Niwe Nyama ya Nyama Ciakwa

This is a Kikuyu wedding song and also one of my mom's favorite songs so it means a lot to me.

No we wiki gai athuriire

nikyo gumeinyithie aciari akwa

ado witu a mwena na arata akwa

ni we gikeno kia goro yakwa 

Niwe nyama ya nyama ciakwa

Niwe ihidi ria ihidi riakwa

No we wiki gai athuriire

Utwike gikeno kia goro yakwa

Twihiitame twaitare na gwoya

mbere ya aciari akwa na arata akwa 

na bere ya kanitha wa gai

Niwe gikeno kia goro yakwa

Niwe nyama ya nyama ciakwa

Niwe ihidi ria ihidi riakwa

No we wiki gai athuriire

Utwike gikeno kia goro yakwa

Twuikire gichoe itare na gwoya

mbere ya aciari akwa na arata akwa 

na bere ya kanitha wa gai

Niwe gikeno kia goro yakwa

Niwe nyama ya nyama ciakwa

Niwe ihidi ria ihidi riakwa

No we wiki gai athuriire

Utwike gikeno kia goro yakwa

Twuikiri saine itare na gwoya

mbere ya aciari akwa na arata akwa 

na bere ya kanitha wa gai

Niwe gikeno kia goro yakwa

 

Niwe nyama ya nyama ciakwa

Niwe ihidi ria ihidi riakwa

No we wiki gai athuriire

Utwike gikeno kia goro yakwa

Ido ciothe ciakwa ni ciaku

Diga gutiga mathiinaini

Gutora na we hede ciothe

Tuga tigithainio nii gekuo

Niwe nyama ya nyama ciakwa

Niwe ihidi ria ihidi riakwa

No we wiki gai athuriire

Utwike gikeno kia goro yakwa

Ni di kwedaga hede ciothe
Kwena thiina ka kwena mwatho

Gutora na we hede ciothe

Tuga tigithainio nii gekuo

Niwe nyama ya nyama ciakwa

Niwe ihidi ria ihidi riakwa

No we wiki gai athuriire

Utwike gikeno kia goro yakwa

Ado atwa othe matwike ado anyu

Ado wanyu wothe matwiki ado aitu

Gutora anyu hede ciothe

Tuga tigithainio nii gekuo

Niwe nyama ya nyama ciakwa

Niwe ihidi ria ihidi riakwa

No we wiki gai athuriire

Utwike gikeno kia goro yakwa

 

 

 

Lessons Learned from The Cosby Show: Poem for Mom & Dad

I've been watching The Cosby Show & it's just been wrecking me. Let me warn all you future BSSMers, you will never watch TV without seeing Jesus in the characters! So this scene, Denise writes a song for a school project and she re-writes it to be about her parents.

I just thought about how sweet this is & how shy she is doing this & got a picture of me scribbling furiously in my journal for God & how He must feel :-) :-) :-)

Don't know why the clip is starting at the wrong place, click the start of the video to get to the good part :-)

I tried to transcribe it, it probably isn't correct, but hey, it works!

My mother & my father
are my best friends
when I'm all alone, 
I don't have to be
Its because of me, when I'm all alone I see
that their love is real
Their wisdom & their love is all mine
I have faith in them all the time
The best living friends
The best living lovers
To the end
Their love is real
Never have they lied to me
Never have they connived me
Talked behind my back
Never have they cheated me
Their love is real, 
Their love is real

The Squiggly Line

I had a panic attack last night, except that when you're a Christian, it's not really a panic attack, it's a frenzied, emotional conversation with Jesus ;-) Anyway, I basically had a little freak out last night and I prayed and told God, this is crazy. I've been saying that a lot.

Anyway, I've been feeling like a  failure lately, like there's so much I want to do and be not for me but for my mom. She's done EVERYTHING for me. I won't even begin to explain or define "everything" because it truly is more than I can speak of. She's done so much and I just wish I could make her life better, make her proud to have me as a daughter. She's supporting my dreams and not once has she complained or told me this is impossible. I watched her do the math and count the cost and she said nothing to me and has shown me nothing but support. I wish I could do something, be something for her. I have this picture like she's my Naomi and I'm her Ruth but I'm failing at being Ruth.

It's just not fun this season of life, being stuck in circumstances I can't do anything about that's just holding me back from really enjoying and moving forward with this new phase of my life. I can' fully celebrate the best thing that has ever happened to me because the details are still so unclear. This is the biggest dream I've ever dared to dream let alone pursue and I'm still stuck dealing with problems that cropped up in the past, namely this whole business at uni.

I've gotten a bunch of answers from the Bible and from God and I'm thankful for that and waiting in hope. I've said before I will not despair and I mean it. God brought this picture to mind when I was on a walk this evening:

Source: fitspiration.tumblr.com via Mallory on Pinterest

I found this on Pinterest and it totally describes what this season is. I hate the squiggly lines, being stuck in this maze and feeling like a failure or a disappointment at every wrong move, but this is a season to work on my faith and my identity as well.

Source: teachfactory.com via Michele on Pinterest

I have a ton of insane dreams to change the world. It's going to take freedom, success, finances and good relationships. Right now I feel like I have none of that, but the truth is I have more than I need simply because God's my dad and He's already placed amazing people in my life. I don't see the end result, I don't have my ducks named and alphabetically lined up in a tidy row, it's squiggly and messy but God's with me and I am His child.

Source: devildrinksmilk.blogspot.com via Ashlie on Pinterest

One of the things I need to remember is this:

Source: tumblr.com via Ashley on Pinterest

I'd love your prayers and please feel free to comment below :-)

Bless you,
Jo

Shagz Roadtrip Part 3 / Journey to BSSM Part 2 - Interview

Driving home today was more than fun. Spent a great time with God praying about my school interview and about this whole move abroad at my dad’s farm. That’s my most favorite place in shagz. My dad built that place with so much love and looking forward to the future and it’s sad that he didn’t get to enjoy it, but I love that place. Got to feed the cows too, and no, I wasn’t scared at all!

My aunt forced us to eat some lunch and then we left. The trip back was definitely a lot more fun. I bonded with my mom and it was awesome! She took some pictures, from a moving car for me, but I haven't uploaded them yet, I will though.

We finally got home and I prepped for my interview and waited for that call. Tonight looking at the phone waiting for it to ring took on a whole new meaning! Finally I got the call, and wouldn’t you know it, the line cut off after each minute. 

I cannot tell you how frustrating that was. I answer a question, the phone goes dead. She calls me back, I answer another question, and the phone goes dead. We finished up and went on email and we talked a little bit more and then it was over. That was the worst experience ever! I’d done such a huge job preparing and getting my notes down and everything, I was really looking forward to talking and expressing my heart then having something so uncontrollable like a phone line put a damper on everything.

I texted my sister and went down and talked to my mom and vented and felt a little better. My sister texted me back, 

Gotta love sisters!

Xx

Jo

Shagz Trip Part 2

I realized I have some pictures from my last trip here.

We drove to Karatina for a wedding today. Went to pick up my grandma, and of course she invited 2 of her friends and my cousin. On the way we were also supposed to pick up my aunt, and of course, she invited her friend. I drive a Toyota; do not ask me to explain how we fit 6 people in the back of that car! Gotta love shagz!

The Lord showed me just how much He’s taught me about patience. I was pissed off, but I was oddly calm at the same time. I just said, I will not stress about this, let’s just get this over and done with. Of course my Zen attitude didn’t stop me from being stopped by the police. Apparently I used the wrong exit, (HE WAS WRONG! Just saying!) I agreed with him and was polite and mom walked with me when he led me away from the car and defended me. He let me off with a warning and said, “It’s because your mom reminds me of my mom” Thank you Jesus he didn’t ask me for a bribe or look inside that car, remember it was overloaded!

Anyway, we got to the wedding. Honestly, there is nothing like a Kikuyu wedding, especially a Kikuyu shagz wedding! It was crazy. All the weirdness and embarrassing moments you could think of were there. At the same time though it was a really great day, everyone had so much fun and I loved it. Fr future reference, I found this blog that details all the traditional aspects if you wanna check out out, click here.

Coming back I told my mom there was no way I was driving all those people back, and luckily her and my aunt Catherine had my back on that, so bye bye 6 people, I was left with 3!

We got home pretty early, on account of me pressuring them to leave before the cake cutting. (Didn’t wanna drive in the dark on foreign roads!)

Watched some iBethel TV and went to bed.

xx

Jo

xx

Jo

Shagz Roadtrip Part 1

I was sitting at home bored this morning waiting to drive my mom to the bus stop since she was traveling up country to Nyeri for the weekend to visit my family up there and to attend my niece’s wedding. (My mom’s sister’s kid’s daughter) 

On my way to pick her up, I thought, “What am I doing home all weekend, why not just go?”

And that’s exactly what I did.

We drove up to Nyeri through Murang’a and had a great time, my mom showed me the longest train bridge in the country and guys that thing looks spectacular. I didn’t get any pictures, but it’s definitely a drive I’ll make again just to see that. We finally got to Mukurweini which is home, and went to town to run some errands and pick up some lunch. (Fries for me obviously, and Ugali and Mala for mum) Driving on those roads was awesome, apart from a stretch in Murang’a where the word pothole gets a new meaning, other than that, I felt like I was in the grand-Prix! Perfect roads, thank you WuYi!

via: coastweek.com

After that we went down to Giathugu to see my grandma. Honestly, no one on earth loves me like she loves me! That woman struggled so hard to make sure my mom went to school and loved Jesus. She gave me an incredible God-fearing mom, and everything I am now is because of who she is and who she raised my mom to be. Unfortunately, the door to the trunk of the car got jammed, so we had to drive all the way back into town to get it fixed. The mechanic looked at the car and just laughed, because all he had to do was wiggle the lock and it came loose. Luckily he didn’t charge us anything…I love SHAGZ!

After that, we went up to my dad’s farm to look around and say hi and I got a chance to take a much-needed shower. Finally we went back to my family’s farm at around 7, where I promptly fell asleep watching Modern Family, (Oh KPLC how I love you and your expansion!)

xx

Jo

CPA Reward / Papaya – Passion Fruit Smoothie / Supermarket Black forest Cake

I passed my CPA like I think I mentioned before, and now I’m a Part 2! Planning on doing Part 3 next year and finally getting that CPA-K!

As a “Congratulations” gift as well as a thank you gift for doing some stuff around the house for my mom she made me the most delicious juice I have everrrr tasted (blended Papaya and Passion Fruit and a little honey).

I am a Dorman’s girl. (Dorman’s Coffee House) If I’m buying myself cake or buying one for someone, I’m Dorman’s all the way, a little steeply priced but soooo worth it! I have never found a Supermarket taste that I love and this from Kamindi was no exception, tasted like cardboard! (Don’t tell my mom that!), but of course I ate it and acted like it was the most delicious thing in the world, because it was given to me by the most spectacular and loving lady in the world.

Thank you and you are welcome mom!

xo

Jo

MOOOM!

Living with my mom has been pretty interesting. I was a little pensive about moving back home, I’d lived on my own for a year making my own rules, so going back home and sparks were bound to fly! It has been tough, there have been slammed doors (me) and being hung up on (her) and silent treatment (me) and raised voices (both)

Here’s a couple of things that happened though, first, I just thought, man, I’ve been praying for this amazing husband and amazing family to love and I haven’t been faithful with what I already have. As well as I think I’ll love my husband or my kids, shouldn’t I love my mom a whole lot more? So that started the “change” in me. 

Second, of course, I have to go back to Bethel Church. Man, the way I talk about this Church, it’s like I go there! Anyway, Bethel has this culture of honor, where the younger generation has a sort of mandate to honor the older generation, learn from them and everything. Banning Liebscher talks about “not stopping the flow of grace” Basically, we need to honor the people God’s placed in leadership over us. In this case, that’s my mom.

The second my mindset changed, our relationship changed a lot. There are still moments when we really annoy each other, but it’s made life so much easier for me to not look at what she says to me as an order, or as a lecture but as something that’ll help me. If she asks me to run upstairs and grab her glasses when I’m really into a TV show, it only takes a couple of seconds and it makes her happy and she feels respected. When I talk to her calmly about how she can’t really stop me from going out to worship night if I want to, she hates it, but she’s starting to respect that. Then the whole being supportive thing when I told her, “Hey, I’m quitting business and heading into ministry”

She is super funny, she gets my jokes, if anyone knows how to sing spontaneously from any sentence, it’s her, she’s strong and amazing and even though she doesn’t agree with some of the ways I say I’m going to raise my own kids, (like saying how my hubby will have to be close to the baby, ha) if overall, I end up being a mom like her, that’ll be an accomplishment.

So, in honor of our maturing relationship, I thought I’d post a couple of pictures that I love. 

I love you mom!

xx

Jo