Time Goes So Quickly

   Hey everybody!  It has been quite a while since we've updated our blog and we apologize for that.  It seems as though that ever since the middle of January this year we have been on the go and trying to get things accomplished before leaving on our HMA (Home Ministry Assignment).  That includes visitors, two teams, our mandatory WGM retreat/meeting, not to mention all the jobs that we have at the Baby Centre.
   Yes, we are headed back to the states for our HMA.  That is when we come back to try to rejuvenate, but it is also when we travel around and speak at different churches/venues to get people excited/educated about the Baby Centre and our ministry.  We have been on the field for just about 4 years now, it is time to raise our  financial support for the next season of our ministry. We do believe that when God class, He does provide.  Our funds have dipped very low in recent months and our account remains close to deficit.
   We will be back for 4 months and during that time already have many speaking engagements, but we have plenty of room for more.  If you would like us to come and speak at your Sunday School class, church or business please e-mail us directly at:  jacobshouse6@aol.com.  We would be glad to hear from you and get a date down on our calendar for speaking.

Emmanuel

Betty

   We would appreciate your prayers for the Baby Centre as we leave for these few months.  Prayers for our Administrative staff as they will running all aspects of the Baby Centre with us gone.  That includes:  Emmanuel (Deputy Director) and his wife Millicent (she will take over Dana's responsibilities with visitors/teams), Rev. Pius (Ministry Manager), & Betty (Outreach Ministries Manager).  This will be a good test run to see how close to transition we are.

Rev. Pius

   Prayers for our family would also be appreciated.  It is difficult transitioning from one culture to the other.  It can affect you in ways you don't even think about.  We are sad to leave our Kenyan home and friends, but super excited to come back and see our kids, grand

Carson delivering his graduation speech

kids, parents and siblings!
   One of the biggest changes this time that we come back will be that Carson, our youngest son, will not be returning to Kenya with us when we come back.  He has graduated high school and will be staying in the states to attend college.  This will be a huge change for us and for Carson.  Please pray specifically for that transition for him and us.
   Carson has many friends here at Baby Centre and he will be greatly missed.  The evidence of his walk with the Lord  has made a lasting impact on all the people he's come into contact with over these years.  Carson has also been a tremendous help to us as he has spearheaded the Tilapia fish farm and has also taught himself AutoCad so that he could design buildings for the new Special Needs Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre we hope to begin building within the next 12 months.
   Carson is such a blessing to us.  We know this is a natural move at this time in his life, but let's just say it will not be without many tears shed.  One of the hardest, most difficult things for us as missionary parents is getting on that plane in the states to travel back to the mission field without our children.  I can say from much experience it gets more difficult each time you do it.  It in no way gets easier.  We are very happy for Carson moving forward in this next season of his life and know he will excel with the Lord by his side.
   Another prayer request we'd like to add is that we are in need of a vehicle to use while we are back for the 4 months. We no longer own a vehicle in the states.  So, we just want to put that out there in case anyone happens to have a vehicle they wouldn't mind us using while we are back.
   If you are wondering how to support us financially you can go to the WGM website (www.wgm.org) and go to missionaries, find our name and click on it.  There it will explain how you can do that.  Or, if you would rather, give us a shout in an e-mail and we can help you.

Graduation photo

Blessings,

D&D







 

A Busy Christmas and New Year

   Hi all!  We hope that you've all had a most wonderful Christmas season celebrating our Savior's birth!  And a great start to the New Year!!

   We had a very good, but busy time here at the Baby Centre.  And it continues on in the coming weeks.

Alaska Team

   Over Christmas we had a team here from Alaska.  It was the first time we met them, and they were certainly a blessing to us.  We were glad they were able to come and visit the Baby Centre and get to know each other.  They are already planning a return trip.

New Year's Breakfast
Jackie, Carson, April, Dana, Hope

   Also over Christmas and New Year's Eve we had Jackie Burton, our long-time friend from Northern Ireland back with us for a couple of weeks.  It was great to have Jackie here for a short time and to show her all the changes at the Baby Centre and here about all the changes going on with her.

   We had a lot of fun, and Jackie was able to help Dana with the store room and getting items placed in their appropriate spot.
 




  On Christmas morning we had a Christmas breakfast and celebration with the Baby Centre kids.  We celebrated with pancakes (over 130!) and sausages and Happy Birthday Jesus cupcakes and yummy juice.  After the breakfast feast, we handed out gifts for all the kids.  There was a bicycle, other riding toys, dolls, balls, bubbles, etc.!  Everyone had a great time praising God and playing!

 

   We hosted a staff lunch on Christmas day as well for all the staff that were working, and we were able to hand out a small gift to each of them.
   Our Christmas evening meal was a little more quiet, we had Jackie, April, Millie & Manu over for some chimichanga's and spanish rice.

Dana & Dan and Denny & Michelle

   We also were delighted to host Denny & Michelle Craker at the Baby Centre just this week.  What an amazing couple with wonderful God stories and miracles that they shared with us.  We were sad to see our new friends leave as they continue their journey in Kenya, and then on to where their ministry is.





   In the next couple of weeks we have a YWAM team of about 20 coming to stay at Baby Centre.  We have a few visitors coming from the states to do some ministry work through a Women's Retreat and a couple conferences.

   There is also a very important Baby Centre board meeting happening on the 20th of January.  Please pray for this meeting as some of the items to be discussed could make some major changes to the Baby Centre.

   Our Special Needs Centre Task Force also meets at the end of the month.

   We want to thank all of you for your prayers for us and for our family.  Especially through the holiday's when it is extra hard to be away from each other.

   If you are interested in hearing more about the ministry God has called us to, and you would like to partner with us financially, please contact us at jacobshouse6@aol.com and we can let you know how best to do that.

Blessings,

D&D

AGC Baby Centre Transition Update

     We thought it might be time to update you on what is happening here at the Baby Centre with some of our staff.  We continue to work on our transitions and things are going very well.

Emmanuel

     Emmanuel Muraran "Manu" currently the Deputy Director is continuing to learn the role of Director.  He and Dan are continuing to work closely together as they continue down the path of transition here at the Baby Centre.

Millicent

     Millicent Muraran, Manu's wife, is currently engaging in many areas of the Baby Centre.  This includes working closely with Dana learning the role of Baby Centre Hospitality Coordinator.  She will be transitioning into this role and will be in charge of all International teams as well as National visitors when the Board deems her ready.  

Everlyn

     Everlyn Korir our Childhood Development Coordinator works very hard with the children making sure they are at the correct learning level for their age.  She works with the children that aren't old enough to go to school yet, does homework with the school kids, does evaluations of each child monthly, and also is working hard with the special needs children to help them reach their fullest potential through daily therapy.

Irene and Edith

     Edith, our Head Caregiver, works with all the children, as well as takes care of supply needs in each of the Wings.  She does a wonderful job of getting to know each child personally.  She also helps Everlyn with working with the special needs children and their daily therapy.

Betty

     Betty is doing a fantastic job as our Outreach Ministries Manager.  She is spreading the word about Baby Centre and making extremely important contacts that could prove very viable for Baby Centre in the future.
     She also has been the push behind the new "Champions" group.  They are a group of 20 Kenyans that are spreading the news about Baby Centre all over as they are all from different areas.  This group has organized important meetings, worked together with another organization to have a walk for Baby Centre, and have also made Baby Centre shirts that are available to other Champions or Friends of Baby Centre for a small donation.
     Betty will also be working with Dana to learn about all Baby Centre social media sites and learning how to maintain and update them.  Eventually, when she is ready, this will be part of what Betty will do each day.

Robert

     Our two nurses, Robert (pictured left), and Joyce (pictured below), continue to work very hard at meeting the medical needs of our babies.  They have such wonderful hearts for these children and strive each day to maintain health for all of them.
     Our children are in very good hands with Joyce and Robert attending to them.

Joyce

Christine

     Christine remains as our Administrative Assistant and continues to help out our office staff in a large number of ways.
      She also enjoys helping out in the Wing's whenever we have the need.

Irene

     Our wonderful Social Worker, Irene, remains hard at work along with different adoption societies to find forever homes for our children.
     Frequently throughout the day you will find Irene loving on and feeding the babies in Wing A, or playing with the children in Wing's B or C.  She has a huge heart for these children and this Centre.

Gideon

     Gideon continues to learn the financial ropes here at Baby Centre.   Here he is running through a report for the Board meeting.
     As with so many of our employees, Gideon can be found outside frequently during breaks playing with the children in Wing C.







     As you can see, we have many employees at the Baby Centre (these are just a few) and they all have big hearts for the children here.  Each of them play a vital role in the development of each of these children, whether physical, mental or spiritual.  We are blessed to have such a staff.

Blessings,

D&D

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