Prayer Updates

Hello Readers :)

Thank you once again for stopping by. I am sorry it has been so long since my last post, we had no power for two days, which means no wifi. During that time I was sick with the flu, so I was stuck in bed anyways. Yesterday I was still recovering from being sick, and also said goodbye to two amazing volunteers; Andy and Mari from California. Got to have supper with them and see them off at the airport which was cool. My stomach feels much better, and yet I don't quite feel like myself.

And this morning I was praying and talking to God, and I had the urge to blog and ask for more prayer. And then I thought "Man, I have asked for a lot of prayer in the last little while, how much more should I really be asking for??". But then I opened the Sword of the Spirit (the Bible)  and read this:

And pray in the spirit on all occasions

with all kids of prayers and requests.

With this in mind, be alert and always

keep on praying for all the Lord's people.

~ Ephesians 6: 18 ~

And right there, I realized that there is no such thing as "asking for too much prayer". God is amazing, and shows me things when I need them. So if you could please pray for me, I am struggling with a few things. First of all, I am ready to be home now, so I am trying to figure out God's purpose for the last twelve days of my adventure because clearly I am not home yet for a reason. Also, all of my joints are stiff and sore and I have no idea why; they have been this way for about four days now. I am not really my usually energetic and happy self, and it bothers me because even the mom's notice and ask what is wrong because I am not chatty and bubbly. I am not too sure what is up with my body, so I am trying to seek God in that.

As for the babies, most of them are doing better. Cathy lies in her crib flailing her arms and legs which is a blessing because her limbs were very floppy last time I posted!! Thank you Lord :) Sophie is doing better although she is still coughing. Trevor is doing sooooo much better!! And I am not too sure the status on Jewel; her face looks cleared up yet she is still in Isolation, so I'm not too sure what is up. Hannah and Tai have now also been admitted into Isolation for sever coughing. We now have six babies in Isolation and only five in Infant A... not a good thing. Please keep these babies in your prayers!! They need them a lot right now.

I am just going to have some breakfast and then go down to see the babies!! I saw them a little yesterday, but I wasn't really feeling up to it. But today is a new day and I feel awesome because My God is with me and He is going to heal me :) Being sick not only sucks because I am sick, but it also means I don't get to see the babies and I definitely miss them.

Thank you for reading, and thank you for looking back for updates all the time, even when there are none. I appreciate it.

Love: Rach :)

Ps. an update after doing two feedings: Cathy, Sophie and Trevor are out of Isolation!! Praise God :)

Sick Babies

 

Trevor and Cathy in the Isolation room 

Sophie in Isolation

 

and Jewel also in Isolation.

I love this picture of her!! She looks like she is contemplating life :)

 

 

Please keep praying for these sick babies.

Prayer is Powerful

Hey guys,

I have been learning how to pray more so that I connect with God in a new way, and I love it!! Prayer is sooo very important and I think I forget that sometimes. Thank you all for your continued prayers for me and for these children. I know sometimes we pray at the start of the mission trip, but as time goes on, we forget to pray for those who are away. Please keep praying!! Each one of you is a warrior for Jesus Christ. Satan will try to tear you down and place excuses in your heads, but STAND UP!! Please keep praying.

I have some prayer requests that are urgent at this time. We have way too many sick babies at this time. Ranging from colds to the flu to pneumonia to asthma. These poor babies can't catch a break.

• Cathy has pneumonia, for the second time since I have been here
• We were trying to feed her and she coughed so much she puked up all of her milk
• I was feeding her water but she was coughing so bad, for at least ten minutes straight.
• She has fallen asleep now, so please pray for her as she sleeps!!
• Sophie also has pneumonia
• Her symptoms are not nearly as bad as Cathy's though
• Trevor has asthma they think
• He can barely drink his milk because he is so clogged up everywhere.
• And he coughs like crazy
• Jewel has a rash on her face, that is going away, but please pray that it won't come back.

And for all the other babies as well who are in the same room as the sick ones. Please send up a chorus of prayers to our Heavenly Father on behalf of these children. And spread the word!! I want this prayer to be contagious instead of the baby's sicknesses.

Love, Rach :)

Pictures :)

 David

Mama Rachel (left), Mama Dorcas (middle) and Mama Phoebe (right)

They were praising God because "if we don't, the rocks will cry out!!" I was told :) 

Freddy and Daniel

 

Patrick; my son and pretty much my favorite! 

 

Whit 

Naima 

Edward

 

Lamual; three weeks old, our youngest baby and newest arrival

 

 

The past couple of days have been good. Nothing too much is new. Hopefully we can go to Juja Farm tomorrow!! Then I will be able to post some pictures of the kids that are there and give you an update on them. I hope all is well with you, and thank you for stopping by!!

 

Love: Rach :)

 



HE is ALIVE!!!

Happy Easter everyone!!!

I hope as you read this you remember that Jesus died and rose again for everyone's sins. HE forgives you for everything and wants to have a personal relationship with you :) Seek Him!!

This weekend has been super crazy (I tried to post last night but the wifi was down), I will lay it out for you:

Friday:
Get ready for 9:45am to go to Easter Friday service at Overcoming Faith Church which starts at 10am. Waiting...waiting..9:59....waiting.....10:05....Then at 10:10 Winnie comes to pick me up. We pile the kids in the van and arrive at church at 10:30. Praise and Worship was amazing!! It has been a long time since I have been able to worship like I do at home in church so it was lovely. There was a group from a university leading and they picked songs like we have in church. Church was decent too, but it was long. It was supposed to end at 12, but it was done at 1:30!!! And then, Winnie and I piled all the kids into the van and started for home (down a one-way) when we got flagged down and told we needed to come back to church so the kids could sing a song and get videotaped. Remember how we were driving down a one-way?? yeah so we drove the wrong way down it to get back to church. While the kids were singing Winnie decides she wants to go home, so she gets someone else to drive us. This is fine only in the end I waited for a whole hour to get the kids in the van, then he wasn't there so we had to wait for him and by this time the kids where bored with sitting so they were gone and we had to reload them...it was the definition of GONG SHOW!!! It was crazy. So got back at 2:30 to Happy Life grabbed a snack for lunch and went down to feed the babies. Chilled in the afternoon and got to FaceTime Sarah Martens which was fantastic!! Then at about 7:15 it started thundering and lightning and raining a bit. I was like "sweet, I will just grab my handy dandy umbrella and go up onto the roof to watch the lightning!!" Let me tell you how bad of an idea that was!! I thought it was raining down, like normal rain, but it was SHEETING. I was soaked in seconds. Then, all of a sudden the power goes out, just at the time of feeding. I look down over the balcony to where the older kids are supposed to be getting ready for bed and I see a single light, so I went down there to bring them another one. Between the building I am living in and that building though is this open area, which was now filled with about 5 inches of water!! By this time it has been raining for about 20-30 minutes... I was down there for a while and then I offered to go up and feed the babies so they didn't have to get soaked too. So I went and fed the babies, and it was later than usual by this time, so I was feeding babies two at a time!! It was great :) Then as I was going to be, the power popped on. Story of my life!!

Saturday:
Slept in until 7am!! Haha. Got ready for the day and went to feed the babies just like a normal morning. Basically chilled all day and fed babies. I also met a wonderful girl, Ashara, from New York City, who is here for school. We hit it off right away and we were chatting for a while!! The elections are FINALLY over...it has been almost a month, but praise God it has been mostly peaceful. There was a court case against Kenyatta (the winner), because the loser, Odinga likes to cause a stink. In the end the court ruling was in favor or Uhuru Kenyatta and he will be officially signed on April 9th. It was super loud here again when the people found out!! There is a new two week old baby here named Lamual and he has become one of my favorites :) I spent a lot of this day cuddling him. I got to Skype Kenge :) and then the kids were dying Easter eggs with Mari and Andy which they loved. I went to feed the babies for the night and my day ended with being able to cuddle with Lamual. He is pretty much the only one young enough to fall asleep in your arms, and it is awesome!!

Sunday:
On Saturday, I invited Ashara to come to church as well as another friend Olivia, who invited one of her friends, Edith. They came over in the morning ready to go to church. Today was a BUSY church day. In the past little while we have had many new children; Daniel - 10, twins who don't speak any Swahili or English, Dominic and Peter - 3 ish, another 3 year old boy, Kennedy - 1 1/2, Ray (who I thought I named Erik, but they changed it..) - 1 and Lamual - 2 weeks. These kids all came to church with us to get dedicated, like baby dedication at home, and so that was interesting because we very rarely take that many babies... But we also have kids that are getting adopted so we brought them to get prayed for!!: Abidah - 2, William - 2, Ethan, - 1 1/2 and Tendai - 8 months. It was super crazy, but it worked out. And most of the babies didn't even cry in church, thank the Lord :) I kind of felt like the mom of seven though...because I was making bottles and getting diapers changed and being busy making sure all of the babies were okay. We got back home and fed the babies and then Andy took us all out for lunch; Mari, Olivia, Edith and I. It was a buffet, which was pretty amazing. Chilled in the evening and fed the babies before bed. Got back upstairs to hear that the youth group got back safely from Mexico!! I was so pumped and thankful that they are all safe and sound. I got to Skype with Erik before bed, which made my day :)

I am definitely going to miss being a "mom" to these babies, because I love them like my own. When one doesn't want to eat, I try to sit with it until it does. If one is sick, I cuddle it because that's all anyone wants when they are sick. And if they are crying I try to make things better :) They have become my babies and it is gonna suck to leave them. I might take a couple home in my suitcase!!! Just kidding. But I am already praying that God will bring me back someday soon because I love Kenya. I am excited to come home in 23 days, and yet it will be a sad time saying goodbye.

Thank you for all of your prayers for me!! I really appreciate them. And I am sorry that it has been a while since my last post, but the power has been out and wifi has been down, and it has been a crazy weekend!! I will try to post some pictures shortly. Of the new babies and kids too!!

Love: Rach :)

You Love Me Anyway

I have no idea who you have been telling about my blog but tons of people are reading it lately!! Thank you for your support, it means the world, honestly.

So last night there was a thunder and lightning storm, it was pretty sweet. I am hoping for lots more in the next month, they are my favorite. When I see the lightning I am so reminded of God's infinite-ness!! He is truly an amazing God. It blows my mind that HE wants to spend time with me, even if I don't want to spend time with Him. Compared to God's love, mine in return is nothing, and yet He wants it!! How crazy :) With Easter coming up, God is showing me how great His love really is. What He did on the cross sucks, but I will take the free gift that He is offering to me. There is a song by the Sidewalk Prophets called You Love Me Anyway that reminds me of Easter.

The question was raised, as my conscience fell
A silly, little lie, it didn’t mean much

But it lingers still In the corners of my mind

Still you call me to walk on the edge of this world
To spread my dreams and fly but the future’s so far
My heart is so frail I think I’d rather stay inside

But You love me anyway
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
You love me anyway
Oh Lord, how You love me how You love me

It took more than my strength, to simply be still
To seek but never find, all the reasons we change
The reasons I doubt, and why do loved ones have to die?

But You love me anyway
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
You love me anyway
Oh Lord, how You love me

I am the thorn in Your crown, but You love me anyway
I am the sweat from Your brow, but You love me anyway
I am the nail in Your wrist, but You love me anyway
I am Judas’ kiss, but You love me anyway

See now, I am the man that called out from the crowd
For Your blood to be spilled on this earth shaking ground
Yes then, I turned away with this smile on my face
With this sin in my heart tried to bury Your grace

And then alone in the night, I still called out for You
So ashamed of my life, my life, my life

But You love me anyway
Oh, God… how you love me
You love me anyway
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
You love me anyway, Oh Lord, how You love me

You love me, You love me
You love me, You love me
How You love me
How You love me
How You love me

God is so good. Living for Him is like no other thing in the entire world. I know that I wouldn't be in Africa right now if I hadn't surrendered my life to Him. Yes it is hard, and I have had my share of troubles and sicknesses, but I am learning to trust the Lord through these things and seek His face even more. Lately I feel like I am learning how to study the bible a bit more. I feel like I am really connecting in ways that I didn't before, and I like it!! Some days are still hard, but lately I have had more good days than bad ones. That is a little glimpse into my walk with God right now :)

I tried to post pictures too, but the wifi is too slow :( I will try again soon though!!

Love,
Rach :)

Mandazi and Matumbo

Hey!! :)

I hope you are doing well and thank you for continuing to support me in reading and prayer. I appreciate it more than you may know.

Sunday was a pretty good day, although I miss church at home terribly. That is something I am definitely excited to come home to. I had to say good bye to Dan and Tasha though, which was very sad. I only knew them for a short time but we connected so well and I appreciated their knowledge and our conversations. I do know, though, that I will always have a place to stay in Ontario, California if need be :)

Monday was a pretty chill day, feeding babies and doing laundry. But in the evening a girl by the name of Jerry cam over to teach Mari and I how to make mandazi!!! It is basically deep fried dough...but it is amazing!! If anyone wants to try some when I get home, be sure to let me know :)

It was lots of fun, but we made soooo many!! Too many.....

Today was a good day as well; got up for a run this morning, did a load of laundry and fed the babies in the morning. At 10, Mari and I headed off to Victorious-Joy Children's Home and School. It is a 30 bob Matatu ride and then a decent walk, but it is worth it. The kids were outside on recess when we arrived so we greeted them and went on inside. There we chatted with Boaz (the principal) and Mary (head teacher) about their plans and dreams for this school. We also got to meet Rose, who founded the home and hear her story and dreams. She was an orphan herself and had always promised God that she would help at least one orphan. She had her first orphan about eight years ago, and he is now in Form 4 (grade 12), and has had many since then. Her goal is to buy a big property and move there. Right now they are renting land for the school and different land for the orphanage, for which they pay 14,000/= per month (approx. $164.71 CDN). The property that Rose is looking at right now is 4 acres with a large building on it that they could start using right now instead of building. The land and building costs 8 million /=, $70,588.24 CND, ish. Victorious-Joy has been a certified organization for the last five years, and has been running on sporadic donations since. They rely so hard on Jesus and the fact the He alone is able to sustain them, it is amazing!! I would ask you to take some time to pray for this organization that they would know the direction that The Lord is taking them, and that the money for the land would come in when God says. Thank you.

Then after we stopped at Home Depo for groceries (not at all like Home Depot at home) and headed back for the afternoon feed. Did the feeding, but some of the babies got immunizations today so tey are feeling a little cranky :(. Relaxed and watched a movie in the early evening and went for supper at 6:30 to Lucy's place where I tried Matumbo. It was NASTY (thats right Dad, nasty!!). It is goat intestine...but it looks like some fuzzy thing you would find in the ocean. The taste was fine, but it felt like I was chewing on a rubber tire!? It was not my favorite thing in the world at all. The rest of the meal was great; pilau (rice), sakuma wiki (greens similar to spinach), black beans and chapot (chapati). Then we came back to feed the babies and now I am ready for bed.

I hope you enjoy reading about my daily life. I am not too sure what to blog about other than this :)

Love you!!

And please pray for the Cornerstone Youth group on their Mexico mission trip!! My Erik is on the trip as well as many many people I care for a ton and I would love for them to learn lots as well as come back home safely :)
http://cstonechurch.blogspot.ca/

Rach :)