William John 5 Months

Will is so so fun these day! He is always smiling and laughing and brings so much joy into our home! Here are a few fun things from this month!

Will loves to play with his feet! He has got the happy baby yoga pose down :)

He loves to watch his sister sing and dance. He just laughs and smiles the whole time.

He is super ticklish!

Will can roll from his back to his belly and belly to back.

He really wants to sit up on his own but hasn’t mastered it yet.

He is getting curious about food. If he is sitting on one of our laps he tries to grab what we are eating.

William is now sleeping all night. It is rare for him to wake up in the middle of the night nowadays. Some days he does chose to wake up at 5am, but thankfully that is not everyday.

Will has fallen in love with one of Emma’s stuffed animals and get all excited when she bring it out.

He loves to look at himself in the mirror. For some reason it cracks him up :)

Will is eating 6oz every 3-4 hours and goes close to 12 hours at night.

He loves to jump in his jumper especially if someone is watching him.

Will doesn’t like to be alone. He always wants to be in the middle of all the fun.

He got to go on his first safari which he slept the whole through.

He is a great travel baby and sleeps almost the whole time on road trips.

Will enjoys being outside and when he sees his sister running around playing he gets all wiggly like he wants to join in the fun. I am pretty sure once he can walk, he will be alllllll over the place!

William is seriously happy all the time. He is a joy to be around and we are so thankful for him!!

 

 

 

 

Emma Hadassah 2 Years 10 Months

Man, oh, man. Emma is quite the character these days.  She is super witty, super sassy, and for the most part, super fun! Here are some fun things from this month :)

Emma currently loves to play with a string and pretend to wrap presents with it then open it for all of us to see.

When William is sleeping she will get on to everyone in the house for being too loud. “Mommy, you need to be quiet. Will is sleeping.”

Emma now falls asleep on her own during nap time. It is now called ‘Quiet Time’ and she goes in and falls right to sleep. The first day, I felt like I won the lottery :)

We were having a few issues with Emma not wanting to eat what was made for dinner. I am happy to say we have made progress and she more open to eating new things as long as it’s ‘Emma size.’

Emma still loves crafts and painting.

She says perfect, “perfcet!” and she still says hospital “hostible” :)

Emma has finally gotten to a point that she will let me do her hair in fun ways!

The other night at dinner Emma wanted to call me a different name. I said “I am your mommy, so you call me mommy” and she responded with “well, I’m your daughter so you call me Emma.”

If Will starts to fuss or cry Emma will ask us to get his paci or give him a bottle.

There is always a little song in her heart.

During her nap one afternoon I walked passed her room and heard her telling her stuffed animals that Jesus loves them :)

The other day Emma asked us to get her a trampoline. I have no idea how she learned what a trampoline is.

We are working on Emma learning her letters. She really has to be in the mood to want to do it. I am trying to find more ways to make it more exciting for her.

We have started to work on some math skills with her. If she ask to eat peanuts we will take a few and say “Emma, if you have one peanut and you add another peanut how many do you have?”

Emma loves to play with my empty oil bottles and pretend to put them on her stuffed animals and brother.

Emma will randomly quote movies. For example, while eating dinner the one night she said “guys, we have to go to Burgeon Town and save our friends!”

She is learning to say ‘may I please be excused’ at the table.

Emma LOVES to be tickled! So much that she will ask you to tickle her.

Emma is obsessed with her brother. She says they are best friends and thinks it is super fun to kiss his feet :)

We did our annual Easter Scavenger Hunt and Emma was awesome at it! Anytime we mention Jesus now she is quick to say "He died on the cross and came back to life!" Makes my heart smile every time.

 

 

 

 

William John 4 Months

Will is so much fun these days! His personality is really starting to come out. He smiles all the time and thinks his big sister is pretty funny J

Feeding: William is now taking 5oz every 3-4 hours. Every once in a while he will only take 4oz. He only wakes up once at night to eat and mommy and daddy are super happy about that!

Sleeping: Will takes about 3-4 naps during the day. His 3^rd nap is usually around 2 hours which gives his momma some time to get work done J Will goes to bed around 6:30pm, wakes around 2am-3am to eat, then sleeps until 6:30-7am.

Fun Info!

William is getting really good at his hand/eye coordination. He is starting to grab more things and will roll to his side to help him reach something.

He loves to sit up (with assistance).

Will got to test out his jump-a-roo! He is still deciding on if he likes it or not.

If he wakes up before Emma he will stare at the door until she comes in. It’s sweet J

He doesn’t like to be alone in a room.

Will is talking (chattering) a lot these days!

He is growing like a weed! A super cute weed J He can now wear 9mo. Pants….

He is a momma’s boy J

Will is super ticklish and gets a huge smile on his face when you tickle him.

He is starting to prefer people he knows to hold him.

William is not a fan of loud noises. Which means he is still getting use to the loud speakers at church.

The sound of water soothes him…but let be honest, it soothes all of us J

He only cries if he is tired or hungry.

Will is drooling like crazy! Maybe a tooth is thinking about coming through?

Gentle Baby essential oils is our favorite to use on him.

Will is starting to sleep more during road trips and doesn’t wake up when we go over speed bumps (they are everywhere in Kenya).

William can recognize all of our voices including Emma’s.

He still hates tummy time J

 

 

 

 

Magomano Primary School Water Project

This is the kind of work that I love and have been dreaming about for years.  Getting a taste of it while a part of Engineers Without Borders in school at the University of Kentucky, it confirmed that I wanted to do this for a career.  Helping to empower communities to have better access to clean water is a challenging, but very exciting aspect of our lives here.

In case you missed it a couple weeks ago, March 22^nd was World Water Day! We made and posted a video of the water situation at Magomano Primary School and in the villages we are working with near Rumuruti.  (Ok yes, some guy named Matt Damon is also in the clean water business and might have posted a video about water as well…., but if you want to check ours out, it’s on our video tab J).  When we went out that day to make the video, seeing what these kids and families have to go through every day to get water to survive makes me not only grateful for the easy access I have to clean water , but also drives me to work as hard as I can to help provide them with the same.

Water projects like these make impacts throughout communities in so many ways.  An obvious way is of course cleaner water means healthier bodies.  Did you know that 10,000 children in Kenya die EVERY YEAR from diarrhea caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation! We are definitely praying for a healthier and more vibrant community as a result of this project.

Not only is the health directly impacted, but these kids are empowered! How you may ask, well that’s a good question.  As you saw in the video, they spend hours every day not just walking to the water hole, but waiting in line to fill up their jerry can.  That means hours each day not spent in school or on other activities that could uplift their families. Join us in prayer for these kids to have the clean water and education they deserve.

So what are we doing? Well, a major first step is to help mobilize the community leaders to really
own this project for today and many years to come.  So far we have had two meetings with the chiefs and elders to learn of the specific needs from them, explain how we partner with communities, share our availability to provide technical and training assistance, envision project goals together, and help facilitate the creation of a water committee that will overlook the sustainability of this project after construction.

I’m feeling very hopeful and pleased with the level of interest by the leaders and especially their willingness to participate in each phase of the project.  Finishing out the last meeting with the signing of a community agreement and project partnership, we are officially getting into the design phase.  With challenges of providing a source that will last in the dry season and providing a quantity and set up for the kids at the school and the community (including their animals), we are taking our time to make sure it’s done well.

With plans to drill a well on the school property and set up a rain catchment system using the school building roofs, the next main steps are to complete a hydrogeological survey and start drilling in the best location possible.  I’m setting up the survey with the drilling company as I write this.  And as I said at the beginning of this blog, this is exciting work.  I can’t wait to see the finished product!

I want to end on something that although I don’t personally enjoy talking about, it is crucial and must be mentioned.  To say it outright, WE…NEED…YOU…to make this happen. We need to raise $4,000 more to reach our goal.  Yes, I know.  That is a lot of money.  But if you look at it like 160 people each giving $25 then it isn’t so bad.  Will you prayerfully consider being 1 of our 160? If your answer is yes, your tax-deductible donation can be given HERE!

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Together we can help HUNDREDS of people have access to CLEAN WATER and that is something to get excited about J

In King Jesus and for His Glory,
Mark

Emma Hadassah 2 Years 9 Months

Emma is such a fun little girl! Her imagination is all over the place now which makes playing with her a lot of fun.  Here are some highlights from the last month.

While driving to Maua (Mark’s childhood home), Emma was so surprised that there were trees all along our drive. She kept saying “Kenya has trees here too!!”

Emma is a super thankful child.  She is always thanking us for things such as breakfast, lunch, dinner, when we give her a bath, set her water station up, play with her…etc. She will say “Daddy, thank you so much for getting my play-doh! I like it so much!”

The other day while in the car we were listening to a CD that had our wedding song on it. We explained it to Emma and she said “Guys, this is our song!!” Sure kid, it can be yours too :)

Emma has become a huge backseat driving!! This is how the conversation goes…E: “Dad watch out for those people, move over daddy there is a car, dad watch out for the cows, dad don’t hit the goats!” M: “Thanks, Emma.”

Nowadays, Emma wants to know what we are talking about. She will come up to us and say “Guy, what are you talking about?”

Emma is super animated when she talks. She shakes her head and waves her hands all around.

One night I was trying to get Emma to go to bed so I started to sing “Hey sister, soul sista, it’s time to go to bed sista!” She responded with “Hey mommy, no mommy, I’m not going to bed mommy!"

Emma LOVES art. She could sit there and paint for hours.

She still likes to help with her brother. Especially when it comes to feeding him.

Emma has been learning boundaries when it comes to her brother. She is SUPER affectionate and sometimes hugs her brother a little too hard. :)

We have entered the hard stage of parenting with having to discipline Emma more.  Sometimes I think her attitude is an almost 3 year old going on 13...I will accept any advice you may have on this issue :)

Fun Things We Did This Month:
We got to visit Grandma and Grandpa Fogleman twice this month!! Emma loved seeing them and playing Go Fish and play-doh with them. 

Emma got to feed a Giraffe for the first time! It was also her first time to see a real giraffe. She was excited at first but after feeding the giraffe once, she was ok to just play on a large rock where she could still see them.

We went on a fun hiking trip around Thompson Falls one Saturday.  Emma loved running around and finding big sticks.  She keeps asking to hiking again :)

Tot School:
We are slowly starting to get back into a Tot School routine. Emma has missed it, I have missed it, and we both like structure. Some days we are able to sit and do a whole lesson, other days we are on the back patio and I draw shapes, numbers, or letters with chalk on the ground and she pours water on them.

On days we have to travel or have a lot of things going on, we still try to keep an environment of learning for her as she loves to learn. Hopefully in April we will be on a more set schedule as William is also starting to take longer naps.

Fun Pictures: