Being the Director of Haven on the Hill has been a wonderful experience. I have been there over a year now. It was my first time of working with a children's home and I have learned a great deal. Today I was able to learn the process of accepting new children into the home. Good timing...we are ready to do that for HCO!
In fact, we were supposed to be meeting with the Children's Officer (CO) today to do just that.
We were going to Nairobi Children's Home to pick up our new boys. Janice and i had talked to Christine, the CO, about the new boys and about HCO's new Baby Center. I was excited about both.
Well, in true Kenyan form, nothing goes as planned. It took us (Lisa and myself) about an hour and half to get to Janice's place. We arrived, but the other people meeting there had not. By the time we were loading in the car to go, Christine called and said she had to leave for a meeting. She was leaving the paperwork with a colleague and the boys would be ready to go. That was great for that part, but I hit another wall of discouragement as we would no longer be able to discuss the possibility of us getting the babies for the HCO Baby Center. But God is sovereign still.
When we arrived, Janice and I went in to meet with the Director of the home, Pilot. He gave the boys' bios and case histories. I had complete peace that these were the perfect boys for Haven, although they did not fit Janice's discription or profile of the boys she wanted. She tried to get him to give us different boys, but it seemed the Lord wanted us to have these two particular ones. It was amazing as we watched them throughout the day as they warmed up to us. Yes, they belong at Haven. They will be great brothers for Kevin, Joshua, Godfrey and Baby (not a baby anymore) James.
Hezekial - age 5 or 6 (although Pilot tried to change his age to 7, almost 8 when Janice told him he was too young for what she wanted) and Jackie.
He is a very sweet boy. He was very shy and quiet at first. He has a cold and doesn't feel well right now. After a while of being with us and getting comfortable, his little personality came shining through! He is a very playful little guy. He will do great at Haven! Jackie is holding him. Jackie came to work with us until the end of October. She arrived in June and is spending this first month at Haven, then will spend time working at Haven and at the HCO Baby Center. She is amazing! Everyone loves her! I'll write more about her later....I'm SURE she will come up again!
TYSON - age 3, we think, and Lisa.
Tyson was living in a home that was shut down. Ironically, it was a home that some good friends of mine had volunteered at and worked to help shut down. Tyson was actually named for my friend, Stuart Tyson (goes by Tyson). He was found and dropped at his former home. when he was found, he was a tiny little guy, all alone, standing at a stage (public transport stop) with his small bag. When the home was shut down, most kids were returned to their biological families. The remainder were all girls who were taken to live at Acacia House, which is a girls home started by my friends, Liz and Stu (Tyson). They obviously could not take him because he is a boy. I remember Liz calling me while I was at home in the States and telling me about him, asking if we could take him. We were not prepared to do that at the time. Who knew that as we went to Nairobi Childrens Home today that THIS is the boy they would bring out for us?! (Ok, dumb question.) As Janice sat there trying to get a younger boy, I knew in my heart that Tyson needed to come with us. Tyson is a sweetheart with a killer smile. He will also do great at Haven. Lisa has come to work with me this summer. She is helping me set up the Baby Center and be a "second set of hands." When she first used that phrase when I met her in April, we had no idea who literal that would be! She has been a lifesaver. I cannot tell you how great it has been to have someone with me as I go through this process. What a blessing she has been! Check out her blog.... http:/truthlovegrace.blogspot.com
The whole of today consisted of.....
* driving in traffic for an hour and half to meet Janice and gang at their guesthouse,
* driving an hour to Nairobi Childrens Home, only making one wrong turn!!!
* looking at several stores near Westgate for new clothes for the boys,
* going to the Maasai Market at Westgate for Janice's guests to do souvineer shopping,
* lunch - the first time out for these boys in over a year and they ATE,
* taking the boys to the hospital for intake blood testing (which they said would take 30 minutes - we left two hours later),
* taking Janice and gang back to the guesthouse,
* finding out our electricity was STILL OUT so we stayed there for dinner,
* meeting Okoth (my ministry assistant/grounds manager) in Karen to drive home with us since we were coming back after dark,
* going home to find the painter was still there and needed a ride back to Karen because it was so late that public transport had stopped,
* coming back home again, finding that power is STILL OUT!!!! (Over 24 hours now.) - and by the way, neither of us has washed our hair or had a real shower since being at Flomina. Yuck!
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