Leister's Kenyan Life

Almost Christmas 2011 !

2011-12-20T00:24:00.001-08:00

Hi to everyone! Sorry this has taken so long! We Leister's are back and reunited with our family here in Kenya at Tumaini and it is almost Christmas 2011!

" For to us a child is born, to us a son is given..." Isaiah 9:6 What would Christmas be without children! It began with a child and we ( the Leisters ) are so blessed by the children God has given us here in our family at Tumaini! Thank you Jesus for such gifts!

Here is Dad Leister and our youngest Thomas! Thomas is growing so wonderfully! We give God all the Glory for these fragile infants like Thomas, he is such a miracle! Praise God

Here is our next miracle! Zuri,only God could have picked her up from her circumstances and delivered her on to us!! Thank you Father God for your eyes that see all and hear the cries no one else can hear! A picture of God's ultimate desire for us all, Salvation, Life in Him!

Getting ready for our Christmas Celebration! Troy making Christmas cards with her little kenyan brothers and sisters.

Talk about miracles, here are our fiesty Twins,Elizabeth & Esther! Elizabeth is now waking all over and Esther is trying her best to catch up!

How is Brighton, well here he is with his therapest, walking with his therapeutic walker, that was donated for him while we were in the states. Thank you Chavez family, Hope Chapel Lewiston! Another Miracle!!!!!

What would we do with out our Dad, he even builds the tree! The kids are sure he can make anything!

Mom helps with the trimming! We only trimmed the top half to begin with, all the little hands had to get use to the trimmings and remember we do not touch and pull or the tree comes down and it did! Luckly there was nothing breakable on it!

Dannon made personalized orniments and cookies, then helped them put them up!

Here is our 1st born son ( eldest Boy )in our Tumaini family, Gabrial! He is growing up so fast!

Each one a miracle, here is Joyce with her big smile! Growing, growing too!

Abagail, loving to put on the high ones!

Matthew too!

After Brenda put her's up, she just had to stand and admire her work!

Gabe directing the choir as everyone admires the tree!

We so appreciate all our stockings, WOW!

Here is our finished Tree! The blue sack is our gifts from Sarah Mamlin, we will not put the others out until everyone goes to bed on Christmas Eve and we all know why, right!

Well, we are anticipating the next few days, how about you? We will get back with some Christmas Day pictures, after! Thank you to everyone who shares our delight in God's goodness poured out on these precious littles ones! We appreciate all that you give and do to see that their lives are lived to the fullest! Many Blessings, Merry Christmas! Be back with more soon! Love all of us here at Tumaini!

So much to do and so little time to do it!

2011-08-02T00:32:00.000-07:00

In June Tumaini was so blessed to have the Downs family from Colorado, USA come and visit us! We had a great time working together and we got to so other things too!

We visited one of our favorite sposts and had lunch,Iten!

This is truly one of my favoite pictures! This is our beautiful friend Laurajean Downs with some of the crew!

Snack time in the yard!

We took the Shining Light class for a nature walk!

Here Lexi Downs is teaching with the name tags she made for all the children's desks!

Last minuet shopping before they leave, Laurajean & Vern Downs! Thanks guys we had a great time!

In July we graduated our 1st 6 month Child Developement & Behavour Course!

We had 10 in the class and 4 who recieved certificates for being at every class! We will begin another 6 month course in January 2012!

Also in July we graduted our Cooking Class!

The pizza was great! The students enjoyed all the meals we made and I enjoyed the students so much, this was great fun!

Dad put together a temperary climbing Gym! Everyone loves to climb and hang and swing!

We also started a Dance class for the school age group! We began with a video but while Rachel is here she will work with them on preballet! They love it and it is great excersise! Brenda & Gabe

Joyce!

We also completted our 2nd term of Preschool and had a painting party!

With Popcorn and cookies!

Here are our latest 2 arrivals! Zuriel Grace & Thomas Akiba!

And The beginning of August brought our beloved Josh Leister family to Tumaini! Josh has completed his Clinical Officer training and they are ready for their next step in life here in Kenya! They will be staying here with our children while us 4 American Leisters take a trip to the US to visit our family there! We will stay in touch! Thank you everyone for your continued prayer and love for our whole family! Love from all us here at Tumaini!

New Wash house & tanks

2011-07-13T06:12:00.000-07:00

The small building that you see has been used for several puposes since we moved here 3 years ago guardhouse, office and now we have remodled it to take care of our ever expanding laundry. To make this work well Horace needed to put in a tank for presure. 1st him and Peter built the platform you see to the right. Then I asked how the were going to get the 5000 leter tank on it? This is the story of that day in pictures! As some say " a picture is worth many words"

Here is our New tank in it's place! Thank you Jesus!

Dad Leister has never been afraid of heights or climbing! When we were 1st married ( over 36 years ago) I went to his work place,a large warehouse. I inquired of a man, where I could find him and he smiled this wicked smile at me and motioned for me to follow him inside. I step inside and he pointed up to the rafters of this huge empty cavern of a building and when my eyes adjusted to the lack of light, I saw my husband, walking with no concern, across a beam set about 35ft in the air. I have never forgotten this experience and the fear I had for him ( because I hate heights ) but he has given me several experiences since then that assured me he has none! These are the 2 put in a few weeks later, much higher. I did not get pictures of this adventure!

Thank you for your continued prayer and support for our Tumaini Adventure! Love the Leisters

A Mother's Day Adventure 2011

2011-05-10T03:56:00.000-07:00

I had a magnificent Mother's Day! I thought I would share it with you! I woke up Mother's Day morning and was greeted by our two youngest American daughters, Troyanna and Dannon with bedside prestents! Thank you both! They also picked out a card and helped all our African son's & daughters sign, it was the most perfect card,here it is!

Then I received some great words of encouragement from our children who live in the US, this always makes my day, thank you everyone, I love you so much!

Here are some flowers that God contributed!

They are so beautiful! Thank you Father God!

After breakfast Dad Horace announced that he was taking us for a adventure ride! About 20 minuets drive from Eldoret there is a place where a man has donated property and brought back some Giraffes. You can not always see them but Dad decided this was a good day to ride out and see! Enoch gets to head the line!

We all love to go for a ride! Dannon, trying to keep everyone calm to wait their turn to get in the van.

Here we are loading everyone in!!

Dema the Big sister, holding Elizabeth while we got everyone else in!

Here are Boaz & Abigail, we have 4 car seats and we put the littlest one and Brighton in them. Abigail is sitting forward because her and Jewel tend to get motion sickness. We give them medicine, sometimes it works and sometimes not, on the way back she got sick 3 times, that is how it is with children, you take the good and the not so good and have fun!!

Big sister Troy making sure everyone is seated and buckled in. The seats are so nice and big that it is a great snug fit.

First we saw this field of Antelope! They are also all gone from this area! They were beautiful and the children loved how they sprang in the air as they jumped away from the van.

This is what we came to see, a family of Giraffes! It is so awesome that this man is willing to reintroduce these beautiful animals back into their countryside. They use to Rome free everywhere just less than 10 years ago1

They were pitty far away but everyone was able to see them!

Here is a big bull Giraff that was laying down in the grass all by himself!

As we were driving the children pointed out these grass homes and asked us about them? Because they live in the city they do not realize that most people who live outside the city still live in these grass huts and small brickhomes. This is why we love to take them on rides now that they are older so that they can learn about their country of kenya.

Here we are on our way home, following a pickup bus! I tried to get a better shot so that you could see all the people and chickens that were piled on top but it went by us too fast and had stopped to unload before we caught up to it!

We had a great trip and to finish the day Dad went out and purchased some fantastic Chines food for all! Blessings Love Mama Phyllis

Angel Faces of Tumaini!

2011-05-04T23:42:00.000-07:00

Abigail

Reuben

Matthew

Joel

Brighton

Boaz

Eliza

Maggie

Nancy

Olive

Naomi

Troyanna

Dannon

Tekoa

Gabe

Sarah

Phoebe

Ruth

Brenda

Debby

Joyce

Enoch

Jewel

Dema

Titus

Elizabeth & Esther

Horace and I have found that being willing to extend our parenting skills to "the least" is a great chanlenge but it has opened our heart's to be visited by Angels! Thank you Jesus!

Saturday afternoon walk!

2011-04-16T10:01:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, we just had a great Saturday Afternoon walk and I thought we could share it with all of you! We have about half of the children who do not take naps anymore and have lots of energy! We do not walk outside our compound very often but this seemed like a good idea today! It was a great adventure! They still did not take naps but maybe they will sleep great tonight!

Everyone is enjoying our outing so far! We have not done this often because everyone has been to small! We will hope to do this each Saturday!

We met some new friends along the way! They loved their picture taken!

I think everyone is getting tired better turn back and go home! A 15min walk is quite a ways for so many short little legs.

Opps, Dad hears a car coming, lets get out of the street!

Titus just could not keep up, short legs! He also wanted to see everything from close up so had to stop and look!

Heading back we are against the wind! This time of year we constantly have wind! Unfortunately we are suppose to be having rain and the wind keeps pushing the clouds right by us!

Headed back around the corner and down the street back home!

Saying " Habari Oko " to some neighbors!

A quick stop to play on the sewer cover outside the gate.

Time to go back inside the gate!

Love Ya! have a great day! Horace, Phyllis, Troy, Dannon and everybody!

Hi from Troy & Dannon

2011-04-14T23:54:00.000-07:00

Habari ( zenu ) everyone. ( Samahari kwa kuwa imanichukuwa muda mrju bila kukuandikia) Sorry it has taken so long for me to write! Do'nt you love the Swahili, we are taking classes twice a week! I love it!

This is a picture I took of our new playroom! We all have so much fun in it and now we can walk from one house to the other just like one big house!

We were invited by the Gafner family to go to what is called a Show here but we would just call it a Fair. This is my friend, Kirsten, and I having food!

Sarah and I are doing an experiment, we are making a volcano eruption! It did not go real well and got all over her lab shirt that I lent her! It was lots of fun though!

This is Elizabeth, Lizzi ( but Dad does not like us to call her that ) she is a Dannon's girl. She is a sweety pie! Don't you think she is just ( ueembo ) beautiful? She is going to be an opera singer. Sometimes you can hear her singing and it sounds just adorable.

This is Elizabeth's twin sister Esther, she is my ( bata Juiya ) ducky junior. Isn't she just exquisite! She also loves science, like me. I once read her a book with snakes and she loved it! Essie is going to be a dancer too, just like Bailee Movius!

Here is my Olive just learning to sit up! Now this girls got attitude! The other day Olive was siting on the floor and Naomi said to her " Hi Olive, I love you " and Olive spit her tong out at her! Speaking of our friend Nomi, please pray for her, in case you do not know what Cerebral Malaria is, it is malaria that gos to your brain and there is no cure, she has it and we are very worried for her!

Bye for now, from Troy Mungu Aku Bariki! This means, God Bless you!!!

Hi everybody!! Sorry it's been so long. We have been very busy!

Here is our new slide. The kids and I Love it! The room now looks very different the floor is painted gray with a green path for riding toys on. We are going to have such fun memories in this room.

Here are some of our workers Agnes and Jenifer. This is where they fold all of the clean cloths and there are a lot of them too! I have learnt from living here that folding cloths is fun, really!

Yes, this is us doing our Guitar lesson! It is harder than it looks! We are learning to play " Lord I lift your name on High" and " This little light of mine " it is alot of fun but a lot of work!

Here is my baby Brenda, She is so cute some days she can be so sweet and others not so! But I love her!

Troy and I went to a fair with some friends, they call it a show here. There are rides, cotton candy, games and food, it is very dusty and I mean dusty! Oh, and there where animals. This was my favorite animal, the babies were so cute.

Well it has been nice to talk with you again! Love Dannon

A quick review of the last few months, sorry!

2011-03-06T23:18:00.000-08:00

As I began this blog, I realized that I had never shown a picture of coming into our compound at Tumaini! Here are a couple of pictures to show what it looks like on the outside, going out of Tumaini. This will change soon because we are painting the gate and putting up a sign that will identify our home!

Looking down our street before turning into the gate!

Christmas 2010 was a great time! Praise God for all his goodness! Here we are celebrating with our Tumaini House staff!

The Josh Leister family were with us and we all went out to Jua Kali to celebrate with our farm families too!

January brought a visit from some of our great friends from home, Lewiston ID! We had a fantastic 4 days with them, we hope they come back soon! Thank you Barry, Rochell and Ehud!

We took them to our favorite mountain retreat, Iten! We had a great meal and spacial time together.

The 1st Week end in Febuary began our 6 month course in Child Development & Behavour that I am teaching for our Tumaini Staff! They are all very excited to recieve their Certificates at the end but I have shown them they will have to work for them. Here they are taking their 1st of 6 exams going over the material already presented.

The last week in January we opened our Shining Light PreSchool. This is a picture of my kenyan teachers aid and the class. We began with a kenyan teacher but it did not work out so I have been filling in as teacher until we can get a new one. It is so much fun! We are all learning Kiswahili and all sorts of things.

We have celebrated both Jewel's and Sarah's Birthdays at school! This is Sarah's 3rd Birthday!

Jewels Birthday #4!

Center activities!

Role playing, they love so much to dress up and cook chia and supper!

On February 11, we went to the Children's Court and requested that all the children here at Tumaini be registered in our name! This is now possible because we are now offically a registered CCI with the Kenyan Goverment. Our wonderful friend Mr. John Green of Testimony Faith Homes has lent us his status as a registered CCI for almost 3 years now and made it possible under the Kenyan law for us to have the children tht we now have. He was there that day to give permission for this exchange to take place. We thank him and his wife Esther for all the time,energy,love and support they have given and continue to give us here at Tumaini.

February 4th we received twin girls 5 weeks old! Elizabeth & Esther! They are so beautiful.

Here they are growing and thriving at 2 months.

Let me take you on a tour of how things have changed building wise here at our hom " Tumaini Children's Home!

Outdoor view of how the Big room connects to the original house form the side yard between houses.

Connection of Big Room to New House,view from upstairs.

This is how the New House connects with the Big Room, inside view! It is all metal frames and glass and will have a poured cement floor. Horace has made it secure all the way through so that we can go from one house to the other as if it is one home! It is so awsome!

This is how the Big Room connects to the New House, outside veiw. There is a door that comes out right here.

Inside the Big Room! It has taken a bit longer than expected, with Horace doing most of the work but it is really almost done! It is going to be such a wonderful addition to our home! The children will have a great place to play out of the hot sun and the pouring rain when they need it. Also it will provide a place for meetings like Church,School activities, Annual Society meeting and other large gatherings we are truly Praising God for what opportunities this room will open up!

Walking in the door of the Big Room from the Salarium.

Here is Horace walking from the orginal house porch into the Salarium, straight across is the door going into the Big Room, just to give you an idea of porportions ( how big the area is ).

I have just taken another 1/4 turn and am now looking at the other end of the Salarium and the gate that now goes out into the yard between houses!

I now have my back to the door to the Big Room and you can see into the porch of the original house.

This is inside the Salarium area before walking into the Big Room! It will be a nice place to get out of the sun! We plan to have plants & flowers about! Unfortunately we will have to keep our eyes out for snakes who are seeking the same fomfort! Peter and Horace found one the other morning! It was harmless , just a house snake but still makes you jump! Gabe wanted to keep it and carry it around dead! Mom said " no! "

Looking straight at the Big Room and outdoor Salarium connected to the original house! Someday there will be something green growing up from the conner and ove the metal security cage on top!

Here is a pictures from the entrance gate in. First the original house with the new Big Room then the new house! I must brag on Horace and the two men ( Peter & Frances ) they have done a fantastic Job. Horace has done all the metal working that you see, each peice welded.

This is looking straith at the New House from the play yard! Our roses are doing so well! Like the children thriving!

Here is a picture looking from the back to the front!

Again we are Praising God for all of you who make this awsome work of God possible with you prayer, love and support! Be so blessed! Love the Horace Leister Family in Kenya!!!

November was a busy month!

2010-12-07T23:12:00.000-08:00

The month stared with a visit from a CWH Team from Colorado! Thom, Dean and a new friend Rebecca (from Philly). The 1st thing we did was take them for a visit to Mbale, where Josh's family are living! Troy has been there helping with new baby, Eliza! It was a big day but a good one!

We drove another 30kl and went to a outdoor resturant in Kisumu!

They visited out at the property in Jua Kali! Isac and his new house.

Rebecca supervising the slide!

The team was a great help! Thom with Boaz! We enjoyed their visit so much!

Dean with the children!

While the team from Colorado was here we had our offical Opening! It was a great event! We had about 30 people present. We provided a tour of our home and Tea with Cookies and samosas ( a meat filled pastery )! Thom Seagren the President of CWH was our 1st speaker. He shared all of our testimony on how the work in Kenya began!

Our dear friend and mentor John Green from Testimony Faith Homes, spoke some very nice things about Tumaini Children's Center and God's work here.

Dad & Mom Leister with the team from Colorado, CWH! Thank you for coming your visit was such a Blessing!

We had 2 birthdays in Nov. Mom Leister and Troy! Dad Leister took us to Iten, our favorite Mt. top resturant! Great food and View!

Dad here with Reuben, is'nt this a great view!

We surprised Troy on her Birthday by visiting her in Mbale with 2 of her friends!

The Birthday Piza that Rachel made in a outdoor charcol oven even! Yum!

Troy opening her gifts!

We are streching out as you can see! Our house and play area is getting big! We are very blessed to have such a great place, for the children to thrive!

Our Big room that has brought the two houses into one is nearly complete!

Horace welded all the windows this time and saved alot of money! He did a great job!

The outside is being plastered now!

The inside has been plastered and the floor will be poured next!

Here is a view of the front of the new room as it connects to the orginal house! As you can see Horace is putting up the secruity over the out door area! There will be a climbing flower vine that will grow up and over this, it will be beautiful!

Well I hope you enjoy seeing all that is happening here at Tumaini! We love all of you so much and can not say enough how much we Paise God for all of you who suppport us here! Blessings Horace & Phyllis, Troy,Dannon and all our children here

2010-10-19T00:31:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! We just celebrated our Debby's 3rd Birthday! One of the great parts to what we are doing here, is giving the children experiences they have never had! Ice cream cones were something no one had had before! It was great fun! We got no smiles from Debby though!

This was an obvious outdoor event!

Some needed more help than others!

Brenda!

Jewel enjoying her ice cream cone!

Joel eating his ice cream cone!

We have been trying to get a Family Picture! This is not as easy as it may sound, ha, ha! The children have been great though! This was our 5th attempt and we decided this would do to have enlarged for our wall!

This one we took outside and loved the colors and settings but the children looked at Peter who was taking the picture like they did not know him at all and no one could get hem to smile! Not one!

This was another attempt, we felt it was a bit to far away, but we liked the wonderful wall hanging!

We are busy here! Construction continues! Now that the new house project is mostly finished the men and Horace are working on the Big Room that will connect the two houses and make us one big house!

This life is not only busy but can be quite stressful so we have invested in some equipment so that we can exercise a bit of it off! Now getting the time to do is is another miracle!

Thank you everyone for your patients with me as I try to juggle all that needs to be done here! I love posting pictures of the happenings here but do not always have time! So again I thank you for waiting!
We are praying for all of you who come to this site and see what God has accomplished, to be lifting up Praises to Him!
We are so thankful for the opportunities that present themselves everyday to do the same!
Love Horace, Phyllis, Troy, DAnnon and everyone here at Tumaini Children's Center! And by the way all prayers have been answered! We have our official license! Yea God!

Finally! A word from the Girls!

2010-09-06T23:51:00.000-07:00

Habari!

This is Pheobi she's my little ducky.
I call her ducky because she has the mouth of ducky in the "land befor time".
When she first came to us she made a little ducky sound.
Is'nt she adorable?

And little Joyce in her B-DAY hat I made for her.
It's the best hat I'v made so far, it has violet on top and voilet and purple mix
on the sides with purple on the bottom.
Pritty cool, I know!

HOLY HUVERING HUMING BIRDS! I forgot to tell you about this bug on the last blog.
This unplesent bug is a kind of cocroch! Oh and FYI, it was'nt in our house.
It was night time when it hit the window and we thought it was a bird becuse the
noise was so loud. Pritty disturbing, I know.

This adorable creater is Eliza. Is'nt she delightful?
She looks a lot like her brother, I think she also has some looks like
her Grandma Jessy. She also has a very expressive face.

This is Sylvia and guess what she's an OPRA singer.
Sylvia is so very funny,nice & pritty she has a very pritty voise.

BY FOR NOW,
TROYANNA LEISTER

Hello guys, your right, it's me Dannon.
Don't you just love this picture.
It was so fun to have them here for a month!
Eliza is so sweet. we can't wait to see them again.

Gabe loves his brother.
Enoch was criying. so Gabe walk to Enoch and gave him a big hug!
Gabe did not want to let go of him.
Gabe can be so sweet and other times, not so sweet.
Enoch love's hug's from his big brother.

Tekoa Love's Grampa!
Tekoa is so good about his picture being taken.
After a month Tekoa was ready to go home.
But he did really good.
Oh, before I forget Troy & I are geting our first camera, cool rite!!

Enoch is so cute I sent this because of his face?
I think this was Dema's Birth Day!!
When we were handing out present's Gabe's like that's mine that's min he is so funny!!

Thats all for now Folks! Love Ya Dannon

The Girls have alot to say!

2010-07-06T22:43:00.000-07:00

Hello guess who? Your right, it's me, Dannon!
Malachi left the 23rd of June, we all miss him!
He was a great helper!

My Dad just had a Birthday, yea!
It is crazy at Birthday time here.
We bought a cake mix here, an American cake mix, pretty cool, right.
Only some of the kids like cake.

Isn't Sarah a cutie pie.
We had to make her say cheese, just to make her smile.
Troy took these pictures, she Love's to take pictures.
She is very good at it too, don't you think.

Bea Say's hi! And she is praying for all you.
Even if she does not know you,
oh and she Love's you too.
She is so funny!
I ask her, "what I should write next" and she's like, "well could you right about me?"
And I said, "ya I guess so."

Well that is all for now Folks!

Hi,this is Dannon and I in our room.
I love this room not because it's our room but because it's
a perfect size room for Dannon and I.

This is the hat I made for Joyce for her Birthday.
Do you like it? Iam getting better at crocheting, I even crocheted
two small blankets. Pretty cool right?

This is not a monkey but a baby baboon. If you held out your hand, it would shake it.
It was adorable. The other monkeys tried to pull
you in their cage.

This is me and Naomi, she is a helper with the babies
and such a great friend.
When ever she gets excited she always says "whoops" and its so
funny.

Bey for now!
Troy

Things are a changes all the time!

2010-06-17T02:46:00.000-07:00

Our Month started out with a Birthday Celebration for Nancy & Maggie! They are doing well, their mother's sidewalk business is doing well and she is mostly healthy!

Horace & Phyllis got to have a great 35th Anniversary retreat in Kisumu with Josh,Rachel and Big Boy Tekoa! We really just relaxed, it was great!

This is where Josh goes to school in Kisumu Kenya. In a few weeks Josh will complete his 2nd term and in Sept. 2010 will begin his 3rd and last term to complete his Medical Officer Training! Please have Josh,Rachel,Tekoa and new baby in your prayers for what the future holds!

Our helper Malachi has been a great inside and out!

Sad but true Malachi will be leaving Kenya on the 23rd of June, he will be missed!

We are so excited we are with in a few weeks of house completion! All the tile is in and the appliances go in tomorrow, toilets,sinks,showers by the weekend!!!

Kitchen!

Boaz, is the youngest of our 6 new arrivals!

Brighton!

After just 2 weeks our Brighton who could not sit or move his arms or legs with out help, is sitting up in the highchair and reaching for his food, almost getting it into his mouth! Praise God! He is so good!

Phoebe!

Debby!

Troy & Titus!

Dannon and Joey!

Our play yard is Happy!

We have a livly sitting room!

We have a full table!

We are so Blessed! Thank you everyone for you continuing prayer! We love you all so much and appreciate all that you do to support us so that we are able to be here working with our Lord Jesus! Be Blessed where ever you are! Love Horace, Phyllis,Troy, Dannon & and all of us here at Tumaini Chidlren's Center!

It's the girls again!

2010-05-24T03:20:00.000-07:00

Guess Who? It's Dannon, that's right!

One of our helper's Peter found a nest on the ground.
With two egg's in it, cool rite!
As you can see Troy opened it up.
sad right.
OK enough about the egg's.

As you can see Dema and I are very happy about the house.
The men are doing a great job don't you think?
I am sure my mom showed you the picture's of the Bathrooms. Troy & mine is the beautiful green one!

Here is a pic of me and Troyanna.
Troy is holding Boaz and I'am holding Judah.
I never put Judah down, he is the cutest thing!
He has big beautiful eyes!

That's all for now folks!

Habari,OK Iam sorry for tricking you about the spider but I just couldn't help myself.

So we went to the hospital the other day, this is Boaz and I.
Boaz is so little that his feet are not even three inches long and his fingers are so tiny they can,t even grab my thumb.

And this is Debby dancing on the changing table. Isn't she adorable?
Most of the nurses are very nice. The nurse that was siting there was singing for Debby.

This is my good friend Malachi and he is holding Pheby, an adorable little girl.
Pheby reminds me of Brenda. I'm trying to learn Swahili because all the babies speak it,
so I'm learning fast.

And this is Dema's "paw print" that's what Dema calls it. She had chocolate ICE CREAM
all over her hand and decided to put her mark on the wall.
Dad wasn't very happy about that but I think its cute. Don't you?
I tryed to wash it off but its everlasting.

Bey for now
Troy!!!!!

2010-05-20T02:34:00.000-07:00

Hello to all our Family & Friends! God Bless you, from all of us at Tumaini Children's Center!

We were able to begin visits at the hospital again and see all our old and new friends! We met some very beautiful children we are hoping to bring to Tumaini and give them a permenant home! Please pray!

Joel!

Titus!

Troy & Dannon with the 2 small infants we met, Boaz & Judah!

Matthew!

Debbie!

Malachi and Phebe!

Mikey!

Abby!

BaBa ( Father or Dad in kiswahili) Horace with Brighton at the hospital!

Horace poured the counter for the new kitchen last week and now the tiler's are moving from finishing of the baths to starting on the kitchen, yeah!!! It is getting done!

These are are the tiles for the kitchen. The big green one is for the counters! Sorry I forgot to add the floor tile, it is a shade or 2 darker copper than the wall tile, it will be a beautiful kitchen, the kenyans are so excited!

We have 5 baths in the new house and they are all tiled, Praise God! This is the guest bath, is'nt it beautiful?

This is the green bath that is connected with the bedroom Troy & Dannon will share!

This is the girls pink bath, again so beautiful! Fixtures will go in soon, they will be pink too!

Horace and Malachi sorting out the steel for welding the encloser on the porch! We have had such a great time with Malachi, he is a wonderful helper and friend! It will be so hard to say goodbey in June.

This month marked the Celebration of our dear friend John Green's 70th Birthday! We had the privilege of attending a Party his family gave! It was a great time of good food, good friends and good memories! Thank you to the Green family for inviting us! We pray for many more retuning celebrations like this one for a wonderful Man who walks with God. John Green and Testimony Homes have been our covering here, so that we could foster the Children we have until our licensing is completed! Thank you John, may God continue to Bless you mightily!!

!

A Word with the Girls!

2010-05-11T02:23:00.000-07:00

Habari!

This is Troy.

We are now trying a cook at our house, his name is George. George is very quiet
the only words he says are "yes" and "OK" but I know we will be good friends
just like Bea and I. Bea is our main helper in our house.

OK, so I woke up this morning and look what was in my net? That's right, a big old spider, it was dark brown with black eyes and big old teeth or whatever those things
are called, Mom said to stay still so it wouldn't move.

I'm not going to tell you I was scared, OK,FINE, I was scared!!!!!

If you want to see how scared I was click on the picture.
By for now
Troy

P.S. The spider wasn't real
Ha Ha! got ya

Hello it's me, Dannon.

Happy Mother's day to all Mother's.
My mom got breakfast in her bedroom.
Troy and I made breakfast for her and all the baby's made her a card.

We have a visitor, his name is Malachi.
All the kids love him, he is very funny.
He is staying with us for two months.
All the kids wake him up by yelling "Malachi Malachi"!.
We all think he is fun to have here.

We finally, almost got one bathroom finished, we are all so happy.
It's the girl's bathroom, it's pink.
And the boy's bathroom is blue.
Troy and I have a green bathroom but they have not started it, yet.
But the boy's bathroom they have started, yea!

We have started school, again!
And we did a project, we made a Diary, it was called "Kitty's Kentucky Diary".
It is about a little girl who lived, well in Kentucky, we really got to read a Diary from history, isn't that cool .

Well, look at the time! That's all for now Folks! Dannon

May

2010-05-10T02:31:00.000-07:00

This is the site for the new orchard! It will be so great to have all the fruit we can eat! It will take abit of time for the trees to grow but thingsg grow fast around here.

Here are the trees out at Jua Kali, they are getting tall and it looks so wonderful out there!

We now have 4 rocking chairs in the house, they are a favorite place to sit with Dad!

This is the water we have around because of the rain!

This is the rain we get this time of year, that is why the roads are so bad!

This is the road ( I call it ) but they call it a city street out in front of our gate.

This is the road outside our gate, the men took all the building debree and helped improve the condition of the road with it.

The depree that was cleared to fill the road made the yard free for play! The Children are enjoying it, when it is not raining!

We never run out the need to be stiring up abit of cememt! Peter, Francis & Malichi

Here is our new helper at Tumaini! This is Malichi, from Colorado USA he will be interning with us for 2 months. Horace is enjoying his help with the house and the children just love him. I am sure you will hear more about Malichi on the girl's next blog!

Well here it is the step we have all been waiting for! The tiling has began! This is the little girls bath. It will be finished today and then on with the rest. It will take about 3 weeks to finish the whole house. All the floors are tile, all baths and kitchen!

A Word from the Girls!

2010-04-24T00:29:00.000-07:00

Habari, From Troy

This is me in my future room! Is'nt it beautiful?
It's a big room but I'm not going to have the room all to myself Iam
going to share it with Dannon which is alright with me because it is a rather
large room.

Here is Sarah and I with our bunny ears on. Sarah is so adorable, isn't she?
We each got a pair of bunny ears or flower crown for Easter, from a friend in Colorado. All of the girls like to dress up with them and it is so cute.

This bug was in the little girls room.
Sarah pointed at it and said "dudu" that means "bug" in kiswahili. It was some kind of large beattle. I took it outside and let it go. I wanted to keep it for
a pet but I knew how Mom would feel about this, not Ok!

I went to Josh and Rachels house in Kisumu with Mom,Dad,Three babies and Dannon.
It takes two and a half hours to get to kisumu. I had so much fun going there.

This is me and Gabe at a restaurant in Kisumu.
Gabe was being so funny when he put my hat on, is'nt he so cute?

Well, it's bye for now! Troy

Hello, it's me, Dannon

How are you?
I got this dress for Easter. I can wear it as a skirt too. It is one of my favorites!

We took Josh and his family home on Friday. We took them to lunch too.
And of course I had chicken nugget's, which I'm happy that they have here. They do not look like McDonald's but Oh,well!

My brother Josh and his family came to visit for a week or so.The 19th was Josh's birthday.We made him a chocolate peanutbutter pie.It was a winner, we all said.

I made this pie on my own. Rachel thought it was very good.
It's called Cinnamon pie crust, yummy.

We got a box a week after Easter. It had bunny ear's and flower head band's.
Here is a picture of Ruth and I. We all got something, Troy and I Love boxes.

Well that's all for now folk's! Dannon

April Already!

2010-04-12T02:37:00.000-07:00

This month begins with the 1st birthday of our precious Ruth! She is such a happy baby and so much enjoyed her day!!

We did not have to coax Ruth at all to enjoy her Birthday treat! She gummed it right down!

Each of the children have a plate with their name on it like this one! Aren't they beautiful!! The were designed and painted by 2 sisters who attend the Seagren's church in Grand Junction, CO. We use them for Birthday celebrations, they are perfect!

Thank you Shellie for the happy gift of flowers and bunny ears! Troy & Dannon want to use them as props for a skit they are doing with the children! We will let you know how it all turns out!

Joyce

Troy & Reuben bunnies!

Two of our little Easter Flowers!

We had an opportunity to take some of the children to a small center set up with rural tribal home & animals, it was a great outing for all of us!

The children were so interested in the bunnies that they did not even notice this beautiful peacock, but I did!

The ostrich was so large but Gabe he just walked up to it and said " how you?" I grabbed him back just as he was going to put his little hand through the fence!

They were all so good! They were so amazed to see what they saw! The building in the back ground was where we got to see Kenyan snakes! We saw 2 black mambas, just like the ones that were killed here at Tumaini, they would not let us take any pictures, bummer!

Everyone had a great time!

We are getting there, the finish line is in sight!

Thank God for the years Horace spent at Guardian Heating in Lewiston, ID!

This is the side porch where eventually we will connect this house with the existing house to make one big one!!!

The ceilings was finished today! I hope to share pictures of the tile going in soon!

Praise be to God! Our work continues and is so blessed! We know that this is because of all those of you who have joined with us in your prayers to this great work here in Eldoret Kenya!! I know that I have said this many, many times but I will never say it enough!! Thank you everyone who join us here with all your support and prayers!! We love you all and lift you up from here! Horace, Phyllis, Troy & Dannon and everyone here at Tumaini Children's Center

A Word from the Girls

2010-04-04T23:00:00.000-07:00

Habari, remember that means (how are ya).

So the other day Dad was boiling water and a cockroach
ran out of the bottom of the kettle. Dad "doomed" the bottom of the kettle
and hit it on the counter about ten cockroaches fell out. So many fell out that
we couldn't count them, OK maybe not that many but still a lot fell out. It was awsome!

Speaking about bugs when it rains here lots of kumbe kumbe, that means
(termite) come out and not just any termite but flying termites and
Kenyans eat them for a snack! They say they taste just like meat from a cow.

ByE for now, Troy

Hi it's me Dannon.
Happy Easter I had a very fun Easter.
My mom made chicken, stuffing, Banana cream pie for Easter dinner. I love my Mom!
I hope you had a good Easter too.

This was a day we took all the baby's to the new house,
as you can see I am looking out the window.
The baby's love it when we take them in the new house.

I just had my first sleepover in Kenya.
We went for french fries and ice cream floats.
There were seven of us me, Troy, Kirsten, Ruth, Millise, Elieni and Keith.
We stayed at Kirsten and Ruth's house.
Oh, Ruth and I chased some sheep that was realy fun.

Well thats all Folks! Dannon

A Word from the girls!

2010-03-22T06:43:00.000-07:00

Hi,
Today I did my school like everyday,but Friday,Saturday and Sunday!

We start school after 9:00 and stop at 12:00. The kids go for their nap at 12:30

They get up at 2:00. After they get up we take them outside to play!

They go for bed at 7:30 after we read the Bible and pray. 2 of them stay up a little later.

That was my 1st Post! O! Ya! Did you know a moose is part of the Deer Family? I found this out in a geography game we play for school, really!

Well that's all for now Folks!

Dannon

Dannon & I playing outside with the children!

"Habari" (that means Hi, how ya doing!)from Troy!

Today I helped make breakfast like every morning.
Every other day I make Mom orange juice for breakfast.

Most of the babies like toast for breakfast and eggs
with "maji" (that means water) or "maziwa" (that means milk).

I eat toast and eggs with "quancher" (that means juice).
After breakfast we all go and play with the babies.

Bye for now
Troy

Things Continue!

2010-03-14T00:10:00.000-08:00

This is our new generator's home! We are so happy and thankful for the generator! Electricity is getting harder to come by here, we are not sure why! But we have a day each week that we are usually with out any and it goes off and on other days!

Our back door & porch!

Three of our beautiful Princess!

Nancy & Maggie were here for a visit! We had a great time and they are doing well! Saying goodby was hard but we hope it will get easier!

Painting the living room!

The interior painting is almost complete!

The time consuming job of placing glass in windows has begun!

These are mandazi, we eat them with our chi ( tea with milk & sugar)! They are great but deep fried!

Mom's attempt at american pizza has become a great favorite here, these are 12inches and it takes 4 of these to feed us!

This is our lunch on tuesdays, sucuma & ugali, yum!

keeping fit!

Dannon has always wanted to learn how to play the Guitar, so we are!

Troy and her Guitar lessons!

March began with our baby Sarah tuning 2!

We thank you for being involved with your prayers an support to this ministry! With love from all of us here at Tumaini Children's Center! We will try our best to keep you posted! Things are always on the move here! This is God! Praise Him! Horace & Phyllis Leister

An Eventful February

2010-02-24T03:47:00.000-08:00

We greet you with joy and smiles! Joyce is so happy with her ability to walk and stand on her own two feet!

Sarah

Maggie

Joyce

Gabriel

Reuben

February brings the 3rd birthday of our beatiful Jerusalem Jewel!

We have just finished celebrating our beatiful Jerusalem Jewel's 3rd birthday!

We had a great time making our Valentines! Thank you all who sent us the cutters,candies to decorate with and cookie dough recipt.

Flour is a main ingredient in the art of having fun baking cookies!

The day was very much enjoyed!

Our life here is no different than anywhere when working with children , sometimes bittersweet! This month it has been just that in seeing two of our girls reunited wih their mother. This is a picture of Nancy,Alice( their mother)& Maggie. We are in constant contact and they are doing very well.

Ruth is growing so fast, she is beginning to crawl!

We had a great visit with the Kisumu Leisters and the Schmidt family! Unfortunately all the pictures except this one of our grandson Tekoa did not turn out! I will be sure to get copies of those taken by others and share them later.

Enoch finally got 2 teeth at once!

We have had our share of rain and so we get few days out in the sun but when we do everyone enjoys playing! This is one of the young women who help with Children, Jaclyn.

A few days of sunshine are very much appreciated! This is our other childcare helper, Neomi.

Here we are taking our daily tour of the new house! The children are always so thrilled to run around and talk about who's room is who's!

We have attempted to take another Tumaini Family Picture! This demonstrates how quickly the children are growing and the fact that this is deffinatly not an easy task!

Hello dear blog Faimly! We hope you have enjoyed catching up with us! We continue to than God for all of you who we depend on for your prayer support!

Happy New Year 2010

2010-02-02T01:54:00.000-08:00

This new year will see the new house project finished and in good use. These are the masons putting on the hardcast ( stucko type finish ). We are very anxious to have the house finished we will definately appreciate the room it will give all our growing family and the opportunity to bring in more

.

As you can see we need it! Our existing dinning room is getting quite small for everyone. Here we are missing 3 children and Dannon, Horace and myself.

Here is an inside shot down the east hall toward Troy's and the children's bedrooms and baths. The inside plastering are all done but we must wait 30 days until we can paint.

Looking out from the kitchen into the dinning on the left and the sitting on the right.

West wall of the sitting into the dinning. During drying time Horace will place cabnets and plumming and electric.

The end of the house with just the plaster and bands on.

The back of the house with just plaster and bands. This is before the hard cast.

This is the house with all the hard cast ( stucko type finish ) the dye is a forest shade of green. As soon as the house is fully dried the bands and around the windows will be a dark glossy grean and the window sills will be white. It will look so well!

We decided that the weather was warm enough for our 1st swim day! Some could not wait until the pool was ready!

Swimming Day! We found out though that we have to watch how quickly they get cooled off! We had a couple get scarry cold before we got them changed and warmed up agin. The hot sun can fool you into thinking the air is hot also and at times it can be down right cool.

They were so qute in their swim cloths!

Dad Horace's new project for the children! A great addition for our small back play yard.

Having fun on their new slide!

When we were warned the city might being rationing water Horace set up a tank system to catch rain water!

Troy going in to help Dad with his tank project! Horace had the girls help put the spouts in, to get the water out.

Troy coming out!

Dannon as Dad's tank helper! The rains did come late but they filled all three of these tanks and probubly would have filled three more.

We are so looking forward to this bright new year! Many things that have been in the building process will be complete and ready to serve the purposes that God has set in motion for Tumaini Children's Center. Thank's to all who have prayed and shared that we might see accomplished what God has in His heart for all of us here. May God rain his blessings down for everyone concered. Keep us in your prayers and stay connected our dear family. Love the Leister's in Kenya

Christmas in Kenya 2009

2010-01-13T03:25:00.000-08:00

Now this looks like Christmas at the Leister's! This is our 3rd Christmas in Kenya!

Dannon was happy with her gift!

Gifts!!

Gabe loved the candy canes!

Enoch with his Christmas Stocking!

Ruth enjoying her gifts on Christmas morning!

Wall of stockings! One for everyone, even our househelp! They were made by a friend in colorado! They are so beautiful!

Baking Christmas cookies with friends!

Shoebox gifts from our friends at New Life Church in Pierce Idaho!

Our beautiful Christmas Tree! This was the 1st year we had a tree for Christmas we were so blessed, we purchased it from some friends who were returning to the states.

Outside looking in!

Prayer time!

It was great to have Josh, Rachel and our grandson Tekoa with us for Christmas!

We had many visitors during Christmas! This was a group that visited from Moi Referal Hospital ( the hospital where we have recieved most of our children from) Sarah Mamlin and her husband direct the intern program there between Kenya and the US. These are all young Drs.checking out what we are doing at Tumaini! Sarah ( to the right ) backed 2000 Christmas Cookies for all the chidlren that they are connected with, Prase God, Tumaini has some of these children because the cookies are wonderful!

We exchanged gifts during our Society group gathering and we are really glad that they were not wraped!!! Mom Phyllis was presented with the traditional chicken dinner!

We had a great time while gathering with our Society group.

Here Troy & Dannon are singing with their friends the Gafner girls and our children during the visit from our Society Group.

This was our 3rd Christmas in Kenya! Hard to believe! Everyone had such a great time! We were blessed with many visitors a few days before Christmas, we greeted, talked, sang, had chai (tea with milk and surgar) and cookies, exchanged some small gifts and enjoyed ourselves greatly. Our househelp said they had never had such a wonderful Christmas! This blessed us Leister's more than anything! We prayed that all of you who help make it possible for us to be here with your support and prayers had just as wonderful a Christmas and we pray you have a " Super Blessed New Year!" Love all of you so much! The Leisters in Kenya

Our December 2009 Team

2009-12-14T22:03:00.000-08:00

Here is just part of the blessing that we recieved! Thank you everyone who sent things and payed to have things sent!

The team had a busy 1st day! They went out to the property at Jua Kali right after visiting with all of us here at Tumaini! Here Thom is passing out sweets to the local chidlren! They love to see the white Tumaini van coming!

The team here are standing in the new house that is being built for one of the families that live on the Jua Kali property! The placement of the house will bring better secruity for the property!

The team started by helping with the roof on the porch and putting up the gutter! The gutters are so importand here because of the huge amount of water that falls during the rain! They keep the water from erodding the cement and ground and allows us to catch it for drinking and watering!

Gary finished, all day!

Great job! This is our back porch, off the washroom and kitchen!

They came and concered! They mixed and poured the cement for the front and back porches! Not and easy job, in the kenyan sun and doing it kenyan style! All with your back!

We got the honor of having Thom Seagren proside over our annual Society Meeting! Here is the meeting and all the members that came! We are so blessed!

While visiting the team helped us unoffically upen the house! The Kenyan board was here to help also!

The help that was done on the house was great but of course the laughs and play that was done inside will never be forgotten by those who recieved the Fathes love from his children!

Here are the four men who came as a team from Colorado to help with the house project! Pastor Rob, Thom Seagren, Gary and Dean ( also a board member)! Thanks again guys!

Thank you God for the people who sacrifice and care so much for us here at Tumaini! We have just recieved a vist from a team that included Thome Seagren, the President of Children With Hope and three other great men of God! Children With Hope is the organization that allows us Leisters to do our hearts desire and serve God in the nations! Thank you Thom & Shari Seagren for your vision for this project, to give children who have nothing, have everything in Jesus! Also to the board who support them and us with their wise council and prayers!
Thank you to everyone who has made it possible for us to be here with your prayers and finacial support this year! We love you so and are praying for God's continued Blessings to be with you and yours! Horace, Phyllis, Troyanna, Dannon and all here at Tumaini Children's Center.

December is here!

2009-11-30T23:06:00.000-08:00

Here are our Team from Hope Chapel Lewiston! Jeph, Sean, Savanah, James and Jason! We are so appreciative of their Love, Laughter and help! We had such a blessed 9 days with them!

We had so much fun with wigs and all the great gifts the team brought us!

James was a natural! The help that was done on the inside of the house with the children was great!

Savanah, was amazing with the children too!

This was the day they tried Ugali and Sucuma! They were surprised they liked it better than exspected!

One project the team Helped with was completing both sides of facia!

So much was accomplished while the team was here! While Horace and Jeph & Sean were working here on closing in the gables, others were working on the roof of the other house and several more projects were completed! Thank you Lewiston Team! Your help saved Horace weeks of work!

These are parents and students out in the front of the small rural school we have become friends with!

The benches you see were very much appreciated, Dad Horace made them so that the children in the school would not have to do their studies sitting on the dirt floor!

Here The team with Horace and our girls, got to be part of the schools closing day!

I was so blessed that the team got to celebrate Mom Phyllis' Birthday! It was a great day and we had Chinees for Dinner!

Here is our Dad with all the tools the team brought him! He was so happy and work goes so much faster because of these tools!

God has so blessed us here at Tumaini Children's Center with great fiends and family that come and put their hands to the work He is doing here in Kenya! We pray that you our blog family are all blessed for the prayers and support you give in everyway! May God return it 100 fold! Love the Leister Family here in Kenya

November Update!

2009-11-08T04:18:00.000-08:00

This is our new door that access the play yard!

This is our play yard at the exicting house! A access door was just completed this week so the children can go in and out from the play room! We are so grateful to our Daddy for taking the time out of his busy work on the new house to complete this for us before it gets very hot!

Here is the new house! It is coming right along! The windows are in and the plastering will begin in a week or so! This is when it will really change! It will be plastered inside and out and then we can begin to paint! We have a team from the US coming this month and next to help! Yea!

Ruth is our newest! She is now 7 months old and she is so beautiful! She came with a huge swollon belly from malnutrition! She had s sever lung infection that we were able to get medication for. She was resqued by a children's center and we picked her up there. She is now growing so well and is so happy, as long as we keep her fed!!!

Enoch was born December 7th last year, 8 weeks early, they are estimating! The first time I saw him he weighed less than 2lbs! "He is dying" I was told ,when I inquired of him! He was refusing to eat because he could not keep down the amount that was being fed to him! I said " not on my watch" we were so blessed because God litteraly turned my face to see Enoch that day and then He provided the perfect person to step in and take care of him at the hospital until we could get him released to us! He is God's man and you can see it by the huge grin he always has on his face!

Brenda Boop! came last year about this time too! She is a miracle child just like the others! She was abandoned in a outdoor tolet at birth! She was found a few days later still alive and fighting, after the rats had taken her for dead and eaten part of her arm away! Everyone was so amazed that she survied this ordeal but that was before we got to know the personality that God had blessed her with! She is a fighter and there is no doubt about that. She has a Godly purpose and she will see it done!

Here is Dema sitting beside all the wonderful goodies we have just recieved from our " Shamba " kiswahili for farm! Children With Hope own a 6 arce plot of land about 25 minuets from Eldoret town. We plan to build there someday soon but for now it gives us bounty like this!

This is Joyce whom we brought back from the US with us. She went to the US earlier this year in May to have surgery done on her heart and mouth ( cleft lip & palet). She is growing so fast and has such a will to keep up with the other chidlren. We have a hard time keeping weight on her because of the energy she spends but she eats like a horse! In this picture she has decided that she will make it to the top of this mountain and not give up and she did! When she got to the top, she sat down and clapped her hands saying " yea Joyce "! And we agreed, she is trying to walk, she will soon!

Reuben is now 16 months and as been with us 1 year. Reuben also has made a incredable transformation. He was so small with a very large tummy from sever malnutrition when we resqued him. Now he is our Big Boy and out weighs all the other children! He is so sweet and can be so shy!

Here is our Dema, she is 3 years now and we can hardly imagine her as the same unruly little girl that we resqued form the hospital just a year ago after she had been abandoned on the highway!

Thank you so much Blog Family for all your prayers and supoort. The work here at Tumaini continues! We just passed our 2 year mark here in Kenya, the time has gone by so swiftly! We are so blessed that everything continues to go forward in the work God has given us here! Troyana & Dannon our 2 youngest daughters are growing as fast as all the Kenyan children! I will up date next tie on the remaining 6 children. Until then here are pictures of the 1st 5. We are all looking forward to the team that is coming this month! We pray that all of you will be blessed for all that you do to make this possible! In the mighty name of Jesus! Horace & Phyllis Leister and everyone at Tumaini Children's Center

oops! What happened to the Leisters!

2009-09-19T05:11:00.000-07:00

Joyce & Luken

Jake & Randi & kids

Dad Horace & Jess ready for the wedding!

Great day at the NorthFork with the Schmidt family.

Shealyn & Becca our newist grandaughters.

Troy, Dannon, Jess & Jeremy's girls & Luken our newest grandson, Jake & Randi's Caedman & Addi.

Hello to all our Blog family! We are really still around,I can not tell you how excitedly busy we have been 1st on our trip to the US and then when we returned to Kenya!

1st I want to catch you up on our trip to the US! We had a great time with all our family and fiends, wow , it was fantastic! Visiting with many friends, sharing about what God is doing in Kenya at Tumaini Children's Center, holding & loving on our children and grandchildren exc... Thank God we can carry so many memories in our minds because we could never afford to pack them in anything else and bring them home to kenya!
The 1st week-end we were in town we shared at the Healing Room's Worship Center and shared with many friends & family about our life in Kenya. We had a great time and great food! Thank you everyone, it is always so important to us to share our experiences.
We then got to attend our newest grandson's ( Tekoa & Luken ) dedication at RiverCity Church again a great time of meet up with so many people we love there in the Lewiston Valley!
Horace and I decided that we would spend a couple of days just the two of us, so we went to one of our favorite spots in Idaho, Winchester Lake! We stayed in one of their " Yurts", if you do not know what this is I posted a picture. We had a great time mostly just sitting around and floating on the lake in a canoe! It was truly a gift and we are so happy we did it. Thank you Jessie & Bill for watching our girls and lending us a canoe!
The day before the wedding we decided to have a great adventure with our whole family! We had our family pictures taken! Wow what a adventure, there are 22 of us now and several 5 and under! The day began with rain and continued with pouring rain! I know I have already said this but Ange Movius took our pictures and she did such a fantastic job with what she had to work with! The day could not be changed because of every ones schedules! Thanks again Ange, you are truly a photographer!
Our daughter Brittney got married to Justin Derting on August 8th, 2009! It was an incredibly time! The ceremony and reception were held at our dear friends, the Holben's beautiful farm house!! What a glorious setting!
We want to put in a great big thank you to all that helped make this wedding so beautiful and run so smoothly! I do not know everyone so thank you those who were involved!
We are so proud of both Justin & Brittney, they are a wonderful Godly couple. What made the ceremony even more special was the officiating Pastor was none other than our son Joshua Leister all the way from kenya Africa. He did a great job and we all felt the presences of God the father looking over all, thank you Lord for being this close to us!
We were so blessed to see so many friends at the wedding that we would never have gotten to see other wise! Thank you everyone who came, so many from out of town even, our fiends Val Boyce and family and my sister Mariah and her son Brian and his family!
Our son Jacob Leister & his wife Randi, son Caedman & daughter Addison who we have not seen since she was 8 months old, came in from Kansas ( they moved there after we left in 2008) right before the wedding and we got to catch up on what God has been doing in their lives. They are doing so well where God has planted them we are very proud of them too!
We flew to Colorado and spent time eating!!! and speaking with our family there, the Seagrens! We had a great meeting with the board of Children With Hope and spoke one Sunday at River Of Life Church where we have been made to feel so much at home. We had a great meal with all our friends from the team who came in May & June to help with putting up the trusses and roof on the new house! Yea team hope to see you again here in kenya!
We got to pick up a very special someone and bring her back to Lewiston and then on to kenya with us! Joyce was waiting in Colorado at the Seagren's home for us! We were so happy to see her and witness for ourselves the miracles results of the surgeries that had been done while she was staying in the US since May 1st 2009. She is a changed girl, so full of life and her face is amazingly beautiful. We are so appreciative and blessed by those who were involved in all the care that she received during this time! Thank you again Rotary members, Doctors, Nurses, Crystal & Don Zimmer,everyone we love you and we will never let her forget who you are and what you have done in her life!
When we got back from Colorado we had only 10 days left to get ready to come home to Kenya! It was a fast and sometimes difficult time! Leaving is never easy! One of the funnest days that we had was with the Schmidt family at their family's favorite camping spot up the northfork of the clearwater river, it was so awsome!
Then there's the shopping then the packing and deciding what has to stay because of all the shopping!
We were so blessed by all the generosity that we received from all!! "Thank you' just never seems like enough! We love you all so much!
We spent as many hrs as we could with all our children & grandchildren but it is never enough!
We had time with our Marvin who we miss so much now that he is staying in the states to finish his last year of school and get ready for college! We got to visit a bit with our daughter Brandi and her two girls whom we had never met. They were both born while we were in Kenya, Shaelyn 13 months and Becca just 1 month old.
Our daughter Jessica & her husband Jeremy live there in Lewiston so we got to spend some great times swimming, shopping and catching up with their family! They are such a help to us here at Tumaini, Jess does all our personal states side financial work and a whole lot more! We are always tyring to get Jeremy over here so he can see how much he and his computer skills are needed here!
Well definately I will write again soon and fill you in on how it has been here in kenya since we have returned! Be so bless all of you and if you would like to see many pictures please visit us on Phyllis' Facebook account! Love you all the Leisters in kenya!

Adventure USA 2009

2009-08-03T08:50:00.000-07:00

Dear friends and hopeful visitors to Tumaini Children's Center Dave & Kerry Sinner and children.

Tekoa all the way from Kenya with His grandfather Bill.

Dannon & our newest grandaughter Becca , our grandaughter Bailee, myself & grandaughter Shaelyn.

Here he is our newest Grand son
Luken Robert Ray Movius

We got to see Troy & Dannon's Aunt Dawn in Wenatchee WA

Troy & Dannon at our favorite family camping spot " Bowman Bay " up at the tip of Washington.

Dustin & Angela Cook in Eldoret Kenya at Tumaini Children's Center

Us with my sister Mariah and her family, Aburn WA

This is the Cook's home in Clarkston where we are staying!

Our daughters Home on the Palouse

Lewiston - Clarkston Valley Home!

Hello Blog family, we are in the US! We left Eldoret in the late afternoon on the 21st of July, saying a difficult "see you soon" to our sweet gifts from Heaven and the wonderfully brave young couple ( Dustin & Angela Cook from Clarkston Wa )
We arrived in Portland OR at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday the 22ND of July,picked up our rental car and headed to the motel for a good night sleep. 22 hrs in flights is brutal, after stopping at Burger king for an American burger!!! yum, of course!

The next morning we got up early to start the road trip part of our adventure.
We love to drive in the US, smooth highways are not available in Kenya!! As soon as we were on the road we saw Horace's face light up like a spot light had just hit him. We drove several hundred miles in the next 2 days stopping and visiting family and friends on our way! If you have never drove through the Pacific North West you have never lived, it is so beautiful, green and lush!!!

By Friday we had drove through the upper coastal part of Oregon and Washington state and then over and down to the bottom cornor of Washington where it meets Idaho along the snake river. Lewiston & Clarkston Valley is where we call home here in the US.

It was incredible to look down off the Palouse into the valley after being gone for the 16months we have just spent in Eldoret Kenya. God is so good all the time, which I know you have heard form me before but He is and never more obvious than when he gives you your hearts desire over and over again.

We so love what we do in Kenya with God's children there, it is the fulfillment of a hearts desire God placed in me long ago but between then and now God has also filled our hearts with our own children and many experiences and people that we love so much. He has not forgotten that our hearts cry out to see them and love on them too, Thank you Father you are a Great, Great loving Father!!!!!

I will continue to let you know how our adventure is going!! We still have Jake's family to see, Family Pictures to take,wow, we are getting to be a big Family, Brittney & Justin's Wedding and much more!

Please pray for our on going safety here and for the safety and well being of our babies and the wonderful young couple Dustin & Angela Cook taking our place in Eldoret Kenya! We Pray for all of God's constant blessings flowing your way! Loving with the Love God gives us, Horace & Phyllis Leister on an adventure in the US

It is June already!

2009-06-19T09:34:00.000-07:00

Aunt Shari is here!

Marvin & Chelan arive in Eldoret.

The team visiting Bea & Francis'( our houskeeper & husband) church.

The team, looking good at Kerio View Lodge.

Great job well done!

Taking a break on a job well done.

Makaylah turned 16 in Kenya.

Gideon & Reuben, buds.

An inside look at the work!

Here is our Brenda crawling, look at that hand.

Team and children!

Here is another project done by the team enjoyed by all, a great new sandbox!

Here is our big boy Reuben.

Enoch in his new Chair brought by the team.

This picture has Sarah our nurse from Germany in it with all the children before she went home!

Dear Blog family, can you believe it is June 2009 already, Praise God for each and every day! Here at Tumaini Children’s Center we are busier than ever! This post will be an update adventure so buckle up and read away!
April 30th our little Joyce ( baby with cleft pallet and cleft lip along with a heart problem) flew to the US with a nurse friend to have open heart surgery just 5 days later. She came through the surgery amazingly and is now growing happily waiting for her next surgery that is to be done on her face. If all goes well she should be done with all and ready to return with us when we come back from our visit to the US in August.

She is staying with a young couple who visited Kenya in 2008 for his short residency. They met Joyce and decided they would go back to the States and find money to bring her there for what she needed. We want to thank the Zimmer’s again for all they have done along with the Rotary for Joyce.
In May we saw the exterior and interior walls go up on the new children’s home. We also were blessed with a brand new grand daughter in the Us. May 25th our daughter Brandi gave birth to Becca Capri Green. We are so happy, this makes 8 and the 2nd grandchild born while we were in Kenya so we are very excited to go and visit our growing family.

May 29th landed our first Children With Hope work team in Kenya. A team of 9 led by Shari Seagren the wife of Children with Hope’s President Thom Seagren and a board member herself arrived at Tumanini on Friday after taking a fast tour of Nakuru Game Park.

They had 12 days with us and they accomplished so much. Their objective was constructing the new house’s roof.
Trusses were measured, cut, treated, nailed together and lifted into place across the whole 75ft length of the house. Then came the blocking and nailings to screw the tin rood pieces to. There was tin roofing to be drilled for eventual screws and even some pieces put in place before they left. It was hard and tedious work at times, out in the hot Kenyan sun!

Along with Shari Seagren was another board member Shelly Daniels and then Kevin Freedson, Gideon Walker, Celeste Detwiler, Kristy Mercer, Corrie Noble and Jenn Pugh making up the whole fantastic team. When work slowed down outside and not so many hands could be used they would come inside to help lovingly diaper, feed and of course cuddle babies!

Thank you so much to the Children With Hope Team from Colorado, we appreciate you for your courage, selflessness and love that you showed all of us here at Tumaini Children’s Center, Eldoret Kenya! May God Bless you richly for this gift.
Along with work they also brought us so many needed things from the US. We just want to send our thanks & appreciation to everyone who donated these articles of clothing, bottles, diapers, food, blankets ex….. May God’s blessing be felt by all of you .

June 9th Horace & I flew to Nairobi to meet our youngest son Marvin James and his girl friend Chelan Babino for a 5 week visit. It was so great to see Marvin after his 6 month stay in the US. We also are enjoying Chelan who has felt for almost a year that she was to visit here. She feels that God may just be calling her to ministry here in Africa someday! Thank you God for calling the young and the young at heart to this continent where your heart is !

June 11th brought more great news and another reason to visit the US, our eldest Daughter Jessica Movius & her Husband Jeremy contacted us to give us the great news that our 9th grandchild Luken Robert Ray Movius had arrived safely.

Along with all the visitors and new arrivals in the family stateside we here at Tumaini are growing and thriving! Nancy turns 7 on the 20th of June ,she is very excited! Nancy is such a happy wonderful person. School goes well for her now that she has adjusted to the routine. Dema is growing and talking so well, she can say complete sentences in English and Kiswahili, not that everyone can always understand all of it but she is quite communicative. Toilet training is progressing. Dema will be 3 August 8th. At 2, Jewel is doing quite good at communicating herself, being such a little mother and very serious about how she takes care of all of us. We do wish we could get a few more smiles out of her but the ones we do get are priceless.

Maggie, at 2 years is walking now , hurrah!! She is so proud of herself for this accomplishment. Her left foot still has some difficulties coming along at times but she is so determined now that she knows she can do this! Sarah had her 1st birthday in March and Gabriel in April, they are quite the live wires and a lot like having twins. What one does not think of to do to keep us busy the other does, now that they are both walking on our toes is an understatement. Reuben 11 months is such a big boy, literally, he weighs about 30 lbs now and is taller than all the babies except Dema. Everyone says he was made to pl ay football, real football American style! All we know is that he is such a sweet little teddy bear and we love him so much. He is crawling and pulling himself up on everything, he will soon walk! Brenda is now 10months, she is so bright and she is crawling also. Her arm is doing so well! Infact miraculous! The damage done by the rats after being abandoned in an outdoor toilet would not even be noticeable if it were not for the hurried job done to stitch it back together. She is a miracle baby, but then all of them are! Their determination and fortitude always amazes us!!! God is so visible in their eyes and lives!

Now for and update on our precious Enoch! It is so amazing ( I use that word a lot don’t I) to see him grow and thrive like he has! His strength grows more and more everyday! His development is catching up quickly as he was probably delivered at least 5 weeks to soon! He eats like a small horse and is growing to match! He holds his head up very well and can be sat up on his own with help. All his motor skills seem to be working with out much delay and he is getting his 1st 2 teeth!

My right and left arms, Troyanna (12) & Dannon (10) are doing wonderful also. Growing and learning so much about what it takes to love like Jesus does, aren’t we all! What can we say for this incredible family of children God has put together but thank you Jesus you are who you say you are and we can only be who you say we are! Praise God!!!! So we all continue to grow in our faith and love for the children of Kenya and our God who loves us and them so well!

Thank you all in the biggest way for your support financially and prayerfully!! Horace & Phyllis leister in Kenya

God is good all the time!

2009-04-20T09:27:00.000-07:00

Praise God! Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the LORD always and again I say, Rejoice! God is so good all the time, dear Blog family! We pray that you are feeling His blessings in your lives as we are feeling it here at Tumaini Chidlren‘s Center!

It has been more than a good month, it has been a fantastic month filled with God’s Glorious supply in every area!! Philippians 4: 19, Colossians 2: 6-7 … abounding therein with thanksgiving. We have many things to give thanks for this month!

It has been another month of miracles. We have received much help and new friendships, we were introduced to 2 nurses from Germany who God placed here at Tumaini strategically. Sarah & Stephanie were here to step in for Mama Phyllis when I had a sever reaction to the antibiotic prescribed to me for a sinus infection. This sent me to the hospital for a 2 day stay.

Only our loving Heavenly Father could supply so completely with timing and perfect care for the children. Our whole family had been sick, what a time for mom to be absent but God provided them with 2 private nurses who already loved them like their mom to help nurse them back to health. Also we had the help of another long time friend from home, God supplied us with so generously for more than 2 months, Breanna Holben was such a blessing during this time and all the time she was in Kenya!

And actually the trip to the hospital probably saved mama Phyllis from worse because I was badly dehydrated and did not know it, I was given 5 liters of fluids in the 1st couple of hrs of my stay! Thank you God, you make good all things! What Satan ment for evil God has made so good!

Our house keeper Bea is the wife of a Pastor ( he is working with Horace on the house) and they are very good Pastors. Bea holds a meeting for the Mamas of her church and any that want to come from their neighborhood. I mentioned this meeting once before in this blog. This is the group that Bea was passing out tins to that brought about so many provisional miricles.

This mama’s group meets at each different home, each different week so that they all know how the other is doing in each situation. This month was Bea’s turn to host the group at her home. I invited her to have the meeting in our home. The Mama’s were so amazed that I would invite them to our home! Around 30 mamas and young women came, some with children.

Most had to pay for transport which took them a month to save. It was a wonderful time to be part of what they did, they sang songs of worship ( I wish I would have been appropriate for me to tape) and songs of Praise! They lifted their hands in thanksgiving for all that God does for them. They have so little material substance and many hardships
but they have God to depend on and they are so filled with Joy!

Most could not speak English so I had an interpreter for the preaching I was invited to do! I was still a bit weak from my stay in the hospital so my part was not as lively as they are use to but a Pastor’s wife who was my interpreter gave it all she had and it was great! After all was said and done we had Chi ( which is how they fix their tea with milk and sugar) and buttered bread. The meeting lasted 2 hrs, everyone stayed to help clean up then all left with a joy filled skip in their step! We were truly filled with love and thanksgiving poured out by the Holy Spirit! I hope to do it again soon!

The children are still struggling some with sickness, it is the time of the year, is what everyone here tells us! We do not accept that time table of expected sickness! Continue to pray for us in that area because we are desiring God’s good favor to be full & complete and we all live here at Tumaini Children’Center with perfect divine health!

The children continue to grow in the blessings of God no matter what! We have had several Birthdays this year Jewel turned 2 at the end of February, Sarah Ellen 1 on the 3rd of March and Gabriel Levi turned 1 year this month on the 16th!

Enoch is doing so well he is growing and talking and laughing, he is so happy and full of the Lords Blessing too! Our little Joyce with the cleft pallet & lip and heart condition is pray fully leaving for the states on the 30th of April to receive all the donated medical services it will take to repair it all, Praise God! She will be gone for many months but then she will return, how happy we are for her, again God’s provision is miraculous!

Dema got her hair done like the big girls, she was so good, it was about a 3hr process to have braids connected to her very short curly natural hair! She is so beautiful!

The new house is coming along so well! We have had provisional miracles in this area also! Each time it looked like the work would slow down or even have to stop, God would put it on someone’s heart to give more into seeing it completed!! God’s blessings are flowing! We took the children out to inspect the work and walk on the floor of what will be their new home, they thoroughly enjoyed it!

I also had the privilege of standing on the love of our Lord and Rock when we received the news that my Father, Richard Earl Bates, passed form this world into God’s Heavenly kingdom. I appreciated all the kind word, prayers and thoughts from many of you who were aware of his passing, thank you so much! I know that God will bless you for standing strong with us at this time.

The usual emotional response is one of great loss and I have felt lonesome for his company and great smile, his way of teasing me for my idealistic way of looking at life in general but I know for sure that I have not lost him! Neither of my parents ( my mother passed in 2007) are lost to my remaining family! In 2000 through God’s Grace, He allowed us to witness and participate in both of their salvation experiences complete with their baptism!! Praise God! As I began with, God is good all the time.

We love you all so much and we hope you enjoy hearing about what is going on here at Tumaini Children’s Center. Thank you for your continuing support and prayers! Love the Horace Leister Family in Kenya!

A Miracle Month!

2009-03-02T08:17:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a month February has been! I think I will declare the unconditional love of God and His favor at the beginning of every month! We have had so many testimonies to God's miracles around us! So I am releasing the Spirit of Prophesy in proclaiming the testimony of Jesus!

We have a new housekeeper ( described as house help here in Kenya) she has worked for us around 3 months. Her and her husband pastor a church in one of the slum areas,Heruma. This area was one of the areas most hit by the violence last year. Many sad stories, many women and children left abandoned because of a dead or just missing husband. Bea and Francis minister to these families! They are good people and good workers too, Francis has been working on the new house with Horace.

While working in our kitchen Bea noticed that we had a super surplus of 500ml tins with lids. These tins are what the babies formula comes in and we go through about 5 a week. We have used as many as we could for storing different things, Horace has used them for keeping small things in his shop but we were now storing them until we could put them in the trash pick up!

Bea asked if she could take them to her mama's group, she held on Wednesdays! I said "you sure can!" So Bea began carring a big bag of small tins home with her every week to give out to the mamas in her group. A couple weeks later she gave me this testimony!

She told me that as she walked through this area where their church is located, several women would stop her and ask her for one of these tins she was carring. They had heard that she gave them out and they were very useful because of the lid to keep commodities in. She told them she could not just give out these tins, they were a gift from God via a white mama who is caring for orphaned Kenyan children! If they wanted one of these they needed to come to the mama's group and listen to the word of God and pray with the the other mama's, then they could take one of these tins home with them.

Bea said that her group has grown so fast and she use to come and preach to the mamas but now there is no time for her to preach. After reading the word everyone wants to give their testimony on how God had intervened on their behalf to fill the tins they had received as a gift from Him at this meeting. Many are receiving Jesus as their Savior because of these experiences!

One testimony was of a mama who had no flour and could not afford to buy any. As she was passing by the local posha ( this is a small grinding mill, for making maze into corn flour) she went home with a full tin of corn flour. Bea was not sure if she was given the flour or it was just put there by God but either way it was a miracle for this family, they ate "chapati" ( small round flat bread) for dinner that night! Praise God He is so faithful to His gift of Salvation! He will even use a small throw away tin! We are so happy to be part of all that He is doing!

They are experiencing unexpected growth in their church, they are blaming it on us and the favor they see in our lives here at Tumaini Childen's Center. What a wonderful God we serve! We were just lamenting that we do not get to do any ministry outside of the day to day caring for our wonderful children but God can use a tin!

Our own personal Miraculous sign and wounder is our receiving precious baby Enoch! I went to the hospital about 2 weeks ago, just to introduce a new friend to the nursing staff there. While I was there God happened to point out to me a very small baby. I ask about him and was told that he was not well and probably would not survive. I have had enough of these experiences during the time I have been visiting this hospital for this to get my attention.

I reached down and took hold of his little hand, his skin felt just like paper he was so dehydrated. I left for a meeting with the administrator, after discussing the nursing program, I told this lady that I was interested in the baby I had seen. She smiled and said " Phyllis can you take any more" I said" we will see, all I know is he will not survive in the hospital"! My nursing Friend ,Sarah, started that evening to go to the hospital and feed Enoch.

She called me the next morning and asked me if I had found out about taking him, he was very ill and she did not think he could hang on much longer. He was born on Dec. 7Th about 6 weeks before he should have been. He was having a lot of trouble keeping his food down and the hospital staff were through giving their time trying to feed him. They had decided he would not survive and that was it.

Sarah and I thought differently, we began to pray and as most of you know got as many people as we could to pray also! Sarah went and fed Enoch little bits,even when the hospital staff told her she could not, while I got everyone here calling the DCO and telling him we had to get Enoch out of the hospital or he would die.

First he was out of town and then when he got back in he met me at the hospital to see Enoch, he agreed that he was in a bad way and needed 24hr care to survive but it turned out he was to busy that week and called to tell us that he would not be able to process Enoch's case by Thursday ( which is the usual day for these proceedings)he was to busy.

It seemed to be that and Enoch would have to hold on for another week which would be a complete physical miracle. I really felt like Horace should go down to the DCO"s office on Friday morning, he did not feel that it would do any good but he did it for me! I just felt God was up to something and Enoch was meant to come here to Tumaini and live!

Horace came back home to tell us that the DCO had talked with him and there would be a special time with the Magistrate that afternoon at 2:00, that was the beginning of the miracle, this never happens! I called the hospital and told them that they needed to have Enoch there at 2:00 sharp or we could loose this chance. Well everyone was there before 2:00, except the hospital, they got there 1hr later! Everyone was so angry, the Magistrate was furious at us! She told us to go home and come back next week at the regular time!

There were many angry words said and everyone turned to leave! The Magistrate began her regular court and dismissed us! All I could hear in my heart was satan was about to rob and steal again and this was not the will of God we were about to let happen. My mouth just opened and I pleaded with all involved to reconsider what was about to take place! Everyone just looked at me they could not believe that I was talking but then God did what He was going to do! The Magistrate stopped court and called us back into her quarters! She was angry but she did the paper work and they brought Enoch out and gave him to me! I am telling you, this never happens, and everyone knew it! We were all in aw! God will do what He purposes,we must stand with Him!!!! Enoch is here and he is thriving! Along with the rest of our miracle babies, 10 now!

Just one more testimony! Remember my Nursing friend Sarah? She has been helping out here a few hrs week. On Wednesday she felt like she was not to come, I had felt the day before led to give her a stethoscope we had here. She was so please, she never felt she would ever have one of her own! That Wednesday she got to use it like we never imagined! A young woman came to her house, she was in labor. She wanted help because she thought she was only 7 months and did not know if it was real labor or not. Sarah used her new stethoscope to listen how the baby was doing during the contractions, all of a sudden the heart beat went real faint and then it was gone. The babies heart beat just stopped. They called a midwife, she could not find a heart beat either. Everyone was getting really worried! The mom continued to labor.

They decide to take her to the hospital, all the time praying, praying, praying! The Dr. could not find a heart beat and he said the baby was most likely dead but the mother would have to continue giving birth to get the babies body out. You can imagine how my fiend and the mother felt but they continued to pray through out the delivery, never a heart beat! When the baby was born everyone gasp, he opened his eyes and began to cry! He was alive and just seconds before his birth there was no heart beat! Mother and child are doing wonderully and my fiend who has never before experienced a miracle.

I hope you all are praising God with me and declaring His unending love in all our impossible situations! Keep praying, Glory to God! We love and appreciate all of you so much! Love the Leister Family in Kenya

Febuary Already!

2009-02-08T08:55:00.000-08:00

Hello Blog Family! This is the month that most of the world including Kenya celebrates with red heart shapes and many other out word demonstrations of our earthly love!
I just want to Praise the Author & Creator of love, real love, perfect love, the Father's love! Unconditional love that reaches down to a depraved world that has totally rejected Him!
Because of this love He gave His only son as an offering for each and every person ever born on this earth to receive the full benefits of this overwhelming love! The Bible tells us that the Father has enlisted His Holy Spirit to pour out this love into our hearts as believers and receivers of His son Christ, with no measure!
Wow! We were trying to explain this to our 10 & 12 year old daughters, this Sunday morning when they again asked how we are able to love these babies so completely when we have just met some of them! You might think, "Babies are the easiest to love, they are so Innocent and lovable!" This is true but our daughters have seen the real side of God installed ministry! The 24/7 care that it takes to meet the needs of 8 children under the age of 2 that have felt total abandonment.
The overwhelming demand of those who have been deprived of loving arms and full bellies and now can have their fill. Each one having a different amount of time that it takes to understand, what is being offered has no limit and will not be taken away! Some take weeks some months and some it may never happen until, they understand the true provider and how endless His love is!
What we do is much more than us, as individuals and a family! We rely on God and His love alone, our earthly love ran out the 1st day we had to change 30 pairs of dirty diapers because no one was use to the amount of food we let them have! Our bad, we thought about that the next meal and monitored how much was being consumed! The endless nights of crys in the dark and the need for someone to reassure them that they have not been left alone,again! None of what we do would be possible with out the Father's unconditional love!
We pray that when you read this blog and see what is happening in this one house in this small part of the world you will not be impressed by us but by what God is doing through His love for Kenya and her children! We say what Paul said, None of this would be possible except through your prayers to the Father on our behalf!
Thank you all for your love for us and your continuing prayers! We feel them, as we experience the Father's love for each of the children He has blessed us to touch with His hands and comfort in His arms and speak into their small sweet ears His words of Love!
Have a great month of love, The Father' Love! May His mighty love cover you in all you do and may Holy Spirit pour out His love through you in many mighty ways! Please forgive me for quoting God's word in the Phyllis Leister para phase! Do not take my word that His says what I say it says, go look for these truths in the Gospels, Matthew - Mark - Luke & John and be so Blessed!

Everyone here are beautiful and doing great! They are growing and showing themselves to be marvelous works of art in the Father's hands! We have started the new house! It is so exciting! Soon Tumaini Chidlren's Center will be helping many more, Praise God! We have hired a new house person and she is wonderful too, a true gift from God! She has a awesome testimony, I will share it with you sometime! We had a great visit from Rachel's Mom & Dad, Bill & Jessie Schmidt in January! More about that when I get some more of the pictures. Again be blessed in all God does through you! Love the Leisters in kenya

Blessed Christmas

2008-12-28T00:16:00.000-08:00

What a month it has been! I kept thinking that we could not get any busier but we did! We came to a agreement with Nancy & Maggie's mother that felt like God's hand! She and only she will visit with them here once a month. They are now permanently part of Tumaini Childrens Center. Then we received our 8th & 9th child Joyce & Dema, we have a full house.

Our #1 farmer rang us and ask for help, his wife just had a baby! We did not know that they were expecting. Some cultures here keep the wife inside and do not tell anyone until the blessed event! We guess this is what took place so Horace was out and helping right away!

On the 12th of December we were so pleased to meet our newest grandson, Tekoa Jeshi Leister! Born here in Eldoret Kenya! Praise God He is so good to us! Tekoa's birth was a bit more than his parents expected so we have been doubly blessed to have Josh, Rachel & Tekoa for an extra 2 weeks,through the Holidays, yea!!!!

We were also blessed to have another of our family with us this Christmas season, Largent Rape, who is ministering in Uganda for 6 months. There were many that we missed during this Christmas but it was truly a Blessed Christmas!

I have to admit that is has been my own personal dream to someday spend the Christmas Season in another country sharing with children who have never heard orexperienced, what Christmas is truly about! This year that dream was a reality and we got to share a family tradition, of telling the birth story of Christ, each taking turns in our own words, with several children who had never heard the true Christmas story. It was an awesome experience!

On the Sunday before Christmas Josh & Largent took our older children to a Christmas celebration at the Chege home with all the children from church, around 125! Wow and Wow! They had a great time!

Our Nancy who is 6 was so overwhelmed with what Christmas meant to us as a family and as lovers of Christ! Her eyes were as big as saucers at each point! Our gifts were very modest compared to Christmas's we have had in the past but to her it was all that it could be and it made it so much more for all of us! The next day she said " oh how I love Christmas, is today Christmas too?" All the others enjoyed it too but just could not express it like Nancy!

As we look ahead at the year 2009 we are seeing the doors of Heaven open and God's dreams reveled here in Kenya Africa! Thank you for joining us here to see them come about! Jesus says in Matt. " what ever you do for the least of these, you do for me" We hope that you see Jesus in each of these little faces as we do! Thank you for your loving support! The Leisters in kenya

Spiritual Warfare

2008-12-07T09:35:00.001-08:00

Dear Blog family,we are Praising the LORD that He is who He says He is and we are who He says we are! We talked a little last month about the escalation in spiritual warfare we have felt lately! We felt it this month in our physical heath but God is bigger than anything the enemy has to throw at us! We Praise God for all of you who have stood by us in prayer this month, it is truly what makes the difference for us.

We spent more time in the hospital and at the Dr's office than we have ever. On Thanksgiving I was so sick, Horace had to stay home from the international dinner we were invited to with me and the Kenyan children( we sent Marvin,Troy & Dannon with Josh & Rachel they had a great time.) I asked God why the enemy was able to get at me and everyone else who had been sick here, He said to me " don't look at him, look at me!" it was a turning point for me! My spirit just went " oh yea, that's right, look up". We are all doing much better now, pneumonia is gone in Jesus' name, ear and throat infections gone in the mighty name of Jesus, sinus and stomach infections gone, Praise God Hallelujah!!!! We serve a big and loving God!!!

The work here just continues in line with Gods will and timing! We received our Society papers this month, giving us an official entity in this country. Now we can register as a Children's Home. Everything we need officially will come under this, Praise God.

The preparations to build keep going forward too and a good thing because we are growing. We now have 9 children!! Nancy & Maggie are back for now, please pray for this situation, their mother has decided she may have something to gain by them living with us. We just want God's will!!

We have a new baby boy, his name is Ruben, he is 5 months now and doing great, he came with pneumonia and other stuff! We also have 2 new little girls, Joyce & Dema they are so beautiful! Joyce has a cleft lip & pallet so she needs alot of prayer. She is 17 months and weighs 9lbs. We are hoping to help her gain some weight so that she can have surgery done on her mouth and a hole she has in her heart! Truly God is snatching these little ones from the grave and placing them with us, we are so humbled! Dema( short for Demerise) is around 3 she is such a mover and a shaker!! They are all so precious to us and more so to the Lord!

Brenda is doing great she now has doubled her weight and can move all her fingers with a little help. Sarah & Gabe are growing so fast, Sarah is walking with help at 9 months and Gabe is crawling at 7. Our sweet Jerusalem is such a blessings she trys so hard to make each new child feel at home. Troy & Dannon are hard at work keeping track of everyone!

We have also had a great visit in November from our Pastors, Jeph & Jaclyn Chavez. They were here for 7 great days and helped out so much! While they were here we got a chance to drive down to Kisumu and visit our son Josh and wife Rachel who is Jaclyn's cousin. Kisumu is on Lake Victoria and we went boating to spy out some of the water wild life, namely Hippos!!! I hope the pictures come out it was a great trip.

We also have some great new from the U.S.A., we are going to be grandparents for the 8th & 9th time! Our eldest daughter Jessica and her husband Jeremy are expecting in June 2009 and so is our daughter Brandi also in June. More great news is that our daughter Brittney is engaged to be married! Her fiance is Justin Derting of Lewiston ID. We are so excited and grateful for all that God is doing in our lives! May all His blessings be with all you our Blog family!!! Love the Leisters in Kenya

God Moving

2008-11-05T08:39:00.000-08:00

Dear Blog family, Praise God He is working all the time, He is not a man that he should lie and He never sleeps! God is moving miraculously in Kenya! We have seen God moving for us and for this country in general in the last few weeks, our prayers are being answered! But this is not a time to quit pressing the heavens for what we need to accomplish for His will.

The enemy has designed some things for this country also and he is at foot, he has made the next generation his target and he will not give them up with out a fight! Our authority is cemented in the courts of Heaven because of who our Savior is and what He was willing to give for us, now we must stand on this truth no matter what, to change the tide of events the enemy has enacted here in Kenya! Our God reigns, halleluiah!!

There have been many praying for rain because we did not get the amount that was expected during the long rainy season because of this water shortages are expected, we have seen quite a bit of rain in the last few weeks, Praise God! The maze harvest did better than expected but there are still many with out food, continue to pray!

Pray that Satan’s long lived lie here in Kenya, that all things must be settled with violence would be broken! That the innocent would see the hand of God in their lives, protecting them no matter what their circumstances!

You may be thinking “ has Horace & Phyllis given up the children and now become preachers” nothing of the kind! But we have seen the level of spiritual warfare go up as of late, along with God’s miracles. We need your constant prayers, all of us have been feeling the enemy trying to eat away at our confidence and physical stamina!

Now; what is happening here at Tumaini Children’s Center! So many new things! The shop is completed except for the entrance doors! Horace now has a place to keep tools and work on all the house projects. The ground work for the new home has begun! We are planting out at Jua Kali for a big harvest of vegetables also our chicken project in on its way ! We would like to be as self sufficient as possible and visit the grocery store as little as possible.

The children are growing so quickly it seems these days! Sarah Ellen is now 8 months old and Gabriel is 7. Jewel is 20 months and talking like crazy both in English and Kiswahili! Brenda is doing wonderfully , again each a miracle.

We had a sad day of saying good bye to our Nancy ( six years) and Maggie ( 18 months) their mother decided she wanted to try and take care of them on her own and we did not have a legal paper to say other wise so we had to consent. We hope you will join us in prayer that she is able to do this and the children will be fed and cared for properly. This mother needs prayer for physical healing as well!

We have had some great help here in the last few months, we still have our Kenyan house help Julia. We also had a friend from Lewiston come and help out , Audry Boreson! The work never ends here from sunup to sundown so all the help God sends us is so appreciated.

Even though we moved 2 back to their mother we are expected to receive 4 more this next week. We will post their arrivals as they come.

We pray for all of you our dear family, we realize that as you stand in the gap for us and Kenya, this places you in the line of fire, thank you so much for being willing to be in this place! God’s enormous Blessings on all of you! Love the Leisters in kenya

Lots of work getting done!

2008-10-20T05:32:00.000-07:00

Dear Blog Family, surprise! I though we might get a short update done before the end of the month. One thing is sure around here, time goes by very fast. I think because we are so busy We can hardly believe we have lived IN our new home for 2 months and been in Kenya for a year, wow!!

Already this month we have received our newest baby. Her name is Brenda and she is 2 months old. She is very tiny and like all the abandoned babies we have met, she is a fighter. She was found abandoned in a latrine when she was just a few days old, her arm having been chewed up badly by rats is now healing nicely. She is so precious and everyone here has fallen in love with their new baby sister!

Horace and Marvin have been working hard to put up a pole building where Horace can fabricate much of what will be used in building the new children’s home. Which by the way is coming right along. Horace has talked with the building authorities and the DCO ( district children’s officer ) about the purposed plans and gotten an Ok to have them drawn up and submitted to the planning authorities. This is a great prayer concern the time issue. Please pray for this to go through swiftly!

Horace & Peter ( our day help ) have been fixing the wall on the high side of the property for security reasons and doing a lot of grounds work on existing plants and shrubs. Everything is looking so nice!! We have bananas and oranges and even a peach tree. We also have a couple of avocado trees.

Troyanna, Dannon and I with the help God has sent us, are busy in the house taking care of the now six Kenyan foster children we have in our home. We are so blessed to be given the opportunity to do God’s work with these children. Each has had a difficult start in this life but we feel that God has purposed them for such a time as this in their country of Kenya. He has put into them a will to survive and a tenacity to live that brings about such courage, it will someday change the desperate situation that children face here.

Our job with CWH will be to see that they get everything they need to grow up with enough love for God and themselves to accomplish the great things bound for their futures. If you have not become familiar with the organization that we represent here “Children With Hope”, please use the link on this page to learn about this great group of people that we share a vision with, for the children in Kenya.

Thank you for this months prayers already and the love we feel that comes from them! We love you all ! The Leisters in Kenya

Finally a new post!

2008-09-30T02:56:00.000-07:00

Hello blog family! We are truly here! We have been very buisy getting things in order here at our new home. We set up a new internet system, this does not change our address or anything just how we operate from here. It has been quite a month.

We have had a visit from Romanian friends that was just wonderful. We can not wait until they come again. They shared their love for chidlren with those we have here and encouraged us so much with their love for all of us and kenya.

Thom Seagren & Dean Miller arrived on the 19th of Sept. and left on the 24th. They were able to check out the new house and work on long term planning. We saw the vision we all have for the orphaned children here in kenya come to life on this property and expand to future plans for the Jui Kali propery, it was a exciting time.

Besides the fact that we just enjoyed haveing their company around our home. They got to meet and know the children we now have and to even visit chidlren we are looking at bringing to this home soon.

It was a quick trip but we were all so blessed. They brought us some pritty nice stuff too! The children got cloths & shoes & food & bottles & beautiful quilts...... Thank you everyone who helped with what was brought! we are always so greatful and we know that your return blessing will be great!

Time goes by so fast here. Everyday has new mercies just like God promises and we over come what ever tries to stand in our way of accompishing what God has assigned us to do.

We do have some new help Julia is a kenyan yourng women who comes 3 times a week and helps with the house and chidren. Also we have a German girl, Dannie, who comes once a week and volunteers with the chidlren. This has given me opportunity to get out a little more. I now am volunteering at the Referal Hospital Chidlren's Ward a couple of times a week. I enjoy being there but the help there have a very hard job! All I really do is pray and hold babies!

The room they have is donated by and organization from the states. All the chidlren in the ward that are healthy enough to get around go in and play with the toys and books that are donated. They have someone who does a short school program with them also. The babies that are there are abandoned and some toddlers also. We are hoping to beable to transfer a few of them here as soon as our DCO can do investigations and paper work on them. Our 1st one should be a little girl who was discardedin a dry latreen. The rats ate part of her arm off before someone found her! She is now about a month old. We know that God is incharge of who comes here so we are praying.

Horace & the guys worked hard on putting together a house plan for the house that is to be built on this property. It is so important that we get it up and get our registration as a CCI ( Chartiable Children's Institution )please pray, so many chidlren need homes and the Law does not really provide for us to do what we are doing on our own with out a license. Right now a Regestered home is covering us with their license. The DCO ( District Children's Officer) has put a limit of 8 children in the house we are living in. Along with our 3 will give us 11 we are almost at that now. I know that 11 sounds like plenty but each time I go to the hospital I want to help just one more.

Wow we are so thankful for all of your prayers, keep them comming , we are getting to do all that we ever hoped and dreamed of doing with our Lord and Savior for His Kingdom, Praise Him all day long!!! Be so blessed for all that you have already done to get us here and keep us going! In the mighty name of Jesus, Love the Leisters in Kenya

2008-08-28T06:42:00.000-07:00

Dear Blog family, we are moved, Praise God! These are the times when we can really feel all of your prayers. It is quite different to move here than it is in the states. Cardboard boxes are a premium here, you just do not go down to the local supermarket and pick the extra ones up. If some one here gets a box they keep it and use it until it literally falls apart. So we packed up all our belongings in our suitcases and plastic bags we have. It was interesting to say the least.

We have a Kenyan family that we have talked about on this blog, their names are Japheth & Naomi Kimutie. They have been exceptional friends to us and they own 2 large covered lorries ( trucks ). They used one to help us move. We were so blessed because as I have said before this is the rainy season. You count on it raining every day. You do not think you have much stuff until you have to pack it up and move it. It took 3 trips with the truck. I forget at times that we are a family of 10 now and we have accumulated things along with the children.

The house is wonderful, it is about ½ the size of the other so we have had to be creative on where everything and everyone goes but we are getting there. We no longer have house help at this point so we are very thankful for the down size of the house to keep clean. One thing that was not here was a place to put the washer ( very important item) but Horace was able to convert a bathroom ( there are6 baths ) into the wash room. What a blessing for him to have the knowledge and skills that he has to do these things on our own. Not only does it save us money but time oh, so much time! We only had to do cloths by hand for 3 or 4 days. I can not tell you how relieved and blessed I felt when it was finished!!!

It has taken everyone a bit of time to adjust to new surroundings. Children do not like their security disrupted anyway but when you have been orphaned, your secure place takes on a whole new meaning. Needless to say we have had our share of sleepless nights. Everyone is getting better though and now know where they are is safe too.

Jewel is most effected, her story is one of total abandonment ( she was left a the police station during the violence ) she keeps a pretty good eye on all of us to make sure that we are all around, especially at bed time. She is getting to talk English so well. When ever Horace goes in our out, she announces him with a loud “ Daddy”.

From the pictures you will see that everyone is growing well. The time goes by so quickly ,Sarah Ellen our 1st infant ( we received her the week we returned in May 2008 ) will be 6 months old Sept. 3rd. Gabe is still our only boy and he just turned 4 months. Maggie and Nancy are growing also and so enjoying being together. Along with our three the make quite a sibling group!

Please never stop praying for us, we so depend on it. Also for the next steps for Tumaini Children’s Center. We must complete the perimeter wall, for safety and then begin on the homes for more children. I get so anxious sometimes with so many children needing homes. Just the other day a man came to make the financial assessment of the property for tax purposes, when he heard that what we were purposing for the property he said “ if you are interested in homeless children we have several in our neighborhood that we will bring you. That is just how it is here! We console ourselves with the knowledge that God knows where each child is and He knows which ones He has destined for here! We Praise Him that He is in charge and we do not have to worry about anything but being ready!

We love you dear family and we are praying for all of you that you would be listening and hearing what God wants to say to you this day! Be so abundantly blessed in His Glorious name! Love from the Leisters in Kenya.

Moving

2008-07-31T05:40:00.000-07:00

Dear Blog family! We are getting ready to move! The final paper work & monies were taken care of today July 31, hurrah!! Tumaini Children’s Center has a home! We are so excited! Our official moving day is the 15th of August.

We are a family of 10 now, our Marvin is back. He is adjusting to life in kenya again and doing well. We are going to keep him very busy, with moving and all. He was very missed and he was greeted by a full house. Hi comment was “ there are so many “ not really but when you are greeted by them all at the same time it just seems like it. All the children love him already and he does so well with all of them. Jerusalem is the most taken with him and we have seen more smiles for Marvin then we have ever seen.

Josh & Rachel have returned also! They are now getting prepared for their move to Kisumu town. It is about 80 miles west of us, on the edge of Lake Victoria. Josh will being going to a school for Clinical Medicine there. Someday they will be able to take their medical degrees and do rural clinics. We are so proud of them walking out the plan God has for their lives here in kenya. They will not be real close because of the poor condition most Kenyan roads but they will not be that far either. We will still be able to do some Holidays and help when the baby comes in December.

All the children are doing great! They are all growing like crazy! Nancy is such a great girl, she is so smiley. She has been doing home school with Troy & Dannon and we hope to have her prepared for a form 1 position when school starts up again in Sept.

Jerusalem is now 16 months and is very independent. She has acquired several English words to go along with the Kiswahili that she had to begin with. Maggie is doing very well in her attempts to walk. She is now 14 months old and is standing with much less support. Even taking a few steps behind the walker on her own.

The babies, t Sarah & Gabe are really growing! We took them in for their 2nd shot and the doctor was very pleased. Sarah is now 5 months and very aggressive to accomplish, she eats from a spoon and walks all over the place in the walker. Gabe is a bit more laid back at 3 months old, he is so good natured and smiles such a big smile to everyone. The scaring on his face has all turned a natural color and you have to look for it to see it.

Troy & Dannon are doing very well also. School ends the 1st of August and they are very pleased about that. They are growing into such wonderful Godly young women. They are an incredible help here and enjoy it all.

Wow ½ of 2008 has already gone by , so much has happened and so many prayers have been answered! And there is more to come! We are looking forward to some very special visits this fall. The 1st is our friends from Romania will be here visiting with the Pastoral School we met them at 2 years ago on our 1st visit to kenya. We are so looking forward to reuniting with them. Also the Tuckers will be returning for 3 months of school with another friend we met the 1st time too, Audrey Boreson.

Then Thom Seagren, President of Children With Hope will be here in September with one of our Board Members, Dean Miller. We are anticipating a great time of showing them around the new house and property, introducing them to the children and many of our new friends here. We have others who are coming too but we will keep you posted on those later. Please pray covering on these now for safe travel and good trips.

As I write this it is raining , we are in the heavy rain season! The storms we get here are awesome, thunder , lighting and torrents of rain that fill any hole or ditch in a matter of minuets. God really out does himself here nothing is ever small of minimal! We are so blessed! Thank you all for your prayers, we hope you know how much we appreciate all of you who are praying! We also hope you can see how much is being answered, please keep up the good work. You are all in our prayers also! Love the Leisters in kenya!

Update : NANCY, PRAISE GOD

2008-07-04T03:15:00.000-07:00

Just a quick up date! We got a call that Nancy's mother wanted her to be taken care of and if we would! We were very happy and relieved to go and pick her up! Nancy is 6 and she is Marget's sister. The reunion between the 2 was great. They had not seen each other for 2 months. It was a great reunion for all of us. She reconized Horace & I right away and came over to hug us. We are a family of 9 now and just waiting for Marvin to make us 10, PRAISE GOD!

We again want all of you, our dear Blog family that pray for us to know how efective your prayers are! We love you all and could not be doing this with out you! Love The Leisters in Kenya

Tumaini Children's Center has a home!

2008-07-01T05:34:00.002-07:00

Thank you blog family for all your prayers! Children With Hope are purchasing a house!!!!! God is providing for us again in a big way for this ministry to go forward in helping the orphan children of Kenya, Tumanini Children's Center begins!

The house is only 2 years old and good sized , large enough for all the Kenyan Leisters & children and a few visitors that might drop by. It sits on an acre of land which the sellers intended to build more homes on for their family, so it is set up and ready for CWH to build several homes for house parents and 8 to 10 orphans. Similar to the plan and pattern already envisioned out on the Jua kali property. Keep praying for finances to build these homes!

The house deal in it self is such a miracle! The sellers were offered more money than CWH offered ( considerably more ) but when they prayed the sellers felt they heard God say that this home was built to accommodate the orphan children of Kenya. They have been so gracious to us and we now have new friends not just people we bought a house from.

The purchase process should be complete in July and we are set to move in the 2nd week of August, Praise God!!!! As I said before keep praying for all the finances to completely come in!

Things are pretty much the same around here. We continue to enjoy the little ones God has brought our home, Jerusalem, Margret, Sarah, Gabriel. We hope to add a couple more in the next couple weeks before we move to the new house. The desperate situation for children has not lessened here in Kenya. Even our news papers are talking about it and what can be done. All we know is that we will follow God and do the part He gives us to do, Praise Him!

The picture of us doing our sewing lesson was an adventure I knew you would like to see. We did complet our project and Margret got a new pair of trousers for her birthday!

Leister Family News:
Josh & Rachel are in the states visiting many of you there in Lewiston ID. Marvin is also in the Lewiston area , he will return to Kenya with Josh & Rachel at the end of the month.

Before these 3 Leisters leave the states they will travel with our daughter Jessica and her husband Jeremy & their 3 daughters to Kansas to visit the now “Wichita Leister family “. Our Son Jacob Leister and family, wife Randi & children Caedman & Addison recently moved for him to except a position with Hawker Beachcraft after completing his Engineering Degree, to design aircrafts. This is a childhood dream come true! Again affirming in all of us that God is faithful to His dreams , when we follow Him.

More Leister Family News: We are happy to announce the birth of our 6th grandchild. Our daughter Brandi Dawn Leister gave birth to Shealyne Michele Green, on the 27th of June. We are so excited for what God has planned for this new granddaughter and her parents, He is faithful in all things.

THANK YOU ! All who pray for us & family and keep us in your thoughts, we can since you with us all the time! May God’s Blessing abound towards all of you our precious blog family! The Leisters in Kenya

God Bless the rainy season!

2008-06-16T00:40:00.000-07:00

Hello Blog Family! I know that you will not be surprised to hear that time goes by very fast for us, after what I shared in our last blog post. Things are very well here! We are a busy family of eight now and as soon as Marvin returns 9. The babies are growing wonderfully and we are being blessed more and more because of Gods gifts to us of His kenyan chidlren. Just to give you a peek into our house here is what the start of a day may look like for us Leisters in Kenya.

Sarah (3 months now ) & Gabriel ( 2 months ) wake up between 6:00 & 6:30 after several wake up calls during the night, we usually bring them in bed with us to enjoy their morning coos and giggles. If the sun is shinning, it is usually doing it in the morning and it fills our room with what feels like the warmth of God’s Glory. We enjoy this time of morning! This does not last to long though and by 7:00 our next 2 youngest, Margret ( 1 year on the 28th ) & Jerusalem ( 15 months) are awake and calling for breakfast usually with big smiles of good morning. This is when our day gets busy!

Dad gets up and makes sure Troy & Dannon are up, Mom changes babies and lets them talk awhile to each other as I go in and change Margret & Jerusalem. Troy & Dannon are usually dressed and ready to carry each little sister down to the kitchen by this time, where Dad has taken Gabe in his bouncy seat and Sarah to sit in the walker.

Dad then goes and turns on the hot water tank to the wash machine ( praise God for the washer we got for a very good price from some Missionary friends who are out of the country for a extended time and the hot water tank, all this purchased by CWH ). The first load of the morning is diapers! 4 babies in cloth diapers is a experience I have not had before, again thank God for the washer.

While I am putting in the wash, Troy & Dannon are making toast for 2 very hungry little girls as fast as they can. I then return to the kitchen to cook up portage for the children and ugoli for our dog Tyson. During the cooking time I make a bottle for Sarah & Gabe who have decided they have waited joyfully long enough. Troy & Dannon then each take a baby and feed them their bottles and if we are blessed ( which we are all the time of course no matter what! ) these two, go back down for a short morning nap while everyone else finishes their breakfast.

Dad now is upstairs preparing for his busy day out and about doing things on the property or meeting with this person or that, keeping the whole process going. Mary our house help comes at 8:00 and begins mopping floors up stairs and picking up cloths for the next wash. She is such a blessing, she is the one Monday - Friday that hangs out the wash and cleans up after us.

When every one is done with breakfast it is up stairs we go for Troy & Dannon to start their school day and mom to get all little ones dressed for the day. It is now about 9:30 and Sarah & Gabe are up and Margret & Jerusalem are ready to go down for their morning nap! Throw in a couple of Dr. appointments or a trip to see the Social Service People and you have a common morning in our lives! As I write this it sounds way to organized, just know it is not, caoss usually reigns a bit from time to time believe me! Pretty crazy but fun at the same time.

We are in the rainy season, it brings along with it many blessings for the crops and such but it also brings the dampness & chill that creates a perfect environment for colds, flu and malaria. Praise God! He is our Healer and our Health Giver! We have done fairly well, keep those prayers at His Throne!

Fantastic news about the house (picture included, I hope), everything is moving forward! The CWH board approved a house that we looked at while Shari & Brad were here, we have contacted the owner and he is coming down from Nairobi for a meeting to work out a sale. This needs a lot of pray! Nothing moves quickly in Kenya but we are asking for God to move supernaturally on this for the sake of the children who need a home. Pray also for all the finances to be in place, finances to purchase the house but also finances to continue the monthly work expenses.

Kenya needs all the prayer we can pour out for her and her people. Because of the earlier violence this year food is becoming increasingly harder and harder to find. The next harvest is not until August and this is only in certain areas. Where we live it is very high and we only get one harvest , it comes later in the fall, Oct - Nov. Everyone here is very concerned and many children are being abandoned or left for a time because their parents can not feed them. As I have already written the worst hit by this is the infant population. The forum we attend for children’s home workers is very concerned and have purposed setting up a forum sponsored house just for abandoned babies. The hospital is overwhelmed and many women are seeking abortions so they will not have to deal with feeding another child. Such hopelessness is the work of satan!

God has sent us here to bring the message of Isaiah 61, pray we have the Grace we need to do it! We love you all so very much! I enjoy writing this because I know that as I do, there are so many of you reading it and praying, we are not alone! God is in His people and we are all working together to see His kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven! God Bless all of you our beloved Family! The Leisters in Kenya

Working in God's field with the Children!

2008-05-29T05:34:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I must apologize once again for being so late on getting this updated! I can not believe we have been back in country less than a month and so much has happened.

We have just finished a great week with Shari Seagren & Brad McDonald they encouraged us greatly with their love and support also all the great stuff for the babies they brought. We realized that we need to thank so many of you their in Colorado for all that you helped them to bring, it was a amazing blessing to unpack their bags and see the treasure they contained. We know that God will bless each of you that contributed! The 4 beautiful baby quilts are a rare thing here and we will cherish them, they are a perfect weight and everything.

All this came in very handy because we now have 4 babies! Our newest is Gabriel ( God is my strength ) Levi ( 5 weeks ) Horace brought him home from the hospital after the little girl we were suppose to get died of pneumonia. Gabriel also has pneumonia and the volunteers begged him to take him and give him a chance, what do you say after that, nothing much to say, you just wrap him up and bring him home and pray. Gabriel was abandoned beside a charcoal burner and received a bad burn between his eyes that is still healing. Our Dr. was amazed he lived but says that God has a plan and a purpose and we agree.

Sarah Ellen is 12 weeks old and she is doing well now, we all had a bad bought with the flu a couple of weeks ago and she was sick enough we had to take her into the hospital for fluids. That was another African experience, a night in the African hospital. All I can say is it is quite different!

Margret Faith is the baby we received from the show grounds before we left for the states. She is doing very well. She has gained quite a bit of weight, she is still on anti viral meds they give children with HIV positive parents. She is such a little doll. We are encouraging her to crawl and stand. Her leg & hip muscles are very week, she has never used them she was always carried on the grandmothers back. We were also to get her older sister Nancy back but this has never come about. The mother wants to keep her, pray, she is not safe!

Jerusalem is the oldest child we have at this time, she is 15 months and quite precocious! She was abandoned at the police station during the violence. She looks at you with such a mature look, she has experienced a lot for someone so small. She walks and talks quite abit, she only weights about 12 lbs and is about 2 ft tall. She is hilarious, we love them all so much already!

The rest of us Leisters are all doing well now! We are working hard to maintain what God has blessed us with. The light rainy season is upon us and Horace is working on our gate as I write this. He has borrowed a welder from a friend and he is raising it so we will not have a lake to walk through like he had last year. Josh & Rachel are preparing for their trip back to the states at the end of June. They will return at the end of July with our Marvin, whom we are missing very much.

School for Troy & Dannon goes on as usual even with the extra baby work. I have had a run in with the fleas biting me again but a dose of Doom spray around our house has taken care of things again. Our Kenyan friends are happy to have us home and doing what we told them we intended to do. Many of them have pitched in to help, which is what God has in mind. We have not come to do a American work but a work of the Kingdom along side our Kenyan brothers and sisters.

Please pray for the children here in Kenya particularly here in the Eldoret area who are being abandoned because their mothers have no hope for them. We can only take 5 on our own, we need to have a permanent house with a license to be able to hire help and take more. At the hospital where we received 3 of our children there are many more. It is cold this time of year and many are dying of pneumonia that have been abandoned and are staying there. They must sleep in the regular wards at nigh with out special care. We desire to go and get more but 2 infants at night is about all I can do. Please pray that God will bring about the house soon. That our Society will come through so that we can do a clean purchase and for the people who God has prepared before hand to do His great work in helping us with these wonderful children.

God Bless all of you, we are praying for you and we will try to keep you updated more frequently. Love The Leister's in kenya

Home again in Kenya!

2008-05-09T00:53:00.000-07:00

Hi Blog Family! Well we had a great time in the states, thank you all who supported us financially and in prayer! We got to see many of you and those we did not get to see we will make it a priority next time.

Here is a picture of the Leister clan celebrating Jacobs graduation in the states! The only ones missing were Josh & Rachel still in kenya. Here also is a picture of our 2 new members of the clan in kenya.

Kenya is in the heart of God have no doubt we have none! Things are not settled here yet, we are still seeing the affects of what has already happened and hearing new threats that there is violence still to come. But God is good all the time and His purposes will be accomplished.

As we have already said in the last blog, the Children with Hope board have received the vision to purchase a house in Eldoret Town to start the work of Tumaini Children’s Home, we are so excited!

We hit the ground running when we returned on the 1st of May. Before the week was over we had received our two foster babies. Our girls Troyanna & Dannon are very pleased, their arms are being filled with children ,that is why they are here, Praise God for their giving hearts.

Horace has been very pleased with the progress in work done out on the Children of Hope property. There is maze & beans now planted along with barbed wire fencesbing put into place . The Blue Gum trees and fruit trees also vegies will be planted when our good rains get here ( June, July, August). We have a full time farmer and an assistant with their families living out there, God’s faithfulness is awesome.

God’s plans are always the best, the property will be such a blessed resource to the home here in town and also continue to be a potential building site for the expansion of Tumaini Children’s Home.

Horace has quoted Roman’s 8 often in our opportunities to speak with people “ God works all things for good , for those who love & obey Him” and through everything that has happened we know how He accomplishes His best is with the prayers of His saints.

It is so important that we are listening to the voice of God to tell us what He is doing and what our part is, we so appreciate all of you who are praying for us and keeping Gods good plans where we can see and hear them.

One of the things we truly need prayer for is who we take as children in our home at this time. It has always been my heart ( Phyllis) to rescue and nurture babies, there are so many here now that need exactly that. Pray that we hear God on who and how many.

Also all of us on the board of Children With Hope need prayer to see and know the exact house God would have us begin Tumaini Children’s Home in.

That the purchase moneys would be there when they are needed and that financial support for the on going business of the home would continue and increase. We are depending on God for all of this, not man, that is why we are asking for your prayers. As Horace says “ God’s will, God’s Bill” no problem.

I wish I could have taken pictures for all of you to see yesterday ( May 8 ) we had to take baby Sarah to her 1st clinic check. This is where they give her ,her name, until then she is only referred to as abandoned baby girl. God is so good, when they wrote her name down she looked up at us with a big smile, like she knew what was taking place. What a gift it is to be here, doing this work.

The clinic was a small series of plastered buildings hooked together all surrounded by grass and dirt, a ditch in front to let the excess water flow by. The doors and window covers are wood and wide open, there was wood benches out in front to sit on. The whole place has not been painted since the 6os but this is Africa.

When she was weighed, we just stood around a large wooden table with several other moms and undressed our children as the nurse took them one by one and laid they on a single metal ( with no covering ) scale. If you did not know their exact age, as we did not, they just wrote down approximate. We went into the next tiny room and all the vaccinations were sitting in a box on a small wood table waiting for their dispsersment. I tell you , I have done a 100 well baby checks with past foster children, this was a whole new experience. You got to love how hard they try with what they are given.

Sarah, was given a few meds that we picked up at the next small plastered building and then we were on our way. This only took 3 hrs ( that part felt just like the states ). With the medication she does not cough as much and so is sleeping better. I look around and wonder why us! It is such a privilege to serve our God with these people just doing what we always did in the states, go figure!

Well, I am sorry this took as long as it did to get out, I will try to be more punctual. I know that it is hard to pray with out updated news. May God bless all of you! You are all in our prayers and our hearts, so you are here with us. The Horace Leister family here in Kenya

We have had a great time!

2008-04-18T08:27:00.000-07:00

Blessings everyone! It will not be long now and the Leister family will be returning to our land of promise, Kenya. We have had a incredible time with everyone here in the states.

We traveled to Grand Junction Colorado, to see our friends there with "Children With Hope". We stayed at the home of Thom & Shari Seagren. Thank you Makaylah for letting us sleep in your room and take over for the third time. Thank you boys for always making us feel so much at home.

We took some pictures of the area so all who read this could see what a beautiful area it is. All reports were that we would be headed for some very cold weather but God in His Grace for us Kenyans gave us beatiful warm weather every where we went.

We had the great privilege to share our vision of creating a secure Godly home & family for many children that do not have one,at River of Life Alliance Church, Pastor Rob Storey. We just want to say thank you again to everyone there who welcomed us and made us feel like we are part of your family.

It brought us such joy & courage to see your compassion for the work we are doing with Children With Hope for the desperate children in kenya. Your prayers are invaluable to us, they are making all things possible.

We also want to thank the Board of "Children with Hope" for all their support of us above and beyound!!!! Thank you Thom,Shari,Vern,Tim,Dean & Jesse your are all amazingly incredible.

We left Colorado on the 3rd of April( thankyou Dean for the ride), via Aspen, this took a bit, they got hit with a short windy snow storm that canceled our flight and held us there for about 4hrs.

This got us to Denver late and we missed our flight to Detroit Michigan. Again, we give God all the Glory because we had a great evening in a nice room in Denver. Feeling refreshed we flew out on the morning of the 4th to be met that afternoon by Pastor Tom Hawkins Of New Song church, Tecumseh Michigan.

Pastor Tom took us for a great meal and then home to meet his wonderful wife Vera. It was like we had know each other for life, great conversation and knitted hearts. We stayed at the beautiful home of Jim & Donna Yearson, down town Tecumseh. The town is amazing, lots of history. We missed Donna she was out of state with family but Jim is a great host and a wonderful man of God.

God again provided us with a opportunity to share our hearts full of love and concern for children in kenya with hearts He had prepared to recieve us, Sunday morning at New Song Church was awsome, what a great bunch of people! Thank you all so much for your desire to partner with Children With Hope in kenya.

We want to thank Doc & Val for an increble dinner with Kevin,Cindy and their boys. Also a great lunch with the Missions Committee and Doug & Cathy Sawyer for great food and conversation. We had a great time with Tom & Vera's small group too!
Thank you Tom & Vera for inviting us, we hope to visit again soon, you are all welcome at our home in Kenya anytime.

Jim Yearson drove us to the Detroit Airport at 5:00 Monday morning ( thank you Jim for everything) and we arrived back in Lewiston at 6:45 Monday evening.

It has taken us a few days to get back on our feet but we are up and going now. Time is such a funny thing, thank God, He is in charge of it.

We left Lewiston 8 months ago thinking alot of things would go alot different than they have. Time being one of them, we have been so blessed by this short time of respet we did not expect. Thank you all for your loving on us with words of encouragement that have built us up and prepared us to return.

The word we got from the CWH board was "Go"! We are very excited to continue the vision to see Kenyan children living good lives in a Godly home. For those who do not know what that means, the plan has changed a bit because of the earlier violence. Instead of building a Children's Home, CWH will be working towards buying a house for that same reason in town for now, where a safe enviroment can be provided. The property that CWH owns is at this minuet being planted as a farm and will provide much needed resources of vegetables, fruits, livestock exc... Praise God! His plan is always the A plan!

Time here in the states is short now and we appologize if we have'nt got a chance to personally see everyone but we just want you to know how much we appreciate all of you and that you have made this all possible with you giving support and prayer support.

Please continue to pray for us, we will do the same for all of you! We know that everything that is given into this ministry will be returned 100 times.

The door to God's purposes in Kenya have been opened, we are walking through and with us many more! This is a plan of God for His Glory, Amen! Love The Leisters

Doing Well in the USA

2008-03-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Just thought I would drop you all a note to let you know that we are doing well here in the USA, Lewiston ID to be exact. We have taken great advantage to catch up on family life here with our children & grandchildren. We are enjoying it to the max!

The apartment that we are using is so perfect for us. It is centrally located in down town Lewiston so that we are accessable to anyone who wants to drop by and so that we can walk anywhere we need to go. Horace has been working with a friend building. So he usally has the car. That gives the children and I opportunity to walk a great deal. I probubly walk 4or5 miles aday, it has been very good for all of us.

Marvin goes to soccer practice each day over at CHS ( Clarkston High School ) his 1st game to play in is Monday the 24th he is very excited.

We have been quite buisy sharing our experiences from Kenya, we had a opportunity to share with our home church " Hope Chapel Lewiston " on Sunday past, it was a great time of opening our hearts to many who love us.

We are planning trip to the state of Colorado on the 28th to share with the board of " Children with Hope " and then fly to Michigan to share with a church there. We will share all of that when we return on the 7th of April. Please be praying for travel mercies for Horace & I during these 9 days. Our children will be staying with family and they will all need your prayers too.

I hope I have expressed enough how much we appreciate your prayers! We depend on them so much, we know that it has been in answer to all of your prayers that we have experienced all the blessings we have in every circumstance God has lent us to. We love you all so much.

Our days here at our home in the states with our family & friends is so precious to us but we are always thinking of the day we will return to our home in Kenya and the important purposes God has for us there.

We were sharing with some folks the other day that before the election violence the sats said in our district alone around Eldoret there are 80,000 orphans now after the violence there are 250,000 displaced people and 40% of these are children. We have God's work cut out for us, and your part is so important to that work!

Bless you all today, in the fullness of God's Blessing!! Love the Leisters in the US for awhile.

2008-03-06T18:57:00.000-08:00

Dear loved ones! We had an incredibly good trip back to the states. We flew out of Eldoret, watching the great news that we in Kenya have a goverment again, yea God! All flights were very comfortable as we got seats by each other. We left African sun and touched down in the states just in time to catch the end of winter, boy were we cold! We spent one night on the coast of Washington State, in the city of Everett. Tired as we were, we hardly felt the beds but the breakfast the next morning was fantastic. We rented a SUV to drive over the mountains seeing some of the Northwest sceinery that we love and visited with my father ( Phyllis ) in Wenatchee. It was a very full day, pulling into our daughter Jessica's house around 6:00 saturday evening. A warm welcome met us there from all our children & grandchildren, it was a very good ending for our 1st day back.

Horace was hit by the jet lag last time and this time it was me. It has taken me a full week to beable to function like myself. The kids seem to do the best. We spent two nights with Jessica and her family and then we moved into a apartment lent to us by our good friends Pastor Ray & Geri Tucker. They have offered us their hospitality here in the states while they are in Eldoret, pritty awsome, ha. It was much more than here are the keys, hope you are OK. No, Geri's sister Louise met us at the apartment where coffee, eggs, bacon, milk and Juice were waiting for us. There was a welcome home card and sign on the wall, wow! We are always overwhelmed with God's Grace towards us! Thank you Pastor Ray & Geri and all at Faith Tabernacle!!

Wednsday we ate dinner ( the best steak we have ever eated ) with our Pastors at Hope Chapel, Jeph & Jaclyn Chavez, it was great to talk and be with them again. We have been invited to apear on the local Christian TV station ( which is right outside our front door ) and we have already shared with our home Healing Rooms Team and several friends, our experiences while in Kenya. We are missing all our family & friends in Eldoret alot but we know already that the 2 months we have in the states will go quickly. At the end of March we will be traveling to Colorado to meet with the board of Children with Hope and discuss options for our work in kenya.

Thank you everyone who prayed us home safe and keep praying, your support means everything to us. Please pray for our stay that we would accomplish what God has us here for and pray for all our concerns back home in Kenya. Josh & Rachel are there holding down the fort! Josh is continuing what got started out on the property and Rachel is helping out at the Pastor's home where our foster children are staying. We love you all. We pray that God's blessings, as rich as they are, from His Glory be yours in full!!! Your Leisters in the USA for a short time!

An emotional week!

2008-02-26T10:04:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, We are having many mixed emotions this week! We wanted to let you know how things were here in Kenya before we leave. Kenya is still in labor for here new goverment! We are praying that she can servive the delivery! I have been to the camps this week and the conditions are heart renching. One mother had just given birth and did not have the strength to go for food or clothing, she had layed there for 2 days before we saw her. We brought her food, a matress, cloths and water.

We have recieved two little girls ( 8 months & 6 years ) from there just today. They are so small and frail their mother is very sick and may not survive. I cried all the way home. We can do so little for so few, we are just one pair of God's hands not God, this is all I can say. Our Pastor's have offered to keep them for us while we are in the states for 2 months. God is making sure we will come back, he knows us very well, we now have little ones waiting.

It has been very odd because we have gotten more done in the last month than all the time here. Horace has been very buisy out on the property in Jua Kali planting and building fences. There are two men and their families now living and working there, it is very exciting to see it happen. We are telling ourselves this is a very odd time to leave but each time we ask God, He tells us the same thing, we need to go home for these two months. So, thursday we will fly out of Eldoret into Nairobi to fly back to the states.

I need to tell you some wonderful testimonies, because God is a good God all the time, no matter what it looks like to us, Amen. As you know we have been helping out at a Children's Church in one of the slums on the edge of town. We have been praying with the children there ever sence the violence subsided. They of course, pray for safety and family and even food sometimes but mostly they have prayed to beable to go back to school. Most of the families are very poor and they can not afford the uniforms that their children must have to go to public school. Those who once were able to afford it, after the violence, no longer can. The children miss learning so much and know that it is their way out of the poverty they are in. So, sometimes they forget they are hungry and think more of going back to school.

This week we had the awsome privilage of helping to pick out almost 20 new school uniforms and see the faces of the children who have prayed so earnestly, get their prayers answered, so completley. It was one of the prime moments of our lives here. We hope you enjoy the pictures. God is answering the prays of the children in Kenya, we have seen it. These monies were sent to us from our dear friends in Romania. We also recieved other monies from the states that have helped feed & cloth orpans that lost their homes due to the burning and families that are living in the displacement camps like the ones I referred to earlier. Thank you everyone who has given. You have let Gods provision pass from your hands to ours to those who needed it so badly. Praise God you are all praying and listening for the heart beat of God towards Kenya!

We love you all so much and appreciate your prayers for us in a mighty way! Please continue to pray for our safe trip home and please, please pray for kenya and her children our children! God's faithful blessings to you all, the Horace Leister family in Kenya

Josh & Rachel's Wedding

2008-02-18T03:15:00.000-08:00

Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today..... Yes, God has again put two lives together to make one! Joshua & Rachel are man and wife! Hurray!!!!! Kenya has a new beginning and so do Josh & Rachel here in Kenya. We are so full of joy for them! The day was awesome, it started right on Kenyan time about 50 minuets late. The sound man and the chairs lost their way and had to be found before everyone could be seated.

The cake lost it's way too, but made it just in time! It was a great day, everyone laughed and hugged and no one said a cross word or cried ( except with joy & laughter ). The day was bright and beautiful just what we had prayed for ( everyday for several it had rained in the afternoon ). We missed all of you but I know that you are celebrating just as we are, that God has done a wonderful thing in bringing these two together, in this setting for His miracles purposes!!!

Thank you Jesus, that you fulfill the desires of our hearts because you planted them there to begin with! Amen We hope you enjoy the pictures! Horace, Bill & Jake took Josh & Rachel to the Ugandan boarder today ( Feb. 18th ) to honeymoon there for a week. Please pray for safety for them all week and a safe return. Also, pray for a lot of safe travel for all of us, the Schmidts will be leaving on the 19th, Jake on the 20th and Horace, myself & children on the 28th. We will all see most of you soon and have a lot more to share!

Oh, ya, I almost forgot, Josh & Rachel asked everyone here for Kenyan type presents, they were given several one being a cow " for the milk, you know, you must have milk for the babies!" they were told! God Bless all of you our dear family & friends we are so grateful for your love and support!! We will continue with the blog while we are a short while in the states, so that everyone knows what we are up to and when we return to Kenya! In Jesus loving name! The Leisters in Beautiful, Peaceful Kenya

2008-02-11T21:01:00.000-08:00

Hi, All our loved ones. Our family the Schimdts got here on the 6th of Feb. very safe! They flew into Nairobi at about 8:45 A.M. and did not fly out to Eldoret until 5:45 P.M.. So they had their own adventure in Kenya before we even got to see them. They did great! Horace, Josh and Rachel went to the airport outside of Eldoret and picked them up at about 6:30 with only a Kenyan friend ( no police escort ) and brought them back to our home. They were very tired, 2 long air flights and 2 short ones in 2 days can do that to you. We ate some dinner and then unpacked their bags, full of good stuff for everyone! Oh ya, a miracle, they got here with all their bags but one, Praise God! The last bag no one knows where it its but God does, He will send it on it's way!

Since that time we have been introducing them to as many people and situations as we can. It has calmed down alot, in the last 2 weeks and that gives us more freedom to drive and walk them around. Plans for the wedding are going right along and we are now only a week - away! We took them over to the Pacifica House where the wedding will be held. It is a beautiful setting and everyone was very pleased! Then on saturday they went to the Show Grounds where a large number of displaced people are continuing to live in tents ( we visited there about 2 weeks ago, I posted pictures ) something is still being done every saturday for the Children and they got to be part of it. They will have to tell you about it sometime, it is hard enough to discribe our own experience let alone someone elses. On the 10th, sunday we took them to the Church we have been helping out with, they joined us in doing the service, it was so much fun. That evening the Missionary Fellowship met and sponcered Josh & Rachel a wedding shower! It was so amazing, we have all been here such a short time but God has surrounded us with a huge group of people that have such a great love for God and have poured it out on all us Leister's. They just gave and gave and gave that night! More news about the wedding later!

The rest of the story here is, Because of the unrest and mistrust going through the people right now we have been advised by several, including a tribal Chief in that area, to hold off temporarily. The random burning ( 2 children's homes so far, not 2 miles from our property ) and killing is continuing and they are very hostile to anyone new or different moving into their communities. We feel that it would be very wise to take this advise. We are continueing with the planting of gum trees and putting up fence, wood and live ( plants with big thorns), gate and wall, there is plenty to keep Horace buisy with out building for awhile.

We are going to take our 2 month break that we originaly planned for Aug. at the end of Feb. and be back to continue the work by the 1st of May. This will help us in the delema of how to get our visas renewed which we have been contemplating. We had always thought that when it came time to do that, we would just drive the 75miles or so to the Ugandan boarder and go out of the country there and right back in with a new visa. There is no garuntee roads will be secure enough to do that by the time we would have to, so we will come back into the states for a break, get new visas when we come back. We have gotten the ok from CWH for Josh & Rachel to live here while we are gone and take care of everything for us.

This is such a blessing for us and them, we are sure God's hand is directing all of this, even though it will be very hard to leave when homes are need here so much. The abandoned are of course being discovered by the 100s and they are all needing homes. We met with the Children's worker and got permission to recieve children in our home on a fostercare basis. This we will do on our return, we will be very anxious to come back and begin what we came here to do in first place! It will be very nice to see our family & friends though, spending time with all of you will make the time go by very fast.

Please continue to pray for all of us! Pray for the safety of all while they are here visiting, for continued travel safety for those coming for the wedding, our son Jake is due to fly in on Friday the 15th, Horace will fly to Nairobi to meet him. Pray for God's will and everything to fall into place for the wedding, that the Schimdts retun trip and Jake's will be as safe as their coming. Pray that we, the Horace Leister family can complete projects that need to be and continue in safety until our safe trip home! Thanks to all of you, who have prayed us this far and for your continuing faithfulness of being joined to us through prayer in these God given endevers. We feel as Paul did that all that is being accomplished has been brought about because of your prayers and ours to complete his work here in Kenya! Romans 15:30 -33 Love the Leister's in Beautiful, Peaceful Kenya