This has been another busy week for us. There are so many things going on, it would be very hard to put it all down. We have completed our second week of language school. It is going great, but is very time consuming. We continue to work into our rolls her at that Baby Centre. Dana is working with several teams that are already signed up for next year as well as continuing with Carson in doing double duty keeping home-schooling going on with language school.
I am continuing with getting to know the staff and getting a feel for the operations side of the BC. I have been meeting with Staci and the staff getting a feel for how we proceed from here to maximize our staff and give the babies the best care we can. We continue to work on several projects and are close to having numbers to present to the board. We need to move the dairy cows to the BC as soon as we can, this will help operations on many levels.
We continue to see adoptions going very well. We have several pending right now. Once we are out of language school, Dana will be able to get information out on the latest adoptions.
We attended the opening of the Irongo Africa Gospel Church today. It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive. Jim Vanderhoof was the guest speaker. Jim, Alice, April, Dana, Carson and myself went. It was a great time, however very tiring as most in country trips are. We were very warmly greeted and were invited to one of the pastors' home for chakula cha mchana (lunch).
Please pray this week for the following:
- Soft minds for learning Kiswahili
- Strength and health for the long days
- Continued transition issues (missing family)
- Wisdom for many decisions to be made
We thank God for showing Himself to us daily. Apart from Him we can do nothing. He is our strength and our Shield. We are so thankful for safe travel today on the Kenyan roads. We are also thankful for a large group of Baby Centre staff that see their role here as much more than a job, they see it as their mission also.
Blessings
D&D
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Saturday, September 22, 2012
What's New at the AGC Baby Centre
Hi friends!! We have had a very busy week here in Ngata. We began our Swahili language study this past Monday and that has kept us very busy all week. We are thankful that we are able to have our language helper here at the Baby Centre with us. We have class from 8:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m. then we are off for the afternoon until the evening around 7:00 p.m. when we continue with class until 9:00 p.m. In between those times Dan is able to get some of his work here at the Baby Centre squeezed in and Carson and I get his schooling taken care of. So, we really have no down time during the day. Needless to say we all fall into bed at night exhausted.
Language is going well, but it is very difficult. Carson is catching on very well and is learning a lot more quickly than Dan and I. Young minds are wonderful! However, Dan and I are doing better and learning a lot. We will continue for two more weeks with language study then we will have a break until January. So we will be utilizing all the staff here at the Baby Centre to help us learn to speak Swahili. We told them that on certain days they are only to speak to us in Swahili. Those will probably be some confusing days for us all until we learn a lot more!!
We have gotten some new faces at the Baby Centre this week. Siblings were brought by the police, Muhoro, who is around 3 yrs. old and Wanjiru who is about 12-15 months.
Another little one came just yesterday. Her name is Blessed and she looks to be about 1 year old or so. Look at her precious, sweet eyes! Isn't she just beautiful!
We know God has a wonderful purpose for these little ones and we are blessed to be here to love them for such a time as this.
We wanted to introduce you to another staff member at the Baby Centre. Some of you may already know Irene, the Baby Centre’s Social Worker. She has been employed here for a little over 4 years now. She lives in Nakuru and holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Family and Consumer Science.
I also wanted to share these pictures I took this morning showing what Dan and Carson like to do on their down time. Here they are playing "soccer" with the toddlers. They loved it, and the kids loved it too!
We are very blessed that God has allowed us to play a small part of what He is doing at the AGC Baby Centre!
Blessings,
D&D
Language is going well, but it is very difficult. Carson is catching on very well and is learning a lot more quickly than Dan and I. Young minds are wonderful! However, Dan and I are doing better and learning a lot. We will continue for two more weeks with language study then we will have a break until January. So we will be utilizing all the staff here at the Baby Centre to help us learn to speak Swahili. We told them that on certain days they are only to speak to us in Swahili. Those will probably be some confusing days for us all until we learn a lot more!!
We have gotten some new faces at the Baby Centre this week. Siblings were brought by the police, Muhoro, who is around 3 yrs. old and Wanjiru who is about 12-15 months.
 |
| Blessed |
Another little one came just yesterday. Her name is Blessed and she looks to be about 1 year old or so. Look at her precious, sweet eyes! Isn't she just beautiful!
We know God has a wonderful purpose for these little ones and we are blessed to be here to love them for such a time as this.
 |
| Blessed loved to touch Babu Dan's beard. |
We wanted to introduce you to another staff member at the Baby Centre. Some of you may already know Irene, the Baby Centre’s Social Worker. She has been employed here for a little over 4 years now. She lives in Nakuru and holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Family and Consumer Science.
 |
| Irene
Irene states that the Baby Centre is “a ministry that impacts the life of innocent babies who had no hope of survival because of being abandoned. Seeing the life of these babies being transformed from a person with no hope to a person with hope and a future since God blesses them with a family. Many lives are transformed especially families that had no hope of having children, this happens through adoption. Please pray for all the babies here to be placed with families. Pray for all the staff here, we need God’s grace to continue serving in this ministry. It is not an easy job.”
Thank you Irene for all the work you do helping to find home for these children. You are a valuable part of this ministry.
Please remember to pray for Irene and the staff here at the Baby Centre as well as all the children.
|
I also wanted to share these pictures I took this morning showing what Dan and Carson like to do on their down time. Here they are playing "soccer" with the toddlers. They loved it, and the kids loved it too!We are very blessed that God has allowed us to play a small part of what He is doing at the AGC Baby Centre!
Blessings,
D&D
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Harvest Update
The picture below is a close-up of the process. The man that you will meet below, Emmanuel, was in charge of the process. He pours himself into his work. We are very thankful for him.
A staff member we would like to introduce you to is Emmanuel ("Manu"). Manu is the Operations Manager at the Baby Centre. He has been employed here for 7 months and holds a Diploma in Human Resources and a Degree in Finance and Banking.
 |
| Manu -- Operations Manager at the AGC Baby Centre |
He goes above and beyond what is expected of him and is a huge asset to the Baby Centre staff.
Thank you Manu for all that you do for the babies and for us.
Please remember to pray for Manu and his role here at the Baby Centre.
We thank you so much for keeping updated with us, and keeping us all in your prayers. God has been so good to us and we are thankful for His mercies new each morning.
There is a lot more to come over the next two weeks, stay in touch.
Blessings,
D & D
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Busy Days at the B.C.
We had a very busy week last week. We continue to get used to our new environment and get settled in at the Africa Gospel Church Baby Centre. Dana and I started working in the office Monday, getting to know the staff better and how things work in Kenya. The staff are doing a very good job. We are here to help them with better tools to do their jobs, and get more efficency out of what we have. Self-sustainability is being used each day as a teaching tool. The staff seem to be very open to the new ideas, it will take months to get some of the items implemented. We are very encouraged.
Dana has started working with a couple of teams already for next year. We are excited to see so much interest in teams coming. I have continued on working with getting project proposals together for the October Board Meeting. I am excited to see the buy-in from the staff on getting these ideas off the ground. We are currently working on fish farming, zero-grazing for our milk cows, and goats for meat. Please pray for wisdom in all of these areas.
We also don't want to forget why we are here, the babies. We currently have not posted much as we are still getting a feel for the rules of posting. However we can say that things are very fluid here. There are many adoptions in progress, and we have taken in one infant, and we know of some more that will be coming shortly. In the next several weeks Dana will be getting up to speed on where we are at with all of these situations. We can say that God is moving in the lives of these babies and bringing the right people to us at the right time.
This past weekend we were at Tenwek for the September Field Meeting. This was our first Field Meeting since being on the field. It was great to get to meet all of the other missionaries that we knew of but have never met in person.
With all of the good news there are some things that you can be praying for:
- God's direction and wisdom in the next steps.
- God's hand in everything we do.
- Language school that we begin on Monday.
- Time to rest and to daily spend time with God.
- Health for us and all at the Baby Centre, and those family members we left back at home.
- Continued provision of prayer supporters and financial supporters.
- More volunteers and teams that want to come to the Baby Centre.
- Carson has started school so pray for him as he is in 9th grade this year and the day is much,
much longer for him and there is a lot more work involved.
We thank our dear children and families that have scarified so much by our being so far away from home and away from them. And we thank all of our friends and supporters for their many sacrifices as well that allow us to be here. Most of all we thank our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for all He has done in our lives and the lives of everyone here.
Blessings,
D&D
Dana has started working with a couple of teams already for next year. We are excited to see so much interest in teams coming. I have continued on working with getting project proposals together for the October Board Meeting. I am excited to see the buy-in from the staff on getting these ideas off the ground. We are currently working on fish farming, zero-grazing for our milk cows, and goats for meat. Please pray for wisdom in all of these areas.
We also don't want to forget why we are here, the babies. We currently have not posted much as we are still getting a feel for the rules of posting. However we can say that things are very fluid here. There are many adoptions in progress, and we have taken in one infant, and we know of some more that will be coming shortly. In the next several weeks Dana will be getting up to speed on where we are at with all of these situations. We can say that God is moving in the lives of these babies and bringing the right people to us at the right time.
This past weekend we were at Tenwek for the September Field Meeting. This was our first Field Meeting since being on the field. It was great to get to meet all of the other missionaries that we knew of but have never met in person.
We are so blessed at the AGC Baby Centre with a wonderful administration staff and we wanted to make sure all of you knew who some of these people are. So, in the next few blog posts, we are going to introduce you to them. This way too you can pray specifically for our staff by name.
Robert is one of the nurses at the Baby Centre. He and his wife, Leah, live in Maai Mahiu, along with their three children, Joshua, 7 years, Esther, 5-1/2 years, and Ruth, 2 years.
 |
| Robert -- Nurse at AGC Baby Centre |
Robert has worked at the Baby Centre full-time for 9 months, but has been part of our community as a substitute nurse for nearly 2 years. He retains a higher diploma in Pediatric Nursing. He enjoys working at the Baby Centre and says “It’s a service, a calling, a ministry doing what it takes to achieve institutional goals with an aim of making tomorrow better than yesterday to God’s Glory.”
We are very thankful to have Robert on staff and appreciate all he does to keep the babies and all of us healthy.
With all of the good news there are some things that you can be praying for:
- God's direction and wisdom in the next steps.
- God's hand in everything we do.
- Language school that we begin on Monday.
- Time to rest and to daily spend time with God.
- Health for us and all at the Baby Centre, and those family members we left back at home.
- Continued provision of prayer supporters and financial supporters.
- More volunteers and teams that want to come to the Baby Centre.
- Carson has started school so pray for him as he is in 9th grade this year and the day is much,
much longer for him and there is a lot more work involved.
We thank our dear children and families that have scarified so much by our being so far away from home and away from them. And we thank all of our friends and supporters for their many sacrifices as well that allow us to be here. Most of all we thank our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for all He has done in our lives and the lives of everyone here.
Blessings,
D&D
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Settling in
Well, we are finishing up two weeks here and we are starting to feel normal sleep wise and eating wise. We have all been in good health and we do thank God for that. We are also so thankful for all of the prayers lifted up on our behalf, that are felt each day. We had services at AGC Ngata today and we were able to greet the congregation there. It was a great time of fellowship, and we had several familiar faces to greet us.
Carson was in a table tennis tournament with the youth at the Ngata church yesterday. It was a singles tournament, and he won the tournament. He is a champion on two continents now! It was a great way for him to meet guys and girls his own age.
We had a very busy week. On Tuesday, I traveled to Nairobi to drop off paperwork for the water truck that we are trying to get shipped over the the Baby Centre for the water business. I was also able to pick up our personal vehicle and drive it back to Ngata.
On Thursday I visited an urban farm where cows are kept in a zero grazing pen, and they also collected their excrement to create bio-gas. It is a great set-up and we look forward to getting some proposals together to see if we can move forward with this at the Baby Centre. I will be traveling back there on Tuesday for more research. We also visited a Tilapia pond and learned about how to get started with fish farming. We will be working on that proposal also.
Dana attended a women's prayer breakfast on Saturday, it lasted over 6 hours. She said they had a great time. Carson and I went to the farm at Salgaa and helped in harvesting the butternut squash. It was a great harvest. It was the second harvest, and this time we collected over 200 squash.
Also on Saturday I was told that a cow was giving birth at the farm so I went down to be a part of the event. Things did not turn out as we had hoped and the calf was still-born. It was very sad.
So, we are very thankful to God for strength for the week. As we look forward to this week we look to a very busy schedule. Carson starts school tomorrow. Dana and I will start picking up our responsibilities in the office at the Baby Centre. We will also have a crew this week starting on the finishes on our home. On Friday we will travel to Tenwek Hospital for our field meeting.
Please pray for Carson as he starts his new year. Pray for Dana and I as we start in earnest our new responsibilities. Pray for the Baby Centre as we work through all of these staff changes. We are very grateful for our new guards and guard dog, they make us feel very safe. Please pray for the Ngata area as they are still experiencing break-ins in the area. Please also pray for safety in travel, as many of you know the roads are one of the most dangerous places to be.
Thank you for standing with us. Thank you for your prayers and your support.
Blessings,
D & D
Carson was in a table tennis tournament with the youth at the Ngata church yesterday. It was a singles tournament, and he won the tournament. He is a champion on two continents now! It was a great way for him to meet guys and girls his own age.
We had a very busy week. On Tuesday, I traveled to Nairobi to drop off paperwork for the water truck that we are trying to get shipped over the the Baby Centre for the water business. I was also able to pick up our personal vehicle and drive it back to Ngata.
On Thursday I visited an urban farm where cows are kept in a zero grazing pen, and they also collected their excrement to create bio-gas. It is a great set-up and we look forward to getting some proposals together to see if we can move forward with this at the Baby Centre. I will be traveling back there on Tuesday for more research. We also visited a Tilapia pond and learned about how to get started with fish farming. We will be working on that proposal also.
Dana attended a women's prayer breakfast on Saturday, it lasted over 6 hours. She said they had a great time. Carson and I went to the farm at Salgaa and helped in harvesting the butternut squash. It was a great harvest. It was the second harvest, and this time we collected over 200 squash.
Also on Saturday I was told that a cow was giving birth at the farm so I went down to be a part of the event. Things did not turn out as we had hoped and the calf was still-born. It was very sad.
So, we are very thankful to God for strength for the week. As we look forward to this week we look to a very busy schedule. Carson starts school tomorrow. Dana and I will start picking up our responsibilities in the office at the Baby Centre. We will also have a crew this week starting on the finishes on our home. On Friday we will travel to Tenwek Hospital for our field meeting.
Please pray for Carson as he starts his new year. Pray for Dana and I as we start in earnest our new responsibilities. Pray for the Baby Centre as we work through all of these staff changes. We are very grateful for our new guards and guard dog, they make us feel very safe. Please pray for the Ngata area as they are still experiencing break-ins in the area. Please also pray for safety in travel, as many of you know the roads are one of the most dangerous places to be.
Thank you for standing with us. Thank you for your prayers and your support.
Blessings,
D & D
Monday, August 27, 2012
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,
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.
D&D
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
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
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
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