MOVED BY COMPASSION: 5 Weeks

Our Jaden is doing very well. We are all enjoying him so much. He is still welcoming visitors every now and then. Most bring him some type of gift--either sugar and tea leaves for the family or new clothes for him. David now wants to open a shop for selling baby clothes as we have so many! :) Jaden is starting to grow out of some of his onesies already (the cloth diapers help with that as they are bit bulkier than normal diapers). Enjoy the photos...they are a bit late as we had a lot happening in our community last week. We are still mourning and grieving the loss of Kevin, who was the youngest son of John and Veronica Busienei (Directors of Kipkaren Children's Home). Kevin suddenly passed away on June 6th at 1am from an unknown sickness. At 5 weeks old, Jaden attended his first burial service for this 9 year old boy whom we all loved very much. Kevin was a dear friend to the 96 children in our Children's Home as well as the 150 children at our elementary school, Brook of Faith Academy (including our sons, Rhema and Solomon). We continue to lift up the Busienei family in our prayers as they continue grieving their loss--and invite you to join us. I was sadly reminded last week that with the joy of life also comes the pain of death. Every time I looked at Jaden last week or snuggled him in my arms, I thought of my dear friends, John and Veronica. I could still hear the heart wrenching weeping of a mother and the agonizing cries of a father on the night they arrived in our home. It was 3:00am, only 2 hours after tragically watching their son take his last breath in their arms at the hospital. My heart aches with them; and with the many other mothers and fathers in our community who have experienced such tragedies. This is the reality of our lives...joy and pain...laughter and tears...and through it all, though we do not understand, we continue to love our God and share His amazing love with our neighbors.

I have just realized that with all these angelic pictures of Jaden sleeping so peacefully, one could easily get the wrong impression of our son. Yes, we think he is an angel, but he definitely has a strong pair of lungs! It's not so enjoyable taking pictures when he is crying but I will have to take at least one so you can see that he can make a lot of noise. After 5 weeks, Auntie Juli moved back to the peace and quiet of her own home. We are all so grateful for the time she spent with us and the incredible way she cared for us and offered her support during Jaden's first weeks of life. She is definitely one of the angels in our lives. David has now moved back to our room and is enjoying the nights of Jaden's noisy sleeping. According to David, even if Jaden is sleeping, he is still a "noise maker" with all of his grunting throughout the night.