30 January 2013

   The last few weeks have been as usual, very busy.  We had the AGC Baby Centre Board Meeting on the 22nd of January.  Jamie Lengacher was here for that and to go over financial and business items.  The meeting went very well.  It was the first time for our new administrative team and our new structure.  We continue to see many wonderful changes in the operations here at the BC.
   We continue to see the local church engage more and more.  We had the opportunity to speak with 30 of the urban church pastors at a retreat close by the Baby Centre.  We also were very excited to host them for a visit here.  Many of them had never been to the Baby Centre, and they were amazed.  They left with a fever to go back to their churches and challenge their congregations to engage with the Baby Centre.
   We have also seen more than a dozen of Baby Centre employees come forward and pledge to financially support the Baby Centre on a monthly basis.  God is moving in a mighty way, we are so excited to see what is next.

   We continue our work this week on the cow enclosure.  It is going very well and should be completed by the 15th of February.  We started just today on the methane plant that will produce all of our cooking gas needs.  This should also be completed by the 15th of February.  Last year alone, we spent almost 200,000ksh on cooking gas.  That is about 2,500.00 USD.  That is very exciting.  After we are finished with the cow enclosure we will immediately start the construction of the fish pond.
   We also have several events coming up at AGC churches during the next months.  As those get closer we will post about them.

Owen

    With all that going on we have also had two more children come to join us at the Baby Centre.  Pictured below are little Owen, who is about 1-1/2 years old, and Zachery who is about 2 months old.  They are such a blessing to us here.  Both are adjusting very well to life at the Baby Centre.

Zachery

   We also want to request prayers for one of our little ones that is headed to Tenwek next week for surgery.  Hope was born with a hole in her heart and it needs to be repaired.  We have been waiting to try to get her to gain some weight before the surgery as she is very small for her age.  But her little heart is working so hard and it is just causing her to not gain that weight we were hoping for.  So, it is time to have the surgery done.  We believe her surgery will be on Tuesday, 5th February.  Please pray for the surgeons as they prepare to operate.  Pray for God's guidance, and that His hands are their hands.  Also pray for safe travel as we will be traveling to and from Tenwek.  Dana will be going with Hope and staying at Tenwek for the surgery and her recovery time, which will be at least a week.

Hope

   As always we thank you for your love and support of us and this ministry.  Thank you for reading and staying updated with what is happening.

Blessings,

D&D

Big Start for the New Year!

Eunice and her new mom and dad

     We started off the new right with two babies going home with their new mom and dad!  Eunice and Natasha were so happy to be with their new families.  It was a blessing to see these new families formed within the second week of the new year!

Natasha and her new mom

Lydia

     We also were blessed with two new little ones.  Both Graham and Lydia joined our Baby Centre family this year within the first two weeks.  Graham is about 5 months old and Lydia is about 3 months old.

Graham

Sella

    Hope and Sella both are having various tests done to help in the decision making process as to what is the best route for their health needs.  Please pray for both of these little ones.  We know they are in God's hands and we trust Him to provide what is needed for each situation.

Hope

Front Gate

     We are in the process of many improvements at the Baby Centre and wanted to share with you some photos of the projects.  We are improving the front gate by increasing the height of it, and we will be also closing it off so that it is more difficult to climb.

     We are also in the process of finishing the joints in the fence. This makes it more difficult to remove individual stones and gain access to the facility. As a bonus, it makes the fence look finished and very smart.

Masons working on wall

Finished product

Zero-grazing Cow Enclosure

     We have also stared construction of our zero-grazing area for our cows.  This will give us more security for the cows, it will save us money, and we will have healthier cows.  We are hoping to have this completed before the beginning of March.  A big thank you to those who contributed to this project.  It will impact the lives of our babies greatly.

Area for Fish Farm 

      We are also working on the fish farm, the area has been selected and we are to start construction in the next week. We are excited to start this new venture and are working our way the the proper paperwork and government ministries to do things correctly. Please continue to keep all of these items in your prayers. We continue to look to God for His guidance and wisdom as we move forward on many fronts.  

     Thank you for your support of this ministry, we see God's hand in this each day. This would be impossible without the leading, blessing and provision of God. We are thankful for the many hearts that have been touched by their involvement in the Baby Centre. We are blessed each day to see how God redeems the lost, and provides and transforms each of our children's lives.

Blessings

D&D

A New Year

Happy New Year!

      I know that we are a little late with this, but we do wish everyone a wonderful New Year.  Ours started off a little rough with sickness.  Talia arrived on the 21st of December and proceeded to catch a bug and ended up sick for Christmas.  We still had a good Christmas at the Baby Centre.
     We had a pancake and sausage breakfast for the babies on Christmas morning, and a Happy Birthday Jesus cake!!  All of us pitched in by preparing and serving the children.  What a great way to start out Christmas morning by serving those the Lord has entrusted to us.  Enjoy the pictures below.

     I (Dan) got sick on the 28th of December with a touch of pnuemonia again, but with some rest and medication I am doing very well now.
     The holidays were a very busy time for us with many visitors coming to the Baby Centre.  We had many local churches bringing food, clothes and money for the babies.  It is exciting to see the local church starting to engage.  I have a friend that is an AGC missionary that has beome a regular visitor to the Baby Centre, and he supports us on a monthly basis.  He is an inspiration to us of the partnerships we are forming.
     We continue to work through changes here at the Baby Centre to move us to a position for the future.  It is exciting to see the staff take on their new challenges and new responsibilities.  We are currently is the process of shoring up the security here at the Baby Centre by finishing up the keying of the stone wall.  This makes it much more difficult to remove the stones and gain entry through the wall. We are also re-doing the front gate, making it taller and covering it with sheet metal to make it more difficult to get over the top. We have also implemented new entry procedures at the gate for visitors.  All these measures are to make the babies more secure.  We are also preparing for the upcoming elections.  We prepare for the worst but pray and hope for the best.  The elections are now less than 8 weeks away.
     We are also starting on our project to move our dairy cows to the Baby Centre compound.  This actually started today.  Emmanuel and I met with the Ministry of Fisheries over the last two days and we are getting some Governmental support for our fish project.  They will help us with the digging and stocking of the pond.  We will still have to build the tank and supply the liner, but every part helps.  The construction of the Bio-gas plant should start next week.  Busy, busy, busy.
     On Christmas Eve we had a call to come pick up a little girl.  Stella is a little blessing here at the Baby Centre.  And just last week Rachel Salome went home with her mommy and daddy.  We are at 63 babies to date.

Stella

Blessings,

D&D



  

A Very Special Thursday

     We are sorry this post did not get posted when it was finished.  We thought we had posted it and in our hast to get to Nairobi to pick up Talia we hadn't noticed that it actually had not been posted.  Please enjoy the news even though it is late.
     What a day we've had at the AGC Baby Centre today!!  Praise the Lord for the families that were formed today!  Four families to be exact!  We had four children go home today with their forever families!!
     Susan Naliaka, Jared, Jael and Joshua Alumasi all went home today with their new parents.  Below are pictures of them all.  All the parents came and were here all at the same time so they all got to meet each other.

Jared and his parents

Susan Naliaka and her parents

Jael and her Mum

Joshua Alumasi and his parents

Rachel Salome

     In the midst of the families bonding, Dan and I were called away to go and pick up a baby from the police station.  So we now have a new baby, Rachel Salome.  She is about 2-1/2 weeks old and weighs about 8-1/2 lbs.  She is just beautiful.

Blessings,

D&D

A Wonderful Tuesday!!

     These are the days we say "Yes, this is what it is all about!"  To see three different children go home today with three sets of parents!  Awesome!!
     The first set of parents to arrive were Alex's.  They were wonderful people that were thrilled to invite Alex into their family.

Alex and his Mum & Dad

     The second set of parents were Adam's.  Again, a wonderful couple that were so very happy to be gaining a son today.

Adam and his Mum & Dad

     The third set of parents to arrive were Peter Maina's.  Peter just immediately snuggled into his new mama's neck as she held him.  They too were beside themselves with joy with their new little one.

Peter Maina and his Mum & Dad

     What a glorious day for all the staff here at the Baby Centre!  We pray for all these new families to find joy in each other and what the Lord has brought together!  And, imagine, getting a mommy and daddy the week before Christmas.  What a Christmas present they all received this year!!  Thank you Jesus, You are GOOD!!!

Thomas Emmanuel

    And yesterday we welcomed little 5 month old Thomas Emmanuel to our Baby Centre family.  He weighed in at almost 16 lbs. and he is such a happy little guy.  He is adjusting to life here at the Baby Centre just fine and is doing very well.








     Thank you for reading and staying updated with what God is doing in Kenya at the AGC Baby Centre and in the lives of the Jacobs' family.

Blessings,

D&D

To Turi, Tenwek, and Mau Forest

     Karibuni!!  We are thinking of you all as the holidays are fast approaching.  Praying you will take the time to reflect on what the season is truly about and praise our God and Father for blessing you so richly.
     We wanted to take a moment to fill you in on what our last week has looked like.  Where we have been and what is happening here at the Baby Centre.

          First off while we were away we had another addition to our Baby Centre family.  Little Moses is about 1 year old.  He arrived on Tuesday and is adjusting well to his new surroundings.

Moses

     We began Monday by traveling to a place called Turi.  It is a boarding school (which is out of session right now) where WGM has it's December Field Meeting for all the missionaries stationed in Kenya.  It's a lovely place.  It was nice to connect with some of the other missionaries that are here that we don't see very often because of distance.
     Our actual meeting was on Tuesday, lasting the entire day.  Then Wednesday we had a Christmas program with the missionary kids and parents, and Santa and Mrs. Clause even made an appearance.  It was very nice and need I say we have some very talented missionaries and MK's on our field!!

     We left from Turi on Wednesday and headed to Tenwek Hospital in Bomet where the 2012 Annual AGC Pastor's Conference was being held.  Dan was speaking on Wednesday evening about the Baby Centre.  We arrived just in time to finalize our presentation and have a quick supper.
     There are over 1,700 AGC churches in Kenya, and there was probably about 1,000 representatives at the Conference.  It was a spectacular turnout.

Dan

     Dan had a slideshow and presented what the Baby Centre is all about, and where it is going.  Cate Habib, as Outreach Ministries Coordinator, also spoke on a portion of the slideshow sharing all the different ways that the AGC churches can get involved and take ownership the Baby Centre.  Both Dan and Cate did a wonderful job conveying all the information to the many attendees.  (And they did it all with no practice or run-through of the presentation because of lack of time.)  I've included a few pictures from the Conference.

Dan

Cate Habib

     We headed back to the Baby Centre on Thursday morning.  Our travels took us right the the Mau Forest.  What a beautiful place!  The road we travelled on through the Forest had us wondering at times if we were really supposed to be on the road, and if, in fact, it was really a road at all.  It was very deserted with us only seeing enough vehicles/people that we could count on one hand.  But such beautiful country!  We didn't see any wildlife except for a monkey we saw scurrying across the road in front of us.  We have been told that their are in fact elephants that still live in that Forest.




     














    We also wanted to say that Thursday was a very difficult day because it was Talia's birthday and it was the first birthday we were unable to spend with her.  Just a reminder to you to please continue to pray for us.  Being away from your children is very difficult.

     Dana has been working on many promotional projects at the Baby Centre.  One of which is the 2013 calendar.  It has been almost 3 months worth of taking all the photos and discussing the details with the printer.  The calendar is finished and printed and we will be selling them as a fundraiser for the Baby Centre.  Some of the calendars will be coming back to the states in January so be sure to look for them.  Some of the other items are Helping Hands Booklets and Response Forms that we can hand out at Conferences and churches to get the AGC congregations more engaged with the Baby Centre and give them a better understanding of what the Baby Centre needs are.

As always, thank you for your continuing support of this ministry and for all your prayers!

Blessings,
D&D
   

A Visit to Mogoon AGC

    Today was the first Sunday we started our new outreach to the AGC churches.  Today's group included Dan, Carson & myself, Pastor Meshack & Cate Habib & family, Flo and Mary C. (two of our caregivers),  and six of the Baby Centre children.

     As Director, Dan speaks about different aspects of the Baby Centre, explaining what exactly the ministry is and about God's calling and direction.  Cate, as Outreach Ministries Coordinator, then speaks about ways the congregation can get involved and help the children at the Baby Centre.  We challenge them to become partners.  And the children put on a little program for them with songs and scripture memorizations.

Beatrice, Erick, Michael Mwangi

     We received such a wonderful, warm welcome from this church.  They pledged to become more involved in the Baby Centre and have already scheduled the date of the 29th of December to come for a visit.  They also responded with cash donations and gifts-in-kind.  We are so thankful that God provides these opportunities for us to go and speak and tell people what the AGC Baby Centre is all about.

     Below are some photos from the day and a short video of the kids singing one of their songs.

Beatrice, Erick, Michael Mwangi,

Tahila Habib, Alex, Seenoi, Wycliff

Seenoi, Alex, Wycliff

Beatrice, Erick, Michael Mwangi,

Tahila Habib, Alex, Seenoi, Wycliff

Dan & Pastor Meshack Habib

Cate Habib

      Thank you for your continued interest in this ministry and for continuing to read our blog.

Blessings,

D&D