As Bushie's World Turns (The Update Thread)

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Depending on your bank (and I really have no clue if any banks normally exchange to Kenyan currency), but perhaps exchanging here would be best.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Who do you bank with?  Bank of America and Citi both do Kenyan shillings.  I didn't go through all of the other big banks, but most big banks can do it.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Can someone shutdown National Lampoon's Kenyan Vacation before it turns into another update?

If it turns into update, I don't care.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Can someone shutdown National Lampoon's Kenyan Vacation before it turns into another update?

If it turns into update, I don't care.

Favorite. Mod. Ever.

:') - tears of happiness

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

If you remember a year ago in the Update Thread I mentioned I have an actual process when it comes to changing my calendars for the New Year.  I am at it, again!  I have a schedule typed up on Microsoft Word that tells me when to take down a certain calendar, when to put up the new calendar, when to change pages to January.  As for my desk calendars, I have a schedule of when to turn each individual page.  It will not all get changed at one time, but I have a method to each page turn about 45 minutes apart.  I will have started the changing process, but I will take a break for Christmas from this Thursday evening through next Wednesday morning.  I will have all the calendars changed by 1:00 am Saturday, December 31, 2011 which is 3 hours before 2012 is born in the Pacific Ocean.

I have a couple words of advice for anyone trying to figure this out...  "Don't ask!".

Why???

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Maybe Inks or Mikado can advise, but isn't posting excerpts from someone's facebook status update a violation of the ToS?  I would strongly encourage anyone to reconsider.  If I post things from my own facebook, fine, but no one needs to post my information for me.  I'm not getting mad at anyone, but trying to save a few death points from getting administered.

Anything non-public shouldn't be posted without permission.  That being said, unless you reported it (since you update this thread fairly often, and are 99.9% likely to have seen it), it probably wouldn't get infracted, since you didn't report it.  For example, BRTD has said he is ok with people posting stuff like PMs and his sayings in hte IRC chat.  So I wouldn't infract people for doing that to him.  (Although if it was something really negative, I'd probably still check with him).

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

how come no one has told bushie that he doesnt have african children?

Because that would be a lie.  I don't have biological African children, but I am the sole financial support of two children and they have no mother or father, so I am their father.  In just three years, I will be going down there to begin the year long process of legally adopting them and moving them in with me.  I know what my God has called me to do and He is already starting to work out one of the biggest details, employment.  One of the big industries is Telecommunications which is very close to my degree.  I will be getting my Security+ and ITIL certifications up here before the middle of May for my job in Oklahoma and those certifications will carry over wherever I go.  Plus, I am hearing rumors around my Dell office that there are plans in the works for Dell to expand into Nairobi, which would be tremendous, because then, I wouldn't have to leave Dell to move, I could just transfer.  Dell is already in Egypt and Zimbabwe, I believe, and now they are looking at building in Nairobi.  I could live and work in Nairobi and drive to Kisumu (7-hour drive) on weekends to visit my children and help at Maisha.  I'm excited.

Do you really have the financial means and parental expertise to be the adoptive parent to two children?  Perhaps you should talk to a counselor before you start trying to go down this road.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Do you really have the financial means and parental expertise to be the adoptive parent to two children?  Perhaps you should talk to a counselor before you start trying to go down this road.

You honestly think he'll give this or any other intelligent consideration any thought whatsoever?

If he truly cares about the children, I think he'll talk this over to a professional counselor to get their opinion of whether he should be adopting 2 children.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Jeff, have you talked to an advisor/counselor about this yet?

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Jeff, I would encourage you to talk to a psychologist/psychiatrist (I always forget which one is which) and see if he/she thinks this is a wise decision.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Jeff, I would encourage you to talk to a psychologist/psychiatrist (I always forget which one is which) and see if he/she thinks this is a wise decision.

I've been talking to several pastors, which are by definition, counselors.

Anyway, I'm done with updating this thread about this situation.  I will update the thread about other items, but not this anymore.  It's getting way too depressing and I know these answers are not being bathed in prayer before they are posted so I'm done.

Well not all pastors necessarily make for good counselors on all issues.  For both your well-being, and the well-being of these children, I think you should talk to a professional non-religious-focused person about this.

What's the harm in simply doing that?  You're going to have to meet with adoption agencies eventually... why not make sure you're fit to do this first?

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

You're going to have to eventually deal with non-Christians in this process.  It's probably better for you (and the children) if you talk to a counselor/psychologist/psychiatrist before you start the adoption process.

Think of how devastating it would be to both you and these 2 kids if you were told by the adoption agency halfway through the process that they don't think you're fit to adopt them.

It would spare both you and the children a lot of mental anguish if you find out first if you're emotionally/mentally capable of adopting 2 kids before you start the process.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

You're going to have to eventually deal with non-Christians in this process.  It's probably better for you (and the children) if you talk to a counselor/psychologist/psychiatrist before you start the adoption process.

Think of how devastating it would be to both you and these 2 kids if you were told by the adoption agency halfway through the process that they don't think you're fit to adopt them.

It would spare both you and the children a lot of mental anguish if you find out first if you're emotionally/mentally capable of adopting 2 kids before you start the process.

He's barred from even getting that far. No single male can adopt those children. That law has been in place to prevent sex trafficking and molestation. He would never get past the first step, regardless of what god is telling him.

With God all things are possible.

Yes, but why do you think God is specifically going to intervene in this case?

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

8:20 pm Update: I have been feeling better in the past two hours. I took some Dramamine at 6:00 pm and that has eased up the nausea. I've only gone to the bathroom one time all day other than the normal time after I woke up this morning. I haven't thrown up all day. I only have a slight headache. The biggest thing I have now is fatigue. My body is tired after all its been through in the past 7 days. I will probably go to bed by 9:30 or 10:00 tonight. If I were allowed to, I would be going to work tomorrow. However, my doctor's note says to go back on Friday, so I will honor what the note says and go back then.

I'm guessing your work wouldn't let you return before then.  They'd probably send you home (at least if they have a competent HR department who actually reads doctors' notes).

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Not that it was a particularly difficult thing to see coming, but I did predict this:

More likely, he's praying to Jesus to help him recover from gastro issues.

And, you know what?  It is working.

Or you're just recovering from the natural progression of whatever you had.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Not that it was a particularly difficult thing to see coming, but I did predict this:

More likely, he's praying to Jesus to help him recover from gastro issues.

And, you know what?  It is working.

Or you're just recovering from the natural progression of whatever you had.

Maybe, but prayer certainly played a part in the recovery.

You don't know that it "certainly" did.  Sometimes God chooses not to intervene.  There's no way you can possibly claim what your prayers did or did not accomplish.  To do so would be to claim to know God's thoughts.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Just called the doctor, and the news is not quite as good as I had hoped. She said they have the results, but they are looking over them to determine what's going on and will give me a call in the morning. It makes me think there is something there, because in my limited medical knowledge they could tell right away if there was nothing there. I am going to stay home for a couple hours in the morning and talk to the doctor in privacy and then I may go in for the rest of the day depending on what the results of the test are. Keep praying!!

2 hours ago you were certain you were recovering...

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Just called the doctor, and the news is not quite as good as I had hoped. She said they have the results, but they are looking over them to determine what's going on and will give me a call in the morning. It makes me think there is something there, because in my limited medical knowledge they could tell right away if there was nothing there. I am going to stay home for a couple hours in the morning and talk to the doctor in privacy and then I may go in for the rest of the day depending on what the results of the test are. Keep praying!!

2 hours ago you were certain you were recovering...

And, I do feel better, so I am certain I am recovering, its just the somewhat unnerving news I got from the doctor this afternoon.  I'm trying not to jump to any conclusions, because I am not a nurse or a doctor, but it would just be nice to know what I've got so I can either get started on the treatment or be cleared.

Exactly... because you're not a doctor, you shouldn't be jumping to the conclusion that you're  recovering just because you temporarily feel better.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I started getting a headache about 11:00 am today, but I took some medicine and asked the Lord to take it away because I could not afford to have a headache interfere with my work.  Wouldn't you know, that by 11:30, it was gone.

That's what happens when you take medicine...  You act like prayer fixes all of your problems.  Sometimes (most of the time) God let's things work out on their own.  In this case, God let the Tylenol take away your headache.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

People may think I am insane for feeling the call to move 10,000 miles away.  That is not the clinical definition of insanity, however.  The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.

You do know that's not the clinical definition of insanity, correct?

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Bushie have you discussed your calling with your parents yet?  If not, you don't have to say why not, cause we all know the answer to that.

No, I haven't discussed it with my parents, yet, because I want to make sure I have a lot more pieces of the puzzle in place such as possible employment and housing arrangements, etc. before I approach them.  In doing so, like I said I am talking to the Maisha Coordinator on Wednesday, 2 May at her office in Downtown Oklahoma City to discuss this in greater depth.  Plus, the time is not right to tell my parents.  I want to wait until I get further removed from the March 2012 trip before I tell them.  I will probably wait until after the meetings have begun for March 2013 trip which should happen this October.  Sometime around the Holidays this year, I will tell them.

That says EVERYTHING right there... they're going to tell you the same thing we've been telling you.  And I think some part of you knows they'd be / we are right... you're doing this because you had an emotional reaction to the trip.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

It includes Oklahoma, but it doesn't mean I am limited to Oklahoma.  God can take me anywhere He wants, whether it be Oklahoma, Florida, Europe, Australia, China, Kenya, or elsewhere in Africa or the World.  I really do feel led to move to Kenya in early 2015

Well, if God is leading you to Kenya, why has he not directly spoken to you about doing so?!  Did God catch laryngitis and lose his voice?

That’s the 800 pound elephant in the room that you refuse to address.

John 10:27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow.”

I can’t find anything in John 10:27 about “My sheep know how to read tea leaves.”  Nor can I find any example in scripture of God commissioning someone to do something without God actually speaking to them.

Obviously, God has given you the freedom to move to Kenya, just as he has given me the freedom to move to Kenya…but having the freedom to do something is totally different than being given a commission (an order) to do something.

If you’ve read my testimony, you know that God used a girl (who is now my wife) to bring me to Christ.  He set something inside my heart concerning her from the very instant I first came into her presence in the Fall of 1991 that made me understand my destiny was linked to her.  I wouldn’t understand it fully until the moment I was saved in Oct 1992, then God answered my query concerning the purpose of her being brought into my wife.

BUT, I did NOT interpret her purpose in bringing me to Christ as a sign that I had to marry her.  God did NOT command me to marry her, even though he DID command me to go and explain the true Gospel to her.  Marrying her was my own choice.  I had liberty from God to marry anyone I so chose to marry (as long as they were Christian…and of the opposite sex, of course ).

In fact, before our marriage, my pastor (he always gives pre-marriage counseling to couples as a prerequisite to conducting the marriage) even pointed out to me that nothing in my testimony require that I marry her.  I assured him I understood that and that I fully agreed.  But that is the difference between my pastor and yours – my pastor differentiates between freedom and God-given commands, and he believes the will of God is ALREADY spelled out in scripture (he doesn’t buy into things like The Purpose Driven Life which tells people they have to constantly seek God’s purpose for their lives).  And he knows the difference between the voice of God and the imagination of those who attempt to read tea leaves, cause he himself knows the voice of God because God spoke to him and said, “I am calling you to be a pastor.”  That’s why, if you’ve seen his videos I posted, he is so down to earth and unshaken by the latest fads going on in Christianity – he doesn’t get caught up in the latest doctrinal fads because he keeps a connection with Christ.

I have met pastors who became pastors without a true calling to do so – I once had a pastor  invite us over for a “bible study” (his wife worked with my wife in 1995 and had invited us over for a bible study – the pastor’s wife thought my wife was a heathen for wearing lip gloss and showing off her neck) tell me that he determined he was called to be a pastor because he put a fleece before God by placing two adds in some newspaper and didn’t receive a reply to either, and he had always received a reply to those ads.  I didn’t say anything to him, but in the back of my mind I was thinking, “You’ve got to be kidding me!!!…but that does explain why you suck.”  They ended up basically kicking us out of their house after asking me to come to Christ and then being offended by our testimony we gave as a response.

I am not just reading tea leaves here.  God often speaks to His children in visions/dreams and through Scripture and through trusted family and friends.  He has spoken to me in all three ways over the past month.  He has given me countless dreams of my mission down there.  He has spoken to me through Scripture, mainly in three places, my testimonial verses in Exodus 4:10-12 and also in Genesis 12:1-5, and my favorite verse of Scripture in Philippians 4:19.  He has also spoken to me through trusted friends and family.  My pastor and youth/music minister for instance last evening.  My youth/music minister was the most skeptical of this, and He went on the trip with me.  He is starting to realize where I am coming from.  My cousin who I have, of course, known all of our lives and I trust her guidance.  I have spoken to my former pastor and his wife who has been down this road before with their daughter moving to South Africa just a few years ago.  The little "confirmations" were just blessings along the way.  God has definitely spoken to me over the past month through a number of ways, visions, Scripture, and through others.  He has spoken to me through this forum, as well, because it has helped me refine WHY I am going there and making sure I am not going down there (A) for the wrong reasons and (B) end up being another mouth to feed.

Saying that you know God has "definitely spoken" do you through visions is borderline blasphemy... you can't know that.  And, from a theological standpoint (being a Dispensationalist), I would argue that we are past the dispensation of visions by God.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Bushie have you discussed your calling with your parents yet?  If not, you don't have to say why not, cause we all know the answer to that.

No, I haven't discussed it with my parents, yet, because I want to make sure I have a lot more pieces of the puzzle in place such as possible employment and housing arrangements, etc. before I approach them.  In doing so, like I said I am talking to the Maisha Coordinator on Wednesday, 2 May at her office in Downtown Oklahoma City to discuss this in greater depth.  Plus, the time is not right to tell my parents.  I want to wait until I get further removed from the March 2012 trip before I tell them.  I will probably wait until after the meetings have begun for March 2013 trip which should happen this October.  Sometime around the Holidays this year, I will tell them.

That says EVERYTHING right there... they're going to tell you the same thing we've been telling you.  And I think some part of you knows they'd be / we are right... you're doing this because you had an emotional reaction to the trip.

To be honest, I'm far enough away from the trip now, having been home almost a month and the desires and feelings have done nothing but grow.  The more I think about it, the more excited I get, the bigger my smile gets, and the more confident my steps become.  My cousin has seen a drastic change in me since I've been home and she told me just this evening that she has not seen that change die, rather she has seen it grow and evolve into a little clearer picture of what my mission will actually be.  My mission, as I have been saying, and nobody on this forum is addressing this aspect, is that Maisha International Orphanage serves 450 orphans and about 100-150 widows.  They have a grand total of 3 men overseeing the day to day operations on the ground.  They need men in the worst way because these widows have lost their husbands largely due to AIDS.  These three men are in great health, themselves, but they have a hard time serving 600 people (that's roughly 200 people per man) and have time to themselves as well.  When I go down there, I would be not only a 4th man, but also the only white man down there and will be able to bring some American perspective to the situation.

Put it another way, I am not going down there to do what I want to do and I am not going down there to serve my best interest.  My best interest and what I want to do is in Oklahoma.  I am giving up all my dreams and ambitions in Oklahoma to give my life completely to my God and really serving Him and really worshipping Him.  As a Christian, the Bible teaches me that I am bought with a price, and my life does not belong to me.  My life belongs to Jesus.  He owns the deed to my life.  It is only right for me to give my self completely to Him because He gave Himself completely for me on the cross dying in my place for my sins and taking the punishment that I deserve.

I really do appreciate this forum's concern for my well being, but let me tell you I am not doing this to see what I can gain out of it.  I know I'm going to give up a lot by leaving Oklahoma for Kenya.  I also know that I'm going to gain a lot by doing the exact same thing.

The Bible also says in James 1 that true religion is taking care of the widows and orphans.

All my dreams and ambitions that I had before I went to Africa have been redirected to eternal things, not temporal things.

So tell  your parents now.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I hope he will at least stick to his promise not to move unless he has employment locked down there.

I am going to stick around until at least the Fall 2014 most likely the Spring 2015.  I am going to get my MBA first and make sure I have not only employment locked down, but housing and transportation, as well.  I've got minimum 2 1/2  years to work on all three of those things, more likely 3 years.  Really, I have as long as it takes, whether that's 2 1/2 years or whether that is 5 years.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

I am well aware of what "typically" happens.  Since when have I ever been "typical".  This forum knows that all too well.  There is a chance I could come back after a few years, but if I get down there by my 33rd birthday, I would like to not come back to America permanently until I'm at least 40, 10 years from now.  I want to stay down there permanently, but I'm open to whatever length of time I am called to be there.  I believe it will be permanent, but I am open to whatever I need to do.

So what if you don't end up going?  If you heard God physically tell you to go, and the direction of what you think he wants you to do, how will you justify it?

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Jeff, you never addressed my question: If you don't go to Kenya, does that mean God changed his mind?