Tiny Additions

     Just when you think it is going to be a quiet day...meet our newest, very little, very precious, additions at AGC Baby Centre. They are Naomi and twin brother Jonathon.  They are just 4 days old.  Naomi weighs 3lbs.12oz. and Jonathon weighs 4lbs.4oz.  Their mother passed away just two days after delivering them.  Please join us in praying for these little ones to start eating well and begin gaining weight.

Jonathon

Naomi

Naomi and Jonathon all snuggled up keeping warm

     We are thanking the Lord for their young lives and that He has placed us here and given us the resources to be able to care for them and make them strong and thrive.

     These are days that put life in perspective for all of us. We feel like things aren't going the way we want them to, or we feel like we are having a very difficult day, and then this. Seeing people dealing with life and death issues, seeing two young lives that are very fragile. We are so thankful for God's provision in this place. These last two days have strongly reaffirmed why we are here, and why the Baby Centre exists. Thank you for your continued support of the Baby Centre and us.

Blessings
D & D

New Home, Friends and Nairobi

     Hi everyone!  Wanted to post a quick update to let you know everything that has been going on these last few days.
     As you read earlier Jamie & Jolinda were here for a Board Meeting and for a visit.  We were so blessed to have them with us.  Today we had to take them to the airport for their flight out back to the states.  Wow, that was really very difficult.  Not the drive, but saying goodbye to them, that was very, very hard.  It was so nice having someone from home being with us here in Kenya.
     While they were here they helped us move into our new home on the Baby Centre compound.  We slept there last night and it was so nice.  It will be good to have a little place to try to get away for some quite time (something that doesn't happen very often).  We were so thankful for Jamie & Jolinda's help, and for the workers at the Baby Centre's help with moving all our stuff.  It will be good to finally be settled in our home.  We have started unpacking everything now and finding a place for it all.
     Right now we are in Nairobi staying at Robyn Moore's house for the night.  She was so sweet to let us come and stay with her after dropping Jamie & Jolinda at the airport. We will be doing some paperwork in Nairobi tomorrow. Then we will head back to the Baby Centre in the afternoon.
    Next week we will start the process at the Baby Centre of reorganizing the management. It is an exciting time of bringing some very talented people into the mix of the top management. We are looking forward to seeing God's plans unfold. We are starting on several new projects. We will be able to update you on them next week. These are very exciting times at the Baby Centre. We have seen the local church really step up in the last few weeks by bringing donations of food and money, it has been very encouraging.
     Thank you all for reading, for praying, and for being an encouragement to us.

Blessings,
D&D

20 October 2012 Blog

     It has been awhile since our last post.  There has been so much happening here at the AGC Baby Centre.  If you are connected to the Baby Centre Facebook page you will know that we had two babies adopted on Friday.  It is always wonderful and humbling to see the children bond with their adoptive parents.  To see these families that the Lord has brought together makes our hearts full of joy and thankfulness that He has given us the opportunity to play a small part in their lives.

Rael and her mommy, daddy, and big sister

Susan with her mommy and daddy

     We've been busy here with a lot of groups that have come by to help out by having a work day, or just coming to learn more about the Baby Centre and the children that are here.  They have all been a blessing to us, to the Baby Centre staff, and to the children.   There were college students from Kabarak University that came last weekend and helped out by doing a lot of cleaning around the centre.  They all worked very hard for the entire day!  Not to mention they gave up a Saturday to come.  Below are a few photos from that day.

     We also want to continue to introduce you to staff members.  Christine has been employed at the Baby Centre for 6 years.  She holds a Diploma in Business Administration and serves as the Baby Centre’s Bookkeeper/Receptionist.

    Christine says “being a ministry to the little children I enjoy working here and see the amazing transformation upon their lives as they come in and as they join wonderful families.  I have learned  a lot working with the babies since I started as a caregiver.  I love those little friends who cherish my heart daily.  I feel blessed working here, as a church based institution, it is a service to the Lord!”

     Christine has a wonderful attitude and always has a smile to welcome you.  She is a blessing to the Baby Centre and we are thankful that she is a part of the team.  Please remember to pray for Christine.

     Last week we were blessed with our good friends, Jamie & Jolinda, coming for a visit.  We have been having such a good with them, and are very happy that they are here.  We have many things to accomplish while they are here so please pray for clear minds and abundant time to do what needs to be done.

     Please pray for the upcoming board meeting that is on this next Tuesday.  There are a lot of decisions to be made in the next few weeks as we move forward with some exciting changes coming to the B.C.

     Thank you again for staying connected with us.

Blessings,

D&D

School's Out

  We have finished our first three weeks of language school and are looking forward to the break. The last three weeks have been very intense. Our Kiswahili teacher Jacken has been great! He said that we are doing great. We will continue in January with our intermediate and advanced classes. It is intersting to go to church now and understand most of what they are saying. Carson is doing excellent and he can actually converse in Swahili already. Dana and I are a little behind him.
  As school has been going on, we still have had many other things going on as well. We have had sickness at the AGC Baby Centre with many babies having viruses. We cleaned the entire BC this last Saturday from top to bottom, Todd Eckhardt and Bill Bucher were here and helped out with carrying beds back in. They were also here in country to launch the Africa Gospel Church Men with Vision Chapter. We met to look at the MWV project for 2013. It will be a new training complex out next to water project in Salgaa.
  We are working on some updates on babies that will come out this week in our newsletter. We are also continuing to work on new projects at the BC. I look forward to showcasing some of these in the next few weeks. We have met with a Biogas company and are working with them to install one here at the BC to take care of all of the kitchen gas needs. These are some of the small steps we are taking towards self-sustainability.
  We praise God for being with us through language school these last three weeks. We praise God for watching over the babies and His healing touch upon them. We thank God for our guards and the protection they provide for all of us each night. We thank God for our prayer warriors. We thank God for our financial team members.
  Please continue to pray for us, missing family and friends. We also dearly miss our church family. Pray as we continue with changes and transitions here at the BC. We are re-organizing the office, and going through many operational changes, we pray for guidance and wisdom. We have some wonderful people here at the BC, and are looking forward to seeing how God uses their gifts, talents and abilities to further our ministry here.
  Blessings,
  D & D

Staying Busy

   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

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.

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

Harvest Update

                                                                               

     We wanted to let you know what is going on at our farm that is close to the AGC Baby Centre. This first picture is of the silage being made for the cows and for sale to other farmers. It has been a great harvest, God has been so good to us. What they are doing in the picture is mounding up the corn cuttings and adding molasses and microbes to create a high energy feed for the dairy cows. It will be covered and allowed to "cook" for three weeks then we will bag it. We are getting some guidance from a farmer who does zero grazing with dairy cows in Nakuru. He has been helpful in our future planning for our cows.

    This picture is of the actual cutting up of the corn stalks. The machine was brought from a farm in Nakuru. All of the corn was cut by hand and was hand carried to six piles in a six acre field. It only took three days for the entire process.
    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

     Manu says "I love working here because it's an opportunity that God has given me to reach out and serve the less privileged in our society by showing them love and giving them a sense of family they have never had.  I find satisfaction when the kids smile back at me and also when they embrace me, this really breaks my heart."
     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