Hope you had a wonderful Easter. We did. RVA had a sunrise service then a pot luck breakfast. Sunrise here is about 6:15 right now and the service started at 6:30. Surprisingly, it wasn't too hard to get the kids up and going! It was a beautiful morning and a great service. At 10:30 that morning they organized an egg hunt. There are about 400 plastic eggs that someone has kept over the years, and the ladies filled them with candy and hid them all over the field for the kids to find. It was fun for Timothy and Sallie.
They had a great time and got a few pieces of candy. The selection of candy here is limited. It does not consist of the chocolate gooeyness that we have in the states! It is mostly hard candies, but that is OK. We can catch up on the Reese's when we get home.
We have had severe water issues for the last 2 months or so. The hospital has run out almost on a weekly basis and we run out almost daily now. It usually comes back at least for a little while so that we can fill the hot water tank and get some toilet flushing water in buckets, but not always. We have some jerry cans that we can take up to the school and fill up. They have a consistent source and seem to always have water. Have you ever lived with out water for any period of time? My friend Ruth has been without for 4 days now! This is unfortunately a pattern at her place because she is in the top apartment (3 stories up). We need water for dishes, hand washing, showering, laundry, toilets, cooking, drinking! It is something that we really take for granted at home. There is a place about 2 hours from here called Ndabibi. They have a small, new AIC (Africa Inland) Church there. They have been without water for over a year. I don't know how they survive. The pastor emailed me last week and said they had a sprinkling of rain and he was praying that it would continue. Please pray for rain in Ndabibi and also for the water issues here in Kijabe. We have a new commission for water that Jim is on. It is unprecedented because of its unity. There is a representative from each faction that makes up the station and the decisions they will come up with will be joint, therefore, there should be no power playing once they decide what to do. We need prayers for that committee too, that they will act as one and for the best of the hospital and the community.
Timing is everything! Ever have one of those times when all things come together? We are seemingly having one this summer, and not all to the good!
1). Our CT scanner is here in the country, but it won't be in Kijabe for another week or so. But, we still have not ordered the UPS (Uninterpretable Power Supply) for it. It will take about 13 weeks once we pay for it to get it here. That will put us at about July 14th (second week in July). This means that the team from the US will come at that point to hook it up and test it.
2). Our new timeline for the Bethany Kids wing has it commissioning operations July 5th. That will probably slip a bit, as we still need to move the Quonset Hut, so, about the second week in July.
3). We leave to come home for a visit on July 24th!
So, not sure how all this will play out, but we will just trust in the Lord's timing that it will all work out!
Sallie found a caterpillar a few weeks ago. She thought it was cute, so put it in a jar. A few days later it started acting funny. It turned into a chrysalis! Just a few days ago, we saw that it had emerged. Here is the picture of her moth:
OK - We are rethinking our timing as far as how long we will be here in Africa. We had originally committed to coming here for 2 years (Jan of 2013). That changed pretty quickly as we realized that we needed to be here till the summer of 2013 in order to at least finish the school year. But, that would have graduated Trevor from 11th grade (he will have just enough credits). With all of the delays associated with the project, we are now looking at the summer of 2014. If we stay till then, we should see the finish of the project and part of the defects liability period (6 months to identify problems after completion) and we can see Trevor Graduate from RVA properly. This is a big one as I couldn't see sending my boy off to college a year early! Once we started to consider this timing, several things came to light that were clearly doors opening in that direction! We have decided that barring the cancellation of the Bethany Kids wing (which is a possibility) we will stay till the summer of 2014. We had sent out a letter to our monthly supporters that told them this was a possibility, but we are now making it official. It is difficult to do this for many reasons, none the least of which is not living in our house back in Michigan and not being near family. But, we feel committed to this project and know that God is leading us to see it through. So, summer of 2014 it is, barring any problems with the project! We so appreciate the support you all have given in making this decision and being behind us in your prayers.
.JPG)
In His Hands,
Jullie T.
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