SNAP THAT: July 2021

Saturday, July 24, 2021

Prayers Needed & Update Regarding Pay Pal

Hi friends,

This is just a quick update to let you know about the missions needs in Kenya and to ask for prayers.

Livingstone's crutches broke and needed to to be replaced. Jonah purchased some in Nakuru and shipped them to Kericho Town. This was an unforeseen expense but the crutches have gone through a lot of use as they have been used by two other patients we have helped. Cost for crutches and delivery was about $67 Canadian. I am not quite sure when he will go for followup and that always requires x-rays and usually plaster is redone. Please pray his bones will heal.

Rose, the older lady who is with child was discharged to home for recovery from Covid. To date we have spent about $400 Canadian on her medications but she is not doing well. At the moment she needs oxygen support and we are trying to provide that. Cost for one tank is usually around $50. Canadian. There are oxygen shortages in Kenya right now so that is a bit concerning but we are trying to get oxygen to her. Update: As of Monday evening Kenyan time, Rose was transported to hospital in Kericho. She was trying to get to the mission hospital in Tenwek but couldn't make it that far as her situation has deteriorated. We will do our best to help her.

Right now at home, we have a lot of wild fires burning and a number of them are not under control. One entire village burned to the ground and 2 people along with it. Firefighters have joined us from several provinces and today more firefighters arrived from Mexico.

Update: If anyone wishes to donate to the Kenyan missions, I've now created a direct link to Pay Pal for that purpose. I've also updated the blog page and references. Hopefully this will resolve any sending issues. Here is the new link

paypal.me/snapthatpenny

Friday, July 9, 2021

Yah, it's Friday

Happy Friday and happy weekend ahead.

It's been a busy week of errands and trying to find this and that for upcoming birthdays and projects so I'm a bit late with posting.

I captured these sky shots in early morning hours. I'm actually a night owl as that is when I seem to get more energy to do things but I do love to see the sky and feel the cool air in the very early morning hours before the city gets loud and busy.

My herb garden is overgrown. Too hot to cook. I guess I should freeze some.

I've slowed down reading but I have a number of books to keep me busy. I'm reading a little out of each one and hope I can finish them all before they are due at the library or unavailable for further renewals. I also picked up these magazines awhile ago. I seldom buy magazines any more but I'm sure I will enjoy them. I especially love looking at nicely decorated spaces and beautiful gardens. It relaxes me.

Last weekend I did a lot of meal preparation and batch cooking for the week. It was lovely since I've been feeling rather tired. It enabled me to focus on my errands and a few other things instead of cooking every day.

In the Kenyan mission field, Pastor Jonah has been kept busy with Livingstone's leg issues. Livingstone has been back to the doctor several times for follow up, had his cast redone numerous times and had multiple x-rays done. His leg is not healing very well but then again it's only been just over a month. I have tried to insist that they stop redoing the cast and expecting Livingstone for such frequent follow-ups but that is how they do business at Kenyan hospitals. In the west that doesn't typically happen since it takes months for leg fractures to heal properly. We'll see how it goes moving forward.

There has been an outbreak of Covid 19 in various parts of Kenya due to mass political gatherings that were held weeks ago. Certain communities have been hit hard including the one where we focus the missions work, the town of Kericho and surrounding villages. It means curfews and restricted travel are again in place in much of the country.

Regular readers of this blog will already know that Livingstone has had Covid but was able to recuperate at home with prescribed medicines. Ernest, the other man that had a broken leg, had been hospitalized for weeks but is now okay.

There is a woman I am concerned about. Her name is Rose. She is 52 years old and several months pregnant. She landed in hospital with Covid like symptoms and ultimately tested positive for Covid. She has been in a small hospital for almost 2 weeks and in need of a great many medicines (I have no information on how these might affect the unborn child).

Another younger woman named Joyce was admitted to hospital with pneumonia like symptoms and later tested positive for Covid.

All these needs at once are stretching my resources since I also try to help certain households with regular food and helps,

If any of you are so inclined to help out please feel free to reach out to me. I can be reached at kerichojoy[at]gmail[dot]com. Pay Pal donations can also be sent there. If you experience any problems kindly let me know. I've heard of two people now over several months who have had problems sending donations. They were ultimately successful after trying several times. I could also send you a payment request through Pay Pal if you send your email and how much you would like to donate. I thank you in advance for considering the needs.

~~~

I tired myself out this past week by going out almost every day for hours at a stretch. I'm not used to that at the best of times. So this weekend I hope to catch up to some chores, some reading and some rest.

~~~

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy your week ahead.

I'm linking up with Skywatch Friday.

Tuesday, July 6, 2021

Tuesday 4 ~ Blogging

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 kept up in her memory. This week the questions were supplied by Pamela Steiner. Thanks Pamela and thank you Annie for keeping the meme going.

1. Tell us about your blog. When did you start blogging?

My blog is about the simple things in life and later I also blogged about the charitable work I do in Kenya, East Africa. I started blogging in 2009 as a way to keep myself occupied with fruitful things, maintaining a simple life and sharing photos. My brother set up my blog as it was all 'Greek to me'. I started looking for simple and beautiful things to share and it also became like a diary of what was going on in my life. Mostly it was a way for me to keep focussing on joyful and happy things as a way to deal with health issues that I am dealing with though I did not want the blog to be a daily journal of my illnesses. I was in fact trying to take my focus off of illness. At one point I deleted many blog posts (perhaps about 100 or more) though I can't remember the reason why. I think it had to do with the watermark on photos. I didn't like the look of them or something like that. I didn't delete them all.

2. What prompted you to begin blogging?

I started blogging because I had time on my hands due to medical leave. I was looking for something constructive to do that would help me keep in the right frame of mind for healing. I worked on keeping the blog positive and in those days blogged about simple things and beautiful things. I had a lot of trouble with concentration and I would publish a post only to discover many problems with my writing and grammar. I would then correct my errors and republish only to discover yet more errors and so on it went until I got it right. That still happens but not nearly so often.

3. What was your first blog about and why did you choose that subject/title?

The first blog post published (April 2009) is a post about the beauty of nature. I created a short video and haiku verse to accompany it. I chose the subject because like I've already mentioned, I was focussed on beautiful things. I wanted to use some beautiful, relaxing music in my short video. I'm not sure if the video and photos are still on the blog because so many of my posts are 'missing' photos (I'm embarrassed to look back over how the blog now looks in the earlier days). I'm unsure why but it probably has to do with photo storage issues and there are a number of things impacting on what I do going forward.

4. How has your blog changed over time, and has it done for you what you hoped it would do in the first place?

My ability to concentrate has improved over time though my general health has not really improved. I no longer feel that my original purpose for the blog has remained the same because over time it has expanded to include daily life, family, hobbies and philanthropy. I may ultimately stop this blog and start a new one. From time to time, I consider whether to continue with the blog. I feel everything has stagnated both with the reach of the blog and the things I blog about. I should clarify that I do feel the blog served it's original purpose and that is one reason I may stop the blog and start another down the line. The blog isn't a legacy blog for family to look back on since I don't ever post photos, or very seldom have posted photos about myself and my family since this was never the focus. The decision about what to do about the blog may be forced on me sooner than I care due to photo storage space nearing the limit. I don't want to pay Google storage but right now it is the easiest thing to do. The other options are not things I can do right now for various reasons. There is so much in the air at the moment and when things are up in the air I tend to leave the decision until things are more clear.