Kenya captured my {heart} Part 8

This place holds a little piece of my heart. A little beautiful girl captured it here. God used her in an amazing way to speak to my heart and show me how loved we both are from Him. We are so valuable in His eyes. He loves us for who we are. He loves us no matter what our story is. He loves us through our joys and through our tears. He loves us when we surrender all of our heart to Him, but He also loves us the same when we have a hard time surrendering. He is so patient. He is so gracious. He fills us with JOY. He fills us with HOPE. He fills us with GRACE. He fills us with LOVE. We are complete in Him alone.

Heshima Children's Center

This place is called Heshima Children’s Center.  Heshima means “dignity” in Swahili. It is a children’s center where children with special needs are welcome to come to for physical, occupational and speech therapy. Most children with special needs in Kenya live a life that is undignified and full of broken dreams, but at Heshima they believe that Jesus Christ has a special purpose filled with dignity for each child with special needs. All human beings are made in the image of God, regardless of their outward appearance. Genesis 1:27 says “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God HE created him, male and female, He created them.” Heshima was started with the vision to meet the needs of these hidden children in Kenya. They provide breakfast and lunch, basic educational instruction depending on the need of the child, as well as occupational, physical, and speech therapy. One thing I loved about Heshima is their community development thinking. They offer all of these programs to the families for basically free, but they do have the families paid a small amount each month. This way the families are choosing and investing into making a difference in their child’s life and not taking advantage of something free. When things are given out free people start to depend on it and not change things for themselves. * This community children’s center is filled with so much JOY and HOPE. It is such a peaceful pace to be.

 

We had the amazing privilege of volunteering here two mornings at the end of our trip. I could have stayed forever. The children and the caring, sweet workers were so encouraging to my soul. Our mornings were filled with playing games, brush therapy, snack time of porridge, singing and play outside. There were many giggles, singing, cheers to be heard. There were many smiles, dancing, running and swinging to be seen. There were many cuddles, hugs and holding hands to be felt. These beautiful children wiggled their way into each team member heart. We were all so captured by them. These beautiful children who are pushed away by their society most possibly made the biggest impact on our team. We saw God’s heart in such a real way- how He loves and uses each person no matter how big or small. We are created in Him and for Him. He values us so deeply. Wow! What amazing take-away, but more than that we want to live out what was reviled to us!

Snack Time!

One little girl will never been forgotten in my heart. And I am not just saying that. This little girl stole a piece of my heart- it will always be with her. She loved me, hugged me, laughed with me and smiled with me in one of the hardest times in my life where I felt defeated, not valued, not loved or not supported. This little girl has hypotonic cerebral palsy causing her to not be able to talk or walk on her own, but it does not stop her from loving music and filling others with JOY. One of the directors told me that she hardly smiles and it has been a long time since she has smiled, but all she did with me was smile and laugh. Oh, my heart is overwhelmed as I type this. Somehow and for a reason God allowed us to bond and share two mornings of precious time together laughing and smiling. One of my favorite memories was when we were swinging on a swing and I started singing worship songs quietly and she just started smiling and “singing” along. We worship our amazing God together both in our brokenness. I pray that this little girl knows how valuable she is in the eyes of God. She is so loved. She is so important. She is so worthy to be dignified.  This little girl’s name is Princess. Princess fits her well- she is the bride of Christ.

She captured my heart with her beautiful smile!

Her beautiful mama also works at the center as a teacher’s assistant. She is a sweet and caring lady with a huge heart for loving on each child. She is so patient and compassionate. {Thank you for allowing me to love on your daughter and allowing me to hold her. You have both touched my heart incredible way! }

Giggling with goofiness

Princess and her mama are often on my heart and mind throughout my week. I pray that they have patience and feel God’s love always. I hope to someday see them again and if it is not on Earth I pray that we will have a celebration in heaven. Thank you, Princess for allowing Jesus to work through you to speak to my heart. I am truly still overwhelmed by it!

Joy from the Lord

These children are so worth it! They are so valuable. They are so beautiful and created perfect in God’s image! You can check out the website for more information on this awesome place and how you can purchase jewelry to help the mothers of these children!

Love all of her!

I would love for you to at least take away one thing from my experience and that is that you are valuable!  The word of God points it out so clearly so many times- read Romans 5, Ephesians 2 and Psalm 139 and more. God sent His only son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for YOU! So that YOU would be saved and washed clean of your sins so that YOU can one day go and be with Him for eternity! You are SO valuable!

With an overflowing heart, Daniella

Kenya captured my {heart} Part 7

It seems just like yesterday that I was in Kenya. The weather here in Korea has been so warm and sunny- just the way I like it reminding me of the sweet moments of Kenya among the hard. There are still two places that I would love to share about from my trip to finish off my Kenya captured my {heart} series.

Kipe’peo is a women’s ministry in Kibera (slums) that seeks to enable impoverished women to know Christ and have a sustainable income through making and selling jewelery and cards. We had the awesome privilege of watching them make homemade paper for cards out of recycle paper they collect from different offices around Nairobi.  A few of us got to help in the process while the rest of us went upstairs to a tiny room where other ladies were designing the cards. They had lots of things to cut out and we joined a long.

One of the steps to making card paper

One of the hardest things about this ministry for our group was that not each of us were physically doing something the whole time and we felt a little bit guilty and useless, but God showed (reminded) us that ministry is not always about doing or helping, but it’s about engaging in conversation and making relationships. We had a lovely time chatting with these ladies hearing their stories as work was being done. These ladies have beautiful hearts to serve Christ and their families the best that they can. They don’t have the attitude of poor me, but instead do the best that they can do with what they have. These ladies were definitely a blessing to us that was disguise to us at first, but God unveiled it. I just loved seeing the beauty of God through the creativeness and creation of the cards the ladies were making. What a honour to be a part of these ladies lives for a few hours.

Helping with the designing step of the cards

Lesson learned: Even we don’t feel useful God uses the situation to bring glory to His name!

Hope you are enjoying a beautiful weekend!

Love, Daniella  

To Mama

She just gets me and listens to my heart so attentively. She doesn’t judge me for what I say. She gives me time to respond. She gives me space to cry. She embraces me tightly. She points me to Christ. She encourages me. She supports me. She challenges me. She is always there. She is my beautiful mama and best friend.

What a sweet blessing it is to have my mama be one of my best friends. I know that it is a special gift and I wish that everyone could have such a sweet relationship with their mama’s.  There is just something so unique about it.

I love that we share our heart for the world and loving on others. I love that we get the giggles so often over the silliest things (and have had many close calls of wetting our pants or this may have happen a few times already J) I love that we have desire to continue to grow in who God is calling us to be. I love that no matter where we are in the world- we can always text or call or write a letter.

I am so thankful for the many lessons that my mama has taught me over the years and I anxiously wait for the ones that she will still teach me. She has taught me the heart of hospitality. She has given me the example of what it means to be a loving wife and mother through all seasons of life. She has shown me what it means to fight for your dreams. She has shown me what it looks to face your challenges and enemies with prayer. These are just a few of the many.

We have so many great memoires together, but most recently we made memoires in South Korea. What a huge blessing it was to have my mama here in my home for now- experiencing my everyday life. Loving on my community and students. Exploring Korea with me. Encouraging me and loving me when I needed it most in this season of life.  Thank you mama for taking time to visit me in Korea. You don’t even know how special it was for me or how much it meant to me! It really do mean the world to me and helped me to refocus on finishing this school year strong.

So here’s a few pictures of our time together! The rest will be on facebook:

My mama sharing her heart on hospitality to the ladies of my church. Love hearing her speak from her heart!  

My #1 supporter, my mom, got to see my soccer team win tournament! :)

She has always been so adventurous. We found a hole in the wall dumplings restaurant! We love it! Probably one of our favorites!

Having breakfast coffee with my mama is one of my favorite things. We always have heart to heart conversations over slipping coffee and tea!

Seeing beauty with my mama brought us both so much JOY!

Our dream finally came true!!! My mama got to see my classroom and students for real life. We have both been dreaming of this day for years! What a blessing it was to have her in my classroom. My heart exploded hearing and watching her read to my students! They were captured by her reading!

 

Happy Mother’s Day, Mama! I love you SO much! 

Love, Daniella

P.S I can’t wait to be a mama someday and hopefully passed all the lessons that you have taught me to my children! J

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

One of my biggest blog fans is celebrating her eighty-third birthday today and oh, how I wish I could be with her in person, but I love that I know that she is reading this right now. It makes me smile, Grandma knowing that you can read this because you are so techy with your computer! Thanks for getting a computer to keep in touch with me as I am an ocean away from you! Thank you for always sending an encouragement email after I have posted a blog. I always look forward to it!

I love this lady so much!!!

Grandma- today you are eight-three and I am praying for at least twenty more years of celebrating you! J You are my hero, Grandma. You have shown me what it means to follow after your dreams and to be an independent woman. You are an amazing example of woman who seeks after God’s heart and believes in the power of prayer. Thank you so much for investing into my life with prayer! When I think of you grandma I think of a lady, who loves deeply, has a deep desire to bless others, full of laughter and joy, and always keeping up with the times! I love to show you off and say “well my grandma…. rides in speed boat still” “my grandma loves to drink Starbucks Frappuccino’s” “my grandma is super adventurous”!!!  

Adventurous Grandma!  

You have taught me so much and I am so thankful for your wisdom. Thank you for teaching me to take care of yourself so you can pour into others. That there is always an excuse to buy a new dress! J That taking a Sabbath day is much important (still learning this, but you are a great example of this)!

Our little tradition every time we are together

I cherish all the memories we have together. Getting our green tea frappes, shopping for dresses, riding a speed boat, picking raspberries, laughing at every chance we have and so many more!!! I am so thankful for the summers at your home and the Christmases we have had together. Thank you for always loving me deeply and welcoming me into your home. You are so fun, caring and so generous!

You are on my favorite people on this Earth! I hope your eight-third birthday was filled with love and joy! You deserve a day all about you!

One of my favorite days from this past summer... fish tacos and the beach with Grandma!

My prayer for you this year that you will be free in who Christ has called you to be as a woman of God. That you would rely on Him alone for strength, wisdom and through that you would be able to pour more freely into others. You have been amazing support and care-giver to grandpa. I know that you have had to slow down and get rid of some extra activities in your life, but remember the most important thing is to do all you do for the glory of God.  Keep seeking after God’s heart, my dear Grandma!

And I am expecting to write at least twenty more of these blogs over the next twenty years! J Happy Birthday, Grandma! I love you SO much!!!

Love, Daniella

Kenya captured my {heart} Part 6

Tune my heart to sing thy grace. This song Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing comes to my mind when I think back to Shangilia Orphanage. Shangilia Orphanage is a private orphanage and school that is located just outside of Kangemi slum. The children live and attend school at the center.

The minute we walked into their center which is shaped exactly like an “O” you could hear the joy of the children and then we got to see the joy of the children on their faces. They were anxiously waiting for us to arrive! J They couldn’t wait to teach us things, talk with us and play with us. Every afternoon they break into different clubs and we had the privilege of being a part of the clubs! There was an art club, environmental club, skateboarding club, girl’s and boy’s scout club, and music club! And I was placed in the music club. So my college class Music for Teachers exactly came in handy and was used. Emmy and I were asked to teach the children a worship song with motions. Was I ever thankful that Emmy was there!? She quickly thought of a song and motions. We taught “Here I am to Worship”. It was a joy to see these children worship God. We then asked them to teach us a song in Swahili! They laughed and laughed with us as we learned the dance and motions. We sang and danced for an hour worshiping God. His presence was so felt. After about an hour all the clubs gathered together and each club had one person tell what they did in the clubs. Little did we know that we would have to perform our song in front of everyone! Oh, dear! The performance was “beautiful” and then we had the opportunity to teach all kids the song.

 

I think what stood out to me the most while being at Shangilia was the joy that these children had. No matter what their circumstances were/are they were filled with JOY! They count every blessing they have and walk in thy grace of God.

 

Oh, how easy my heart is prone to wander in hard circumstances. Oh, how easy I try to take charge instead of binding my heart to my Savior who lifts my eyes heavenly ward instead of self-ward.  These children have experienced more pain, grief, hardship then I have, but they still choose to express JOY. These children were far more of blessing to me than I am sure I was to them. God used them to minister to my heart and remind me that my JOY can only be found in Him. Yes, my heart is prone to wander, but I pray that it will be sealed for thy courts above! That my eyes will turned heavenly ward and my heart will overflow with JOY no matter what circumstance comes my way.

 

Let’s seek JOY this week in all that we do. No matter what comes our way. Ask God to overflow you with a deep JOY that can conqueror anything!!!! Seek JOY!

Love, Daniella

P.S My mama coming to Korea this week so everything is going to just be great and it is soccer tournament on Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

And here is the whole song if you want to sing it or just read it:

COME, THOU FOUNT OF EVERY BLESSING
Robert Robinson, 1735-1790 

Come, thou Fount of every blessing,
tune my heart to sing thy grace;
streams of mercy, never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
mount of thy redeeming love.

Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I’m come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.

Kenya captured my {heart} Part 5

It is amazing to think that it has been over a month since I travelled to Kenya and got my heart captured by it. Times just keeps ticking, but the memories are staying- the good ones and bad ones. They are continuing to teach me, grow me, overwhelm, stretch me and bring healing to my heart.

Kenya wreaked my life in a good way and bad way. There is still so much to think through and figure out how to move on with all that I saw, experience and felt. Some days I am doing great and other days I ready to cry or scream or just be angry. To be honest I am having more angry days then good days lately. My heart just feels so unsettled with where I am. I just want to be anywhere, but where I am. I keep trying to find ways to leave or change my circumstances, but I was challenged this week that our circumstances don’t matter to God. He just wants me to be completely focused on Him. He wants me to completely trust Him with where He has me. He wants me to rest in Him and in Him alone! He wants me to susurrate my soul in His word and cling to the truth that He has given me, but my heart and mind are fighting it. Ah!

Now that I allowed you to see what’s going on in my heart I want to share with you the moments I had at the New Life Home Trust. This place is a wonderful and peaceful baby orphanage located in Nairobi. Well, there we were able to play with babies and hold them tight whispering to them how much they are loved. How beautiful they are and speaking truth into their little ears. I started out with a cute little girl who just nestled right into my arms. She was about 7 months old. She loved to stand up on my legs and dance except that her stomached couldn’t really take because she kept spitting up every time we did.   Poor little sweetie. She has a hard time keeping her milk down one of the workers told me. Eventually they took her away from me because she kept spitting up. She was such a peacefully baby and I pray that she will know/experience the deep love of her heavenly father as she continues to grow. I ended my time there holding a little boy who was very sleepy, but couldn’t go to sleep because they are all on a strict schedule. I had the challenged of keeping his eyes open! Oh, what a cute little smile he had. I pray that he will grow up to be a man of God and light to those all around him.

 I also had the opportunity to talk to another lady who was volunteering there. She volunteers about twice a month. She was about my age and she works for a news station. She shared her story with me and I was amazed and touched how God open up a door of hearing a beautiful story of His grace with a stranger I had never met. It felt like we had known each other before. What a beautiful thing it is to be in communion with other believers. They truly are your brothers and sisters in Christ. This was something that placed upon my heart as fellowship with this lady.

We were not allowed to take pictures at this orphanage, but I can still see the smiles of the babies. The sweet care of the care ladies. The cleanliness of the rooms. The peace that overflowed and the joy that was heard.

My heart is burdened for the millions of orphans around the world.  There are so many beautiful lives longing to be loved and in a forever family. Will you join me in taking one day out of your week and praying for orphans around the world? Here are 7 seven ways that you can pray for them:

Don't just pray in the month of November, but pray year around!!!

 

My soul is reminded that I was once an orphan strained in sin, but my Savior adopted me and pulled me close with His never-ending, always forgiving, full of grace love and promises to come. (John 14:18) Let’s be a voice and love for these loves that have experienced way too much for their little age. Please join me in prayer!

I ran a 10k this weekend to raise funds for adoption!!

                                                                                                                        Love, Daniella

Kenya captured my {heart} Part 4

New Hope School in Kibera Slum

Desires.  A wish. Long for. Crave. Want. Yes, God has placed desires on my heart and I believe that He places specific desires on each of our hearts to draw us closer to Him and bring His kingdom to Earth. There are a few desires that God placed on my heart at an early age like the passion for education and teaching and as I have gotten older He has continue to put desires on my heart. And on this trip to Kenya God clearly showed me some tangible ways to live out a desire He has been growing in my heart for a few years now…

An awesome school in Kibera Slum

We had the privilege of attending New Hope Initiative (New Hope Academy) which is an elementary-middle school in Kibera slum (this slum is one of the largest slums in Africa!!!!) that accepts boys and girls from the neighboring communities. The school feeds the students twice a day and also has a high school and college scholarship program. They also provide a source of income for the students’ moms through Project Biashara which is amazing jewelry co-op.  You should check out their products and buy yourself something beautiful… hey maybe what you get was made by me … continue to read to find out how! J And we had the awesome opportunity of working with these moms! Oh, how I love it!  

This is how they take attendance each day! :)

Another thing I love about this place is that the school is run by a Kenyan director and all the teachers are Kenyans. They are supported by a church in Houston and have an on-site overseer who helps the teacher with professional develop, helps the school with their goals and just serves as guide with wisdom and knowledge overall (the lady working there now is super sweet and great!) And this is something that God has been placing on my heart to do some day! I would LOVE love love to empower teachers in remote places. I would love love love looovvveee to support, encourage and train them to be the best they can be. I love that this place is empowering Kenyans to change their nation through education. It just makes my heart sing! La la la! (And I think my dad would be proud because they are living out community development to the T!!)

An amazing Kenyan teacher with a heart of gold!

We had the opportunity to visit the different classes and be put out of our comfort zones by impromptu teaching “lessons” for a few minutes in each class. We just kind of said whatever came out of our mouths. I remember in one classroom I taught the difference between saying “hi” “hello” and “hey” and pointing out that “hey” is homophone because you also have “hay” that animals eat… oh, my! Now thinking back about it I am embarrassed! J

It was a joy though to walk into these classrooms and see that these beautiful students were learning so much. Their teachers showed deep dedication and excellence in teaching. It sadden my heart to see that they don’t have awesome supplies… they have a chalkboard and a few of the lower elementary classes had some posters that were homemade. Oh, how I wish these classrooms could be full of color, but to these kids they were just so thankful to be getting an education. My heart wrestles with thinking about these differences?! How can one place have so much… technology, poster, ect and other places so thankful for something so simple like a chalkboard.

Their classroom posters

God really blessed our time at New Hope. We ended up visiting the school on the perfect day to hang out with the mom’s and their jewelry making business. They meet about 6 times a month at their co-op. They start every gathering together with a time of worship in Swahili. Wow! How awesome is it to hear believers worshiping God in another language. It felt like I was in heaven for a few minutes. I can’t wait until the day that every tongue and every nation will bow down and worship God with their native tongues! We got to dance and clap and try to sing along with them. My heart felt so full and overflowing!!

Beautiful time of worship

 After worship time we sat down with the moms and helped them make wooden salad spoons and bead beads. It’s a joke on our team that someone in the US is going to order salad spoons thinking that they are made by a Kenyan woman when they actually were made by an American teacher teaching in Korea. Haha! Anyways, right after worship one lady called me over and was so excited to sit, show me how to make a wooden spoon and talk to me! She had oh, so many questions!!!  One question she asked me was first “was I married?” and when I said “no” she said “would you be willing to marry any man of any race?” Oh, did I laugh and then response with “if he is a godly Christian man who loves God with His whole heart and loves me deeply His race doesn’t matter to me”.  She smiled at that answer. We are pretty sure that she had some Kenyan man for me! Oh, dear! Another question she asked me that strike me and was hard to answer was “how much money do I make being a teacher?” I really didn’t know what to say because even though according to worldly standards I don’t make a whole lot, but I sure do make a lot compare to the people of Kenya! It is really something to think about and put into perspective!  It was a joyful morning working with these beautiful mamas who are trying their best to provide for their families and get them out of the cycle of poverty!

This mama was SO great!!!

What we "helped" make!!!

Speaking of poverty- I have never seen such a poor place as Kibera slum. One it is absolutely huge!!!! I was blow away with how many shacks upon shacks there were. The minute we stepped out of the car you could smell the smells. There were no roads- just small dirt paths to walk along. We had to cross a filthy stream by stepping on stones then crossing a bridge that had many big holes in in it. The water was steadily running down the stream filled with mud, pigs, potty water and who knows what else. There is no running water or bathrooms in the slums. Everyone lives super close to each other, but New Hope is a bright spot in this slum. A bright spot of hope for the future generation to break the cycle of poverty! It really is hard to put into words what we saw at the slums, but I think the pictures can give you a pretty good idea of what we saw. Please pray for the millions of people living here that they were find a way to break the cycle!

 

 

Something I crave now is to go back to school and get whatever masters’ degree I need to be able to continue my pursuit in teaching teachers in improvised places how to be the best teachers they possibly can be! And now my favorite college ever, Taylor University is exploring the possibility of offering training curriculum for orphan and vulnerable children “workers”. This screams my heart! Right now I just feel like I can’t get started fast enough on pursuing these desires, but at the sometime I don’t even know where to begin! Ah!! I just have to continue to trust that it is all in God’s timing! J

God will guide your steps....

Oh, Kenya has impacted my heart and future for the good! And I am oh, so thankful! Don’t worry there will be more blog posts coming soon about the other ministries we visited… 4 actually!!

Love you all!

Love, Daniella