wordless wednesday

 

 

farmor

last week it was three years since my farmor passed away. 

i miss her. 

she was such an amazing woman and grandmother. 

there are often things i wish i could share with her or talk to her about. 

i am blessed to have had her in my life for as long as i did and so thrilled that she had a chance to meet michael as well. 

faces of kenya

 

wordless wednesday

 

waterhole

One day on our way back from Njuruta we stopped at the waterhole where the community travels to get water as well as where they take their animals to drink water. 

As you can see, there is water ... but not very much. This is the source they travel miles to get to? I think I had pictured more water. I am grateful to see some water, but will continue to pray that Njuruta will be able to have water closer to where they live.

 

PS. If you have a chance, ask Michael about standing in Jesus' footprints:)

 

 

social day

Our last day in Njuruta was the 2012 NJURUTA SOCIAL DAY. What a blast. It was such an incredible day seeing the entire community coming together to have fun. I just love how they take time to laugh and have fun despite their circumstances. Wow. So much we can learn from them. 

The day was filled with fun and games. EVERY age group participated! And every age group gave it their ALL. If it was a foot race - everyone sprinted as fast as they could regardless of their age. I love it.  A fun surprise was the break we had to take because of the RAIN! Yes, rain. Praise the Lord for the rain. It was short, but we are still thankful for any rain they get.

They took this social day very seriously so they spent time stretching before beginning the games ... and so did we:)

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of the day prices were handed out to the winners of the games. The prices were things that they needed in their homes such as wash basins, mugs, bowls etc.
 

diy thursday: 100% natural ant spray

There is nothing worse than ants in your house. While it doesn't happen often - anytime is too often:) I don't like spraying toxic bug spray inside the house, let alone the kitchen. In an effort to not mix bug spray toxins with the dinner of the day I set out to find a natural solution. A couple of years ago I discovered an inexpensive and completely natural ant repellent - white vinegar. Yes, white vinegar seems to do everything! Ants seem to hate white vinegar. If I see any ants in the kitchen I simply spray vinegar on the ants and they die immediately. Then as a preventative I just spray the countertops with vinegar and they wont come near it.

I thought I would share this simple solution if you didn't already know about it. 

wordless wednesday

the road to njuruta

One day as we were driving to Njuruta we saw an amazing sight. As we were arriving for the day we saw the community working hard on the road in the sweltering heat. All of the women and many of the men were outfitted with whatever tools they could find trying to break apart the big boulders so they could be more "easily" removed. Wow, what an incredible sight!  This task seems so overwhelming and I am not sure I would even have tried to attempt it. It is a long harsh road full of large boulders fitted well into the ground. I was so encouraged to see this community come together and not be discouraged by the task at hand, but to rather meet it head on.  These people know that a smoother road means better teachers and better access to water, medical help etc. This community knows that if they just wait for someone to come and clear the road for them, they will wait for a long, long time. Instead they know that working together they can accomplish this task that seems so staggering.

What a great reminder for us to not give up if a task seems too overwhelming, but to rather tackle it one part at a time.

feeding a community

 

In Njuruta we were able to help feed the community on days we were there, allowing them to participate in our program for the day instead of spending the day fetching water and looking for food. It was such a blessing to see the smiles on the children's faces as well as the adults. It was, however, also a very difficult thing to participate in. Because of the drought it is hard to grow food. Because of the awful condition of the roads it is hard to get anywhere to buy/sell food. It is hard to realize that the meal that we provided was perhaps the only meal of the day. A reality that I cannot fully relate to. How blessed we are. This helps put things into perspective and help us see how valuable our partnership with Njuruta is through Food for the Hungry in helping this community become self-sufficient. This will of course not happen over night. It helps us know how to pray.