Kids at Sunday School

Margie wanted to have all of the older kids attend Sunday School at the Ngata Africa Gospel Church. She said: "They don't interact real well yet with the other kids, but hopefully they will over time. Sarah, Mesh, and MoMo participate sometimes. It's fun to watch." What a great idea! They need the interaction with other Kenyan children. And they are starting to learn how to cooperate in a large group

More Nativity Pictures

It was quite a feat to get all of the kids to sit (or stand) in one spot long enough to get a good picture to use for the christmas cards! These are some of the other pictures taken that day. All donors to the baby center and sponsors in the adopt a baby program should have received a christmas card from the baby center. If you didn't and would like one please comment below and let me know your

name and address!

Merry Christmas!

As I think today about the baby Jesus, I am filled with thanks for His coming! My life has been changed and blessed because of this one little baby - Immanuel, Wonderful Counselor, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He has brought salvation to the world and to me! How can I not rejoice and celebrate His birth!

I also think of another baby. In fact about 70 little babies run thru my mind. They also have changed and blessed my life. Not in the same way as Jesus, but in a significant way as well. They are God's blessing to all of us. Sweet, innocent, beautiful and vulnerable, they require our love and support to make it another day. I am so thankful to all of the donors and sponsors of the babies of the AGC Baby Center. Without you, they would not be here to celebrate Christ's birth today. You are a blessing and I pray you are filled with God's love as you celebrate the baby He sent for you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Jolinda

Dedicated to the Lord

Several babies were dedicated at the Ngata Africa Gospel Church. Along with the dedication, Pastor Habib prayed over Mo Mo specifically since he is almost 4 years old and hasn't been adopted yet. Please join with us to pray that a family will come for him VERY SOON! I know a bunch of wazungus here in America that would adopt him if they could! He is truly a miracle baby and God has a special plan for his life! The bottom picture is of Precious, Lucy and Mo Mo.

The Farm at Salgaa - October 2009

We just received the following report from Jeff Stanfield regarding the farm:
"The crops on our Salgaa plot are looking great. My understanding is that the corn is nearly ready for harvest."
We are so grateful for the El Nino rains that allowed a second harvest after the terrible drought during the normal harvest season! The pictures above were taken in October 2009.

Message from the Director

Current Baby Center Director, Jeff Stanfield, sent the following message today:

Greetings from Tenwek.

Life here continues to be busy with traveling and meetings. This week I spent some time at the baby center. We are currently at 32 babies, with 3 in the final stages of being placed into families. While there it was clear that the sound panels (built and installed by the October NMC team) are being effective in dampening the noise bouncing around the rooms. Thanks for spearheading this project. Also, the "Pigeon control" is working well on the railings of the towers. It is a great first step in helping control the pigeon population.

A couple of weeks ago was the moving date for the toddlers. They are now in the "B" wing. My observations and those of others is that this is working out very well. The toddlers are able to do more "toddler" level activities without the caregivers having to be concerned about the infants that might be in the way. The infants have more freedom to crawl and explore their environment and to play with their age appropriate toys. The caregivers are grateful for the move. Now that the groups are separated we are looking at ways we can provide them with age appropriate toys, books, etc. that they can use in their respective areas.

Well I guess that is about it for now. Thanks again for everyting you all are doing for the Baby Center.

God bless,

Jeff

Children of Mathare

These pictures were taken when the NMC team visited the Mathare Slum. These beautiful children live in some of the toughest conditions I have seen. It is hard to imagine what their futures will hold. But one thing I know: God sees them, He loves them, He has a plan for their lives, He wants to give them a hope and a future. We were so blessed to show them God's love, even if it was just for a few hours. We pray that many more will listen to God's call and reach out to these precious children! I read that it would take 13 years of consistent international effort to eradicate the slums. That seems almost impossible, but with God nothing is impossible. I am going to pray that very soon, those 13 years will begin and the children of the future will not know the hardships that these young ones have known!

2009 10 Kenya Team Picture

Front Row: Vicki Holden , Margie Helmuth, Jolinda Lengacher, Kristy Mikel, Nicki Resler, Jamie Lengacher
Back Row: Myron Borntrager, Floyd Miller, Judy Borntrager, Linda Miller, Ashley Lamason, Greg Holden

What a day, glorious day!

Yesterday was such a glorious day as we worshiped the Lord together at Ngata AGC Church! I will tell much more about it when we get home as there is much to share! But for now, I just wanted to let you know, we are getting ready to leave for Tenwek and the Massai Mara. It is much harder to get reception, so I'm not sure when I will be able to blog again! We have felt your prayers in many situations and ask that you continue to pray for our safety on the roads and for God's presence to continue to be made known.

I will also be able to blog much more about the babies when I get back to the states. The internet here is slow and unreliable so pictures and videos will come soon! Check back often! And again thank you for your love and support - it is because of the prayers, love and support of the people back home that the work continues!

One-on-One

The team tried to spend a lot of one-on-one time with the kids today. The week has gone so fast! The men built little stools for the older kids, then we took them out of the play area and had them color them. They were so proud! When they came back for snack time, they lined their stools up along the wall and sat on them to eat. Then after lunch, they brought them back outside and sat on them in the grass. Some of the boys decided they made great building blocks so they would stack them up and then knock them down with a huge crash! The stools will probably have to be taken down to the learning center to protect the little ones!

Andrew and Jeremiah were feeling better today. They have had fevers. But Rony started in with a temperature this evening. David came over with Priscilla when she came to give Rony medicine. He is getting so tall! Priscilla said he will start school in January!

The pigeon warriors continued to tweak their defenses. Later that evening, a few brave ones still came and landed but they certainly were not comfortable and didn't stay long! The war is not over, but the pigeon warriors now have the upper hand!

This is the day that the Lord has made... We will rejoice and be glad in it!

Wow! What a day! We spent some time at breakfast in prayer for the board meeting Jamie would be in most of the day today. And the Lord certainly heard our prayers. Jamie reported later that the meeting went incredibly well! Some issues that he thought might be touchy ended up being no problem at all. Other areas where problems needed to solved, solutions were decided upon easily. And new ideas were given for improvements in several areas! The board was all in unison on whatever decisions they made were first and foremost for the babies well being above all else.

The women continued holding and loving babies today. In the morning, they were able to get a group of them together for a special picture (it's a surprise!). You can imagine trying to get a large group of toddlers to cooperate for a picture was not easy, but I think we were able to get a few that we could use!

Then in the afternoon, we walked with several of them down to the farm. It is so good for them to get outside of the gates of the baby center. They take in everything around them! All of them liked watching the Cuckoos (chickens) but a few of them were terrified of the Cows! Mesh even tried to pull some of the kids who were not afraid back from the fence because he was so concerned the cows might "get them"! We were able to see a baby calf that was born just one week ago! We also were there when some local women came to buy milk. God is providing for the babies in so many different ways!

Water is still being sold everyday from the front gate. As well as by delivery. We have been so fortunate to have been able to continue to have enough water for the babies even though there has been a drought.

In the evening, we were invited to Ann and Eliud's home for supper. We had such a good time of fellowship! Ann made us a buffet of different traditional Kenyan dishes to try. She had beef stew, chicken stew, vegetable stew, chepati, spiced rice, yams, boiled sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, sukumuwiki, and a bitter root. She also wanted us to eat it in the traditional Kenyan way (with your hands)! For dessert we had mixed fruit (paw paw, bananas, pineapple and passion fruit). After supper we sat around and talked, but most of all laughed! Pastor Habib and his family were also there and as he said, he has the gift of encouragement!

And the highlight at the end of the day was...no pigeons!!!! Well there were just a few, but the pigeon warriors have already figured out a plan to stop even those few! It will be so nice not to have those birds above the children's play area - they are so dirty! Now if we can figure out how to prevent them from dropping the bowling balls on the roof at 5am - we'll be really happy!