Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Summarizing Current Life Happenings

Hi friends and fellow bloggers,

 

I hope all of you are doing well. I've been seeing that many countries have experienced huge snowfalls over the past week. Where I live we were also expecting snow but it never arrived in my neighbourhood.

Sky this Week

The sky this week has been heavy with rain.  I was actually hoping for some snow for a change of pace but it looks like rain in the forecast for the next few days at least.

The sky on Tuesday, January 25, 2021

 
I got this little surprise on Monday, January 18, 2021. These pansy blooms popped up in a long neglected pot.

The sky on Monday, January 24, 2021

 Cooking

Cooking is a daily need for most of us. Here are a few of the things that have been on the menu this past week.

 

Cabbage and navy bean soup in tomato broth


Shrimp and vegetable stir fry over steamed rice

Spaghettini and Parmesan cheese with Kielbasa sausage and vegetables

Ham and pea soup with freshly baked bread rolls





I baked some bread and gave a loaf to my nephew.



Christmas Wrap Up
 
Mail has been slower than usual over the Christmas rush due to Covid protocols. But all mail did eventually arrive.
The winter Pea Coat I bought for my nephew arrived and he came to try it on. Thankfully it fit him perfectly and he liked it very much so I won't be needing to return it.
 
Two lovely little books arrived from my online friend in Folkestone, England. I enjoyed reading The Little Book of Mindfulness and the gratitude journal will be very useful. I'll start using it when I can get through my major project and a few other things so I can be more mindful when writing in it.This time of year is always super busy with the Annual General Meeting of the Strata (key things being annual budgets and inevitable strata fee increases), city property assessments, property taxes, property vacancy declarations and filing of federal and provincial taxes.




 

 Gifts from a friend, Joy in 
Nottingham, England

She always sends wonderful packages of interesting things.

 Reading

I haven't really gotten into reading yet. But these books are currently in my 'to read' pile.


Slowly making my way through this book.


I borrowed, The New Bohemians Handbook thinking I would get to see a lot of lovely decorating photos. I was disappointed that the photos are so small.

This is a newly borrowed book by Kristin Harmel. I read two of her books just before Christmas and enjoyed them so much so I'm looking forward to this one.
 

Home Improvements


Before Christmas I mentioned that I will be making a few home improvements mainly to help things function better for daily living and to assess what might be needed or detracted from my home as I continue with the decluttering.  Some of it is minor maintenance.  

The first improvement was painting one wall in the entry way and moving a small Asian chest/armoire from the living room to the freshly painted wall.  I also touched up the door to my bedroom and master bathroom (more to come in those areas later). The second improvement was to install a new range hood. I've gone without one for so long and I could not keep up to the accumulating grime on various surfaces. I was very happy when my brother bought me a new range hood and installed it for me as my Christmas gift. Before he did that I cleaned behind the kitchen stove and painted.  I laughed when I saw the upside down bow he placed on the range hood after installation. He wanted to make sure it looked like a Christmas present, lol.

 

The third item was to order some shelving for the kitchen to address the lack of a pantry. I have been wanting to order one of these shelving units for the longest time and have been checking them out both on line and in the retail outlets. I wanted a particular specs and I finally found one on Amazon which I ordered and received just after Christmas. I tried once shortly thereafter to set it up and it fell apart. I never tried again until last night and I'm pleased it went much more smoothly and seems sturdy.  I am very pleased with it and think I should have got one a lot sooner.

This is a work in progress. I am still rearranging and deciding what goes on these shelves.

But so far I'm loving it! It's a huge improvement ton having food on the floor and a small cart where everything was forever overflowing (as in the below photo).

 

Kenyan Missions

Over the past week we managed to get a new smart phone for Pastor Jonah. It will soon be time to send monthly medical, food, nutrition support and seeds and fertilizer to a few families. If you can help at all, please send your  donation via Pay Pal to kerichojoy[at]gmail]com (taking out square brackets). Otherwise we would appreciate if you could continue praying for the needs of the villagers. Thanks so much! 

Over the next while I'm continuing to work on my digital project. I don't expect to be back to regular blogging until it's finished but I pop in to read blogs here and there. I hope all of you continue to stay as safe as you can while we all await vaccinations. I don't expect to get mine until at least the middle of summer, possibly a bit later depending on how the roll out of vaccinations goes and whether our country gets the vaccinations that have been ordered for us.

Take care.

Note: I had trouble uploading tonight and the fonts kept going awry. I tried to fix it.

Friday, January 15, 2021

A Quick Stop

Hello everyone, Happy Friday and happy weekend to all of you. 
 
I know the daily news is dreary and sometimes frightening, for many of us right now.  But here's to hoping that you will find something to make you smile or give you joy this weekend.
 
Where I live we've been deluged with rain and also a couple days of extremely windy weather.  I heard the meteorologist say the wind was moving southeast after it left us.
 
I was glad to see the backside of both the rain and the wind even if was only for today.
When you get the days like today you forget all about the rainy days.
 
I've been wanting to capture some waterfront scenes for all of you for quite some time. 
I'm glad I was finally able to do it.


These scenes were taken from a place called Ferguson Point in Stanley Park. Anyone who has been to the Teahouse Restaurant across the street will know how to find the point.  This is the first time I've stopped at the point and I'm glad I did even though my visit was brief.


There were a lot of people out walking and cycling.  When we get so few days of sunshine over the winter months everyone makes good use of them. I do hope they are all taking precautions as well. Recent reports from our head doctor are showing a trend downwards in our province.  But the outbreaks are now happening in places that were largely unaffected by Covid in 2020. 

I continue to take care and have only been out twice in 2021;  once for groceries and once to the post office. I will make another post office run very soon to deal with purchase returns, and possibly make a stop at the pharmacy. Those will be my only outings in January.

It will likely be mid-summer up to late autumn before I am in line for a covid vaccination so I continue to be as careful as I can be.  I am more concerned for my loved ones who live up country because the numbers are growing so big in the areas where they live. I will try not to fret too much and deal with my concerns through prayer.  That's the best any of us can do.


 

As you can see by the photos, the sky was very clear today.

I saw some wispy, low lying clouds as I took the photo looking toward the building in West Vancouver.
 

Since I last wrote in this space, I've been super busy working on a personal project which is very labour intensive and approximately 2/3 to 3/4 complete.  By the first or second week of February it will be completely done.  Once it's done I will rest briefly before buckling down and getting rid of old papers and more digital files.  I cannot get rid of excess files first out of fear I might inadvertently get rid of papers or digital files that I need for the project..

I haven't been as up to date with all the household routines during this period. It's mainly the dishes that I never quite seem caught up to doing. I was trying to get all the dishes done by hand and sinks washed and dried by the end of the day but it doesn't work if I have too many other things to work on and want them done quickly. I do continue to try my hand at new dishes or old dishes with a twist.  I didn't take photos of all the dinners but here are a few.

First up is a sausage and chickpea in stewed tomatoes over steamed rice. It was very good and I will make it again. I made the chickpeas in my instant pot (pressure cooker) which I cooked for 12 minutes. That way they would be able to cook for awhile in the stew mixture without breaking apart from overcooking.

Chickpeas and sausage over steamed rice.

The next dish is an Italian New Year's dish made of lentils and pasta. I think the Italians use smaller, round pasta but I could only find rigatoni at my local grocery.


Last but  not least, is a dish of creamy chicken breast, seasoned roasted red potatoes and finely sliced sauteed kale with onions and garlic. It was my first time making the chicken with the sauce and it was quite good.

 

I haven't done a lot of reading but I did read this fascinating historical book on the life of Father Yungbluth (Youngblood), Oblate Missionary to the First Nations and Metis people of the Peace River District (PRD). The PRD is located in the northern part of two provinces, British Columbia and Alberta. I knew this father when I was younger or at least I met him at various funerals he officiated.  He was already old at that time so I'm glad someone has set his story down for posterity. He was really a colourful character.


Kenyan Missions Update

In Kenyan missions, please pray for Pastor Jonah who was robbed as he alighted a bus Friday night (Kenyan time) after having travelled from the countryside.  He had gone to attend court to aid a widow who is seeking a court sanctioned land grant.  Many times villagers die intestate (without a will) and the land succession issues never get properly dealt with. It can create a lot of problems.  

In this case, the widow's husband died without land title but I understand her husband didn't have recognized title either as it rested with his late father.  The process is not yet finished but in about one month we hope it will all be successfully completed. We have been hiring legal help here and there and paying all the court filing fees because the woman is destitute.  In the meantime, we also now need to buy a new phone for Jonah so he can continue to communicate and make financial transactions (This is how most Kenya villagers now do it.  Most foreigners have a difficult time grasping this because they wonder how a villager can afford a smart phone. They pretty much need one because it is a lifeline to doing so many things, especially when you don't live close to a bank or a hospital).

 As always we welcome your participation in these undertakings if you are led.

Keep well and enjoy your weekend.

Joining in with Skywatch Friday



Wednesday, January 6, 2021

Looking Back, Looking Forward

Hello friends, 

I'm popping in briefly to usher in the New Year. I'm easing my way into 2021 as I started the year feeling very tired. I'm still working on an intensive paper project and I find it difficult to find "free" time each day to work on it but I'm doing my best and I hope I will be back to usual activities in a few weeks or possibly sooner.

Let me wish you and all your loved ones a blessed 2021 as we begin this New Year. I'm grateful that my friends and family and I have made it this far and I look forward to a breakthrough in 2021 through this pandemic in a way that will see us being able to meet up once more in person. That is my hope like I know it is the hope of many of you.

 


Though I'm technically still on a social media break I have been reading a number of your blogs here and there but I've restrained myself from commenting so I do not get too distracted.  Some of you have written about choosing a theme word for the year. I too have been doing this now for a number of years but only realized a few days ago that I didn't choose a word for 2020. I guess it's just as well since my year got off to a really bad start personally and then got worse for the entire world as the months went on. I'm so glad to see the end of 2020 and I'm truly hoping that 2021 will be much better for us all though it will take some hard work getting there.

The year wasn't entirely bad. I have to say that I had one huge benefit in 2020 and that was time. I finally had to stay put and couldn't go anywhere.  I was very good about social distancing and keeping to my very, very small bubble.  So it meant that I had a chance to do a lot of small jobs and odd jobs that don't usually get done. 

I was able to work on catching up with taxes that had not been filed.  I also finally started working with a new financial advisor.  I have modest investments but I want to make sure they are handled well. Then Covid -19 hit so it's anyone's guess where things will end up.  I was also able to continue downsizing and got rid of some larger items that took up too  much space in my smallish home (6 huge, antique dining chairs to a cousin of mine) and 1 large, motorized wheelchair.  Friends have been fundraising to do some work on the chair and gift it to a needy person.  The funds are now in hand but now it's a question of when and how best to undertake the repairs and get the wheelchair out of my home. I will be so happy when that day comes but I have to wait for my very busy friend to move things forward.   I've given away a lot in 2020.  The decluttering is something I've been working on for years already but decluttering never really ends.  In 2020 I decluttered lots of books, clothing, knick knacks and the large items I've mentioned. I also decluttered a lot of digital files and photos and made some progress on paper files. I also underwent a successful colonoscopy "do over" and got half way through fitting a partial denture before Covid -19 hit. I'm not happy with the fit so far but don't expect to return very soon for further work. I should at least call the denturist.

In reviewing what I achieved in 2020, I decided that my theme word for the coming year is "completion". I intend to continue with all the time consuming clean up of paper and digital clutter, clothing and odds and ends. I guess I need to add photos to this task because I even have boxes of mom's old photos. Many of them are photos I gave her so they are duplicates and triplicates. Hopefully the task will not be that difficult and if I only make a start on the photos that is okay as the paperwork is what is bothering me most (perhaps I should just save cleaning out the storage room for 2022).  I hope that by December 2021/January 2022,  this huge decluttering task that reflects decades and decades of accumulated 'stuff' will be done.

Completion will allow me to put the past baggage (stuff weighing me down mentally and emotionally) and focus on new activities, new beginnings, new plans and so on.

Another thing I spent a lot of time on in 2020 was cooking. I don't actually enjoy cooking all that much except from time to time I do enjoy baking. However, one needs to eat and especially during this time when one cannot get to restaurants it is important to invest some time and energy into cooking. Particularly, if like me, you get bored with the same old meals you need to put some thought into creating variety.  The word variety is a matter of perspective however since I'm not one to go all out and learn all kinds of new dishes. I prefer to tweak and vary dishes I already know how to make or create my own dishes as I go along.  A little meal planning also helps me minimize food waste though I don't usually plan more than a few days to a week ahead.  I've found planning for 2 -4 weeks at a time doesn't work for me and cooking ahead doesn't work so well either.

Here are the meals I made since the New Year. I don't tend to eat breakfast or lunch that often but I might snack on some leftovers before making dinner which is the primary meal of the day.


January 1, 2021 Store bought frozen lasagna, sour dough toast and green salad with feta cheese




January 2, 2021~ Chicken and rice soup with dumplings


January 3, 2021 ~ Stew:  sausage, navy beans, barley, sweet potatoes, russet potatoes, kale onions and carrots in chicken broth


January 4, 2021 ~ Tiger Prawns in soy/chili sauce served with spaghettini and stir fried onions, carrots, mushrooms, zucchini, Napa cabbage, garlic

January 5, 2021 ~ Seared, marinated tuna steak (soy sauce and sesame oil), served with steamed rice and salad (honey, orange, ACV, oil dressing)

Wednesday's dinner will be hamburgers on buns with french fries and green salad.

Thursdays' dinner is roast pork and mashed sweet beef and potatoes.Friday's dinner is fish and chips or sausages and roasted potatoes. will be spaghettini, meatballs and salad.

 

I had a goal of reading 45 books in 2020 and read 67 though I didn't spend much time reading until late March when we were restricted from going out to all but essential services.  The library was closed for most of the year due to Covid. Instead the library increased the digital inventory which meant I mostly read ebooks. I discovered it is quicker to read an ebook than it is to read a paper book.

 

I planted 2 gardens as I usually do.  The first photo is my patio garden which did reasonably well. But due to Covid 19 I never spent much time caring for the community plot (second photo) and it didn't do too well.  I've asked my nephew's girlfriend to do the gardening in 2021 and she agreed.  She was experimenting with patio gardening in 2020 and seemed to enjoy it. All she needs to do is buy the seeds, water them and weed. The compost and tools are all provided.





Last, but not least,  the Kenyan missions kept me busy. 
 
We worked unsuccessfully to have a young Engineering graduate join university studies in Canada. He is now looking for opportunities at home and also exploring the possibility of Master's degree studies in Europe. 
 
Ernest was hospitalized twice due to serious leg injuries (first due to being run down by a vehicle and second due to a bad fall on a muddy path). He is now recovered and wishes to try to find work. Due to his diabetes T2 and Covid 19 concerns, his doctor advised him to stay out of town (thus no looking for work).  We've been trying to keep him nourished through food and vitamins as well as cater to his monthly doctor visits and medications.
 
Eunice continues to be in hospital far from home and has her ups and downs. The Lord has kept her this far and she has hung in there for 2 years. We provide special food every month to keep her blood as strong as possible and also intervene with medicines (eg. blood thinner) and other things (eg. oxygen, blood transfusions).  We were hoping to make some progress with moving her back home in 2020 but other things took our time. We still hope in 2021 to be able to move her somewhere close to her home. The issue is she needs an intensive level of care but she comes from a village near a small town. She would not have access to the same level of critical interventions if we move her home. On the other hand, she would be nearer to family members who could potentially visit her once we are past this Covid pandemic. It is very sad that she is far from home and no one has been able to visit her since March.  We also continue to try to get her the small pension to which she is entitled and will need a lot more prayer on this need.
 
Pastor Jonah too has had a few health issues (serious food poisoning and root canal problems) that we've needed to deal with. The root canal work ended up being very stressful and also very expensive. In the end the right services were provided after trying at two different hospitals and the work was either not properly done in one place and no service was provided at the second hospital due to the overly long queues of people every day for a week.
 
Carolly, my young doctor friend found a job in a small, rural clinic which provides primarily maternity services so he has been delivering a lot of babies. Sadly, his grandmother died just before Christmas so some small helps were needed unexpectedly.
 
There are many other people too numerous to name who needed food relief during this past year and especially at Christmas. We are grateful for what we were able to provide.

 ~~~

Summary

I didn't have big goals for 2020 due to almost losing my nephew through being struck by a train and having a guest visit just before the Covid 19 pandemic was declared.  Like everyone else, I was focussed on trying to educate myself, about the pandemic, implementing safety protocols and discussing with others in my family and in Kenya how to keep safe as well as providing food and masks when quarantines were put in place. I knew I would be decluttering in 2020 so I focussed on that rather than making new goals.  The grinding household tasks were balanced with cooking and reading.  There was one new thing I wanted to do in 2020 but had to forego, and that was taking a weaving course.  I am pleased overall with what I managed to accomplish in 2020 despite it being a strange and challenging year. 

 As I look forward , I don't think I will have much time for crafting in 2021 though I will probably do some crochet and simple knitting here and there.  I hope to read at least 45 books, complete my paperwork decluttering, some small painting projects and general maintenance work. Every summer I plant my patio garden and this year will be no exception.  Though as I mentioned, I will have someone else take care of the community garden for the summer.
I've been pondering how better to serve the Kenyan missions so there may be changes on the horizon.  The first step  will be seeking direction through prayer. In the meantime we continue to serve a few people and their families in different parts of Kenya.
 
 If anyone can contribute to the important work of feeding, clothing and helping the people with medicines and so on,  donations will be gratefully received. You can send through Pay Pal to kerichojoy[at]gmail[dot]com
Thank you in on behalf of the people.
 
Last but not least, thank you all for being faithful readers and blogging friends. I really appreciate you all and am so glad to know you through blogging. I wish a great year in 2021 for each of you and to all of your loved ones.



Thursday, December 31, 2020

Happy New Year 2021

 Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. For most of us it was much quieter and more restful than usual due to the travel restrictions during the ongoing pandemic.

I took a break from almost all social media over the Christmas holiday though I did sneak in a bit of blog reading and commenting here and there.  I'm glad I took a break because I was a bit tired from all the activities of December.

I'm actually still on break as I'm now working on a project which takes a lot out of me. I get easily distracted and I don't want distractions so I can get this thing out of the way as quickly as possible.  A lot of detail work is involved but once I'm finished, I will be able to return to blogging and visiting your blogs. But I wanted to make sure to stop by and say how much Christmas food was appreciated by the Kenyans who received it. Thank you for prayers and for the one who gave toward this cause.  It truly was a blessing. There are still other needs if you are wanting to donate. Rather than repeat them here, you can read more at the bottom of this post (click the link) if you like.

I also wanted to stop by and wish you all a very Happy New Year.  I hope that the new year will be kind and gentle and help us all recover from 2020 which took a lot out of us all.  We had to learn new ways of living, working, relating and being. Some lost loved ones.  I even know fellow bloggers and former bloggers who themselves got very sick with the dreaded Covid and thankfully are now in recovery.  Sadly some of this hardship will follow us into 2021 despite the readiness and availability of vaccines.  Even so I think people feel much more hopeful at the moment with the release and approval of several vaccines.  Please do continue to take good precautions as you go about your daily lives.  It will take time to vaccinate the world at large and to see how people react afterwards.

 

 


I'll be 'seeing' you soon. 

Love and hugs. xx





Thursday, December 17, 2020

A Very Merry Christmas

Hi friends,

I hope you are all well since my last post. I've been getting things ready in my home and running errands all related to Christmas.  

Sky Watch

Before I get into the news I want to share a few sky photos.  The first photo was taken on December 14th in the late afternoon.  The next photo was taken a few days earlier on Sunday, December 12th mid-afternoon after a particularly wet weekend.

Over the next 2 weeks the forecast is for half rainy days and half sunny days.  That's better than what we usually get at this time of year.




I'm grateful for the odd days of sunshine and the glorious views but truthfully the rainy days haven't bothered me much because I'm indoors and keeping busy.

Christmas Preparations

On Sunday night I finally got out the Christmas ornaments and did the decorating.  I'm glad to have the decorating done. Now I can enjoy the twinkling lights every day as I await Christmas.

 
The small tree, the mantle and bookshelves have all been decorated. I love my little tree because it is pre-lit and doesn't require many baubles. I gave away my larger one and this is the second year I've had the small one which is a perfect size for the living space.

This is the Chinese armoire I moved to the empty wall. I've added a few sparkly lights and glittery balls though I have yet to hang the elephant head mosaic on the wall.

 
 
The plants at the top of the mantle are a new addition. They were not doing well on the floor as the space is too drafty.  They are all tropical plants and I hope they will do better at the higher level.  The poor ficus lyrata (on far right) have been having a really rough year and I'm amazed they have survived. Some of the leaves are still recovering.

I painted one wall and touched up some doors. I have more to do but this will be it until after Christmas. I wanted to move the small Asian amoire to the wall so I painted the one wall first.
 




Before I added a few glitter items to the Chinese amoire, this is what it looked like just decorated with Kenyan artifacts and a Himalayan salt lamp for a Hygge-ly glow during the winter nights.

 

 
This is the Christmas mail I picked up at the post office today (Tuesday).  I'm always happy to receive cards and letters since hardly anyone I  know sends a card these days. I too have drastically reduced the number of cards I send.


 
I'm expecting 5 more parcels to be delivered to the post office and at home.  Most deliveries have been late and I'm hoping these ones will be delivered before Christmas as two of them contain Christmas presents. I also have a box of chocolates which I ordered for a Christmas fundraiser that I need to find time to go pick up soon.
 
 
Home Projects and Activities
 
I tried to put this box of shelving together. It's missing some pieces but I tried anyway. 
 
 
I need more time to figure it out since the pictorial instructions were somewhat useless and the snaps that hold each shelf up won't stay closed. If I cannot figure it out I may have to return it but I'm hoping I can figure it out. I bought the shelves with castors so I can roll it out of the way when I'm cleaning.
 
 

On my reading list:
I completed this book by Kristen Harmel. I highly recommend it.



I am now reading, The Girl with Seven Names. It's very interesting and is about a young activist from North Korea about her early life and ultimate escape from North Korea.  I found out about her on You Tube through a Ted Talk video when she was invited to California to speak about her experiences.

This is what I've been making and eating for dinner this week.


Ginger stir fried chicken with onions and snap peas served with brown rice.



Fried bannock bread to accompany the leftover ham and bean soup.


Pork chops roasted with capsicum and onions served with penne pasta in pasta sauce

Submarine sandwich and an orange

 Fried pork chop with brown rice and stir fried Baby Bok Choy, yellow peppers and onions



Kenyan Needs

Last but not least, I want to mention the needs in Kenya which are great at any time but especially now after the great floods, the locust invasion, the Covid pandemic and the Christmas season.  Many more people than usual are without any form of work and there is little government help. 

If you are in a position to help at all please consider doing so. It would mean a world of difference. This year my help will be more modest.  In recent years I have always worked with Pastor Jonah to do something special for a needy larger group be it widows, orphans, school kids or the internally displaced people (IDPs). Most of the latter have now been given land to start life anew and though they are likely still in need we have lost touch with them or they have moved out of the general areas where we try to serve people.

The list of recipients I can try to help is shorter this year and I've itemized the basic needs below. If  you would like to contribute to any of them kindly contact me at my email or send a Pay Pal donation to kerichojoy [@] gmail.com (the address is without the square brackets of course but I have put them there so the bots and spammers don't pick up the address).  If you have difficulty leave a comment  below as to how I can reach you back. If for some reason you still have difficulty accessing, I can also send you a Pay Pal request for payment to the email of your choice and in the amount of your choice.  It would be lovely if we could make Christmas a bit brighter for these people.  

All dollars amounts are given in Canadian currency.  If you need assistance with converting these amounts to your currency let me know and I can help you.  Most of these listed needs are ongoing needs but some of them are specific to Christmas, like food and clothing.  It is customary in Kenya to have at least one meal of chicken on Christmas day and a treat to buy one new change of clothing. The clothing takes the place of a gift since the village people have very little in the way of clothing or material goods.  The dollar amount beside each item is the bare minimum and does not cover the cost of the chicken in the food amounts (food amount covers things like tea, sugar, maize flour, rice and oil). If you want to add a chicken it will be another $15-$20 Canadian). Things in Kenya are expensive but we do our best to keep wants and needs to the barest minimum.

Here are the needs of people I help through the hands and feet of Jonah and Alvin in Kenya. Some of them I help each month and some I help only when I am able to do something more.

People I have been consistently supporting each month

Eunice - in hospital - contribution of any amount for medicines (blood $55 Canadian dollars a pint; medicines for blood pressure and blood thinner - approximately $40 Canadian dollars each) + special diet ($205 per month).

Ernest - diabetes medicine $55 monthly; vitamins $30 monthly; food $55 monthly; food for Christmas week $25; new change of clothing (thrifted) $25, transport ($20)

Alvin - food for Christmas week ($25); data bundles ($25-$30); clothing/shoes ($50); transport ($20).

Jonah - food for Christmas week ($25); vitamins ($30); data bundles ($50); clothing/ shoes ($50); transport ($40)

People I help intermittently

David - married travel tour operator with 2 children and a wife. His business has been greatly affected since Covid started. Food is the main need and beyond that, education costs.

Sarah - single mother with 3 children living in one of Nairobi's slums. Food is the main need and like any parent in Kenya there are costs associated with educating the children. All kids return to school in January 2021.

Stephanie - single mother with one child under 1 year old. Food is the main need and baby things.

Carolly - single man who recently began working as a doctor. He only makes $256.00 Canadian per month at a maternity clinic in a small village.  The money must stretch to cover his food, housing, data and transport needs, and the needs of his sister and grandmother (3 households). I also help him from time to time with things like phone or transport costs). Sadly Carolly lost his grandmother yesterday.  She suffered a stroke in the spring and gradually got weaker.  She now rests with the ones who have gone before. Please pray for her children and grandchildren as they are devastated.

Update:  I have now sent Christmas food package to several people: Ernest, Alvin, Jonah and Sarah.  Since it is Christmas I added a few hungry people who were not on the list above:  Elijah (with 7 family members), Charles (6 family members) and Rose (several family members). I also intend to add David who has 3 additional family members. I gratefully received a donation from one of my blog readers. There is still time to send a donation so please don't worry about when you can send it if you are planning to send something. The people will be glad to have some help to buy food and medicines at any time.

 ~~~~~

Things are moving along here and I still have many projects to complete. I'm hoping that before and after Christmas I will have accomplished a lot more and can start the New Year with a clean slate. I am actually a bit behind but I am pleased with my progress and I think after Christmas dinner is done I will be able to accomplish a lot.

I will be taking a break from posting until after Christmas but will still access email daily. Update:  I had a lot of difficulty posting photos, centering them and even typing out this post so I apologize for any misspellings as there are more than usual. I've tried to correct them after posting.

God bless and give you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas. 

~~~~

Linking to Skywatch Friday








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