May 28, 2009

May 28, 2009

We are sorry – we know we haven’t blogged in a while. We have been very busy -- Ray’s father died, Bishop Stephano left for America the other day and we were helping him get ready, we’ve been purchasing food and other supplies on a daily basis for the orphanage, we’ve been taking kids to lunch and then buying them shoes, we’re working on a proposed layout of the new orphanage property, the elections had us working with extra security… The list of reasons why we haven’t blogged lately goes on and on.

But know that we are ok, the elections are over and everything was peaceful.

We’ve been busy since we hit the ground again. We’ve taking kids to the hospital, run errands and helped feed the kids. We’ve been out to the new orphanage site several times to take measurements and take pictures. Ray is in the proposal stage of designing the new place and is taking it quite seriously. He will soon start working with contractors to get quotes on building a wall around the property and building a small house for a watchman. If we don’t have a person on site at all times, supplies with disappear.

We have taken several of the kids to lunch and to purchase shoes since we returned. The other day, we took four of the older boys to purchase shoes and socks and to lunch. One of them told me he had been dreaming about this day for quite some time. One of the other boys said that this was a great day for them. The kids at the orphanage need so many things. Two of the boys who were with us, told us that they do not have pants (they were both wearing shorts). One of them told us he does not have any shirts (he is borrowing clothes from friends). We told them that we were only purchasing shoes today. We still have most of the kids who need shoes, pants, decent clothes, underwear, blankets, etc.

It is the beginning of the cold weather and this morning it was 65 degrees when we woke up. Brrr, it was chilly. I was cold in my house, in my bed under my warm blanket and under the mosquito net. I can’t imagine how cold the kids at the orphanage are. Some of them share a blanket because they do not have enough for each child to have one. We purchased a blanket for each child before we returned to the US in March but more children have come to the orphanage while we were gone so we bought more blankets so we can ensure all the kids are warm at night.
Life is good here in Malawi. As a matter of fact, life is very good here……more later.

Thanks for all your prayers and support.

Blessings to you!

PS – We purchased ½ slips for the girls and belts for the boys. This picture is of Ray distributing belts to the boys. Were they ever a hit!!

The other picture if of some of the girls "goofing around". Mphatso, Miracle (the Director's daughter), Sarah and Chifundo.

addition

May 11,

Alice has asked me to write this blog as she thinks I have more to talk about right now.

Well we are back in Malawi. It is good to be back home again. We have been here for almost two weeks now and things are back to normal. We get up, we go over to the orphanage, and we go into town to take someone to hospital or to go shopping or go to the internet.

The reason that Alice wanted me to write this blog is that after 6 months without a cat we now have a kitten living with us. I am one of those persons who needs a cat around to feel like he is in a home instead of just a house. The kitten is still trying to let me know what her name is, but she is pretty young so she does not talk very well yet. She is one of the litter that was at Esther and Stephano’s house. When they were tiny kittens they would not have anything to do with me. But when we got back from the USA they were less fearful. This one was pretty scrawny so I started feeding it some nsima scraps. Then I decided to find some cat food that I could carry around in the car so I could feed it when I went over to the orphanage. Yesterday Esther finally took pity on me and asked me if I would take the cat off of her hands because she does not like cats. So she came home with us last night, and scared the heck out of our guard dog. Lukia was frightened of her all last night, but seems to be less afraid of her today. She has been busy exploring the house and sleeping and eating. I will post a picture if I can.

It feels like we have more direction now. Land has been bought to build a new orphanage on. It is about one acre and about 7 kilometers outside of town. We will first need to build a small house for a watchman to live in then we can start on the wall that will surround the property. Once the wall is up we can start having the buildings put up. I am working now to design the buildings so that when we are ready to build we will know what to build. Of course all of this depends on there being money in the coffers to build with. But our God is an awesome God, and I know that the money to build His orphanage will be there in His time. I will post some pictures of the land when I can.

That is about all that I have for today, so I will sign off until sometime later.

Ray

(As a postscript, the kitten confessed that her name is Princess Fiona).

Also, I'll have to post the picture later. It is too large so we have to change the size of it on the other laptop at home. Sorry. She's a cutie!

we're back

We're back in Malawi and things are going very well. We were very warmly greeted upon our return and have spent quite a bit of time with the kids and running around doing errands.

We took 3 children to the hospital today and the doctor said there was nothing wrong with two of them -- that's a first. We thought they both had malaria. The other child has a toothache. It is so bad that her cheek and eye are swollen. They said they can not remove the tooth with the infection in it so they gave her an antibiotic to take for a week. They'll remove her tooth next week. Poor thing. She was so scared and cried huge tears.

We purchased backpacks for the orphanage kids with money the Promiseland (Sunday School) kids at our church raised. They never expected anything like that and oh, were they excited.

We are very glad to be back here and doing God's work!