THE RAFTERS ARE UP!

YES -  the RAFTERS are up and almost completed.  The ROOFING will be completed by next week.     THEN the windows, and doors, plastering electrics, plumbing, and paintwork and flooring.  Another whole lot of work, but at least it will be in the dry - we had just ONE teeny SHOWER or rain the night before last - but it heralds the end of the Dry Season.      Weather-wise it has gone very well for us.   We Thank the Lord for all of this. It has been a REAL encouragement just watching the house go up from nothing.    BUT next week it will be quite noisy with the roofing going on;  a big team laying and nailing down the iron sheeting that will make the covering.     It comes already painted, and so far we have found it durable and not too noisy in the Rains.    Of course we also put CEILINGS up made of a thick 8x4 ceiling boards that are made locally.  
At least, when all is ready for occupation, we won't have to furnish it, as most of what is in the Old House is still having some life in it, and we shall just transfer it all over to the the NEW House.   This will also maintain the identity and atmosphere of the old house, so that it will STILL feel 'home'. .   

WALKING around this week, I was struck once again by the great MERCY of God.  We have quite a lot of very YOUNG kids just now, but there are still a number of older ones who have grown up from when they themselves arrived here ten to fifteen years ago.      When they needed a refuge, a home from home, and an affectionate embrace, God had already provided a HOME
This drawing of JESUS to the left sums it all up for me.     SO strange in our day to see a child close and cuddled.     We are more and more told to take our hands OFF our children, not just in discipline, but in love and affection also.  It is getting more and more difficult to present God as one who Loves us as a father or as an Elder Brother!      I especially like this drawing because it presents a more acceptable image of a man in his thirties.    A man who is freely able to welcome any one of into His arms.    We are so glad to have been here for Him to love through, and to welcome through,   A very real privilege and Joy.
THIS WEEK being the last week of February I found myself addressing the School Parade on Friday morning.    I visit there every last Friday of every month and give a short Address.      In the Beginning of the School I did this EVERY morning; now others are there to take their turn, but our Principal, Anthony Ndungu felt I should still appear there even if once in a month.
SO, this Friday morning I spoke on the Glory of God to a School of
some 800 students here on Testimony School Compound.
'WHAT IS THE GLORY OF GOD?     It is OBEDIENCE.  It is obedience to God, and to His Word.   The Heavens actually declare and demonstrate the Glory of God in obeying His Word.
When God's creation obeys Him, He is glorified and honoured and shown appreciation.      
DO you obey your parents?  - then you HONOUR them, and bring them to be glorified by those who observe your service and respect toward them.      Our parents are ashamed in front of those who see when we turn away from their council and advice - we dishonour them.     It is the same with God - when we treat His Words with scorn and mockery we dishonour HIM.  We SIN against Him and fall short of bring glory to His Name.    EVERYTHING in heaven and earth is created to OBEY God, and so is MANKIND.  You can be anybody, from anywhere, a believer in ANY religion - but the fact remains YOU were created to obey God and not have your own way.
GOD gave Man only ONE thing to DO for Him in the Beginning.    He told Adam and Eve NOT TO EAT of the THE ONE TREE that grew in the midst of the Garden of Paradise.    BUT the did not listen to Him but to another, and they took and ATE of the very tree He had told them NOT to eat.     They leaned to their own understanding instead of God's and in doing so infected themselves and ALL their descendants (ALL of Mankind) with SIN - so that WE, each one of us, is BORN incurably into SIN.
KING DAVID of Israel wrote in Psalm 52v5 -

'I was BORN in a state of iniquity (sin);

my mother was was sinful who conceived me,

and I too am sinful

David had discovered this for himself, and he knew that nothing could save him from dying in his sin....

BUT GOD DOES NOT WANT ONE OF US TO DIE!     Even though we have sinned and ARE sinners, HE doesn't want us to DIE...He is a loving and MERCIFUL God.     The ONLY TRUE GOD.   He wants to  forgive us, and to help us begin a NEW life.     He says in EZEKIEL 18v31-32

'CAST AWAY from you all your transgressions (sins) by which

you have transgressed (sinned) against Me.

(that is all your rebellious disobedience that took away My Honour and GLORY)

And make you a new mind and heart, and a new spirit

FOR WHY WILL YOU DIE?

I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies, says the Lord God!

Therefore TURN, (be converted) and LIVE.

IT IS VERY SIMPLE REALLY!

We all have SIN in us.    We are all CONDEMNED in front of God who made us because of it.   There is no cure or remedy that can heal and save us.

YET GOD DOES NOT WANT OUR DEATH !!          Because of THIS he has found a WAY for us all to be forgiven, cleansed and made new.     God our Father in Heaven sent His first BORN son into the world to take our Death Sentence upon Himself, and to purchase our Forgiveness upon the Cross in Zion for each and every one who will look there and BELIEVE in what He achieved there.

LOOK - AND LIVE!!

Come to the Cross - to Jesus - Believing in the Salvation He bought for you.

Receive your Forgiveness, and be healed of your sin

AND GLORIFY YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN..

JESUS always DID what pleased His Father in Heaven

and so He laid down His Life to RESCUE me and you for God's sake.

THAT IS WHY IS WRITTEN IN PSALM 50v2

'Out of Zion (Jerusalem), the perfection of beauty, God has shined.

IT WAS THERE on the Cross,  that JESUS obeyed, even to His Dying, the Will of God.     This brought the greatest Honour and Glory to God, and will also do the same when we also stop pleasing our selves and lay down our life for HIM.

OPPOSITE is a photo of two of our older boys, both having completed their formal schooling, and now out at College - though still resident with us (Zeberdee on the left and Lucky on the right giving a little attention to a young member of  the family at large.    Thought you would not mind seeing a few faces.    

And to the left a couple of our girls.   Very loving they are and I feel that God HAS truly helped us to help our children to care for each other and to actually love each other as members of one family.

TODAY has been quite busy and I am feeling a little tired from a three hour long Parent/Teachers Meeting in the morning from 9-12noon and then a while putting this together in the afternoon.  The sky remains brazen, and the air STILL, and stifling.

This evening Esther and I have a friend coming for supper.  He is our DENTIST!     He tells us he will bringing a fellow doctor (maybe another dentist) with him.  Hope we don't focus on Fillings, Extractions, and dental health..........!

Our LOVE to you all, and keep a watchful eye on events around you.     He will not be Long!

Lovingly - John, Esther and Daryl Green

e

ACCEPTING CHANGE WITH FAITH

HERE, AT LAST, is a photo of the Macharia Family who have come to make their Home in Jacaranda Cottage with the Jacaranda Family.    On the left is Agnes, carrying her daughter Esther aged 2, and then Oliver aged 10 and lastly Joseph Macharia.     They have settled in well, and seem to be well accepted by the children.       On Tuesday morning Daryl, Esther and myself, plus all our other houseparents went to Jacaranda to welcome them (they arrived the previous afternoon) and we enjoyed coffee and fellowship together.    A very nice time.      We Thank God for introducing this family to us, and for making it possible for them to fill the gap left by Mr. and Mrs. Rop.        Oliver is already romping around the place making new friends, and it is good that both children seem to have taken this new situation to their hearts.   They are both already part of the Family.       But little Esther will probably be the heart breaker - such a pretty child, and so outgoing !      A real 'Sweetie' - and I think she knows it as well!
SO this is another Bench Mark in the history of the Jacaranda Family, and of course not only a NEW FAMILY LEADERSHIP, but also a NEW HOME progressively going up in front of all our eyes,   It is all very exciting......
THIS WEEK our photo will not show great change as far as the building is concerned.    All the brick work above the Ring Beam now completed and also the  Gable Ends to the roof. It now begins to really show promise of the coming Roof.    The contractor tells me he hopes the roofing will be completed by NEXT Saturday!!!     Then all the interior works will begin.    The GOOD thing of course is that the RAIN has held off still and this bodes well for the roofing which hopefully might still not get rained on.

ON THE 2ND FEBRUARY you may remember we Admitted TWO girls - also to Jacaranda - who already had two of the family resident  (Lawrence who is currently now in University, and Vincent).     The two Admitted are sisters of Lawrence, but had been put in another Home, in Nairobi, which was lately CLOSED down as it was unregistered.    Beatrice will be 12 in August and Cynthia will be 8 in May.     They also seem to have settled in well, and are very happy at School.       Lawrence as you know was left to care for all his own and step family on his mother's death some years back.     We have been glad to assist with placing some of them with us.    The biggest worry was another sister aged 13 who is having a mental age of six and has been unable to learn or be accommodated residentialy due to an explosive nature.    Much prayer has gone into finding an answer, and this year, very recently, she was offered a residential place in a Special School.     This will make a big different to Lawrence who has had all the burden upon himself - he has done very well all things considered.    A very industrious hard working and spiritual young man.

FINALLY - relative to Jacaranda, we have today lost yet another of our girls, Maureen, that I have shared about in a previous Blog.    Now Esther aged 17 also in Jacaranda family, and in High School with us, has been found to be very much without repentance in being pregnant.       One of the 'outside' students is responsible,  she says but no more beyond that.  She leaves behind a sister called Joan aged 15; a serious student and of a quiet disposition.    Both girls were left when their mother died in 2004.     Their dad is a drunkard and without means having suffered from cancer also for many years.       Esther will now go to stay with a close friend of her mother's sister.    After the birth of the child, and depending how the situation will then look, we may let Ester back to complete here High School on a day to day basis - not residentially.         Since we began in 1969 we have seen 7 of our girls become pregnant - but not because of ANY of the boys living in the Homes.     7 out of 400 is not too bad a record, but still a very real disappointment and worry.      We are glad at least to say that nearly all have gone on to make a good life for themselves and their children.    One or two have even married and established a happy home and family base.     God is Good.    It has been Jesus in their lives that turned everything round.

AND NOW THE LATEST PICTURES OF THE NEW COTTAGE as taken today.

Our Love and Thankfulness to you all.      Be Blessed and Watchful as the Day draws near for all of us.

Sincerely

John, Esther and Daryl Green

THIS WAS NOT VALEN-TINE'S DAY!!    This was on Esther's 70th Birthday when I gave her the Engagement Ring I had never afforded previously.  Such a good photo in every way, and one which always speaks to us of our everlasting union for ever!        THESE DAYS - even today, for example,  Valentine's Day has run away from the Saint's desire just to see those desiring marriage in the sight of God actually able to commence a union which they believed to be for ever.      Basically the 'Day' as it is seen and understood today, is a day of sexual promiscuity and insincere excuse for a moments romance.      Sad!  In fact I feel even sadder when I think of Valentine being martyred because he valued the the idea of Christian Marriage and Family SO much.      The Day is no longer one of commitment 'through thick and thin' and  in a way frowned upon by the State,   But rather a casual, excited and emotional opportunity for those of ANY sex toward one another, with the Blessing of the State, who is itself so morally unstable that it indulges itself at every level to the same nonspiritual and often insincere commitments..  Have I gone too far again? - I am constantly being accused of taking the 'joy' out of life.     Well,  I do not mean to diminish anyone's innocent, happiness, but I fear too much sunshine can at times make one dizzy, and thus unstable, and easily made to fall.        WELL MY DEAR ESTHER AND I met, and loved each other at first sight (rather too excitedly perhaps)  and here we are 45 years later still TOGETHER, and in love.    No other 'valentines' have ever drawn our attention away from each other.     The attraction that caught each others eye has never dimmed or been out shone by some brighter star.    SO THIS MORNING the Roses were there on the Breakfast Table............Thank you Father in Heaven.    

ABOVE the New Jacaranda Cottage taken today!   Notice the first layer of stone is upon the Ring Beam, and the next step during next week will be the putting up of the RAFTERS.    The Contractor thinks that if the weather holds the roof will be ON by the end of the week.!     Wonderful

TO THE LEFT WE ARE INSIDE behind the Porch/Veranda and into the Sitting room.  Notice the support beam running across the room at ring beam level to give added strength for the rafters and ceiling.     The sitting room opens freely into the dining room, from where the photo was taken this morning by Daryl.      It provides for a large, roomy, and airy area.  So far we are very pleased and happy for the way the house is being built.   Very exciting as well.  
Our new house-parents Joseph and Agnes Macharia will hopefully arrive to be with us on this coming Monday.         We are expecting that after about a six month gap, we shall still see Joseph and Beatrice Rop visiting.       The are still as family members, and none of us would want them to fade out of our family circle or be forgotten.

LAST NIGHT, Saturday, Daryl, Esther and I attend an event in Eldoret Town.    Rev.Joy Panicker, his wife Esther and son Kevin were celebrating 25 Years of ministry.      To the right we see a photo taken in Green Cottage.   Joy and Mercy's son KEVIN is to the right.   He was then visiting us from USA.     Last night was another opportunity to see him again, this time with our old friends, his parents.
We first met Joy and Esther in the 1970s. They were both teachers at that time, and we met in a Prayer Fellowship in Kitale, eighty kilometres away.    Later they moved to Eldoret still teaching, and whilst there received the Call from God to come out of teaching and to serve God full time.
Currently they live in the U.S.A. but Joy is constantly on the move preaching the Good News, not only the States, but also in his home Country of India, and here in Kenya.     We tend to keep in touch, God has truly blessed his endeavour.      LAST NIGHT we were glad to be part of the 25th Anniversary of the beginning of the ministry here in Eldoret.     More than 300 guests I would say, and very brilliant, and glorifying evening.     They LEFT this morning back to the USA.        We feel very close to them, and to their son and daughter who were both educated in high school years, here in Testimony School.    A very lovely family who are committed to Jesus.      Their Website is www.iccmkenafric.org

CLOUD cover, since Tuesday has begun to build up, and we are now hopeful that RAIN is on the way.......
It might even rain today!       Well we shall see, and if it does I am sure there will be more complaints than otherwise - evening open air events washed out, roads turning back to MUD, and probably, after a long dry period, a lot of sudden leaks in roofs here and there!!      Worse the sudden increase in moisture will not mix well with the continuing warm temperatures - causing a new season of colds, mosquitoes and malaria.   BUT, and yet, we WILL still Praise the Lord our GOD who does all things WELL, and for out final good.

We Greet you all in His Name, and trust you will have a wonderful VALENTINE'S DAY in either discovering a Love for another that will result in a lifetime of Faithfulness and Joy in and to each other, or in taking hold of the Commitment made those many years ago, and reestablishing your love for each other.  In doing this I do believe that we enter into HIS Love.

AFFECTIONATELY TO YOU ALL.

John, Esther, and Daryl Green

PLODDING ON......

WELL NOW WE CAN BEGIN TO SEE THE RING BEAM shuttering in place.   I took the first photo from the roof of Jacaranda Cottage, but could not get the whole new building in the picture due to the tree on the left.   Still it does give a different view, and we now see the veranda or front porch of the house dead centre.    The second photo was taken from the ground.

TODAY left is a up to date picture of Old Jacaranda.    Doesn't look too bad from outside, but there is a great deal of damage and decay inside relative to the roofing, walls, and flooring - especially of that part under the pointed tin roof.     All this will need to come down.     On the extreme right of the building you can catch a glimpse, under the ridge roof with dormer windows, that part built in circa 1979 of breeze block.    This part will not be knocked down - we may even hope to put a second story on it, but removing the ridge roof.    The Family is still missing Joe and Beatrice, but think we have found a suitable couple out of many applications.    Hopefully they may arrive within the next few weeks.
Everything is going steadily ahead, with the weather unchanging.      The only dodgy commodity is WATER at present.    The forecast continues to be that it won't rain before mid March at the earliest

Our 'daughter'  MAUREEN, having left us as I described last week, is now safely installed in the School of her choice.     The Director of Children's Services for our region, has insisted she be transferred from our care (although he in no way criticised us for wanting to be the ones to decide where she goes to school).  She is now officially in the care of relative who previously refused to care for her, and who has no financial ability to provide against her higher education when she leaves her present school.    We are not very happy about it since we would have preferred to keep her with us even if, initially, she may have shown her annoyance at having to attend our own School.       For the present she will no doubt be satisfied.   The School in Nairobi is also FREE, so her relative will for the next four years not have to worry about money unless for transport too and fro for holidays (though this school usually arranges activities during holidays so that the students do not have to return home!).       We pray for Maureen that she WILL do well in her studies.   She is intelligent, bright, and with a lot of character; she has always testified that Jesus is her personal Lord and Saviour.    We do not feel bitter because of the way she has left us, but we do feel sad and disappointed that did so with such determination, regardless of the years and relationships she has made and the care she has received here.       This is never easy to come across in one of our children.   BUT we DO have a great majority who come to communicate what Testimony means to them NOW,    We do see the Hand of God - even in situations that at the time seemed almost unbearable.    Her brother James still remains with us here, and so we hope one day, when she has opportunity and has had time to think things our and to have understood for herself our own reservations, that she will come and see us.     LOVE NEVER GIVES UP.

Please pray for our son Manu.     He has been troubled for some time with discomfort in his left eye.   He has been severally treated, but just this week in Nairobi, he has been told he may lose the sight in that eye within three years.      He has to undergo some rather unpleasant out-patient treatment in the coming days
He currently works for The Moi Referral and Teaching Hospital, although he is not trained in what he is doing there.     He has a Bachelors Degree in IT.     BUT he wants now to do an MA in Community Health.
He is 31 this coming April.

Our daughter Helen, who has been with us the last nine months since she gave birth to our little grand-daughter,  Abigail, is now looking for ways and means to start a Baby Care Centre.    She is going to be 26 this year and is a trained Diploma Teacher in Early Childhood Education.    She is really excellent in her field, and we are praying the Lord will open a door of opportunity for her.

Esther and I have been wrestling with a kind of 'flu like cold - you know, sore throat, cough, sneezing and malaise.     About ten days, but it is beginning to subside.     We have kept going every day, and with the HEAT sometimes found ourselves rather exhausted - BUT we seems to be resilient, and we thank God for HIS health and strength.      Esther keeps a check on the Teaching methods and standards in the School Classroom, and attends an average of four classes a day.     She reports and sends the information to the Principal and then later there are meetings and discussion.     Since this system began last year the School has been seen to improve, and the attitude of the teachers also.    She really enjoys doing it, and it makes sure she isn't tempted to slow down!        I am still involved in administration as General Secretary, and as that title implies I do a lot of correspondence, office work and so on - right now I am in the midst of compiling a Bi-annual Statistic accounting for all Children and Staff currently here with all their relevant details - this is required by the Kenya Children's Department.  It is very tedious    Frankly I hate this kind of work - but it will be done soon, and then I may be able to turn to other things more palatable.      Life is not all roses.      I guess if it were I might end up moaning as I find myself doing about constant blue skies, and a sun SO yellow and hot EVERY DAY, for almost two months already ,,,,,,     THANK you Lord for everything - even those things that get to be wearisome and draining of energy......Yes.  Thank God - for EVERYTHING.

MY SISTER, PAT Wilson, in Scotland, has not been well.    Some of you may remember I first met her in April 2011.       She was able to visit us here the following year, but since then we have been unable to meet, and recently she has not been so well, though she still lives alone in KIETH.     She is not able to correspond, and of late we have not been able to even converse on the phone.    We have come to know each other so late in life, and still seems unable to make up for the lost years.    Life is very strange, AND frustrating at times.     We had hoped she might be able to visit us again herself, but right now that seems more unlikely than it was.    

WELL, the afternoon has almost gone, and I must close once more.      We trust you are all well.    We find writing the BLOG is rather like dropping a stone into a well too deep to hear it hit the mark!    We do not know WHO actually reads it, and less than three in a year communicates any comment.     But we seem to have a LOT of readers - the most in America from whom we have never had a word.       I guess it is easy to just read, and go one's way - in honesty I often do the same.    MANY say THEY never hear from us since they do not go to the NET, or do not know how to find us on the net.        WELL to them all I say that If you let us know we could send you a copy of the blog direct to you if that might ensure you receive it.
I am not sure if it could be E-mailed....?          We would love to be in touch, and in deed we would love to hear from you sometimes as well.     With our constant Thanks and Love in Jesus


John. Esther and Daryl Green