Our dear friends in the Congo right now!

Many of you know the story of our friends, Phil and Jaime Layton, (he is the Pastor at Gold Country Baptist in Gold Country). We expressed to them last fall that we were considering adoption and they told us about Didier's Orphanage in Africa. They were in the process of doing preliminary paperwork to adopt in the Congo at the time. It turned out months later that we were going to get to travel together with Phil to pick up our twins and their 3 month old baby, Mark Joseph. Three days before we were scheduled to fly to Africa, the Lord saw fit to take their little baby's life. It was indeed a shock and very difficult for the poor Laytons~ to say the very least...

In regards to the trip, we just figured that we would be flying alone. To our surprise, Phil decided to still go. He wanted to be a source of great encouragement to Didier even though it was going to be very difficult for him. God certainly granted his wish and Didier was encouraged in many ways by Phil's presence.

Two days before we left the Congo to come to the US (all of us had been praying for the Lord to provide a new little person), the Lord did provide, once again! A child, a sweet boy of 18 months named, 'Bonheur' (french for happiness). Phil left the Congo with a full heart, trusting that one more little person would be an orphan no more.

Phil has now returned and brought Jaime back to the Congo! They arrived this past Tuesday October 4, 2011. Jaime is only staying 2 days and then flies back home. She had to go in person if they wanted to streamline the adoption process. Phil flies tomorrow with their little son Matteus (who they re-named), to Kinshasa, the capitol city of the Congo, and will attempt to do what Stuart did with his girls. He has to get Matteus' passport, go to the two embassy appointments, then fly back to Lubumbashi, wait for the visa then hopefully fly home to the US with their new son! Please do pray for them! They already had a wonderful praise in that they got their adoption deed done yesterday! That means they are officially his parents on paper. God is already answering prayer! They have lots of photos and their story in detail on their blog site: lifeatthelaytons.blogspot.com

We realize that many don't know our connection with the Layton's. I started typing up history, but remembered that Phil already did. The following was taken from Phil's blog while we were in the Congo together. It describes the weaving of our lives together by the Master Weaver:

"In the end of 1997, Jaime and I, a starry-eyed newlywed couple, were visiting fellowship groups and couples Bible studies at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and we met Josie and Gabe Wilmarth. Josie knew American sign language like Jaime, and they hit it off right away and it was right around the time Josie gave birth to their firstborn Andrew. In fact the Bible study had multiple pregnant women at the same time; they said it was something in the water.


We ended up staying at that fellowship group, and after their first son, Andrew was born, they were the first couple to reach out to us in hospitality and to invite us to their home, which I still remember. It was a small guest house but their gracious kindness and hospitality impacted us and true friendship and fellowship developed between us. We were not only in the same Bible study together for years and shared many meals together, but we went camping together in Yosemite, and enjoyed many fond memories with bears, long hikes to waterfalls where we ended up carrying their kids on our backs, freezing cold water we swam in, and other memories that are not appropriate to share here but were very funny.


We were also neighbors more than once in apartments in the San Fernando Valley, 2 different buildings in particular in Van Nuys. Josie was an apartment manager and Jaime followed in her footsteps in 2 different buildings that they managed. The sad day came when the Wilmarths announced they were moving to Northern California just outside Sacramento where Gabe had a good job as a ER nurse and where they could buy a house. “Northern California?!” we half-jokingly confronted him. “Why in the world would anyone want to move to Northern California?” (just a few years later we understand why and are so glad that God also moved us to Northern California, a much better community to raise a family, and in God’s providence, not too far from our friends the Wilmarths)!


They soon invited us to their house in Orangevale and told us about their new pastor and about family camp, and said I should meet their pastor and ask if we could go camping with them. Before we knew it, we were camping again with our friends at a joint family camp with a church we now consider a brother church (Grace Bible Fair Oaks) and have partnered with their church on many events, a wonderful working of God’s providence.


Then last December 2010, our friends the Wilmarths again in their hospitality invited us to their new home and we shared with them about adoption and Didier and the orphanage here, and the Lord was moving in their hearts to pursue adoption. They also shared with Stuart and Jennifer Loucks about Didier, and the Loucks now have 2 beautiful girls from this orphanage in their home in Fair Oaks. On Thursday/Friday Josie and Gabe will be bringing home their precious twins Brandon and Kara and it has been a priceless experience to be with them in this time that I wouldn’t want to miss for anything. Jaime wrote to me the other day that one of the great blessings in all this is if weren’t for our heart to adopt and providential connection with Didier and these friends, Stuart and Jennifer wouldn’t have Jamie and Jordan in their home and Josie and Gabe wouldn’t be bringing home Brandon and Kara. It is very special for us to see how God’s providence has used us to bring such joy to these families.


Nearly 14 years after I first met this sweet couple, the Wilmarths, God has not only reunited us in Northern California, but has brought us together in Africa to experience the sweet hospitality of another couple who are greatly impacting us, Pastor Didier and Annie. God’s providence moves in mysterious ways, and Gabe’s training as a registered nurse and Josie’s fluency in French and my pastoral background has been used in many neat ways by the Lord already that are so obviously His handiwork. Here are just a few of the blessings that God’s providence has been unfolding just on Monday, as shared by my long-time friend Gabe. It’s a joy to truly rejoice with those who rejoice and I will share the rest of Gabe’s blog today, hoping you catch some of the joy as well:

Gabe writes:

‘Our hosts are some of the most gracious people in the world. They go out of their way to make us feel at home and they are extremely hard working. It is amazing to see the Lord at work in the lives of people who live in such a poor land. I am told that the unemployment rate in DRC [Democratic Republic of Congo] is 80%. Most people do not have jobs, and in spite of the low average income the cost of [food and some items is] more expensive than in the United States. It is a strange economic and political world that we live in. The natural resources of the Congo could make it the wealthiest country in the world and yet it is one of the poorest. It makes you wish you could do something about it. We are left with doing the little bit we can to glorify Christ in our small sphere of influence and trusting in our Sovereign God with the rest of the circumstances that we can’t control.

Visit with Danichou and Grandpa Ray

Mom and Dad came up to meet the twins last week and spend time with us. What a blessing to have such loving parents that come to love and serve! How precious to watch them interact with their new grand-babies (and older ones: ). How extra special that they both speak French and were able to communicate with Brandon and Kara as well! Mom and Dad were so very helpful around the house in many ways which was especially a blessing while we were in transition with our new toddlers. It turned out that cooking, cleaning, babysitting, sewing, more sewing, weed-wacking and digging holes were on the agenda. Thanks so much Mom and Dad!!! How blessed we are in you!! : )

Brandon's train!

Someone gave us a wonderful electric Playmobil train set. What a blessing~ especially for Brandon! We had never seen him so excited! He kept saying, "Regarde!!" "Regarde!" (Look! Look!) His big eyes were sparkling when he first showed us, and his grin couldn't get any wider. After that he was enthralled and pretty serious as his gaze was riveted on his little chugging train. To boot, he had a little remote control that he was able to use with ease (I still don't know how it works : ). Brandon was in seventh heaven! What a blessing! : )

Truly Blessed! Three weeks, 2 days

Sweet sibling kisses!

Our little engineers at work!

We're tired, but happy, after a long day and a little restroom accident : )


Six dear children after a fun frolick at the park : )


Kara's first Ice-Cream Cone!!!



Brandon's first cone too! : )




Amazing how the days fly by~ especially when they are so full! : ) Blogging has fallen by the wayside unfortunately...

We've been home with the twins over 3 weeks now and count ourselves truly blessed!! They are such dear little ones and we love them so much! They are transitioning so well! Didier and Annie took such great care of them in Africa and prepped them terrificly in most areas. What a huge blessing! In ways, it's like having a little bit of them here with us...

So many areas to praise the Lord for!

FOOD: The twins are eating really well for the most part. Salad was a bit strange at first for them (don't think they had much, if any of it overseas), but with continual exposure and seeing the rest of us consume it like rabbits, they are eating it now. Kara even asked for seconds tonight! She was also asking for rice almost every day, but has now found a new love: pasta : ). They would eat rice with beans almost daily in the Congo. That's a quick, nutritious fall-back when it's time to eat around here. They had their first ice-cream cones last week when Grandpa Ray and Danichou visited, (my Mom and Dad). What a blessing the visit with them was and the twins especially thought so too when they were brought to the park with ice-cream and cones. Kara and Brandon loved them! We weren't sure as they didn't ever have anything frozen in Africa. What a treat!! : )

SLEEP: What a huge praise that they are sleeping through the night almost always now!!! Less and less, little Brandon will get up, cry LOUDLY, be brought to the restroom and then fall back to sleep. The beds have been moved around a bit as we are re-configuring the boys room. Gabe and Andrew are building a triple "L-shaped" type bunk. Can't wait to see it done!

RESTROOM issues: Kara is potty trained day and night!!! : D Brandon, 80% of the time is fine during the day, but we started a pull up at night for occasional 'accidents'.

BONDING: What a joy it is to have them fit right into our family! The kiddos are enjoying their siblings very much. The twins love for me to hold them; Brandon loves to be held like a baby. My heart melts when he reaches his little dimpled hands up to my face and stroke my cheeks and my hair. Sigh... : ) Kara often comes up to me throughout the day, reaches her little arms up and says, "Mama, tien moi!" (Mama hold me : ).

LANGUAGE: What a wonderful gift to be able to communicate with our dear ones! To understand what they wish and to know what they are having trouble with has been so amazing and helpful. We are determined that they keep their French. Not only is it in the family, but perhaps the Lord will call one, if not both, back to the Congo one day to maybe work with Didier. Who knows??

PERSONALITIES: Though twins, they are very different little people. So fun to see their personalities emerging! Brandon is a very analytical, more careful little boy and tends toward being more introverted. Kara is a fun-loving, gregarious, little girl who for sure has a mind of her own, yet loves to please us. They both do and are really so very sweet! Kara also loves to be my 'little helper' throughout the day : )

Oh how God has truly done exceedingly abundantly above all that we could have asked or thought!!! How amazingly good and kind is our Father...

Sweet reunion

After being in the U.S. a couple of days, we were eager to see the Loucks family and their little African dollies and re-introduce them to their old orphanage buddies, our twins. They had been together 5-6 months in the Congo and had been fast friends we were told. So now that they were to be reunited, we were wondering how they would respond. The hour finally came. We were a bit surprised that when the Louck's got out of their car and the 4 little people stood in front of eachother, they just sort of stared at one another in silence. They may have been trying to process meeting their friends and maybe wondering, "OK, what are you doing here? I knew you in another world" : ) Their silence could also be chalked up to being surrounded by a myriad of people all staring at them. The Messer 6 were there too with the Loucks 8 and Wilmarth 8 : ). After a few minutes, they ended up playing together. They will have a long time, Lord-willing to get re-acquainted here in the U.S.~ maybe starting with AWANA, Cubbies tomorrow night : ). What a blessing that they will get to grow up together! How kind is our Father!!

First Time at the Park!!

We decided to take the the kiddos to a nearby park in Folsom. We rode our bikes and had a great time! Twins loved the ride in the bike trailer as well as the swings and slides : ) Pretty amazing and humbling to see the world through the eyes of children who have never seen things that we take for granted here in the U.S. How blessed are we!!

Some video of the orphanage in the Congo (from Stuart)

In my small attempts to put in as much as I have time for that represents our time in Africa, here is some footage that our friend Stuart took when we went just before us to pick up his girls. This is one of the 3 main buildings on the compound (Didier's house and the guest house are the other two).

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!!!

no idea what happened to this photo ?

How our God has been so very good to us!!! Our hearts are so full at what our Creator has done and continues to do in our home... We've been in the US a few days now with all six of our children. Albeit a bit difficult at times with our jet-lagged bodies and trying to juggle a home with SIX children!?!? (do we really have that many? : ) Overall, we've had a wonderful transition so far.

We got home from our sweet reunion at the airport just before midnight I think and the twins who had previously been acting zombiifed, the poor dears, after 40 or so hours of travel, perked up after a few minutes upon entering the front door and responded with great excitement at this 'whole new world'. We had planned a giant slumber party in the game room for the first night, so there were mattresses everywhere. What fun was had as the twins jumped around and discovered balls, bears, new PJ's and new siblings to play with. It was so sweet to see our birth kiddos be just as excited. Marion is our 'little Mama' who cannot get enough of her new siblings. She loves to dress and play with them (living dolls right? : )

The twins slept til 2:45 the first night, 3:30 the next, then 4:00. Each time they were led to the guest room bed with Mama or Papa and went back to sleep (within an hour or so). Last night, they slept the whole night through waking up at 6:30 (Kara) and Brandon at 7:30. Hooray!! We're making progress! : )

Gotta go. Everyone just got back from a run to Starbucks. The twin Baby Jogger we bought for Andrew and Marion as babies years ago is being used again! God is so good in His provision in so many ways! OK, time of quiet is over : ) Bring on the kids!!! Hope to write more later!

History at a glance- The Democratic Republic of Congo

Wanted to have some info about the DRC posted. THis also taken from Bob Wheatley's blog.

A Little History…
In the 19th century Europe began to divide up the African Continent. Each country staking out a portion of the continent. King Leopold of Belgium laid claim to the Congo. Note that it was not Belgium as a country claiming a large chunk of Africa, it was the king saying this is my private fiefdom. The Capitol of the country was modestly named Leopoldville.

Under the colonial rule of Belgium the country prospered; it was served my many airline and ships. It was attractive to many tourist . Railroads and highways crossed the country. Bridges forded the major rivers of the land.

Things began to change in the 1950’s. Stability and prosperity fled before invading armies. Hospitals, churches and just about every standing building became pocked with bullet holes. Natives fled to the bush to live under starvation conditions. Pilots of incoming flights found the tarmac runways were full of divots. It is safe to say the heart of Africa was broken and civilization beg an to die.

Each day the continuing turmoil claims 1,500 lives.

The rite of passage into manhood is not getting a driver’s license or being issued a well earned diploma. For boy soldier it is being issued an AK-47 which brings with it the the right to rob, pillage, kill and rape. The Congo has been heralded as is the most dangerous place in the world for a woman to live—rape is a weapon of warfare.

Recently someone asked if me if I was not afraid to go to such a place. I told the man that I was more fearful of staying at home. - Bob Wheatley

Josie here- The city of Lubumbashi where we stayed does not have the feel of the above. While there are a few soldiers walking around with guns, they are there to maintain the peace, not take advantage of people. The more war-torn regions are much further north in the DRC. We felt safe walking the city (especially with very tall Didier : ).

Didier and Annie, some history...

This is borrowed from Bob Wheatley's blog... He is one of the 3 men who started the Compassion Ministry for Congo:

I am borrowing information from Jim Hagen’s journal which he recorded while in Africa in October of 2006.

We might think that someone who is carrying such a ministry as Pastor Didier is was raised in a second or third generation Christian home where he was nurtured on the Bible. No, his father was a devil worshipper who loved power and riches. His father was so desirous of what this world had to offer that he promised Satan a blood offering from his family. Of five children he offered three of his sons to Satan as a sacrifice.

Starting at age eight his mother sent Didier (pronounced DDA) to a different province (state) for eleven months of each year. He was very lonely and pleaded with her to be allowed to remain with the family. By being sent away he not only received protection but also an education. He graduated from high school at the age of nineteen.

While still a youth his mother died, his father remarried and all the attention was turned to a new wife and four new children which he sired. The situation became so intolerable that Didier fled into Zambia where he met a Christian Missionary. She taught him English and led him to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Eventually she returned to the States, but she challenged her replacement, a man, to continue with the process of training Didier.

The next steps in Didier’s educational process was being sent to a trade school where he learned to cook. As he returned from the school as a cook, he met his wife to be Annyta and they were married six months later. He worked as a cook for two years and then he and his wife moved to Kinshasa where he furthered his education at the Mennonite Seminary for the next three years.

By the time he graduated he had two sons. His second son became very ill and Didier took him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. The hospital personnel were preparing to send his body to the morgue. Didier response was, “No I do not accept this death, I do not think it is from God.” He prayed being willing to accept the death if it were from God, but if the death was not from God then he believed that God would restore his son’s life. As he was praying the child gasped and began breathing again. The boy was lame for a while, but now is almost completely well.

Reunion

I Love US Soil

We are in the good 'ol USA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO !!!!!

Amazingly we had a wonderful trip too. Between both children we probably had a total of 40 seconds of crying throughout the 30+ hours of travel from Lubumbashi to D.C.!!! Thanks for your faithful prayers. They were quite popular children on the plane, just because they are both so cute. We made multiple laps, at various times during the flight, up one aisle of the plane and back down the other side just to "stretch" their little legs. At one point Kara was sitting on the lap of another young woman for about 30 minutes playing and interacting with friendly strangers. I was glad for a little break in the entertainment duties. Frequent short naps seem to have done the trick.

We are sitting in Phil's hotel room now enjoying warm water from faucets, wifi and coffee and a soft couch. The kids are excited about everything they see. Curious young twins exploring a whole new world. We took a picture with them in front of an American flag, at half mast commemorating the 10th year anniversary of 9-11. Our country has its problems and corruption, but there is no place in this current world that I'd rather live. I hope I'm more thankful the rest of my life after this trip.

 It is going to be awesome to see how this specific orphanage is used by God in the future. I'm so glad we were able to get to know Didier (as is everyone who meets him) and that we have the opportunity to be part of this ministry, both now and in the future. Somehow, even though we are home, I feel we are just getting started with the Congo. There is still a lot of work to do there.

If the Lord wills, we will be arriving in Sacramento about 9:00 tonight and reuniting with our oldest four. We will be a family of eight !! What a blessing !!
Can't wait to catch up with you all in person. This has truly been a life changing expericence for all of us. We are blessed beyond what we can think or imagine.

(Gabe for) The Wilmarths

Didier, Annie and their six children

A Post We Didn't Plan

Thursday, Sept. 8

At this point it looks like we will arrive two days later than planned. Unfortunately the plane is full tomorrow except for one seat which Phil is taking. The Saturday flight has 4 empty seats so we will leave Sat with the twins. Phil will spend a night in D.C. and then we will arrive in Sacramento together. This was the first available D.C. to Sacramento flight for all of us.

When we left the US, I brought $1,000 extra cash, just in case. The flight change had a penalty of $200 per seat so multiply x5 and I am glad we had that. Now I’m out of cash and I hope we can make it home. Pray for us.

We’ll spend another 2 days hanging out at the orphanage. Should be a good time with everyone there.

I sure hope this is our last post...

The Plan Changes A Bit

Gabe, Josie, the kids and Phil were delayed at the airport. This is the kind of thing that happens in Africa.

The Wilmarths will be departing Friday instead, and Phil departs on Saturday. They will reconnect in DC and be on the same flight home Sunday night.

Pray that they will be able to leave as scheduled on Friday! Thanks!

Wed, Sept. 7

Josie here~

What an incredible time we've had here in Africa!  My eyes are filling right now as I think we are leaving tomorrow already. Our hearts have been knit to these precious people.  How we love Didier and Annie and their vision to help the orphans. We so respect and esteem them for their daily sacrifice on behalf of these precious little ones.  How they lay their lives down constantly is such a conviction and encouragement to my heart.  God is using them powerfully for His glory!

Last prayer requests:

Travel mercies (for us and our wee ones) as we travel 40 hours with the twins:
We arrive in Ethiopia 8 PM (one stop)

Ethiopia 10-:15 arrive Wash D.C 8:40 AM (17 hours)
10 hour wait
Wash DC 6:45 to Sac 9:18 PM (5 hours or so)

Didier's orphanage has taken on 4 sweet little ones that we had the privilege of bringing home yesterday.  Most of them are suffering from malnutrition and are rather lethargic and weak.  Didier says that all the children come to them in this state.  How many times can one's heart break in a day?

Gotta go.  See you back in the US!!!  Thanks for your prayers!!!
G & J : )

Tuesday, Sept. 6

Another adventurous day! We didn’t meet with any dignitaries today, but we did drive into some of the poorest parts of the earth. An elaborate description wouldn’t adequately explain what we saw. Hundreds of children whose only possession is the clothing on their backs, who have nothing to do all day and nothing to play with and almost no supervision. Moms try to scrape together meals for families and by the look of malnutrition everywhere aren’t able to adequately do that. Dad’s seem scarce. Maybe they are out trying to make money, but in a country where there are few jobs that is hard to do also.

 

By noon we had traveled and met with multiple parties and picked up 4 more children who will be considered foster status for the next three months but will live at the orphanage. They are all at the orphanage tonight. It was fun to watch Angelique (the sweetest orphanage worker in the world) move like a whirlwind giving each of them their first baths in a long time. They each got a fresh change of clothes and a meal of rice and beans. Two of them seem to have moderate to severe malnutrition. One of the children lost his lunch after we gave him his first meal in what is probably a long time. He probably ate too much and his digestive system couldn’t handle it.

We spent the afternoon with Brandon and Kara and locked all the other neighborhood kids out of the house. Kara cried again but then later in the evening was more warm toward us than she has been the entire trip. Brandon is happy as long as there are toys in the room, with lots of giggles and playing. We had decided to bring B & K to our bedroom tonight to help them adjust to their new parents before we get on an airplane for a 30+ hour trip. After we brought home the new kids we had no choice.

 

 

We went into town again in the evening to take the 4 new children to a clinic. I played in the car with my kids and Didier’s girls and Gracie (Angelique’s daughter) and Zephanie (sweet orphan girl, 5 years old). When we got back home we showed B & K their new “bed” in our room and tried to have them lay down for a while. They both objected severely. This was our first “double-cry”. It is hard to understand what is going through a two year-old’s mind, especially one who has been abandoned before, but I’m sure they are scared and worried about the newness of the future. After a late dinner they both fell asleep in our arms and are now out for the count. They are always much cuter when sleeping that crying.

I guess that makes for a short and sweet blog today. More tomorrow.

Monday, Sept. 5

Wow !!!! It is amazing to see how the Lord is blessing this orphanage specifically. We only had ten minutes with the kids tonight because we were running all over town from 9:00 this morning until dark.

The first piece of good news is that doors seem to be opening to make it easier for Didier to get passports for future adoptions. A great praise!!

The second hallelujah was a stop at the DHL office where we picked up the visas for the children. We finally can take the children home!!!!!

The third was a stop at the local emigration office to show them the passports for the children and the adoption judgments. Didier has a connection at this office (called DGM). We were told that all the paper work looks good and that the chief will escort us to the airport on Thursday to insure that we have no “hang-ups” as we leave the country !!!!!!!!!!

Item number four. We stopped at the office of the local civil judge who gives the “Act of Judgment” for each adopted child within Lubumbashi and the surrounding area. He is in a powerful position, one of only seven judges in the DRC. We wanted to be a verifying testament from the other side of the Atlantic that the children being adopted through the Kitumani orphanage were going to loving families and that Didier was very trustworthy. Judge Phuna invited us to his house at 5:00 for a more in depth discussion after his day ended. What a blessing it was to sit for about an hour and explain the vision and goals of the orphanage and the whole ministry that is going on here. His response amazed us. He said “I want to be a part of this ministry also and be used by God in any way I can”. This is huge. This man is very influential and makes the function of the orphanage possible. In a country where corruption abounds this means a future of great potential for other children as he has the ability to ease and expedite the legal processes that are required. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Judge Phuna and his family

Number five: We then picked up the “Authorization Parental” from the notary to transfer parental rights from the orphanage to us. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are not on U.S. soil yet but I’m starting to get the feeling that these children will be ours after this six month long process. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is amazing to see how smoothly everything is going. Josie’s French speaking ability and Phil’s influence as an American pastor and the desire of all of us to see this orphanage be used in many children’s lives is having quite an effect. God put together a good team here. We just wanted to help a couple of young children through this adoption process but we have had the opportunity to contribute to a much bigger plan that wasn’t even ours. We are very excited people as we write this tonight. !!!!!!!!

Can you tell? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sun, Sept. 4

Today was an exciting day of worship with the local church. I love the difference in worship style and the interactions of people during the service. Quite a bit noisier that a typical U.S. service, with a lot less sleeping. 

Unfortunately someone broke into the church building sometime Saturday night and stole all 80 of the plastic/patio chairs that are used for the congregation. At $10 per chair this is quite a big expense, especially in this country. 30 more were purchased just before the service and some were borrowed from a local pub. Some of the congregation brought chairs from home. What a special group of believers. I told a couple of the men after the service, in my broken French, that I look forward to the day when we will be citizens of the same kingdom and speak the same language.

Phil Layton preached in English which was translated into French by Didier which was translated into Swahili by Mickey. It was quite the international congregation. At the end of the service communion was held and then a lunch gathering. Many members of the congregation wanted a picture with us and the twins. We felt like quite the celebrities.

Afterward we went back to the orphanage and had a relaxing afternoon. A second soccer game with the boys, a ball kicking lesson with Brandon (you know, the two yard - two year old kicks) and goofy antics while sitting around with everyone on the patio. Kara started slowly warming up to us in the evening after a crying episode at church. Brandon loves it whenever he sees us. He oozes “boy”. He loves balls and cars and airplanes.

Josie and Zephanie