I've lived a lot of life, seen so many things
And I'd like to think, nothing surprises me
So I try to take it all in stride
No matter what tomorrow brings
But Your plans for me aren't predictable
And I find Your dreams so incredible
Never commonplace and in so many ways
Always wild and wonderful
Oh, You keep me guessing
Holding on tight for the ride of my life
With You all I can say is
There's no such thing as an ordinary day
Since You write the script I must confess
I don't have a clue what will happen next
Takes my breath away; takes a lot of faith
Cause I don't know what to expect
Every time a new adventure unfolds
I realize I'm not the one in control
Oh, You keep me guessing
Holding on tight for the ride of my life
With You all I can say is
There's no such thing as an ordinary day
And I'd like to think, nothing surprises me
So I try to take it all in stride
No matter what tomorrow brings
But Your plans for me aren't predictable
And I find Your dreams so incredible
Never commonplace and in so many ways
Always wild and wonderful
Oh, You keep me guessing
Holding on tight for the ride of my life
With You all I can say is
There's no such thing as an ordinary day
Since You write the script I must confess
I don't have a clue what will happen next
Takes my breath away; takes a lot of faith
Cause I don't know what to expect
Every time a new adventure unfolds
I realize I'm not the one in control
Oh, You keep me guessing
Holding on tight for the ride of my life
With You all I can say is
There's no such thing as an ordinary day
Oh how true that is to me! The ride I am on right now is an adventure I never dreamed of. And life if Africa is anything but predictable. Truly, I never know what to expect on a given day.
As usual, today was one of those days.
I got a call from Christine, the Childrens Officer at Nairobi Childrens Home. She said she would like me to come and "peruse" the list and bios of children to identify the ones who fit our profile. That was a bit of a surprise as when we went with Janice, there was no choice of who we would take. In fact, Janice tried to get other boys but that wasn't even an option.
When we arrived, Christine was with someone and had a few others waiting to see her. She put us in her office. I would usually be annoyed at the situation, thinking that she was putting us off, but for some reason this did not feel that way. When she eventually came in, she sat and seemed to be totally focused on us. That may not sounds like a big deal to you, but in doing business with a government official, I find that very rare.
After we talked for awhile, she showed us the list of all the children in their homes. It included ages, gender, how long they have been in the home, family status, placement, and more. She asked me to look at the list and see which we would like to take. After identifying a few of them, she took us back to the rooms to look at all of them. I cannot tell you how surprised I was at her giving us so much freedom in "choosing" which babies we would like. It all just seemed too easy.
The actual experience of seeing these babies, knowing that they could soon be ours was overwhelming. I will tell the stories of each of them and how God identified them a little later.
I knew that we would not be able to take them with us because we are still waiting on the letter of approval from our District Childrens Officer. If you have read the previous posts, I believe I mentioned that we need to take a request from a Childrens Officer (CO) who wants to place babies in our care to our District CO and then he will release the letter. Well, our CO is the man who is difficult to deal with. However, when we met him last Friday it was obvious that the Lord was showing favor on us. He was completely pleasant and more helpful and positive than every before. So, that gave us a glimmer of hope in thinking he might help us out and move quickly in this situation.
Christine told us that she could have the children ready to go by tomorrow morning if we can get the letter from our Childrens Officer by then. After leaving her, we called him and told him we had been with another Childrens Officer who wanted to place babies with us.
Well, things are never as easy as they could be. Our CO informed us that we have a new CO who will be the one to release the letter. Though we have known for months that this would happen it was still a bit of shock to find that it had finally happened - on Wednesday. He said he would have to brief the new guy before he does anything, and he said he is too busy now and would try to get to it next week.
So close, yet so far.
At this point, we have identified the babies that we could potentially get but are back to the waiting game. Although the babies are ready and waiting, we must first wait on the government to do its job....and that could take awhile. What a roller-coaster ride!
Just another Ordinary Day. It does take a lot of faith. I'm not sure I always have enough. But I know He is faithful and His timing is perfect.
The rest of today included....
* waking up at Brackenhurst where we stayed the night with the HFBC team,
* taking some time to check internet/email/do a little business,
* eating breakfast while answering multiple calls from our two security guys, my ministry assistant, and Sam from Flomina,
* driving back to Nairobi,
* going to Nairobi Childrens Home,
* going to Java (again!) for lunch/dinner/internet,
* shopping for tomorrow's ministry day of HFBC at the HCO Baby Center,
* stopping in the rain to "shop" for lawn chairs we have been trying to get for weeks,
* meeting with Joshua to schedule security guys' off days and plan for tomorrow's ministry,
* trying to start laundry and realizing that the staff used all the expensive machine detergent to handwash everything but mine and Lisa's personal clothes, and
* returning home to find WE FINALLY HAVE POWER BACK!!!! Woo hoo! What an end to an "Ordinary Day."
NO, WAIT - there's more! Just after clicking the "Publish Post" button, I come back to add....
* water drops onto my laptop from my leaking roof as I sit on my bed.
So, after moving my bed into the middle of the room to avoid getting rained on, I am off to sleep, looking forward to what new adventures may unfold tomorrow, another Ordinary Day.
Goodnight.
As usual, today was one of those days.
I got a call from Christine, the Childrens Officer at Nairobi Childrens Home. She said she would like me to come and "peruse" the list and bios of children to identify the ones who fit our profile. That was a bit of a surprise as when we went with Janice, there was no choice of who we would take. In fact, Janice tried to get other boys but that wasn't even an option.
When we arrived, Christine was with someone and had a few others waiting to see her. She put us in her office. I would usually be annoyed at the situation, thinking that she was putting us off, but for some reason this did not feel that way. When she eventually came in, she sat and seemed to be totally focused on us. That may not sounds like a big deal to you, but in doing business with a government official, I find that very rare.
After we talked for awhile, she showed us the list of all the children in their homes. It included ages, gender, how long they have been in the home, family status, placement, and more. She asked me to look at the list and see which we would like to take. After identifying a few of them, she took us back to the rooms to look at all of them. I cannot tell you how surprised I was at her giving us so much freedom in "choosing" which babies we would like. It all just seemed too easy.
The actual experience of seeing these babies, knowing that they could soon be ours was overwhelming. I will tell the stories of each of them and how God identified them a little later.
I knew that we would not be able to take them with us because we are still waiting on the letter of approval from our District Childrens Officer. If you have read the previous posts, I believe I mentioned that we need to take a request from a Childrens Officer (CO) who wants to place babies in our care to our District CO and then he will release the letter. Well, our CO is the man who is difficult to deal with. However, when we met him last Friday it was obvious that the Lord was showing favor on us. He was completely pleasant and more helpful and positive than every before. So, that gave us a glimmer of hope in thinking he might help us out and move quickly in this situation.
Christine told us that she could have the children ready to go by tomorrow morning if we can get the letter from our Childrens Officer by then. After leaving her, we called him and told him we had been with another Childrens Officer who wanted to place babies with us.
Well, things are never as easy as they could be. Our CO informed us that we have a new CO who will be the one to release the letter. Though we have known for months that this would happen it was still a bit of shock to find that it had finally happened - on Wednesday. He said he would have to brief the new guy before he does anything, and he said he is too busy now and would try to get to it next week.
So close, yet so far.
At this point, we have identified the babies that we could potentially get but are back to the waiting game. Although the babies are ready and waiting, we must first wait on the government to do its job....and that could take awhile. What a roller-coaster ride!
Just another Ordinary Day. It does take a lot of faith. I'm not sure I always have enough. But I know He is faithful and His timing is perfect.
The rest of today included....
* waking up at Brackenhurst where we stayed the night with the HFBC team,
* taking some time to check internet/email/do a little business,
* eating breakfast while answering multiple calls from our two security guys, my ministry assistant, and Sam from Flomina,
* driving back to Nairobi,
* going to Nairobi Childrens Home,
* going to Java (again!) for lunch/dinner/internet,
* shopping for tomorrow's ministry day of HFBC at the HCO Baby Center,
* stopping in the rain to "shop" for lawn chairs we have been trying to get for weeks,
* meeting with Joshua to schedule security guys' off days and plan for tomorrow's ministry,
* trying to start laundry and realizing that the staff used all the expensive machine detergent to handwash everything but mine and Lisa's personal clothes, and
* returning home to find WE FINALLY HAVE POWER BACK!!!! Woo hoo! What an end to an "Ordinary Day."
NO, WAIT - there's more! Just after clicking the "Publish Post" button, I come back to add....
* water drops onto my laptop from my leaking roof as I sit on my bed.
So, after moving my bed into the middle of the room to avoid getting rained on, I am off to sleep, looking forward to what new adventures may unfold tomorrow, another Ordinary Day.
Goodnight.
2 comments:
"my ministry assistant"...aka "manager". You gotta keep up!
BTW....singing the song with you in my head! Who would have ever have known how true to life this would be for you in Kenya!! Love you, friend!
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