Busy Week

“…But we don’t get to wait to offer our lives until we have our acts together. We don’t get that luxury. If we did would anyone ever feel like offering anything? God asks us to be vulnerable, he invites us to share and give our weaknesses. He wants us to offer the beauty that he has given us even when we are keenly aware that it is not all that we wish it were. He wants us to trust him.” 

–Captivating 

Aiden and his Cousin Gladi

with some cousins

Aiden with a cousin and his aunt of this side of the family.

Your prayers have worked the rains have held off for now! We are having the roof done this week. It will be finished by Saturday, next week the cement and then we are ready to move in! AH so happy. It will be nice to have our own space finally. 

the porch!

Sifeli changed his first diaper ever this week. He can’t handle the baby poop, like at all. In fact Aiden had a really good blow out and got his legs all in it and I thought Sifeli was going to puke. BUT he was able to do a just pee diaper! He also took Aiden for a couple of hours this week while I went to our committee meeting!  You can see him do some baby wearing! 

The new children are adjusting well to life at Sunrise, especially Nickson, the older one. Turns out he is brilliant. He

has only been here one week and in this week he tested higher than our other children in grade 4. (We have 8 kids in one class, 4 are in the top 5.) He is the one who was taking care of the younger siblings. One of the days I was at site this week I was trying to get some medicine for one of the kids. Aiden was on the couch and starting to fuss. There were about 5 people in the kitchen and when I came out Nicky was holding Aiden and trying to comfort him. It was so sweet. The update with their younger brother, whose names is Shedreck, is that he was diagnosed with epilepsy, and is currently on medication. They are trying to find a place for him, so please be praying the perfect place will be found soon. The father is apparently mentally unstable but he had stopped taking his medications, please be praying for him as well.

 

Aiden is getting so big! He is 5 months old today! Kay thinks he is going to be a lawyer because he is a TALKER! He also likes to wake up around 4 or 5 in the morning, we are hoping this is a stage that will end very soon, lol. Also everyone asks if he is one of our orphans! I always ask does he look like he is full african? LOL.

We had two big meetings this week, a trustee meeting on Monday and committee meeting on Wednesday. It’s so exciting to see things moving forward at Sunrise. At our committee meeting we had a little tension.  Its not very Tanzanian culture to accept people from outside your village, so there was some discussion regarding the children from the outside. I gave a little speech in Swahili, well more a sermon, about God loving children and wanting us to take care of them. I wanted to put out the fire before it began and no one can argue with the bible. Lol. 

The Sunrise Crew!

New Arrivals

“This happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him”

-John 9:3

Aiden and his cousin

How Aiden washes clothes/diapers

Another busy week has come and gone. The house update is that we are hopefully going to finish this week if the rains will hold off. Sadly the rains have already come, good for crops, bad for house building! So pray the rains stay away at least long enough to place the roof!! 

Sifeli and I had to go to a meeting with his aunt. (when his parents died she became his mother figure, she would be Aiden’s grandma) She told us that we need to make a bigger announcement about our marriage and baby (meaning another family meeting with more family).  So that is what we will do.

standing on dad!

We have added two new kids to Sunrise; before they came one of the girls, Ziada said, “They will play with Aiden too!: They are not from Uhekule, they are from another village about an hour and a half away. Their father is an alcoholic who beats them when he is drunk. Their mother ran away, and Kay went to go see the place, she said a pig would not even want to live there. They have a younger brother, he is 5, but sadly due to all the abuse he can no longer walk or talk he just lays in the fetal position. He is being taken to a doctor tomorrow to see if there is anything that can be done for him. The oldest boy has been taking care of the other children. We can’t take the 5 year old in, he needs a lot more care than we can give, if he is even going to live.  (Please be praying for him.) My heart just breaks. This is the reality for so many children all over, it just makes me sick to my stomach. 

Their father came with the children to drop them off at site. It’s hard to look at a man and know that he has done such horrible things to these children and not be filled with anger, but at the same time you want to love him too. The couple that contacted Bibi Kay, live in the same village as these children. The husband is a white man originally from Belguim, (he has been to 35 countries) he lived in Oregon at one point and finally settled in Tanzania. He married a Tanzanian woman and they have a 6 month old baby. An oreo baby, like Aiden!  He found Jesus at one point in his life and while we were talking he said something that struck me as a “what would Jesus do situation”. He said that he would like to help their father too. Yes the man has done some horrible things, he has hurt his children and his wife to the point where his wife runs away and one of his kids may not live, and yes we can all point fingers and we can all condemn this man, but at the end of the day he is no better or worse than we are. Is this situation bigger than God? Can God not turn these beautiful children’s lives around? Can his grace and forgiveness not reach this father? God is already at work here, his plan is beautiful, his plan is perfect, God is bigger than this,

Our kids took these kids in no problem. They showed them to their rooms, their beds, their cabinets. They took them around, and instantly started to play like they have been there all along. The older girls took the youngest one, Atukuzwe, to take a shower and put her in clean clothes. The boys took Niki the older boy, to the dining room to color, and read, and work on school books. Out beautiful family is growing.

Pool table

Resting while the kids eat lunch

Franki and Elia

Welcoming new kids!

Atukuzwe, Pili, Yona, & Nickson

Franki & Elisha

Akwirino, Elia, & Nickson

Love more

“I think that is what God had in mind, for Jesus to be present, to just be with us. It’s also what he has in mind for us when it comes to other people. The world can make you think that love can be picked up at garage sale or enveloped in a hallmark card. But the kind of love that God created and demonstrated is a costly one because it involves sacrifice and presence.”

-Bob Goff, Love does

What a week this has been! Things are so busy with building the house, i cannot wait for it all to slow down, and to really start this village life! The house is coming along nicely, (picures posted below) the next step is roof, and then the  outside is finished! We still have windows and all of the inside to do, but for 5 days work i think these guys are doing pretty well!

 A few funny things happened this week; one is we have this kid that helps at Sunrise during his school breaks. He was around when i came home in December of last year. He asks me the other day,"Why when you came from America last time you were so white, and  now you are so red?" Haha, i told him because last time it was snowing in America and this time there was lots of sun! 

Sifeli says he misses the following people from America; Dad, Tyler, Paul Knopp, mom and Alyssa. He says that the reason Aiden is so strong is because of Dad. Aiden also has dad's hands but Sifeli's feet.

We had a family meeting this week, which i walked to with all of my sister in laws. They fed us rice and greens, at 8 in the morning, with tea haha. 

I walk to site every day. (Sunrise=Site)  I am working on Sunrise's income, trying to find areas where we might be loosing money. I am working on stuff for the tractor, which is a big money guzzler. Last year we only planted enough potatoes for eating, we didn't try to sell, HOWEVER after looking at the cost of fertilizer, it may have been cheaper just to buy them all year, but that is what i am looking into now. We didn't make any money on corn, and the cow will have her baby in one month, so we will be selling milk soon! The kids are doing great here is a couple more pictures:

Aiden is getting so BIG! Who would've thought our 3lb baby would be wearing 6 month clothes before he even turned 5 months! That's right folks, Aiden has made the jump to 6 month clothes.

I have found my new calling. All I can say here is that it’s to love the women of this village. Love them without limits, pray for them, be with them, listen to them, be a shoulder to cry on, and someone that they can count on. 

“Following Jesus is simple but not easy. Love until it hurts and then love more.”

-Mother Teresa