Latest Happenings

Helena gets new Specs!

John took Helena in to get her eyes tested, and it happened to be one of the two days they were testing and treating albinos for free! We found out that she has nothing wrong with her eyes, she just needs sunglasses. She LOVES her new glasses and they help her tremendously when she is outside.

Hannah gets braces!

It feels like we really have a teenager around the house, now that Hannah is sportin' the little shiney silver things.  We are SO THANKFUL for a dentist here who can do all the orthodontics for us.  HUGE blessing!

Launa Tanner has a birthday!

We all celebrated with green papaya pie (Bethany's is great--tastes just like apple). 

Team from Cardwell arrives!

Four guys from Cardwell, MT arrived and we have put them to work!  It would be hard to find a more useful team at the moment than four ranch guys who know how to do most things and work like crazy!  They have been a huge help, and haven't gotten much down time in the house, either, when the kids tackle them and beg them for "just one more game of UNO?"  They are a terrific bunch of guys.  Last night we all went down to the field and had a big game of soccer:

Mariam, Esther and Meggy

picking teams

Helena looking on

Kate, thinking maybe Jonathan needs some moral support

 Kate learns affection

Kate hasn't always been the most personable individual, but lately she's really been into the extra long kisses.  Here's Kate and Hannah, being overly kissed.

Dan's Stress Relief Program

Twice a week the kids and dads get up early and go running, do pushups, etc.   I took a picture of them them the other morning and just happened to get this classic picture of Dan Tanner (he's gonna kill me) doing his dead cockroach impression.  Isn't it amazing?

Dave holds the moon in his Hand

You knew he was good, but this good?!

Sew what?

Anyone looking for a summer sewing project?

We are in need of BLANKETS for our children coming on-campus.  I'm currently down to two that were donated a long time ago.  When a new child arrives on campus, we embroider their name on and they have their own blanket for their bed.  As most of these little people have never had ANYTHING to call their own, much less a beautiful new blanket, they are very excited to receive them.

The ones we have now are quilted, but really any kind of blanket will do--if you're a knitting whiz, or like to tie up the edges of fleece, or whatever you would like to send in, that's what we'll use!

We need twin sizes for the children, and we also have spaces for a quilted wall hanging that we will put in each home.

Please send all blankets c/o Ross Hofer; 695 Sunny Acres Dr; Bozeman, MT 59718.

There is a container coming and we would like everything in August 1st.

Thanks everyone!  If you are in Bozeman and would like to participate, obviously I can help you arrange to get them to the container without mailing them!

Where's the Doc when you need him?!

Tonight at dinner Dave was talking about someone who was going to "burn out" soon if things don't change (no, it wasn't either of us) :).


A minute later Megan said, "What does 'fire up' mean?" :)

Speaking of burn, it was a medical day here in Kitongo. We thought we had had enough medical issues after yesterday, when Jake dislocated his finger. He was out hiking with our team from Cardwell and fell against a rock and his finger wasn't looking so good when he came in the house. So we prayed for him, called our doc friend who works in Mwanza and he told me how to fix it. Josh held his wrist tight, and I yanked gently guided it back. It slipped right back into place, and quickly too! It's pretty swollen and bruised today, but it's healing up. 
SO, I thought I had done my good medical deed for the week and then there were some more today. One was a widow who lives near us, who brought her young daughter this morning. She had sores all over her head which looked a lot like the sores the local kids usually get, except now they were kinda' raw and hurting her. I gave her some cream which is supposed to help and was able to pray with her--that was a blessing for me. They are always happy to pray with you, which I think is awesome.

This afternoon another mama that I know came with a friend and brought her little boy. This is the same boy who was here a couple months back with a hole in his tiny little leg several centimeters deep. It was oozing at the time, and she said she had been to the government hospital, so I sent her back again for her scheduled appointment.

Today he had a sore at least two inches long and an inch or so wide on his neck, inside the folds. It looked really gross to me, like it had been burned badly. She said the same thing, but she said it had just started as a little sore. As I was calling our friend Liz (Doc's wife who is a nurse), it occurred to me to ask her how long it had taken to get that big. "Only four days." Megan had a staff infection when she was a baby and it grew by leaps and bounds, so we thought that is probably what it was. Liz and I talked it out and I cleaned it up and sent mama to the town for some antibiotics for the baby. There are local clinics, but the fact is that they are pretty much useless and most often don't have any medicine. However, if something goes wrong, it can land back in your own lap. I did encourage this young mama to please come SOONER next time so that it doesn't get so bad. I was actually thankful to see her crying, because sometimes it just seems like people don't care, and they rarely show emotion. It also seemed like she would go get the medicine and follow through, and I hope that is the case.

This is definitely one of the blessings of living here in the village. It is awesome to have simple medicines that can help the people and keep children healthier. Just a little triple-antibiotic does wonders! I am amazed at the things that they leave that heal up better than I would ever have dreamed. And if they are open, there is basic health information that can help them live healthier lives. They are just simple farmers and they work so hard to get food on the table. They believe whatever they hear, which is why they will go get two antibiotic pills when they don't feel well, or put their red dawa (medicine) all over a burn or a sore or a broken foot, or whatever ails them. But they are also grateful for any help we give them, and we pray they see that we love them and that GOD loves them.

Happy Patriarch's Day

Just wanted to say a quick "Happy Father's Day" on the blog, to my dad.  Dad's favorite verse for us while we were growing up was III John 4 , "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth."   And he lived like he meant it.  Thanks, Dad, for your example of obedience.  I love you!

And then to the main man in my life, Dave, whose goal has never been to be rich or famous, but to be a good husband and dad and obey God.  Dave has been telling me for 13 years now that mine is the most important job (being at home, training children), and almost every day that I'm doing a great job at being a mom.  Wow--how blessed am I?!  Happy Father's Day, honey, to the man who blesses our socks off every single day.  I love you!

Just in case you thought missionaries weren't normal people...

This morning, much to our collective amusement, Carter came out with the words "sphincter muscle" while were were eating a peaceful breakfast.  As this was quite out of the blue and contrary to any kind of discussion present at the table, Dave calmly queried, "Where did you learn that?" 

"Science."

"oh."  We continued on with our eating and about a minute later he said it again, "sphincter muscle." 

"OK, Carter.  That's enough about the sphincter muscle," says dad.  Meanwhile I'm weeping off to the side due to hilarity (and maybe that extra cup of morning coffee).

Carter, with his more than adequate explanation: "But dad, it's a one-way muscle!"  Expecting that should settle it.

Yes it is, and a fascinating one at that, but did he know not to bring this up when we have sensitive guests at the table? 

"Of course!"

He has mentioned that he wants to be a doctor someday.  Maybe this is the beginning.  Or maybe this is just boy.

Lift up your eyes!

They were in the middle of dividing the rice in half.


The harvest in our area has been amazing this year due to all the rain we have had, so the people are standing in their fields picking the grains, riding it in huge sacks on their bikes to the town centers, loading it up in huge trucks, and everywhere you look, there’s rice. Prices have come down and are still decreasing. It’s a good harvest.

John Mbugua, our first home dad (if you didn’t know his name by now) has recently begun evangelizing in our village. John was trained as a pastor before coming to Mavuno, and has LOTS of experience with witnessing in Uganda, the Congo, and up in Kenya. He has been looking forward to sharing the Gospel with our local village with the intent of someday starting up a Bible teaching church in this area (it will be separate from Mavuno, as we are not registered to have a church). So he has spent the last week witnessing house-to-house and talking with many, many people. {As a humbling side note, John asked for his vacation time from working in the office in order to spend this undivided time witnessing}. Last Wednesday some of the other members of the Baptist church that we attend and two of the pastors came out here for the first time, to divide and conquer and reach more people of Kitongo. They split up and headed out.

Which is when Pastor Delphinus and his companion arrived at the house where they were dividing the rice. Doesn’t seem very significant, except that they were doing so at the end of divvying up all their other possessions as well. The wife had had an affair and the husband ordered her out of the house. The pastor spoke to the husband first, explaining the Good News while the wife carried on with moving out. The husband believed, prayed to accept Jesus Christ, and then explained what they were in the middle of. “well, let’s talk to your wife too!” So they asked the wife if she would listen and she sat, listened, and believed as well, professing her faith in Christ. Now what? Both the husband and wife listened to what Delphinus told them about marriage from God’s perspective, and the truth of forgiveness and grace. They agreed this was something they wanted, spoke words of repentance and forgiveness to eachother (the husband had also had a previous affair) and they agreed they wanted to stay living together and work out their new faith as a family.

WOW! What an amazing witness of God’s moving in the hearts of these people to accept him. In one week John has seen 22 people receive Christ. These are people whose number one request is, “Please let us get together so you can teach us more about what else God says!” He went yesterday to teach them and when he was done they said, “Can you please come back on Wednesday as well?” God seems to be throwing the doors wide open to the Gospel here. We are SO excited.

For the moment we are praying, standing behind John and the others so that nothing about the message gets confused with a job at Mavuno or a “White” church. Our focus and energy has been with a goal of reaping a harvest for the kingdom through the children God brings here. However, God has given John an incredible gift of evangelism, and it is awesome to see how He is using Him with these people. We hope that we can share in this as things develop. Please keep these new believers in your prayers, and John as well, for wisdom and strength for these days.

John 4:35 Do you not say, • ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. •

As a final note, we have heard some unbelievers say, “Why don’t you just leave the natives alone? They are happy as they are!” The reality is, they live in constant fear of being cursed. Everything bad that happens to them is perceived as having been a curse. As you can imagine, this leads to fatalism and a failure to try to find a solution or answer to even simple things. There is so much jealousy and hatred and suspicion. The Gospel is truly GOOD NEWS, and Jesus Christ still changes lives! 

A little girl and her baby sister at church this morning.

vacation postscript

I forgot to show you a picture of where we stayed on our vacation!  Ha!  What a crack up.  The thing I love about driving long distances in Africa is that you never run out of things to look at...like the oncoming bus in your lane, that chicken dinner you left behind on the road, donkeys, people, bicycles, matatus piled with people, more things on top of a bus than you can imagine, goats being crammed in the back of more matatus (public vans), and the names of buildings like this one.  "I spy" has never had it so good!  The kids said today, "Can you imagine driving that far in America where the roads are all smooth and there aren't any potholes and no busses driving like crazy?"  And they had a hard time imagining that people actually fall asleep there because it's so "boring!" :)

#5!

This is our newest little Mavuno gal, Helena (He-LAY-nuh). She arrived on Friday evening, and is adjusting well to the Mbugua’s household. Helena lived with her maternal grandparents until recently when her mother abandoned her, after which they took her to her paternal grandmother’s house. In this culture, if the bride price has not been paid by the father, then legally the child is the maternal grandparent’s. Because of this, and also because Helena is albino, her paternal grandmother didn’t think she could care for her, and mostly, keep her safe enough living in her mud hut way out in the village. Social welfare agreed, and her grandmother signed her over to Mavuno. While we are excited to have her here, and about her future with us, we also must realize that for her, her whole life and everything that has been familiar so far is now changed. Please pray for a good adjustment for her. She is a sweet little three-year-old, with a quick smile. She seems to have taken to her new mom and dad right away, which is incredible  to watch. While we have our goal of 300 children on campus out in front of us, we never want to forget that we labor for the individual. We are so grateful for the chance to make a difference in Helena’s life.

P.S.How great of GOD to give Manyashi another little albino sister to call his own!

Helena arrives at Mavuno with her new daddy

Renewal

Baobab on the way to the coast

“Hey Dad! This is just like Mario Carts!” Nairobi traffic isn’t our idea of a good rest, but everything else about the past two weeks has been incredible.


Megan’s tests all came back negative—blood, stool, urine, specific tests for almost everything the doctor and we could think of. We plan on trying to eliminate some foods to test for food allergies, and we will go from there. Whether due to a change of pace, or lots of time together, she didn’t seem very sick while we were gone, which we were thankful for.  She also celebrated her fifth birthday on the road. :)

We had a couple days in Nairobi and then four AWESOME days at the Mombasa coast, doing lots of this

                                                        And this

                   And generally having a great time together as a family.

Dave and I even got a date night in Nairobi when some friends watched the kids. And our last couple days there were so refreshing, time spent with friends and just resting.

Chris and Lindy and gang, friends in Nairobi

We are sure thankful for the break. It’s amazing how some rest and time has renewed our energy and passion for being here!

As I write this, Dave is picking up our 5th on-campus child, a little 3-year-old albino girl named Helena. We are so excited to welcome her to Mavuno! There are many little ones still waiting to come once we get our license (her grandmother is signing her over, which is why she can come), so don’t stop praying! 

Renewal, according to the dictionary, means to "extend something."  We feel like the last two weeks have been used by GOD to extend our patience, perseverance, and love for eachother and others!