Crazy Dreamin'

Last night I had this crazy dream. Here it is.

I woke up to our dog, Rija (Rye-ja) whining, like she was being tortured. So I go to our side door and begin to whistle, knowing that they always come when I whistle because they know it’s treat time. But nothing, neither dog comes.

So I go outside to see what is going on with the dogs. I see Cusko (coo-sko) lying dead on the grass by a tree and Rija, barely alive, laying by his side, her head on his stomach, whining at the loss of her friend and the pain that she was in. I start to get a little scared, realizing that there is something incredibly wrong and I turn around to run to the house and find two men standing at the door that I so desperately wanted to get through.

I turned and ran for the guy’s house, knowing that it was open because it was being cleaned today. But they got me in time and threw me down on the gravel. They demanded on the money that I had…

I won’t get in to the details of the dream but it was a bit freaky and why I dreamt it, I don’t know. But the reason I’m telling you this is because of what happened FOR REAL this morning….

I woke up this morning and as I got out of the shower, I could hear a dog whining and it sounded like Rija. My heart started going CRAZY. I got dressed and went to the side door and began to whistle, my usual whistle for the dogs, letting them know it was treat time. But they didn’t come. I whistled two or three more times but nothing, not one dog, nothing.

So I closed and locked the door behind me, started praying and then started looking through each window of the house for any sign of the dogs and anything else that may be off. But I couldn’t see the dogs and obviously couldn’t see two or even one man (which honestly was what I was really looking for).

I went to the kitchen and grabbed the largest and scariest knife that we had, my cell phone with Bud’s phone # ready (all I had to do was push “Talk”) and unlocked the door. I tried one more time with the whistle to see if the dogs would come….NOTHING.

I opened up the metal door and walked slowly out, saying, “I have a knife and I’ll hurt you if you come near me.” And I headed in the direction of the tree, the tree in my dream where my two sweet dogs were: one dead, the other one dying. As I turned the corner, there they were my sweet dogs at the tree in my dream.

But no, they weren’t dead. They were both sitting there, staring up in to the tree. Was one of the men up in the tree? Rija was looking up in the tree, whining every so often. Cusko sat quietly looking up.

I whistled at them, they looked at me and Cusko came running toward me but Rija stayed. I headed toward the tree, knife in hand, visible to whoever was in the tree, so they knew that I meant business. Rija watched the tree, Cusko walked in front of me, looking at me then at the tree….back and forth he’d look.

I approached the tree and looked up. I saw a branch move quickly. I looked at Rija to get a sense of where she was looking. She started to whine again, circling that particular spot. I moved to where she was and looked up.

And there I saw….a family of monkeys. There was this massive monkey, HUGE, with a white beard like face and then a smaller monkey with a baby monkey on its back. The massive monkey looked down at me and in one graceful swoop, came down a few branches to get a closer look at me. He was probably thinking "who’s this nut bar with a cell phone open in one hand and a huge knife in the other?"

He looked at me for a moment; our eyes fixed on each other. And then just as fast as he came down those few branches, he was back up to be with the other two monkeys and then they jumped through all these branches, to the point where I couldn’t see them any more.

So yeah, that was my morning adventure. : )

Anyway, tomorrow I’m off to Eldoret (the airport) to pick up 5 members of a team that are coming to stay with us for two weeks. They are from California and their other two members will be arriving the week after. Pray that all goes well. It’s a jam-packed two weeks.

Love you all,

Meredith

xoxoxo

Long Weekend Festivities

I hope that everyone had a wonderful long weekend and enjoyed their time with family, friends and most importantly, God.

My weekend here was nothing different. I was supposed to go to the children’s home on Saturday but woke up with a migraine from crazy land. I was so incredibly nauseous. It was about 12:30 or so before I was able to get out of bed. Needless to say, I didn’t get to see the kids. I was NOT happy about that.

On Sunday, I went in to town to do a bit of shopping and found Paul, the boy I talked about in my blog dated March 20th, 2008.

As soon as Paul saw me, he came running. He told me in his broken English (and a bit of translation from his friend) that he took the money I gave him, went to the local clinic and bought medicine. He pulled out the big red pills to show me. He said that he was taking the medicine like the doctor said. He was told by the doctor to take food with the medicine and to be cautious of what he ate, so that it didn’t upset his stomach.

Paul was so proud to show that he didn’t spend the money on anything stupid but on medicine to help clear his “sickness” up. I asked him if he got an HIV test done and he said that he couldn’t get one done as it cost money. I told him that the local clinic was free for HIV testing but he was adamant that it cost money to get it done. My plan is going to find out from them this week to see if there really is a charge.

Some may think I’m stupid or crazy for doing this, but I just really felt I needed to. I left Paul to go in to the grocery store and when I came out of the store, I summoned him over. I handed him over a grocery bag containing three loaves of bread, 2 bags of tea leaves and one bag of sugar. I told him that this was for him and ensuring that he had something to eat when he took the medicine and if I found out that he did something else with it, I would kick his butt.

The smile that came across his face was priceless. He stared at me for a moment, surprised. “Awe, Mary. Asante, asante sana.” He put his arms out to hug me but based on his age and his height, I gave him the handshake with a small Baptist hug/nudge. He said he loved me; smiled another big smile and then ran off.

Today, I saw his friend (and my sweetie) Gideon in town. I asked Gideon if Paul was around and he said that he was over somewhere eating bread and tea. I had to laugh when I heard that. I asked how Paul was feeling and Gideon the medicine was good and so Paul was doing better.

Gideon asked me if I was going to take Paul to the hospital and I said that I wasn’t going to take him. I said that the medicine should help him with whatever is wrong (Anne, our social worker and I assume its gonorrhea).

One of the few boys that came over to Gideon and me said that he refuses to have sex with “those ghetto girls. They’ll give me AIDs or something.” I patted him on the back, said, “Good for you Alex! Try not having sex at all until you get married, okay? That way you won’t have to worry about any diseases. Sawa?” He laughed and said, “Sawa Mary.” Then I turned to Gideon and a few other boys, “No sleeping with the girls, sawa boys?” They all were disgusted at the thought of it and then one of the younger ones said, “I don’t want what Paul has. I don’t like medicine.”

So thankfully and hopefully, Paul’s experience has scared the other boys away. Unfortunately these boys (and girls) aren’t being taught sex education, whether it’s safe sex or abstinence all together. When living on the street, they (the boys) get bored and to them, there’s nothing else to do so they have sex with the girls. And the girls, well, this is how they make their living…by prostituting themselves, never wondering or sometimes never caring that they are one moment away from killing themselves or the man that they are with for that thirty minutes.

Love you all!
Meredith
xoxoxo

Drugs, Sex and God...

His name is Paul. He is 18 years old; a fairly good-looking young boy. He has a beautiful smile; in fact, he’s always smiling. He sees me walking down the road, “Mary! Mary! Una enda wapi?” (Where are you going?”)

I tell him that I’m going to Khetia’s, our large supermarket, to meet Anne, our social worker. Today is food delivery day for one of our projects. Paul continues to walk with me, engaging in conversation…my not-so-good Swahili and his not-so-good English but thankfully, we manage to keep the talks going and fully understand what the other is saying.

I ask Paul if he has any glue on him; he looks at me in hurt and shock, “Ah no, Mary, hakuna gum.” (No glue – gum is glue in Kenya. If you want to refer to chewing gum, you have to say bubble gum). I tell him he’s cheating me but he insists that he doesn’t have any glue. And for the most part I believe him; he doesn’t have that glazed over look like the other kids do. He is fully aware of his surroundings and his speech is impeccable. Then he says in Swahili that he doesn’t like gum. He says, “Mungu ni moja, hapana gum.” which is “God is the one, not gum.”

Paul began to tell me that gum ruins the mind; it makes you crazy like some of the other boys we both know on the streets. He said that he doesn’t want to go crazy; he wants to love God, get a job or maybe school.

I softened a bit toward him; impressed with his words, feeling compassion for him. As we arrived to Khetia’s, I saw Anne waiting for me. When Paul noticed that I was with a Kenyan, he got a bit shy. I told him it was okay and then he just started blabbing in fast Swahili to Anne. I couldn’t make out all that he was saying. I saw shock, then sadness on Anne’s face, then her shaking her head.

I asked her what Paul had said. Paul told Anne that he had sex with some of the “ghetto” girls, aka street girls, and now he wasn’t feeling well. He said that there was something wrong with him. He didn’t feel right. He wanted to go to the hospital to be checked out.

At that moment, Anne got a phone call, so she stepped aside and in my broken Swahili, I tried to communicate with him. I wanted to be bold with him.

I asked him, “You don’t like gum because it ruins your mind, right? It makes you crazy right?” He said, “Yes, it makes you go crazy. I don’t like gum.”

I asked, “Do you know of AIDs?” He said, “Yes, I know AIDs. It’s very bad.”

I asked, “Do you like AIDs?” He looked at me like I was the crazy one. “Ah no, Mary, I don’t like AIDs. It kills you.”

I looked at him, put my hand on his arm, “Then why Paul, why are you having sex with street girls. With girls you know are sleeping with many other men? You having sex with girls that probably have AIDs, is just as bad as you taking gum. It makes you crazy; it kills you.”

He hung his head down. “Pole Mary. Pole sana.” (I’m sorry, Mary. I’ve very sorry.).

I asked if a condom was used; he said that he didn’t have money for a condom and they didn’t have any condoms at that time.

He asked if I would forgive him; I told him that I already have. But that it wasn’t my forgiveness he needed, he needed to go to God for forgiveness. He asked me if God was mad at him; I said that I think God was sad but that God was waiting for Paul to talk to Him, to say he was sorry to God.

I told him that he needed to talk to God and then he needed to go to the hospital or the VCT and get checked out. I told him that he needed to stop having sex with those girls, any girls.

At that point, Anne was ready to go in to the store so I told him I had to go and we’d talk later. When Anne and I finished shopping, Paul was still there, waiting. So he carried our bags to our next destination. I gave him some little money and told him to save it or take it to the VCT to get checked.

He looked at me somewhat hurt and angry, “Help me, Mary!” And then he stormed off.

I’ve thought about him all day today.

What do I do? What can I do?

The Loss of a Friend

The Loss of a Friend

It’s funny how yesterday I was celebrating a little girl’s first birthday and today I’m mourning the loss of a friend.

I woke up this morning, checked my email and found a message saying that my friend Barry Hall died of cancer on Sunday, March 16th, 2008 at 3:00a.m.

He turned 45 on Saturday, March 15th, 2008. His last full day on earth was spent celebrating his birthday with family and friends by his side. What a wonderful way to spend your last day.

It’s amazing how the moment you hear of someone’s death, you are suddenly filled with every possible memory of them. I remembered little details of conversations Barry and I had. I remember shortly after turning 16, he handed me the keys to his Mustang and said, “Wanna go for a ride?” And the sheer joy and excitement I felt because 1) he trusted me to drive his sweet car and 2) I was getting to drive a MUSTANG. I remember Barry giving me the “guy talks”; it was basically, “Guys that age only want 1 thing, so don’t give it to them. Besides you really shouldn’t date until your 25. But if you must date and the guy hurts you; I’ll kill him!” I remember stupid comments that he made and I would have tears pouring down my cheeks from laughing so hard at him.

And now as the tears pour down my cheeks now, I’m terribly saddened that I didn’t get to say good-bye to him. But I’m thankful for the memories that suddenly flooded my thoughts. It’s a comfort for me.

I just ask that you pray for his family during their time of mourning. And I ask that you pray for my dad. Barry was like a big brother to me but a great friend to my dad. This is going to be hard on him. Thank you.

Love you all!
Meredith
xoxoxo

First Birthday Party...

I went to a first birthday party today. The birthday girl’s name is Ruth Neema. She lives just up the road from us and is the foster daughter of our friends Daniel & Anastasia. Daniel’s nephew, Eric, had found Ruth abandoned on the road one evening on his way home. She was only a few days old at that time.

It’s definitely not like any one-year old birthday party that I’ve been to before. I was told to come anytime between 3 - 4:00pm. So I thought, this is Kenya, I’ll show up closer to 4:00 and I did. I was the LAST one to arrive and to top it off, the pastor from their church was giving a mini sermon. The house had about 40 people in it; I was the only white person.

They immediately found a chair for me to sit in, front and centre. I immediately noticed that the room was divided in to 3 sections: children at one table, women at the couches area and men at another table. No men sat with women and no children sat with men. They were all in their own little areas.

After the pastor was done speaking, another gentleman stood up who I realized quickly was the “MC” for the party. He introduced certain people who would then stand up and give a little speech about Ruth and then about Daniel & Anastasia.

There were three people that spoke; they were short, sweet and in Swahili but I caught the jist of what was being said in each speech. The MC then says, “That is all the speeches I have for you. But I do see that we have one special guest that we have never met before.” Oh-oh, I knew it; I knew that I couldn’t get away with just showing up and sitting there. I knew they were going to want me to talk. So the MC asked Daniel to tell everyone who I was. Daniel told them of how met and left me to give my name to the people.

I stood up and said, “Mimi ni Mary!” (I am Mary!) and then joked that this was the only Swahili I knew to which everyone laughed and Daniel quickly denied. I talked about how children are a blessing, a gift from God and how much of a blessing it has been for me to see Ruth from just a few weeks old when I met her to being a part of her first birthday. I prayed for them, asked that God just continue to bless this amazing family, bless Daniel and Anastasia for the love and heart that they have for all the children in their home.

Then after that, the MC called on someone to pray and then said, “It’s time for the cake.” So they brought out the cake and a candle. Eric had the honor of holding Ruth during the blowing out of the candle (which he did) since he was the one who had found her and brought her home. We sang Happy Birthday, then the cake was cut up in to lots of pieces and those pieces were distributed around the room for everyone.

After the cake, everyone sat at their places at the tables. I sat at the table the kids were initially at but then realized that the kids ran outside to assist in preparing the plates of food. They served rice, boiled potatoes, beans and cooked cabbage.

Then came the funny part. As soon as people were done eating, they literally got up, said thanks for inviting me and then good-bye. They just ate and ran. No small talk, no helping clean up, nothing. Almost everyone left.

As soon as I was done eating, I got up and started clearing off and stacking the plates that had been left on the table by the other guests. Some of the children and women still there eating, looked at me in complete disbelief. One of the girls stopped eating to help me but I told her to finish eating and I would clean up. One of the boys walked over and told me that I would make a good wife someday. So I put plates in his hand, told him to take them to the kitchen and that way, he would make a good husband someday. : ) He gave me A LOOK and then laughed hysterically at me. I think he thought I was kidding! : )

I sat and visited for awhile, including holding, kissing and snuggling up to the birthday girl. It was a good few hours and I liked that I got to experience a first birthday, Kenyan style. I love learning new things about my friends and their culture.

Like I’ve said before, I love it here.

Love you all!
Meredith
xoxoxoxo

Jungle-Jim Mary & Tribal Clash Update

Today I went out to the children’s home to spend the day with the kids. The moment the boda boda (bicycle taxi) turned the corner and the kids could see me, they started screaming my name. I hugged and kissed each one (well except for the two high school boys; we just maturely shook hands).

The next five hours consisted of children crawling on me, hanging off of me, jumping on me, jumping off me, and every thing else. I had the four little ones: Jacky (7), Molongo (7), Martin (6) and Paul (6), fighting over whom was going to sit in my lap or hold my hand as we walked around the property. At one point, I was carrying Molongo and Martin in each arm, Jacky and Paul holding on to my skirt and Veronica holding on to my arm.

But don’t think I’m complaining, NOT AT ALL. My only thought was that, I wish that I had 30 arms, and then I could wrap each one around each kid.

I had a tender moment with Martin today; he’s a new boy. He came to the home while I was in Canada. When I went to the home when I got back, he was a little shy with coming to greet me but when he saw the other children’s response to me, he soften up. Today, he must’ve been craving some big time attention and affection.

There was about a 30 second window of opportunity where Molongo had let me go to go and hit Jacky for something and Martin grabbed hold of those 30 seconds. He tugged at my skirt and softly whispered my name. I picked him up and immediately, he wrapped his legs and arms around and put his head on my shoulder. Although he is six years old, he is the size of a 3-4 year old, so he snuggled quite nicely in my arms.

Then Molongo realized that he had lost his spot with me and came running, clicking and yelling, “Wewe (way-way). Natakuchapa. Whatcha. Mary yangu.” This basically means, “You, I’m going to beat you. Leave her. My Mary.” And then Molongo began pulling on Martin’s leg. But Molongo had his turn already so he had to wait, although that didn’t stop him from continually hanging off my arm or pulling at my leg.

I went and sat with Martin in the grass and he just continued to stay curled up in my lap. At one point, while the girls were playing with my hair, Martin, Paul and Patrick (8) became fascinated with my white skin and my freckles. They moved my arm every which way to get a closer look at all the different angles and freckles. Martin pulled up the sleeves of my shirt to reveal the not-so-attractive farmer’s tan. They were mesmerized by how different color of my skin was from that little revelation.

The boys would just run their hands over my arms. They would touch my finger nails and then Martin became mesmerized by my nose and cheeks. He would pinch my nose and rub my cheeks and just stare at them. Then he would out his head under my chin, nuzzle up to me and then a minute later, pinch my nose and rub my cheeks again.

And then Molongo pushed him off. So I let them each have a leg to sit on.

It was a great day, an awesome day to spend with the kids. Daniel, the kids ask me to greet you and say they miss you. Jared, Kate & Amanda, the kids want to know when you’re coming back for a visit. I had to say, “Si jui.” : )

Political/Tribal Update

In case you all here about this in the news, let me tell you what I have learned.

There are some tribal clashes happening in the core of Mount Elgon, which divides Kenya from Uganda. Kitale, where I live is pretty much near the base of Mount Elgon.

The reasoning for this tribal clash is as follows (I’ll keep the tribal names out of it):

Tribe 1 and Tribe 2 lived in the same area of Mount Elgon. Tribe 1 wanted to get rid of Tribe 2 and take “their land” back, so Tribe 1 called on Tribe 3 to assist them (Tribe 3 is living in Uganda; however, they are originally a Kenyan tribe who “inter-mixed” with a Ugandan tribe. Tribes 1&2 are Kenyan).

Tribe 1 promised Tribe 3 land if they assisted them in removing Tribe 2. Now, if I were Tribe 3, why would I even think that Tribe 1 would give us land AFTER they just chased away Tribe 2 from that land? I don’t know; it’s beyond my comprehension.

But as you can probably see where this is going, Tribe 3 assisted Tribe 1 in the removal of Tribe 2. And then Tribe 1 basically said, “Thank you very much; now get out of here.” And Tribe 3 is saying, “But wait you promised us land.” And of course Tribe 1 didn’t stick to their promise and so now…Tribe 3 is at war with Tribe 1.

These are where the militia groups (some compare them to the Mungiki) come in now (I originally called them “revenge” soldiers but the media is calling them militia groups and I think the militia group consists of Tribe 1.). They’re weapons are firearms.

On Wednesday, army helicopters went up to Mount Elgon and began dropping bombs in caves where this militia groups were hiding. They did this again yesterday but not only were some of the militia group members killed but so were innocent women and children who were hiding in the caves that were bombed. Some say that there is an estimated 1,000 people killed in the past two days of bombing.

Now for the story today (and please note, that this is rumor). Thousands of people have fled this area of Mount Elgon for obvious reasons and the closest “town” for them to flee to is of course Kitale. Today, there were about 25-30 gunshots that went off near the Showground (for those of you who know – it was in the forest area across from the Showground). That is about 1.5 kms from where I live.

Here comes the rumor part. Those gunshots were from some members of the militia group who found out that the people, who fled their homes, were the ones who told authorities about these caves and that is why they were bombed. So the militia group went seeking revenge on this “snitches” but little did they know that the army also found out (who knows how) that the militia group would be coming for revenge today.

Needless to say, there are 18 militia members’ bodies in the morgue today.

I was far away from this area today so I didn’t hear a single gunshot. But now it makes sense as to why on Friday, I saw the two military trucks filled with Kenyan soldiers back in town, roaming the streets. It’s something, unfortunately, that I have gotten used to seeing.

Currently there is a curfew in the Mount Elgon are, including the town of Kitale. No one is to be on the streets from 7pm-7am. If anyone is to be found on the streets during that time, and there is no valid reason for them to be out, they will be thrown in to the back of lorry (really big truck) and taken in to police custody.

I have friends who have needed to get their watchmen employee cards, ID, etc. so that their watchman can pass through police checks all along the roads. This is because he needs to leave to/from work at 5:30 am. I believe the curfew was to last only one week but it may be extended to longer, especially with today’s events.

Thankfully the President of Kenya and the opposition leader, now named Prime Minister, both FIRMLY agree that this militia group and their violence need to come to an end. And for once, the country is seeing these two men join in unison on something and is beginning to see new hope for Kenya. And because of this unity among the two men, many believe that the tribal clashes on Mount Elgon will be dealt with and we won’t be seeing any more violence or death.

But trust me when I say that all good. I am safe and sound. There are no problems here. It’s 10:00 pm and there is not a sound but the crickets outside.

I will keep you all updated on anything new and I’m sure between mine and Daniel’s blogs (www.dlipparelli.blogspot.com), we’ll keep everyone well informed. All we need is prayer.

Love you all,

Meredith

xoxoxo

Visiting the Deaf Children School...

What a fun day today…even with the not-so-fun start to it.

I’m still feeling a bit yucky from the food poisoning. Remind me NEVER to eat at this restaurant again. I woke up at 2:30 this morning with a stomach ache. Then 10 minutes later, one of our dogs went on a barking rampage and I had to go to the window and scream his name. I saw him cower to a corner of the yard. But by that time I was wide awake; no matter what, I just couldn’t get back to sleep.

It was not a good way to start off a busy day but nonetheless, I had things to do. Since I couldn’t sleep, I thought, Maybe I can go and sit down at the computer and try to catch up on some personal emails. So at 4:15 am, I went to the office, with my hot cup of tea, got the laptop all fired up, sat down, got situated and was excited to start on my emails. And then….

The internet wouldn’t connect…I tried for an hour. Nothing, nada, zilch.

My assumption is that the power went out at some point during the night for a period of time. When that happens, the main server in town goes down and it needs to wait for the office to open and someone to go in and manually reset the server. And since the office didn’t open until 7:30-8:00 in the morning, I knew that I wouldn’t be getting to email that morning. Now what was I going to do? So I decided to type up some of the emails to people, save them and then send them out when I had access. It would save time. Smart thinking, eh?

The night before, a friend of mine had asked me to look up two Bible verses and let me know what I got from them and to email her back on them. They were: Isaiah 41:10 and Haggai 2:5. I looked them up the night before, as I was in bed, composed the email at 5:00 this morning and then emailed her today (when the internet was working!) what I got from them. She later responded and suggested that I put it on my blog (changed a sentence in it to protect a bit of privacy) so here you go:

Isaiah 41:10

I looked it up and noticed that in August 2006 (I was in Kenya at the time of writing this) I wrote something in the margin next to this verse. This is what I wrote.

When I feel at my lowest, my loneliest, I will focus on You. You are always with me. When I cry for help, Lord, You are there for me. When lonely, when I want to give up, You hug me; You comfort me.

In times of struggle, in times of desperation, God provides us with a strength we don't understand. He gives us Him in a deeper level. When I read the last line, "I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." it reminds me of the Footprints story that we all know. He's holding us in those low times, carrying us, bearing the burden for us and covering us with Himself.

Haggai 2:5

This verse reminds me of the sermon I listened to the other day and blogged about: Do You Fear the Kitten or the Lion?

I believe that we live in a world of fear; that we've been controlling people, which in the inner part of ourselves, means that we are full of fear, afraid to give up control to our Father. We need to stop fearing. Does fear not show a lack of faith in God?

We tend to forget that He, our Creator, is always with us. Our lives are in His hands and we're so precious to Him. Are we not worth more than the birds he feeds and they do not fear for they know that their Creator will always provide for them.

Anyway, that's what I got. I see the basis of the two verses being on fear. I guess we need to rise up, show our faith in God and give Him control of ALL things. We cannot control what tomorrow will bring; our lives are truly in His hands. We need to trust in God, surrender ALL to God and watch Him work in our lives.

What do you think? Read those verses and let me know your thoughts.

So that was my morning. I was still feeling queasy when I had to meet Anne in town to catch a matatu together to Webuye, a small town with a stinky paper factory. : ) Anne suggested that I stay home and rest but I was starting to get excited about visiting those children that I had so much fun with back in January (I blogged about it!).

We were going to a deaf school called St. Anthony’s where our Canadian friends are supporting over 20+ deaf children in this school. We help them out in getting things done since Daniel and I are the ones on the ground here.

When we got to the school and as we walked through the gate, I immediately recognized some of the children from our first day visiting. And it was so cool that they immediately recognized me and some of them even remembered my name sign.

Here is a picture of me with two of the boys from my first visit with them. I’m showing what my name sign is.

One of the boys that I met last time came running to me, doing my name sign. I was so happy that he remembered but the real shocker was when I did HIS name sign back at him. He just bursted in to an uncontrollable laughter and all his friends were laughing and hitting him, pointing at me, then pointing at him, shocked that I would remember his name sign.

Our friend Martin took us in to the school’s Assessment Room. The children’s guardians are interviewed by one person while the child is hooked up this machine that gives different pitches of tones. I wanted to try it but didn’t get a chance to. Maybe next time. : )

While I was sitting in the Assessment Room waiting for Martin to find an empty classroom that we could use to do our own assessments in with the guardians and the children, I heard a cry behind me. A little deaf girl name Milcah (Mil-ka) had bumped in to the door and scratched her arm. So I motioned her over and she immediately came over. I picked her up and without a second thought, she nuzzled up against me, put her head under my chin, put her thumb in her mouth and calmed down. I looked at her arm, saw where it was scratched and gave it a kiss. A smile crept up on her lips.

All the other children surrounded the doorway, watching Milcah get hugged by an mzungu (white person); some of them showing jealousy. One of them purposely bumped the door in hopes to get hurt and comforted by me. : ) A few times, I tried to put Milcah down but she wouldn’t see of it. She clutched my arm and wouldn’t let me go. So of course, I kept cuddling her.

Finally I put her down and only because Martin had found us a room to do our work in.

Here is a picture of Milcah; after putting her down. Beautiful, isn’t she?

I won’t bore you on the assessment stuff that we did but in total of 12 assessments. In between assessments, Milcah found me in the classroom we were using. She came over to me; I pulled her up on my lap and again she immediately nuzzled herself up against me, her head under my chin. I started rocking her and kissing her forehead. About 10 minutes later, I heard a little snore come from my lap. I looked down to find that she was fast asleep; dead to the world. It was the cutest thing ever; her fingers in her mouth.

Here is a picture of her sleeping in my lap.

Once the other children saw that I had a camera (to take pictures of the children we were assessing), they kept motioning for me to take a picture of them. So of course, I did. : )

Here are some of the children. How can you not just fall in love with them?

We said goodbye to the kids; told them (well had someone sign to them) that we would be back to visit. It ended up being a great day.

And the hour ride matatu ride back to Kitale was fun too. Here were 23 people squished in a 14 passenger van on a very hot day and yet, no one complained…well except to tell the driver to not take so long at the stops so that we could get going again and get some air in the matatu.

The one thing I love about Kenyans; everyone talks to everyone, whether you know each other or not. People just strike up conversations with one another. Anne and I were chatting away with 3 other people; teasing the conductor (the guy who collects the money). I can’t see a city bus in North America being busy with conversation from people who don’t know each other.

There’s a documentary/movie called “And God Grew Tired of Us” that focuses on about 12 different Sudanese men who fled Sudan to Ethiopia (1,000 kms walk) to escape the war in their country. Then after 3 years and change of government in Ethiopia, they had to travel back through Sudan and found refuge in Northern Kenya, at the refuge camp up in Kakuma (Turkana) that I visited last year.

The US government gave a number of Sudanese men the opportunity to come to America, get an education, a job, to try to better their lives, to get them out of the refuge camp. The two groups of men they focus on were located in Syracuse, New York and Pittsburg, Philadelphia. It shows the unbelievable culture shock that they went through in arriving in the US; the struggles they had, etc. In one scene, one of the main men of the documentary says that one of the things that he doesn’t like and can’t get used to about America is how unfriendly the people are. He says that he knows he can’t go up to a person and just greet them, start talking to them. They would think that he wanted something or just tell him to go away. He said that back in his home of Sudan, everyone talked to everyone, whether you knew them or not. But in America, everyone just flies by each other. No one stops to get to know one another.

And it’s so true. I saw that today. I saw a group of people who didn’t know each other at all, just all start chatting away. It was like they had all been friends for years. It was such a great thing to see; to be a part of.

Can we be more like that in Canada, in America?

Anyway, until next time. For those of you in Ontario, I hope the snow stops soon. I’ll try to send some of our 29 degree weather to you. No, I’m not bragging. Okay, maybe I am. : )

To see pictures from today, check out my blog. www.meredithlopez.blogspot.com

Love you all,

Meredith

xoxoxo

Update from Kenya

Today was a good day. I’m feeling much better today.

For those of you who don’t know, I haven’t been well since about 1:00 Sunday morning.

On Sunday, five of us had dinner from a normally good restaurant in Kitale area (although Daniel would definitely deny that it was a good restaurant – I’m not feeling the pain he felt months ago!). And yes, at 1:00 in the morning, I thought I was going to die. I’m thinking it was food poisoning.

I had an important meeting on Monday morning; a meeting that I couldn’t miss. But I just couldn’t get back to sleep so at 10:00 am, I showed up to the meeting, running on 2.5 hours sleep….and not getting a wink of sleep from 1:00am to 7:00 when I decided to get out of bed.

Anne and I got to the meeting place at 9:55 am. The meeting was to be from 10:00 to 12:30pm. Long story short, the meeting didn’t start until 11:35 and went until 2:00pm. By 12:00, I thought I was going to pass out. No sleep, no food (too sick to eat) and really cranky. It seriously took all it had in me NOT to fall asleep in the meeting. Yes, there were some moments of nodding off. Thankfully, no one noticed (hopefully) and I was even nominated to a be a part of the sub-committee they are setting up. It’s to see what can be done for the street kids. And you know me with the street kids. Hook me up!!!

I was in bed by 9:00, asleep within minutes and didn’t get up until 8:00 this morning. Still haven’t been able to eat much; all I could muster was a banana today and lots of water.

Kim, Holly and I went to the Baby House today; my first time in a few months. Wow, all the babies are getting BIG. As soon as we got out of the car, little Moses came RUNNING to me and he didn’t have any trousers on. I scooped him up in to my arms and covered him in kisses. Later we found out that he did have underwear on BUT he somehow managed to pull them up around his belly. One leg in one hole maybe, who knows. The boy hates wearing underwear or trousers.

Then there’s little Isaiah, oh sweet beautiful little Isaiah. When I last saw him, he could only lie down and he was a bit top heavy so he always fell face forward when we tried to sit him up. But now, he’s a crawling machine. And he came crawling over to me; I think he remembered me. That’s what I’m going to believe anyway.

Oh, Rhonda and Catherine, you guys should see how big Destiny has gotten. She’s sitting up, crawling around. She’s SOOOO beautiful. Next time I go, I’ll bring my camera and take pics of her for you.

On to Kenya news. I don’t know if you guys are hearing things over there about Kitale and the violence that is going on right now so I want to clarify things for everyone.

The violence that is happening is not IN Kitale. It is in the depths of Mount Elgon. Kitale is kind of at the base of Mount Elgon, which is a HUGE mountain that separates Kenya and Uganda.

We have heard that there are a group of these “revenge” soldiers who do have access to firearms. Some 250 men were busted about two or three weeks ago. What they are doing and why they have firearms, well that’s still in rumor stages. Some people say that it’s a group of a tribe or two training to take out another tribe. Some people say that this “training” has been going on for years now.

Daniel said he heard that the Kenyan army went up to Mount Elgon today. I didn’t hear anything about that when I was in town today (I’ll need to buy a newspaper tomorrow). But I was told today that Kitale has put in place a 7:00pm curfew. All shops and restaurants are to be closed by then and the town should become a ghost town as of that time. Any one seen on the streets after 7:00 can be arrested or fined.

The government is saying they’re doing this to try to keep the tribal wars of Mount Elgon from trickling down in to Kitale. Don’t know what that’ll really do but we’ll see.

I’m not alarmed or worried. I know that tribal wars have been going on in Mount Elgon for years and year. If this is something more; if this is something about “revenge” soldiers being trained then we’ll see what it does. But for now, I haven’t seen any effects in our town or in the people. Only the 7:00 pm curfew. That’s all.

As always, if I hear any more, I’ll let you know. I’ll keep everyone posted. But know that all is good here.

I have a big day tomorrow. I’m going to the deaf children’s school to help do assessments for our Canadian friends who support some of these children. I’m really excited about going. I loved going to this school back in January. The kids were amazing and I still remember some of their name signs…and mine too!

I love you all!

Meredith

xoxoxo

Do You Fear a Kitten or a Lion???

Yesterday, I listened to a sermon that I had downloaded from the internet. This is something that I try to do on Sundays here in Kenya.

It’s a 7-part series based on The Cross.

Before getting into the aspects of Jesus’ death and resurrection, the teacher discusses in Parts 1 & 2 (haven’t gone past those two parts yet) the purpose of us to God and how we are here to glorify His name. But yet, every day through our sins, we belittle His name. We make mistakes; we fall down. But thankfully, we are forgiven through the Blood of Jesus Christ and God’s grace upon us.

In Romans 11:22, it says: Consider therefore the kindness and sternness (some translations say severity) of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue his kindness.

We can all grasp God’s kindness: His grace, a comforter, a healer, etc. but it’s the severity of God, the sternness of God that we forget or perhaps dismiss so quickly.

But on to the thing I want to mention….

Part 2 scared the trousers off of me (pants, if you’re in North America). The teacher talks a lot about hell…not a pleasant topic for most of us. Is hell God’s highest act of severity?

In Luke 12:4-5, Jesus says to his disciples: I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you in to hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

And then the teacher of this sermon asks, “Why do we continually fear the KITTEN and not the LION?” And I was like, “HUH?”

I, like, the average human being would probably say, “Ah no, definitely don’t fear the kitten. The lion on the other hand….run like…well you know.” Yet, we fear what the people on earth think of us. Are they mad at me? Do they like me? But we rarely fear what God may think of us. Then why, why do we always fear the KITTEN (people and their view of us) and not the LION (God and His view of us)?

Why fear the man who takes your life physically when it should be God we fear and want to serve and please, as it is He who has the power to throw us in to hell and us to lose out on spending an eternity with Him in Heaven.

This is for eternity folks…not just a weekend getaway to Heaven or hell. We can’t even fathom eternity…but let’s just say, it’s a REALLY long time.

Hell is the absence of God. God brings all things positive: love, joy, happiness, all things great. So if God is absent in hell, then all the positive things we know of, are absent in hell as well. For eternity.

In Revelation 14:11, it describes hell as: The smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest, day or night…

Why would we want to ever risk an eternity in Heaven with everything good, everything God for an eternity of “eternal fire?”

I openly admit that many times I have been far more afraid of the kitten than I have been of the Lion. I lived many years wanting to please the people, wanting to make sure that I was liked and loved by everyone. I needed to learn that pleasing people, in many cases, was a waste of time because in reality I learned that I couldn’t please everyone. Not everyone was always satisfied with what they did or didn’t get from me. I learned the hard way; I got stressed out, made stupid decisions, sacrificed my relationship with Christ and I put others before Him.

But to be honest, there are days, still, that I struggle with that. I am human; I hate to be hated and love to be loved. Aren’t we all like that at some point?

But reality is, that people don’t determine who I’m going to be, where I’m going to go and what I’m going to do. My life is already mapped out for me; my path has already been drawn. But it’s up to Christ and my relationship with Him, my obedience to Him that will get me to where He wants me to be.

I chose to be afraid of the Lion and not the kitten. What do you choose?

Love you all,
Meredith
xoxoxo

Thoughts from Kenya....

There’s this song that I listen to a lot. It’s called Hosanna by Hillsong United. I believe it’s their most recent album. In the song, there is this wonderful guitar part and then the words….the words that I sing at the top of my lungs each time I listen. These are lyrics that I am not singing for the sake of singing, these are words that I shout out to God.

Heal my heart and make me clean

Open up my eyes to the things unseen

Show me how to love like You have loved me

Break my heart for what breaks Yours

Everything I am is for Your kingdom’s cause

As I walk from earth into eternity

God has shown me so much since living in Africa; He has shown me a love for His people that I never really knew or understood. He has shown me pieces of His heart in the faces of the children here. He has shown me patience – and that’s just Him dealing with me on a regular basis.

He has shown me a true, gentle and loving Father beyond my comprehension. I fall on my knees before Him many times, in awe of who HE is, in awe of what He does.

I want Him to show me how to love like He loves. I want my heart to break for what breaks His. I want to be so much like Him. I want to be all He wants me to be. I want to live my life for Him. Everything that I am is for His kingdom’s cause.

Lord, you have taken me from brokenness, from guilt and shame, from sadness and loneliness and made me whole. You have wrapped your arms around me and covered me with a love that is so pure; I feel it in all that I am. You hold all my tears; when I cry, you comfort me.

Why people reject you; refuse to know you, I don’t know. You are more real than anything in my life. You fill the void that nothing and no one else can fill. You are my all.

Use me Lord; use my hands and feet to go and do what You want me to do. Break me Lord. Break me and mold me in to the woman You want me to be. You are the centre of my life; the centre of who I am. I look forward to spending eternity with You.

Those are my thoughts today!

Love,

Meredith

xoxoxoxo

Update from Kenya

I am so happy to say that Bud, Kim and their 3-month old son, Elisha, returned to Kitale on Wednesday. I was so excited to see them (especially Kim) and meet my new “nephew” Elisha. He was all smiles for his Auntie Mary. :-) Its great having them home; and with Daniel in the US and Rhonda, my current roommate, (Texan girl) leaving for the US on Monday, it’s so nice to have Bud and Kim here. It would have been a very lonely time for me. :-)

Rhonda, my sweet roommate, works at a place called Challenge Farm. It’s a home/school that helps rehabilitate street children and gives them an education as well. Anyway, Rhonda was telling me that they recently took in about 35+ street kids; it was about 3.5 weeks ago. I was giving her names of street boys that I knew to see if any of them had gone to Challenge Farm. Rhonda recognized some of their names and she had some pictures on her digital of the new arrivals. As we went through them, sure enough….there was some of my boys.

So Rhonda went to school a few days ago and told these boys that she knew me. She said that they boys were so excited that she was friends with me and asked Rhonda to please bring me to Challenge Farm so they could see me. Well, today was that day.

As Rhonda and I pulled up to Challenge Farm, the kids all stared at her vehicle coming in. Suddenly, one of the street boys recognized me in the passenger side. ‘Maaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyy!” He screamed. Within moments, I was surrounded by all of my boys (yeah, I still say MY when it comes to them). “Mary, you came!” I couldn’t believe how many of my kids were there: Jackson, Caleb, Alex, George, Daniel (yes Lisa – that Daniel), Sammy, Kiptoo, Edwin, etc. I was beyond happy to see them.

This is Daniel and Ichuda....

At one point, it had started to rains so the kids grabbed my hands and we ran for an empty classroom. There were two little kids who kept fighting as to who would get to sit next to me. Then the moment I sat down, some of the girls from the home, pulled out my ponytail and went crazy on my hair. I LOVE it when kids play with my hair.

Me and some of my boys...

The kids who didn’t know me were shocked when I would speak Swahili to them. Not that my Swahili is perfect or even great but it’s enough to get me by on most occasions. Then Jackson asked me to sing a song. So I started singing, “Na sama Asanta” which means, “I say thank you.” (It’s another Thank You song – different from the one we learned in April 05 and sang to NAC). It’s a Swahili song, so the kids were even more amazed that I could sing a full Swahili song. After the first verse, the kids joined in with me and we all sang an awesome thank you song to Jesus. I sat and looked around at these singing out their hearts to Jesus.

After that song was complete, Jackson asked me if I would sing “that song.” I asked him, “Which song?” He said, “The one that says, Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes Lord, yes yes Lord.” I knew right away it was “Trading My Sorrows.” So I started singing it and only me because most of the kids didn’t know the words except for the “Yes Lord” parts. Jackson caught on fairly quickly and would try to sing along to the verses.

A few minutes later, the teacher came in and got the kids organized. I went off to another classroom to find my sweet Sammy (he has my heart…I ADORE him). He was finishing up writing his English composition, which he took VERY seriously. He came over to me and let me give him a great big hug; Earlier, I had told him that I was so proud of him for getting off the streets and getting in to a home. I said that I pray he stays there because he is such a bright boy and he deserves an education and become any body he wants to be. He told me that he wants to stay there. I told him that if he thinks of leaving again, I want him to have someone find me first, get in touch with me first so that he and I can talk and I can help him fight the desire to go back to the street. He said that he would do that.

I shared sugar cane with some of the kids. The sugar cane is really sweet and it helps the street kids keep themselves busy and the sweetness helps them fight off the withdrawal and addiction to the glue.

Shortly after, Rhonda and I went to go and see some of the Challenge Farm boys play in a football (soccer to North America) match. It was the FUNNIEST moment EVER. Here are two white girls (with a Kenyan worker from Challenger Farm) walking on to a school football field sideline of about 3,000 (no joke, seriously that many) Kenyan men, women and children. Within SECONDS, Rhonda and I could feel HUNDREDS of eyes on us. The whole one side of the field that we were walking up to IMMEDIATELY looked at us. We could here them, “Eh…wazungu ni hapa.” (The white people are here.) They were shocked to see us and we felt incredibly weird. Never in my life have I been started at by so many people all at once. It was INSANE.

The bravest children would approach us as we were walking up to the field to greet us, to shake our hands. And then when we did, they would run off in giggles. Everyone wanted us to sit with them. There were young men asking us to come and sit with them; I completely ignored them and steered Rhonda and I in to a different direction. The children cleared a bench for Rhonda and I to sit on…front, centre of the football field. We insisted that we were fine but a woman (a Mom), told us to sit, so we obeyed. :-)

The kids playing football.

Then there was half time - - and Rhonda and I became the half time show. Hundreds of children came over to us, staring at us. We were COMPLETELY surrounded by children. So, we got Grace, a worker at Challenge Farm to take a picture of us with this massive amount of people. It was the funniest thing. After the picture, the mom sitting next to me, picked up a stick and started chasing the kids to move away from us. She said that we weren’t for show or for sale and to not crowd us.

Rhonda and I at halftime...and you can't even see all the people surrounding us.

The second half began and the kids got back to watching the game. About 30 minutes later, Rhonda and I decided that we would leave before the game ended so that we wouldn’t be caught in the crowd of 3,000 people all trying to leave the school at the same time. And then the whistle blew; the game was over. So we ran for the car and thankfully, the people moved for a running and moving vehicle. The children just continued to stare at us so I rolled down my window, stuck my head out and greeted them. I was being a little silly with some of them as the car drove past, just wanting to hear them laugh. I made faces, spoke funny Swahili to them, whatever it took.

Us trying to get through the crowd of people after the game.

It was an amazingly fun day with the children, all of them. It was a much needed day; I was having children withdrawal due to the fact that it was on Saturday that I had time with children at HBF. I love children; they certainly make this world a brighter place.

For those of you interested in knowing the political part of Kenya, here’s a bit of an update. The two leaders made an agreement last week. The country is slowly getting back to normal; however, we have seen the increase of prices in certain items. But other than that, at this time, people are just trying to get back to some type of normalcy…trying to get their lives back on track. I can only pray that things get better for this country from this moment on.

Prayer Requests:

1. Daniel’s time in the US. Wisdom for him in his speaking engagements.
2. Rhonda – in preparation for her to head back to the US for 5 weeks.
3. Me – doing the work that needs to be done while Daniel is away. I don’t buy the dog food or the small fish called minnows; that’s Daniel’s job…but I have to do it now. And I hate those small fish. Ugh! :-)

I think that’s all. Thank you everyone for your continued prayers and support.

I love you all!
Meredith

xoxoxoxo

Back in Kenya...

Wow, it’s great to be home again.

I arrived in Kitale on Tuesday morning. Daniel was there at the airport in Eldoret to pick me up. We arrived in Kitale in the afternoon and headed straight to town to pick up a few things.

Since we were only in town for a few minutes, I only saw one street boy, Jeremiah. As soon as he saw me, he came running, “Mary, Mary!” I gave him a big hug. He started saying in Swahili, “You came back; you came back.” I said, “I told you I was coming back, didn’t I.” He then said in English, “its good, your word, you keep it.”

On Wednesday, I got to see Anne again, our social worker. We were so excited to see each other. She missed our girl time talks. J Daniel, Anne and I got to work, sorting out what had been done over the past 4 weeks that I was gone and what was to be done over the next 6 weeks that Daniel is gone.

We headed to town later in the day and thankfully, I got to see more of my street kids. I was just as excited as they were to see them as they were to see me. They all asked me how my family was in Canada, how Canada was. I showed them how much snow was on the ground back in Canada; I told them how cold it was there. They said they were glad to see me back here in their warm weather and that I can start to get brown again (they said I looked like a mzungu again – a white person – as they noticed I lost a bit of my tan while being in Canada).

The next few days, Daniel and I just hung out and went over all things that needed to be done. At 4:00 am, on Saturday morning, I drove Daniel to the bus station so that he could catch the 5:00 am bus to Nairobi. As of right now, Daniel is en route to the US, so please pray for safe travels for him over the next few hours.

On Saturday afternoon, Anne and I went out to visit our kids at the children’s home, Hope Bright Future (HBF). The kids could hear us coming and before we saw them or they saw us, they started screaming and then they started to shout my name, “Mary! Mary!” As soon as they saw me, they came running for the car and as I got out, I had 20+ beautiful children surrounding me. If only my arms had been long enough, I would have hugged them all at once.

One of my little boys, Loya, clung to me. He asked me to pick him up and he just covered my cheeks in kisses. That was the first time he ever did that. I couldn’t get enough of hugging the children; they had never looked more beautiful to me then they did at that moment. I didn’t realize how much I missed them until that moment.

The home has four new children and I got to meet three of them on Saturday. There is Patrick (8) and Paul (6); they are brothers. They were a bit timid with me at first but once they saw me interacting with the other children, they were totally fine and came to me for hugs. Patrick didn’t realize at first that my Swahili wasn’t as good as his and tried to carry on a full conversation with me, spouting off a thousand Swahili words a minute to me and looking at me like I was understanding every word he said.

The other two new children are Veronica (8) and Martin (6). They are brother and sister and are siblings to Samuel Mwangi, one of our children already in HBF. I got to meet Martin but unfortunately Veronica wasn’t there at the time. Martin is 6 years old but he is about the height/weight of a 3 year old. He is just absolutely precious. Like Patrick and Paul, he was a bit scared at first with greeting me. So I got down on my knees, to try to get eye to eye level with him and called him over. I shook his hand and then opened up my arms a bit to see if he would reciprocate and he did!!! He immediately nuzzled in to my arms. I gave him a little kiss on the cheek and looked at him to see what his response was. He looked up at me and smiled so then I covered his face in tons of kisses and he giggled.

Anne was telling me that when she and Daniel took the new children to town to purchase clothes and shoes for them, they had told her that they had never been to town before. Anne also found out on that day that Patrick and Paul had never worn shoes before….EVER. Something we couldn’t even imagine in North America, isn’t it?

Martin still needs to be sponsored, as well as 10 other children so if you would like to read a bit about Martin’s story or any of the other 10 children, please go to http://www.transformedinternational.org/sponsor.php

In other news:

My friends Bud and Kim from Texas arrived in Nairobi this morning. YYYYYYAAAAAYYYYY!! They’ve been gone for 6.5 months. They went back to Texas to have a baby, now almost 3 month old Elisha. Can’t wait to meet him. I’m hoping his third word will be Mary…even just Mere is fine with me. I’m saying third word because I’m allowing the first two words to be “Mama” and “Dada”. I don’t want to be too selfish. J

They arrive in Kitale on Wednesday; I can’t wait to see them again. It’s been FOREVER.

Also, if you keep up to date on Daniel’s blogs, you will know that there was an agreement signed between the current president, Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader, Raila Odinga. This is an amazing thing that has happened; it is definitely a sign of peace and order for the country. In speaking to the Kenyan people over the past few days, they are so happy with the current event. They believe that life is going to get back to some type of normalcy. Some people have said that there is regret running among some Kenyans for what they did, what they are a part of and that they are starting to see what the consequences of their actions will be.

The country is realizing that the cost of many things has gone up and that they are starting to be told that there will be a lack of food in 2009. Because of so many displaced people in the country right now, people who still may fear to go back to their homes or may not have homes to go back to, these are people who will not be planting their farms this year in prep for food for next year and therefore, 2009 will see a shortage in food and unbelievable high prices in food that is available.

This is what the people are starting to see as a consequence to their actions. This year and next year are going to be incredibly difficult for the Kenyan family.

I just want to take a moment to THANK everyone for all of your support and encouragement while I was in Canada. I had an amazing time and was so thankful for the time that I got to spend with each and every person. For those of you that I didn’t get to see while in Canada, I’m really sorry. Hopefully we can change that for next year.

I realize that 4 weeks was not enough time so next year, I think I’m going to bump it up a few weeks. And I know that when I’m back in Canada next January that it will be a busy time. J

Each and every one of you has been an amazing part of my life and I’m so glad that I get to share the journey that God has for me, with you. Again, thank you for your support, your encouragement, your prayers and your love. How I can repay you all, I truly don’t know. I love you all so very much, please know that.

Blessings,
Meredith

Patrick

Paul

Veronica


Martin