Saturday, April 4, 2015

Along comes Benjamin

So much has happened in the last several months, including a really great trip to Canada that we will have to just give you the short version. Things are good, we are blessed. Each day has its own challenge and we rise to meet them as they come.
We would like thank everyone for making us feel so at home on the way too short trip to Canada. We are grateful for all the love and support.
We would also like to thank The Australian team, led by our good friends David and Jill. In a single week they transformed our motley farm house into a much more modern version. Installing ceilings, fixing the scary upstairs electrical, finishing the kitchen cabinets that I had nearly given up on, creating a pretty pink room for the girls. And also bringing a wonderful message of love to the local church which made a real impact with couples and even Anchalee’s mom and dad. Which started a very good season spiritually for the congregation.


Storage tank for irrigating tea via drip tape. 
Our agricultural projects are moving along. We had a setback with the tea irrigation however.  The water tank at the top of the hill completely self-destructed in a rather dramatic fashion.  It seems the pipe leading to the tea got plugged and the tank was overflowing until it could no longer handle the stress of 6000 litres (I had always been careful not to fill it to the brim, but we did not know it had stopped releasing water). We will be replacing it now with a plastic store-bought version. We no longer have the time or desire to build another concrete tank so high on a hill. Just another lesson learned in a world where it seems everything I do I do for the first time.


Water tank as it is now. The rest is scattered down the tea field.

And now for our awesome and most extraordinary news:  We have welcomed to our home a beautiful baby boy named Benjamin. Benji‘s mom was forbidden to take him home. Her parents already care for another child by her, and the fathers of both children are absent.  So she has given him over to our care. She did spend the first month with him, so he did get some natural nutrition. Benjamin is two months old now, he is in perfect health and he is a very quiet and happy boy except from about 8:30 PM until about 11:00 PM. At that time he is loud and demanding. We are working on it.


Benjamin, such a blessing.
We are very happy to have this special boy with us. We thank God for His tender mercies and His hand in all our works. This new life is such a comfort and a healing for the still strong feelings we have from our short time with David.


Pastor's house is finally under way

Another bit of news that I am sure many of you are wondering about is the construction of the pastor's house There was a long wait to get started but now the build is in full swing. The pastor and his wife are still overwhelmed with the generosity of those who contributed to this project.  The pillar and beams are up, the floors are roughed in, the walls are going up and the metal for the roof will be going up shortly.

Our Pastor and his family

Thank you once again to all our friends. We are so grateful that we are living this life, enabled to give a home to these kids, and to be a help to those in our community.  We hope to see some of you over here soon, so you can see for yourselves the fruit of your sharing.

God bless you all.

Kim, Anchalee, Jessica, Genny, Gideon, Shiloh, And Benjamin