Anniversay

Hello All,
Can't believe that school is starting on Tues! This break has just flown by.  We still don't have our work permits/resident status.  It is so frustrating how bureaucracy works here.  There are some rules - but maybe they are followed, maybe not.  Timing is always a guess.  Not sure when anything is going to happen, but you can be sure that is will be later then "they" say it will!  Bottom line is, we have not been able to take the kids to Nakuru game park to see lions, rhino and maybe a leopard because we can't afford to pay the tourist prices.  We hope to go on a week end sometime in the next 6 months (can you see the sarcasm)?


For the Bethany Kids Children's Wing, we are still waiting for some money to show up.  We are not at an all stop just quite yet, but we are very close.  We are in the phase with the architect where we are picking out details (fixtures and such).  As soon as this is done, he will get all the documents ready for tender (going out to contractors for bids), but we can't actually send it out for bid until the BK board approves (i.e. has the money raised).  So, not sure when we will break ground on this project.  We just see that it is moving forward and it will be in God's timing!


The kids are ready to go back to school (not sure if they will admit that)!  Timothy's teacher is Mrs. Cochran and he is very excited.  Sallie is happy too.  She gets her old teacher back as she decided to move up to teach second grade.  Trevor just got his schedule.  He is a little disappointed because he did not get into the AP Chemistry class.  The Seniors have priority and there were way too many wanting the class this year.  He can take it next year, I guess.  I also will be glad that they are back in school!  I loved homeschooling but when you are working and having them home (our office is here in the kitchen and living rooms), it is difficult to get quality time.


I have had some projects lately that involve working on the ArchiCad program.  A copy of this program was donated to EMI (us) by Grafisoft.  I really enjoy working on it, although it is sometimes frustrating because of my lack of knowledge about it.  I was able to get a tutorial, and it is helping, but I am still learning.  This week I layed out a kitchen plan, a floor plan of a building that will be the medical education center and designed some windows that will be built here at the hospital.  Fun, Fun, Fun!


Jim and I are running away for a day tomorrow to celebrate our 25th.  I can't believe we have been married all that time!  Only old people are married that long - I guess we are there now.  I can still be in denial though.  We are just going to Nairobi to spend the night and have a nice dinner.  Without our resident status, we can't really do too much, so this will be fun.  We were watching old videos the other day when Jim was getting nostalgic.  Janice and Warwick, remember our jump from the Skipper's Canyon Bridge?  Jim laughs every time he sees me go before the guys even finished counting down!  What a great trip!  But, I hardly recognise the people in that video - they are so young!  Life really catches up to you.  It will be gone in a blink of an eye, but knowing that God has a plan for each of us and we just have to listen and He will be faithful, makes it all much easier. 


Please continue to pray for us, especially with how to deal with the overwhelming need here.  We continue to have people ask us for money and other items daily.  It is hard to say "no" but we can not help everyone.  Luke 6:30 says,
"Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back."  It is very hard to live by this one!  We have had several discussions in our Bible study group about this because we are all feeling the same thing - overwhelmed!
Also, if you would pray for the money to be raised for the Bethany Kids Children's Center.  They need about $4 Million.


Before I go I have a request.  I will also put this on the side bar of the blog so that people can see it later.  Can anyone record the Auburn football games for us and send them on a disk?  Mailing a disk is not too much and we sure would love to watch Auburn play again this year.  It was a banner year for us last year and we saw at least 8 games!  That would be so fun for all of us, to sit and watch a game with some popcorn and sodas!


Hope you have a good week.  We want to thank you all for reading this blog and being there for us.  We are writing our 6 month (now 7 month) update and will be sending that out soon. 


In His Hands,
Jullie T.

Great Day with Trusses

Hello All,
Yesterday was a great day (even though it was spent in the city and traffic)!  We went with a group of visitors from Engineers without Borders that are working on our kitchen at Into Abbas Arms orphanage to the steel truss and Mabati Tin companies for a tour.  We are getting a bid from them for steel trusses for the roof of the kitchen.  But, Jim and I also would like to use the steel trusses for some of the projects that we have going here.  They gave us some class room time about the truss design, we had a wonderful Indian style lunch and then we were able to tour the plant where the trusses and tin for the roofs are made.  We left there about 2:30 and (with a short stop) made it home through traffic by about 6:00.  Not too bad I would say! 
 

This is where they make the tin trusses

I haven't worn a hard hat in years!

We had a pot luck dinner at a friends house at 6:30, so I had prearranged with Rose for her to make Sukumawiki and Ugali.  That is a very common Kenyan dinner.  It was wonderful!

This is a plate of Ugali.  Rose calls it a "cake."  It is a lot like grits.  It is made from corn and really takes on the flavor of whatever you put with it.
 
The kids are outside right now picking loquats.  Not really sure why, but they like to eat them.  They are too sour for me.  I think they need to ripen some more though.

I think Sallie likes the eating part!



That was a picture of Jonathan in the tree dropping, Timothy on the ground catching and Sallie on the ground eating!

Our peers here are mostly people of the medical persuasion.  So, at many get togethers we talk about medical issues.  Sometimes, we get them into conversations about building and problems, but they outnumber us!  These doctors deal with things here that are unheard of in the States.  Many things are because of the lack of proper nutrition for pregnant mothers and children. They had a case this week of a 2 day old baby with a genetic defect that they could not even identify.  This is a great hospital for Kenyan standards, but they also talk about how easy it would be at times for a case to have a chance at survival if they were in another place and had different resources.  We take many things for granted.  And, even with all the problems, our medical system is one of the best.  Think about it next time you hear someone complaining about how bad it is!

Have a great week!
In His Hands,
Jullie T.

Hide and Seek

Hello All,
We are at another Saturday?  Wow, these weeks just fly by.  Sallie had a bit of a stomach bug this week. But she is better now. 
I mentioned how we finally got permission to get our e permits (work permits), but, we have discovered that the path is not layed with yellow brick from here!  We still have a few more hoops to jump through before we can actually get the coveted card that will declare us legal aliens.  Without this card, it is difficult to get the resident rates on any park.  The tourist rate to get into the parks is unbelievably high.  In Nakuru, we would pay $75 per person at the gate and only about $11 with a resident card.  We had planned on going to Nakuru park with the kids before school starts.  They have lions, leopard, dik-dik, flamingos, rhino and other cool animals.  But, now our date just to get the fingerprinting done has been pushed to the 31st.  The kids start school on the 30th.  So, we may have to take a Saturday in Sept to go.  We will continue to wait and hopefully we will prevail!

Yesterday, I went into Nairobi to get a few things.  I actually had about 7 items on my list when I have made a rule to only have 2.  That way I can get back before dark!  But, some of the items were in about the same location, so I felt optimistic.  We actually got 6 of the 7 done.  It was a banner day!  We were in Toi market (an outdoor used and new clothing market) and at one point were not sure if we needed to run.  We were just finishing and heading back to the car, when suddenly, many many people came running at us carrying their wares!  We stepped back onto the curb and got out of the way, and other people were saying it was the city counsel.  Apparently, the hawkers (sellers) that just line up on the street are there illegally.  So, when the council shows up, they pick up their stuff and run to avoid a fine.  It was over in a few minutes and we continued to walk to the car.  As we did, we noticed that the hawkers were setting up again!  They apparently play a game of hide and seek with the city counsil!

The beautiful pictures you see here today, were copied from another web site.  Thank you Jennifer and Scott Myre!  They are also missionaries here in Kijabe that used to live in Uganda.  Their blog is paradoxuganda.blogspot.com if you want to take a look.

I plan on updating the project page today also.  Please go to that tab on the top of the page to see what is happening with the projects that we are involved in.

In His Hands,

Jullie T.

Refreshed and Relaxed!?

Hello All,
Well we had a great time on our little holiday.  We were able to read a few books (Jim read a whole fictional book of 700 pages!), sew a little, cook some good meals, and read some more.  The kids got to go swimming some (with the hippos) and play quite a few games.  We stayed in a beautiful house on a river in Naivasha with 2 other families.  Even the resident dog had puppies while we were there.   They were so cute!  We saw some interesting animals.  I will put some pictures of them here:

(How often can you get a wildebeest to pose in front of a bougainvillea!)

Oh wait, these are not native animals, these are the girls! Sallie and Becka



Here are some other pictures of our week:

This is the house we stayed in.

This is Timothy on the zip line.

This is Jim on the zip line.

This is a red thorn acacia in the back yard - amazing tree!

Looking back up to the house from near the zip line.

I wanted to add a few more pictures, but the blog is not letting me right now.  Maybe it will feel better later and let me in!

Great news this last week.  We got permission to get our "e" permits (working permits).  We should be able to go into Nairobi by the 16th or so and get our actual permits.  We are so grateful for that (just as we expired on the 26th of July - thought we might have to come home)!

This week we will be back to the grindstone.  There is sewer to deal with, a big meeting with the Bethany Kids architect to finalize details, brick making to continue, CT scanner plans to persue, Into Abbas Arms orphanage meeting to sort out details and a movie to go see (Cars 2 is showing here).

Please pray that the projects will continue to move forward and funding will be found for the Bethany Kids Children's Center.  Also, pray for the people here.  Life is difficult at best and many people are struggling.  Jim and I were talking that when we first got here, we felt like we were looking into a fish bowl (like when we were in the car or truck looking out into the streets), but now we feel like we are in the fish bowl.  Everywhere we go, people stare at us because we are white, we have a car and other things that they can't come close to.  It is great to be in the fish bowl with the people and getting involved, but it is also hard.

In His Hands,
Jullie T.