the plan! (part three)

first of all, a side note- I am moving out of my apartment at the end of April and staying with friends until I leave, to save money, and OH MY GOSH YOU GUYS, who let me accumulate this much stuff?!

anyway- the month of May will be spent visiting my sister and other family members, saying goodbye to friends, and preparing to leave.

AND THEN.

on June 21st I will leave Oregon and head 'home'. and here's what I plan to do from there (Lord willing):

for the first few months, I will live with my Kenyan sister Susan (pictured left on her wedding day), her wonderful husband Wilson, and my Kenyan niece, Eileen (named after me. more on that incredible honour later). (you can expect to see pictures exclusively of me with her in my arms for the next...10 years or so.) Susan and Wilson live in an apartment in the town of Ngong, about 20 kilometres from our VG land. they are
saving to build a house for themselves.

my immediate goal and focus is to acquire custody of 6-8 children, who I will take into my care. we will move into the home on our land as soon as the house is ready. we are about $6000 away from finishing the house- trim, tile, countertops etc. did any of my readers happen to win the lottery?

choosing the kids will be a process consisting of prayer, advice and recommendations from leaders in the community, the vote of the VG board in Kenya, and the help of our incredible lawyer, Franklin. I am not expecting this to be easy, but God sometimes throws us for a loop by working everything out quickly! whatever happens, I know he is in control and wants what is best for these kids. his love for these kids greatly outweighs mine, and I know he will set them in homes. amen!

part two: when, and how.

over the past ten years I've been to Kenya eleven different times for a total of 24 wonderful months on that beautiful red soil.

that's a lot of frequent flier miles, in case you were wondering.

I've always dreamed of living there- I mean LIVING there, not visiting- but I've been (almost) content just to visit. often. most of my friends know that my long term goal was to finally settle in Kenya, but it's never quite been the right time. there's always something to keep me here in Oregon. there's always so much to do.

but it's finally time. we have finally reached the tipping point, the point where my time and resources are better spent in Kenya than here in the US. the point where I can finally sell my car, give up my apartment, and invest in a better, faster, more awesome camera. finally give up on trying to keep my asthma, anxiety and insomnia under control, and just go home.

HOME.

I will be leaving in mid-June. I can't wait.

moving: part one.

for years I've felt like I'm living on the wrong side of the mirror. I'll look around this beautiful, beautiful town (seriously- I love Portland!) and everything feels upside-down, or at least backward.

my heart beats correctly in Nairobi (literally- but that's a different story). things are NOT easy there. they aren't convenient. don't get me wrong, Nairobi is fairly Westernised and you can get almost everything you want, and certainly everything you need- but it can still be really, really annoying.

the buses are always late, and slow, and prices change daily, and the potholes make me crazy. restaurants never have what they say they have, and the last time I went grocery shopping, the store was 'out' of rice. RICE. phone service is terrible, and expensive. internet is slow at best. the rains are late and crops are bad and employment is low and crime rates are high and people are hungry and tired. it's entirely imperfect.

but it's HOME.

I am moving home at the end of June. and when I say 'moving', I mean finally. moving. home. I've been waiting for this for almost a decade, and it's time.

ruin and treasure

where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure. ~Rumi

I spend about half my time and energy thinking about how to get children out of the slums and into (as of yet non existent) homes on my land, and the other half of my time and energy worrying about myself: why does my back hurt? why am I so sad? why can't I buy more clothes?

there needs to be some balance, probably. and by 'balance', I mean, less of me, more of Him.

more Jesus.

more of the One who loves these children, knows their names, and has authority over the dust and dirt, the disease and the filth, the poverty and oppression. authority, even, over my whiny, selfish self.


I need to take my eyes off myself, because I can't fix myself anyway. I need to throw myself into this project, because as I love and serve others, and spend time with the One who loves them, I will begin to heal; I will begin to be healed.

the problem is that I don't know where to start. I feel very stuck. not with the general concept, but with the actual day-to-day tasks: I need money.

a lot of it.

but there is One who knows, and today I'm choosing to trust in Him.

VisiGrace news!

Christmas shopping

if you want to give a love one a gift, but don't want to brave the Black Friday chaos, why not buy them something beautiful and meaningful- that benefits a local non profit and helps support orphaned children in Kenya?





we still have a few sling bags left (they are going FAST), and their pictures can be found here
and they can be payed for using paypal, here:

purse colours

blue orange yellow red green brown

we also have a few VG t shirts remaining, for men and women.


new Africa shirts can be bought here


and our original, acacia tree shirts here (they are on sale!)

please consider supporting Visible Grace this year as you buy your gifts!

thank you,
Ashby Rauch

more story: part two: unedited

(first part of the story here.)

said ten acres were acquired with a lot of tears, time and donations from generous people like you.

and several thousand cups of tea with various land owners and their lawyers. (ooh, book idea: drinking cups of tea in a foreign country while trying to build a school. it could work.)

Nairobi is unreal. combine the poorest of the poor (50% of the nation makes $2 a day or less) with the up-and-coming. combine, also, the grandmothers who don't speak English, who know how to knit and sew and farm and cut their own firewood, with the youth, the generation who speaks ONLY English, and poorly, who own cars and work downtown and move out before they get married.

combine, even, the fashion and trends from Europe with the colourful fabrics that one pictures when they think of Africa: wrapped around your waist, your shoulders, your head.

combine all of this with parasites and HIV and water you can't drink until it's boiled.

enter one naive college student who thinks she knows everything.