I do have to say, this has been the most encouraging visit we have ever had concerning Kitoben Vision Children's Home. Lots of times, I mean LOTS, we have questioned and wrestled with this thing. We have known that God tells us to take care of orphans, and that our involvement with Kitoben was His idea and not ours, (the thought of an orphanage in our future had not EVER entered our mind before the first time we came here in 1998), but the question of how to go about it has been ever looming and even agonizing at times. We are clueless. How and when does helping REALLY help? I know many of you have asked the exact same questions, and I have no answers. I do know that God asks us to be dependent on Him, humble and repentant, and to persevere through struggles. This may be over dramatic, but I feel that we have been flat on our faces begging for His help and wisdom, and He has been pulling us along by outstretched arms. God HAS been so very faithful to Alice, Samwel and the kids. So many of you have been used irreplaceably in council, prayer, and financial support along the way. It is really like a refreshing cup of cool water this time to see things seemingly going along so well!

Yesterday was a full day. Hannah, Tommy and I went to Kitoben in the morning and did the last part of the key chain. I reviewed the previous three concepts and then Tommy talked about the last verse, Matt 28:18, "Go into all the earth..." He talked about revival and how it could start with them right there at Kitoben. They were listening intently. We also talked about the many people that have never heard about Jesus in Africa. They actually broke into applause when we told them that we pray that some of them will be the ones to go into those areas and share about Him someday. It was quite exciting! I was glad there wasn't a theologian present over the last week as we tried to get these ideas across with word pictures and examples in the face of language challenges.  At one point, as we were tying to discuss putting all our hope in our divine inheritance, heaven moved from being the "City of Gold" to the "City of Cake." Cake is universally their favorite food. Oh well, maybe there will be something like cake there?

We left Kitoben late morning with Mercy (a different Mercy), Jackline and Alice so that the two of them could be seen at the hospital. We got to see what the hospital is like coming in from the other side. As visitors, the challenge was trying to balance not being too demanding of the consultant physicians with getting good care and some questions answered. They were both difficult cases. Everyone was very gracious, and we came away with a fairly clear diagnosis for each of them, and a plan to move forward. We were very pleased, but it took all day and was pretty exhausting.  Once again, we got a small glimpse into Alice's life with 80 kids, and are so thankful and appreciative of all she does. We capped off our day with a slightly cool Coke Zero from the local duka.



The kids waving their key chains and chanting "Everyday! Everyday!" after we
had talked about reading the verses everyday.

The hospital visit, Alice, Mercy and Jackline.

Enoch (center) is Alice and Samwel's oldest son and is
in pharmacy school.  Check out the keychain on the belt.

This is a (sorry) picture of a swarm of bees that came to "rest" in one of the nearby
trees.  Apparently they come to the same tree about this time every year.
The guards tried to burn them out last night, but they moved and made this swarm on the lawn,
and then by the end of the day had moved on.  I tried to take this picture from a distance:)