This is Kenya’s second democratically held election. A sitting president has never been kicked out of office by election. They have always stepped down or been re-elected when they ran. This is the first time the opposition has had a good chance of taking the presidency. In early vote tallies, the opposition president looked as though he would win. Finally, when the tallying was complete, the president was re-elected. Now we have the rioting.

Read about the current situation at CNN.com.

I’ve created a new way to view photos. Click the image below or go back to the home page and click on “Photos”. Please let me know what you think.

Well, today, December 28th, is our due date. There’s no signs that it’s going to be happening any time soon. Today also happens to be our half year anniversary. We’re now at 4 1/2 years.

We could sure use your prayers as we enter this final stretch of the pregnancy. The room is ready, bags packed, baby car seat installed and ready to go… we just need the baby to want to be here. We look forward to sharing this new joy of our lives with you in the very near future.

Thank you for your many gifts through baby showers and mailings. You’ve blessed us immensely. We hope that we can return some of that blessing with the new child God will be bringing into this world very shortly. Please come and visit us soon after the baby has arrived. Look back here often for updates on the baby and mother. We’re sure to have photos and video up for everyone to see.

I found this photo recently of a group working in Malakal called MedAir. They do relief work in South Sudan and many other areas in the world. One of the Sudanese working with them was a man I met and spent much time with this summer. His name is Ding. He is in the top row, 2nd from the left.

The Problem:
Right now the financial back bone of SIM is very outdated. Much of our process is still done all on paper. Everything is separate and nothing is databased together. When you change something, it has to be done in 10 places and 5 people informed to change in their 10 places.

The Fix:
For the last 6 months SIM has begun the process of making the major overhaul of changing the entire system from the ground up. I recently heard from the project coordinator and a lot of very important decisions are coming to a head before the end of the year. Some of them involved costs DIFFERENCES of $250k. The vendor they would like to use for everything is just to expensive for the whole package. Since SIM would like to still use portions of their package instead of the whole enchilada (as we say in Texas), the vendor wants to remove the special pricing they had, understandably. So now SIM is in a rock and a hard place.

Pray:
Please take a moment as this is not just about a project, but changing a lot about how SIM is run. How every person’s finances are handled. How your donations are processed, communicated, etc. etc. It will all be better once this is done.

No doubt the worst situation is if everything is delayed. This is such a big project, it will take over a year just to build out and implement. The current system is so outdated, it would be a shame to delay this any further.

Please pray for the SIM leadership, and that if God wills it, that the vendors would be willing to discount products for SIM.

Amen! They have resolved all but one issue and are joining together again. One big change is that the ‘seat’ of the country will shift back and forth between Khartoum and Juda, the capital of the southern Sudan. The major issue still outstanding is the specific boarder of one state, which happens to have a ton of oil.

Click the image or click here to read about the good news!

Well… almost. Coming soon!

It turns out the same man carried out the shooting in Denver at the YWAM office and in Colorado Springs at New Life Church. YWAM has an office in that church. The young man worked with YWAM a few years ago and had a falling out. Please continue to be in prayer for the families involved in both incidents. The young man was killed at the church by their security.

Click here for the latest CNN.com article.