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3.15.2013

We hope we are Never the same....



 List of the children above in no particular order: Damaris Barasa, Dorcas Indekhwa, Diana Ambunya,
Melson Madela, Elizabeth Anumbi, Tony Karani, Bofine Alosio. Defline Samuli, Susan Masimiyu,
Sintnia Masimiya, Elizabeth Chimoli, Irene Bakoya, Edwin Barasa, Benjamin Barasa, Bryan Bilai,
Brian Wanjala, Francis Okwavuri, Jesse, Emanuel


“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you  need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ   Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7


“And now dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. ….Then the God of peace will be with you.”
Philippians 4:8 &9b


It has been just over three months since we’ve been back from Africa, and we are not the same; Praise the Lord! I personally prayed while we were in Kenya that  I would not forget all that I had learned, seen, smelled, and touched. I knew that as soon as I was back in  my busy American life the temptation would be to forget the lessons I had learned. The Lord has been gracious to me by answering this prayer. At night have dreams about Rehoboth House; I hear the children laughing and playing, and see the faces that are in the picture above. I look up Kenyan recipes on the internet. I tear up, amazed that we are here in this great country, but yet God has allowed us the privilege to help care and pray for these 20 sweet children made in his image.

The other day I came across the pair of shoes I wore while in Africa, I realized that I wasn’t wearing them because they still had red dirt all over them; it was imbedded in the fabric and in every groove of the soles. I threw them in the washer wondering if they would be ruined, but knew I wouldn’t wear them again if they weren’t cleaned. After they were washed and laid out to dry I was thankful that I hadn’t ruined them, but that not all of the red dirt was gone. I showed my shoes to Jay laughing about it and he said, “You know, those shoes are like our hearts; we just can seem to get the  “Africa” out of it, it is forever there.” I am now proudly wearing my “African imbedded dirt shoes” because once again, God, was gracious in reminded me that, NO, I will never be the same.

My intention wasn’t to write a book today, but I did want to say thank you to all of you who helped us with our most recent donation to Rehoboth House. In October we were able to send $350. Peter was able to purchase three months worth of beans, rice and maze (corn) along with two new coal stoves and enough coal. Peter is modeling Philippians 4:6-9 to the children. He, with confidence, always trusts that God will provide and he continually fixes his eyes on Jesus, which produces in Peter true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praise worthy thoughts and actions.  

            In his own words:
Thanks brother,
We got the funds and bought everything as it had been planned. Everybody is fine and we thank God for everything. God bless you so much and we miss you so much. Say hello to Melissa and whole the family and all the brothers who are supporting us tell them we are very grateful.

Thanks so much,
Brother Peter

_____________________________________________________________________________

Our goal was to raise $2,000 to cover food and unexpected expenses. God has been so faithful through your response to this need. We have currently raised $1,440!
We only need to raise $560 to reach our goal for the year. WOW! We are blown away. We will let you know as soon we have reached the goal.

If you are interested in donating please send your donation to:
New Height’s Church
P.O. Box 8668
Fayetteville, AR 72703
Please write Gresham’s Africa on the memo line.


Blessings to you all,
Melissa & Jay
        

Blessings Flow...Our Goal Was Met



Our goal to raise $2,000 to feed 20 children 3 meals a day for 1 year has been MET! Praise the Lord from whom all blessings flow by Him through many of you. We are overjoyed by the generosity that has been shown to our Kitale family, and it doesn’t stop there. In early December a good friend called and asked if there were any other needs that could be met in Kitale. It was “God timing” once again, because we did know of some specific needs we wanted to see met, but didn’t want to ask, you our friends and family, for more money, so we began to pray.  The amount of money given enabled our friend, Peter to do the following:

Meet Caleb- a.k.a. Chris Rock:
He is a proud father of a boy and new baby girl and is Peter’s right-hand-man. His English is very good so he loved talking with us about all kinds of things and he really wanted us to love Kenya as much as he does. When he smiles he looks like Chris Rock, his nickname since the 2009 trip. While we were in Kitale we noticed that Peter valued Caleb’s opinion on food prices, mattress prices, how many jump ropes we should buy etc.. After spending two weeks with these men we learned that Peter oversees the housing for the children as well as getting the kids enrolled in school, meeting with their teachers and making sure they have uniforms and clothing. Caleb’s expertise is the food! He was very particular the day we went to buy the food making sure we got a fair price and excellent quality. We were so thankful for his knowledge.  Due to the extra money that was given, Caleb now owns his own laptop. This has allowed him to get a better paying job so that he is able to help Peter with the expenses of the children’s home.

The children’s home now has electricity!!!
This is no small feat, In the Kipsongo area very few people have electricity. What cost only $400 American dollars would have taken them forever to save. Well, it just wouldn’t have happened. They are so excited for many reasons. One being that it gets dark pretty early, around 5:30pm during the rainy season, and even earlier because of the cloud cover. The children are so excited!!  (We would have loved to see their faces and hear their cheers, but it seems even more appropriate that the men and women who have cared for them were able to share the news!)

The children now have a television!!!
Watching African Christian music videos is quite popular. Peter and Caleb were both very excited about exposing the kids to music and Christian videos.

These three things that were provided weren’t “needs” for them to survive, but it sure was fun getting to tell them that that God had seen fit to prod someone to give extra so that these things were no longer dreams, but possibilities.

“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks.”  Luke 11: 9-10

Below is an email received from Peter this week:

“Hello Brother,

How are you doing? I hope you are doing great in the Lord. Receive greetings from Rehoboth kids. We are very happy for the results are out and some of our kids have done well in the last examination. We are hoping for them to continue working hard even as they move forward to next level of their education and lives too. This is our priority and happiness to see these kids doing great in their lives, despite the challenges; they have shown a lot of strength in the Lord. So keep us in your prayers always brother and may God bless you so much.

Your brother in the Lord,
Peter”
Love and Blessings to You,
 Jay & Melissa

3.13.2013

Lesson Learned

Every girl/woman wants to be thought of, told you are special, and surprised!

It was one of THOSE days for me. I felt forgotten, which was a lie, but, the thought stuck with me all day. I didn't feel special , important or worth doing something special for. I knew I was believing lies so instead of drowning by sorrows in my latest novel I decided to glen some wisdom from my favorite marriage book. Help Meet by Debbie Pearl. I read the chapter about having a thankful spirit. I felt filled up by the Lord. I realized that I was, once again, looking to Jay to make me feel complete instead of my creator.

I put Help Meet away and decided to get back to my novel and look what I found when I opened my nook to read.



Does he know me or what?!! He left my love note in my Nook. He knew I would read before I went to bed and he wanted me to know that I AM special, important, and worth doing something special for! BE STILL MY HEART!

Technology...how do they do that?

The TV below was given to us by Levi. When we got it we were pleased with a bigger screen, but the depth was at least 3 1/2 feet! He gave it to us when we moved in to the apartment during the "down sizing" time of our life. So, here we are in  an apartment and the only place the TV could go was in the only corner the living room offered.  We often joked that we had a 50" TV, Fifty inches DEEP! HA!

The day came when Jay decided to take the plunge and purchase the "dream" TV. He was so excited to see his movies in HD and I couldn't wait to re-arrange the living room! It was a win/win. Although, I am still trying to figure out how that have put 3 1/2 feet of stuff in FIVE inches (yes, 5, I measured)!