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"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday. . .

Tuesday - January 6

Not only did Mary Rose get up and cook breakfast for the whole school crowd but she served it to the birthday kids in bed! It's a tradition with the Dows. I told Mary Rose my birthday is tormorrow. Just kidding. It's quite a walk to

school so everyone has a part-

ner. Peter leads the crew that

is headed to Soma Christian.

As they headed down the

road this morning I was video

taping so you will get to see

that at some point. Everyone

was so excited to be headed

off to school together. There

was a little misunderstanding

at Ngeret about the tuition but

it got worked out when Greg

paid them as visit. After seeing the challenge it was going to be for Mary Rose to have 10 kids on

here own, I knew what needed to be done. Last night I prayed about it for a long while before I went to sleep. The Lord confirmed in my heart that I should commit to paying for them to hire a full-time helper 5 days per week. Now I am praying about whether this will be a personal commit- ment or if it will be support from PEI. I would appreciate your prayers and if you have interest in seeing this happen you can talk with me about it when I get back.

Greg and I needed to make a trip to Kericho and soon after we left we got a call that Mary Rose was sick and throwing up. While we were gone I also began feeling bad and by the time we got back I was ready to lay down. I got very sick and couldn't even move. It was like I had someone sitting on my arms and legs. I'm feeling better tonight but skipped a wonderful dinner. PRAY!

Rub-a-dub-dub 4 kids in a tub

Rub-a-dub-dub 4 kids in a tub

For the sake of privacy this is the picture I selected from the archives of the Dows. There are so many cute pictures that are quite innocent (especially in Africa) but since these are being seen on the internet and they are many strange people out there this is one that really made me laugh and gives you a feel for how they care for these children.

I can't imagine being an orphan and suddenly living in a huge family full of love and where all my needs are being met. The girls sleep in a round room with the beds in a circle and I can't get over how cool that is. I'm sure they have moments when they wish they could get away from all that but for the most part I think they are all very happy with the arrnagement.

The boys are a little bit more crowed as the beds continue to be built but, they still have plenty of room and it's a place for them to sleep and study. There is so much room to play!

Thanks for your prayers and support for the Dows that make this all possible. I don't know how I am going to leave this place. I've grown to love everyone of these children.

Wednesday - January 7

My sickness from yesterday continues today. When I woke up around 4 am as usual, I couldn't even roll over, I was

in so much pain. I think this is some type of flu. It's affected almost every part of me but I thank God it's not making

me throw up. I can deal pretty well with everything else. Layed there for a long time and finally fell back asleep. I

woke up again about 20 minutes after 7:00 and the kids were already gone to school. The others kids came in my

room with Mary Rose and greeted me with breakfast in bed (even though I was kidding yesterday about it being my

birthday. It was a nice surprise. I was thankful even though I was too sick to eat much. After that since I had to stay

in bed I decided to watch a movie on my computer and that worked great to get back to sleep. I got up about 10:30

and felt fine until I got up and moved around so I was in and out of bed all day. I've been drinking some juice and

a lot of water and that is helping. I also am taking antibiotics.

My ministry today has involved spending a lot of time in prayer and studying. I didn't want you to think I was just

laying around watching TV. I also spent a fair amout of time trying to be "intelliegent" adult conversation for Greg

and Mary Rose. (Stop laughing). I'm trying.

Today I also checked to see how much it's cost me to use this wireless modem through the cell phone and it's so

cheap I can't believe it. About $7.00 USD since I began using it. I am hoping it works this well when I got up to

Eldoret in a few days.

Lett-us see how the garden grows!

Davis has been working hard in the garden and it's paying off. When I

was checking out it work today I cameto some of the strangest lettuce

that I have ever seen. I call it Christmas Tree lettuce. Imagine this

lettuce as a centerpiece at your picnic with some carrots, onions, pep-

pers and tomatoes all around it like a nice salad bar. Maybe we have

some here! Strange thing is . . . we only had two like this out of many.

There are literally 100's of carrots that the two of the smallest children

helped Greg harvest from the garden today.

We went into town to see if we could get someone to weld a small

spade that Greg has that had broken in the process of digging up the

carrots. The first place we went was closed. They told us about some-

one else who happens to be at the same place we are getting the beds

made. Since the spade is made of stainless steel it would have to be

done with a stainless steel rod. There was little chance of that but we

had nothing to lose. Amazing - they had a stainless steel rod and it was

fixed for less than $1 USD.. God is good.

Greg made means for the kids tonight and they also had the maize

dish that is eaten for many meals here. I was watching the kids as they

enjoyed their food. They scrape the bowls so clean you would never

know there had been any good in them.

EMPTY BOWLS

and stomachs full.

I remember sitting at the supper table at home, not wanting to finish eating sometimes. Not because I was not hungry, but because I had something else I wanted to do. Food wasn't always a priority unless it was pork chops or fried chicken. Sometimes when I didn't want to finish I was told "with starving kids in Africa you are not going to waste that food!" What did we really know about starving kids in Africa anyway? I never dreamed I would one day be face to face with that catch phrase designed to get me not to let that food go to waste. And why would it go to waste? What if we just saved it and I had to eat it later? What are you do- ing with that food?

Look at this empty bowl. The stomach of the child who is holding this bowl is now full. Tomorrow it will be full again because you care and give. With 24 children who need food in their bowls or on their plates what was it like when there was none. One little girl was forced to drink contaminated river water. She knew it was good for her so she would refuse and would dig in the dirt hoping to find clean water if she dug deep enough. That was before she came to live with the Dows where she has all the clean water she can drink and bathe in. THANK YOU!

More: Dow's Kenya (Part 1)

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Thursday - January 8

Well it's Greg's turn to be sick today. Also - Marianna. I'm doing much better. I was up early to study and pray. We took the kids to school and dropped them off and headed to Kericho to Telkom to see what they can do to help fix the problems Greg is having with a new wireless modem connection through a cell phone. You are probably wondering why we are so obessed with this but there is something about being able to communicate with people and share the journey with them that gives us joy and brings us closer to home. It is such a blessing to have it. Greg is not totally without the ability, he's just working on a future solution as the modem he has is no longer available and they aren't making anything else right now that will work with his laptop. Since my laptop is old there is no problem. Weird? New technology should work with new computers right? Oh yeah, we are in Africa that could have something to do with it.

Ok, I gotta back up to last night. Sorry but, I just downloaded this picture of Bud sleeping with his

school sweater so he will have it when it comes time to get ready for school in the morning. Then I

noticed that all the boys where sleeping with their new uniforms. They like them. I was thinking

back to when we got new school clothes.

I didn't like school but I did

like having new clothes to

wear on the first day .

(RIGHT) You see the kids

as they walk past the road

sign to Soma Christian

Academy this morning. At

the far right is Peter (the

leader of the group) and

bottom right is Faith with

the drink for the children.

Greg takes the kids to

school in the morning and

they walk home in the aft-

ernoon. That is if it does

not rain.

Thank you God for

school uniforms!

Friday - January 9 FAITH like POTATOES

A few years ago I saw a movie on South African Airways called "Faith Like Potatoes. It was a very powerful testimony about a man of faith in Africa. I've never been able to get a copy of the movie but I couldn't help but think of the title when I saw Davis harvesting the potatoes from the Dow's garden today. Bushel after bushel! They have gotten a God sized harvest. The same is true of the carrots they planted!

YOU WILL KNOW THEM BY THEIR FRUITS

Good friends are hard to find. People you can trust whose hearts are right and who look out for your best interests above their own. Things are not always as they seems. Motives are interesting things. Davis is a guy who it is clear that he loves God and loves people! He's a helper! Encourager! He is looking out for the best interests of those he serves. The Dows have found a good friend. Bananas and sweet potatoes are good friends too. Davis plants them together and lovingly looks after them until one day he receives the fruit of his labor. The taller of the banana trees below was planeted in August. It's doing well. The one to the left was planted in October. You can't see that there are also a few orange trees because they are small and there hasn't been enough rain for them. Davis is daily nurturing them along to see if he can keep them going until the raining time comes. If they don't make it, they'll try again.

The sickness we have had takes about 2 to 3

days to get rid of. Today was Greg's second day

and he's doing pretty well. It was a day for chang-

ing diapers around here. After the 20th diaper

it really gets a bit overwelming. Greg even ended

up with a small gash on his head - a casualty from

getting one of the little boys cleaned up from a

real mess. (Longer story).

The first week of school is over and the kids are

rowdy and tired. We had an interesting time on

the lawn eating dinner and listening to the de-

tails of the week. With all these potatoes we had

french fry night! It was great and everyone was

happy about that. Thanks for your prayers!

(ABOVE) Davis with one of many hauls of potatoes. (LEFT) Sweet potatoes and bananas grow in harmony while orange trees to small to see in this photos are struggling to keep up with the lack of rain we've had. Maybe they'll survive till the rain comes.

Saturday - January 10 A Full Day

With no school today you'd think there wouldn't be much going on early in the morning around here. Forget it! There's all those socks and uniforms from school to wash, plus other clothes. There's homework to be done. Marianna is planning a nice meal for evening and that will mean a little search for some of the things needed for dinner. Pampers to buy? Yesterday we wanted to get Greg his favorite fish dinner from the Sunshine Hotel but we didn't go to Kericho so today we stopped there. He ended up with extra fish when they gave

Mary Rose the wrong thing. When we were finished with all the shopping etc. we headed

home as we were having some guests who also did some video taping here. While dinner

was being prepared Greg went to pick up the new set of beds for the boys room and came

back with two guys from the place who would assemble them.

Then it was time to enjoy our hamburgers, potato salad, macaroni salad, and cole slaw.

All these things are a rare treat and we really enjoyed them.

You can pray for me as I am having a bit of a struggle with the idea of leaving for Eldoret.

I know that God has something for me to do there, but I am quite happy with what He has

me doing here and I am really wanting to stay. Even though I will be coming back here it

would be a blessing if I didn't have to leave. I wrote to Dr. Panicker about that but he has

written back to tell me that everything will be ok and that they are going to send someone

down here to pick me up on Wednesday as our meetings there start on Wed eve. Please do

pray for me as I prepare to go up there.

I spent the evening in my room praying, reading and watching a movie after the kids went

to bed. Tomorrow we will have services here like last week and I am looking forward to our

time together. GOD bless you all.

No place to run, no place to hide

except the loving arms of JESUS!

Sunday - January 11 "Momma said there'd be days like this"

There are days in the life of all of us where we would love to run and hide but sadly we must face whatever it is that makes us feel that way and deal with it. The only place we can run is straight into the arms of Jesus and ask Him to help us deal with the struggles, pain, fears, dis- appointments, discouragments and the long list of things the enemy is only too happy to bring before us. His plan to bring us to a point of desperation where we will "react" to the circum- stances without thinking about the consequences and the damage we will leave in our wake.

It's been a tough week in Boito. We've had more challenges than Heinz has pickles. With two dozen kids and three adults just how many problems could there be? Quit laughing! This is serious business. I think we've all thought of running and hiding more than once this week but the fact remains that we are living our lives for Jesus and not ourselves. There is work to be done and we've been chosen to do it. Don't mistake the struggle for a lack of commitment or even complaint. We're all just learning to cope with CHANGES! School really threw the family for a loop. Just when everything was really working great - the whole place got turned upsidedown when kids had to get up earlier, get dressed for school eat and leave. Whoa, what about the chores? Where did the helpers go? We were all in the together. Having half the flock in another field and coming home exhausted with problems of their own added to the new ones we face is quite a challenge.

I wish you could be here to see Mary Rose and Greg deal with it. They haven't freaked out or decided to give up, they've worked with it and are taking time to re-evaluate how they make it all work. Those of you who know me know that I've got a millions ideas but, as I met with the Dow's to brainstorm I had forgotten that this is a "home" not an institution. Mary Rose reminded me that this isn't an orphanage. As much as she needs help at times, having help from outside sources and having to train them and have them invade your space isn't exactly the best solution.

I've gotten to know these folks so well that I have confidence it what they are doing and they will come up with solutions. What they need is our prayers, ecnouragement and continued financial support to make it possible to carry on. This is not a short-term project.

Monday - January 12 "The Weapons of our Warefare"

"Let he who thinketh he stands, take heed lest he fall"

Today was one of those days where I knew from the moment I woke up that the "armor" should

be on and I should be ready for battle! The enemy doesn't like what's been happening around here.

We are advancing and he is pulling out all the stops to keep us from moving ahead. This might be a

bit to "Spiritual Warefare" for some of you. Don't let that keep you from praying for us. There is a battle

that is raging around all of us. The struggle of GOOD vs. evil. It's no cliche - the VICTORY has already

been won!

As I approached this day I started by trying to write encouraging words to other and suddenly I was

unable to see clearly. My eyes became foggy. I tried to keep writing but my eyes refused to focus.

I decided I would listen to music. As I put the headphones on it was like someone turned the

volume down and within seconds I couldn't hear the music. My foot had been doing pretty well

but suddenly it was hurting (just as I thought I would go outside and enjoy the weather). I went

to my bed and layed down and began praying. Within seconds I had a splitting headache.

Thoughts of the unknown days ahead raced into my mind and I was struggling to keep my

head above water.

When I began to call our to JESUS for help I fell into a deep sleep. It was only

8;30 in the morning and before I knew it, it was 5:00 pm. The sounds of the

children outside puzzled me. A whole day went by? I missed it? What I missed during my

sleep was the battle that JESUS went on to fight. He gave me much needed rest from the

battle. He is my sword and shield! He is my VICTORY! I am not the only one. We have all

experienced the battle and praise the Lord we are winning the battle. I know I mention you and

you prayers so often. Maybe you get tired of being asked to pray and communicate but don't stop. You

a helping us more than you know.

Mary Rose just told me about her time this morning when she was with the young ones doing laundry.

Suddenly one of the smallest children said: HALLELUJAH! That was followed by the others saying Amen

on after another and before long they were all saying: "I love mom!" "I love babba!" and they contin-

ued through the whole family including me. I'm so blessed by the Dows and how they don't run from

battle. And when we can't fight anymore - THANK YOU JESUS that you give us REST! We are not

fighting alone. Don't understand this whole Spiritual Warefare discourse? Take a moment to read Ephesians 6 and see what

it has to say. Remember that we are all in this together. YOU ARE IN MY PRAYERS TODAY!

Special Report

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Tuesday - January 13

What are you doing for your Anniversary this year. When Greg and I left for Kericho this morning we weren't thinking about it being a special day. We stopped in the middle of our journey to have a quick bite to eat. At that moment Greg asked me the date and when I told him he said: "it's our anniversary!" He then called Mary Rose to wish her a happy anniversary. We were in Kericho partially for me to pick up some things I wanted to take with me to Eldoret when I leave tomorrow.

Greg picked up some little goodies to have for a special dinner for them to celebrate in the evening. Little did we know what God had in store for their anniversary.

After the rough ride from Kericho I needed to lay day. About 3:30 in the afternoon Greg came to tell me we were going to go and see an orphan girl who they learned about not long after coming here. She might of been their first child but, since there was no birth certificate they told the person they would need that. It's taken him all this time to get one. During the fighting last year in Kenya the family was living near the tea plantations and was driven out.

It took us quite a while to drive over the rough roads to where the girl has been living with her sister. She's a sweet girl that is huge for her age (if the birth certificate is correct). She's not quite 3 but looks like she's about 6.

Meet #25 - Ivy!

It's hard for me to imagine growing up with so many struggles so early in life and suddenly finding yourself in a loving family in a different place. Ivy's mom died some time ago leaving her brothers and sisters to do the best they can. Her brother has worked hard to try and help take care of her but when he heard about the Dow's and what they were doing he saw hope for his sister. It's been a long journey for him getting the documents needed but today he is so glad he did.

Ivy was handed a small plactic bag and lead by her brother along the path to where our van was parked. Soon we were on our way to Litein Hospital where Ivy would be tested for HIV. It was a bit of a wait for the lab person to come and administer the test. Ivy sat patiently smiling while she got used to the idea that she was a part of a new family. Her brother explained. She was fine.

When the lab techician pricked her finger to get the blood needed for the test, she was very good. She didn't cry. She just opened her mouth really wide. She does that often. It's here way of handling the moments that are challenging. While

we waited for the results I felt sick. What if she is HIV positive and we can't take her? Soon we got the results and they

were negative which meant she was coming home with us. Just like that, we were ready to go. Ivy was now going to

be part of the family. She will need treatment for worms and ringworm. She'll need to have her head shaved so that

the ringworm can be treated and not passed on. Several of the children are being treated already for ringworm. So

far I've avoided getting from them. It's difficult for me because I am someone who loves patting kids on the head and

that could almost insure me getting it and even passing it from one to the next so I am being good. Pray for the Dow's

and Ivy as they adjust . By the way - Mary Rose and Greg celebrated their anniversary with Ivy & Hannah in Litein.

(PHOTO)

Mary Rose & Greg

have dinner with

Hannah and Ivy at

a nearby restaurant

in Litein after our

trip to the hospital.