Jambo everyone!

I’m back in Kenya! I arrived to cold, wet weather! Coming from Tri-Cities, WA, which had been in the low 100’s Fahrenheit, I have been bundling up in sweaters and wearing my house slippers whenever I can get away with it! But still, I’m glad to be back!

I arrived two days before the Kenyan presidential elections, which took place as scheduled. Many people in the country didn’t venture out beyond their local voting center, to perform their civic duty. From there, people just stayed home, waiting for the President Elect to be announced and praying for peace throughout.

The competition between the top two candidates was about as tight as it could be, with the vote count fluctuating back and forth over a period of a very tense seven days! The media continued to remind the citizens of Kenya that there is a constitutional process that should be followed to the end. Violence wouldn’t solve anything and if the runner-up felt he hadn’t gotten a fair shake, the matter should be taken up in a court of law. The general consensus was: whichever candidate did not prevail would take it to the court. And that is exactly what did happen. So again, all of Kenya is waiting. Prayers for continued peace would be greatly appreciated!

I mentioned in my last update, that in order to build a much needed perimeter security fence, Jeff had to cut down hundreds of trees. (I had written 480 trees, but the number was actually a bit over 600, when all was said and done!) When I arrived at home there were piles and piles of wood, all at different stages of “processing.” Logs to be split into firewood. Offcuts (the outside cuts; one side being bark and the other side smooth), hand cut timbers (like 2X4s and 2X6s), firewood to be stacked, brush to be burned. The scope of work to be done was, at first, daunting and overwhelming!

But when Jeff and I looked at it practically, we could see that yes, there was a lot of work to be done, but with a bit of organization and the help of about 150 of our kids who were able, it was a possibility!

All hands on deck! Jeff, myself, missionary Beth Ann, social workers, aunties, uncles, kids… even Nurse Abby… sorted, carried and stacked wood! We also created and burned huge piles of leaves, pine needles and brush! It is still a mess, but it’s now an organized mess! LOL!

Our new perimeter fence is absolutely amazing! Four fences in total; two electric fences in the center, a regular barbed wire fence along the road (to protect the public from accidently coming in contact with the electric fence), and an inner fence with “shade netting” to make sure our kids don’t touch the hot wires!

As many of you know, we have had quite a bit of theft at our place over the past few years. Now the joke is that our firewood should last longer than usual, because of the new fence! Anyway, it has greatly increased our ability to keep the bad guys out and those of us inside the fence, safe! Thanks to all of you who made it possible! It will provide safety and peace of mind for years to come!

Right now, I’m in Nairobi with Nurse Abby and Joanie. This morning was Joanie’s long awaited appointment to fit her with the audio processor that goes with the cochlear implant, which was surgically placed about a month ago!

The appointment was at 9:00 this morning. Joanie was happy to be going on an adventure, having absolutely no idea what was about to happen. That has been one of the hardest things about this journey so far; there is no way to explain to her why she had surgery, why there is now a lump (the implant) on the right side of her head… then today, why do these doctors and nurses want to touch that lump and put this scary looking apparatus on her ear? Joanie will be 3 years old on Friday, but with such limited communication, there has been no way to prepare her for any of this! As excited as I am for her, my heart also breaks as she goes through this scary journey, not knowing what to expect next.

The audiologist fitted the device and connected it to a computer, where she could see exactly what was going on. There were lots of explanations about frequencies, volume, programs, battery charging, drying the device every night, how to use the remote, when to use disposable batteries instead of the rechargeable ones, how to clean it, etc. All the while, Joanie was screaming bloody murder… and this was before the device was even activated! Poor thing! She was terrified!

The audiologist fitted the device and connected it to a computer, where she could see exactly what was going on. There were lots of explanations about frequencies, volume, programs, battery charging, drying the device every night, how to use the remote, when to use disposable batteries instead of the rechargeable ones, how to clean it, etc. All the while, Joanie was screaming bloody murder… and this was before the device was even activated! Poor thing! She was terrified!

Twice the doctor allowed me to pick her up and settle her down. I stood up, holding her, bouncing her, shushing her (not sure if she could hear me or not) and it didn’t take long for her to quiet down and act like she just wanted to go to sleep. But as soon as she quieted, the doctor wanted us to try again, and the whole traumatic drama would start over again.

The doctor said that Joanie’s reaction, especially being so young, is not uncommon and that we will soon see the wonder that Joanie starts to experience as her brain learns how to process sound, and as she gets used to the audio processor. Very soon she will begin to make the connection that the processor is her “ear” and wearing it during all waking hours will become normal.

Since leaving the doctor’s office, I have been pleasantly surprised that she hasn’t been messing with it at all! Even when I had to remove it to change her clothes (we are also potty-training at the moment), she didn’t mind me putting it back on. Hopefully, it was just the atmosphere in the doctor’s office, complete with wires connecting her to a computer and three strange women in scrubs, that she was uncomfortable with. This afternoon, back at the guesthouse, she has been fine! Abby has been showing her videos of people with implants; she watches and points to her own. She is already making the connection that this is a good thing! She even dug out some small things from the guesthouse toy box, pretending to fit Abby with a similar device! She put a bigger round thing on Abby’s head, behind the ear, and a smaller thing in the ear, using a piece of pink jump rope to connect the two! I’m telling you, Joanie is a bright little girl and I know she will be okay!

Today the audio processor was set at only 10% volume. It is important to increase it gradually, waking up the part of the brain that recognizes and processes sound. When we see the audiologist again, eight days from now, the volume should be at 30% and we should be starting to see Joanie making connections between sounds and things (or people) that make those sounds. This is definitely a marathon, not a sprint!

Beginning next week, Joanie and I will be traveling to Nairobi two to three times per month, for four days at a time, receiving speech therapy. Today, the doctor explained that it’s really me who will be getting the therapy. LOL! The speech therapist will go over exercises with me and Joanie, then we will go home for a few weeks and practice what we learned and teach the home staff to do the same, then back to Nairobi to continue the process. We definitely have a long road ahead, but Joanie’s miracle will all be worth it!

I had so many other things I wanted to update you on, but this is enough for now! There’s always next month!

Thanks so much for sticking with us! Your prayers, encouragement and other support literally keep us going!

GIGATT (God is Good All the Time)!

Mama Carla

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