In the interest of keeping the intro short and making sure there's time for me to get to the good stuff, here's the deal: Abdi's family is staying with us!
On Thursday night we hosted Abdi's mom, dad, the little girl they're raising, uncle, sister and her two year old! What a full house! Abdi's father is sick, and we had talked and talked about bringing them, how we would manage and if there was a better option than hosting them, but we never could find a solution. Then Tuesday night Abdi's mom called and said his dad was getting worse and waiting wasn't helping, so in a matter of minutes we'd come back to the conclusion we'd reached many times before, that no matter how difficult it was, we needed to bring them to our home.
That meant the next day when we woke up, we got to work moving the piles of yet-to-be-unpacked things out of the guest room, rushing to fix the remaining broken things in the house, buying lots of necessities like bedsheets, cups, pillows, etc, and making arrangements for their travels. By the time their taxi pulled up Thursday afternoon, I was exhausted already, but we served them spaghetti and meat sauce (Grandma Leila's recipe-which they all said was really good!), tea and helped everyone get settled. Abdi's dad was exhausted from the trip so he had to be mostly carried from the car, up the stairs and into our apartment. Since then though, he has slowly been gaining strength and is able to mostly walk on his own. He still needs to be led as he is blind, but it's a really good sign that he is moving around.
That night God sent the rains, and it rained all night and rain here means power outages! We woke up with no power and the water in our roof tank had run out. We had water in the ground floor tank, but no electricity to pump it up to the roof to feed the plumbing. Sigh...so poor Abdi had to go out in the rain to buy water, charcoal to cook breakfast with, and food for the day. It was already difficult and stressful to wake up with that many people needing the toilet, shower and breakfast but with no water and no power it was almost too much. But we survived and sent the uncle off to get a bus back home (which he missed but tried to catch up to it in the next town, failed and had to come back, spend another night and more money for the bus today!). The power finally came back on that evening after calling the power company a few times, so now we have lights, tv, and water in abundance :) We've bought lots of little things to make them more comfortable here, and we're thankful God has provided extra cash this month from various sources. For example, we realized that mom, dad and Shamsa, the little girl they're raising, came with one extra outfit each, so we found clothes for mom and dad among our things but had to buy Shamsa clothes.
Abdi's sister has been a huge help, cooking and cleaning, and we're glad Abdi's mom can also take a break from caring for everyone. She's not at her best health wise either, so it's a good thing for her to rest. Otherwise, things are mostly calm and everyone seems to be ok. Monday is Abdi's birthday and I'm trying to think of the best way to celebrate...hopefully he can enjoy the day despite all the responsibilities.
That's all for now, little girl is crying because her mom went out to buy clothes for Shamsa and dad is getting annoyed! Off to try to calm a 2 year old with a language barrier between us :)
On Thursday night we hosted Abdi's mom, dad, the little girl they're raising, uncle, sister and her two year old! What a full house! Abdi's father is sick, and we had talked and talked about bringing them, how we would manage and if there was a better option than hosting them, but we never could find a solution. Then Tuesday night Abdi's mom called and said his dad was getting worse and waiting wasn't helping, so in a matter of minutes we'd come back to the conclusion we'd reached many times before, that no matter how difficult it was, we needed to bring them to our home.
That meant the next day when we woke up, we got to work moving the piles of yet-to-be-unpacked things out of the guest room, rushing to fix the remaining broken things in the house, buying lots of necessities like bedsheets, cups, pillows, etc, and making arrangements for their travels. By the time their taxi pulled up Thursday afternoon, I was exhausted already, but we served them spaghetti and meat sauce (Grandma Leila's recipe-which they all said was really good!), tea and helped everyone get settled. Abdi's dad was exhausted from the trip so he had to be mostly carried from the car, up the stairs and into our apartment. Since then though, he has slowly been gaining strength and is able to mostly walk on his own. He still needs to be led as he is blind, but it's a really good sign that he is moving around.
That night God sent the rains, and it rained all night and rain here means power outages! We woke up with no power and the water in our roof tank had run out. We had water in the ground floor tank, but no electricity to pump it up to the roof to feed the plumbing. Sigh...so poor Abdi had to go out in the rain to buy water, charcoal to cook breakfast with, and food for the day. It was already difficult and stressful to wake up with that many people needing the toilet, shower and breakfast but with no water and no power it was almost too much. But we survived and sent the uncle off to get a bus back home (which he missed but tried to catch up to it in the next town, failed and had to come back, spend another night and more money for the bus today!). The power finally came back on that evening after calling the power company a few times, so now we have lights, tv, and water in abundance :) We've bought lots of little things to make them more comfortable here, and we're thankful God has provided extra cash this month from various sources. For example, we realized that mom, dad and Shamsa, the little girl they're raising, came with one extra outfit each, so we found clothes for mom and dad among our things but had to buy Shamsa clothes.
Abdi's sister has been a huge help, cooking and cleaning, and we're glad Abdi's mom can also take a break from caring for everyone. She's not at her best health wise either, so it's a good thing for her to rest. Otherwise, things are mostly calm and everyone seems to be ok. Monday is Abdi's birthday and I'm trying to think of the best way to celebrate...hopefully he can enjoy the day despite all the responsibilities.
That's all for now, little girl is crying because her mom went out to buy clothes for Shamsa and dad is getting annoyed! Off to try to calm a 2 year old with a language barrier between us :)
Thank you, Dolly, for taking time time to give us a glimpse of what's been going on. It's much as I expected, but still helps me know how to pray. XO
ReplyDeleteWonderful to pop into your experiences to help shake us out of our American complacency. The students are so interested in your return to Kenya and the lifestyle changes. Prayers are yours EVERY morning~ Amy
ReplyDeleteAw man. I totally wish I could give you clothes for Shamsa and the 2 year old- I have so much. I know the Lord has used you mightily for this family- your family. You are so brave and strong. For many they would run far from this and just say absolutely No Way. I admire you. I am so proud of you.
ReplyDelete