Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Isaiah's Accident
Isaiah decided that he wanted to get his first stitches while in Kenya. On Monday, October 26th, he was spinning in a swing on our porch and caught his ear on a brick. He was bleeding and screaming. We decided that we needed to take him to the hospital to see if he needed stitches. I didn't think a band-aid would fix this wound. He was very brave, even though he was in a lot of pain.
The doctor looked at his ear and said that Isaiah did need stitches. He was given IV sedation that did not completely knock him out. Given Isaiah's age and the location of the tear (an extremely sensitive part of the ear), the doctor did not think Isaiah could hold still for the numbing medication. The doctor was correct, it still took 2 of us to hold him down while he was partially sedated. Isaiah got 2 stitches, then they taped a bandage securely enough for it to last 3 days on a 3-year-old. I was impressed!
Here is Isaiah's ear after we got to take the bandage off. The doctor did a nice job of "tying his ear back together" as I explained it to Isaiah. It did not get infected, thankfully. Though it is still sensitive and sun-burning more easily than his other ear.
Isaiah's ear after I took the stitches out. Barely noticable! We can actually see the scar, but it's not bad and we told him that he will have a fun story to tell later in his life. Besides, "chics dig scars." At least that's what we tell our rough and tumble boys.
Isaiah demonstrating that he's all better and having a good time too!
Love to all! Happy Thanksgiving and we will try to get a blog published for Thanksgiving Day too.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Too long since we updated you
Hello everyone. Time seems to be flying. We have been busy and haven't updated you as we would like. I'll try to fix that now.
Todd has been busy with visiting ministry sites and dealing with ministry situations that have come up with the students he mentors. A few Sundays ago, he was able to go visit Boniface's church. Ngiluni (n-gee-lu-ni) AIC. (Shown Below)
He left Scott around 6 in the morning to take public transportation (Matatu) about 50 Kilometers. The trip took nearly two hours. After getting off he and Boniface started walking. Overall it was about a 6-7 KM walk in the hot sun, in dress pants, a tie, and sports coat. They went down into a valley and across a dry river bed. Then started walking up a large hill. All along the way Boniface greeted various people. When the rains are heavy it fills up the river. At times, Boniface has to swim across the river just to get to church. Boniface has been the pastor there for over 5 years in two different assignments. (He was there, was assigned another congregation, then was assigned to go back again.) The congregation consisted of 100 women and 6 men (including Boniface and Todd). Many of the men of the area are not Christians and are deeply involved in tribal religion. Some of the Christian men do not come to church because they don't see the need in going. The service was a good service but Todd didn't understand a word of it since it was all in Kikamba (the language of the Kamba people). Todd got home after 5 that evening.
The youth.
After the service Todd was asked to "give them a challenge." Thankfully, Todd was able to give the challenge in English, since they have studied English in school.
Some of the girls dancing after church. The church stays open for about an hour after the service and the girls dance the whole time. It was great to see. Notice there is hardly any "adult" supervision.
The next Thursday, we allowed the Fellowship Group that meets in our home every Friday morning to have a party at our home. There are 3 ladies in the group and they were to do most of the cooking. They arrived at 2 pm with 3 live chickens. Here is a picture of one chicken before it became dinner. This might actually be a rooster, I have trouble telling the difference until the rooster crows.
Here are the first two chickens shortly after being killed. They were put into very hot water which helps their feathers come out easily. This was the first time I had ever seen chickens killed and plucked. The gentleman who killed them was very humane and sliced their necks and let the blood drain into a hole he had dug by my banana plants. I buy frozen chickens at the grocery store and the ladies let me know that getting live chickens is much fresher and very easy. I'm still planning to buy frozen, plucked chickens. Though, for Thanksgiving, if we want turkey, we have to buy a live one. Someone else is preparing it for us.
Two of the men in the fellowship group setting up jikos (jee koes) or cooking stoves. This type of stove is what most Kenyans cook their meals over. We have a propane oven and stove, which I did the cooking over because no one there knew how to use it. They were shocked that we did not own a jiko. I think we used every plate, pot, and utensil that I own that day. Thankfully the cafeteria is next door and the students were able to borrow all sorts of things that I could not supply. I will say that the vegatable peeler that they borrowed from us was a big hit. After Todd showed them how to use it, they loved it. The last people left at 7:40pm that night. We were so tired that we put the boys to bed immediately and Todd and I were in bed by 8:10pm. Some wonderful cultural experiences also wear you out. The next morning, the whole group (about 14) came again. I usually bake something for them, but I put out biscuits (store bought cookies) instead. One of the group members told us after Fellowship Group that this is the best Fellowship Group he has been part of during his time at Scott. They feel very welcomed at our home. We were thankful to hear that because we have never seen how a fellowship group works, we were just told that every teacher is assigned a group for the year.
Praise and worship at our Friday fellowship group. This photo is taken in our living room.
Isaiah with Simon and Samuel in our tree house in the giant mango tree in the back yard.
Much more has happened since we last posted a blog. I will try to do another one with pictures soon. We hope you enjoy this one and being able to "see" a little more of what we are doing.
Todd has been busy with visiting ministry sites and dealing with ministry situations that have come up with the students he mentors. A few Sundays ago, he was able to go visit Boniface's church. Ngiluni (n-gee-lu-ni) AIC. (Shown Below)
He left Scott around 6 in the morning to take public transportation (Matatu) about 50 Kilometers. The trip took nearly two hours. After getting off he and Boniface started walking. Overall it was about a 6-7 KM walk in the hot sun, in dress pants, a tie, and sports coat. They went down into a valley and across a dry river bed. Then started walking up a large hill. All along the way Boniface greeted various people. When the rains are heavy it fills up the river. At times, Boniface has to swim across the river just to get to church. Boniface has been the pastor there for over 5 years in two different assignments. (He was there, was assigned another congregation, then was assigned to go back again.) The congregation consisted of 100 women and 6 men (including Boniface and Todd). Many of the men of the area are not Christians and are deeply involved in tribal religion. Some of the Christian men do not come to church because they don't see the need in going. The service was a good service but Todd didn't understand a word of it since it was all in Kikamba (the language of the Kamba people). Todd got home after 5 that evening.
The youth.After the service Todd was asked to "give them a challenge." Thankfully, Todd was able to give the challenge in English, since they have studied English in school.
Some of the girls dancing after church. The church stays open for about an hour after the service and the girls dance the whole time. It was great to see. Notice there is hardly any "adult" supervision.
The next Thursday, we allowed the Fellowship Group that meets in our home every Friday morning to have a party at our home. There are 3 ladies in the group and they were to do most of the cooking. They arrived at 2 pm with 3 live chickens. Here is a picture of one chicken before it became dinner. This might actually be a rooster, I have trouble telling the difference until the rooster crows.
Here are the first two chickens shortly after being killed. They were put into very hot water which helps their feathers come out easily. This was the first time I had ever seen chickens killed and plucked. The gentleman who killed them was very humane and sliced their necks and let the blood drain into a hole he had dug by my banana plants. I buy frozen chickens at the grocery store and the ladies let me know that getting live chickens is much fresher and very easy. I'm still planning to buy frozen, plucked chickens. Though, for Thanksgiving, if we want turkey, we have to buy a live one. Someone else is preparing it for us.
Two of the men in the fellowship group setting up jikos (jee koes) or cooking stoves. This type of stove is what most Kenyans cook their meals over. We have a propane oven and stove, which I did the cooking over because no one there knew how to use it. They were shocked that we did not own a jiko. I think we used every plate, pot, and utensil that I own that day. Thankfully the cafeteria is next door and the students were able to borrow all sorts of things that I could not supply. I will say that the vegatable peeler that they borrowed from us was a big hit. After Todd showed them how to use it, they loved it. The last people left at 7:40pm that night. We were so tired that we put the boys to bed immediately and Todd and I were in bed by 8:10pm. Some wonderful cultural experiences also wear you out. The next morning, the whole group (about 14) came again. I usually bake something for them, but I put out biscuits (store bought cookies) instead. One of the group members told us after Fellowship Group that this is the best Fellowship Group he has been part of during his time at Scott. They feel very welcomed at our home. We were thankful to hear that because we have never seen how a fellowship group works, we were just told that every teacher is assigned a group for the year.
Praise and worship at our Friday fellowship group. This photo is taken in our living room.
Isaiah with Simon and Samuel in our tree house in the giant mango tree in the back yard.
Much more has happened since we last posted a blog. I will try to do another one with pictures soon. We hope you enjoy this one and being able to "see" a little more of what we are doing.
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