family praise history

Around the time Nate was born, Rodgers' and my Bible study class was studying prayer. Our study leader mentioned a great prayer study course called Disciple's PrayerLife, which was out of print. I mentioned this to my mom, and she said that about 20 years ago, she and my dad had done this study, and she still had her notebook. She gave it to me, and I managed to start week 1 during my maternity leave, but that was as far as I got. I really wanted to do the study, though, so it was one of the few books I brought with me when we moved here. I recently started it again.

During week 5, it teaches about a life of gratitude which involves (of course) expressing gratitude in prayer. Throughout the Old Testament, we see the Israelites singing the history of what God has done for them: rescuing them from Egypt, parting the Red Sea, providing manna in the desert. One of the assignments in week 5 is to write a praise history with your family. Recount the major things that God has done for your family, use scripture to thank and praise God, and read this as a family at least once a year, adding on to it as you go. This is about major events or blessings that have impacted your family. This is about a big picture perspective. We are to be thankful daily for "small" blessings as well, those things which we possibly take for granted. However, the praise history is for big, major things.

I love this idea, so I shared it with Rodgers, and he loves it, too. We wasted no time writing our family's history, starting with our marriage, though there are many big things that God did in each of our lives, before we got married, which impact our family. We may yet go back and add some of those. For now, I am just including our personal salvation. Since we'll be reading this as a family, I'm referring to us as "Dad and Mom." We are planning to to read through and add to our praise history every New Year's Eve, as a family tradition.

[God] chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
—Ephesians 1:4 

For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
—Philippians 2:13 

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
—Psalm 136:1  

family and life events

• As children, Dad and Mom both gave their lives to Christ
• Dad and Mom got married
• Dad was given permanent resident status in the US, miraculously hassle-free
• Dad graduated from UMHB
• Nathanael was born, active and spirited
• Benjamin was born, goofy, but thoughtful
• God sustained us financially through low paying jobs, unemployment, and beyond

He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
—1 Thessalonians 5:24

The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.
—Exodus 15:2 

Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.
—Psalm 111:2 

31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
—Matthew 6:31-33

maisha kamili [www.maishakamili.org]

• Maisha Kamili was dreamed up, at the encouragement of our pastor
• Maisha Kamili board was formed
• We moved to Camp to prepare for moving to Kenya
• We received the remaining 60% of our fundraising goal at once, making us financially able to move to Kenya
• We moved to Kenya to start Maisha Kamili
• Maisha Kamili began sponsoring community MKKs
• We had great support (in many forms) of Maisha Kamili during our trip to Texas in 2013

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
—Philippians 1:6 

He remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations.
—Psalm 105:8 

You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.
—Exodus 15:13

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
—Philippians 4:19 

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
—Hebrews 11:8

discipleship and spiritual growth

• Dad and Mom took discipleship courses and learned to disciple others
• We started teaching discipleship classes at one church in Kenya, with 2 others to join in the next year

Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high?
—Psalm 113:5 

1 Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord, give praise, O servants of the Lord, 5 For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods.
—Psalm 135:1, 5 

Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
—Exodus 15:11  

1 Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! 2 Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! 3 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice! 4 Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually! 5 Remember the wondrous works that he has done.
—Psalm 105:1-5a

relocating to Kenya: with kids

When I lived overseas previously, I was neither married nor a parent. There are a lot of new things I've had to take into consideration this time.

First of all, diapers. Diapers are not used much here, therefore, they are very expensive. We have seen both Huggies and Pampers, but the more affordable disposables (which are still more expensive than disposables in the US) are not very good. We made the decision to switch to cloth diapers based on this. Since all of our laundry is being line-dried, I have Ben mostly in flats. Flat diapers are the super-old-fashioned kind of cloth diapers. They dry fast, though! Nate still wears diapers for sleeping and when we leave home, but awake at home, he's either in undies or naked.

Nate's little potty for downstairs, since all of our bathrooms are upstairs

Which brings us to potty training...We have had some potty training regression since moving, but he seems to be getting back into the swing of things. If I could get him to pee outside on the ground, we could ditch having him in diapers away from home, which I think would help progress, and I think he is ready for that again. With limited availability of public restrooms (and those that do exist are not sitting potties), he needs to be able to pee standing up before he can leave home in undies again.

Next, feeding them. There are several brands of formula here; we went with Nestle. We had brought Good Start with us to transition Ben gradually. We use bottled water for our drinking water, including mixing Ben's formula. We couldn't bring as much Good Start as I wanted to, but he transitioned just fine with the small amount we brought.

There is not a big variety of pureed baby food available in stores here. We were able to find a blender, though, so I have been making Ben's baby food. I never did this when Nate was a baby, but it's really easy.

Which brings us to Nate's food. I try to feed him what we eat, but he's not always willing. If we have leftover beans and rice in the fridge, though, he's good to go. He regularly asks for his favorite American snacks, but we haven't been able to find most of them. We have been trying out all kinds of snack food here to find some kind of replacements, with limited success. We have some cereal that is very close to Honey Nut Cheerios, but his favorite Kenyan cereal is bran flakes with raisins.

Then there are also things to consider like malaria pills (both boys are on a pediatric anti-malarial), mosquito repellent (DEET is the best repellent, and though not generally recommended to use on small children, it's not as dangerous as malaria, and is what the pedi told us to use), and shots (like Nate's typhoid and yellow fever shots; Ben hasn't had any extras yet, but he will when he's 9 months old).

We have a car, which makes getting around town so easy. Without the kids, Rodgers and I would probably take matatus (15 passenger public transport mini-buses) most of the time. Getting 2 small children in and out of a matatu would be a hassle. We have a double stroller, but will likely only use it when we are flying. I have seen some strollers being used at the mall, but most places aren't really stroller accessible. I wear Ben, and Nate walks or Rodgers holds him (or he goes in the shopping cart if we're somewhere that has them).

In a lot of ways, taking care of them isn't really that different than in the US. As my mom said this week, with a little creativity, you can make anything work!

relocating to Kenya: sleep

Everyone knows that when little ones' routine is disturbed, they don't sleep as well. It's to be expected that they would have a hard time transitioning, not just to a new home and different schedule, but also to a new time zone. Kenya is currently 8 hours ahead of Texas, but since we moved before DST, it was a 9 hour adjustment.

We arrived in Mombasa a few minutes past midnight, March 2. Getting to our house took some time, then our friends who brought us home stayed for a while, then the boys were wound up. It was after 3 am before we went to bed. No one had trouble sleeping.

The boys slept until 8 am for the first week, and they did have a harder time than usual going to bed for a few days, but they both took great naps, and hello! I can't remember Nate ever sleeping as late as 8 am, though I'm sure he must have.

Maybe it's because we had such a long, hard trip and we arrived in the middle of the night, or maybe it's because we maintain normal bedtimes and don't let ourselves sleep much during the day while we adjust, or maybe it's because we're just blessed, but we had no trouble with jet lag at all, as far as sleeping goes. Ben had a hard time getting his eating schedule on track. He woke up to eat every night for about the first week. Hey, it could have been a lot more difficult.

In Texas, we had taken the side off of Nate's crib so that he was in a toddler bed. We wanted him to get used to sleeping with no sides because he would have a twin bed here. When Nate's bed was set up, I had to put sheets on it around him because he loved it so much, he refused to get off! He adores his mosquito net, too. The mosquitoes are usually only out at night, and the net is hot, so I don't make him use it during naptime, but many days, he asks for it.

Ben doesn't care one way or the other about his crib or his mosquito net. The crib came with a little bassinet on wheels, which we keep downstairs. He usually naps in there so that I don't have to go up and down the stairs so much. We also use it as a play yard for him when we're outside. He sleeps in his crib at night, but he does not like to fall asleep there. In Texas, his "bedroom" was one corner of the living room. I think it's comforting to him to fall asleep listening to Rodgers and me talking, with the lights on. We put him to bed downstairs in the bassinet, then move him to his crib after he's asleep.