What’s in a name?

Recently we’ve added a new addition to our family.  Before I get into her story let me tell you about Bella.  Unfortunately Bella went m.i.a. about 2 months ago, just a month or so after Puss (another cat on the compound) became pregnant.  I’ve wanted a girl cat since before Bella and was told Bella was a girl, hence the name Bella, until we realized Bella had”extra” equipment!   Not to sound cold but since Bella has been missing I asked Pauline if I could have a girl kitten, which she said I could have my pick of the litter.

Once the kittens were born I began my watch to see which one tugged my heart strings.  Then I was told Puss had 3 girls and one boy (or so I’m told) so my lot was narrowed by one.  I began thinking of cute girl names…Princess, Chuck said that was too obvious but I said “well if she turns out to be a boy we can always call her ‘the cat formerly known as princess’”!  Then I thought sweet pea or shimmer (for her pretty silver coat) but once I spent some time with her I thought viper or spit fire was a better fit because whenever she saw us she would hiss and spit like nobodies business!

Finally it came down to (drum roll please) Spunk, which she has a lot of and it works for both a girl or a boy!

Spunk is learning the lay of the land/house and Patches does not like her one bit!  I’m hoping he will get used to her but I believe, like Bella, as he matures he too will look for females elsewhere and leave the comforts of his home.   As for now, we keep watch over Spunk whenever Patches is around and we know when he’s around because of his loud growling and hissing!  He’s swiped at her twice with no ill affects and Spunk, being true to her name, continues trying to make friends.

Well, thanks for listening to my cat story!

Oh what a glamorous life….

As a young girl while attending church I heard several missionaries recount their exploits on the mission field.  I heard about miraculous events, healings and other “yeah God” stuff.  What I didn’t hear was the ordinary living that also accompanies being a missionary.  Today I thought I’d give you a glimpse of my “glamorous life” as a missionary!

Woke up to find my cat had poo’ed all over the hall and bathroom rugs….picked those up and set them outside to deal with later.

Cleaned up the poo that had been stepped in (by the cat) and stamped on various tiles in the hallway.

Walked into the bathroom to wash my hands and to take a closer look at a clump of dirt on another rug.  To my surprise it moved!  Realized it was a tiny frog!

Removed the tiny frog from the bathroom to the outdoors where it belongs.

Put my clothes in basins to soak…looks to be a good day for outdoor drying, very windy.

Went into the kitchen to begin breakfast and looked in the corner to see what I thought was a pile of dirt.  Upon closer inspection it was another, albeit larger, frog!  I felt like it was the plague all over again!

Removed the larger frog to the outdoors where it too belongs!

Washed my hands yet again.

Began breakfast with Patches (our cat) talking to me the entire time….yes I will get you some milk, eventually.

Now one highlight of the morning was hearing from our son Mark.  We talked with him for about two hours through robotic voices, static, being cut off and straining towards the window (best place for reception on the phone) to hear him.

Around noon, after we were off the phone, I got around to washing the breakfast dishes.  I had to towel dry them as I need this same sink to finish washing my clothes.

Chuck pointed out why he thought the frogs were coming in….you can see light shining through in the bathroom where the wall meets the ceiling.  I guess they have their own entryway now.

Brought the basins out to the kitchen and began the hour or so chore of washing and rinsing my clothes.

Took the clothes out to line dry.

Emptied the cat box…yes there is one in the house and why Patches didn’t use it is beyond me <aarrrgh> and refilled it with sand (no cat litter here)

Visited the new kittens next door.

Gave the rugs to the ladies for washing.

Began preparing items for pizza night – slicing pepperoni, mushrooms and ham and grating mozzarella cheese for the pizza and cheddar cheese for everyday use.

Sat down for a few minutes to catch up on my devotional reading…hard to get into the whole clean/unclean, numbers stuff.

Finally got onto the computer for a few minutes to see what’s happening on Facebook and get this blog post written….all as the electricity has decided to shut down!

I’m not saying we don’t have those “yeah God” moments.  Everyday the kids are eating, going to school, have clothes to wear and are in a loving home are “yeah God” moments, but we also have these “glamorous” moments too :)

 

 

Quiet or maybe not

It’s funny, every Sunday we are woken up by drums beating and very loud singing from a church about 1/4 mile away.  Seems one of the prerequisites of starting a church is to have a PA system, no joke!  Unfortunately many misuse them…screaming into the mic with loud, gravely voices or cranking up the amp so high you get screeches and base that would knock you off your seat if sitting to closely.

Last Sunday though was different….electricity was out.  I could just imagine churches scrambling to find a generator and petrol (gas)…quick, someone get a generator so we can have service for goodness sakes!  Ah, peace and quiet, that is until a generator must have been found because the shouting, I mean preaching, began.

Figured we were safe on Monday since it isn’t necessarily a “church” day but around 2 in the afternoon the PA was cranked up and we were subjected so some (sorry if I offend anyone) not so nice singing.  I’m no singer so I’m not about to get up in front of a group on a loud speaker and sing but hey, that’s me!

I pray those who want to hear God can hear him over, and in spite of, the PA system.

All work?

image

Arrived today at C4KK to find my new desk had been delivered.  I know it looks pre-fab but it’s actually hand made.  Most things out in the villages are hand made…my dresser drawers, bed and kitchen cupboards to name a few. 

You may think that’s pretty nice but remember with hand made items dimensions are never standard.  I remember calling a friend back in the states to have her measure the heighth of her kitchen cupboards so mine could be at the standard heighth. Not something you would normally think about when buying cupboards.

Makes it a bit more of a thinking job to get tables, desks or even cupboards and here you tend to take what you get. Too much of a hassle to get something fixed. That’s why we are pretty specific with our instructions, but that doesn’t always work out either!

I like the new desk and it seems to be at the correct heighth and width, although the drawers are on the left and I’m right handed but that is definitely acceptable. Too bad electricity is out though (been out for 2 days here), can’t even set up my computer to work at the new desk.

Good eats!

C4KK now has kitchen space to hold bulk items

and that’s exactly what’s been done.  Today I thought I’d give you an approximate break down of how much food C4KK uses on a weekly basis.  The amounts will vary depending on how many kids are there….right now the 10th-11th graders are away at school and in February 5 more kids (the new 9th graders) will be leaving for secondary.  But in April all the secondary students (9 kids) will be at C4KK so amounts will increase.

Tea leaves – .2 lbs  The kids have tea every morning for breakfast and Ann makes tea 6 nights a week after dinner.  This is “British” tea, meaning they make it with milk, water and tea leaves

Milk – 5 gallons  This is mainly used for tea purposes.  The kids normally drink water with their meals or juice if Ann purchases it

Bread – 25 loaves  They will eat 5 loaves per day for breakfast and a couple of days Ann makes donuts instead of having “loaf” (that’s what they call bread)

Wheat flour – 26 lbs  This is used for making chapatti (which they have once a week) and the breakfast donuts

Eggs – 90  They will begin to have eggs approximately 3 times per week for breakfast

Rice – 29 lbs  This is a staple food and is eaten about 4-5 times per week

Soy pieces – 3 lbs  Soy is a new item for the kids and they really like it and I like they are getting another source of protein

Spaghetti – 12 lbs  No pasta sauce for the kids, they simply boil the spaghetti and add tomatoes, onions, etc. for flavor

Beans – 26 lbs  They either have red or black beans throughout the week.  Githeri (another staple food) is normally served on Sunday and it consists of beans and maize

Maize flour – 21 lbs  This flour is mainly used for making ugali (flour and water cooked together to form a cake-like consistency)

Maize – 11 lbs  Used in githeri

Green grams – 9 lbs  A veggie much like a pea, but smaller.

Meat – 7 lbs  Ann purchases beef (bone in) once a week for the kids.

Sugar – 18 lbs  This seems a bit high in my opinion and we are working with Ann on bringing the consumption of sugar down.

Then throughout the week there is the purchase of onions, carrots, potatoes, garlic, ginger and other spices and veggies.  Also from the shamba (garden) they get tomatoes, sukuma and cabbage.  Ann will also begin purchasing fruits, she’s partial to apples, for the kids to have during the week.

We are estimating the food we purchased in bulk to last at least a month and that (along with the cost for cooking the food) was approximately $890.  Which, of course, doesn’t include the fresh stuff (i.e. fruits).  As we move forward we’ll get a better grip on those costs and at that time I can give you all a better monthly estimate of food costs for C4KK.  If you’d like to help with this monthly cost, either with a one-time  or recurring donation, please visit our secure donation site to set up your gift (please choose “Children’s Shelter (C4KK) and Farm Project” from the Allocation drop down list).

Thanks everyone!

What’s in a day?

I’m trying to write a blog post every day…doesn’t always happen but I’m trying!  Seems some days just don’t seem worth the ink on paper (or bytes on computer?).  Not saying anything depressing, simply it’s life as usual and do you really want to hear about my day?  Today you don’t get a choice, here it is!

This week I’ve been at C4KK most days, thankfully there is electricity there so I can work on the computer throughout the day and coordinate with Ann on various items and see the kitchen being stocked and many other every day things, which I really like.  But today I am staying home for a couple of reasons.

One, it’s pizza day and pizza ingredients need to be prepared, which doesn’t take me all day but I hate the thought of coming home around 6pm and THEN starting the prep work and finally eating around 9pm…don’t like it.  This reminds me too, I am out of ham, on my last portion of mozzarella cheese and have 2 more cans of mushrooms which means a trip to Nairobi is in order to get these items :(

Two, I need to do some cleaning.  I’m not in the mood to do a full mop of the floors so perhaps a simple sweeping, cleaning the bathrooms and that’s it.  Update:  cleaned the bathrooms but didn’t sweep….spiders get a reprieve for a few days.

Three, I felt like vegging out today.  My mind went to mush this morning as I did my nails and watched something about 25 best/worst plastic surgeries in Hollywood!

Now as I write this post the electricity has gone out.  We’ve been pretty lucky lately in that it seems to stay off only a very short time, so far it’s been 20 minutes and my battery on my computer is quickly dwindling.  Update:  electricity came back on approximately an hour later and I decided to bake some brownies a friend sent :)

Boring, right?  Well, it’s life for me today here in Kenya…I am, however, thankful for the beautiful sun shinning in my window, the cool breeze coming in, the fact my pizza prep doesn’t involve electricity (hopefully it will be on so we can actually cook the pizza!), the time I had this morning with the Lord, the encouragement of His word and for this day, boring or not!

Another day

Seems today is just another day at C4KK….

- checking out the new kitchen and finding many doors/drawers not working (big surprise)

- realizing I didn’t misplace a piece of paperwork, it hasn’t been collected yet and now need to “push” the person to get the paperwork (fun, fun)

- internet is FAST here and I shouldn’t get used to it (darn)

- boys are healing nicely from their circumcision and should be seeing the doctor later this week for a check up (thank you Lord)

- getting ready to burn another CD for the kids here (hmmm…rap gospel or what?)

And since I haven’t had any pictures lately…

walkway through shamba

this latrine is located near the shamba so workers have a toilet and shower to use

having fresh eggplant for lunch....straight from the shamba!

 

- just found out the boys will be going back to Tala with us to see the doctor (they were supposed to go yesterday but didn’t)

- now it’s lunchtime (spaghetti and eggplant stew)!

 

ATM’s and other waiting games

Nothing too unusual about today but I thought I’d give you a small glimpse into a couple of typical situations we run into almost daily and today was no exception.

We were at C4KK yesterday (Monday) and planned on meeting Ann and Nancy (house mom and her daughter) in Tala today at 10am.  It’s time for the secondary students to head back to school and Nancy, plus a few other secondary students, needed a few items which couldn’t be purchased in Joska (where C4KK is located).  10am came and we waited for the call from Ann saying they were in Tala.  Instead of starting something at home we waited and waited and waited.  Finally at 11 Ann called and said she had arrived.  By this time we had decided to begin other projects at home and told her she would either have to wait for us to finish (approximately an hour) or go ahead and get the items.  She opted to get the items, drop Nancy off at school then head back to C4KK.  Oh and the reason she was late, Nancy needed to get her hair done before going to school.  I know, I know a phone call would have been nice, right!?

Yes, that is a typical event here for us.  You set up a time to meet someone and it’s like my time doesn’t mean anything.  Plus, I’m made to feel like the bad guy when I don’t cave in to their time schedule, which they interrupted my schedule with their tardiness.  Now in this particular situation Ann did not try to push us into anything, I’m just saying what typically happens.

Then I needed to go into Tala for a few items.  One was to pay for the items Ann had purchased earlier.  Thankfully we are good friends with the shop owner at Sunny Lucky and he gave her the items and we could pay later…thank you Sumil!  Before paying, though, I had to get cash.  I went into the 1 of 2 ATM’s our bank has and found it was not operating.  I looked towards the next ATM and found a very long line.  I am not very good with standing in Kenyan lines….no personal space is given.  But I needed to get cash in order to do my thing so I stood in line, in the hot sun, baking my skin off.  Why, you ask would it take so long?  The gentleman behind me in line, who by the way was very courteous and did not stand on top of me in line, gave me some insight into this very question.  He said many people go into the ATM with no idea of what to do.  Then, even if they know their bank balance they check the balance and get a receipt, take out cash and get a receipt, view the menu items and get a receipt.  He seemed just as frustrated with the long wait as I was!

Finally I was able to get into the ATM and finish my business, rather quickly I might add too, take care of errands and head home.  A simple errand of running into town turned into a 2 hour ordeal, with 40 minutes of that standing in the ATM line!

It’s a new year

New day, new year, new beginning?  I’ve never been one for new years resolutions.  I figure everyday is a chance to begin anew and today is no exception. 

Today does however have a feeling of freshness.  I’ve completed reading the Bible through this past year.  Ok I have to confess, I still have December 31st to read.  But over the past few weeks I’ve felt the desire to read the Bible a little differently, be less on a schedule and more in a meditative mood with God.

I will still use a reading plan but it isn’t with the goal of reading through the Bible in a year.  Guess my human nature still needs a bit of structure.

I encourage you to ask God how you can get to know Him and serve Him better this year.  May God grant us all wisdom, clarity and an ever increasing desire to be with Him.