Tanya here again...

Hi All!
The Sweat shop is officially closed now at 11:45pm. I finished sewing the little girls jumpers and then we finished all the bags for the school children with the help of the lovely Ruth. Each bag contains an outfit, a pair of underwear, and two new toothbrushes for each child! Kim and I are super excited to see the look on the children's faces.
Tomorrow we are having a field day at the school and we will be presenting each child with a bag just for them. Next we will be playing games with the kids and then feeding them a special lunch of pasta and sauce. It was very touching how sweet and happy these children are. They face poverty everyday and some of them eat only once a day at the school.
I have learned to be thankful for every morsel I put in my mouth.
God is doing wonderful things here and I look forward to returning someday with Aaron.
I am so moved by Pastor Samuel and the work that is going on at the church. They have welcomed me with such love. I am humbled. I feel such freedom in having very little creature comforts. I am really enjoying the slower pace and the few distractions. I am more free to serve and pray and worship.
Thank you to all who are partnering with me in the work of the Lord.
Asante Sana!
Tanya

a quick hello

So, for me it is early Sunday morning, one-thirty to be exact. Therefore, I will be keeping this very short as I was up at four Saturday morning with my bounce out of bed and greet the world little boy who decided he had had enough sleep for one night. Punk.

Today we took Tanya to town so she could do some fabric shopping. After we got home, Samuel picked all of us up to go out to the school where we painted the 16 new desks and 10 older ones. We had a blast and returned home dirtier than we have even been in Kenya! I forgot my camera, so we will have to wait until Tanya gets home to post pictures of our day.

We have a really serious prayer request, but for now I have to leave it as an unspoken. It does not directly concern us, but rather Samuel and his family. Please just ask God to have his way, and for all parties involved to have the grace to accept whatever God allows.

Thank you all again for your continued prayers. I am seriously blown away by the wide spread canvas of believers God has lent us for such a time as this. May God allow you to become a part of His glory here in Kenya.

Mama Sundi

Bwana Asifiwe Tena! (Praise the Lord again!)

My meeting with the immigration office this morning could not have gone any better! My friend came with me again and was well received. Everyone there was my best friend, including the person in charge who stormed off earlier while saying that they “didn’t have time for this”! They agreed to have the fingerprints done remotely, and even patiently explained to me what the rest of the process would entail. I called around to see if anyone called someone who escalated the situation or otherwise put pressure on CIS.....so far it seems that nobody did so.

In any case, we believe that God did a miracle, and we no longer have to fight our government to make sure that Kim can stay with the kids! Although we do want to address the circumstances around this confusion at a later point, right now keeping our kids with Kim is all I care about. We are so humbled and grateful for all of your prayers.

As an incredible Valentine’s Day bonus blessing, the morning crew from WRBS (our local Christian radio station) prayed with me and then called Kim long distance to encourage her! Kim was so excited—and I think maybe they even earned me a few brownie points!

Thanks also to everyone who sent words of encouragement, and for my family and friends who helped me write/proof the emails and letters that did not need to be sent. I am looking forward to my first good night’s rest of the week. We know their will be more struggles (like the fact that the US Embassy “lost” our I-600a in the past 2 days)—but we know that God is in control and will reunite our family for good very soon.

Tanya here!

Hi all! The journey to Kenya was peaceful and uneventful. I am enjoying my time here with Mama Sundi and The kiddos. The people here are so sweet. We visited Pastor Samuel's church today. I am blown away by the kindness and charisma of the believers here. They love God so much and are so giving. Even when there is little to eat they give of themselves. I saw the school and the ministry of the church. I had the best time playing with the children that live in the slum. They were so funny! The little ones were afraid of me because I am white. So the bigger kids would pick them up and bring them near me and the toddlers would start screaming. I guess the kids thought it was a hoot because they did it multiple times. I not knowing at first what they were doing I would go near to see if they were hurt which made the toddlers scream even more. The kids and I decided to play games so they taught me a few and I taught them a few. But it got so dark that we couldn't see each other. That's when Pastor Samuel packed us all into his car and we left. I will post some pics as soon as Kim teaches me! The hard work will begin on Tuesday when we go to the school and measure the kids for their play clothes. Then we will be sewing like mad! At the beginning of next week we go to Happy Life. More about that later.
Asante Sana!
Tanya

Bomas of Kenya

Bomas means home in Swahili. Bomas of Kenya is a place where you can tour replicas of traditional African villages according to their tribes. Here is Sundi and Daddy outside of the Kamba village. Sundi's birth mother was a Kamba.

In case you can't read the sign it says, "married son's hut."

"unmarried son's house"

This creature was on the toilet door at Bomas.

Baby warthogs.

Wife's hut

The sign should say, "cattle shed"

Visitor's hut-place to eat, drink and chit chat.

Bibi and Babu visit Kenya

Sundi and Bibi meet for the first time.

Sundi is working her Bibi over with the snuggle act.

Damon, Lala.

Damon helping Bibi clap during family devotions.

Sundi is a master at this game.

Babu telling Sundi, "bye" neither were very happy.