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Beautiful family
Alice who is a widow and her four girls. In her Luo culture her brother-in-law was supposed to "inherit" her after her husband's death. Since the brothers were already married Alice chose to stay on her own. She works hard to educate and feed her family.It has been a loooong time since our last update. That is because we have passed through a number of difficult months. OK, difficult feels like an understatement but words escape us. Nonetheless, we have not forgotten about YOU, friends and family, generous supporters, loved ones…in fact, through the tough times it has been all of you (and God) that have given us strength to keep going. You are an extension of God’s love to us.
For that, we thank you.
Let us try to sum things up since January…
Ecclesiastes 3:1-4
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die… We returned from USA in January with happy news: pregnancy #2….ours! However, pregnancy means my functioning rate immediately plummets from 100%!t(MISSING)o 50%! (MISSING)Complications started in February and in March, at 5 months pregnant we lost our little boy Ethan and I lost a lot of blood. We will spare you the medical details because, well, no one needs to be dragged through that drama.
I started to recover physically when three weeks later had my feet
Maggie
And the Lawrence clan. knocked out from under me when I started hemorrhaging. I went to the hospital for an emergency D&C. Now let us tell you, in this country there is no such thing as an emergency. You may think it is an emergency but it won’t seem that way to the people around you because they have suffered and strived and survived for decades without the medical conveniences we have in the West. You cannot call an ambulance (because there are just a few in this city of 4 million people) and expect it to arrive within the next millennium.
Here are a few tips if you have an “emergency”. You get in your car and aggressively fight your way through traffic, through the melee of people, livestock (in the village), vendors, sputtering trucks, etc., with everyone else that is driving aggressively. Let me advise you NOT to go to the emergency room after 5 p.m. or during shift change. Always have a backup plan if you need blood because you could end up laying on your couch three years later with a bout of malaria because you got somebody’s tainted hemoglobin. The hospitals scan the blood from generous donors but
Mercy
Nineteen and already the main breadwinner since she earns more than her mom's 87 cents a day. She needs a good education so she can escape poverty. any time you receive someone's blood, in any part of the world, it carries a small risk.
We got to the hospital, due to my husband’s efficiency in driving extremely aggressively, much to my chagrin. We got there in one piece due to God’s great grace. I lay for 2 hours feeling the steady decline of my physical state before someone decided to do something. By that time I was slurring my good-byes to my husband (my blood count was down to 5 units…a normal person’s is 12, you die at 3), telling him to find a good wife and mama for our son and asking my friends to pray (and donate blood).
Due to the fact that I am writing you can see that I did pull through; thanks to a good Doctor and great friends that donated their life-sustaining blood. Good thing because I really wasn’t ready to leave my husband, or baby, or family, or this world…
a time to plant and a time to uproot…As far as ministry our Giving Garden still provides food on a regular basis to HOREC orphanage and others in need. It is always heartbreaking to hear of children
Mark and Stanley
Preaching at Spring Valley Church. It is a humble place; no cushy seats nor coffee served, however the place is always full and always full of life! going hungry and unfortunately it happens here on a daily basis. As far as life goes...you will have to wait until the next blog.
a time to kill and a time to heal…ok, the killing part has me a bit perplexed but I like the part about healing! I am healing both physically and emotionally and it is a much better state than I was in, laying in my bed blubbering on my husband’s shoulder almost daily. It is also amazing to see the children that have been ravaged by AIDS being taken into HOREC orphanage and watch as their little bodies and hearts begin to mend and heal.
a time to tear down and a time to build…we are still praying for the day we can tear down Pastor Stanley’s little, leaking, tin metal office at Spring Valley School and build a real office, a medical clinic (so they can help with that Healing part above) and home for girls at risk .
a time to weep and a time to laugh…the weeping is what happens when children do not have the means to go to high school. The tears fall at the thought
Yikes!
Many Kenyans hate chameleons. So, my husband likes to catch them and see how fast everyone runs. of the life that awaits them. Their sorrow is turned into joy when sponsors come alongside them and pay their school fees. The joy gives them the freedom to laugh.
a time to mourn and a time to dance…there is an “orphanage” down the road from HOREC where over 32 children are being “kept”. The children are mourning because they have been left without food and without care but not without beatings. When we find a safe place for them they will again be able to dance.
Life keeps going whether we do our part to improve it for someone else or not. However, what joy there is when we use our time, talents and resources to really make a positive impact for others! There are numerous times throughout the week as I drive through areas where poverty has crept up like moss trying to smother all in its path or as I see a dirty, tiny child walking with their container trying to find water to carry home that I realize that I am so fortunate to be born where I was born, into the family that I was born into, in the country where I was raised. I ask myself: What does God expect me to do with those abundant blessings? I want to make each day count. International Treasure House Ministries (ITHM) is one of the avenues where we are working to make it count.
ITHM Goals
If you would like to help us make a difference here in Kenya, here are some venues through which you can!
Sponsorship for Maggie.
Maggie has been under our care for the last 4 years. We just celebrated her 19th birthday and we are celebrating her life. When she was little her mom died only to be followed by her father a few months later. She was raised by an aunt until she was 14 then she was “sent away”…not sent anywhere in particular…just sent away because her aunt felt she was a burden. I met her and took her in and she spends her school holidays with us and sometimes at Into Abba’s Arms orphanage where she has a younger sister. Maggie graduates high school in December and wants to go to college.
$100 a month starting now can go towards her college fund. She hopes to study to become a pharmacist. Maggie has the ability to achieve this dream with the help of a few of you! Maybe you could skip a restaurant meal, or that new pair of shoes you just Have to have in order to help Maggie get a good education?
Sponsorship for Mercy
Mercy is a 19 year old high school graduate. She is number two of six children. The father walked out on the family and Mercy now helps support the family with a part time job as a nanny. She needs some formal education so that she can get a better, more steady job.
$40 a month can help her achieve her goal of studying and helping her mother who earns 87 cents a day.
I have heard the statement more than once, "Someone just needs to tell them (Africans living in poverty) to stop having all those babies. Providing an education is how we begin to teach the young ladies a different way of life.
Alice and her girls
Alice is an amazing hard worker with a 7th grade education. When her father died there were no school fees for her to continue her education. She started working full time when she turned 15. She is now a mother of three and a caretaker of two more little girls. Her sister-in-law became partially paralyzed after receiving an injection at a local clinic. Due to being unable to care for her little girls Alice has taken them in and is raising them as her own. She cannot get a high paying job due to lack of education and she now needs to feed & educate five children.
We want to help Alice purchase a half acre of land where she and the four girls can live. Her son is in boarding school. They came out of the slums and our hope is that they never have to return. It is such a dangerous place crawling with predators, especially after the children and women. With the elections next year it is possible Kibera slums will again suffer wide-spread bloodshed.
$5000 can provide a place of security and a home for this beautiful family. They would be able to have a small garden which will help them have food on a consistent basis.
Spring Valley School
The foundation for their new Life Shelter is almost complete. $1,200 will finish the foundation and allow for construction of Phase II; the ground floor which will consist of offices and a much needed medical clinic.
If you would like to donate to any of these projects, or to the general fund which helps us aid in many different areas-please make a tax-deductible check out to:
ITHM
23223 S. Warmstone Way
Katy, Texas 77494
With love and gratitude,
Jennifer, Johnny and little j.
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Sandy Swoager
non-member comment
God bless the Lawerence's and their obedience
Jennifer, Johnny and Little J!!!!, (How cute is that, "Little J") So very happy to hear from you. Happy your mom and dad got to come visit you too. I'll continue to pray for each of you and your ministries. God bless you one and all. Love, Sandy Swoager I love hearing from you!!