A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY

YES IT HAS BEEN MY BIRTHDAY, yet again, yesterday, Friday the 11th May!   72 now - and commencing my seventy third!   It was a good day, beautiful weather, many Greetings from family and friends all over.    AND for the first time I received a phone call from my very own SISTER in Bonny Scotland!!    Very special it was to be able to talk together once again.   It remains more remarkable than I can begin to say that after a lifetime we are are in touch and aware of each other.   God is indeed good.

In the evening we were able to enjoy a Family Dinner together.    Esther and me, plus Daryl and Carol, their children. Jesse, Becky and Jeremy, with our sons Edward and Manu.     It was a good time with a CAKE later in the evening.    I 'managed' to blow out the candles ( not a BIG deal really!) with the help of our youngest grandchild, Jeremy.     Balloons, laughter, and good fellowship all together - what more could one wish.     I was filled with Thanksgiving.     The only real regret was that our three other children, Steve, Mike and Elizabeth, their spouses, and children could not also be with us.     Something that rarely happens.    But we were able to speak via SKYPE with Steve, Anji and their children, Tonia and Eric during the evening, and messages via face book from Mike and Janet, and Liz and Prem.    Not bad.........!       What more can I say, taking as I do each day of Grace as it comes; with a kind of curious expectancy and Wonder about whatever will happen next!.....
I can merely REPEAT what I wrote this week's on Face Book  -
ONLY that the One Who first Thought of me, designed and created me, has faithfully WATCHED over my life every second until now!   As I look back, I only see proof of His Care, the Truth of His Word and Promises, and a PATIENCE with me that puts all my own relationships to shame.
Thank you Father, for giving me opportunity to live, time to find our why, and love that has continually found ways to save and deliver me from all my errors, doubts, and anxieties.
Let it be known that I was not brought up or TAUGHT this.   I was SHOWN this, and now I BELIEVE in God Almighty, and in JESUS CHRIST His Son, without Whom nothing (including you and me) could have been Created or have Existance;  by Whom I am  Forgiven, Cleansed, and still patently being prepared to BE in Eternity with Him.    I look forward with anticipation to Everlasting LIFE, and the commencement of THE Great Adventure.........

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MR RAILA ODINGA, 65, is the Prime Minister of Kenya, and aspires one day, if he can, to be the next President.    Although greatly maligned and said by some to be heavily implicated in the 2007 riots and national violence, he is an able statesman.   THIS WEEK he was speaking in Parlaiment, where he warned that possible VIOLENCE ahead of the next general election could take place, and pleaded with the political class to 'cool' the politial temperatures and stop them from 'overheating' along ethnic lines.    He SAID -

'The National Security Intelligence Service 

has warned that mobilisation of the political elite

in order to advance personal and community interests,

to the exclusion of other sections of the community

                                                                            is posing a threat to national cohesian and security'

A prouncement of this kind is a little worrying since in 2007 the NSIS had made a similar warning to the Government regarding the state of affairs prior to the National Elections which had been suppressed.   The fact that Mr. Oginga has thought fit to make a similar Warning public might come from a genuine desire on the part of the Government to prevent further unrest in the Country, but on the other hand it may even further destabilise, and encourage, a REPEAT of what occurred in '07!!!      The fact is that there are those who are pressing forward with policies that clearly give credence to the Warnings being given, and so far no sign of them being restrained.       The National Election was supposed to take place in the coming December but the High Court has determined they should take place in March 2013 instead - this amidst much argument and controversy, and which has now gone to the Court of Appeal.    Thus we are still not quite sure WHEN the Elections WILL be!!?      Some might be impatient to get on with things, and some may have a desire to become President sooner rather than later!      Who can say.

Kenya is very divided politically and now with growing tribal awareness and feelings being encouraged it could be that the Nation will become a 'seething pot' of trouble.         We pray for common sense and the Rule of Law to prevail, and finally for a completely NEW and untarnished man or woman to become the National Leader able to bring all the tribes together toward a truly National Identity and Policy without any of the old guard of selfish men and women seeking personal power without integrity to be amongst them.

PRAY for the Peace of Kenya, and for the Safety of the innocent but easily manipulated population from being turned one upon another by corrupt, ruthless and self seeking political adventurers.

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Cows in for Milking

NEXT WEEK I will hope to include a photo of ALL our Children and House parents just as a reminder that this is still our ministry - against the backdrop of the support projects of the School and Farm etc.  It is easy to talk of many things instead of the REASON we are actually here, which is the welfare of children in need.     So starting next week the Blog will be majoring in presenting the need of Children in Kenya and our part in assisting in helping them.

The Rains, and more especially the HAIL has very effectively shredded most of our broad leafed vegetables, but in the last few days this has eased off, and the sun has come out for part of each day.  This is now good growing weather, and things are already looking up.     The lawns are being cut as well this week for the first time since before Christmas!       However, we are still 'mopping' up some of the mess and damage caused by those heavy storms last week, and this also makes inroads of our normal house-keeping budget and needs.    This has also come at a time when our College students were poised to return to their study centres, and also when last years O'Level students needed to join a Higher Course or University.     TODAY we saw the last two off to College.      One more to go, out of a total this term of some fifteen.   Not easy to find the Funds needed, sometimes s much as 50,000/- (approx £400 or $620) each!       Daryl, now CEO, finds this - as I always did - one of the worst testing times; trying to balance whatever is on hand between daily essentials and sudden extra costs.     Still it provides opportunity to share  with the children our dependency.

                                                  THE NEW PLASTIC Green House (it is visible in the bottom photo just to the right of the Poultry House) is filling up with Tomatoe plants, all of which are doing well, and we hope for a good yield in a month or two.     The garden plots have been replanted and seeded, and everything seems to be going on well.   We are now into the SECOND year of our farming adventure.

(Sorry that photos are a bit mixed up here - finding it a problem to position them on the Blog for some reason ).

This must be all for this week.    Work carries on, and we know life will be carrying on for you all also.

Our prayers and love will continue to reach out to you all.    God Bless and Keep you

John and Esther