Things I Enjoy

Joining in with Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 in  memory of Toni Taddeo.

There are some things we just enjoy quite a lot. Let's talk about it okay?

1. Which book could you read over and over again?

I absolutely love certain authors like Rosamunde Pilcher, Rohinton Mistry and Maeve Binchy.  I've read all the books written by Rosamunde Pilcher and Maeve Binchy and about half of Rohinton Mistry's books so far.  I would seldom, if ever, read a book more than once. There are just too many books I want to read. I love reading! It's so easy to have a book on hand or have one to read on your phone, Kindle or Kobo.

2. What movie or TV program could you watch and never tire of watching?

I can never tire of watching all the (Jason) Bourne movies when they are replayed on television. I first saw them in the theatre on the big screen. I love them all, even the prequel with Jeremy Renner but I preferred all the others with Matt Damon. 

3. What meal do you like enough to eat several times a week or several times a month?  Got a recipe to share for it?

I do not eat any meal several times a week or month though sometimes it may seem like it, lol. I do eat leftovers the next day or 2nd day after if there is more than enough food for one meal.  In general though, I like variety in virtually everything including food.  Recently I've discovered a recipe for Taco Soup and I love it. I've also made Greek Chicken and Potatoes. I only make the Greek dish 1-2 times a year because it takes more planning and preparation than my usual meals.  I'm basically a lazy cook.  Despite the fact I don't eat it often, the Greek dish is my favourite meal of all time. On Friday, I had my first meal in a sit down restaurant for the first time in ages and I had the Chicken Souvlaki pictured on the photo. The restaurant is one of few remaining restaurants with vintage furnishings and individual jukeboxes at the booths. The man who owns it now was relaying how he has been struggling to keep the restaurant going during the pandemic and he has had to lay off all but one staff (the cook) and he is working long days. They make the tastiest food and it's basically home cooking just as I like it. The restaurant is often used as a movie location, the most recent being in the Sandra Bullock movie, The Unforgivable. 

Greek dish of Chicken Souvlaki without the skewers.

Tonight (Sunday) I made roasted carrots/potatoes tossed in herbs and oil, grass fed beef patties with sauteed mushrooms and onions and a kale salad. Monday night I'll be making Pesto Chicken; another new to me dish that I read about recently on Mari's blog. 

Keto friendly Taco Soup

 

Here is a link to the Taco Soup recipe (Keto friendly) but I didn't use quite as much cream cheese in mine. I also used Greek Yogurt instead of sour cream as that is what I had on hand. The second time I made it I added beans, corn niblets and more seasoning. It was even better so this will be a dish I continue to make.

4. What place do you enjoy so much that you go back again and again? Why do you like it so much?

I love several places and have gone back again and again. In Canada, I love the interior of the province where my late mom recently passed and my niece and a nephew and his family still live. It's beautiful there. 

 

I also love to go to the far north of BC and Alberta as I have relatives living there. 

Out of the country I love Australia and have been to the East Coast (and from north to south). I love it's beauty plus I have distant relatives there. I still do have distant relatives there and have travelled to the land Down Under 3 times. Once with my mother and twice with my brother.  I would love to return however there are so many other places to visit in the world and to explore if we get a chance to travel again internationally.

I also love Kenya and Africa in general. I've been to Kenya 7 times and have friends there. I love the exotic wildlife, the people, the landscape and the work I do in missions to feed the hungry and help the very poor. This is a labour of love and is not backed by any church or organization though I wish it was. I have also been to Ghana in West Africa, a very different place to Kenya. I would dearly love to travel to many other parts of Africa if I get the chance but I also would love to travel through more of Europe and parts of Asia. 

Please click this link to see a bit more of the places I'm writing about. I hope you enjoy the tour.

Thank you for visiting and leave a comment. Enjoy the week ahead.

 

Tuesday News

Hi friends,

I hope you are all doing well. I've been a bit under the weather so I have slowed down since the weekend.

I managed to get together with a friend I seldom see. She invited me last minute for coffee and snacks and we were able to work it out. I always enjoy visiting with her. Other than that I've been catching up with various people in Kenya regarding matters that crop up during the missions outreach I do there. That always takes a fair bit of my time and is difficult because of the time and distance differences. I may have a more full some update later on the missions. I know some of you have been waiting.

Since I posted my lovely sunny photos last Friday, the weather has returned to rain. Not endless rain so it is okay but gloomy looking overhead. I am not complaining because my neighbours in the province of Alberta have had lots of snow. I prefer the rain to snow.

 No complaining when I see views like these.

 

Other than enjoying the beautiful scenes at the beach I've been on a personal mission to save a few pennies here and there.  My next post will be about saving money.

I send a lot of funds overseas to help people in desperate situations because I know we are blessed here in North America where even the poorest people have access to food banks, food kitchens, shelters and so on.  I send to people mostly in Kenya not through any organization but directly to people I've met along the way.  I also sponsor some children in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. I also like to try and send a bit extra at this time of year for the families of the sponsored boys so they can have something extra for Christmas.

In Kenya they like to have a meal of chicken (sometimes goat if the budget allows) and also a new change of clothing at Christmas.  This is in the villages where historically the people would not have so much access to new clothing due to the cost or to things we take for granted here at Christmas or any other time. There the focus is on eking out a day to day existence and trying to ensure the children get an education. Just these two things are beyond the ability of many families. If you are a subsistence farmer there is very little to meet all the needs and some are not so fortunate as to have a farm of their own.

If you would like to sponsor some very needy children I recommend signing up with Compassion International. I sponsor through the Canadian office and have found the staff to be excellent and responsive to all my questions including following up on an issue here and there about local conditions in Kenya.  I get letters from my sponsored children several times a year and I know they are all growing and developing well. Compassion tries to deal with the whole child and not just give them food or a bible. You can learn more about their approach here.

I also sponsor through a new to me  group called Food for the Hungry. I learned about them last year when the wonderful gospel singer, Don Moen was here and he encouraged his audience to sponsor a child that night. The response was very overwhelming and I know this organization also does great work. Both Compassion and Food for the Hungry take great care with the funds they receive and manage to keep the administration costs down to a very reasonable level. This means your donated dollars are actually getting to the child and to the communities.

This week and last week I took a bit of time to write my sponsored children some letters and also some cards for Christmas as well as figure out what to send to their families. In case you are interested, Food for the Hungry doesn't allow gifts to the children other than what you can send via the mail. Compassion allows a gift annually to the child for general needs and birthday and a gift annually to the family.The photos below show my boys from Kenya and Ethiopia. I don't have a digital photo of my boy in Uganda and my scanner doesn't seem to work anymore.

Ian

John

Wondimu

Thanks for stopping by!

Joining in with Our World Tuesday this week.

A Shakey Start to the New Year 2016

The start to the New Year 2016 has been a bit nice and a bit not so nice.

First I start with the nice bit.

I closed the year by attending my first ever performance of The Nutcracker.  Though I expected it to be good it was even nicer than I expected with all the beautiful costumes, sets and classical music. I think my favourite part was all the scenes with the Snow Czarina in them. She was beautiful and danced all on pointe.  She made look so elegant and graceful but I was thinking "Ouch!"

Of course I couldn't take photos during the performance but here are a few shots taken just before show time and during intermission.

There was a good crowd considering it was New Year's Eve Day. There were still a lot of good seats in one section of the Orchestra.

Only a few members in the orchestra pit.

I hadn't noticed these beautiful chandeliers when I went to the BC Ballet in late Fall.

The final bows were taken.

Now on to a not so nice event.

Two nights later as I was thinking of heading to sleep, the entire area from Victoria on Vancouver Island to Vancouver and south of us, experienced a moderate earthquake.

It was like several shakes of the building, then one loud shake which felt like the entire building was lifted and "plunked" down hard. At the same time as the hard "plunk" a very loud bang occurred. It took 5 minutes on Twitter to establish that it really was an earthquake and another hour for the local television news to start broadcasting. I took that time to locate my emergency kit (how prepared was I?!!) went through it and added some clothes and tried to decide what to do.

I stayed up for another 3 hours before deciding that things had settled down.  I'd heard on the news that the quake was not along the fault line that goes all up and down the coast from Alaska down past California.  Aapparently California had experienced an earthquake of about the same strength several hours earlier.

That is how things started off in my part of the world this New Year's.

Across the world in Kenya where I do a lot of missions work some of you will remember the widow from Mauche, Kenya who recently lost her husband. If you haven't read about it yet you can read more here.

My friend and work mate, Jonah from the Missions of Hope, Kenya, had just finished helping this widow and another young man get medical treatment.  Immediately thereafter he had to rush home and help out with an Initiation Feast

About 16 young Kalenjin boys had just completed their initiation rites. This is a time when young teen boys go away in the bush for one month. There they are taught and guided in the cultural ways, wisdom, rules of personal behavior and cultural rites. The initiation rites are a rite of passage when the boys are also circumcised and after the passing of knowledge they are considered young men who know their place in society.

Once their training is finished, they gather together with family members and community and have a time of feasting and celebration before they make their ways home and back to school.

These are some of the young boys in white shirts, their mentors in purple shirts & family members.

Immediately after the initiation homecoming, Jonah and a team of volunteers went to Pokot country on another feeding mission. They go about once a month and they generally go to different Pokot communities each time.  The first person they came across was this emaciated, elderly woman in the photo below.  She touched their hearts so much and the team members were glad to be able to feed her and several other needy people.

Everything was going well during the Pokot missions outreach but tragedy struck on the 2nd night.

Jonah and a Pokot man who was hosting him were both bitten by a poisonous black mambo snake.  This is probably the most dangerous of the snakes in Kenya and people often die from it's bite.  The Pokot people immediately tried to suck out the venom from these two men and administer traditional herbs.  But these men urgently needed to get to hospital which was many hours away. Someone had to drive all night from Eldoret (located several hours south) to fetch the man and take them to the nearest hospitals.

Jonah was driven to the missions hospital in the small community of Kapsowar where he was immediately attended to and given good treatment.  The Pokot man was taken to Eldoret but we lost touch with him and what was happening.

In Kapsowar the hospital staff did what they could.  But their equipment is a bit outdated and could not detect whether venom remained in Jonah's leg. It seemed likely that venom remained because he was unable to walk or stand and he wasn't healing as expected.

He humbly asked if he could be transferred to a bigger hospital.  Of course, being a a matter of life or death or loss of limbs, it was imperative that he be moved to a larger centre. As he could not walk or stand and he had no family or friend there to escort him he had to go by ambulance.  It took almost another day before an ambulance could pick him up and transport him to the City of Eldoret.  Once in Eldoret, the leg situation was quickly stabilized and improved tremendously.  The equipment was able to pinpoint the venom remaining in the leg. We give thanks as he is now able to walk again and medical staff are ensuring his blood doesn't clot. I'm not certain how long he will need to be in hospital.

The good thing is that Jonah is now in the same hospital as the Pokot man though they on different wards.  It seems the Pokot man unfortunately had not been given medical aid because he doesn't have insurance and he doesn't have any money to pay a deposit.This often happens to poor Kenyans and many of them die while waiting for medical assistance or their conditions radically deteriorates because they cannot come up with funds.

This goes on despite the government officials making public announcements that no Kenyan should be denied medical treatment for lack of funds.  Hospitals have been told that they should administer treatment and worry about billing later. This however is not the practice on the ground.

The poor man had been suffering and in pain for almost a week!  He needed immediate medical help otherwise he was in real danger of losing his leg.  As soon as I heard this I came up with the deposit.  That night the man had successful surgery.  I'm praying for his full recovery so that use of leg is not impaired.

He is very grateful for my help.  Apparently, I have been repaid by him in the form of two goats which are back in his home area.  I intend on letting him keep his goats as he will likely need them to try and pay the hospital bill.  I am just happy he didn't lose his leg. Life is so very hard for these people.  It would be even harder on one leg.  Medical supports are almost non-existent especially in the isolated areas.  It is hard enough to get medical supports like wheelchairs or crutches when you live in the big cities like Nakuru and Nairobi.

Unfortunately the people In Pokot villages live so far from medical help.  Even if they lived closer to fully equipped hospitals, they don't have ready cash on hand to pay for deposits and medicines.  In Kenya you must pay a deposit (which can be quite substantial depending on what treatment you require) before you get any medical treatment (even though the government says otherwise).

I am grateful that both of these men's lives were spared. Jonah suffered one snake bite which was painful and debilitating.  But the Pokot man suffered three snake bites. Both of men are very lucky to be alive.  The longer you are away from medical help, the less likely you are to survive. I think they might have died if the local people did not try and help to suck out the venom and give traditional herbs because it took at least 8 hours for Jonah to get to a hospital and the Pokot man at least 12 hours as Eldoret is even farther away.  Apparently snake bites are very common in the Pokot (northern) areas of Kenya.  The hospital in Kapsowar sees these kind of patients regularly and while Jonah was there as a patient many of those admitted had snake bite injuries.

Thankfully Jonah has medical insurance and it is quite extensive (and good coverage).  But he still has to pay for everything out of pocket (ambulance, hospital accommodation, drugs, doctor, nursing, x-rays, etc.).  He has to save all receipts and make application for reimbursement.

This will be his first attempt to try and get money back from the government for medical purposes.  I'm praying that they do really reimburse him. In Kenya you can never be sure of what is going to happen where government agencies are involved.  If you are reading this, please pray for these two men and their financial needs.

Well my friends, we just never know what is around the corner.

It could be good or it could be bad.

Though my year has started off on shaky ground, quite literally,

I'm hopeful that much better things are ahead.

I'm also grateful that there was no big damage done.

I  give praise that these two men did not die
Through God's grace and man's medical wisdom, both of them will live another day.
Hopefully they both will have many happy years to come but they need continued prayer for full recovery.

~~~~~

God bless you and keep all of you and give you a good start to your new year.

Photo Credits: Mine and are all taken with phone. The last two photos belong to Jonah of Missions of Hope.

Year End 2015

Hello friends,

It is almost Christmas and I hope you've been enjoying yourself so far.

This will be my last post until after Christmas as I will be spending the intervening days with family and friends.

As I close out the year and reflect back on things, I realize I didn't get to do many of the things that were on my 'to do' list.  This year was also the first year in some time that I did not write out my goals for the year and post them on my blog. I  posted my goals for several straight years and then reviewed them in a post at the end of each year.  But last year I felt I wanted to have a more leisurely year.   I did have a leisurely year in the sense that I did not pressure myself to "perform" but my goodness the year was absolutely non-stop busy and I had some "hits" and "misses" in terms of progress.

Probably the biggest thing I did not get around to doing this year was to travel to Kenya.  There are a number of good reasons for  delaying my trip which I won't go into. I still hope that I will travel there soonest but am not quite sure when. The delays were out of my control but I believe there is a reason and a season for everything and I am certain that when I do get to Kenya I will enjoy my trip immensely.

Since I did not get a chance to travel to Kenya it was a highlight for me to host the Kenyan Boys Choir to dinner one Autumn night while they were on tour in Canada. Meeting these fine young men gave me a chance to learn about their hopes and dreams and their achievements thus far.  It gave me such a thrill to know that Kenya's future is in very good hands with such fine young men as these.  They had a long tour in North America and returned home in middle of this month. Right at this moment they are at Diani beach on Kenyan's beautiful coast. They will be giving their final performance of the year on December 24th, 2015 before returning to Nairobi to spend the rest of their holidays with family and friends.

Beyond not travelling to Kenya, I didn't get to undertake a number of personal tasks (unnamed) and I did not get a number of craft projects done or books read.  All of this is okay as they items are really targets to keep me moving forward rather than firm goals that must be accomplished.  In terms of reading, I've manged to complete 35 of  the 45 books I planned to read. I'm currently on my 36th book called Girl in the Woods but doubt I will read another 9 books before the end of the year.

In terms of craft work, I still haven't finished my African hexagon flower crochet blanket.  But I did manage to get some sewing done for my mother (2 dresses, 2 tops, 2 skirts 3 full length slips) and finish 20 knitted dishcloths.  The dishcloths I've been using are getting rather old and it was time for some new ones. The dishcloths are also great little gifts at Christmas and for birthdays.  One new craft or hobby I learned this year was  making bar soap.  This was a long standing wish which was finally achieved even though it wasn't planned.  After taking my workshop 3 weeks ago, I was finally able to pick up my 2 bars of soap yesterday. I look forward to using them in the New Year.
.

In the Spring and Summer I managed to put in the garden once again.  I hosted my niece for her annual visit and celebrated my nephew's graduation from the Bachelor of Arts Program before seeing him off for his much anticipated European vacation.

In the heat of the summer I was a tourist in my city and attended the Bloedel Conservatory and the Van Dusen Gardens which was a real delight.  The end of summer saw me preparing a small birthday dinner for my mother.  Of course visiting my mom several times throughout the year is always on my agenda and it takes considerable time, effort and energy to prepare for each trip.  There is always sewing and multiple shopping expeditions in advance to make sure she has everything she requires until the next time I can pay her a visit. Christmas holidays and sometimes her birthday,  are the times of year when spend an extra day or two visiting her rather than making a day trip.  On these special occasions we can have a nicer visit.

In the Autumn I had the pleasure of enjoying several cultural events after a long period of hiatus from attending any. I got to a performance of contemporary ballet and a couple events with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.  I will round out the year by attending my first (and likely only) performance of "The Nutcracker".  This year I enrolled in a short class in Spanish which I enjoyed very much.   I hope to continue with the language lessons when I have more time on my hands.

This year I had a huge project which occupied much of my time. I helped a friend build a house and do it on a budget. Actually the project wasn't to build a house from scratch but to renovate it, adding a bedroom, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen.  I would say this project met with some success but the house isn't quite complete. There are still closets to be built in the bedrooms and the kitchen cupboards need to be finished as well.  My part in the matter was helping find materials and suggesting things such as indoor and outdoor paints, tiles, bathroom fixtures and faucets. My advice was only partially accepted.  I guess that is understandable since the house is not mine! I hope my friend enjoys the house for years to come.  I found it fun to be involved in the project and it was all a learning experience for me.

Autumn arrived & I thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful weather & photo opportunities.

Autumn of 2015 also saw me spending a bit of time enjoying our beautiful Autumn foliage and taking a lot of photos.  I also got around to cleaning out some clutter and trying to find ways to better contain my "stuff".  I purchased a few helpful aids like these trolleys on wheels (in the photo).   I admit that I didn't get the bathroom sorted yet.  I got distracted with other things.  This will be a carryover project to the new year.

The rest of the year  was busy with trying to keep on top of my health challenges and get some much needed dental work done.  I had plenty of  to-ing and fro-ing to the laboratory for tests, various eye specialist appointments, some much needed dental work (which continues) and my first colonoscopy. I continue to spend a lot of time trying to eat right and get healthier. It is a never ending task with some setbacks and a few  successes.  I don't want to dwell on any of it right now as this post is already too long.  I just want to say am grateful for the small successes I have had and hope to have more in the year to come.

For those of you who read me on a regular basis, you will know that my heart is in missions work in Kenya.  There is always tremendous opportunity to help others and I've been heavily invested in ministry to communities there as well as to individuals.

There were several missions to feed the hungry in the Pokot territories in Kenya. I've written about those initiatives on this blog from time to time.  Some of the photos below are from my earlier posts about these missions trips.

 

Opportunities to minister to individuals were also very present in 2015.  There was one young man who had TB and diabetes was near death.  We got him into a hospital where he received good care and convalesced for several weeks.  He had to be quarantined due to the TB but since he has been out he has  been rehabilitated to the point where he now has a job. He is also on medication to control his diabetes. This is very costly for a villager.  But I am hoping that the cost will be significantly reduced in the New Year due to a Kenyan government health initiative to make medicines more affordable for the poor.

I assisted one young man to get out of jail and get some medical helps. Even though he had a job he started abusing substances and was in great  need of intervention.  This is a very sad story because the young man is very bright but has issues stemming from childhood traumas which he has yet to deal with and accept.  His single mother works so hard to support the family.  It is hard to say what will become of him.  I am hopeful that the medical help and counseling he received will go some way toward helping him change his direction in life and get on a good path.

Then there were the two women who required hospitalization when they were about to give birth.  In a very sad turn of events, one of the women lost her child and ended up in hospital for a long time because we did not have the funds to clear her bill.  Some of my readers were able to assist with the hospital bill but in the end the family had to sell their cow in order to fully clear the bill and be released.

Another of the women was from west Pokot area needed urgent medical attention due to fistula (complications from female genital mutilation). We were able to get the woman the help she needed and back home again despite several twists and turns which including the highway to her home being washed away due to El Niño rains. Both of these woman are now home in their respective villages and doing as well as can be expected.

Who could forget baby Fidelis and her need to get to Canada for surgery?  Baby Fidelis and her mother had a rocky start getting to Canada due to a man who allegedly misappropriated money raised for the baby's travel needs.  Fortunately, the President of the nation and several high level government officials heard of the baby's plight and intervened. The baby underwent successful surgery last month after months of preparation at the children's hospital in Toronto. Baby Fidelis and her mom will be returning to Kenya very soon.  If I am able to get some new photos showing what she looks like after healing, I will share them in a future post.

The help required in Kenya isn't always medical and food related. though food and medical needs are my personal priorities especially where widows and orphans are concerned.  A close runner up is education and training because that can enable people to become self-sufficient.  Two young men needed assistance this year:  one to get vocal training lessons to further his already popular career as a singer. Finding a vocal coach isn't as straight forward as it sounds. First there is the high cost involved.  Then there are the issues of  time and distance issues so technology is a huge factor in enabling lessons to be taken from afar.  This poses cost and access issues for the student in Kenya.  I did manage to find one Los Angeles option which we are now trying for several months to evaluate effectiveness. What the young man needs is professional feedback and he should be able to get some through a process of video exchange.  Another young man is a student in his final year at a university in Nairobi. Once he finishes his Bachelor's degree he hopes to continue his studies in Canada.

Japheth (Left) at his recent ordination.

Last, but not least, there is the woman who lost her husband about 2 weeks ago and left totally adrift both financially and emotionally. With limited resources, we managed to build her a house and buy seeds for a garden, take the family of mother and 3 children to the big city of Nakuru for medical check up, get medicine for the baby who had tonsillitis, buy maize, beans and flour for the family to have food until the mother can make a few shillings.

The poor child baby was crying a lot due to a lot of swelling in the neck. He also had difficult to talk and needed soft food so we bought some milk and bread for the baby to eat while recovering from tonsillitis with medicine.  Thankfully one pastor friend, named Japheth, provided my friend, and this family a place to lodge when they unexpectedly had to stay overnight in the city while waiting for the doctor to examine the baby. .  Japheth may also have contributed to the doctor bill because the overnight stay in hospital was not expected and would have meant a much higher bill.  Last, but not least, the mother and her 3 children moved into their new home on Monday about 10 kilometres from where they were living in a rented home.  We needed to hire transportation to move them and their few belongings.
 

Here is a long shot of the house. The corn field to the left  of the house belongs to neighbours.

We didn't have enough funds to purchase any chickens for eggs, material for a chicken coop or goats.  The mother would have preferred goats to chickens so her baby and 2 other children could have fresh milk to drink.  It would also have been nice to buy some blankets and a few mattress or two so the family doesn't have to sleep on the dirt floor.   It has been cold and raining in many parts of Kenya due El Niño.  It is difficult to keep warm when there is no heating in the homes. See here for some photos of what it looks like when it rains.

In the end we built the family a wooden home instead of a tin home because a tin home can be quite cold when it rains.  The wood is treated to prevent rot and termite destruction (they get a lot of termites in Kenya) and sits on concrete (not a basement) perimeter.  I though the builders did a good job of building this modest house.

Close up of the house. We bought a lock to safeguard the premises.

You can see that the area where the new house is situated has a lot of forest and is on a hillside.  You can also see some of the trees in the front and back of the house which have been cut down to make way for the building.  To the far right of the photo you will see the newly turned garden.
 
There may be others of you who would like a chance to help this mother as she isn't quite set up yet. 
Outstanding needs include:

-  more beans, maize, cooking oil, flour, drinking water
-  1-2 goats 
-  2-4 chickens
-  materials for chicken coop
-  feed for chickens
-  mattresses & blankets
-  school needs (uniforms, shoes, books) 
-  paraffin or solar lamp (light source).  

You can reach me at kerichojoy[at]gmail[cot]com

~~~~~



Let me take this time to wish each of you a very

Merry Christmas

I pray for peace, joy and love in your life over the season and for all your loved ones too. God bless. xox

Short News & Merry Christmas Wishes

Hi friends, I hope you are all enjoying the last few days before Christmas.  I have been very busy and a few things have kept me occupied.

I need a fair bit of medical and dental work and I've been trying to get some of it out of the way before the New Year with limited success.  Friday I went through a colonoscopy.  It is my first one and I'm hoping I don't have to do many of these in future.  I'll have to wait and see what the doctor says about it all in the New Year.

I was very anxious about undergoing the procedure.  I didn't feel I could properly prepare for it because I had only a short time from getting the information to undergoing the actual procedure.  I had eaten a lot of  beans, nuts and corn earlier in the week.  All of these foods must not be eaten for 7 days in advance.  At least these are the guidelines prepared by the cancer agency where I live.  I not only felt rushed but I also felt anxious about possible pain or other complications.  But the nurses at the hospital tried to reassure me that I needed to just relax about it all and that it wasn't too late to stop eating the foods on the "no list".

After getting friends to pray, I felt more settled and went ahead with everything.  I thought my anxiety would only increase if I put it over to the New Year. I found the hardest part of this was not eating for about 40 hours. It ended up being such a long time because my procedure was rather late on Friday afternoon.  However I managed it and and everything went very smoothly from start to finish.

I was awake and watched everything on screen. It was very interesting and the doctor cut out 3 polyps.  I do not remember the doctor giving me any sedative though he says he did. In any case, though I did experience some discomfort, it was not so uncomfortable that I needed heavy sedation. Some of the patients in the recovery room afterward were like zombies and some were very ill from the medicine. I've been in that state myself after surgeries and so that is something else I was worried about.  Fortunately I didn't have to experience it.

The polyps will be sent to the lab for examination.  But at my age polyps are common and the doctor says they "are not cancerous". That was music to my ears. When I asked him how he could tell he said it was the appearance. I am just glad the procedure is now over. If I have to undergo it again, I will know what to expect and do next time.

The other thing that kept me busy this week was preparing and sending Christmas cards and a few parcels. I've been doing this over the past three weeks and I always find once I get started, I want to send out more and more.  I'm now out of time for sending anything more through the post.  Fortunately I sent out everything I wanted to and now I just have to deal with the cards and parcels that will be given in person next week. 

I've also been very busy liaising with people in Kenya who are helping and assisting the family in Kenya that I wrote about here.  I will write a longer post about what we've done in a few days and let you know the outcomes for these precious ones.

Right now in the final lead up to Christmas, I'm just taking things easy; resting, wrapping gifts, enjoying snack foods and doing a few errands. The small tree, lights, wreaths, bells and baubles all went up late last weekend. I will be preparing Christmas dinner as always but because I didn't know exactly which days I would be away this year (much dependent on the mountainous road conditions), I am only dining with a family member or two.  But it is all very easygoing and spontaneous. We may have Christmas dinner before Christmas Day or after Boxing Day. It is all organized around visiting my mom on Christmas Day and spending a night with her to make sure we have a good visit.

Sending you my very best wishes for a lovely Christmas with loved ones and friends.

Ni Wewe Bwana (It is You Lord)

This is a lovely gospel song sung in Swahili and has special meaning for me.

It is special because on my first trip to Kenya a group of orphans encircled me and sang this lovely song. It really touched me.

No one translated the song for me at that time.  Though I could not speak Swahili I knew it was a worship song unto God.

I tried to track the song down for a long time.  Every time I would ask a Kenyan friend, no one would know which song I was trying to recollect.

I only knew the words "Ni wewe bwana" and decided to search on YouTube when I couldn't get any of my friends to help me find the song.  Guess what,  I found it! (Update: It has already been some years since I found it and had a Tanzanian friend translate it for  me.)

The version I'm sharing is the same song but this one on the video is sung to a slightly faster beat.  It is sung by well known (now deceased) Tanzanian Gospel singer, Fanuel Sedekia.

This song gives me joy and lifts me up. At a time when the world is mourning for Paris, for Syria, for Beirut, for Japan, for Kenya, for the Ukraine and many other places, some of us need a lift.

God bless and keep you and your loved ones safe.

~~~~

Update: Since a few people have tried to help me find the song and translation I'm posting the translation here as provided by my friend from Tanzania.

(Sedekia) ee ni wewee ni wewe bwana ni wewee ni wewe bwaana.( trans) ee is you, is you lord ,is you, is you lord
(Vocals) ni wewe ni wewe bwana ni wewe ni wewe bwana.(trans) is you, is you lord , is you , is you lord
( Sedekia) ee ni wewe-- as above.
( vocals) as above.
(Sedekia) ee ni wewee unayetujali  ni wewe bwaana ni wewe bwaana ( trans) ee is  you who care for us, is you lord, is you lord
( vocals) is you, is you lord, is you, is you lord
(Sedekia) ee ni wewee unayetupenda ni wewe bwaana ni wewe bwaana( trans) ee is you who loves us, is you lord, is you lord.
Vocals: is you, is  you lord, is you, is you lord.
(Sedekia)ee  Ni wewe uweza  ni wako ni wewe bwana ni wewe bwaana.(trans) ee you're almighty, is you lord , is you lord.
(Vocals) is you, is you lord, is you is you lord.
(Sedekia) again as above (almighty.)
(Vocals.) as above.
(Sedekia) ni wewe mamlaka ni yako ni wewe bwaana ni wewe bwaana ( trans) you have the authority,is you lord is you lord.
(Vocals) ni wewee wewe bwana ni wewe ni wewe bwaana( trans) is you, is you lord , is you , is you lord.
(Sedekia) ni wewe uweza ni wako ni wewe bwana ni wewe bwaana(trans) you're almighty, is you lord is you lord.
(Vocals) is you, is you lord , is you is you lord.
(Sedekia) ni wewe mamlaka ni yako ni wewe bwaana ni wewe bwaana.(trans) you have the authority, is you lord, is you lord.
(Vocals) is you, is you lord, is you, is you lord.
(Sedekia)  ni wewe uweza ni wako ni wewe bwaana ni wewe bwaana( trans) you're almighty, is you lord, is you lord.
(Vocals ) is you, is you lord, is you, is you lord.Sedekia and vocals ) is you is you x 15.
( the lady) ni wewe ndiwe ngome yetuuu ( trans) our fortress or castle
(Lady) ni wewe msaada wetu naa( trans ) our support and
(Lady) ni wewe ndiwe baba yetu Jehova(trans) our father Yah
(Lady) ni wewe ndiwe jemedari mkuuuu( trans) you are the great centurion .
( all ) is you  x 25.
(Sedekia) ni wewe glory( trans) ni mwenye utukufu.
(Sedekia) x7  - twakutazama wewe, kwa Kuwa ufalme ni wako  na nguvu na utukuuufu na hata milele, milele x 8 mh oo Yesu.( trans) we are looking you for yours is the kingdom and power/ strength and glory forever  forever x8.
Mh oh Yesu.(trans) mh ooh  Jesus.
.The end.

Update on Pokot Woman & A Little of This and That

I've been busy with a little of this and that over the past few days and still fighting a bit of cold symptoms. I've been taking my daily Emergen-C (packets of Vitamin C & B which I mix with water before drinking) and it seems to help keep my energy levels up and the sniffles at bay.

I was glad to have finished writing a few letters and post cards to my sponsored boys in Kenya and Ethiopia which I put in the post today.  I am prepared for Christmas for them. Though I didn't send funds for Christmas gifts for the children, I opted to send  family gifts so that the boy's families could have a nice Christmas without financial stresses.  Christmas is the time in Kenya where the families like to try and get a new set of clothing and also have a meal that includes meat or fish rather than just starch and veggies.  I hope that they will be able to also get a few other food stuffs they need since inflation is rampant in Kenya right now.  I am not quite sure what the situation is in Ethiopia but I know the people are very poor so they will be able to benefit from a family gift.  I was also able to get some post cards and note cards in the mail to other friends. I don't prepare much snail mail anymore and so it felt good to get these off in the post.

When I checked my post box at the post office today I had a wonderful surprise. A dear friend from Colorado sent me a cheque because she read my post here about the woman in Kenya who had fistula due to female genital mutilation (FGM).  She has to be rushed to hospital to deliver her child and after that rushed to a larger city center for proper medical treatment. It's been a challenging time to get the funds together to take care of the hospital bills for this woman.  Somehow through prayers and the grace of God we've managed to pay the medical bill so the woman, her baby and the lady missionary are now all on their way home.  Initially, the plan was to send them to stay with friends in Kericho (which is even farther south from the mom's home) because we felt the young mom needed to rebuild her strength and recover from surgery.   We were a bit concerned that she wasn't quite ready to go home due to blood in the breast milk. Though the hospital was prepared to release her we knew it wouldn't be  easy to get her back to a major hospital again if it turned out that she needed more help.

In the end, the new mom stayed in hospital for several days longer due to inability to cover the medical fees. That meant she was a little stronger and we felt she could travel by the time I was able to get the funds together.  The mother, her child and missionary were finally on their way home two days ago.  They were planning to rest for one or two days at a relative's house in a small town called Kapenguria (near the Kenya-Uganda border). They would make the final leg the journey to Itibet (not on the map) over a rough road after their rest.  You might remember that the woman just had surgery not even two weeks ago to repair fistula damage and is recovering from child birth too.  So the travel is not easy. Thank goodness she has relatives along the way that can house her for a bit of rest.

If you look to the west on the map, you can find Eldoret.  This is the larger city center where mom was in hospital for surgery. It is not the city where people from her area are supposed to go.  They are supposed to be taken by ambulance to Kitale.  But the young missionary woman that escorted her and the baby, had the foresight to tell the ambulance drivers to take her to Eldoret where the medical hospital is much better.  Of course this added to the cost.  But when you think that someone can lose a life or go to a better place and be sure to get good medical help then you must do what you can to get the best medical help.

From Eldoret, you travel north to Kapenguria.  This is a much smaller town and where the travel party stayed with relatives for a night or two before journeying home. Their ultimate destination is not on the map but is very near the border of Uganda. In Kenya distances can be short but travel time is much longer than in Canada or the USA due to weather and road conditions.

The donation I received today and another recent donation from a blogging friend in England, really made us feel supported and helped alleviate some financial stress.  It will be put to good use in helping the impoverished woman to purchase baby formula and pampers.  Cloth diapers might be more cost effective and  environmentally friendly but very impractical.  It is a dry and dusty land where they live.  There is little water for drinking let alone to have a regular bath and do laundry.  That makes cloth diapers out of the question.  We would like to provide this mom with assistance to buy formula and pampers until the baby is past the milk and pamper stage.  If anyone would like to help with this need please feel free to get in touch.

Now on to a few other things.

In a recent post I shared with you that I was going to attend a book launch and a ballet performance. These occurred on Wednesday and Thursday and both were fantastic.  This was very frugal entertainment for me because the book launch was free.  The ballet performance I attended only cost me one dollar (Canadian). I got in on a deal with a group I belong to and that is why the cost was so minuscule.  A regular ticket would have been $81.50 plus service charges.

I didn't get photos of the ballet performance as photos are not permitted for performances of any kind at most of the venues in the city.  I think it is like that all over North America and Europe.  In the ballet, the first half of the performance was set to the live choral music of Chor Leoni, a local men's choral group. The music added  a lot of depth, power and beauty to  the performance. I'm very glad I had a chance to experience it. The book launch was also a unique experience and I did get a few photos there too but wasn't permitted to take audience photos (more on the launch in another post).

I like to join in with hostess, Eileen at Saturday's Critters whenever I have time to shoot a new bird or other critter photos. This week I managed to get a few bird photos on 2 different days. The first one is a sea gull flying around the high towers of the city. The other bird is a black crow.  We seem to have plenty of both in this city.

This was the dark sky on the night of the book launch.

This bird was high up in the tree. I wouldn't have found him but for the zoom lens.

I captured this black bird on a beautiful sunny day.

I also used one beautiful, sunny day to go out and get more photos of fall foliage. It seems one can never get enough of those.

Lovely red maple leafs against the green grass.

I spotted this human critter across the street from where the bird was perched.

Some of you read about the movies I was watching in my recent post here.  I've been enjoying watching movies on DVD so much that I borrowed 3 more DVDs from the library:

• Gravity with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney

• Frost-Nixon with Frank Langella (as President Richard Nixon) and Michael Sheen (as David Frost)

• Heaven is for Real with Greg Kinnear.

My favourite movie out of the three is  Heaven is For Real.  Greg Kinnear played pastor and father to 4 year son, Colton Burpo, played by Connor Corum. These two actors gave outstanding performances and the entire supporting cast were terrific.  In case you are unfamiliar with the film, it is about a small-town father (played by Greg Kinnear) who must find the courage and conviction to share with the world his son's life-changing experience of going to Heaven.  Understandably it was not so easy for the father to believe that his 4 year old could have gone to Heaven.  But a few things the young boy saw and experienced there and later relayed to his family, ultimately led the father to believe his young son.  The story is about what happens as a result of the young boy's experience.

Of course all these DVDs were free to borrow from the library so it has been very frugal entertainment. My local library seems to be expanding it's DVD offerings.  I will gladly make use of this service again in 2016. I've discovered that even though DVD loans are only for 1 week rather than 3 weeks like books, you can renew the DVDs even if someone has it on hold. Renewing books that are on hold doesn't work in my library system but it does work for DVDs. I'm not sure why but it works for me!

Playing in theaters right now is another great film if you are into spy films., the latest 007 movie "Spectre". I won't give anything away but I did see the film on Friday.  It is a quintessential James Bond movie with thrills from beginning to end.  The only thing I did not enjoy was the steep price of the movie ticket ($12.55 Canadian).  My friend and I went to the matinee thinking we would get a cheaper entrance that way only to discover the theater is newly renovated.  It now has a bar and lounge area and let's movie goers select their own seats prior to paying.  For these benefits you pay a premium price whether you use the bar or not. It is just one way that movie theaters are now trying to attract or compete with restaurants and bar and other forms of entertainment.

Are you still with me? If you've hung in there all the way to this point in the post, I thank you. I wonder how many of you have heard of Movember? It is a global charitable cause set up to raise funds for prostate cancer, testicular cancer and men's mental health. The idea is that men grow mustaches in the month of November and also try to raise funds for the fight against these men's diseases.  If you have ever had prostate cancer, testicular cancer or mental issues yourself, or, you have a loved one who has, you may be touched by these efforts. My friends in the Kenyan Boys Choir  have been moved to grow mustaches and do their part to  raise funds for the cause.They have set a modest goal of $500 and need your help to make the goal a reality.  Please contribute here if you are able. You can also make anonymous contributions if you prefer. (I believe this beautiful photo below was taken by professional photographer for the Kenyan Boys Choir).

 The members of the Kenyan Boys Choir who are touring in 2015. Only half of them are touring.  The others are in Kenya.

This week I will be busy preparing things for a soon visit to my mom.  As always I will be sewing a few things for her and getting all her food and medicines together and that requires time. I'm also looking forward to a visit from an out of town friend who is making an impromptu trip to the city.  It will be nice to have some time to catch up on all the news. I might also have yet another movie to see in theaters. This one is a Christmas comedy with Diane Keaton, John Goodman and Olivia Wilde. It is an advance screening and I will get double passes for free.

I hope your week is an enjoyable one. Thank you for stopping by. As always I try to make a return visit to you too!

Joining in with Saturday's Critters a little late this week

and

Our World Tuesday