The Places HE Takes Us

There is nothing more amazing than turning your life over to God and seeing where HE will take you. I know not everyone will believe me when I say this, but when I look back at my life I know he was always there watching over me. He was just there waiting for me to remember HIM. To follow him. To trust him. To let him rock my world in a way I never knew was possible. In a way that would replace all of the ways I was trying to make that happen. I know he had to be.... because I can look back and see all of the ways my life should have gone wrong.

It is funny how we can forget him if we let ourselves. How suddenly when the time is right, that you remember him. You remember dropping to your knees in your Sunday school classroom and telling him you believed. He still watched over me even as I spent years of my life not remembering him. He came rushing back to my mind and the heart he never left one day so many years later. At least it felt like he came rushing back, but really he started as a whisper. He came first in the whisper of a much older than me lady who was going to school with me. Who dared to tell this very young, tired, single, soon-to-be mom why she wouldn't let her kids celebrate Halloween. I actually listened, and while I didn't agree, I listened. She was a good friend to me, good enough to tell me the truth and to hand me a Bible. The same one I still carry in that red and zebra striped cover, full of notes, and markings, and memories. The same one I've carried to Kenya and back so many times now. She wouldn't even know me anymore by the time I started reading it, or by the time I was baptized, or by the time I started carrying that Bible to Kenya.

It's amazing the places he takes us......

Like to the top of a prayer mountain in Kenya.
I never thought just a handful of years ago, or so it seems like a handful, that I would be on any mountain praying.....much less in Kenya. We climbed to the top of this mountain, we sang out to God, we read the word together, and then we separated to spend a few hours in prayer.

It's amazing the places he takes us.......... 

 I found a spot in the tall grass to pray. At first my mind was racing, it was hot, and something bit me, and I thought about all of those shows with lions stalking in tall grass....and then I remembered HIM. He made me laugh at myself, worrying about a lion on a mountaintop. Then he reminded me of being in a pit with a lion on a snowy day. About being a lion chaser. I settled in my heart and mind and I listened to the birds, the bugs, and the waterfall that was so far away but sounded so close. The sound of it would come like waves from the ocean. I thought about his voice, the one I wanted so much to ignore. The voice I dared to argue with....choose someone else.  I wept to him that day, about the big dreams he had been so bold as to place on my shoulders. Thanking him for the help he had brought to me, begging him for the help that still needed to come, lifting up those little people who just wanted to come to him, to come to anyone to be loved. Help me point them to you and not just anyone. Make them visible. Help me be that first whisper in their lives so that some day you can swoop in and rock their world like you have mine. So that someday when they are finishing high school, tech school, or university they can say it's amazing the places HE takes us. So that when they start a family and become upstanding members of their community and church they can say it's amazing the places HE takes us. So that someday when they get to be the whisper to someone else they can say......It's amazing the places HE takes us.

Visuals

As I sit here tonight with my family, each of us caught up in our own thing, my mind wanders as it often does to my family on the other side of the world. Recently, our son Archadius Treasure had his 21st birthday! While we may not have been able to legally adopt him (although I still ask you world, can you adopt an adult???) we have certainly adopted him in our hearts. I wonder what they are doing at any given moment of the day, and often that is sleeping because of the time difference. By the time I've started my day, theirs is half over. 

More than just wonder what they are doing, I wonder HOW. I wonder about Archadius, I wonder about my dada wa roho (soul sister) Vicki, I wonder about my church family at DC Kakamega, I wonder about the VCH kids and staff and I wonder about the HOPE program kids. See once you have gone and experienced life in their shoes, or lack of, just for a little bit, you can't ever sit here and be ok again. At least I can't. 

You sometimes want to shake people and shout how this is not really life. How can you go about your normal business when life barely goes on for people around the world? But you know you can't, because that isn't fair to them. It is easy to ignore the orphan until you've giggled with them, snuggled them, prayed with them, and been prayed for by them. It is easy to ignore the street kid when he looks like a weathered old man. When he's rough and rugged and doesn't even know how to change this life he's grown in to. 

Vicki always smiles when we are trying to get the right picture and says ..."I know sissy...visuals". I've spent much of my last few years trying to shake people awake, trying to put together the right video, the right photo, the right words to make them see what I've seen. To make their heart ache for what my heart aches for...for what God's heart aches for. But I will never be able to do it justice. Is that fair to the kids we are trying to help? That they should go on the way they are because we can't be shocked into loving them? That they should continue to hunger, and cry for education and love because I can't figure out how to get a celebrity endorsement? I can't get the right person to say you should love them?

 It is the burden that people who have seen bear...and share. To make what people haven't seen for themselves a reality....to help them see the heart break. To help them see the pride in poverty. To help them see the smile in sadness. To help them see the generosity in starvation. We can't all go....that is true. My heart fell in love with a place that is expensive and time consuming to get to. But do you have to SEE to know? Do you have to put your feet on that red dirt and hold a little hand to believe? Maybe. I'm asking because I can't remember a time when I didn't care, when my mind didn't wander to what was happening at "home" or what task I could accomplish that would provide more. But I know that time existed just like it does for some of you. This time before you carried the burden of hundreds of kids on your shoulders. Burden isn't even the right word to use. Even though at times it can be exhausting and heartbreaking beyond belief, it is never a burden. It is joy in hard work. It is happiness in change. It is being called out and then called up and resting in the truth that you can do all things through Christ...and ONLY through Christ. Christ and a handful of people who love it like I do. 

jina langu ni......my name is.......

On my flight home from Kenya, a friend told me that in the movie Duma it says that if someone in Africa gives you a name, they take responsibility for you.
Well out of Africa this past week came two new names that mean so much to me.

The first is Archadius Treasure Satterlee. I introduced him to you in my last blog as my son. His name is no longer Odundo and is Satterlee. He felt this was important because the rest of his family carried this name. So he now carries the name Treasure from his mama Vicki and Satterlee from his family here. I could not be more honored to have someone share my name. I will be posting much more about him later but for now I thought you should all know to welcome him into the Satterlee family.

The second is my Kenyan name, given to me by my family in Kenya. This is no simple thing. They discuss it thoroughly and decide which tribe you belong to first and then your name second. The first time I came to Kenya the kids I was teaching gave me the tribe Kamba and the name Mwende, but it didn't stick because no one else knew it. So, this year at our final meeting my Kenya family gave me a name. My tribe is Kikuyu and my name is Nyambura. It means rain, because in Kenya rain is a blessing and something they pray for. It is also the older sister of my Kenyan mama, Mary. So, now I have a name. I belong to a family of people in Kenya, and they have taken responsibility for me...and I have never been happier.

#3 huyo ni kijana wangu

Ok Ok so after a power outage (which thankfully really only took out my internet and TV) the 40+ reasons I love Kenya may not reach 40. But here is #3


huyo ni kijana wangu.....this is my son.
Meet Archadius. He turned 18 this year and he is my son.
We look alike right? :-)

The funny thing about Archadius is that right when I was in the middle of feeling like I had about all I could take of teenage boys at home already, God put this young man in my path. He lives at Victorious Children's Home in Kakamega, Kenya with my dear friend Vicki.  From what he knows about his birth parents, his mother was a very young girl when she gave birth to him, maybe 13 years old. She was unable to care for him and the mother of his father would not take him in. I don't know what happened to his father, maybe it was rape, or maybe he just didn't care, I'm not sure. In Kenya, if you are a young mother, you are an outcast...from your family, from school, from everyone. 

Vicki took Archadius into her home at a very young age and started teaching him things and then was able to send him off to school. He is the brightest young man and he hopes to some day come to the U.S. to go to college and be near his American family. He is great at football (soccer) and rugby and his academics too. I always joke with him because he makes better grades in English than Kiswahili. He has the kind of heart and attitude that when he his home from school (in Kenya you go away for the older grades) the whole atmosphere in the house changes and he could someday be the one who runs it...but he wants to be an engineer. 

Due to certain regulations in Kenya I was unable to even try to adopt him and now, well he's technically an adult. But you ask my kids, he's their brother. They write each other and dream of going to Kenya someday to meet him in person. Recently, he sent me a letter telling me a little more about how he came to be at VCH and about going to school. He told me thank you for making him a part of our family because now when he goes to school, he is no longer an orphan and he can hold his head high. It breaks my heart that this wonderful soul should have ever had to hang his head and that such a small thing as just claiming him as son and brother and doing our best to support him in Kenya could make him hold his head high. He knows we are family.

If you have not ever had the privilege of supporting an orphan, I recommend it for everyone. Our church supports this orphanage and one in Haiti just to start or there are many organizations like Compassion International. I know, I know, charity starts at home...blah blah blah. We are all in the family of Christ and this planet is our home. These are the least, these are the widows and orphans and taking care of them in their need is religion pure and undefiled....the Bible says that. God made it clear.
Not to mention, you are just missing out if you don't. I know not everyone will get to meet the child they sponsor like I was able to do but you will still be blessing one beautiful soul. On your worst day you have not had it as bad as one of these kids. You do not have to decide that the meal you will give up today is lunch because you don't want to wake up or go to bed with your stomach growling. And when you eat your other two meals you don't just have porridge or tea and a cracker. You don't only get one egg a week for your protein. You eat daily, you have clean water coming out of faucets, daily. You most likely don't have a 12 foot wall with barbed wire running around your yard to keep out people who want to take what little you have, that you are sharing with 63 other kids. You don't battle malaria every year along with many other diseases. You have it good and if you didn't think so before, I hope you do now. 

25 days until I see my son again...and then I can say: 

Nina furahi kuwa nyumbani... I am happy to be home.

#2 Love

Love.
It is all over the Bible and the thing we are most commanded to do. After all, if you love someone you do what you have to do for them. If you love someone, you do even things you don't want to do for them. If you love God, you go when He tells you to. From one of my favorite Christian Rappers, Flame, "if the Lord tells me move I'll move, anything He asks me to, yeah I'll do". There can be no greater privilege in my opinion than following after your God given passions and to find love in the middle of it.
I love the friends I have in Kenya. I love the people I go to Kenya with. I love the people who pray for me and my family while I'm gone. I love the kids that give so selflessly and my little friend Riley who isn't even 5 yet but remembered (mostly) the word malaria. We have a bond that you probably can't even understand. But one of the things I love the most, is watching the people I love, love others.
We are blessed in the time we are in to have a way to stay connected to people around the world. Through Facebook I was able to meet a dear friend and sister Chesi. Chesi runs the Vigilant Lady ministry in Nairobi, Kenya. When I say ministry, this is not some big organization, it is a ministry. It is Chesi and some of her friends and sisters (and occasionally brothers) from church who have taken it upon themselves to do their best to take care of girls in their area. To teach them about purity. To provide feminine items to them and just simply, to love on them. They also work with widows and single mothers, especially teenage mothers who are often abandoned by their families and kicked out of school.
I have heard Chesi's story about what it was like trying to attend school and not having the proper items during her menstrual cycle. Please imagine what it is like to use anything and everything you can to protect your clothing- old clothing torn into strips, mud smeared in your underwear and left to dry. On top of that, remember that they do not often have access to fresh water to even wash these things with. Imagine.
Such a simple thing like pads can show these girls that they are loved and that they are important and that God created them for bigger and better things than embarrassment and a missed education because they can't attend school for a week each month.
And of course there is my friend Vicki. Mama to over 60 kids at Victorious Children's Home in Kakamega, Kenya. She has provided so much for those kids. Most of all, she has provided them with love and a safe place to grow up. There are hundreds of street kids still in Kakamega. You can drive around on any given night and see their little fires burning as they try to stay warm. Yes, by the way, it does get cool at night in Kenya. I know if she could she would try to save them all, but for now she saves the ones God sends her way and she does an amazing job of it.
Love. It's doing what you can with what God gave you, and then watching Him give you more in unexpected ways because you try. It's doing what you have to do for others, even things you don't want to do.

42 days until Kenya 2012...or 42 reasons I love going to Kenya...#1

Reason #1 I love going to Kenya...Vacation Bible School. This will be the third year that I will help run VBS for kids in two countries, and it was the thing that led me to write my first post on Kenya and Me.
Each year when we hold Vacation Bible School at Covenant Church I get to see such a great side of the kids and volunteers involved. This year our theme was "Everything is possible with God". Let me tell you how much that has meant to me. This year it just felt like even up to the first day, things just weren't going the way I wanted them too. It wasn't anyone's fault, so many of my volunteers, and friends were going through some hard things and had to step down along with just many other little things. In the end, as always, it did all come together. God does always come through and I should know that after holding VBS in Kenya for 2 years now. What we do here with 70ish volunteers for 150 kids, we do with about 10 people for up to 300 kids in Kenya. Of course, people's expectations are different here, but not to the kids. Someone said to me, " just remember if you mess up it will still be perfect to the kids because they don't know what it's supposed to look like." That's what I love about kids. They really just want you to try. They will get excited about what you get excited about. For several years now the kids of our church have been excited about the kids in Kenya. I love it because I love those kids and I see the difference our kids are making in their lives. Since I have been a part of Victorious Children's Home and our kids and church have been giving to them, I have seen a wall of protection go up around their property. I have seen food for at least one meal every day. I have seen kids go to college so they can change their futures. I have seen transportation provided so they can get to schools, appointments and church. I've seen mosquito nets go around their bunk beds and blankets on each one. Year by year and penny by penny their lives are being changed. The really cool thing is, they aren't the only ones being changed. I've seen some adults come forward with some very generous gifts and I've seen kids give with the widow's might.
This year was no different. Each year we try to overflow the buckets that the VBS offering goes in. The kids bring it in change so that it takes up more space. Each year my dear friend (and our Children's Minister) Gail allows us to do something to her if it happens. The kids work for it all week, trying each night with empty buckets to overflow them. This year a young lady whom I adore gave up the money in her savings account to buy each of the 63 kids in Kenya a mosquito net. This girl has had her own hardship this year. She lost her Daddy at the young age of 13. Still, she saw that these kids had a need and instead of feeling sorry for herself she dug deep and gave all she could. I know her Daddy and our Father were both smiling down on her that night. I know they were proud. I'm proud. I'm proud of these kids for not ever forgetting their friends in Kenya. I'm proud of them for knowing what sacrifice is and not being afraid of it. I can't wait to share their sacrifice with those beautiful kids in Kenya. I can't wait to put up new mosquito nets and stock their pantry with food that will last months.

Guilty Homesick

For anyone who knows me well, you know the state of mind that I have been in for the past two weeks. I like to call it Guilty Homesick. I know, I know, people have told me there should be no guilt about it, but still I can't help feeling that way.
See I call it guilty homesick because here I am back home with people that I love, and people that love me back and yet I am homesick for my friends and "family" in Kakamega, Kenya. So you see the guilty part? I mean how do you walk around with the people you love so much and say...I really miss some other people too. I guess its only fair, because I did miss the people here when I was there but that was expected of me. I was missing my husband, children, parents, sister, brothers and my church family. No one who hasn't been there with me really expects me to miss people that I have only spent time with twice, yet I do.
Its funny because after I came back from Kenya and was looking something up I read all about how one of the whole experiences of going to Kenya was to meet the people. That they are some of the kindest people who expect to be greeted with a smile and at least a handshake....and I couldn't have understood that more than I do now.
Kenya, no not just Kenya, Kakamega Kenya and Deliverance Church and it's congregation will always be another home, another family to me. You would not think in two trips there that we have been able to share that much together, yet it feels like a lifetime when I think back on it. I haven't been through some of the things with them that I have struggled through with friends and family here, but there is still such a strong connection. I can only attribute that to God. I know some of you, who are my family and friends that don't necessarily believe yet, think that is just silly but I tell you the truth there is an absolute connection there that no one could break.
I hope someday every person I know finds that place for themselves. That place where they can go and find that spiritual connection, that lifetime love of a place and a people. A place that will root itself deep inside to stay forever. A place that you will check on the weather so you know how the day is going, and constantly add 7 hours to your time to know what your friends across the world might be doing right now.
I have had so many people try to tell me why I love going there so much, and I am sure they are all true to some extent. But, I do know that each time I go, it is a sacrifice for not just myself but the people I leave behind. Some people don't understand why I would be willing to do that, I hope that someday, each person will. That each person will find that place that just continues to call them back, maybe even before they have left. Where when you leave, a group of people stands with their faces to the fence just watching you go until they cannot watch you go anymore, and when you get home they email to make sure you all made it safely, they check on your family, pray for your family and they continue to give you words of wisdom and encouragement from thousands of miles away.
Karibu tena was what the kids chanted on our last day of VBS....Come Again.
So if you see me around and it seems like my mind is somewhere else....I'm probably adding seven hours to the time. Don't take it personally. God has truly placed some amazing people in my life and I would never want to do without you either...I'm just a little guilty homesick.