February 2013, Continuing to get settled

Duane (red shirt in back) and Zach (brown shirt) playing with neighbor kids

Pope doing the dishes

Agnes (in the middle), with two neighbor ladies, watching a boundary being marked on her land

When the surveyor plotted out Agnes' piece of land, two sisal plants were placed at the corners.
Then, the first step in making a straight line is to line up people from one sisal plant to another.
Pope, in the red shirt, is observing the fascinating process.

Albert, the area sub-chief (holding the sisal plant) supervises the marking of the boundary.
Sisal plants are a common way to mark boundaries until a fence can be put up.

Morris also came to observe, as the boundary being marked divides his remaining one-acre piece from Agnes' two acres.

This video shakes a lot, but at least it'll give you a better picture of how the boundary was marked.

Agnes, with her maize seed and fertilizer, ready to plant when the rains come

Working in one of her vegetable seed beds

I brought a small solar panel and Pope mounted it on the roof. They now have two small lights in their sitting room!

Agnes will also be able to charge her phone with the solar power

I hope you'll take a minute to watch this fun video of Zach playing with Otuma, a neighbor boy.

January 2013, Agnes says "Thanks"

January 2013, Agnes and her boys love their new home!

Zach (just being his cute self)

Duane (eagerly planting flowers)

Adu (cycling home from school)

Pope (chopping firewood)

Tony (just before heading to school to begin his second year of high school)

Agnes (checking the 'sukuma wiki' in one of her seed beds)

Duane and Zach, with their mom and some of the teachers at their new school

Agnes and me, at the front door of their new house

January 2013, Tony, Pope, and Adu make a house for themselves!

When we bought the new property, this structure had been used for storing maize (corn) and was in bad need of maintenance.

But Tony had a different idea! With the help of a couple of neighbors, Tony, Pope, and Adu converted it into a house for the three of them. It's part of the culture here for older sons to have their own house, separate from their parents.

You'll see as the video progresses, that they did a fine job. They're very proud of their new home!

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December 2012, "Love is still a worthy cause" photo montage

 


The following are some of the lyrics from the song, "Love is Such a Worthy Cause", by Sarah Groves:

did you feel the pull, did you hear the call
did you take a chance and lose it all

it's the beauty in the tales we tell
it's the pressing on and ending well
it's the joy that comes when we give our self away

i love because he loved me when i had nothing
i love because he loved me when i had nothing

when you count the cost and all seems lost
love is still a worthy cause
when you're pressing on though your strength is gone
love is still a worthy cause

..

December 2012, a musical collection of videos and photos from Agnes' moving day

You may wonder why the first few video excerpts seem to go backward. The reason is that I filmed them while sitting in the back of the trailer (pulled by a farm tractor). I was facing backward, doing my best to stay seated on a tiny 6-inch-high wooden bench and squeezed in between numerous household items. Also inside the trailer was Agnes, Duane, Zach, and Anita (Agnes' niece).

You'll readily see that it was an extremely bumpy ride for all of us!

Be sure to notice when one of the foam mattresses blew off the trailer.

And there's a brief moment - by far, the bumpiest part of the ride - when you can see the shadow of my arm holding my camera.

Enjoy!
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Christmas Eve 2012, Moving Day!

Agnes and her boys (plus cousin, Anita) at their temporary 3-week home in a small community called Nzoia Center.

The tractor, trailer, and loading crew arrived at exactly 2:00, as scheduled.

Agnes, Duane, Zach, Anita, and I rode in the back of the trailer.
The three older boys were already at their new place.

It was extremely bumpy and the furniture, pots, and pans jostled all around us.

Arriving at the new homestead (in an area called Punjab). Such an exciting moment!

Agnes was preparing lunch when the tractor arrived.
So... she loaded the pot of just cooked ugali
and another one of uncooked greens onto the trailer.

Once everything was in the house, we finally sat down to a late lunch.
Their first meal in their new home was ugali and sukuma wiki, a very typical meal in Kenya.
I brought soda for the special occasion.

A (partial) family photo in front of their new home. Tony and Adu weren't around when I snapped it.
Look at the smiles!

While Agnes and the boys continue to get settled into their new home during the next few days...

... the final payment to the previous owner is due soon.

$1,400 is needed by December 31st so I can do an international wire by January 4th, as stated in the purchase agreement!


That's less than four days for a miracle!

"Mungu anaweza!" 

That means 'God is able' in Swahili. And indeed He is.


PayPal is the quickest, easiest, and safest way to make this happen.

Simply click on this "Donate" button and indicate the amount you would like to contribute to the "Acres for Agnes" fund.
Except for PayPal's fee, 100% of your donation goes to this project!

We didn't even need four days; we had the amount in less than 48 hours!

Thank you for your continued prayers for Agnes and her family. And thank you for helping to make her dream a reality. This move will transform their lives in so many ways!

I hope you'll enjoy these two short videos expressing their joy!