Letting Him Go

Four years of deputation in a minivan = constant togetherness.  Yes, there were stressful moments because of that constant togetherness in tight quarters, but we enjoyed being together.  In fact, I loved it.

Now five years later on the mission field, my husband is getting busier and busier in the Lord's work.  Today he is making a trip out to western Kenya with Pastor Oloo to visit and encourage a new pastor out there, and also to do some outreach.  Pastor Oloo knows of a deaf man in his village that he wants BJ to meet.  (Pastor Oloo is from western Kenya.)  It is about a six hour drive from Nakuru.  They will spend a couple of days out there.

On deputation, I got quite used to having my husband with me 24/7.  Now it is no longer that way.  Oh, he still makes time for his family, and I love him all the more for it, but I don't have him constantly anymore.  It seems so often that I am saying goodbye and sending him on his way to serve the Lord.

It is not easy to let him go.  I love him.  I want him with me.  But I cannot hold him back.  Not when God gently speaks to my heart.  "Can you give him up and let him go so that I can use him more and more?"

May God use my husband this week in western Kenya, and I will be his prayer partner here at home.

 

Seth wants to be baptized soon.  Here again he is coming to us with the desire in his heart to follow the Lord on his own.  So precious.  

This morning:  "Mommy, I wish I could see someone get saved.  I wish I could be the one to tell them and then they run to tell their mommy."   I just about wept.  I hugged him tight.  My sweet boy is growing in his walk with the Lord, and it is amazing to see it in a 5-year-old. 

* Today, we are having something simple--pizza breads (little pizzas on hotdog buns because hotdog buns are what I have on hand.)  It doesn't take much to impress a 5-year-old.  Seth is excited!

Pictures at Church Today

This morning, the Oloo's dedicated their twins to the Lord.  I took some pictures at church today for the Mickeys.  Before he left, Bro. Mickey said, "It is difficult to be in one place when your heart is somewhere else."  How true that is!  I know their hearts stayed right here with their people.

Here is Brina with Ivy.

 

With BJ gone to Karen, we rode to church today in the church van.  Bro. Peterson came to pick us up and brought us home again.

See little Michael trying to hide?  He soon warmed up to me.

In the van

And here is a picture of Seth with some of his little friends.

Blessing, Seth, and Gilbert

David and his mother did not come today.  Maybe next week.

* Leftover spaghetti for today.

Sewing Projects

All of a sudden I am in a sewing mood.  I noticed that Brina has a lot of onesies that do not go with anything, so I am making her a little jumper that she can wear over them.  I found the free pattern for it here, and adapted it to hopefully fit a bigger baby.

 

Seth is so excited about this little dress, and he's very interested in what I am doing.  When he mentioned that he wished he were a girl so he could sew too, I thought, "Why not let him?"  

Boys should be able to sew on a button, right?  There's nothing wrong with him getting the hang of using a needle and thread.   He was super excited when I got him a piece of material, a needle, and let him choose what color thread he wanted to use.  He decided to make a headband for his monkey, Boo.

With some help from me, this is the finished product.  

Boo is special.  He's had Boo since he was 8 months old.  There's a lot of love between those two!  And now Boo has his very own headband.  

I will let you see Brina's little dress when I get it done.  Hopefully, it will fit her!

* For supper, fish and chips are on the menu.  We love Red Snapper, and "chips" are french fries in Kenya.  I will make homemade french fries, and BJ always fries the fish!  

Speaking of food, BJ had the opportunity to try fried termites this morning.  He says that fried termites and ugali make a very flavorful combination!  Oh, how I wish I'd been there to take pictures!!!  On second thought, I'd have probably had to taste them too.  I have this funny, weird feeling that I'm going to be eating fried termites in the very near future.  Pray for me, Friends!

Meal Ideas

I've had an idea in mind for my blog for a couple of weeks.  It is just a simple idea.  I thought I'd just add to the end of each post the meal I am planning for that day or maybe the meal we had the evening before.  I know the hardest thing about cooking for me is trying to figure out what we will eat each week as I plan my menu.

So this will not necessarily help me with ideas, but I thought it might help my readers with meal ideas.   Sometimes there are great meals we could cook, but we simply don't remember or think to make them!

The Little Things That Work

As a teacher, I love it when I find something that works.  It is such a simple thing.  Why didn't I think of it before?

Seth is an over achiever.  If he doesn't get an A plus on a paper, it really bothers him.  Hmmmm.  I wonder where his gets that from.  BJ and I are both perfectionists.  Poor kid.

Seth also has an extremely short attention span like most boys probably.  I was getting very weary of reminding him to write his name on his papers every day in school.  Then yesterday God gave me a great idea.  Why not use that over-achiever trait to my advantage?  Seth loves charts, games, and stickers when he "wins".  He is very much a visual learner.

So I made a very simple "chart" for his desk--just a small piece of paper with the words "For Remembering Your Name".

Every time he remembers to write his name on his paper without my having to tell him, he gets to put a star sticker on the little chart.  Now he is in competition with himself!  It's working!

Only one more week of Kindergarten!

The Oloo Twins and My Niece

A boy and a girl!

 

The girl is dark and the boy is light.  Aren't they adorable?  Pastor Oloo, who is by the way the national pastor here at Grace Bible Baptist Church, announced their names last night at church, Hannah Marie Oloo and Robert Mickey Oloo.  Then after church, he invited us to go see the babies at his house.  Of course, I had to get a picture so that the Mickeys could see them.

Hannah weighs 4.8 lbs, and Robert weighs 5.5 lbs.  Their mother, Carol, is doing great.  She was even in church last night.  

Also, my sister had her baby on Sunday, a healthy baby girl.  Wish I could hold her!

Her name is Audra Leigh, and she weighs 7lbs 14 oz.  Look at those cheeks!

Termites, Anyone?

We had another big rain last night, and this morning we woke up to find termites everywhere inside and outside the house.

Termites live in the ground until it rains hard.  When they hear the rain pounding on the ground, thousands of them come out.  Then they are attracted to light, so they try to get in at our windows.  As they fly around, their wings fall off.

There are thousands upon thousands of termite wings on our sidewalk outside.

I walked around the corner, and saw that the ants were having a feeding frenzy.

The birds are enjoying our yard right now too.

I am told that Pastor Oloo fried up a bunch of termites for a going away party for the Mickeys between services Sunday.  How sweet!  I guess Stephen Mickey had pockets full of them eating them like snacks.  Shudder!  I wonder if Pastor Oloo is going to do that for us in a couple of years (or perhaps sooner).  I've heard that they taste sort of like popcorn.  Looking at these bugs today, I seriously wonder if I'd be able to put one in my mouth.  It is rude to not eat what is given you in Africa though!  Want to come for a visit during termite season???

By the way, Pastor Oloo and his wife just had twins yesterday!  I am dying to get pictures.  No one knew she was carrying twins!  We got a text from Pastor Oloo that said, "Bwana Asifiwe!  Tumepata mapacha."  (Praise the Lord!  We have gotten . . . "  Mapacha is a word that we don't hear often, so I puzzled for a moment over what the message meant.  I thought, "Is that another word for "msichana" (girl) that I don't know yet?"  Then suddenly I remembered learning that word in language school--twins!  With two little daughters already, they've been wanting a son.  I hope he got his son or maybe sons, but I know that they will be just as happy with two more little girls.

What Does Rain Mean to You?

To me it means I don't have to deal with as much dust.  It means most of the ants find their water outside of my house instead of inside.  And it means my yard is lush and green instead of dead and brown.  And frankly, I just enjoy rain.

Sunday, however, I was suddenly made aware of what rain means to Kenyans.  Bro. Jimmy, a man in the church, was saying how thankful he is for the rain we've been getting and went on to name a few blessings that come with the rain.  He mentioned that the grass is green, of course, and that the air is clean.

What he said next though convicted me of my irritation over my petty problems during the recent dry season.  He was thankful that now people don't have to search for water.  Also, because of the rain, they have plenty of food to eat because their gardens grow well.  And milk is readily available to them now because the cows have plenty of grass to eat.

When was the last time you thanked God for the blessing of rain?  We are so spoiled.  I struggle with ants during the dry season.  They struggle with basic, daily needs.  "God, forgive me."

When Missionary Kids Leave Home

Yesterday was a very sad day.  My heart was already heavily burdened for little David.  Then yesterday was also the Mickey's last Sunday with us before they fly back to the States for furlough.  They fly out today.

In June, their oldest daughter, Charity, is getting married to a young man who also grew up as an MK in Kenya.  Sweet story there!

Their next two children, Amanda and Timothy, are headed to Heartland Baptist College.  So last night at church, painful goodbyes had to be said.  The agony on their faces was killing me.  I've been there.  I know.

So what is it like for a missionary kid to leave home, to leave the people he's grown up with his whole life?  Tim got to Kenya when he was three years old.  Amanda was four or five.  The only way to describe leaving your people is as if your heart is being ripped out of your chest.

I have memories of village people running behind our truck, hands outstretched, weeping and crying as we drove away with broken hearts.  As the plane circled above my beloved mountains, I wondered if I would ever come back.  I remember begging God to at least let me be a missionary somewhere someday.  I knew that my aching, bleeding heart could find its home again on the mission field.  It has.

What challenges await a missionary kid on the other side of the ocean?  What is it like trying to fit into a culture you do not really know or understand?  What is it like having your parents 12,000 miles away when you desperately need to talk to someone who understands you?  Oh, there is so much I could say.  MK's hold a special place in my heart, and today my heart is praying fervently for two MK's I've recently come to know.  May God go with them and be their Source of strength because they will need Him more than ever before.  Will you join me in prayer for Tim and Amanda Mickey?  And don't forget to pray for their mother.  She will be leaving two more of her children and coming back to the mission field with her husband.  She lets them go so that they can serve God with their lives, but it is not easy. 

My Burdened Heart

How do you interpret when you're throat is so clogged and your eyes are about to overflow with tears?  To look into his eyes . . . eyes that are dark without knowledge of simple language skills and without the knowledge of the one true God Who loves him.  It hurts my heart.

I invite you to "walk" beside me as I walked beside 9-year-old David today.  I only have this picture for you taken last week. 

It is not time to take his picture; it is time to win his trust.  Still I long to capture the look on his mother's face as she tries to communicate with her son.  What love and yet what frustration is there.  What must it be like to not know how to communicate with your own child?  What must it be like to be deaf in a hearing world?

I went with David to Junior Church.  He sat there with the other boys trying to fit in, yet not having a clue as to what was going on.  When the other kids clapped, he clapped.  When they pointed, he copied them . . . yet his eyes are always dark not understanding.  Halfway through Junior Church, he wanted his mother, so I helped him find her.  Then I interpreted the morning service for him.  He doesn't understand much at all at this point.  My heart ached not with pity.  I don't pity the Deaf.  God made them special exactly the way He wanted them to be.  But my heart aches to help open the eyes of their understanding that they might know Jesus Christ. 

My heart aches even more to think that there are Davids in countless villages in Kenya with no one to tell them of Christ.  There are Davids in every country around the world, and so few missionaries to reach them.  Laborers in this field are indeed few.  "Lord, send forth laborers to reach the Deaf."

"Dear Jesus, . . ."

Our morning prayer time to begin school

"Dear Jesus, help us to learn today, and thank You so much for dying on the cross for us so that we don't have to go to Hell."

I love to hear him pray.

Sweet sugars for Baby Sister

5-Year-Old Conversation and Sunday Pictures

Seth:  "Mommy, I want to marry my baby sister when I grow up.  And since you are married to Daddy, we can always just be a happy family together."

I smiled at that.  I'm so glad he calls his family a happy family.

(The termites came last night after the heavy rain.)

Seth:  "Mommy, can we cook them and eat them?"

Mommy:  "No."

Seth:  "Why?  They are not poisonous."

Mommy:  "Because I do not want to eat bugs!"  (Or cook them for that matter)

Disappointment.  Poor deprived kid.  By the way, fried termites are a delicacy in some of the tribes here in Kenya!

Check out the mohawk!

No, I did NOT fix her hair like that!  It usually sticks out every which way, but this Sunday, it wanted to stand straight up!

We tried a different dress with a hat.

So pretty, but, unfortunately, the hat wouldn't stay on.  A barrette would not stay in either.  So, finally, I let her hair have it's adorable way.

More Sunday pictures:

This sweet lady offered to hold Brina while BJ and I team interpreted the church service.  She promptly fell asleep on her lap.

 

BJ interpreting for this little deaf boy, David.  His hearing mother came with him to church.  The love she has for her son is obvious.  David's signs are very limited because he has only been in the Deaf school for one year.  BJ was fingerspelling words trying to learn some of the signs that David uses for things.  The Deaf are coming, one at a time.  It is fun to watch God begin a brand new ministry with the Deaf.  BJ and I dream of one day seeing these precious souls come to know Christ.

Stranded in the Wild

Well, almost the wild.  The Nakuru National Game Park is a big park, and there are a lot of wild animals in there.

A few kilometers past the baboons, our car began to smoke and we smelled a bad smell--not a good sign.  Our troubles had actually begun a few kilometers back by the lake. 

It was quite muddy down there, and our car has a very low ground clearance.  We got stuck.

BJ was trying to ease our way across a ditch when we suddenly slid hard into it, and something broke underneath the car.  The car still ran, but it made a strange noise after that like maybe the cooling fan had bent and was scraping against something.  We hoped we could still make it through the park and then get the car serviced later on in the day.

But alas, just passed the baboons, we saw the smoke and smelled the transmission fluid that was leaking out everywhere.  And that was the end of that.

I must admit to some fear.  Here we were stranded out in the middle of nowhere with wild animals all around us.  We didn't see any right there, but that didn't mean that they couldn't see us! 

 

Every time BJ got out of the vehicle to look under the hood, my fear escalated.  The park is known to have lions and leopards, not to mention the herd of cape buffalo we just drove through!

He decided to call Bro. Mickey to let him know our situation.

But things continued to get worse.  He checked his phone and found that we had no cell phone reception in the game park!  I suddenly had visions of spending the night there in our car.  Not a pleasant thought!

A few minutes later he found that if he held his cell phone in just the right spot, he had some reception.  He was able to get through to Bro. Mickey who soon had help on the way.  (Bro. Mickey's truck was getting serviced too which meant that he couldn't come himself to tow us out.)  BJ sat like this with his phone out the window for the next two hours in case they tried to call him back! 

Brina soon got sleepy and fell asleep on my lap while we listened to Seth's new Patch the Pirate CD, "Shipwrecked on Pleasure Island".  BJ and I grinned at each other as much of the story was very applicable to our situation!  We sure weren't going anywhere anytime soon either!

When Brina woke up, she entertained us for a while.

To be honest with you, I was so disappointed I felt like crying.  We've been promising Seth this trip to the game park since his birthday, and one thing after another has kept it from happening.  Now we were only a short ways into the park and hadn't yet seen all of the animals, and we were going to have to be towed out of there. 

I knew I had two choices.  I could show my disappointment with a bad attitude and a complaining spirit, or we could decide to see the whole thing as a big adventure.  I knew a good attitude in Mommy and Daddy was very important for our children to see.  It really helped Seth to deal with the disappointment too.  I was so proud of him.  He learned a very valuable lesson--God can see farther down the road than we can, and He knows best how to take care of us even when we may not always understand.

So we still had our family day out together.  We still got to see lots of really neat animals.  And, yes, we still had fun even while sitting there stranded for a couple of hours. 

Our friends finally arrived in the church van to tow us out.  Pastor Isaac, one of the assistant pastors, and two other men from the church, turned our car around.  Seth was super impressed with how very strong they were!

Soon they had a tow rope on our car, and we left the park.

We will be going back though!  Hey, this guy gave us an open invitation to come back! 

Look at that wink!

And the exciting thing is that we still have most of the park yet to see!

To the Nakuru Game Park!

This morning excitement was running high as we four piled into our little bitty car and set off to the game park.  It was barely sprinkling, but the weather forecast promised that by 7:00 a.m. there would be little chance of rain.  The overcast skies made for perfect picture taking!

We saw monkeys, pink flamingoes, pelicans, cormorants, gazelle, zebras, waterbucks, baboons, hyraxes, cape buffalo, a jackal, and a big ol' rhino.  The park is loaded with animals!  And now for the pictures.  BJ was our animal photographer today.

African black rhino

Pelicans and cormorants on Lake Nakuru

Herd of gazelles

Waterbucks and gazelles together

Zebras

Pink flamingoes on Lake Nakuru

As you can see the natural landscape and scenery all the way through here is so beautiful!

Here was our jackal!

It is amazing that we even got to see a jackal.  They are very elusive animals.

Thompson gazelle

Notice the herd of black dots behind that gazelle.  Herd of what???  That is what we were wondering too.  As we got closer to them, I felt my heart pounding in my throat!  It was a herd of probably 200 cape buffalo, and we had to drive right through the middle of them in, I repeat, our little bitty car.

Huge herd of cape buffalo

Take a look at this big fellow

And him on the other side of the road

Some of these buffalo were literally only 5 to 8 feet from our little bitty car.  And uh, most of them did not look very happy.  Pleeeeease, don't stampede, ya'll!

We kept telling Seth how very blessed we are to get to live in Africa and that we get to go to parks like this.  Think about it.  Very few children in the States ever get to go to a game park in Kenya!  He was having the time of his life.

Soon we made it to the Baboon Cliff Viewpoint

And the view up there was spectacular!

It was right past these guys that our adventure really began.  Coming up soon is my next post Stranded in the Wild!