Another miracle happened today at 4:54 pm Valdosta Georgia time, and that was the birth of our new grandson "Parker David DeRoest".
Weighing in at 8 lbs. 7 oz., 20" tall. Momma and Baby are both doing wonderful.
As is the proud papa, and big brother Ethan.
Parker's due date is tomorrow the 1st of October, but he had other plans.
Grama Morse made it just in the nick of time by arriving last night, so she was blessed to be present at his birth. It is an amazing experience to watch your baby, bring a baby of her own into this world.
There is no doubt in my mind that we have a loving Heavenly Father watching out for us here on this earth.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Inquisitive neighbor Children
The word must have got out that there were very white skinned people visiting Winnie because the one day we just relaxed at home there were children coming from all direction, many just to look from the boundary of the property.
I was really getting a kick out of looking around to see all the peering eyes.
Soon they were brave enough to come close, and even play with Savannah as she would get so excited about all of her friends. She would squeal with delight. At one point she said "they all love me"
Some of these pictures were the children of those that were helping Winnie with cooking or cleaning. In fact this little one was named after Winnie.
To look into the eyes of these young ones just melted my heart.
I didn't know the circumstances of their homes, but my heart wanted to gather each one.
My camera was in the house at one point when Savannah and Lexi were coloring outside around the table, and before I knew it there were 4 or 5 on lookers that I invited to color with them. It was so cute to watch the little ones be so creative with coloring. One of the little boys used every color on his picture. It was a very fun evening.
I was really getting a kick out of looking around to see all the peering eyes.
Soon they were brave enough to come close, and even play with Savannah as she would get so excited about all of her friends. She would squeal with delight. At one point she said "they all love me"
Some of these pictures were the children of those that were helping Winnie with cooking or cleaning. In fact this little one was named after Winnie.
To look into the eyes of these young ones just melted my heart.
I didn't know the circumstances of their homes, but my heart wanted to gather each one.
My camera was in the house at one point when Savannah and Lexi were coloring outside around the table, and before I knew it there were 4 or 5 on lookers that I invited to color with them. It was so cute to watch the little ones be so creative with coloring. One of the little boys used every color on his picture. It was a very fun evening.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Visiting the Arizona of Kisumu
One of our day trips in Kisumu was to visit the
Kit Mikayi Historical Rock sight. Winnie called this area the Arizona of Kisumu because of all the large rocks.
It was easy to get up on top of these rocks for fun picture taking.
We arrived more toward the evening, so darkness didn't take long to fall upon us.
The story was told of a man that loved to come to this spot (the tabletop rock formation) for prayer and meditation. He spent so much time there that his wife said that the rock was his first wife (Mikayi in Luo language).
Part of the tour was to hike up between the rocks, then back down inside the rock cave where many would hold a prayer, or meditation time.
It was amazing that Winnie made it up to the top, but the idea of going down inside the rock cave in the dark was really not an option, and my lack of desire to go inside any cave made it easy for me to stay at the top with Winnie and enjoy the beautiful view.
Once all returned back out of the cave we walked back down in the dark, and joined in with the singing and dancing with the women that worked there.
This became part of a ritual for the women. It was said that once visiting this spot if the women would dance here that they would not leave there husbands. Jokingly Naomi asked what do the men do to keep them from leaving there wives? We never did get any response.
Naomi and I danced just the same.
It was a quiet dark drive back home from another fun adventure together.
Kit Mikayi Historical Rock sight. Winnie called this area the Arizona of Kisumu because of all the large rocks.
It was easy to get up on top of these rocks for fun picture taking.
We arrived more toward the evening, so darkness didn't take long to fall upon us.
The story was told of a man that loved to come to this spot (the tabletop rock formation) for prayer and meditation. He spent so much time there that his wife said that the rock was his first wife (Mikayi in Luo language).
Part of the tour was to hike up between the rocks, then back down inside the rock cave where many would hold a prayer, or meditation time.
It was amazing that Winnie made it up to the top, but the idea of going down inside the rock cave in the dark was really not an option, and my lack of desire to go inside any cave made it easy for me to stay at the top with Winnie and enjoy the beautiful view.
Once all returned back out of the cave we walked back down in the dark, and joined in with the singing and dancing with the women that worked there.
This became part of a ritual for the women. It was said that once visiting this spot if the women would dance here that they would not leave there husbands. Jokingly Naomi asked what do the men do to keep them from leaving there wives? We never did get any response.
Naomi and I danced just the same.
It was a quiet dark drive back home from another fun adventure together.
Visiting "The Property"
I wish I could display these pictures in a panoramic form so you could see the beautiful full view of the property that Naomi & Michael purchased years ago,
and are now preparing to start to build on. 
It was exciting to see it in the beginning stages as they discussed how they might want the layout for the home, as to capture all of its beauty.
I'm not sure how quickly this project will take, nor am I sure how soon they plan to move there, but I try not to focus on that part. I am not very excited about it for selfish reasons. I really don't want to ever think of how far they will be away from us. Or the cost for us to go visit.
It was quite an adventure for the girls to try to walk around with being pretty rugged still.
There hope and dream it to have a home with all the comforts, and a balcony to enjoy every direction. To see the sunrise in the morning, and sunsets at night.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Things we take for granted
OK I admit, along with the beauty came some time to really stop and think of the many blessing I truly have. Or the many that I'm sure I take for granted.
Let me start with the food. Not that it wasn't tasty, it was. But here I feel like we put so much emphasis on what we are going to eat each day since we have such a variety. We can enjoy Italian, Mexican, Greek, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, and the list goes on and on. They have the real purpose of eating to sustain life.
The staple foods there are bread with butter, warm milk with cocoa and sugar added, or strained tea,
rice and stew. 
There were a few other things that we enjoyed like Farmers Choice Sausage, but since there wasn't any refrigeration we would eat that the first day after buying it, a tortilla like bread called Chapati,
that took time to make, which I felt was very sweet that they made it for us the last night we were there. As you can see Savannah was enjoying helping as much as possible, a corn meal cake, and a scone like roll. Those three were used as a bread substitute. All were really delicious.
It was fun to have the bananas available to be picked fresh,
or fresh grapefruit. Delicious!
One day one of the neighbors caught fresh Tilapia fish, which switched things up a bit. With the Lake so large, fishing is common for all. In fact late at night it was quite a sight to see just the lights flickering on the lake from all of the fishing boats that were out.
Of course with that fresh fish came someone that had to clean, prepare and cook the fish. And it wasn't in the comfort of a kitchen with counters.
Next was the convenience of running water. Stop to think of how easy it is to turn the faucet, and viola! water for cooking, cleaning, laundering, Showering,
using the bathroom, and washing hands many times a day.
Instead you must go down to the lake each day, carry barrels of water on your head back up the hill.
Then first thing in the morning bringing two dutch ovens of water to a boil
to be carried out in a basin to the bath house for sponge baths, or teeth brushing, or washing dishes after meals, etc.
Then comes the washing of the cloths from the day before to be hung out on the cloth line. Michael's cousin Molly was so kind to do all of our laundry, as well as prepare our bath water.
The milking was done daily, part to be used each day, and the other was sold to some of the neighbors, or exchanged for other goods.
At night we all slept with a net over us to keep the bugs off, and kept a flashlight close by in case of needing to get up since there was limited electricity from the solar panel and small generator. What was stored up during the day was saved for using to prepare for bed. Naomi and I would usually do a close to midnight run out to the outhouse so that we didn't have to go out by ourselves later.
It was like a camping experience for me, yet they experience this each day. Am I spoiled? Yes. However, it was nice to feel and appreciate the simplicity of life without so much to get it complicated, and that is what "Things" do.
Let me start with the food. Not that it wasn't tasty, it was. But here I feel like we put so much emphasis on what we are going to eat each day since we have such a variety. We can enjoy Italian, Mexican, Greek, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, and the list goes on and on. They have the real purpose of eating to sustain life.
The staple foods there are bread with butter, warm milk with cocoa and sugar added, or strained tea,
rice and stew. 
There were a few other things that we enjoyed like Farmers Choice Sausage, but since there wasn't any refrigeration we would eat that the first day after buying it, a tortilla like bread called Chapati,
that took time to make, which I felt was very sweet that they made it for us the last night we were there. As you can see Savannah was enjoying helping as much as possible, a corn meal cake, and a scone like roll. Those three were used as a bread substitute. All were really delicious.It was fun to have the bananas available to be picked fresh,
or fresh grapefruit. Delicious!One day one of the neighbors caught fresh Tilapia fish, which switched things up a bit. With the Lake so large, fishing is common for all. In fact late at night it was quite a sight to see just the lights flickering on the lake from all of the fishing boats that were out.
Of course with that fresh fish came someone that had to clean, prepare and cook the fish. And it wasn't in the comfort of a kitchen with counters.Next was the convenience of running water. Stop to think of how easy it is to turn the faucet, and viola! water for cooking, cleaning, laundering, Showering,
using the bathroom, and washing hands many times a day.Instead you must go down to the lake each day, carry barrels of water on your head back up the hill.
Then first thing in the morning bringing two dutch ovens of water to a boil
to be carried out in a basin to the bath house for sponge baths, or teeth brushing, or washing dishes after meals, etc.Then comes the washing of the cloths from the day before to be hung out on the cloth line. Michael's cousin Molly was so kind to do all of our laundry, as well as prepare our bath water.
The milking was done daily, part to be used each day, and the other was sold to some of the neighbors, or exchanged for other goods.
At night we all slept with a net over us to keep the bugs off, and kept a flashlight close by in case of needing to get up since there was limited electricity from the solar panel and small generator. What was stored up during the day was saved for using to prepare for bed. Naomi and I would usually do a close to midnight run out to the outhouse so that we didn't have to go out by ourselves later.It was like a camping experience for me, yet they experience this each day. Am I spoiled? Yes. However, it was nice to feel and appreciate the simplicity of life without so much to get it complicated, and that is what "Things" do.
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