Wedding Plans

As you all know Rich and I are getting married. We are both so happy that the Lord led us to one another. We both have a heart for the mission field and plan to continue to do God’s work here. One thing that we have been praying about and considering is whether we should get married here in Kenya or wait and get married in Arizona. We were leaning towards getting married here; it would be cheaper and easier. But after a lot of prayer and conversations we decided that we should wait and get married at home. I never had a complete peace about doing it in Kenya, but as soon as I talked to Rich about waiting, we both had a peace and excitement about it.
So now I am planning a wedding in Arizona while I am living in Kenya. Please pray for Rich and I as we make decisions and plans. We are going to get married June 20, 2009. If you have any websites or ideas about planning a wedding please send them to me.

He finally asked...she said yes!

We had a fun, eventful Valentine's Day. We started off the morning with going to a breakfast for couples at our church. The women had to wear red and this is the reason for Shauna looking great in red.
We rarely go out to eat; however, I was able to take her to a nice dinner Valentine's night and this is us right before.
Though she knew it was coming sooner or later, she had no idea when I proposed asking her to marry me. I am actually really suprised that I was able to pull it off without her expecting it. She was really suprised and after she said yes, we were able to spend a really special moment together.
When we got back to the house after dinner, Chris and Lindy had the main hallway set up really nice lined with lit candles on both sides with rose petals down the middle of the hallway. They are truly amazing friends and gifts from God. Chris actually drew this sign for us and hung it at the end of the hallway. "Pongezi" means congratulations in Kiswahili. It was a day that I know both she and I will always remember. Afterwards, we both commented on how the whole day and night could not have gone any better. It was truly a perfect day!

Take my child..for free..

After church Lindy and I went to the Nakumatt to buy a couple things. When we were standing in line a woman and her small son, Bryan, stood in line behind us. Bryan was playing with the things on the shelves and with the shopping cart, his mom told him to stop, but like most 2 year old he didn't. I turned around and smiled at them and told her that children like to play with things and she apologized for him playing with the shopping cart, I of course, told her that it is ok. Then she asked me if I wanted her child for free, that I could have him. I thought that she was kidding, she wasn't. She kept asking me if I want to keep him. I told her that I could not keep her child. She went on to tell me that life in Kenya is hard and that she couldn't take care of him. I am not sure what her story is but she seemed like she was able to keep him. They were both dressed nice and they were clean. It seemed to Lindy and I that the problem is that she just doesn't want to keep him. Lindy told me to tell her about New Life Homes, this is a place where you can take abandoned babies. This is also the place that Lindy and Chris volunteer at, and hope to adopt two children from. So I told her that if she is serious about wanting to get rid of her son that she can take him there. She asked me what the home would do with Bryan and I told her that they will find a family that can and will take care of him. Lindy told her where the home is located and then we left. As we were walking out to the car the woman called after us again and asked Lindy to tell her more about New Life Home. Lindy drew her a map and gave her the hours that she could drop Bryan off. While they were talking I remembered that I had a sucker in my purse so I got it out and gave it to Bryan. He is such a sweet boy. I stayed down on his level talking to him, he didn't speak much but you could tell that he really loves his mom. He would not let go of her. Watching her and him just broke my heart. I don't understand how a mom can not want their own child. Please join me in prayer for Bryan. I pray that he will be taken care of. One good thing is the mom is looking for someone to take care of him. You hear so many cases in Kenya where the mom abandons the child in a field or some other horrible place.

Kasarani

I have been praying for the Lord to open a door for me to be able to do more in addition to the evangelism we do in Kawangware and Kibera every Tuesday and Thursday, along with others things. I believe He answered with me now being able to go to a third part of the greater Nairobi area in Kasarani. A passionate, younger preacher named Vitalis has now joined staff with Berith Bible College, and Only Servants Ministries, and he lives and has his church in this area. He is also one of our interpreters on Tuesdays in Kibera.

I talked it over with Chris, prayed about it, and spoke to Vitalis, and he and I are now going to be doing evangelism in this part of town on a weekly basis. He was so excited when I proposed this idea to him and he said he had been praying for this very thing for a while now. I didn't take alot of good pictures my first time going on Wednesday. Kasarani is more spread out and is not as condensed as the other two places we go. As a result, there was more one on one and one on two speaking and sharing the word of God. There were still 20 people that prayed with us to receive Jesus on Wednesday. I also am believing that this will help grow Vitalis' church as we invite these people to get connected and involved in his church if they do not have a church already.

Isaac's eye exam

Isaac is a young boy who lives at Huruma Children's Home who is suppose to wear glasses. He had a pair of glasses up until a few months ago then they broke. He went without glasses for a long time and did not complain about not seeing or headaches. I decided to take him to the Optical Store and buy him a new pair. When I took him the lady who owns the shop told me that she could not change his frames, he is going to need an eye exam. I took him back for the exam and found out that Isaac has an illness called called keratoconus, which is where there is irregular growth of his corneas. He also has an allergy which makes his eyes dry and itchy. When Isaac rubs his eyes it causes his corneas to break and scar. He has been rubbing his eyes and breaking the corneas for so long that there are many scars on them. The lady at the optical store told me to take Isaac to the Kikuyu Hospital to see an eye specialist. I took him yesterday and the doctor told me that Isaac cannot wear glasses that with his condition he has two options, first is for him to get contact lenses, the other is for surgery. We took him to see if the contacts would fit on his eyes, which they did. I told them that I had to talk to Mama Zipporah before any decisions were made. I didn’t want to buy contacts, which are 10,500ksh because of his age and the fact that no one at the home knows about contacts and how to use/clean them. When I spoke to mama she told me that contacts would not work that we need to have the surgery done. The surgery which will replace his corneas is very expensive. It is going to cost about $2000 per eye; he needs the surgery on both so we are looking at $4000.

I felt bad for Isaac, he cried a lot when they tried to put the contacts in. He was trying to be strong but after so many hours of sitting and waiting and then having some guy stick contacts in your eyes, that would make anyone cry. I am praying that Isaac's eyes will not get worse and that we will be able to raise the money to ensure he gets this surgery. Please pray with us. Thanks.

Futbol at Huruma...

I was finally able to play a game with the kids on Saturday. I thought because I still run and seem to be in pretty good shape I would do much better than what I did. I was able to play with them for a whole hour, but here it is two days later and I'm still feeling it! Yes, it has been years since I've played, but playing with a rubber ball that bounces twice as high as a normal leather ball, and also playing on dirt with large rocks everywhere... I feel like I didn't do much. At the same time, it was a really great experience because I bonded with alot of the older boys through sharing a common love for the game and through playing together.

I was so proud of all of them. We had kids from around 15 to 16 years old down to 8 years old. The little kids who didn't come up to more than our waists were some of the best players. One of the most important goals came from a younger child who moved through about three different much bigger kids and actually scored. God allowed me to feel like His father heart for them. I kinda felt like a proud father everytime one of them would make a nice move. It reminded me back to my childhood when I played and had the most supportive father in the world. I also kinda felt saddened by the fact that through a wide variety of reasons, their own fathers couldn't see what amazing young guys they have turned into and how great they were at the sport. Along with continuing to love on them and pray for them, I take comfort in the truth that God gives us in His word concerning Him being a Father to the fatherless. They are absolutely amazing!!!!!
I am also blessed with the most amazing girl in my life! She is now my new hairstylist and all I can say is that I'm glad we got the first time out of the way here in Africa...haha Love you babe