Friday, June 5, 2015

Lovely Day for a Pretty Sky

Hi friends,

I am a bit late with posting sky photos today. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed looking at the sky and taking them.











Joining in with Skywatch Friday today.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Thursday, May 28, 2015

A Good Report

 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.
Matthew 10:42 (NIV)

Hello friends,

I hope this post finds you well and in good health. I also hope the weather is agreeable wherever you are. It seems the weather is so unsettling in many places around the world. These days you never know what to expect.

I reported just over a week ago about the abundance of hail we had here in Vancouver. Pictured below is the hail which had accumulated around my newly planted lettuce. Since that day, the lettuce (and other plants) seem to be fine.  However I find the lettuce doesn't grow that fast despite our sunny and very warm weather.  That might just be normal. I haven't grown lettuce for several years and I can't quite remember much about the experience.


The main purpose of today's post is to give you an update about missions work in Kenya.  Many of you have been following the plight of Angel Baby Fidelis pictured in the photo below with her advocate, Joseph Wanjau and the baby's mother.

Joseph has been raising the funds for Angel Baby Fidelis travel to Canada for surgery to remove the growth on her face and brain.  The baby also needs reconstructive surgery.  I am so thrilled to report that through Joseph's efforts and through the support of people near and far, the family is now able to travel to Canada!

Joseph is just waiting for word from the hospital as to when they will be ready to perform the surgery so that travel arrangements can be made.

I ask each of you to continue to pray for this family.  They will be far from home in a foreign land.  They will need to remain in Canada for 4 months for the surgery and recovery process.  I am grateful that they will get to make the trip during Canada's warmer months and not during winter. I only hope they will cope well with the humidity levels in Ontario.

Let us pray they will adapt and that they will have good success in surgery and recovery. Let us also pray for Joseph who is tirelessly working in Kenya to support orphans and to support disabled children and their families through the Hope Foundation for Orphans.

Photo Credit: Joseph Wanjau, Hope Foundation for Orphans ~ L to R, Joseph, Baby Fidelis & her mom

In other news, my good friend Jonah has continued to make his evangelistic outreach and humanitarian visits to the Pokot people of northern Kenya. These people are the Plains Pokot as they live in the dry, infertile plains herding goats, cows, sheep. Often it is too dry to keep the livestock watered and fed properly and the people also go hungry.

It takes a full day of travel to reach these people from home base in Kericho in the Highlands of Kenya. My friend Jonah has a huge heart for the Plains Pokot and has made many missions trips to reach them with the good news of the gospel and with practical food aid.  He does whatever he can and travels with other volunteers from his church about once per month or as funds allow.



You can see the people are very happy to receive their flour.


Some of the local men help to distribute the aid.


Jonah also likes to try and bring treats and fun to the people.

Here you can see them enjoying the succulent watermelon. I can only imagine how good it must taste when you are thirsty in a dry land.




In my last photo you can see the woman having fun blowing bubbles.

Perhaps it is the very first time she has ever experienced the childlike joy of blowing bubbles.

[Photo credits:  All photos of Pokot mission courtesy of Jonah of Missions of Hope, Kenya]


 I can certainly remember how much fun I used to have a child blowing bubbles.

As a grown up I love opportunities to buy bubbles for children just so I can watch them have fun and squeal in delight at such a simple pleasure.

In closing, I want to say that we value your faithful readership and as always we covet your financial and prayer support for the ongoing work to help the Pokot peoples
If you can help donation can be sent
to
kerichojoy[at]gmail[dot]com

via Pay Pal  

Donations to Hope Foundation can be made at their website.

Thank you.

If you have any problems or need any assistance with making your donation let me know and I will try to help you.

In the coming near future  I will let you know about another great initiative from one of my readers who is very keen to help raise funds for ongoing needs in Kenya.

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Taking a Break

Hello dear friends,

I hope this day finds you well and in health.

I am stopping in to let you all know that I will be taking a short blogging break. I've got a number of things that will be occupying my time in the next little while and so I need to organize my time a bit better.

I will still be checking email throughout the days ahead so please do not hesitate to contact me if you like.


Until I see you again the blogosphere, I wish all of you a peaceful and healthy time ahead.


Friday, May 15, 2015

Enjoying May Skies







There have been some lovely skies this month.

Joining in with Skywatch Friday.

Click on the link and you will see more awesome skies from around the globe.

Have a lovely weekend.

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day in North America.

I want to take a moment to wish all of you mother's a very happy and special day.

If you are a child or grown child and still have a mother I hope you will make a time to let her know how much you appreciate what she has done for you. Not everyone has that opportunity and not every one has a good mom but many are very blessed to have had a good and loving mother. 

I was fortunate to be blessed with a very loving mother.  One who took her responsibilities of love, care, concern and guidance for her family and other people very seriously. I was never unsure about mother's care and protection and she did her very best for all her children and for the children of others. For these blessings, I am very grateful.

She is now in the twilight years of her life and unable to do much.  Even so she still tries to think of others and show them she cares. Mostly though I now take care of her with the help of my youngest brother.  My nephew (my departed sister's son) also cherishes his grandmother as she helped to raise him.  Even though he is very busy he tries to make time to lift her spirits and give her the motivation to keep on living.

Mother's Day seems to be an appropriate time to let you know about Baby Fidelis and her mother who live in Kenya.

Mothers who live and toil in developing countries have it so hard.  This family is of very humble means and the mother finds it difficult to find work to care for her child but she does the best she can.

In Kenya when you have a disabled child, people become very suspicious of you.
Not only do you have to worry about how to take care of your child with limited means and no government support system but you have to contend with whispers, ridicule and accusations for people still think that you have been cursed or involved in witchcraft somehow and that is why your child is born with a disability.

Parents often hide their children and lock them away out of sight due to the stigma but also sometimes to protect them from others.

Baby Fidelis was born with a defect called large frontal growth (Encephalocele). This is a rare disorder that occurs in about 1 in 5000 births worldwide. If the child has surgery soonest, she has a better chance of recovery and normal development.

As you can see from her photos below this growth is very large and she needs surgery urgently.
She is expected to undergo reconstruction surgery in Canada but first the family advocate in Kenya is trying to raise the funds needed for several of them to travel to Canada and remain and live in Canada while the child undergoes surgery and recovers.

Can you help?

Just think if this was your baby or your grandchild, what would you do to help her?
Her mother is very poor and believe me if she could fly to Canada now on her own means she would gladly do it. 
But she needs our help.

They are SO CLOSE to having the needed funds to undertake the travel.







Baby Fidelis with her mother & family advocate, Joseph Wanjau, Hope Foundation


Time is of the essence and we need to do what we can now, not next week or the week after.
As the growth gets bigger it creates more pressure in the head for this young child.

Thank you for reading and responding.

A Few Days in March ~ Skywatch Friday

Hello friends and fellow bloggers. I hope Spring is treating you well so far. It's been roller coaster weather where I live with mostly ...