Cultural Exhaustion

Hello All,
Today is a day of Thanksgiving!  Even though it is 2 days after "the day," we are very thankful for a quiet day.  It has been a busy week, but full of joy.  Last week, we raced cars at Pinewood Derby and had a great time.  Timothy and MJ's car was the fastest in the 11-12th grade!  It was a Wii remote - go figure!  I did well racing and got an award for most unique design.  How fun is that!

Lane C, the fast Trident Missile Sub!

MJ and Timothy with a Wii remote!

Who knew that a sub would be cool!

The RVA Art Center:  We have had our share of challenges this week.  They have poured the ground floor and are heading up (this is a 3 story building).  One of the walls they started up to about 1 meter must come down due to poor process (it had a few spots where water could be poured onto one side and it would come out the other side)!  I have been busy working on door design (we have about 52 doors) and also the redesign of the 3rd floor.  So grateful that my eMi partner is here watching over the details of rebar and concrete!

Thanksgiving was a great day- even though the boys had exams and I had a site meeting (its just wrong!), we ended the day with great turkey, stuffing, broccoli, pumpkin pie and good friends to share it with.  We are so grateful for our work here and all God has done in our lives.

The Bethany Kids Wing:  Wow - the challenges continue!  We need some serious prayer.  The contractor is extremely discouraged and really would like it all to go away.  Not sure how it will play out, but we will see in the next few weeks.  

The kids are now out of school.  The bands had their concerts this past week.  We love that part!  Timothy is in the concert band and the junior high choir, Trevor is in the wind ensemble and the Jazz band.  It was a marathon of concerts, but so good!

Have you gone to our 100 Quilts project site?  It is www.100quilts.blogspot.com
We have over 65 quilts promised and some are close to being sent here.  Just hope we have a building to put them in!  Here is one that is finished - Beautiful!

"Cultural Exhaustion" - That is a term that has been used often this last week.  If you have never lived in a different culture, it will be hard to understand, but it is a real part of life here and sometimes exhausting to deal with.  Having the grace to look at each issue and handle it with understanding, it difficult and only God can give us the peace to not loose it.  Sometimes we loose it anyway!  Now that school is out , most of the missionaries here will take some time off.  Time necessary to recharge and reflect and get ready to do it all again.  Our projects are still ongoing so we won't have much time, but we are going to go away for a week to a little cabin in the hills and have some down time.  We will look forward to that in one more week.

Patrick, our surveyor from Canada, is leaving today.  He has worked tirelessly for 2 weeks now to get a good survey for RVA.  We are very grateful to him and the 2 boys that helped out from Kijabe Boys School.

The kids are looking forward to putting up a Christmas tree and watching Christmas DVDs.  We don't watch or listen to Christmas stuff till Dec (or sometimes the day after Thanksgiving).  Have a great week and we pray that "....'his' joy will be in you and your joy may be complete."  John 15:11b

In His Hands,
Jullie T.

He Comes in the light breeze

Hello All,
Well, another Senior Store is under way and we have just finished making about 240 dozen donuts between last night and this morning!  That is a lot of sugar and flour!  This is the 6th store (out of 9) and the kids really know what they are doing.  There are still glitches that come up, but all in all it went well.

Pine wood derby races are on today.  Sallie has already raced.  She won her heat but was beat in the finals.  I made a car this year too.  I thought it would be fun and it has been.  I get to race in the women's division later today so cheer me on!  Timothy has a car too that he did with a friend.  They will race at the end of the day.  The races started at 8:30 and will go till about 3:00 - this is an event!

My car (can you say nostalgic)?

Timothy and MJ's car

Sallie winning her heat

Sallie's car

We have been doing a ladies bible study using "Discerning the Voice of God" by Priscilla Shirer.  I have mentioned it before.  We are almost done (one week to go).  The last section was titled "Responding to God's Voice."  2 Kings 5:11-12 says, "But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?" So he turned and went off in a rage."  Naaman was a man full of himself because he was very important in the town.  He had leprosy and hid it pretty well and had heard that the prophet Elisha could heal him.  He went to the prophet, but when Elisha didn't even come to the door and make a scene about curing him, he was angry. He had preconceived notions about how his healing would occur.  He wanted fireworks and bells and whistles!  God speaks to be obeyed, not just to be heard.  He doesn't always come in the strong wind, earthquake or fire.  He comes in the light breeze!

Trevor played the flugle horn last Sunday during the offering at church.  Did he tell us he was going to play?  Of course not!  He is 17 and a boy - that explains that!  It was beautiful and we really enjoyed listening.  He also got 5 college application done this week - and the crowd cheers!  We have 4 more to go which should be ready soon.

Jim has still been having struggles with the Bethany Kids site.  The contractor is really having a hard time keeping up with the program of works.  It is looking good, but the logistics are really difficult right now.  This would be something to pray for, definitely.

This is the last week of school before break.  Unfortunately, Thanksgiving day is not a holiday.  We will have to have our turkey at dinner time with a few friends.  I really miss the cold weather, football and watching the parade on this day.  But, good news:  I found a can a cranberry sauce in town so turkey will have a bit of sauce to go with it!

My project at RVA is going well.  They are pouring a reinforced concrete wall today and have the ground floor already poured.  I am working on finishes (doors, floors, etc) and also we are looking at remodeling the 3rd floor.  The users are now different people than who stated the design and would like some changes.  It is not too late, so we are trying to accommodate that.  We also have a man here from EMI Canada doing a survey for us.  He is already done with 1 week and has 1 week to go.  He is not able to use the radio units because of the tree cover so has to do it using a total station.  This is taking a lot longer, but he has 2 helpers in the form of boys from the Kijabe Boys School.   They have been doing a great job and I think have been enjoying learning about surveying.  

Here is Patrick, Moses and Joseph getting ready to go.  We really appreciate the fact that Patrick was able to spend 2 weeks with us after another EMI trip to Turkana (northern Kenya).  We should have an accurate map of the campus by the time he is finished.

Please pray for Jim as he struggles with keeping the contractor, as he finished up his masters degree (to be officially done Dec 24!) and for the kids as they have exams this week.  Then you can pray for our sanity as we try and work while the kids are out of school and needing some attention!  It is a bit easier now that they are older, but still not easy.

In His Hands,
Jullie T.

Life is so "Normal" at times

Hello All,
You know how I mentioned that the rains had come last week?  Well, they have now gone.  We have had pretty much nothing since last week end.  Around here the rainy season can last through early Dec, so we are praying that they will come back at least for a little while!  But, on the other hand, it makes for really pretty days!  I have seen some FB posts in Michigan where the snows have come.  Not sure if we will be ready for that again next year!

On Sunday 2 weeks ago, we went down to the town of MaiMaihu in the valley to visit a friend.  She is a lady that we are helping put through school.  She has a terrible story of hardship in her life, but she is persevering.  In the picture below, we are standing in front of a house that her Dad started when he was healthy over 5 years ago.  Now it stands because he has had a stroke.  All it needs is a roof, doors, window and a chimney.  Hum, maybe something can happen??

Esther and I in front of the house

Where she and her Dad and her son live now (Dad is in the orange shirt on the left)

In the yard of her house (that's the cook area behind us)

Last Saturday night was class party.  Each class prepares a meal and has a party!  We served German Bavarian Sausages, German potato salad, cole slaw and pumpkin pie.  What a mix!  Here are some of the kids with 14 pumpkin pies.

A mix if Korean and Kenyan kids making German potato salad

Jim has had a pretty good week with the BK site.  There are some issues and questions about whether or not the contractor is going to step up to the plate get back on time, but they are moving forward.  One of their biggest challenges is getting material and working equipment to the site!  The head office in Nairobi has not been able to keep up with the demand.  We will wait and see how they respond.

The site from up on the hill

We are starting a survey this week up at RVA.  An eMI volunteer from Canada is here to make this happen for us.  We start in less than an hour, so please pray that the 2 local boys that we have hired to help will show up on time every day and gain great information from this 2 weeks of work, that the tree cover will not hinder us too much and that we will work together as a team well.

Here is a picture of our dog (Calvin on the right) and Max (on the left).  Calvin is our missionary dog that we have for the year and Max belongs to our neighbors.  Life is sometimes so "normal" here!

In His Hands,
Jullie T

Solar Eclipse Party

Hello All,
I told you the rains started last Saturday?  Well, they have continued everyday mostly during the nights.  It has been a real blessing!  Things are starting to look green again, but the down side is the mud!  We will take the mud and mess because the shambas (gardens) are getting some life.

We watched an amazing solar eclipse last Sunday night.  Here it was at about 92% (the moon covered about 92% of the sun).  Up in Turkana it was closer to 99%.  We gathered with our neighbors and had a great time.  Here are a few pictures:

When it was starting

Trevor looking handsome

Sallie and Emily

Rick and Jim

It is passing through

Just at about the peek

Jim and Sallie looking amazed

The RVA Art Center project is pouring the ground floor slab this week.  They have been out there late (and early) the last few days to make this happen.  It is a milestone to get to the point where there is a concrete slab!

We went out to Naivasha this past week to our monthly Upendo Village construction meeting.  All went well this time and the contractor and the client are happy so far.  We like going out there because the sisters are so much fun.  They make great food, they are easy to work with and have a joy for life.  I know they are doing great things with their HIV/AIDS ministry and it is a joy to be able to help them.

Jim looking at a bit of trouble in the ceiling

The walls are going up

The Bethany Kids Wing is still moving along.  Some of the board members are in town and they had a meeting this week.  Not sure how things went there, but the building is still moving forward.  Here is the latest picture:

Have you been to the quilting project web site?  It is www.100quilts.blogspot.com

If you are a quilter, you have to go and see if you can make a quilt for the Bethany Kids Wing.  There will be about 94 beds in the completed facility and each bed will have a handmade quilt.  We have about 65 quilts committed so far!  That is very exciting.  You can see us on facebook too at lalasalama - the100 quilts project  Here is one of the quilt tops from Sandi C!  Very exciting!

The kids had a night of carnival last Saturday.  Sallie and her big sister went as the Lion and Dorothy.  They looked pretty cute!

I am heading into town in a few minutes to take Trevor to his first college interview.  It is in a part of town that will have terrible traffic.  We are leaving 1.5 hours early knowing that we will sit in traffic for that long.  This is the part that I don't like!

Hope you all have a great week.  Titus 3:4-6 "But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for us appeared, he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done, but on the basis of His mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit whom He poured out on us in full measure through Jesus Christ our Savior."
Love that verse!

In His Hands,
Jullie T.

Peace in Your Heart

Hello All,
I can not believe it is November already.  Time really does march on.  We have 4 more weeks of school and then the winter break.  The rains have just started today!  We are grateful.  It has been so dry here and everyone needed it.  Hopefully it will carry on as it should for the next 4-6 weeks and the gardens will be well on their way.

I have told you before about our friends Craig and Tracy who's ministry is Care of Creation.  They teach a program called Farming God's Way.  He just sent a picture of his potato test plot.  The one on the right is Farming God's Way and on the left is not.  He has pointed out that it is in a dry season is when it really makes a difference.  Mostly it is covering the ground with mulch and not tilling it up.

The difference is amazing!  And, it has been so dry around here.  It will be interesting to weigh the potatoes from each side when harvested and see the difference.  Also, here is a picture of Rose's cabbages:

She says that her neighbors have nothing and look at this!   She is able to sell her cabbages to us and others who don't have right now.  She is so happy!

There will be a total Solar Eclipse here on Sunday.  We are thinking about an eclipse party but not sure what that looks like.  My neighbor is trying to round up a filter so she can get some pictures that maybe I can show you next week.

The BKCC Wing:  the Children's wing has really had some progress in the last few weeks.  They missed some dates this week due to lack of materials, but overall, things are looking better.  They almost have the ground floor slab poured.  This is a milestone!  Jim is working as hard as ever.  He may have had trepidation about coming here because he "doesn't know the details of concrete," but he is well suited to the position he holds!   This is very much like an extremely long overhaul of a submarine!

The Arts Center:  We are doing pretty well with the project.  We expect to pour the ground floor next week.  There are definitely some frustrations with the contractor but that is not to be unexpected.  We are having a volunteer from EMI coming in a few weeks to do a survey for the whole RVA campus.  I have been working a lot in setting that up.  It will be great to have up to date data on the campus so that we can move ahead with a roads project and also a water supply project.

In our bible study we are still doing Priscilla Shirer's Discerning the Voice of God.  I am really enjoying it.  Psalms 119: 10, 18 "With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments.   Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law."  We are learning how, as we seek Him to know Him we can hear Him better.  In doing so, He gives us peace in the understanding of our work here on earth. Col 3:15a "Let the peace of God control your heart."  This is how I have operated for a few years now.  In making big decisions, I have a peace about it that just seems to fit.  It is hard to explain, but now I know it is the Holy Spirit that helps us in these things and can give comfort when the world seems in chaos.

Here is a picture of Njoki and some of her family when Jim gave them a computer.  They were so happy to receive it.  They hardly have an understanding of what it can do, but they are learning and it will change their world.  Njoki now has an email account so she can be in touch with people around the world.  This seems an appropriate thing for Jim to be involved in!

I sat down with Esther last week to help her search for the right school.  This is not an easy thing to do!  The web sites of these schools in Nairobi just seem incomplete and hard to get around.  She is going to have to go there to ask questions.  In the mean time, we are getting her set up to get a computer certificate.  I have a friend who teaches computer and he is going to train her on Microsoft, typing, internet, etc.  This will be a big boost to her education.

I ordered a turkey this week.  This was not a small decision. I almost went with chicken but heard some whining from the family.   A small turkey will cost us about $50-$60!  We will have to eat beans and rice for a few days before and after Thanksgiving!

Some potential good news about the SHAK (Spina bifida Hydrocephalus Association of Kenya) guesthouse this week.  We have been searching for a place for them to have a half way/training house.  This will be a place for the Mama's of new patients affected by spina bifida to go to be near the hospital for follow-ups and to be trained on how to care for their children with this lifelong disability.  We have been looking for land, place to rent (finished or not), place to buy to no avail.  We think we found a place to rent about 2 km away.  This is within walking distance.  The road is out and you can't get a wheel chair through right now, but we think it can be fixed.  Please pray that this will all come together and they will have a place set up by the beginning of Dec.

That is the house in the distance

Here are some random pictures as I know my mother likes lots of pictures!  Have a great week!

Sallie and Friends on the playground

A hoopoe picture that I took

What one really looks like (picture from the internet)

Patrick with a cat in his lap (he is not a cat person)!

Trevor and Bradon playing an English class project.  It was hysterical!

In His Hands,
Jullie T.

PS - Don't forget to have all of your quilting friends go to www.100quilts.blogspot.com to sign up to make a quilt for the Bethany Kids Wing!  We have about 50 as of now!