I'd rather have Jesus than anything...

First, a blatant plug for my friend Leah's new cd. It's called "All I Have Needed" and her name on Itunes is "Leah Mari"... not only is she a super sweet person, but her voice simply put, kicks butt. Add to that her heart to worship- inspires me. :) Oh- and so you know, it's all hymns. With a bit of a country kick. I like. A lot.

Update on the prostitutes: We've been told by one of the board members that they will be moving out soon- they're being asked by the board this week, and their landlord will be notified. Apparently their neighbors above and below are miserable from the "activity" going on there. :( Poor people! When I heard that, I felt SO thankful for not having to deal with any noise!

We have no one that lives under us, and a single guy from California who is home like less then 1 week a month, named Brian. He's real nice, and I have plans to ask him if we have family that stays for a long go, or too much company, if we can rent his place from him for like a week or so when he's gone. Just an idea. But I'm playing it by ear.

It's so hard to believe that it's Christmas time, that everyone back home is in layers, wearing winter coats, throwing snowballs! I don't have a dress yet for E's wedding and so I'm tanning every day for 15 minutes on each side (front and back) with a strapless swim top so that whatever I wear I won't have a tshirt tan line, like was painfully obvious on Sunday when I looked in the mirror!

Things with Hot Husband's job are becoming quite stressful. Not necessarily the work load, but more like the problems we've had with the practices of how they run things. Being asked to lie on our health insurance applications, broken promises, etc. For people who have a strong sense of justice, and righteousness (us).... this is so difficult. Especially for him since he has to go in to work and deal with it every day. I'm praying for him a lot, the stress has been difficult for him. Is this our Joseph season? Not sure, but for now we have no way out, and in the next 4 months 3 substantial bonuses that would be ridiculous to leave behind. For the meantime, we will keep our ears open, and come end of March, start searching and seeing if any doors will open. We'd prefer to stay here in Kenya. I mean hey, we have bought a car! :) Which can I just say, I LOVE DRIVING HERE! Natalie- Hot Husband and I were laughing so hard last night at this 'short cut' I was taking home. It was packed, and there even was a city bus.. It's a dirt road that goes up and down 2 steep hills, and at the bottom of each is a stream, which when raining is like 1.5 feet deep. Yesterday the ruts in the road were awful from the recent rains, and there were holes in the road that easily would have gone almost to your knee. We are amazed at how Kenyans take their Corollas on these roads, with wheels in the air, and spinning tires. So thankful God gave us a way to buy 4 wheel drive, high clearance car... !

I would like to start writing out testimonies of things that God has done in my life. For Cute Child, for family. And also, just to have them written! I plan on doing this when we come back in January.

I'm in a dry space with Holy Spirit. I just don't feel Him right now. And I am not sure how to change that, because all the old tricks, they're not working. I know this may sound petty to those who don't feel Him in the way I am longing for... but for me, I miss Him. I miss the waves of Presence. I miss the fire and tingling in my hands. It's odd, since I do get moved by Him with certain things, and seem to find Him in worship easily, hearing Him daily speak to me. It's just the physical manifestation that I am missing. I remember sitting in Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, long after the service had ended, just sitting in the sweetness of Him. Unable to move by the waves of Himself I could feel pouring over me. Positively 'drunk' in goodness of Him... My friend Sarah knows what I'm talking about.. those early days in the 90's were so sweet. So precious. Something was different then, I cannot ignore it.

But why? Why was it different? Why was it special? Why would He change like that? My theology just doesn't understand. . .

Praying for His presence to be felt in my life. Praying for dreams in the night, visions in the day, burning in my hands for healing... Love to be awakened deeply in my heart.

ps. I would love to post more pictures, but for some reason I haven't been able to add them.. :(

Red Light District

First, let me just say: We aren't getting our shipment now. And UPS has screwed over Diamondback for the last time, they are losing all of Ethan's business if they don't rectify this mistake! I cried last night, cried on my way into a deep sleep. This morning I woke up much more peaceful, and feeling like March isn't so long to wait. 3 weeks of that wait we are gone. So that is the update. Now we just need prayer to figure out asap which is the best way to go as far as which shipping organization, etc.

Now back to the subject at hand.

Though my house is clean (Doris is here today), and smells of fresh air and cleaning products, everything feels really dirty. I suspected something last week. Kenyan women, dressed to the nines, standing outside with older 50-60'something white men. . . Then when our dear friend Debel was visiting, he watched a movie with us and Hot Husband took him home around 12am- at the same time we opened our door, they opened theirs to leave. 3 black Kenyan women, and one older white man. A different one then before. Monday I went to our friend Levis the taxi driver who seems to drive for everyone in our complex. Levis went on a sleuthing hunt for me, all hush hush of course.

And today I went to him and got the details. The women rent the apartment, have been here for 3 months, and run a prostitution business out of their apartment. It appears that the men are all 50-60 year old United Nations peacekeepers.

Having never had to really deal with this before, I'm not sure quite how to respond. I will not let that kind of thing go on next to my family. This explains some of the weird dreams, thoughts, etc that we've been both experiencing randomly. I do not want Cute Child to be exposed to this. They swim in the pool often, with their men... It just feels so ICK. ICK. ICK.

Levis strongly recommends that we do nothing for now, and we're smart enough to know that this sort of situation could get us in big trouble if we confront it.

Right now I'm thinking big bottles of anointing oil, prayer, fasting. That's all I know to do.

Anyone have any thoughts? Any ideas? What would you do if this were you, and your family?