Final week @ the Home

Me and Faith Ann <3 She's still so beautiful and soft and quiet, but she's grown up so much: she can  stand and walk, she's starting to make the cutest sounds, and you can tell by the expressions on her little face that she understand a lot of things. Once she said "Mallory" -she loves Mallory, they're each other's favorites. I love her too, though, and she is such a sweetheart. I spent a lot of time with all the babies (especially Jeremiah, Faith Ann, & Billy) my last week at the home, and I'm really glad I did. I took some short videos of them, so maybe I'll try to post one sometime.

I baked 85 brown sugar cookies for the kids, babies, and staff a few days before we left and passed them out at snack time. -I told you I was in a baking frenzy :)  I will miss turning the metal pieces on the stove (where the knobs used to be) to adjust the heat on the stove or turn on the oven, approximating everything for recipes, and cooking supper with Courtney and Mallory, entirely 'winging it.'   I am looking forward to my own kitchen at home, however, where my dear sweet mother will cook things for me <3  I changed my mind about stopping at home between landing at the airport and reporting to Camp Andrews, so I'll get to see my house and Snickers and Tabby, and stay there with my family for an hour or so.  Travis is coming, too! His parents can't make it to pick him up at the airport, so my parents will drive both of us back to our house. 

Joyce's birthday was April 29th, and we made spaghetti and baked a cake to celebrate. Mallory scripted the design on the front of her birthday card, and I wrote a message for her :)

Mal decorated the cake, I made the chocolate icing, and Hannah made the yellow.
Everything good we make is the result of collaboration and team work :)

packing' up, packin' up.

My shelves in our room with everything cleared away and packed. I love packing <3, but it was sad to think about leaving while working on that. The most significant part of packing is organization and strategy and thinking through what you will need to have access to. -but that's my favorite part. I started the process several days before we left, so thankfully all I had to do Wednesday morning was pick up my bags and go. That gave me more time to say my goodbyes and hug all the kids and babies. - I didn't want to let go of Mercy <3, and I saved Billy for last. All I could say was 'I love you', and 'I will miss you,' and squeeze them tight. It was especially hard to say goodbye to Hannah, but she came with us when Greg drove us to Kericho, and we said goodbye at the bus station. 

Bumba :) -Jacob Kipchumba. We were talking about names with Joyce, and she explained that 'Kip' is boy, and 'Chep' is girl. (for their middle names). She asked me what time of day I was born, and then told me that my name would be 'Olivia Chepkerui.' -that means "born in the afternoon."

Prayer Request

Reading through an email that my mom sent me, I heard that John ( my brother ) has a spiral fracture of his tibia and fibula, and he shattered his ankle :/. We're really close, and I love him and I miss him so much. 

He had one surgery already (they put a plate and six screws in the tibia), and he has another one on Monday, May 6th. I think he's healing pretty well, and I know he can handle almost anything, but I was still worried about him. My mom is praying for him to recover better and faster than expected, and I would really appreciate it if you  could pray for him. I know this isn't necessarily Kenya-related, but it's really important to me and it's a major event in my life at the moment. -and if I've learned anything here, it's that prayer is important and effective. 

Anyway, I had the privilege of speaking to him over skype tonight (I'm in Nairobi again, for the final time), and I think he's definitely improving, but I know that it still takes time to heal and that there's a lot that he has to get through. Perhaps most importantly, it's the end of the school year, and it's hard to catch up on work and final projects when you're out of commission.
Thank you, and God bless you :)

April 29th, 2013

"The more we recognize that Jesus alone is our righteousness,
the less the adversary can assault us in the area of our failings." 

Wheelbarrow man #1

Billy and Johnny.

One morning I had Jeremiah with me in the living room and he just curled up and went to sleep on the couch.
He's my buddy now- we've been friends since the day when Courtney was sick and he decided he liked me. I like him, too: he is so precious; all the time, even when he's sad. He's really sweet and quiet, and he has the best laugh. He plants his whole mouth (drool and all) on your face to give you a kiss, and he squeezes his little arms tight around your neck when he hugs you. 

'Dad' and Davis working on the concrete: it's finished now, and it looks beautiful. They re-did the walkway, and made a  barrier so that the rain water doesn't make everything all muddy. Now they're working on leveling the yard. 

Mary Rose on the swings <3 -what a sweetheart. she's our silly girl, and she's grown so much since January. 

Faith Ann <3

Mallory and Billy.

My trusty 1 Litre water bottle :) It's been fun. 

Courtney and I working on Rose Alice's hair in the nursery. Almost no one has long hair in Kenya, even the girls. -it's all extensions, so when it's time to take it out and braid new hair in, we cut the extensions short and unbraid them/separate them from her real hair. It's a long process, and I commend the girls' patience for sitting all that time. 

I wrote letters for each of the kids and toddlers,  Courtney/Mallory, Greg and Mary Rose, Faith, Judith, Winifred and Rose Alice, and Joyce...I think that makes 52. I was working on them every night at the coffee table in the living room for the last couple weeks. God directed me to write these, and I hope that maybe He had something to say through my words. He always knows what I need, and what everyone needs. I think writing these letters was a great way for me to process leaving/going home, and bring closure to my assignment there. I pray that it's also helpful for the kids to process me leaving. I miss them so much already <3.

My sweet potato pie and banana bread with vanilla icing. I had a baking frenzy the final week at the home, and made at least 4 different cakes, etc.  :)
I'm sorry, this post is from a couple weeks ago, but we just haven't had internet. There will be several more 'catch up' posts so that the blog will be current, and I'll work on those A.S.A.P.

Jeremiah :)

Wimbi means millet in Swahili, and the babies get a cup of wimbi porridge every morning for breakfast. 

Kathleen: she's 8 or 9 months old now, and she looks a lo like Dorcas, her older sister. This was so cute- we braided her hair while we were in the nursery, -and you can't really see the braids, but you can tell that all her hair isn't poofing up like it usually does. She has a lot of hair for such a tiny girl <3

JoEllen

BILLY.

Faith Ann <3

Wednesday, April 17th - cookie-baking and icing party!

Wednesday morning, I woke up thinking "hmm, I want to bake some cookies," and so I made a few dozen sugar cookies and  whipped up some vanilla icing after lunch during our 'break'. Hannah came into the kitchen and she was really excited about (I wasn't quite sure what). She came dashing back in a few minutes later with a plastic bag full of different colors of food coloring, and she wanted to help. I told her to go get the other girls, too, and Judith was there pretty soon, so she and Hannah got to mix whatever colors they liked; and then Faith, Rose Alice, and Winnifred all decorated cookies with us. (Sadly Mallory and Courtney didn't come, I think they were tired from the long day, and they joined us later to eat them!). We saved the girls' beautiful creations up in our room until Bible Study that night, where we had hot cocoa and cookies, and Mal led a discussion about Purity and 1 Timothy 4:12. 

I love the light blue/green color, the dark indigo that Judith made, and of course the pink. -it's so light and fluffy.

<3

We had these two munchkins in there with us, and they (almost) behaved themselves. We've been trying to structure our days with toddlers a little more, so that they have something constructive to do. -and that's all they need. I also like to teach them something, give them a little exercise, and let them help with something interesting or important. They each decorated one cookie, and then -the best part- they go to eat it :). We're finding that they're well-behaved when we're working proactively to keep them occupied, instead of just supervising them doing nothing, and correcting them all the time when they get into trouble. It's not their fault: there really aren't many activities or anything for them to do. And it's hard work making activities for them, but it's worth it for them and for us. for example, yesterday after Prayer and Praise, we took our boys on a nice long walk, gave them their porridge for 'snack time' afterwards, played Follow the Leader and Simon Says, colored special pictures for mom, pushed them on the swings for awhile, fed them lunch, and put them to sleep at naptime. They woke up a little early, so we were still working out, but we let them watch and try our exercise videos. Then we watched and 'I Love Lucy' episode with them, bake banana bread and washed the vegetables for supper, and it was time for them to eat again. So we took them to eat, and then got them ready for bed, and that was the end of the day. :) It went more quickly, and was much more fun and much less stressful than other days, so we're going to try to keep this up. 

Faith 1, Rose Alice, and Hannah working on decorating the cookies. 

We covered them and put them in our room for safe keeping until Bible Study. 

Me and Hannah <3. Judith took this picture with my camera. 

Hannah came running into our room a few nights ago- "come quick!"
I ran outside with her and we just stood staring at this beautiful sunset for a long time.
I love her so much <3 -she's like my little sister. 

Courtney and Mallory and considered this quote wall-worthy, so we have it posted in our room where we can see it every day now. 

Danita's card <3, along with one from Uncle Bill and Aunt Ellie :) 

March and April were on the same page, but we cut it so that we can see April and May. 

Joyce, Sandra, and Faith (one of the new staff ladies- she's really sweet) with the babies. We lay a blanket in the shade and take them outside on nice days. 

Mallory's artwork by the bathroom light switch.
We're slowly 'poster-ing' our room with verses and meaningful quotes.