Rugby! Rugby!

From our apartment we walked to the international Rugby Seven competition being held here in Nairobi.  It was so much fun.  We loved watching the games! We entered the gates around 11:00 and stayed until it ended at dark.  We saw teams from Kenya, France and Australia ect.  

A rugby seven game consists of two seven minute halves of PURE and TOTAL ENERGY.  For fourteen heart pumping, adrenaline racing minutes, the rugby players are sprinting, passing, tackling, lifting each other into the air (to block the ball), and scrumming.  Believe me, absolutely no time is wasted and the players give enerything they have on the field.  

From our side line seats we could hear their bodies collide.  We could see their cheeks move air in and out; and you could almost feel their skin leaving their body as they slid across the ground. 

     The Kenyan fans here are as crazy as the Texas Aggies.  They paint their bodies, wear wigs, play trumpets, bang drums and drink lots of Tusker (beer). 

     The weather was beautiful and the Kenyans took the title for the second year in a row.  Go Kenya !!!

Who's the Magango behind the desk?

Imagine the surprise on the African faces when they walk into the Hampton reception area and they see me, the white/American (Magango),  girl with a strong Texas accent, greet them with a

"Habari ako!" from behind the desk.  I got up early, put on my favorite ball cap, passed on breakfast and set out to find an internet connection.  In both our apartment and the lounge area, I could not connect so I am sitting behind the reception desk of the Hampton typing to you now. 

     I thought you might like to see a few pictures of where we live.  Our apartment is small but nice and Eunice comes everyday, except Sunday, to tiddy up.  We have one bedroom so Micah sleeps on a regular length couch and Kaden sleeps between two chairs pushed together.  Until my first sleepless night, I did not realize that everytime Kaden moved the chairs would split apart and his tummy would drop down between.  Apparently, Kaden was sleeping so soundly he was not bothered and did not complain.  Fortunately, we discovered the problem and now have his chair bed braced in the corner of the living room between the wall and Micah's couch.  But don't feel sorry for Micah and Kaden.  They are actually getting the best deal.  If you want to know what an african bed feels like, take two clean flat sheets, put one on the floor and cover up with the other.  Not exaggerating at all, the beds here are hard as rock but you can use a nice pillow.   So, enjoy!

Have you ever tried to blow dry your hair in the reflection of a microwave?  Our bathroom has a mirror but no outlet in which I can plug in a blow dryer.  No problem.  Just call me, " Mrs. Gumby" as I am perfecting my adaptability skills.  HA!

Mr. Gumby is learning to improvise in the kitchen.  Can you see Paul's make shift toaster?  If you look closely, Paul has set a pan on the stove, put the stove grill on top, balanced it with a large bottle of water and is cooking toast.  Casie, I know that today is your birthday but I'm sorry, I will not be baking cupcakes in Africa. 

Paul took the boys out for a walk and they returned with three dozen roses from a roadside vendor.  What an awesome husband and daddy!  He made the street vendor so happy and gave life to our little apartment.  We have been warned by everyone here not to drink the water so Kaden was told not to put the flower in his mouth.  However, when he did, I thought he looked so cute, I couldn't resist snapping a picture.  Kaden brings so many smiles and laughs.  If I were home, I would share a rose with you.  So if you see a flower or a rose today, "Take time to stop and smell the roses."  :)  :) 

Kaden is hotter than the African temperature !

Kaden woke up this morning with a 101 degree fever.  :(  So he and I have kept ourselves busy making pot holders, playing games and watching TV.  Thank you mom for the goody bag of games you made for the plane ride.  The games are coming in real handy.  Right now we are downstairs in the lounge watching TV . At home we have not had cable TV in two years and I quickly found out that channel surfing can be dangerous.  National Geographic and World Cup Soccer seem to be our safest choices. 

     Paul and Micah left early this morning, walked to the Matheney's house and caught a ride with them to Rongi.  Next week is the Pastoal Leadership Summit so they went out to CMM to help prepare the grounds for the incoming pastors.  CMM is expecting several thousand pastors coming from 5 different east african countries.  Paul called to check on us and said that Micah has been belly laughing so hard he hurts.  The Metheney's are hosting a couple of Baylor college students and they are keeping Micah quite entertained. 

Earlier this week, we visited the Giraffe Center for endangered Rothschild giraffes.  We took a picnic lunch and spent several hours at the park feeding the giraffes and listening to two separate lectures.  The Rothschild giraffe is indigenous to the southwestern part of Kenya.  Years ago the president of Uganda, a very corrupt man, ordered all the soldiers to use the Rothschild giraffes as target practice.  The devastation was so severe that they are now endangered and the park has been established as a safe breeding ground area.  

If you put their food into your mouth, they will come give you a BIG wet kiss.  Micah was the first brave Finch to try it.  If you look closely you can see that the giraffe's tongue is purple.  God made their tongues  with melanin in them so that their tongue does not get sunburned as they eat.  A giraffe sleeps in five minute increments for a total of 30 minutes per day and their heart is the largest of all animals.  A giraffe's heart has to pump a lot of blood very fast to reach their brain so a giraffe avoids putting his head down low.  If a giraffe were to put their head straight down, they would pass out or even worse their head could explode.  Consequently, Giraffe's prefer to drink their water from the moisture on trees and if they must drink from a stream they spread their legs REALLY wide in order to bring their heads lower to the ground.  

     I must sign off for now.  Kaden is hungry so we need to return upstairs to our apartment.  

Take care and congratulations Simon, Jared, and Titus on your last day of school.  You worked hard this year and Uncle Paul and I are proud of you. 

Danielle

The Maganga slum - Foundation of Orphaned Children (FOC)

A couple of days ago we were walking through a poverty stricken part of Nairobi and a tall slender African man, by the name of Silvester, approached me to speak of his orphanage.  To be quite honest, he might have thought me to be rude as I did not engage him in much conversation.  You see, we have found there to be more need here than our family can manage and Paul has strongly cautioned me not to make any type of commitment to the African people.  If you tell an African will do something, they take you at your word and expect nothing less.  So we rely on Benjamin (the man in the picture helping Micah) and Pastor Garrishon to filter the legitimate needs and those we can trust.  Both of these men know Silvester, the Director of the Foundation for Orphaned Children, and they have known him for years.  Silvester had come to us and asked for prayer.  Today we visited FOC's classroom for young children and we were able to pray specifically for two children HIV positive.  Together with Micah, Paul and I went around and prayed individually for each row of children.  Kaden, the candy loving kid that he is, was meticulous to give each child a choice of 6 different types of candy.  Micah blew up a soccer ball and we gave the teacher an assortment of beach balls, jump ropes (which  they were thrilled over), toothbrushes and some toothpaste.  Some of the children's teeth were rotted almost to the gum line but they smiled with delight over the treats.  Thank you again Tiffany and Laurel for packing us an amazing bag of giveaways. 
     The children were so sweet to sing us some of their songs and recite some of the scripture they have been taught.  One of the two teachers knew that we were coming and had made Paul and the boys beaded necklaces with a shell and she made me a beautiful necklace as well.  It is so hard to take a gift when they barely have enough to eat.  When we were leaving, Silvester was off to purchase food for the children's lunch so we were able to provide the children with food.  Thank you Mrs. Holllier and Mrs. Pendley.  You have blessed my children tremendously and now today you made a difference in the lives of children in Kenya! 

     The funniest thing that happened today was the children wiping Micah's arm.  I wasn't sure what they were doing until Benjamin explained to me that they were trying to see if the white would come off.  The little girl in the picture, touching Micah, was convinced that she could remove the white to see the black.  Ha.

If anyone is interested in looking at the website for the
Foundation for Orphaned Children, the address is:
http://www.foundationfororphanedchildren.bravehost.com/


Oh, and I'm so sorry for neglecting to say that Paul was able to get Kaden a rescue inhaler of Albuterol.  He took it this morning and did  not cough again until late tonight.  Now it is raining and Kaden told me about two hours ago, "Mom, I think I'm ready for bed."

Note:  The little girl in the picture with the pink hooded jacket has a heart condition.  She is no longer in FOC's school but Silvester knew her.  When I prayed for her, I put my hand on her chest and I could feel her heart beating through her jacket.

Lord, please hear our prayers !!!!!

Kaden needs prayer

I realize that it is 1:46 am your time but Judy Montgomery told me before we left that if we ran into any concern to pray, "Lord, wake up the intercessors."  Not to be too alarming, but Kaden said last night that his chest felt constricted and this morning he is coughing.  Out of all the medicine we brought, we forgot the Albuterol and /Xopenex.  Aaaaggghhh.....  Please pray that Kaden's chest opens up and the coughing ceases.  Meantime, we have him in a warm, steamy shower.  Timo, our driver, is on the way and Paul will be going to the Chemist (Pharmacist) to evaluate our options.  The Africans build fires here everywhere so I assume that is the problem. 
Note:  We are scheduled to be leaving in 15 minutes to go to an orphanage of children whose parents have all died from aids.  We were asked to come and pray for the children as it seems so many of them struggle with HOPE.  Ha, if the enemy meant to deter us, now you all can pray for both.  Thank you, Danielle

My Hero !! What a man. He found my luggage.

                          

     I suppose the three hour wait to fill out lost luggage information was worth it.  Paul left early this morning and came back with all seven of our bags.  With the excitement of a child at Christmas time, I opened my luggage only to discover the shampoo had exploded all over my clothes.  So, my first day was spent hand washing and air drying my clothes. ( Jenn, you would have been so proud.)  After hand washing, I was ready to shower.  But wait, another road block.  No one told me I had to turn the broiler on to generate some hot water.  Paul had gone to exchange some money and set up a local phone so I called housekeeping, "How do I turn the broiler on?" I ask.  Eventually someone trys to come to my aid.  When housekeeping arrived, I could not get the door unlocked.  Paul had locked the door behind him and my key would not unlock from the inside.  Needless to say, my first day was a Challenge with a capital "C".  With clean clothes and clean bodies, we arrived three hours late to the Metheney's house to celebrate with a Memorial Day  dinner.  We were starving and the food and fellowship were wonderful.  After leaving we went grocery shopping at the local Nakumatt. 

The need is so great, all I can do is pray,

     The plan was to meet Pastor Garrishon in downtown Nairobi for a luncheon meeting.  Timo is our driver and he came to pick us up.  We traveled a short distance into town and the ministry planning meeting began.  As we sat there, men and women, Pastor Garrishon had invited, began to come.  We met Pastor Makounge, Priscilla (the Pipeline church secretary), Benjamin (the man responsible for our security during the day's travel), Mary and Priscilla from Compassion Children's Orphanage and a couple others.  While Paul coordinated our itinerary with the men, Priscilla taught me some Swahili.  Bless her heart she was so patient with me as I wrote out my phonetical spellings and referred to my notes one hundred times over.  I knew I would like Priscilla the moment I met her.  Why?  She showed up wearing PINK !!!  Pink, thank you Lord, something familiar from back home.  :)

     After Paul and the other pastors finished sketching out our plans, we went with Pastor Garrishon to visit the place he grew up. The pictures I have posted are from that area.  As we walked along, we prayed for the people that asked for prayer. We fed the children that followed us from a potato vendor.  And visited a one room school house for young children.  Benjamin, the man in charge of our security would say to me, "Come now.  We musn't stay too long.  We must be out by dark."  But...  prayer was all I had to give.  The needs were so great.  As I walked, I asked the Lord that for every man, woman and child I locked eyes with, smiled at, or touched that they would somehow experience the presence and love of the Lord.  It sounds so lofty, but I prayed that, as a carrier of Jesus, we changed the atmosphere in that place.  

     On the drive home, I was told that our visit was most likely the African children's first time to see white kids.  I suppose that explains why they followed us for miles, laughing and giggling as they tried to get Micah to play their games and speak Swahili.  Note:  Ministers have been into that area but Paul was told that no one had ever taken their family in.  Leave it to the Finch family to find an ADVENTURE. 

Thank you for coming along in this adventure and blessings to you, Danielle