Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Had a mellow day today. Just sat and spent time with all the kids at the house. It still amazes me how God heals and strengthens and provides for all of these sweet little babies. Each and everyone of them is so full of joy and is a perfect picture of just how great his love is. 
Janet, the house mom, teaching the kids their numbers.

Stacie's turn to be teacher.

Playtime!


Martin and Alex

Alex just hanging out

Martin


Sammy

Me and Bri




Rose got dressed all by herself and was a little confused
when her pants ended up being a skirt.


Rael. So stinking happy and cute.

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Standing all by herself these days


Wednesday, November 23, 2011

This week I was thinking back on the kids that we have taken to live at the baby home and far they have come since the first day that we saw them. God has a plan for every life and his creation never ceases to amaze me. When we first took all of these kids they were in bad shape and only a few months and in some cases only weeks later you would never know that they ever lived in a tough situation. 
When we took Rose and Rael in August, they looked like this. Niether of them talked or smiled. 
Rael couldn’t even eat more than 3 bites of the food we were giving her because her system was so used to not having any food. Rael just sat all day, didn’t crawl, didn’t walk, didn’t talk and didn’t play. 
Rael on the first day I met her

Rael getting a bath right after we brought her to the house

Now all it takes is a look at her and her face lights up with a huge smile. She is content to sit and play by herself, but she will also crawl over and join the others. When I walked in the house this morning she said “Habari” (how are you) and greeted me. Then she stood up on her own and took a few steps all by herself. Four short months ago none of that would have been possible. 

Now she's a chunky little thing.
Crawling away after bath time. 
Then there is Rose. She wasn't as malnourished as Rael, but she was far from healthy. She was also quiet and was not very active. She could walk, but was very unsteady and couldn't move very quickly. 
Rose

She is also one of the happiest kids I’ve ever met. She is one of the leaders at the house, even though a lot of the kids are younger than her. Whenever I come she always is the first to call my name and run over to me with her arms open wide ready for a huge hug. She is only 3 years old and is already a great little helper. You can send her to pass on a message, or bring you something and you know it will be done right away. Whenever she hears Rael cry she always stops whatever she’s doing and comes over to comfort her. 
They are such sweet kids and I am glad that God allowed me to be a part of their lives and to watch them grow from malnourished, frail little kids to these joyful little girls. 


Then there’s Brian. We’ve had a lot of up and downs with him. When we first took him he cried day and night for a week, but we stuck with him. Then he started getting sick on and off and we stuck with him. Then he kept getting worse and had to go in and out of the hospital, but we stuck with him. There were many times when we thought that we were going to have to send him back to his father and also a few times that we thought we might lose him. He is a fighter and he is getting better and stronger everyday.
Brian on the first day he came to the house. 
Since he’s been back from the hospital I feel like we are finally able to see the real Brian. He is so playful and even is starting to be more vocal. He constantly has a huge smile on his face and will always say hi to anyone that walks in the room. He is getting better at holding up his head and will try to pull himself up to his feet if you hold him a certain way. Once again, I am blessed to have had this child placed in my life despite the challenges he brought. Through sleepless nights with Brian, long days spent at the hospital and days where we just couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him God has showed me that he is in control. He truly holds each and every life in his hands and cares for every individual that he created with his own hands. 
Brian practicing holding up his head.
A few months ago this wouldn't have been possible.
He's the cutest. 

Sunday, November 20, 2011

This past week Leila had to have her appendix removed. It had been hurting her on and off for months now, but it finally got to the point where the medication wasn’t working and it needed to come out. She was in the hospital for about three days and now she is back home from surgery safe and sound. She is back at the house with the kids and they were thrilled to see her back at the house. She has to take it easy for a few weeks, but she seems to be making a quick recovery. Thank you for all of your prayers and support. 
Leila back at the house with Brian. 

Saturday, November 19, 2011


All of the schools are closing this week in preparation for the Christmas holidays. Usually the kids stay at school if it is for a short break, but this is the long one where there will be very few kids left at the school and there is someone to look after them, but not in the family setting that young kids need. 
Isn't he just the sweetest?
Everyone has a place to go except for sweet little Franco. His parents moved out of town and they don’t have a cell phone so we don’t know how to get a hold of them. They call occasionally to ask how the kids are doing, but we couldn’t take Franco to see them if we wanted to because we don’t even know the name of the area where they moved to. I talked to the staff and they said that he could stay at school like he did during the last break.
Me with Franco and the whole fam
 I came took Junior, Stella, Allan and Marvelous back to Endebes to stay with their mother. Hillary’s mom actually came to the school to take him back home with her, which is a big improvement. She had broken many promises to him about coming to visit, but now she seems to be making an effort and he is doing a great job in school. I had come back to take Augustus back to Shimo to stay with his aunt. We were about to leave and we said goodbye to Franco and he started sobbing and climbing into my lap because he didn’t want to stay at school. It broke my heart. I have never seen this kid cry ever, even when I know that he hasn’t had a good meal in days. So I called Leila and we decided to bring him back to the baby home for the break. 
Franco and Leila
Franco was so excited when he found out that he was going to get to spend the break with his sisters, Rose and Rael. He was all smiles the instant after he heard that he didn’t have to stay at school. We got to the house and he instantly greeted Rael who was thrilled to see him. Then Rose woke up from her nap even though she was still groggy when she wandered into the living room she called Franco’s name as soon as she saw him. She came over to him and he grabbed her face and kissed her on the forehead. He is such a sweet and loving big brother. I am glad that Franco will get to spend some time with his little sisters. Thank God that there is a place where he can go when school closes and get the love and care that he needs. 
Franco so excited to greet a sleep Rosie.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011


Today we got a call from Grace’s brother Bodi and he told us that she had passed away early this morning. It heartbreaking, but God has a plan for everything and Grace is finally in a place where she is out of pain. I am glad that Grace got to spend her last few weeks with her mother feeling loved, being cared for and getting a glimpse of God's love for her. We are going down tomorrow to visit her family and help them get the funeral arrangements put together. Please keep her family in your prayers during this hard time. 

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

It had been so long since I had time to walk around Shimo. All of the kids getting sick, going to school, needing to come home from school and other random things have kept me from having time to just walk around and visit. 
We went to visit Stevo. He is starting to look skinnier every time we see him. You can see the pain written all over Stevo’s little face. I have never seen him smile in the few months that I’ve known him. We have been bringing his family a bag of maize weekly and have started giving him porridge so that he has a little extra food. His mother is back in town, but still leaves him to sit at his grandmother’s house where she knows there isn’t much food.  You can see the pain written all over Stevo’s little face. I have never seen him smile in the few months that I’ve known him. 

We went by to visit Mary. It had been a while and she has grown so much. She is getting stronger every day. She was happy to see us and was smiling and rocking back and forth. Catherine, her mother, told us that the doctors said that in a few months she should be able to hold up her head and start sitting and walking. The rest of her body is strong, her neck just needs to get a little stronger to be able to hold her head. 
We also had time to head into Kipsongo this week. We went to visit Grace at her house. We were glad to see that her brother had followed through with what he said and brought her mother down to care for her. Grace looked better than she did the last time I saw her. The doctors at the hospital said that she was depressed because she while she was at the hospital nobody from her family came to visit her. Now it seems that she is making small improvements since she is around her family and being cared for by them. We have also been giving Grace porridge and they said that she is eating well. She was even talking and being responsive when we were talking with her, which is a great improvement. 
Please continue to keep all of these people in your prayers. The circumstances they are living with are tough, but God provides and will see them through. 

Friday, November 11, 2011

Sorry for the long gap in posts, I was having a little bit of internet difficulties. We had a bit of a busy week, so here are some stories and pictures!
Brian’s home again! Praise God for his quick recovery. The doctors still don’t know exactly what happened that made him have such a high fever. They started treating him for malaria just in case the symptoms came on before it had a chance to show up on the blood test. After he had a good nights sleep after getting a heavy sedative to stop the seizure Brian was back to himself the next day. So today we got to take him home and he is always excited and all smiles when he knows its time to leave the hospital and go home. He has been all smiles since he’s been home. Please pray that Brian continues to get better and doesn't have to go back to the hospital. For now Brian is doing great. Only God can have a kid go from looking like this one day...
 to looking like this only two days later.

Emily and Martin have also been a little under the weather this week, so we took them to the doctors and got them medicine. Please pray that they also have a quick recovery and that all of the other kids stay healthy. 
Emily
Martin
Other than that all of the other kids at the house are doing great and it was good to finally have some time to sit and hangout with them all. 
The whole gang

Martin and Stacie eating dinner

John and Alex

Bella
Martin in a bucket

The Bellas working on writing their letters so they can start school in January.
Sammy is such a happy little man.

Me and Rosie


Alex, Sam and John

Sammy and John 
Martin, just hanging out

Martin and Stacie

Julie making her sad face for the camera.


Sammy enjoying some PlumpyNut.
That kid loves to eat.
Bella

Brian hanging out in his walker.
Still smiling and loving being home.
Purpose Driven Academy had a little break this week so that their Class 8 students could have some peace and quite while they were taking their National Exams. Marvelous, Stella, Allan and Junior went home to stay with their mother for the week.

 I took Augustus back home to Shimo and he was thrilled to see all his friends and his aunt after being away from them for a bit. He came to Leila's house everyday he was home to visit us and play with the kids there. 

 Hillary has been in school for less than a whole year and before that he was living on the streets. He has had a hard time staying in school and often runs back to the streets. I took him home and got to meet his mother and see the little mud hut where they lived. I was worried that he wouldn’t come back so went to check in early this morning and he came back to school all on his own.

 Franco stayed back at school, but he has made a good friend in Class 6 that looks after him so he got to go sleep with him for a few of the nights. He is still the happiest child I have ever met in my life. 

All the kids at the school will be wrapping up their school year this week. They will be taking exams and then school will close. They will head home for the holidays and won't come back to school until the first week of January. Junior still loves taking pictures on my camera which is perfect for me because I have more to share. 
Hillary and Junior

Trying to set up a fancy pose for the camera
They did it.

Sulemon is finishing high school this year.
He always looks out for the younger kids.

Hanging out in the office with Junior, Marvelous and Franco.

Marvelous