The Good News & The Bad News

Hello friends,

It's my first post in the month of May. Things have been very busy of late and they continue to be so.

I started but didn't finish planting the garden. I should finish the planting soon but had to take a break due to workmen trampling through my garden to clean windows. That is now done for another year as is the annual fire inspection. Next will come the annual carpet cleaning. This year it seems like they are doing everything all at one time.  It's all okay because it is better to get it out of the way IMHO.

The weather here has been fantastic. Perfect blues skies today. I had a wonderfully long walk. Something I haven't done in absolutely ages for many reasons. But today was a beautiful, quiet, peaceful kind of day. Not too hot and not too cold and was just right for strolling.

It allowed me to take a few photos to share for Skywatch Friday. However the sun was very bright so the photos have been touched up a bit. Nothing too fancy though as I don't have Photoshop or such like program.

The sky was a gorgeous blue and not a cloud in sight.

I took an extra long walk today and saw places I haven't seen a long time.

I thought these two old houses were a nice subject.

 

I said I had good news and bad news.

The good news is that the weather has been very lovely.  We've had a few cloudy days but we've also had a few very warm  and sometimes hot days.

I love these two old buildings. The top one with it's bay windows is nice.

The bottom one reminds me of buildings in New York City with the lovely red brick.

 I found this beautiful salmon coloured poppy nearby.

The bad news is the weather has been far too hot for this time of year and we've been shattering temperature records, left right and center all across the land.  It has contributed to raging fires in the far north of my province and in the province next door. There are devastating aftermaths and thousands and thousands of people have had to be evacuated.  I heard on the news today that the only way the fire will be extinguished now is if the rain comes. They will need a lot of it.

In my last post I provided some very brief updates  about the young man that many of you are praying for.  If you missed the post you can read it here.

 I learned that the open wound on the boy's face is caused by the tumour. It was the central point from which the tumour grew out of the boy's face and spread.  It was the "stem" so to speak.

The boys release has been delayed because the doctors are trying to ensure the wound heals first and it isn't healing that quickly so they've been trying to help dry it out.  They have also been watching his blood and giving him medicine or supplements (not quite sure which) to boost his white blood cell count. Some of you will know that white blood cells are important in protecting the body against foreign invaders that would cause illness or infections and are needed for recovery. The doctors have also been administering blood to counter the young man's anemia.

The open wound and scarring have made it difficult for the young man to chew and eat but today I heard he has graduated from runny porridge to mashed potatoes.  A friend in Kenya has also been trying to get the boy's chemotherapy administered in his hometown due to the expense of being in Nairobi for long and the expense of travelling back and forth from his home to the big city with escort.

At last today the hospital has said they would release the boy for treatment in his home community as they are satisfied the public hospital is properly equipped. That means he should be released soon pending health clearance and clearance of the hospital bill (a significant challenge).  This is good news and in the "nick of time" because his escort no longer has a place to stay in the city. He was staying with a helpful student but there have been problems with student unrest and new rules from the university administration strictly prohibits guests.

Please continue to pay for this situation if you feel led to do so.

Thank you for coming along on my walk today.

I hope you enjoyed it.

Until next time, enjoy your weekend.

As for me, I am going to try and work on the garden and join friends for a barbeque.

Joining in with

Skywatch Friday

 Floral Friday Fotos

Short Update - Kenyan Missions

Enjoy prosperity while you can, but when hard times strike, realize that both come from God.  Remember that nothing is certain in this life. Ecclesiastes 7:14 (NLT)

April 30, 2016 Update:  The boy who underwent surgery and is in a Nairobi Hospital has suffered a setback. He was losing blood. He has a rare blood type and it was difficult to find blood for him (Kenya is generally short on blood so you can imagine the dearth of blood for rare blood types). They eventually found two pints. Please continue to pray for this young man. (Context and details below in the main post.).  May 1, 2016 Update:  The boy seems to be doing better today

Hello everyone, 

I hope this post finds you well. Today is Skywatch Friday but I am not linking up because I want to update about the Kenyan missions as some of you have told me you are praying about the needs I wrote about here. Some have asked that I try to update and so I am honouring that request.

The photo below is of the young orphan boy who had a large tumour growing on his neck and throat.

My friend and I got him to Nairobi for surgery. His surgery was originally scheduled for Wednesday April 19th.  During assessment they found him to be anemic so they had to give him blood.  It took longer than anticipated to address his anemia. The surgery was rescheduled to Friday April 22nd.  It went ahead as planned and the boy is now recovering in hospital.

In the photo below you will see the tumour is now removed. You can see the big scar. I am a bit concerned about what looks like an open wound and I hope and pray that no infection sets in. The boy is under medication.

A friend has travelled to Nairobi to be with the boy, his escort and his host. These are all young men of only 18 years of age. They are all from different village communities. They feel lost and abandoned without any senior adult help and few funds to address the various needs.  I'm glad my friend has travelled on short notice to be with and encourage the boys through this trying time. 

The next thing my friend is working on is trying to arrange for chemotherapy as the boys cannot stay in Nairobi indefinitely. The boys release from hospital is expected early next week pending clearance of the bill.

Keep these boys in your prayers.

Also right now it is rainy season in Kenya. There have been more floods and deaths and buildings collapsing in Nairobi and other parts of Kenya.

 Prayer needs:

1) That all material and financial needs will be met

2) Workable arrangements for chemotherapy

3) Freedom from infections and side effects

4) Safety from floods and rains
5) Peace and comfort.

I appreciate those of you who are interested in praying for these young men. May God bless you.

A Brief Change in Weather

Thank you to all who took the time to comment on my last post here and say you would offer prayers. It is very much appreciated on behalf of the young boy in Nairobi hospital and for Jonah and John, who are recovering from the after effects of snake bites.

This week we've had very hot weather. It seemed to go from cold to hot virtually overnight. It was a nice change but given how hot it was I am a bit concerned that it might become overly hot and dry like last summer.  In fact, it was so hot and dry and we had so little rain that we had months of heavy duty water restrictions.

Having said that, it is nice to feel the warm of the sun. It has allowed me a bit of time to get out and try and prepare the garden despite it not being my favourite thing to do.  There is still much more to do before it will be finished but with the help of a good friend, the hardest parts are done.  I have to pace myself as I'm still recovering from illness which seems to have gone on plenty long enough.  As I read different blogs I see that there are many suffering too. I hope and pray that you all recover well from the colds and flu bugs.  Where my mom lives there has been an outbreak of the flu and a quarantine has been in place for some weeks. Just when they contain one area, there is an outbreak in another area. Unfortunately it affects the visitation for the residents but what can you do?  I digress.

The sunny and hot weather was short lived.  Tonight there is a change in the air and in the skies.  I see that there is also an 80% chance of rain tomorrow. I don't actually mind because the soil in my garden could do with a good watering before I finish working on it.

Early in the week I shared this beautiful sky

The next photos were taken after garden clean up tonight.

The rain is only expected to last one day and it is expected to be light rain.

I actually hope it rains a little harder than expected :-)

Today I am linking up with the good hosts at Skywatch Friday
and
Friday Foto Friends with Debbie.

Thank you for your visit and your comments.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Updates & A Walk

Hello dear readers,

I hope you are all doing fine and enjoying the Spring if you are in the Northern Hemisphere.  I know my friends in different countries in Africa are now moving into their cooler weather while we are just gearing up for gardening season where I live in Canada.

The weather has been quite nice for awhile now though every few days it is cloudy and sometimes raining. Some of you know that I've been trying to recover from a bad bout of bronchitis so I haven't been on line as much as usual. It means I haven't been blogging as consistently as usual or visiting your blogs.

Anyway, without further ado I wanted to provide an update you on a few missions efforts in Kenya. Someone asked me to keep them updated about the young man I wrote about in my  last post here.  I also wanted to update about the current condition of  the Pokot man who had been bitten by the black mamba snake early in the new year.  Finally I wanted to share a few photos I took on Monday as it seems like forever since I posted any new pics.

The young man I wrote about last time is an orphan who has been brought up by an aunt.  They have been trying to raise the funds to travel from a village near Narok, Kenya to some place where the young man can get treatment for the cancerous tumour on his face and neck.  They asked for prayers to meet all their financial needs.  After learning about this man's predicament and seeing how large the tumour was getting,  I decided I would help this young man get to Nairobi and ensure he didn't have to wait any longer for treatment.

Within a week he travelled to Nairobi with a medical escort, a member of his extended family.  A friend based in Kenya and I put our heads together to make a plan.  A private car had to be hired to drive these two men to the City of Nairobi. Due to the man's disfigured face he was not allowed in public transport which was our original plan.  We also ran into difficulties in finding a place to billet the young men.  Parents were reluctant to open their homes because their children might understandably be frightened.  Thankfully we were able to find accommodation through a young student I met some time ago in Kericho, Kenya.  He is now studying in Nairobi  and was only too happy to help. I remember long ago holding this very same student in my arms as he was crying and offering him chocolates as a way to make him happy. It is amazing to me how the story has come back to him.

Once the young patient and his escort arrived in Nairobi we ensured they were able to purchase bedding (mattress and blankets), towels, toiletries and some food.  The accommodations where they are staying are simple and the host is a student who is obviously on limited income. After getting settled, the pair of young men immediately went to hospital where they were expected by doctors for assessment. Surgery is scheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday Nairobi time).  After that I expect that chemotherapy will be administered.  I  have no idea how long they will need to stay in Nairobi but I expect it will be too expensive go to back and forth from village to Nairobi for treatment.

Please continue to pray that the surgery would go well and that all the remaining needs for medical care would be met.

Some of you will remember that I also wrote about a man from Pokot (northwestern Kenya) and my friend Jonah; both of whom were bitten by black mamba snakes in late 2015. Since then both men have gone through enormous challenges in recovery and the cost of medical treatment has been very high.

Made in January 2016

Jonah has been in and out of hospital but seems to be doing fine now. The other man, John, has been in hospital with no release since his admittance.  That is almost 4 months!  During that time he almost died twice due to not having the funds to get proper treatment. Thankfully we were able to get him the most urgent of help on these occasions and I'm happy to report that he seems to be doing fine now.  He cannot leave hospital until his bill is fully paid.  We are trying to make arrangements for the county government to assist John so he can go home to his family.

Made in April 2016

Here at home, I've been very busy this week.  Though not fully recovered, I've been well enough to do some sewing in anticipation of a visit to mom.  This time I made one dress (purple animal print) and 3 slips (turquoise, mauve and olive green). I just made several slips not so terribly long ago.  But  one has been ruined when someone on staff tried to cut it to modify it. It now looks like a rag.  Another slip was bleached out by the laundry department. I hope these new slips will last for awhile but I probably still need to make at least one or two in a fabric that will stand up better to hot water washing.  I'm thinking a light t-shirt material would be best because it stretches and bends with movement. It would also do much better in the laundry. In January I made 3 dresses.  At the time mom requested a purple dress. The pink/purple/black/white combo (in the photo above, far right) was the closest I could come to her request. Now I found a nice purple print (photo above, left). I hope she likes it!

I had an  nice outing the other day after being cooped up for so long indoors. Oh my, the weather was very hot! I met my friend in a coffee shop which was ice cold with the air conditioning going. We came outside shivering after 2 hours and were greeted by the balmy weather.  I captured these photos on my return home.

Joining in with Our World Tuesday.

Thank you for your visit and your comments.

WARNING: This May Be Disturbing: Prayers Requested

In my last post I said I wouldn't be blogging for awhile.

But this photo was sent to me later in the day along with 

a request for prayers.

The village family and community are trying to raise funds to go to Nairobi hospital to have the tumour removed from this young man's neck..

The fundraising target is 150,000 Kenyan Shillings (approximately $1500 US; $1920 Canadian; $1300 Euros).

They request prayers to help them achieve the goal.

Once they have the funds they will head to Nairobi or try to get the assistance of the government

to send this young man abroad.  Going abroad for treatment is common in Kenya if one can raise the funds. 
The country of Kenya is sorely lacking in cancer treatment options and equipment.

Thank you for reading and offering your prayers.

Warmer Weather

I'm still under the weather. 
 We've been having such marvellous weather this past week.
 I've missed most of it because of being indoors but I did manage to get this shot on Friday.

 On Friday I passed by the same street where I took (click highlighted words to see) these photos in March.

 This time the trees were in bloom again but with different blossoms.

How can that be? 

It's a mystery.

But I'm pretty certain there are not two varieties of trees all up and down the street which are blooming at different times.  If I get a chance, I'll try to get back there and take photos before the blossoms are gone.

When warmer weather arrives it is nice to enjoy these delicious salads.

~~

I'm not sure how much I will be blogging in the immediate future or how much time I will have to visit your blogs.
 I will surely try but  I'm so far behind in things.
 I need to focus on getting  well.  Then I need to focus on the things I haven't had time for while convalescing.
Don't be surprised though if you see me pop in to this blog or yours now and then.

Joining in with Our World Tuesday this week.
Thank you for your kind visit.
Have a fabulous week! 

Update: 
I returned to the street where I took photos last month of all the blossoms. 
The trees are entirely bare. The whole street!
The 2nd blooms didn't last long at all.
Fortunately there are still some blossoms on other trees but they've lost the vibrant colour they had last week and look like they won't be lasting much long.
Not to worry. The leaves on all the deciduous trees are now coming out.
Soon everything will be green.

Awesome Blues

It was such a beautiful day on Easter Monday when I took these photos. The sky was an awesome blue and the clouds were so wispy.

Happy Skywatch Friday!

Enjoy your weekend.