Jambo everyone!
I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your summer! Here, it is still cold and rainy with lots of MUD! There is no such thing as a clean floor right now, especially when a Great Dane lives in your room! LOL!
We, like many of you, are still living Groundhog Day. School remains closed, so the kids are home. They are still having homework time a few hours per day. They are still doing chores every day. They are still having specially planned activity time every day. I feel like my updates are the same every month!
The President of Kenya has, however, announced the opening of the country. I’m not really sure how I feel about that and am so glad I’m not the one who has to make those hard decisions! Although the number of COVID cases has risen every day since March, the government did an amazing job of keeping it contained to a few counties! They literally locked down the affected places and kept the virus from spreading across the country.
Now, with the country open, it’s a scary thing to think about! As the decision of whether or not to open was being made, it was said that, “Either we stay closed and save lives but kill the country (economy), or we open up and take the chance of more people dying, but save the country.” Like I said, I do not envy leaders, from all over the world, who have to make these terribly difficult decisions!
While they have been home, some of the older boys have enjoyed learning some new skills! Peter Barasa, our maintenance man, has been teaching them how to use power tools and letting them help finish up building, sanding, and varnishing the tables and benches for the dining tent!
The boys have been enjoying it so much! They have also enjoyed mowing the lawn, trimming the fence, using the weed-eater (although sometimes they want to use it as a lawn mower, which irritates Jeff to no end. LOL), hang out watching the mechanic work on the vehicles, etc. In some ways, it has been good for our kids to be at home, experiencing things that are usually left to the professionals, while the kids are in school.
Jeff and I are good friends with a Muslim couple, who last week blessed our kids with a feast! (If you know In Step kids, you know that, to them, food is the most important thing in the world! It never ceases to amaze me how excited they get over food!) Anyway, the Muslims have a holiday in which they celebrate when God told Abraham to sacrifice his son, but then, after Abraham proved his obedience, God provided a ram for the sacrifice. In remembrance of this, the Muslims give goats to charity.
Our friends got together with their other friends and gave our kids four goats! They also provided flour and cooking fat so the kids could have the Kenyan favorite, chapatti (similar to a tortilla but fried thicker and with more fat), to go with the goat! We added in some stewed plantains (cooking bananas) from our farm and had a party!
The boys enjoyed helping cut up the slaughtered goats with a panga (machete), followed by a big knife to make the pieces smaller, while the girls, along with a few boys, spent the day cooking chapatti! Our friends and their kids joined in the festivities and it was a wonderful day!
Our posho mill (grain grinding machine) should be installed any day now! In fact, it was supposed to arrive last Saturday, but the guy didn’t show up (which really isn’t unusual here). It will be so nice to be able to grind our maize, millet, etc. right here on site!
Over the years, we have had a hard time finding reliable, affordable and honest grinding businesses. Also, as we grind a couple hundred pounds of maize at a time, it is quite a chore to have to take it off the campus to be ground! I was planning on including a picture of the mill in this update, but since it hasn’t yet been installed, I can only show you a picture of the “posho house”. We are all excited and eagerly anticipating putting it to use. I would like to especially thank Tami Silk, a friend and member of the ISF board, for spearheading the fundraiser to make this happen! Also, if you are one who gave to this cause and were supposed to receive a hand-sewn, reusable shopping bag and haven’t received it, I probably have it! Tami left some with me to hand deliver when I got to Washington for a visit. But because of the travel ban, I haven’t been able to get to Washington, so your shopping bags are still here in Kenya!
I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned the fact that we are constantly dealing with rats. We have never before been able to have cats because Mandazi (the dog that we lost last year) wouldn’t allow it! Mandazi was known for killing any creature that dared to come on our compound (cats, mongoose, porcupine, etc.)! Now that he’s gone, we decided it was time to get a couple of mousers, which we did a few days ago.
Many of you know that I am really not a cat person. I have never been able to figure out why cats don’t seem to understand that I’m not a fan! Cats love me, and these two kittens are no exception! For now, they are staying in our bedroom, awaiting the time when they are able to protect themselves from our two security dogs.
They like to lay on MY pillow, whether I’m using it or not! When I’m sitting on the bed, they immediately come and snuggle up around my neck or sit in the windowsill just above my head. I admit they are kind of growing on me, but I think that’s only because they are not really cats yet… they are adorable little kittens. I never thought I would see the day when I would have a litter box in my bedroom!
As I mentioned at the beginning of this letter, we also share our bedroom with another guy, Victor the Great Dane! Poor Vic! He just doesn’t know what to do about these kittens! He’s so curious, yet afraid of them. They hiss at him when he comes close and he just doesn’t know what to do. It’s like he’s on high alert with these intruders in his room, but knows there’s nothing he can do about it!
The kittens will be named during our next kids meeting. Kids will submit name suggestions and then we will take a vote. The kids are super excited about this and are already trying to think of the best names! In the meantime, I mostly call them “Stop that” and “Don’t even think about it”!
Last week, we took Linda to Eldoret for her cancer check-up. She is still in remission and is one of the happiest, most charming little girls you ever want to meet! We are so very thankful to God for healing her of such a terrible illness!
Rehema Grace, our very first baby, turned fourteen years old this week! Oh how time flies! Have we really been at this for fourteen years?!
Thanks for once again listening to my ramblings! We really appreciate you taking the time to stay involved and in touch! We are blessed by your friendship and support more than words can say!
GIGATT (God is Good All the Time)!
Mama Carla