My Life

 I was listening to Treasure Hunt, a kids show that comes on Hope Fm on saturday mornings. They played this lovely song 'I could sing of your love forever by kids ' http://youtu.be/mnPVJYTW9s8 . May we busk in God's love forever. Have a lovely weekend. [Intro:] Over the mountains and the sea Your river runs with love for me And I will open up my heart And let the Healer set me free I'm happy to be in the truth And I will daily lift my hands For I will always sing of Of when Your love came down [Chorus:] I could sing of Your love forever (x4) [Bridge:] Oh I feel like dancing It's foolishness I know But when the world has seen the light They will dance with joy Like they're dancing now I could sing of your love forever (5x)

I couldn't help but share today's Moments with you devotional by Dennis&Barbara Rainey with you. I would love to see my beloved stand up for Samara like this dad did. May we as parents get the courage to stand up for our kids. Read on please. I'll Protect You Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go. JOSHUA 1:9 One day during Rebecca's first year of junior high, she came home from school with an unusually unhappy look on her face. Some boy had been making ugly remarks about her figure (or more precisely, her lack of one). "What's this guy's name?" I inquired. She told me what it was. "What's his phone number?" I asked. "Sounds like we need to have a little man-to-man chat." When the boy's father answered the phone, I told him I needed to talk to his son. I said I wasn't going to be mean, but he had been ...

Its always so nice to receive good news. Yesterday evening, my beloved sent me a text message and said he had both bad and good news. He asked which one news I would like to receive first and I said bad news.  Knowing him, he likes keeping one in suspense and  he wrote back and said he will share in person. So I texted back and said good news but he still said he would share face to face. Lucky for me, he wasn't too far from SAS. He told me that the business trip he was to go today Thursday to Sunday had been cancelled. Right there I started smiling ear to ear because he had travelled the previous weekend and we miss him alot when he is away. Things are never the same when he leaves so to hear that he would be here made me smile. The bad news was that he would have to work late one of the evenings. I complained abit but said its better to have him home than not at all. Over the weekend, someone made a remark that bothered me. Hearing ...

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze ( Isaiah 43:2  NIV). There is nothing that pierces the heart like hearing the wails of a mother who has lost her unborn child. I do not like to write this but it happened this morning. At 5th Avenue Office Suites, where our kids furniture store is, there are a number of doctors from gynecologists, pediatricians, cardiologists just name them. So hear I was doing my work and I hear some  loud cries. I try and figure out whether it  is a child or an adult.You see, kids cry alot here when they come for their appointments/jabs. But the screams get louder and louder and am convinced it is an adult. I wonder whether they have been told they are unwell or received bad news. Immediately a client walks in and asks me who is crying and I say its coming from downstairs...

Have you ever wondered how an employer and employee think differently especially towards end month? It is a few days to end month right? What are you looking forward to? Receiving your hard earned salary yeah? What is the employer thinking about? Where will the salaries, rent etc come from? With 6 days to go, an employer like me  is praying for a client to walk in and make a payment that will hopefully offset the outstanding expenses.When I was employed, I did my work faithfully but at times when Kenya Power decided to ration the electricity, I didn't mind,  I only got upset if I lost my unsaved work. In business, having no lights means nothing would go on. I would frantically call their emergency number to find out what the problem was and when lights were expected back. I miss the free use of internet, printing paper, photocopier? One would research, download without a care. Now, I ask  myself. Is it worth downloading? How long with my orange card last this month? I...

I was flipping through the channels on Saturday evening and came by Capital Talk on K24. Jeff Koinange had an interesting guest on the bench. It was 9year old Rose Nasimiyu who has been diagnosed with cancer. She  amazed me. Rose has such faith and credits it to her parents who have taught her that she can make it in life and fight the disease with confidence. I wouldn't want to dilute her story which can be found on http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2011/07/21/cancer-won%E2%80%99t-make-rose-nasimiyu-wilt/ . She needs to go for chemotherapy every 2 weeks which costs about Kshs 50,000-60,000  per session and says her parents are really working very hard to ensure that she goes for the 16courses. With the help of her mum,Rose has written and sang   'I believe'.  Having lost close relatives to cancer, I just can not  imagine what this girl has gone through. However she doesn't focus on her challenges she said something profound" feed your faith and your fears ...

Life is in the ordinary things and not the big things. Today as I was leaving for work, Samara ran to where we place our shoes, picked a pair of sandals and dropped them at my feet to wear. I was so touched and decided that is what I would wear today, she then said her goodbyes and shut the door. They grow too fast I think. This was not the first time, many times when she sees me pick my handbag, she is concerned about what I will wear and selects a shoe for me. At times I wear them gladly and give her a thank you kiss but at times I decline but still let her know am grateful for the thought. She reminds me of my beloved. For him how you dress from head to toe is really important. You see for me, shoes are not such a big deal, but to him it matters how you look and he loves us being presentable and am so glad he compliments me. So when I hear Samara say 'smart' when she sees one dressed well in her eyes or rushing for a shoe, I see Alex in her. So today, am grateful for both ...

The past month has been very difficult in terms of my work.  I have questioned my job description and thanked God that I did not go insane. As you have read previously, we had a new consignment of kids furniture coming in on June 19th and I had lamented severally on how stressful it has been just to have the goods cleared and released. It has been a hectic and disorganised month.  I would receive a call from the agent and he would say this  amount of money is required, and because am all alone at the shop, I would have to close it, rush out, (wondering whether any client will come and find we are closed). I would go to the bank and wonder whether the transactions would go through or not. Sometimes I would make costly mistakes on the bank documents and I would pay dearly for them. I would then rush back to SAS exhausted and praying for clients to come.  Business has also been quite slow this month and I looked at the books one day and shed tears, wondering whether I...

A bearded man walked into SAS a few minutes ago,shook my hand and requested to see my boss. I said I am the boss and he asked for  a seat and removed a piece of paper that read as follows Mr ....Scientific Palmist Professor XX is there for helping you to solve your problems Luck, love,health,work, protection ,make you free from bad powers and shadows, examinations, if your husband or your wife is about to leave you. Specialist in herbal medicine for diabetes,paralyzed,heart attack,asthma and other sex problems.Please try to your fortune truthfully told  present,past and future horoscope,astrology. I was speechless. I didn't think these people are real, as in I have always read about them but here was one who wanted to do his thing right here at SAS. I just thanked him for his time but stated that I was not interested and wished him a good day. Right there ,I thanked God for salvation. My past present and future are in him and I do not have to try my fortune because my life...

I was watching a show on teenage mums last evening. There was a 15year old girl who had chosen to keep her baby and was explaining how hard it was to be a teenage mum.  In previous shows they had shown this particular girl while pregnant and her decision making process of whether to keep the baby or put the baby up for adoption. Despite being   age 15, in school, with no income and living with her parents she chose to keep the baby. Some people were upset with her for that decision, but I wondered how easy would it be ,to give up your baby whom you have bonded with for 9months? Lucky for her, there are schools for teenage mums where they go with their babies and volunteers watch the kids while they attend class. In the show , they share a video clip of her preparing the baby in the morning before heading to school. While she finishes to dress the boy, he burps and she feels worked up as she is running late for school. The irony is that s...

I am preaching to myself. Learn the art of patience. Apply discipline to your thoughts when they become anxious over the outcome of a goal. Impatience breeds anxiety, fear, discouragement and failure. Patience creates confidence, decisiveness, and a rational outlook, which eventually leads to success.     Brian Adams Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind. Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519)

Earlier this week, I shared my frustration of doing business . Yesterday and today, I almost literally pulled my hair because of the stress I am getting to clear our cargo and at the inconsistencies in the banking sector. Yesterday, I received a call from our agent on how our cargo was not going to be released unless we topped up the  duty charges, which we have already paid twice. So I rushed to the bank with my baby whom I had hoped to spend the afternoon with. So we did a bankers cheque and I made an error  somewhere and hence requested them to change. The nice cashier told me, I needed to come back the following morning as they had already closed the system and its was 4.45p.m. Their branch closes at 4p.m.I walked away heart broken but my beloved was there to help with baby as I took in  the information and saw storage costs go up for another day. This morning, I was am among the first at the bank door and was told I needed to repurchase the bankers cheque to correc...

A friend of mine was very excited to have found this center for kids in Nairobi Kenya. Hope it will be useful to someone else. Therapies for Kids Kenya is an affiliate of Therapies 4 Kids USA, a leader in Pediatric Intensive Fitness programs for children and adults with neurological disorders such as Cerebral Palsy, Autism and Stroke.Children’s physical development and movement is linked closely to other aspects of their daily learning. It is influenced by their growing confidence and enjoyment of physical play, by their increasing ability to control their own bodies through movement and by their physical well-being and strength(Therapies for Kids Kenya). You can visit their website for more details on http://www.therapiesforkids.org/

Isn't technology amazing? Can you imagine our lives without the internet? The  net has helped me make friends with people I have never met.  I belong to a certain support group and everyday, people share what they are going through, their fears, challenges and battles they have won and it has been an encouragement to me.  In the group, people ask questions and others willingly answer from their personal experiences. It has helped me appreciate the experiences I have gone through  in life. One day, I asked a mum why she shares their experience  through a blog and she said " believe it or not, I am a very private person. One thing I learned through our son is that our lives are not our story, but God's story. We do not tell our stories so that people think we are wonderful, but tell them so they can see that through our weakness God's strength shines." I was greatly humbled by that response and that's how I got the guts to share my life with people through...

This is my take on doing business in Kenya. I feel like one is punished for doing business today. Why do I say that? For example, am so furious and frustrated by our clearing system. Can you imagine our cargo arrived at the port on 19th June and today 12th July it still isn't out. It has been back and forth with many excuses and as at now my agent in Mombasa is not picking my calls.Can you imagine the amount of time wasted and the business opportunities lost? Why should one have to take over a month to clear cargo? I am frustrated  because, I have clients who made payments for items 1 or 2months ago and the  prolonged delay is  unwarranted. The utility bills are high, high fuel prices,the rents are high and most people are forced to work from home, items purchased both locally and internationally have gone up. Even as you try and cushion your clients, and strive to give them fair and affordable prices the cost of doing business is high. Have you looked at our exchange r...

Alan Jackson Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus Lyrics : [Chorus:] Turn you eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face; And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace. O soul are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see? There's light for a look at the Saviour, And life more abundant and free: Through death into life everlasting He passed, and we follow Him there; Over us sin no more hath dominion For more than conqu'rors we are! [Chorus] His word shall not fail you He promised; Believe Him and all will be well. Then go to a world that is dying, His perfect salvation to tell! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO4uIyz_d90 I have been singing the above song all weekend, yet I was hard to apply it. All weekend, I went about worrying about a major project that lies ahead of us.Infact by last evening, I was on the verge of tears and requested my beloved to pray for me to have peace and trust in God. You se...

Enjoy the read from today's Moments With You Devotional by Barbara Rainey. It is a great challenge  to us not to pass the baggage we have with our families and friends to our children. LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup. PSALM 16:5, NIV Barely a year after my mother and father married, her parents decided to divorce. My mother traveled to Chicago and spent an entire week pleading with her parents to restore their relationship. Unsuccessful, she returned emotionally exhausted, needing more than ever a warm, accepting relationship with her mother-in-law, who lived nearby. But for reasons still unknown to us, she was never embraced by my father's mother. You'd think, then, that my childhood would be one of growing up with a mother embittered by her loss of parental affection and support. You'd think my relationship with my grandparents would be distant and suspicious. Yet quite the opposite was true. That's because my childhood w...

I am not sure if all mums are like me but I really get stressed when Samara is unwell.  I heard someone on radio say that there are people whose tears are so near yet others, it takes effort before they get to cry. I am in the first category. Sometime back we had gone for holiday with our couple group friends . While in Malindi, we went for dinner in a place we like to frequent when there. We ordered some beef stew for Samara. I didn't bother to taste the stew because I assumed  it was like what we were eating which was ok. Later that evening she fell sick and started vomitting. The following morning, she vomitted again and we thought  it will pass as she had no fever. We headed on for breakfast but she didn't want to taste anything. Later that day she threw up and I couldn't take it anymore and broke down. It is so hard to see your baby unwell or suffer. You wish you can trade it with her. We took her to a local clinic and the doctor said since there was no fever we ...

I am such a nervous wreck today. Literally for the past two weeks since I was told that our cargo has arrived at the Mombasa port. I do not mind doing my online purchases because they are straight forward. But you think about the clearing system in Kenya at the port and its nail biting, at least for me.  First you identify a clearing agent whom you have never met physically because he is in Mombasa and I am in Nairobi .Though he has cleared  some goods for us in the past. I think the nature of their work makes them assume you can read their minds .Like the other day he sent me a text message stating the amount of duty charges we need to pay, I called him and he was in a meeting and he said he would return my call which he didn't. When I called him the following morning, he wanted the cheque in Mombasa , and I was like you didn't inform me of that, am not just sitting outside a bank waiting to do the cheque. With the time line pressure( because they start charging you for sto...

Happy birthday Samara, you are 18months today. That is such a big milestone. We are so proud to be your parents. We admire your energy,laughter and musical heart. You are a joy to us and we pray that you may stand out ,like a rose among the thorns. May your heart be tuned to God and may you come to know and love Him in your young days. Since you came into our lives, you have taught us about God's awesomeness &we have marvelled at His beauty and sovereignty. Up to date, I have never comprehended how he crafted you so skillfully, fearfully and wonderfully in the womb and presented you to us as a gift that we can  love and nurture. You have taught us to think about others and not ourselves, to depend on God for His provision, protection and much much more. We love you dearly and say may the Lord bless you, protect you and may He draw near to you in  your young days. May He grant us  your parents,the wisdom to bring you up in His ways and for His glory. Love you baby g...

I think some things are unique to our country especially on the road. You find policemen controlling traffic where the traffic lights are working perfectly well. A policeman, tells cars from all directions in a round about to join in at the same time. It happened to me today, the policeman was telling us to move yet there were vehicles coming from the other direction,so you squeeze your way through. You find buses overtaking cars from the wrong lane in traffic on a hill.Last week Friday, we were stuck in traffic for a while on Valley road. Believe it or not some buses were using the downhill lane to overtake,yet there were oncoming vehicles which were forced to use a single lane. When I told the policeman at the roundabout, he said in a non convincing tone that he would check on it, which I doubt he did. Only in Kenya is one stopped by a policeman and refuses to stop. On Friday, there was a lot of traffic. When we got to the roundabout of Silver Springs, some vehicles did not want t...

As we prepared for our wedding and marriage, we both had changes in our career. Alex was working in the private sector and we worried about the working hours especially on Saturdays.He applied  and got a job in a parastal, and was to start the new job in November soon after our wedding. We were excited because we thought being in a parastatal would allow him more time for our young family. In  mid August, 2 months before our wedding, my contract was not renewed and I was without a job until November when I got an internship at an NGO. It was a complete shift from being in the corporate world but I liked the place because it dealt with women and girl child issues and it was very close to our home. The first few months into our marriage were quite enjoyable. We both arrived home by 5.30p.m had had the whole evening to ourselves. We loved our new life and for me I thought it would remain like that. Reality checked in, when I started getting assignments out of town which deman...

My weekend was lovely and different.  On Friday evening, we were not in our usual jeans and T-shirts but instead dressed up in evening wear and joined our couple friends for dinner. The food and company was great. It was such a refreshing time just to have a good time away from home and the kids. On Saturday,I went to work with Samara and it was much fun. It was nice to feed her, play and see her interact  so well with other children. Alex had gone to the garage and as usual came back with it sparkling clean. Later that evening, we attended our monthly couples meeting, where we laugh, catch up on whats happening in our world,share about our joys,challenges in marriage and parenthood. We have observed that   in the last 3 years,there has been much growth and maturity in each of the individuals. The group was formed when majority of us were newly weds. We are 6 couples and have 7 babies and 1 coming soon. It is a group that we treasure and look forward to meeting as ...

As I went home last yesterday, I heard the song 'In harms way'  by BeBe Winans, Rhett Lawrence, Margaret Bell-Byars. When listening to music, I want to know the lyrics,what the song is communicating and how it applies in my life. This song reminds me of God's unconditional love, even when I do not deserve it, even when I have given up , even when he knows all He knows about me, he doesn't let go of me. That is just amazing. Undying love you've given to me Seen in me things I would never have seen I don't understand why you care so much, it's all a mystery Time and time again I ask myself What have I done to deserve such wealth The price you paid, I could never repay your generosity Chorus: In wanting to save me In order to save the day Because of love you placed yourself In harm's way It's truly beyond me Left without a word to say What kind of love would place itself In harm's way? What kind of love would place itself In harm...