Temporary home

Today I went to the field with one of the field teams to collect some samples for one of our studies on schistosomiasis. My job was to give the children some jewis (juice) and biskwit (cookies) after they had their blood drawn. The man taking the blood, Boaz, is very good at it, but it is still hard to see the children get so sad. Children everywhere hate needles! (and grown-ups, too, for that matter). I have really enjoyed going to this school and interacting with the children, but it has also been a challenge for me. This school happens to take in disabled children, which many schools do not, so there are a lot of children there with unique challenges...as if living in a third world country, sleeping on the dirt, drinking water that makes you sick, and not getting enough food to sustain you aren't challenges enough. I've really struggled to process how one child can be asked to bare such heavy burdens their whole lives. Sometimes I just try very hard to look deep into their eyes and smile to show them I love them, and they smile back in the sweetest way! Lord, shower your grace on these special children, help them through this life so that they can enter the next where they will be beautiful, perfect, graceful, and strong!

Also, one of the sweet little boys from the ringroad orphan day school (where Chris works) has absolutely stolen my heart. Chris told me yesterday that he has malaria which is worse for him because he is HIV+. Sweet Chris went to see him and sat with him for a while since he was laying there alone. I am trying to remember everyday that this world is not their home. A Carrie Underwood song comes to mind: "this is my temporary home, it's not where I belong, windows and rooms, that I'm passing through, this is just a stop, on the way to where I'm going, I'm not afraid because I know, this is my temporary home." There is a home waiting for these little ones where there will be no more tears or sickness, no more hunger, no more sadness. Just think how overjoyed God will be to see His jewels finally shining the way He meant for them to! I try to keep thinking about this.

Oops, I was going to try not to make this blog about poverty, so I guess I slipped up with this one. I guess what is important is to know what can I do to help? I ask for prayers to help me answer this question. Even as I write this request, I know part of the answer. God wants us to see something good to do and do it. I want to live like that, just finding something good to do in each minute and doing that thing.

Blessings: Last night, we had dinner with a wonderful missionary couple that live here in Kisumu. We are sooo excited to get to know them better and to have some like-minded friends here with us. What a blessing! Tonight, we will look at another potential house for us to rent when we move in December. We have several good options for housing, but nothing that we are sold on, so the search continues. Another blessing- we found out through our new friends that their is a place in Kisumu that sells ice-cream which tastes JUST like homemade ice cream! I tried it and it's true! YAY! By far one of the biggest blessings of life out here is seeing the beauty of God's creation every single day (and night-the stars are unbelievable).

Overall, life is good:)

I will try to post some more pictures and videos when I have a better connection. As of right now my camera is dead and I can't find the charger! Hopefully I can find it so I can continue to document our trip.