Sunday, April 14, 2013

The Joy of Bubbles



Each month we celebrate the birthday of each child that was born during that particular month in one big party.  Today was such a day.  For those of you unfamiliar with the way we celebrate birthdays at In Step, we call each child up and announce the age that they are turning.  When everyone has been called, we sing “Happy Birthday” to them.  The “birthday” boys and girls, who are old enough then serve cake and ice cream to the rest of the children, then get their own.  Then, we go outside into the yard and the adults (Mama Mary, Mama Carla, Madam Beth Ann and me, usually) blow bubbles for the kids to chase and see who can pop them.  Usually a little one gets knocked down in the excitement, but no one gets seriously hurt.  The next wave of bubbles usually makes a kid forget any offense committed against them.

There is one little guy named Fred, who just loves bubble time.  He runs around chasing the bubbles laughing the whole time.  Fred has a great laugh.  It is a laugh that comes from deep within his soul.  It doesn’t take much for Fred to get that laugh going either.  Any fun play activity can set him off.  It has gotten to the point where the other kids don’t notice, or pay attention anymore.  That is a sad thing.

It is a sad thing, not because the other kids have lost interest in the bubbles.  They have lost interest in Fred’s laugh.  There is innocence to it, and for them it is just another occurrence.  It is just Fred being Fred.  But, what if it was something more?

I just finished reading Rob Bell’s new book “What We Talk About When We Talk About God.”  Love him or hate him, Bell generates thought and discussion about Christianity and faith.  In the book, he talks about looking past the mundane and seeing God in everything.  In the West, a lot of us live in the mundane.  We forget to look beyond the moment and see that we are part of something bigger than ourselves.  In most circumstances, we get up, do our work, go home, go to sleep, and repeat and repeat and repeat.

If we blow bubbles for kids, it is just blowing bubbles.  We don’t participate in the enjoyment of them.  We don’t often marvel at how they float, sometimes out of our grasp and hover over our heads, and at the last minute change direction and come back to earth so that we can pop them. Almost like they are playing a game with us.

Children have a sense of wonder at so many things, and we adults take them for granted.  Eventually kids start to take them for granted, the way the rest of the kids at the home have taken Fred’s laugh for granted.  They are no longer entertained by it.  They don’t laugh with him anymore.  They don’t roll on the ground with him.  What if Fred’s laugh contains the presence of God?  What if God is laughing through Fred to teach us that we need to be enjoying the small things?

I hope that Fred never loses the joy of bubbles.  I hope that his laughter will always come out in the simple things of life.  I hope that we can teach the kids to once again see the sacred in the mundane.  I want to learn to find God in everything.  I want to see him behind every corner.  I pray that you will see the wonder in simple things.

Next month I want to post a video of Fred’s laugh from the next “Happy Birthday”.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Happy Birthday Happiness



This is Gilbert.  He just came to In Step on Wednesday (the 10th). 

This morning, he came to me with big tears in his eyes and said in Swahili, “Mama Mary, I want to go home.” 

I knelt down and gave him a big hug and told him to just wait some time and that for now, In Step could be his home.

Today was Happy Birthday Day at In Step.  It is always loads of fun for the kids. Cake. Ice cream. Juice. Bubbles.

Philip, one of our other boys and Gilbert’s classmate, was with us when I was hugging Gilbert. I asked Philip to explain to Gilbert what happens on Happy Birthday Day.  Philip was so happy to fill Gilbert in; his face was animated, his arms flailing, his eyes wide with excitement.  The more excited Philip got, the more excited Gilbert got.

All the kids gathered in the veranda. I called all the April birthday kids up to the front.  We sang Happy Birthday and then we handed out the cake and ice cream.  I caught a glimpse of Gilbert at the table and he had the biggest smile on his face. Cake and ice cream.  I think today was his first time ever having ice cream. I could see as he took a bite/slurp of the ice cream, his face scrunch up from the cold of it.

After cake and ice cream and the juice, we went outside for bubbles. Baba Sean, Mama Carla, Madam 
Beth Ann and I went out and blew bubbles as the kids chased them around to pop. 

Gilbert was having a hay-day. He had the biggest smile on his face as he chased around with the other kids, trying to be the first to pop a bubble.  After bubbles were done, some of his classmates were showing me their somersaults, cartwheels and jumps. I would clap and cheer and say, “Good job so-and-so.”

Gilbert shouted in Swahili, “Mama Mary; look at me!”  So I looked and he did a cartwheel. I cheered and clapped for him.  Again, “Mama Mary, look at me!” More cheering and clapping.

I asked him, “Gilbert, are you happy now?” 

His answer, “Yes, Mama Mary; I am VERY happy.”

And off he ran to play. 

Nothing a little cake, ice cream and bubbles can’t help. 

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

A Whole Lot of Stuff...



Oh the weather outside...

Rainy season is in full effect here in Kenya.  It rains every day now.  Thankfully, the mornings are hot and sunny and by the afternoon, it’s gloomy, grey and cold with either a few sprinkles or a torrential downpour. 

I don’t mind the rainy season, well except for the mud part (which includes walking in the mud, getting the car stuck in the mud, mud covered feet and mud covered clothes) and the part where it takes a few days longer for your clothes to dry out on the line.  I don’t mind the “cool” days; it’s an excuse to light a fire, make a nice hot chocolate and wrap myself up in a warm, fuzzy blanket and curl up with my sweet husband on the couch.

A whole bunch of people...

This year, In Step has quite a few teams coming, which is exciting.  The kids always enjoy having visitors and being loved on.  It’s just that many more hands to hold, arms to be hugged with and fun times to share.

The last weekend of June, we have a team coming from Sean’s and my home church in Canada visiting for two weeks.  We can’t even describe how excited we are about them coming.  Like I’ve said before, it is always such a gift when family/friends from back “home” come and visit. It brings a little piece of Canada to us. Plus one of the team members will be staying for a few months. Yay Karin!

One hundred and twenty-five kids...

In Step picked up their 125th kid today. His name is Gilbert and he’s four years old.  We don’t know how long he will be at In Step for as it depends on his mother’s court case.  It is not a case of abandonment or abuse on him.  His mom wants her son back, once she is cleared of charges.  If she is not cleared of the charges, Gilbert will stay at In Step.

We had a massive flu bug go around In Step a few weeks back.  It was a messy flu bug to say the least.  It swept through all the age two and under babies first and then went to a few of the older kids and then stopped. A few of the adults got sick; it was a nasty bug.

Thankfully, everyone is healthy and the home seems to be back to normal now.  Well as normal as it can be with 125 kids running around.

(IM)Patience....

On a personal note, Sean and I are still (im)patiently waiting for a letter from the Ontario government.  I contacted the Canadian Embassy (as they’re the middle man for us) and they haven’t received anything yet.  To know that we’ve done pretty much all we can, it’s difficult to wait on one more thing.  One more thing and then we can hand in our paperwork.  Oh, the wait.

We have a bin of clothes of baby’s clothes; we have a high chair. We have a baby carrier; we have a playpen.  We are anxious to meet and hold our little one.  It takes a lot of patience though to not have a crib built, to buy things to decorate his/her room. 

We don’t know if we will have a him/her. We don’t know if he/she will be a six-week old, a six-month old or a sixteen-month old. We just don’t know so it makes it more difficult to “plan” but no matter what the gender or the age, he/she is going to be our sweet little child.  So won’t you continue to join us in prayer over this whole adoption process?

Prayer Requests:

Our adoption process
Finances for projects at In Step (dorm, veranda, etc.)
Health of all the kids, staff and volunteers.

Much Love,
Meredith





Followers

Kenya's Time

Nairobi

 

Copyright © 2008 Designed by SimplyWP | Made free by Scrapbooking Software | Bloggerized by Ipiet Notez | Blog Templates created by Web Hosting Men