the 15th of this September, we will be taking Joshua to Kijabe Hospital and the Surgeons from CURE International will perform a procedure to fix the club foot, and we will amputate the right leg at the knee. Joshua will then be fit with a prosthetic after 12 weeks of healing. He will return here to the Baby Centre to recover and then to start the process of rehabilitation and learning to walk.

   Please pray for Joshua as we prepare him for this difficult journey. Pray for the medical team at Kijabe. Pray for our team here at the Baby Centre as we prepare to receive him back here after approximately a week in the hospital.

   We thank God for the donors that have already contributed for the cost of the surgery. We have enough funds for the surgery. We do need additional funds to pay for the post-op care and his rehab. He will require his own caregiver for 12 weeks.

   If you would like to help, or have any questions concerning Joshua, please contact me at director@agcbabycenter.org.

   This has been a very difficult decision, and we believe that this is in the very best interest of Joshua. Thank you for your prayers, thank you for your support.

Blessings,
D&D

The Goats Have Arrived!

     We have goats!!  We are so pleased to finally have our goats at the Baby Centre!  We currently have 6; 1 male and 5 female.  We are excited to begin the process of harvesting the goats milk, making goat yogurt, etc.  They seem to like their new pen.

     This month we had to say good-bye to a dear friend.  April Hershberger's term was up and she had to return to the United States.  April had been here for 2 years and her main focus was helping the staff with Childhood Development.  We will miss April very much as she had become a part of our family.

Tutaonana tena April!

Michael J.

     Over the past few months we have received some beautiful new additions to our Baby Centre family.

     Please remember to pray for each of these little ones as they continue to adjust to life here at the Baby Centre.  Also begin praying for Mom's & Dad's for them.  They are all so sweet and doing very, very well.

April J.

Baruch E.

Eli S.

Twins -- Boaz S. & Enoch Z.

George G.

Matthias J.

Noah J.

     Aren't they all just adorable!!

     Over the last couple of months we've also had a lot of adoptions.  We've had 8 kids go home with their forever families over the last two months!!  PTL!

     On a personal note we have a couple of announcements to make.  Some of you will already know about these.

Nathan & Tiffany

     Our oldest son, Nathan is now engaged and due to be married to Tiffany Lilly in May next year!  We are very happy for them.  Tiffany and her daughter Audrey are a blessing to our family.


     As some of you know, our daughter Talia joined us for the "summer".  It was so nice to have her

Bryson & Talia

here with us.  And as you can imagine, it was so difficult for all of us when it came time for her to go back to her life in the states.  After she arrived back in the states, her boyfriend, Bryson Bauer proposed to her!  So we are very excited that there will be a wedding sometime in the not to far off future.  Not only that but Talia will graduate from Bethel this next May!!

     Dan and I also made a medical trip back to the states for 10 days in July.  I had to get another PET scan and injection and see my medical oncologist.  We had a great report!  And the disease continues to leave the bones!  Another PTL!!

     We also have more wonderful news to announce!  On August 24th, not only was it Dana's birthday, but our granddaughter Elisabeth and Dan's father both were baptized!  What a wonderful celebration!  We are so blessed by the news of both of these, although it is bittersweet that we are not able to be there to celebrate with them.  But we know that our Lord and Savior is celebrating Lissie's and Dad's public commitment to living for the Him!

   We also have been blessed with Melody Dearmon coming to serve with us here at the Baby Centre for the next several months. She is working on helping us with the Caregiver Staff development. She is also just a joy to have around.

   We thank you all for your prayer and financial support. You are all a blessing to us!

   Blessings,

   D & D

A year ago…and now!

WOW! One year ago today, Dana and I were in our car headed to Nairobi Hospital's Emergency Room, Dana was paralyzed from the middle of her chest down. The first picture below is a picture I took in her hospital room the day before she went under emergency surgery to remove tumors in her spinal column that had totally blocked her spinal cord. The spinal cord had been totally compressed for more than 4 days before the surgery could be attempted.
















This picture was taken today the 28th of June. Here is Dana walking outside and playing disc golf here in our yard at the Baby Centre.



    The emotions have been all over the place this week, recounting what took place a year ago. We have been and continue to be so thankful for the divine touch to Dana's body. We know that God was with us throughout, He never left our side. We felt His presence even in the hours of the unknown ahead. We didn't know at any stage if this would be it, or would she continue to recover more and more? God has touched her body in a mighty way!! And we are so thankful for all of the wonderful care that she received everywhere she went. Many said along the way, that she would not recover, but Jesus is the only one who gets to decide that. We are grateful for every day that we have, none of us are guaranteed tomorrow.
   We will be back in the States in July for Dana's bi-annual check-up. We are believing that God is not done yet, He continues to touch and heal her body each day.
   Thank you so very much to all that have prayed for Dana and the rest of the family. It is great to see her walk into a room of people that had been praying for her, and to see their faces, for they truly have seen a modern day miracle of God.

Blessings, and much more to come!

D&D

Grain Bin and More...

   
     Here is a look at what our new grain bin looks like.  It was just stood up on its legs today. (this is a few weeks ago)  
     As previously posted we already have the grain to put into it and fill it up so this is a real blessing!
     Thank you to everyone that helped by getting it here and erecting it.

Mercy Grace

Naomi

Angel

     We have been very busy with Babies coming and going.  Little Mercy was collected by Irene and Dan at the Central Police Station in Nakuru. She had been on her own for some time. She is now adjusting well to being here and we are certain God will provide loving parents for her.

     These two beautiful girls were picked up from somewhere in Naivasha.  We were called because they too had been abandoned.  They are very beautiful and now both are thriving.

Purity

     Purity and Esther are sisters and we collected them from the Nakuru police station.  Talia was able to come with me along with Irene.  The girls were in rough shape and it appeared that Esther had been run over by a motorbike.  Both girls have been looked over very well and are doing wonderful adjusting as you can see in Purity's smile.

Esther

Millicent with her new mommy

Naomi with her new family

     We have also had several new families formed and some very happy Mamas.  Millicent and Naomi came to the Baby Centre the same day a year ago and they left the Baby Centre within a week of each other.  God is so good!!!!

In-country Team

     We have also had many teams over the last two months.  Many in-country teams as well as over-seas teams.

Nappanee Missionary Church Youth Team

Liam Karl

    Back to more babies coming in.  Liam came at two days old and was found in the back seat of a Matatu.  He has awesome hair!!!



Hadassah Rose



Micah Abram

     Hadassah also came to us at just 3 days old from right here in Nakuru.








     On a Friday night at about 9:00PM, we got a call from the Police Station that they had an abandoned baby boy of about three months.  Dana, Carson and I went into town to pick him from the Central Police Station.  He is actually about 10 months old (they are not very good at guessing).  He has had a very rough start to life, but is doing very well.  For those who know Robert our nurse here at the Baby Centre, he looks just like him!!

Carson's 16th Birthday!!

    We celebrated Carson's 16th birthday on May 24th.  Although he turned 16, when asked if he wanted to start learning to drive he said, "Here in Kenya?? No thank you."















     We have had many visitors over the last two months.  We had Verle and Marcia Hochstetler, we had Tommy and Laverne Anderson and team from Northern and Southern Ireland, some of the Bethel Medical Team and several VIAs.  So far this year we have had 8 VIA's, 3 international teams, and more in-country teams than I can count.

     Dana continues to do very well and is walking with no help most of the time now.  She is practicing walking outside on the rocks and uneven ground.  One day very soon she will be able to walk all over without any help!  We praise the Lord for this answered prayer!

     We are very thankful that God has blessed us with the honor of serving Him in this ministry.

Blessings,

D&D

Update 15 April 2014

     It has been awhile since our last post.  There is so much happening at the Baby Centre that we just have not had the time to get an update done.

     Dana continues to gain strength and movement. Everywhere we go, they are amazed at the miracle that she is. God has truly touched her in a mighty way for this season of her life. It is hard to put into words the essence this entire experience has been. It definitely goes beyond the vocabulary that we have.  We have gotten to witness many miracles with our own eyes. What a powerful God we serve!!

     We have a lot of pictures to put on this post to show what all has been happening.

     At this moment we don't have any VIA's at the Baby Centre.  Though we've had 4 already this year.  We posted about Jackie and Kim from Northern Ireland.  While they were here we also had the privilege of hosting Sarah and Luci, also from Northern Ireland.  They came and helped out for 2 weeks and were such a blessing to all of us.  We had a wonderful time with all 4 of our 

Northern Ireland VIA's!  They are all greatly missed!

Sarah and Luci

     Also, since the last post we had our annual WGM retreat in Malindi.  As always it was beautiful weather, very hot and very humid.  Our speaker this year was Reverend Stan Key.  He was absolutely wonderful teaching us out of the book of Jeremiah. We also got the opportunity to spend some one on one time with him. What a great man of God.

Stan Key and Dan

Family photo on the coast of Indian Ocean

As you can see by the photo of us below, my beautiful wife was all over the place, even going down to the beach and walking in the surf!

     When we arrived back to the Baby Centre we had a youth team from our home church here.  It was great to see some familiar faces.  Carson had a great time since it was a youth team most of the kids were around his age so he got to hang out with them.  They even joined in the daily soccer game (pictures below).  Everyone had a great time.

NMC Youth Team

The NMC youth team did several different outreach ministries, but spent the bulk of the time loving on our babies. It is always great to have teams come and experience holding, feeding and playing with these children. Their greatest need is to be loved.

This week we had a surprise from one of our neighbors here in the village of Ngata. They called and said they had something for the babies. Please click on the short video below to see what an amazing gift this was!!!

60 weeks worth of maize!!!

 



Some other things that are happening, the babies are all on the National Health Insurance Fund now, we are working on getting our tax exempt status completed, we are also working on getting our Value Added Tax or VAT exemption filed which would help us tremendously financially.

 

We are currently at 50 babies here at the Baby Centre. We have had ten adoptions already this year. We have another that has been matched and is coming to bond with their new baby in the next couple weeks. We have not had very many admissions so far this year, partly due to some new government changes that have slowed the process.

 

Thank you for tracking with us, praying for us and the Baby Centre, and supporting us in so many ways.

 

Blessings,

D & D