Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays my Dear Friends...its been more than wonderful meeting all of you this year!

Have Fun in Him- for without Him there is NO Fun after all!

......YES I mean JESUS....

Will be back to this blog in the new year God willing! 

Much love.

Christmas celebrations in School

My kids did some Christmas presentation before they closed school. It was wonderful. Kids have a way of making you sob and touch your heart in awesome ways.

See kendi-rather tall for her age. She is the one with a white belt.

Making faces, feeling shy  

Tana feeling shy too  

Tana. Quite tall too for her class.    

The teachers did a dance. Was cute  

Tana with a doll- Her Baby Jesus   

A skit by the kids 

Sweet Kendi  

Smiling for Mum and Dad

Off Diapers

Our daughter Kendi – 4 years is off diapers, this was her 4 birthday mark. We constantly told her that four year olds dont wear diapers. So when she turned four – that was it. She has to forfeit the luxury. We wake her up twice every night to take her for short calls (Dad does that-I bless God) May be I can do the last shift but Dad does the midnight call because he easily dives back into sleep.

What we have done...

Ensured that most liquids are taken before 6pm.

Little sip of water during dinner time.

Goes for short call before sleeping (8pm)

When dad and mum go to bed at 10pm, we wake her up again so that we sleep longer before waking up again.

After that we work with 3-4 hours intervals.

How nice not to have to buy diapers for three kids (phew!)

Challenge – there are times that the sister ( Tana) will knock on our door at midnight asking to go for short call too, yet she sleeps in a diaper- we are wondering what to do with this.

Have a great Totos Tuesday!

I miss

I know I have not said much of late- I have been in and out of Nairobi planning for next year, that is what happens when you are employed by one and working for another.  So as I head to bed, I feel like just saying how much I miss home. This is where it gets tough sometimes for working Mums.

I miss my family, my wonderful hubby and kids

I miss the dinner times, I miss the bathing times with the kids- this is one of my favorites, mostly  because I get all the I love you  from the girls, I am not sure why they do this at this time.

I miss the kisses from my boy that leave me with all the saliva smeared all over my lips and cheeks.

I miss the good mornings-sometimes we read stories before I leave for work and I miss feeding breakfast to the kids too.

I miss the details of their day-coming from my kids. Details to the very letter and telling on each other.

I miss the prayer time, the bed time stories and the songs that we sing before we go to bed.

I miss the "love you mum"-"goodnight Mum, love you, love you"…and when they are tired, they just say-good night guys (Mum and Dad). Since when did we become guys?

I take some time to swim when I am in Mombasa, which is where I have been for quite a while and I miss being with my family in the pool. They fill the pool with laughter and joys – the yells and the cries all being part of it.

I do not want to say what I miss as a wife, that is for the “I do and then” blog for another day.

I thank God for my family and I love them dearly. The time away also helps me to reflect and to ask God for balance in my life. I appreciate the grace and in that grace I live each an every day. Many people ask, how I manage to travel and I have young family. Well, they look at it outside grace; you see God gives you grace for every season in your life. I know it and I have lived it.

Have a graceful week. 

His voice

I love the Lord and I have of late been learning to spend time with Him. The bible says that He does not call us servants; we are His friends, for a servant does not know the master business but he reveals himself and his business to us that is why he calls us friends. John 15:15

Anyway, I wanted to share more today on the shepherd and Phyllis Holly just reminded me of that. I have been meditating on two things, the issue of Christ being the vine and us being the branches and Him being the shepherd and us being the sheep.

I have been earnestly seeking to hear the Lords voice in my life on many issues because I believe that I am not gambling my life.  I do not want to keep hearing all voice apart from my masters’ voice. If you are like me, everything seems to be screaming in your ears at any given time, and more often than not our canal mind wants to rule us. The enemy has ensured that we listen to everything else apart from God, to know all voices apart from the Masters’ voice.

So I was asking God to really help me learn to hear His voice and to hear it well, with accuracy and distinctively. And guess the answer I got- Just hang around me!  And I agree, we tend to master the voices of those things we hang around as much. So I have just learnt the need to hang around God and I encourage all Mums to do the same. His voice is the ONE voice we cannot afford to miss! It’s the only voice that reigns with authority, with purpose and speaks for eternity!

John 10:4 “...His sheep follow him because they KNOW His voice…’  

Question for the week -Can you comfortably say that you can recognize Christ/the shepherds Voice in your life today in the midst of all the noise around?

Hair do...

I discovered it is easier to have my girls’ hair made in our house rather than take them to the salon. I just need to put on an interesting kids DVD on and before they know it the hair is done. This makes my life a bit sane. At the salon, it takes ages, they fidget, they ask for all sorts of things and they get irritable and tired so fast. So this works. I got someone who comes and now I have two because we have started braiding Tanas’ hair as well.

 

Watching a Christian Kids DVD as hair is being braided 

showing of their heads to Daddy... 

a

A first for Tana 

A very happy girl. She could not wait for hair to be made. 

Sweet Eliana

When i shared this last week...i did not know it was going to be this fast....

The soldier was downloaded!!!! How great is our God! He knits us together in our mothers womb, His works are wonderful, we know that very well. Welcome Eliana, all, the days of your life were ordained before any

 of them came to be!!! We love you girl! We thank God for you!

Proudly African

During my early years, we were brought up – I am not sure if it was through socialization or what, but either by design or default we used to view other races, especially anyone lighter for that matter, as some superior beings to ourselves. This still continues to permeate most African countries especially in the villages. At one point I remember a friend of mine sharing with me how her niece came home after the Sunday service and told them that God did not come to church. They were shocked at what she said and further investigations revealed that the priest had not come for “Mass”. The priest was of white race and for whatever reason he had not been in church that day. So the priest was God?

It’s no wonder that some Africans want rush to other continents outside Africa to make money or gather wealth of whatever makes them feel being outside Africa is the greatest deliverance in their time. I have no problem living outside Africa, in fact I travel a lot and I love it, but more than, I want our children value themselves, love who they are and where they are regardless and not to think that Africa is cursed and it is a punishment by God to live in Africa. 

Talking of punishment, last Sunday, I was watching an  preacher (white) on television and I liked how he was candid with Kenyans. During his sermon he said that sometimes, Americans use Africa to portray their level of surrender and selflessness to God. He said something which made me laugh-some Americans would say “God, I surrender to you and to your will upon my life, even if it means sending me to Africa”. Oh.…really is it that bad? I still laugh when I think of that.

I am not here to bash other races-far from it, I have great friends all over the world and I value them dearly. 

But I have a problem with us Africans and how we raise our children and especially how we see ourselves. Worse still, instead of raising our children with great confidence and love for their continent, valuing their culture and their region, we have this tendency to show – the rest of the world is great, and being in Africa – we are to be pitied among all beings.

Actually at one point, I travelled to Europe, one of our trainers made a mistake of having an image of the devil and one of an angel. ( to explain some point on Human rights) The devil was black and the angel was white. One of the participants(from another African country) was so furious he stood up and demanded an apology  for painting the devil back and wanted an explanation of why the devil is not white and the angle black? Well, I thought that was quite extreme, but anyway…. Okay parents, or may be mums, because my blogs niche is Mums, please let’s learn to allow our children to value themselves. To carry themselves with esteem, Africans (black) are not less human beings, we all belong to God, He values each one of us just like all others, in fact is love is what my children would say ..same…same…..

Let our children grow proud and tall to be Africans! This is the message we must pass on to our children in this generation. That is the only we can make any positive impact to this awesome, lovely, beautiful, continent of ours....

Want to Fight? Surrender!

Sometimes back, through my normal day to day struggles as a Mum, the Lord spoke to me very Cleary on the issue of surrender. Because it had reached a point where I felt like i keep struggling with the same issues over and over again. 

This is what I got impressed upon my heart.

As a believer, spiritual battle begins at the point of surrender that is the first encounter that you must have with God as you address day to day challenges. Remember the bible say that the weapons of our warfare are not of this world, they are mighty through God. (2nd Corinthians 10:4)

Yes, you must be willing to surrender your weapons of war in exchange  for the mighty ones of God.

We must be willing to surrender;

Our experiences, which sometimes hinder us from experiencing God and we use them to think we are very wise. This includes how God fought for us the last time.

Our past – that more than often hold us back. We use it to fight because it’s all we have anyway and all that we can account for.

Self help books – they are wonderful but no matter how much you meditate on the self help books, they never ever equate to the word of God or wisdom that is downloaded from the throne room.

Book knowledge - very good, but it has its place, this weapon can take you only so far, you need to surrender it so that God can fill you with Knowledge of His power through Christ our Lord.

Human wisdom – God calls it foolishness. So really, why would you want to wage war in foolishness?

Religion – just because it s a good doctrine that you follow, it does not mean that it is right, in fact, some one said, after Lucifer the worst thing that happened to Christens is religion. God is interested in having a relationship with you.

So my dear mums. If you want to wage war right.  First -surrender all your weapons – and ask God to equip you with His weapons. They are MIGHTY!

Have a victorious week as you serve Him. He is our Lord-I just Love Him

Kendi gave birth

Look at her!! Funny!

We had a good laugh last night.

For those of you who have been to our home, we can communicate to each other with someone who is in the guest cloak room, if they shout.

Our kids have this habit of shouting when they are in there and giving us some sort of stories. I do not know what is the relationship between going to the toilet and their stories.

Yesterday dinner time, Kendi excused herself to go for a long call. We allowed her. Within to time she shouts back with a groan and says “Dad, my baby has come out”

What? Did we hear right?

We were not sure what to say next. Since it was addressed to Dad, I decided to keep quiet.  (Okay- I did not know what to say)

Dad went on to ask “You had a baby?” Kendi says “Yes”

Okay- this is getting better, but we know she has been pregnant with baby Joy for sometime- so she says. This pregnancy thing came with my being pregnant with Ethan.

Dad asks “How did the baby come out”

Kendi says –“I will have to visit a doctor to cut my stomach so that the baby comes out”

Phew- we were kind of relieved. But I think we may need to start preparing ourselves for the big questions of where do babies come from and how do they come out?

The answer she gave of seeing a doctor, is how we explained it to her when I went to deliver, I told her that the Doc will have to cut my stomach and get Ethan out. Well, I am not sure if this works – but for now Dad and Mum must get ready. 

Lots of thanks

I travelled to Naivasha this week. And while away, my hubby joined me on his way back from Nakuru (site visit). So one of those days our boy got sick and my help called – so scared that Ethan was not good at all. So I called on Sylvia to help. I was amazed that she took time off with her hubby (my brother) and took Ethan to hospital and literally spent the entire afternoon with my boy. Did all the tests and instructed our help on how to administer the medication. hanks Sylvia and Alex, only God know how grateful we were. Not to mention that she was in our house the next day – very early to find out how our boy had slept. Thanks. We thank God for you.

Look below. Some gorgeous looking lady! Hurray I will be Auntie again. This is our Sister Mesh! We love you Mesh and are looking forward to that little one. Look at her, she looks all elegant in her pregnancy.  We thank God for  you and for the lovely gift in there. 

I was recently was interview  by Christian working Mum and on one of the replies, I had this to say and I would say it again:

"... being a mother is not just a sign of fertility, neither is it a platform for self righteousness when it comes to adoption, as a matter of fact, it is a declaration of war against the powers of darkness as we raise a few more solders for Christ"

Esther!!!!!We are waiting for that awesome Soldier!

How do you value them?

We were brought up in a culture where we felt valued based on school performance.  To make it worse the 8-4-4 system does not help much.  It was about what number you were at the end of the term that determined how holidays were going to be for you. Worse still, this brought with it rivalry among brothers and sisters’ because those who performed better walked around the house feeling a little proud than the others, and what were the others left to feel?

Did the society help? NO! They would always ask, what number were you? Actually the entire village decides if you were to amount to anything or not depending on your school performance. Oh and need I say, they would take this further to decide if you picked up your mothers genes or your fathers. Depending on who was sharp and who was foolish.

Well, I have a different thinking. I believe that God created each one of us for a purpose. Well, you don’t get to hear that much and the school systems sometimes do not help us. I am not sure that God created any one of us to be a liability – we are all special to Him with a clear and specific mandate.

When I was in high school, (boarding) there were a few times that I did not make it to go for mid-term because those who did not perform well in school, were denied the chance to be with their families! – How bad could that get? Oh and the excuse was that we needed to stay on school and read.

Okay- so literally a bunch of fools were left in school to help themselves. I can assure you, we did nothing close to that. We rebelled- we enjoyed life, we slept for long hours, we ate the good food because the kitchen was cooking for a few fools and therefore the food tasted better and we loved it.

But I remember once of those times, one teacher during a Christina Union meeting (yes we prayed) told us, God can turn what people call failure into something. She was Mrs Mwangi- never to forget, because her words literally lifted me up from some pit of despair, and for once, I knew my life would count.

Well, today I am Gender and Human rights advisor employed by the UN and working for the government. Not that it is the epitome of greatness and I am not saying that to brag, but I needed to let us know that we all can be something at the end of the day. And that something should be defined by God.  I love my job, I like to assist women, men, boys and girls. I am amazed at how my brain has opened up to gender and human rights issues, I wish that was taught in school , maybe I would have performed better and not gone through he agony of being separated from my family.

So parents- lets be careful of how we value of our children. The society and school system do not help, let’s not make it worse. And if you read this blog, kindly never ask any of my children what number they were in school, please do not measure them on school performance. Because they are more than that, they have awesome unique qualities and character that is destined to  change this world, God will help them discover them and we are trying as much as we can to partner with God in that. We are also hoping that we can get into a system that will nature their gifts rather than kill them.

Amidst busy times

Yes, I have not blogged for a while. Its been crazy at  work, but things are a bit better now. All the same, God has been so awesome.. He always is. He has a way of making life fun and making every moment enjoyable especially for a working  Mum. I  like to go to Zen Gardens, it is a little expensive but when we have saved a few coins, My hubby knows that I like to relax there. So He took us there sometime back.

She loves life-Yah? She does and likes the good things in life.  

The Boy having fun 

The girls having a one on one talk 

Trying to relax, because she would rather be up jumping  

More fun  

and more... 

Mum -Son Moment  

All together  

Refreshed mum and kids

Oh...Dad takes the photo's its a weakness that runs in their family. So I have a few of him.

..and even when I try to take him a photo with my camera, I find him taking photos too

She is 4

We celebrated Kendi 4th Birthday on 23rd November 2011.  It was in deed a special day. They had not closed school yet and the teachers requested that I take her cake to school and that her peers would more than love to celebrate the day with her. I was accompanied my Sister Sylvia as Dad was caught up in a meeting.  

 

Dad woke up early to wrap the gifts.

Made Special breakfast for the kids

Kendi Teacher unwrapping the cake 

Putting on the party caps  

There goes the cake. It was car cake. That is what she asked for 

Kendi went round and round the circle and all the kids counted the months and after every year she would say the one different thing she would do, they would then clap for her.  

The Sister (Tana)joined us. It was lovely to have the sister there.

Teacher Yvone placing the candles  

The class was so calm, it was amazing. 

She blew the candles  

We did the cake cutting with the Sister as well 

She fed all 

and she was a happy girl

and she was four  

with her gift in the evening.

The sis with a smaller gift too 

and the bro as well 

She loves books. So a dictionary would be a good one 

I know she loved it  

Happy Birthday Kendi! We love you very much! You are such a blessing in our lives. May you continue to grow in the ways of the Lord. You are a mighty warrior!