And Be Thankful.

Colossians 3 says "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.  And be thankful."  This is one of the verses God has placed on my heart - I'm guessing because he knows I struggle with letting peace rule and being thankful.  This recent trip to Kenya afforded me many occasions to be thankful.  So here goes...

I'm thankful for a husband that lets me go when I feel called to go.  I'm thankful for those hot towelettes they give you on the plane when you feel every piece of dirt has landed on your face and hands.  I'm thankful for planes landing safely.  I'm thankful for scowling customs guards waving us through.  I'm thankful for Ann and the cooks at the ENT house who made Michael and me feel at home over 7000 miles away from home.  I'm thankful for patients filling the clinic.  I'm thankful for joy at Joy Town.  I'm thankful for being boring to a black mamba. I'm thankful for Facetime and for Lizzie and Joshua's faces.  I'm thankful for hearing the hum rise in the ward as the patients prayed.  I'm thankful for the saints in Kijabe, who do without so much, but have so much more than we do.  I'm thankful for friends and family that prayed and gave.

Thank you for all your prayers, all your donations, and all your encouragment.  May each of us continue to seek to do His bidding, to see what's important each day, to let peace rule, to remember we are just passing through, and to be thankful.



View of Great Rift Valley from our room at ENT house

Samosas

I'm not a food blogger, but I'm going to pretend today. This recipe is worth your time. First, meet my Kenyan family. This is Eunice and four of her five children. Her husband Michael and son, James, are not pictured.

Sarah, Eunice, Everlyne, Carole, Carole, Michael, and Stephen

Eunice is a great cook and this trip she was determined to teach me to make our favorite Kenyan food - samosas. These tasty snacks offer a little bit of everything to my taste buds. They're crunchy, fried, spicy, meaty, and savory. All my favorites! Honestly, I have to admit I wish these were the five food groups. 

So here's Eunice's work surface.  She had Sarah bring this stool and place it on top of the coffee table. Eunice prepares the dough. 

Just add water to flour to get a dough-like consistency.  Make two dough balls about the size of tangerines.  Flatten out a little and coat one side of each with vegetable oil.  Place oiled sides together.

Then roll out to tortilla size and thickness.

Cook tortillas on griddle.  Here is Eunice's version. 

Obviously, not as tasty as Eunice's, but the tortillas could be bought in your local store.  Next, separate the tortilla into two layers.  The oil previously added between the dough layers allows this to be done rather easily after cooking.  Cut the tortillas into four equal parts - like a pie.

Okay, so now to the filling.  Eunice had already prepared the minced meat.  I've learned not to ask what kind of meat - just go with it.  Chop fine a small red onion, small green pepper, 2 gloves of garlic, and a huge amount of dhania or what we call cilantro.  I mean like two huge hand fulls of cilantro!  Lots more than we're used to. Season with some salt, and that's it for the filling.

So a picture is worth a thousand words...Using a watery flour mixture as "glue," fold and fill as pictured below.

Finally, once the samosas are sealed closed, they go into hot oil.  Just a minute or so on each side until they're golden brown.  I'm telling you this woman has a strong back!

Don't they look good?! I confess - I had four, but Michael had five!  My mouth is watering for a hot samosa. 

So my take home from this experience is that I have no excuse not to cook for my family.  You don't have to have a granite counter top, or even a counter to serve your family.  Eunice even grows all her own vegetables.  She lives out her testimony by serving her family with joy and thanksgiving. 

Happy Birthday to Lizzie

Today my sweet girl turns 11.  I call her Elizabeth, Lizzie, Goose, or Sister.  Elizabeth is a joy. Those of you who know Elizabeth, know she is a big personality in a small package.  She has spunk! She's smart - no dumb blond here.  She has an eye for fashion and colors; but she can climb a tree with the best of the boys.  I just love her and really wish I could be with her today.  She told me before my trip that she'd be just fine this year with me away for these weeks.  That's another thing about her - she's tough.  When she had her finger pricked as a small child, she wouldn't even flinch.  I'm telling you, she's tough.  Now I see a beautiful young lady emerging, long legs, blond hair. Yikes! Her father's got the guns ready and waiting. 

Happy Birthday to my girl.  I love you mightily.  See you in two days.

Mom

Each By Name

This past weekend Michael and I went to the Masai Mara on safari.  Our guide Jeffrey was extremely knowledgeable about all the animals, but especially the birds.  With his Kenyan accent he commented, "Once you've seen a cheetah, you've seen a cheetah; but you will never see all the birds."  He knew the name of every single bird we saw, and we saw a lot of birds!  I thought of this as we drove out of the Masai Mara on Sunday. Just think about all the plants and animals that live on this earth.

 

 

Wow, but here comes the best part...

Imagine. God knows each by name.



Kenyan workers picking tea

"See I have engraved you on the palms of my hands." Isaiah 49:16

Joy Town

Our first week in Kenya was quite a whirlwind.  After getting over jet lag, which I'm not sure has actually happened, we began the week at the hospital visiting with patients and moms, playing checkers, making origami, and just hanging out helping them pass the time. On Thursday, we had quite a treat as we were able to catch a ride to Joy Town. Many of you are familiar with Joy Town. It is a Bethany Kids' boarding school for handicap children located near Nairobi. They board and educate over 300 children. We arrived and went straight to their physical therapy room. Never have I seen such happy faces. 

 We were then taken on a tour of the facilities.  We were able to visit classrooms and dormitories. The amazing thing is they only have two washing machines.  That's right.  They have over 300 children and only two washing machines.  Imagine having all those soiled clothes and sheets every day and only having two machines.  Sadly, everything doesn't get washed as quickly as they would like. The staff there seems to be doing the best with what they have, but they need more machines. I'm going to start praying about this one.

The most jaw dropping thing we saw was the children moving from one area of the facility to the next.  There are lots of hills there and most of them are in wheelchairs.  They worked hard on these hills.  As one of my children used to say, "These hills are heavy!"  We couldn't resist helping them - you couldn't have either.  Just take a look for yourself.  Notice the smiles at the top.

This is Rosemary. 
She has worked here for 20 years.

Our First Days in Kenya

Michael and I have had quite a few surprises since our arrival in Kijabe. Pictured below is Maurine with her daughter Shangwe and Deborah with her daughter Rachel. If you've been following the blog, then these ladies might look familiar. We blogged about them last March in Our Last Day in Kenya. Michael and I spent quite a few hours with them talking about our families and our faiths. Both of these ladies know God's word and depend on it every day.  We had no idea that we would ever see them again, so you can imagine my surprise when I walked out to the nurses' station on Monday and saw Deborah sitting there with Rachel.  Deborah and I both squealed (you know how women do when they see each other after a long time?)  Well, it was that kind of squeal when everyone in the room turns and looks. Cory loves it when that happens.  So all day today we've been hanging out with Deborah and Rachel and enjoying every minute of it. This afternoon  I was working in the ENT room and Michael says to me, "I think I just saw Maurine walk by with Shangwe!"  Michael and I fly downstairs to the clinic and there sits Maurine and Shangwe.  Maurine was as shocked as I was.  The best part was reuniting these ladies together.  It does feel somewhat miraculous when you see friends that you never expected to see again.  It really felt like a dream.

Maurine left today with Shangwe, but even with the short visit we talked through some pretty cool things. She said her time at the hospital last year was life changing.  She finds it amazing that something that should have been so frightening turned out to be such a blessing to her family.  We talked about the truths in the Scriptures which tell us that very reality - trials allow us to see God and his plan more clearly.  She said in Kenya many people think that malformations, such as cleft palates and lips, are the result of sin. What a relief to know that's not how it works - else I'd be covered with tumors!  We spoke of Jesus' words in John 9 when Jesus was asked why the man was born blind.  Jesus responded, the man was born blind "so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."  What a amazing God we serve.  He creates friendships out of hardships, joy out of trials.

Faith, Hope, and Love

 

No, those are not the names of these girls, but the descriptions would certainly fit.  Ruth, Rachel, and Sarah Beth (pictured here), along with Lydia have spent weeks knitting and creating crafts to sell during our weekly home school gatherings in order to raise money for our upcoming trip.  In fact, our entire Classical Conversations group has been working tirelessly collecting money, baking for a bake sale, AND these girls...knitting and creating and knitting some more.  Through much determination and endurance, they managed to raise over $200!  What a wonderful reflection of our beautiful Savior.  For any of us to do anything truly good, we must do it through the power of the Holy Spirit working in us.  That includes baking cookies for a bake sale, knitting, and going on a missions trip to Kenya.  We all can allow the Spirit to work through us for His glory. Do I hear an AMEN?  Thanks to all my Classical Conversations family for loving us and each other the way that you do. 

And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. 

But the greatest of these is love.

Corinthians 13:13

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