Hubby Pedi!!

I appreciate the simple things that my hubby does to make motherhood and wife-hood enjoyable. But some-things are not simple! They are just but GREAT!!!!!!

Just in case your asking - Yes, those are my legs....and yes all the kids are asleep. Must be a Saturday Afternoon...

Husband Battering

I guess most of us have been reading and hearing about husband battering in Nyeri province. Well I need to correct a few issues here before is progress. 

a)      Not all Nyeri women batter their husbands-They are great and awesome women in Nyeri. There are great marriages in Nyeri too. When you say all women are, or all men are…those are called Gender stereotypes!

b)      It does not matter who beats who- it is a criminal offence! Women should not think that they have the right and can get away with husband beating regardless of their furry!

I did not say much last week because it was a BUSY week to say the least. I was busy planning and training the Provincial Administration from Central province on the Gender and Equality gains in our Kenyan constitution 2010 Needless to say, I knew for sure being in Nyeri (where they all gathered) would definitely mean that some issues like husband battering would up.

Sad I must say! Very sad…as the women heads retaliate with strong voices that they will continue to beat their husbands and encourage their women fellows to beat them!

One story was narrated that made me feel very sad.

One of the husbands who has recently been beaten had literally come home just to find his wife who works as a casual laborer feeding her(their) children. They were feeding on some piece of Ugali (corn meal) with no stew whatsoever because she could not afford and the only few coins she had made for the day she had used  to purchase some flour and 250ml of milk for her other little baby.

Her husband had come home very drunk (from drinking illicit brew) demanding for food. When he was given the Ugali with no accompaniment of course, he began to insult the wife and abusing her for making incomplete meals. With little common sense if any in his head, the man took away the remaining Ugali and ate it all up with the 250ml of milk in the feeding bottle.

The reason the wife beat him up was not that he ate the Ugali but that he took the 250ml of milk which the wife had reserved for the night for their 7months old baby.

Well that said. My dear readers, the family unit is under attack. Mothers are crying out for their families and they have resulted to taking charge of their families to the extent of killing their husbands.  And if you think they are apologetic of what they are doing – let me assure you they are not! At lest that is the feeling I got from the meeting.

I do not have comments right now on this topic. It is the one that I am praying about, I have a heart for families and I all I can say for now is that, may the Lord restore sanity to our families. May He restore the right order, in the mean time, I will be reaching out to families, and I will make my voice known everywhere I go! And I pray that it will not be my voice but the VOICE of God reaching out to this generation. 

Slaughtering Kuku (Chicken)

I was brought up in the village, where you were expected to know how to slaughter a chicken as part of home training curriculum. For me, this was one of the greatest childhood achievement.

My brother had a phobia for chickens, or so I think, and this used to drive my mum nuts. I remember at one point my Mum asking my brother to catch a chicken for slaughter and since he could not do it, she literately pushed him inside the chicken coop and locked the door. Then she went on to say "Let the chickens have a feast of you today, if you die good but if you come out alive, then you better style up". Wonderful mother. She was quite tough! Today we laugh about this all the time!

Well, last week someone gave me a chicken for slaughter and i gathered why not introduce my children  to slaughtering chicken. May be it is a tradition that i should pass on to my chilren. I know in some countries this may seem strange, but we love to do this, on this side of the world.
Enjoy the slaughter. 

Kendi and Tana Scared of what Dad was doing below...

Okay...not a good site...poor Chicken...

Stepping on the wings and legs

Cutting off the head

Kids in shock

Ethan must have been looking at the chicken below and saying - you can't be dead. 

Done cutting the head

The kids watching

Putting it in hot (boiling)water to get out the feathers

Almost there

Done. Our little home grown Kuku.

When the day came to cook the chicken, I reminded the kids of how they slaughtered the Chicken. So I asked "Are you going to eat the Chicken you waved bye-bye to and slaughtered?". Tana said "YES" and while they were eating - They said Yummy! Good...part one of learning done.With time, the must do this by themselves.

It is finished

My favorite phrase in the bible is “It is finished”. John 19:30. This is the point at which our Lord Jesus Declared on the cross...it is OVER, the curtain in the temple tore into two, Mark 15:38, meaning I have direct access to the throne of God. I love the Cross; it is one of my best in the entire bible because it speaks volumes, my hubby will tell you that I love songs that have to do with the cross. I can confidently say that the cross sums up my life.

And just to let you know, that finished business, also includes resurrection. I can only imagine what went through our saviors mind when He was on the cross, when He said, it is finished- He must have meant;

They are free! …………………They can have  eternal life!…………… They can live a victorious life!........ They can have a life of abundance! ………They are redeemed! …..No Hell can separate them from my love!...they now have power over sin…and can find forgiveness for their sins!....They can live with me eternally!....

When I am down and fighting battles, the cross and resurrection reminds me that I am fighting from a point of victory. Once again, Jesus said it is finished. I,as Emmah therefore, have no business to finish over in my life, it over! Christ died for me!

The next time you feel condemned, you feel like you are not worthy, you feel like you have to die  for your life….always remember…Jesus said, IT IS FINISHED! He fought for you and finished very well and now you are but a victorious Christian. He is ALIVE and 

YOU ARE COMPLETE IN GOD!

A Proud Wife/Mum

The other day I joined my hubby to a project site in Nyahururu. For those of you not aware, my hubby is an architect and a lecturer of construction management -at a University in Kenya.

I thank God for him, his dedication and commitment to his work. It has taken me a while to appreciate what work means to my husband and how it all boils to the driving need of taking care of his family. I have come to enjoy what my husband does and appreciate all the effort he puts in place to make sure that Mum and kids are fine. I am sure the kids are proud of him as well, if they could only express it!

So just a few pictures on site.

From left to right, the contractor, MY HUBBY, the electrical engineer and the civil structural engineer-its good she is a lady, we have few of those.(me and gender and talking there)

The pool. He did a good one here!

My hubby scratching his head. I hope all is well.

I liked this edge of the pool.

See the cottages

Told you i like this edge of the pool...flows down very well.

There are three different types of cottages. My hubby did some good job here! this is just one type.

A close look at one of the tented cottages. I must sleep here soon...a unique blend of safari tent and old English

The lodge is designed on an old English theme, this here is the main reception and dining designed as castle and has a Lords' room at the top. 

This lodge will soon be a hit in Nyahururu and I am very proud of my hubby as the  team leader/consultant. 

Church and Young Mums

We have been trying to settle down to a place of worship. Yes, just changing fellowship, serving the same wonderful God but we thought we need to give special care and attention to our Children.

So, we have sort of settled somewhere and I just love the church school for the children and the crèche for the nursing Mums. My kids seem to be more in tune with the word of God and they will tell me all they learnt after every service. They make lamps to signify that they are the light of the world and all sorts of stuff. So when people ask why we are moving churches I tell them simply because we value our children and we are giving them priority at this stage of their lives.

But the other day, through my gender lenses I realized that since most places of worship are led by Men, either in the deacon board or the elders, it is very easy to forget the needs of mothers, especially young mothers. 

To be honest, the last time I comfortably sat through a whole Sunday service was more than four ears ago, when I was nine months pregnant with Kendi. I have no regrets about it!

In a church with no crèche, I have had to endure people making faces at me when my babies cry and the not so good attention that makes you unleash your breast with super speed to calm the baby, just to realize later on that your neighbors are wondering why you are exposing your breast to everyone, and while trying to reach out for some covering, the baby chokes. Needless to say, some could have also bound my babies with the notion that their crying is demonic.

Well, that said, I appreciate that I have come to know Christ and continue to pursue the Him passionately and we therefore desire that our children have a good foundation of loving and knowing Jesus. That is why I will leave any congregation, with no apologies to search for a place where my children will be best ministered too. 

I was wondering, if I were to be given an opportunity to be part and parcel of planting a new church, what special needs - only tailored for mothers would I look into? …one of them is a changing room for babies, water for breastfeeding mums and dedicated ushers to meet the needs of young Mums and the list goes on.....

Young Mums also need to be ministered too and unless someone is sensitive to their needs, it very easy to have miserable young mums in the congregation just wondering - when will this church business finish I head home?!

Since when?

We like to check on the kids at night and when we can, we also take Kendi for a short-call.

So the other day, we said goodnight to them and then Kendi says

“Hey, who is checking on me tonight? The girl or the boy" (meaning Mum or Dad)

Surely- when did kids get to be so free with their parents? We laughed! Was laughing the best response?

 We are still not sure.


Hope you are having a great week. Mine has been rather busy but wonderful all the same.

Great pankake recipe

I bumped into a blog with great pankake recipe. I decided to try it out. Anything with cinnamon gives me that extra energy  to try it out. Please find the recipe at purple chocolathome 

 

My ever faithful laptop with me in the kitchen to check out the recipe   

I did not add icing sugar on the cream cheese glaze because I would have no company with that sugar. So I used just the rest of the recipe. 

 This is Yummy! Yummy!