A Special Sunday

     This past Sunday was Baby Centre Sunday at Ngata AGC.  The service began at 9:15 a.m. and lasted until 1:20 p.m., followed by a gathering at Baby Centre for a light lunch and tour.   There were 5 different churches represented as well as some governmental offices.
     During the church service a harambe was held, which is a fundraiser, for Baby Centre.  Over     Kshs 180,000/= was raised for operations.
     We were also privileged to have the Senator of Nakuru county attend, Honorable Lisa Chelule.  She is a remarkable women that plans on getting involved in a official capacity on behalf of Baby Centre.

Honorable Lisa Chelule

     This Sunday was prompted by a new group of individuals that are called Champions of Baby Centre.  This is a group of about 12 individuals, from Nakuru, Nairobi and many other towns, that have a heart and passion for these babies and go all over and speak on behalf of Baby Centre.

Dan delivering the sermon

     The Baby Centre Administrative team was in charge of the entire service.  Dan delivered the sermon, Pius was service leader, Emmanuel & Betty both delivered statistics on Baby Centre and our Champions, Gideon was in charge of worship, even some of our kids had a part singing and reciting Bible verses.

Baby Centre kids and Caregivers presenting during church

Manu presenting some statistics

Betty speaking of the "Champions"

Gideon leading worship

Rev. Pius also participated in worship

Some of our Champions

     We also have a 10K walk coming up on October 10th in Nairobi that all these individuals will attend.  This walk is sponsored by a Preparatory school in Nairobi that has a walk annually and raises funds for an organization, this year they chose Baby Centre.

In Wing A with the Senator

     A lot of our staff worked Sunday and so some had their children with them.  We wanted to pass along this photo.  Some of you may remember one of our first children here at Baby Centre, Lucy.  Well, this is Lucy today (the tallest child in the blue and white dress)!  She is just beautiful!  She is pictured below with her siblings and mom, Maorine.  We love seeing the children as they grow up and how they are getting along.

Update 22 July 2015

     We have had so much happening at the AGC Baby Centre over the last month or so it has been hard to get an opportunity to keep everyone updated.

     We have had many visitors and have been working diligently on moving things forward here.

Team Photo

     We had a team from Covenant UMC in Dothan, AL, here and they were so helpful with getting things done and we all had a great time with them.  They blessed us so much by doing special things for the staff and coming alongside Dana and Betty to help host a women's fellowship at Ngata AGC, not to mention loving on the babies and also planting 200 banana trees on the Baby Centre farm.  They were very busy while they were here.  Thank you Covenant UMC team for investing your time and your hands and feet to sacrifice for the sweet little ones here.

Blessing our staff with gifts

Planting banana trees

The group after planting banana trees

     New babies have come and some have gone home with their new forever families.  Currently we have right around 65 children and have had 15 adoptions this year.

     There has also been the issue of Auctioneers trying to confiscate items from the Baby Centre.  The other day they hijacked one of our trucks with one of our employees inside!!  We are thanking the Lord that our employee was unhurt.  We now have a Stay of Execution so that they can not come and try to take anything else.  This whole issue stems back well over 3 years ago and had never been resolved.

Prayers would be appreciated for the following:

- Our babies stay strong and healthy.  We have had bouts with several illnesses that spread like crazy when you have so many children in one place.
-  Our staff is fully engaged and ready to excel in their positions.
-  Safety during in-country travels.  Many of us are traveling around each day, whether close or far away, and no where is safe when driving.  There is no way to accurately explain it to those of you that have not been here, but please just pray.
-  Safety in our upcoming travels to the states.  Also, for Dana's medical tests that will be done while there.
-  A wonderful time spent with our children and family for Talia & Bryson's wedding in a few weeks.
-  That the Lord would lead us and touch the hearts of many as we speak at several churches and Sunday School classes while we are in the states.
-  That when we return Dan's Work Permit will be waiting for him.  This is a very big prayer request.

     We deeply appreciate you and your continued prayers for this ministry and for our family.

Blessings,

D&D

14June2015

     It's been a little while since our last blog and we wanted to show you just a few things that we have been up to since then.
     Since the Deputy Governor's visit there have been many meetings and many people working on getting time for the Governor to come visit at Baby Centre.  And also the President of Kenya.  None of these dates have been set yet.
     We've had 4 VIA's here at Baby Centre from February to April.  We've had a team from Northern Ireland come and visit and help with VBS and projects around the Centre. Tommy and Lavern Anderson always bring great teams. We had a great time with them.

Tommy Anderson Team

     We had another fish harvest. The fish continue to do well. Some of these our Board members were able to sample. We will be harvesting again in June. The project is doing very well.

Carson showing off the harvest

     We had our WGM Retreat. It was held in Naivasha this year due to security concerns at the coast. Our speaker did a great job and we had a very good time.
     We made a trip back to the states.  It was a combined trip that included medical necessities for Dana, as well as a couple personal events.
     Our daughter Talia graduated from Bethel College with a major in International Health.  She graduated Magna Cum Laude.

Talia on left, two of her good friends, Emily (middle) and Rachelle (right)

Dana, Talia, Dana's Mom Beverly, Dana's sister Dawn, & Hopie

     We also had a Bridal Shower for Talia.  She and her fiancé, Bryson Bauer, are to be married in August of this year.

Tiffany & Nathan

   We also were blessed to be home for our oldest son Nathan and his fiancé Tiffany as they were married on May 9th. Nathan has also started his own electrical company Jacobs' Electric and it is doing very well.






     We celebrated our son Carson's 17th birthday while we were back too.  Carson stayed in the states for the summer to take his SAT, work with his brother, and spend some time with Talia before she is married in August. He is greatly missed here in Kenya.

Carson

Karissa & Jeremiah

     Our niece Karissa came to visit us for a week.  She really enjoyed the babies. It is great to have family come and see what you do.












     We have also had a number of in-country visitors. We have started a new group of business people here in Kenya that are passionate about the ministry here at the Baby Centre. This is just the start of a much bigger plan to get the entire community involved in rescuing these babies.

Baby Centre Champions

Chloe Joanna

One of our newest arrivals, she has had a rough start, but continues to pick up and do well.










     This past week we celebrated Hope's 3rd birthday.  We had a party for her and decided that we again needed to have water balloons so the adults could have some fun too.  :)  And fun was had by all.

Dana & Hope blowing out her birthday cake

Hope, on left, with Numbani ya Tumaini kids and Pastor & Betty Rop's kids

 

   So as you can see there are many things going on. We are now preparing for our trip to the States to have Dana's medical check and to celebrate Talia and Bryson's wedding. When we return at the end of August Carson will be returning with us.

   We will have the privilege to speak at several venues when we are back and give an update on the Baby Centre, Hope's adoption, the way forward for us, and many other ministries that we have been able to help with. We look forward to connecting with as many people as we can. We will be posting our schedule when we arrive in the US. It will be at the end of July when we arrive.

 

Blessings,

 

D&D



The Deputy Govenor's Visit

     Yesterday we had a visit from the Deputy Governor of Nakuru County.  This was his first visit to the Baby Centre and we were assured it would not be his last.  He was very moved by the children and the mission here.  We actually had a lot of guests from the District Children's Officer, County Coordinator of Children's Services and many others.  The children used their hands and feet to make a special gift for the Deputy Governor, which he seemed to enjoy very much.

     We hope you enjoy the pictures below.

Hope, Carson, Dan and Dana

Signing the guest book and preparing for a tour.

Dan taking the group around

Preparing to go into Wing A.

Deputy Governor and the MCA in wing A

Getting to know some of the children.

More tour...

Enjoying a meal together.

Joining together in song.

Betty Rop MC'ing the event.

My handsome husband speaking to the group.

Pastor Brian Rop praying for us.

Mr. Dan Bett and Reverend Rono

County Coordinator for Children's Services

Deputy Governor the Honorable Joseph Rutto.

Receiving the gifts from the Deputy Governor
for AGC Baby Centre.

Hope presenting the Deputy Governor with a
book from the children of AGC Baby Centre.

Enjoying the gift from the children.

The Deputy Governor giving Hope a treat.

Emmanuel preparing to give the closing prayer.

A very special day!

     God has truly shown us great favor.  The Deputy Governor has given us his assurance that he will be bringing the Governor to see the Baby Centre.

Blessings,

D&D

A Birthday Party!

     After a very stressful week, it was great to have a birthday celebration with the children this morning.  Everyone had a fantastic time!  We did face painting, playing in the pools, had fun with water balloons (and then eventually with buckets and then the hose!), took turns hitting a piñata, had fun with noisemakers, then had candy, popcorn and cupcakes.  We wanted to share some of the photos that I took during all the fun.
     Also want to thank the VIA's that are here, Shelley Anderson, Tabitha Gerardot, Stacia Gerardot, and also April Hershberger for all the work they did to help make today happen.  Hope you enjoy the photos.

Pool fun

The rush for the candy after the piñata broke

Lining up for cupcakes and singing Happy Birthday

Whacking the piñata

Pius being taken to get drenched with water

Pool fun

Shelley face painting

Tabitha face painting

Children getting sprayed by the hose

Manu joining in on the fun

Tabitha and the fish piñata that she made

Stacia trying to get some photos

     Thanks for reading!!

Blessings,

D&D