We Have a Place Prepared for You, Down on the Farm, the Open Arms Choir, and other Assorted Events in Eldoret

We have spent the last two weeks working at the office and spending time at the village helping to get things running with the school and the farm. Of course sometimes things don't always go as planned down on the farm. Last week we found out that one of the milking cows was not pregnant but just old (that's why she had stopped producing milk) and so she was sent off to the butcher. This week we were at the village playing with the children during a school break and one of the young calves broke her right front leg while playing with the other calf in the field. The verdict is still out if the young calf will wind up being veal, but we are hoping for a longer life for this little calf. In the mean time, one of the sheep broke its hind leg and so the village has been eating mutton for a few weeks. Such is life down on the farm.

The chickens are doing fine laying eggs, but we have also been raising broiler chickens, but they don't seem to be getting bigger so I guess we'll have to change the feed. At least the children at the village are getting fed plenty of eggs, lots of "ugale" for the maize we raised last year, and some milk (much more milk in the future due to two generous donors who are going to buy two milking cows for us). We honestly didn't think we would be quite this involved with farming when we got here, but it is all part of running a village.

Of course we can't have a decent blog without an obligatory photo of Baby Esther and Baby Belle having a little play time.

The school is doing well, but we had to have two interview sessions in the past two weeks to hire new teachers. We are still a young school, but we are starting to find our groove as teachers are helping the children learn and grow. It has been a learning experience getting the school started but we will have completed our first term of Open Arms Academy at the end of next week, and some of our children are already advancing one year ahead in school (some of them need to because they have lost so many years of school already, and others are bright and learning so quickly).

Sundays at the village have always been a joy spending time with the children and having church at the village. The Open Arms choir at the village keeps on growing, and we are definitely looking forward to a great celebration with the children and the staff on Easter Sunday. We have already had some funds donated for musical instruments at the village so some of the children are learning how to play an electric keyboard. Hopefully I'll be able to buy a guitar in town in the near future so that I can teach some of the children how to play the guitar. Soon we'll not only have an Open Arms Choir but also an Open Arms Band.

One of our first long-term guests at the village, Elliott Berry, will be going back home to England after a three month stay in one of the homes. He has been an excellent house-guest, helping on the farm, helping to teach the children English in the school, and spending a lot of time playing with the children during their free time. We have also been spending some time getting the guest rooms in each orphanage home furnished over the past few months so future guests won't have to live in quite the spartan manner that Elliott has grown accustomed to. In fact, we have put new beds, wardrobes, carpets, and curtains in the rooms in the past month. In addition, we hope to have a permanent electricity supply installed at the village sometime in the next two months, and internet service won't be too far after that.

We are also completing our visitor cottages in the next two months so larger teams from the US and the UK won't have to stay at a hotel in Eldoret, when they can stay at our village, just a short five minute drive from the airport. Fortunately, it looks like we'll hopefully be ready just in time for our summer teams in June, July, and August. The roofs are up on all three cottages; plastering is completed on all the walls in the first two homes; and tile work, plumbing, and electical installations will commence in the next week or two. Finally, we can say we have prepared a place for you when you come to visit us at our Open Arms Village.

Even better yet, when electricity and internet service our installed at the village, we can also move the Open Arms Office in Eldoret, and ourselves, to the Open Arms Village in Mlango. We are looking forward to that day. Maybe you can come out and visit us this summer, join one of the summer teams, or become another long term guest like Elliott Berry. We hope to see you soon.