Installment 26 try again

Installment 26
Africa has taught and is teaching me many lessons. First, never enter a ground war in southeast Asia. More recently, like this morning, I learned that it isn’t a good idea to put your Gold Bond medicated cream next to your toothpaste. I’ll let you fill in the blanks, but my teeth didn’t itch at all today.
This was a milestone day in that Instep signed a building contract with our local contractor. I’ve been working on it for over a month and really the deal has been in the works for over a year. We have a lot of things to work out yet, but we are moving….well not us, think how hard it would be for this mob to move..even using Kenya standards, it would take at least 4 vans to get everyone in. (8 passenger vans) If you have been here, you know what I’m saying. Tomorrow Jeff and I will begin the ordering process. We need to get the heavy materials on the ground here before the rain starts in earnest… well in Kenya anyway. Since they build with bricks and stone here, we are talking many many tons of material. Looks like everything is available except the lumber (timber). I’m afraid I’m alittle nervous about getting what we need…you might be praying.
An interesting thing happened today. I was cutting some plywood for the storage and had about 20 ¾ x¾ x 36 inch pieces left, which for some unknown reason I gave to the older kids…and then I ran away and watched. What do you think happened? Because these kids are all brought up the same, they naturally reacted to the sticks the same, right! Because boys and girls are the same and it’s just culture that make them different, this is a good test ground. Yep, the boys began using them as swords and the girls used them as horses and some put them together making a ‘house’. I just thought that was fun to watch. Kids are kids.
Our new little Dorcas went in to see a pediatrician today. She is the one that is 13 months old and is currently 8lb 4oz, up from 7 something a couple of weeks ago. She needs some medication and good food. The medication is no problem, but the food thing….. Anyway, it’s a pleasure to see how well the kids are taken care of here.
You know, the hope is that the kids here will have major heart change and make Kenya a better place. Tonight I came across two boys and a girl…10, 10 and 7 arguing and the girl crying. I put on my best interpretation of an authority figure and asked each to tell what happened….3 similar but different stories. So I got strict, and told them that after dinner I wanted to see them. Here they came, to me outside, heads down….they knew life was over as they knew it. Looking them in the eyes, I had each tell their version. The common theme had to do with one of them stealing a bead from another and then some hitting and accusations etc. I know they expected Babu to feed them to the pigs…if we had pigs. But I sat down with them and we talked about integrity honesty and putting others first. It was a classic teachable moment. I don’t know how much impact that one time will have, but it is part of an ongoing theme. You know, when you put your arms around a kid that expects you to hate him, and tell him you love him, it has an impact. Now you know that I don’t care for kids, so this is just a tale I made up to impress you with my great wisdom….
Looks like my best friend won’t be able to come. I guess you know how that affects me, but there is joy in both of us feeling that we are being obedient. But, if any of you just happens to be coming here shortly, I need a couple of prescriptions brought from home, as it looks as if I will be extending my stay for 3 more weeks longer than I had planned….to make sure the project get started well.
No stima tonight, and no generator. Eliud took it in to the shop where we bought it because it still is messed up. “We need it right away, because we don’t have stima most nights.” E tell the store manager. “We will take care of it right now. We have a truck going to Nairobi and will be able to get it repaired within a week. Would you like to wait?” So, it goes without saying that it dark here now….oh, I just said it, didn’t I.
Hey, would you pray for me, I really want to get this project going in a easy to manage way so that it can run as efficiently as possible. I need wisdom in getting all the correct accountability in place. Thanks. I’ll leave you with this; a cook came up to me tonight and asked if mosquitoes have teeth. “No way” I said. “They have 47 teeth” she says. I bet her 1 shilling…1.2 cents.. she is wrong. So your homework is to find out and get back to me…..I’ll split the winnings with you