2020 Chemurgui, Kenya Update and Goals/Needs

 Hello Friends!

It is that time of year! The time of year where the Krietes come to all of our friends and family and ask to continue to help support this amazing work the Lord has put before us! Our dreams, way back in 2013, have become a yearly time of reflection, prayer, communication with Christian Relief Fund (both contacts in the US and on the ground in Kenya) on what the Lord has in store.

If you aren't familiar with us and want to read our story from the very beginning and how it all stared, you can go HERE!

Like most people, 2020 has been a ROUGH one! So many ups and downs... we debated not doing anything this year because we know it has been a tough year for a lot of people (for so many reasons) and didn't know if we could get the financial support we were looking for.  We knew we would be limited on what  people would be comfortable with participating in, BUT after a lot of prayer and discussion with the kids... we have some goals and some fundraising options!

UPDATE on the Chemurgui Community:

If you remember, in August of 2019 we FINALLY reached the goal to get the bathroom houses built. We got the finalized pic of those!

We also raised funds for an acre of land that was purchased and 2 classrooms. Both of those things were purchased and the classrooms are built!

We also purchased a herd of 30 goats. The update on the goats is this... the herd was not what they anticipated there. The goats, in that number, were very mischievous and causing a lot of problems,  so they broke them up. They are in the care of some of families from the Kriete Educational Center, and a portion of their profits are going back to the school. We did get the update that the goats continue to multiply and are being distributed to bless more families!

Covid has effects everywhere... even places that the actual virus is not present. Currently, there are ZERO reported cases of COVID in the Chemurgui Village! This is a huge praise and something that we continue to pray for there! Medical treatment is limited, so we will pray that the village and the people there remain safe and healthy.

Although there are no cases there, this community has still been deeply affected by this global pandemic. Schools in the entire country of Kenya closed in the Spring, and they will not open until January 2021. All sponsored children are receiving food and hygiene products in 2 week supply increments every 2 weeks. But, as I feared, many children in the area have lost their sponsorship.

Our #1 GOAL this year is to get sponsorship for as many children possible! We have a sponsorship page set up for specifically the children in our region! We currently have 56 kids on the waiting list. This is a private page set up just for us, so we don't want to keep these children from the general pool of kids to be sponsored forever. We have until CHRISTMAS DAY to share our page with children from only our area. You can find that HERE.

If you can sponsor a child, please do.  It is $35 a month and provides that child with the life changing opportunity to attend school, food and access to clean water, medical care and regular check-ups, new clothes and shoes, and spiritual guidance and Biblical teaching. You can do that HERE.

** We know that so many friends and family are already currently sponsoring children! WE APPRECIATE YOU SO MUCH!!!! You might take this opportunity to pray for another child waiting for sponsorship, write a letter to your sponsored child, and/or send a special gift!**

Our secondary goals this year are to: 

1) Purchase 5 cows to keep onsite at school. These will be used for milk for the kids at school and anything beyond that will be sold for money to go back to needs of the school. The children will also get to use the cows in a real time learning process of taking care of animals. These are $300 each currently. So that comes with a $1,500 price tag.

2) Purchase 30 more desks to fill the new classrooms. We currently have 2 brand new classrooms sitting empty, waiting for students to come back in January. We would love to fill those classrooms with desks for the students. Desks cost $30 each, so that is a $900 price tag.

3)Put warm socks on 100 local homeless. We currently have a sock campaign going through WE HELP TWO. For every 3 pack of socks we sell, we receive 60% profit to apply toward the cows and desks AND a pair of warm socks we get to distribute to the local homeless. WIN-WIN!!! You can reach that fundraiser HERE.

4) If we raise funds beyond the cows and desks, all money would be put toward the CASSIE IS GOING TO KENYA fund!!! That's right, I'm going to Kenya! Words can not explain how long I have wanted to go and the excitement of thinking to meet the people, seeing what the Lord has done and see the work that has been done there!!!The plan is to go August 2021 with a team from CRF. This is all Covid pending. Obviously, the country has to be open to having us there, but we are pushing forward with raising the funds. The current price tag on the trip is around $4,000... that could go up or down depending on the price of the of the plane tickets when we purchase. But for right now, that is the current goal.

So here it is...

2020 GOALS:

1. Sponorship. You can do that HERE. 

2. Purchase 5 Cows for the School. ($1,500)

3. Purchase 30 desks for the new classrooms. ($900)

4. Put warm socks on 100 local homeless.  You can do that HERE

There are numerous ways to help, contribute, participate in fundraisers... something for everyone!

HOW TO HELP:

1. PRAY. We, as a family, believe with all of our hearts that the Lord can do ANYTHING! We ask that everyone please join us in prayer for 1)this community in Chemurgui, Kenya. 2)That He helps us (the Krietes) remember that we are just the hands and feet of what He wants to accomplish. 3) That we glorify Him in the process 4) and we spread the love of Jesus like wildfire! 5) We reach our financial goals!

2. SPONSOR A CHILD. We know this is not for everyone, but we ask you to pray and consider this! If you are currently sponsoring a child, write them a letter! If you can not sponsor, we encourage you to read through some of the children's stories on the link and find someone to pray for until they do have a sponsor.

3. ORDER SOCKS! We have LOVED working with WeHelpTwo over the years and are excited to be doing it again! From now until December 8th you can order a package (or 10 :)) and help both globally and locally. You order a 3 pack of fun, funky socks for $15 (tons of new designs!) Every time you do, we get $9 toward our projects in Kenya AND a pair of warm socks to donate to the local homeless, right here in our area! If you are local, when you ORDER, you can have them shipped to "Campaign Host" and save yourself on shipping. if you aren't local or need them ASAP, you can have them shipped directly to your front door!

So... you get fun socks, we get funds for Kenya, AND a pair of warm socks for local homeless. WIN-WIN- WIN. We have a goal of 100 packs sold this year! Order those HERE.

4. PURCHASE SALSA or PASTA SAUCE. This is a first come, first served basis. I make this fresh from my garden (and the squirrel problem had me purchase a case from the local Amish this year) Quarts are $10 and Pints are $7. 

I have the following: SALSA: 20 quarts and 24 pints.  PASTA SAUCE: 12 quarts.

5. ORDER LEMONGRASS. Lemongrass Spa is a company that sells organic, chemical free products. Lotions, soaps, makeup, hair product, scrubs, oils, diffusers.... the list goes on. I love this company. I am currently hosting an online MYSTERY HOSTESS party. That means one lucky person that orders from the party (any amount)will get all the hostess benefits!!! AND 100% of the profit goes toward Kenya projects! You can order from that party HERE! From now until December 3rd!

** as a side note- ANY Lemongrass Orders/Parties hosted through me from now until I leave for Kenya are designated as 100% of profits toward my mission trip expenses**

6. MANUAL LABOR We know that with the current pandemic happening, the likelihood that this will be a big money maker is not great... but... the kids want local people to know that if you have outdoor chores that need done, the kids are willing to work! We will be safe and socially distant, but they are willing to put forth some manual labor toward the cause! 

As always... if none of these things are your cup of tea, but you still want to contribute by making a donation we can accept that through PayPal @krietesinkenya@gmail.com making sure you use the friends and family option. If you want your money to be toward something specific (i.e. cow, desk, mission trip, etc.) please specify in your comments. 

If you have made it to the end of this post, you are a champ! Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts for believing, praying, supporting and cheering on this vision in Kenya! Please feel free to share our story. The more people we have praying for our cause, the louder our voice becomes.We love you all! 

40 Weeks to 40

I turn 40 this year.

I haven't decided how I feel about it.  If you would have asked 20 year old Cassie what she thought her life would look like at 40, it would not have looked anything like the life I'm living. I'm not unhappy with my life, it's just very different than I envisioned.

My 30s have had some hard and some unexpected things. Moving half way across the country and not knowing a single soul, my mom getting cancer and dying, and 2 VERY unexpected little babies to complete our family (to name a few). I have gotten myself into a rut of being the wife and mom. I love these things, and feel so blessed the Lord has allowed me to have these roles, but somewhere along the way... I forgot who "Cassie" was. I got into the rut of cooking dinners, doing laundry, running people to practices, sitting on sidelines, teaching lessons, changing diapers, helping with homework, nursing babies... the list goes on, but you get the point. I kind of got lost in all the things I had to DO that I forgot who I WAS.

With great inspiration from my friend, Casey Campbell, I have decided to head into my 40s with better understanding of who I am. I know there is more than a girl that runs the carpool and changes dirty diapers hidden somewhere under here... and I hope to find her!

When I started dreaming up all the great things I would do during my 40 weeks it was pre-COVID-19. So my original list of things included lots of "going" and "doing". I had tons of places I wanted to visit while we were still here on the East Coast. I had lots of new things that I wanted to try.  A LOT of those things are currently closed, with no real idea of when things will start to reopen. I still have things on my list that don't require travel or things to be open... but it might get a little creative.

The goal of the list is to do things I enjoy, things I have wanted to do but don't make the time,  and things that might stretch me/put me a little outside my comfort zone.

Here was my original list (with room to think of new things along the way):

I also wanted to spend some time focusing on my health (both physically and mentally). I decided to have (at least) five 40 day focuses where I focus on something specific to my health during that time.

I am officially 6 weeks in, and through my first 40 day focus. Though it isn't how I pictured it, I'm still learning things about myself, stretching myself and dare I say enjoying being Cassie. :)

My first 40 day focus was very simple in theory, but harder than I would like to admit to actually following through. For 40 days I did not drink any soda (which had become a horrible DAILY habit) and I would not eat anything after 8pm. Both of these things had become bad, unhealthy habits that I let have too much of a stronghold on me. I felt like I NEEDED a soda every day. Turns out... I don't. :) I found that I went to bed earlier and slept better (as much as you can with 2 babies still getting up at night) throughout the process!

So, I took 3 days off before starting my second 40 day focus. I drank soda twice and ate after 8pm twice... and got super sick to my stomach. So these two habits will be carrying over to my next 40 day focus that starts Monday. Monday I will spend 40 days giving up bread/flour, processed sugar and dairy. This comes from knowing my triggers doing Whole30 a couple of times. I know I can do it, but I also know it is super hard for me! Food is such a struggle!!! I'm also going to do my nightly face washing routine every night. You would think by almost 40 I would be doing this, but I don't make it a priority. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't... so here is to committing to doing it EVERY DAY for 40 days!

I'm going to try to keep this a little more up to date for anyone that wants to follow along on this journey of #40weeksto40 so it's not so long every time. But for now, here are the first 6 weeks:

Week 1. Learned how to crack an egg with one hand! I have always wanted to know how to do this, and it took me way more times than I care to admit to get the technique down without crushing the egg, or shells in my batter, or egg all over the counter... but I'm officially a pro! I also got to do some fun creative time with "Chalk Your Walk" in our neighborhood. And enjoyed some fun family time around the campfire.

Week 2. Went all out on a birthday with no one but us in attendance. This was a first for me. I LOVE throwing a fun themed birthday party, but I have never done it without guests. There were things that were great about it... started about an hour after I planned, didn't have to clean my house, no time schedule to stick to. But I really missed having all of our friends and the family that was coming to be with us to celebrate Emmi turning one.

Week 3 I started doing a Bible study through Zoom. This is a first for me, but I must say, I am loving seeing and chatting with my girlfriends every week! And I'm loving having someone keep me accountable and discussing this book with! I'm also really enjoying all the family walks we are getting to do! With 6 kids there is always a practice, rehearsal or game to be at... so enjoying the slow pace of evenings with all of us here!

Week 4  Started online-distance learning. This is for sure more in the "stretching me" department than the "enjoy" department. I'm going to be super honest and say I really hate it, and so do my kids. I think I could really enjoy homeschool, but this is for sure not that. All of my middle school and high school kids are straight A students, and it is a real struggle for some of them. This is an entire blogpost in itself... but none-the-less, this was my week 4.

Week 5 We planted the garden! This is not a new thing for me, but it is something I really enjoy! This is a place a feel like I am me, and I love it! It is not all in, but the big garden is done and lots of flowers are budding!

Week 6 Weekly Dates!!! Say what?!?!? I know, super weird. Eric and I haven't had weekly dates in... well let's just go with never! BUT, with everything canceled for the kids and him not traveling for work, we have found time to go on a date 3 weeks in a row!!! These dates consist of ordering take-out and eating in the car somewhere... but then they are followed by great (uninterrupted) conversation or card games or dreaming of the future! And we come home to babies in bed (perk of having big kids) and refreshed for another week of all of us together... like always...all 8 of us. ;)

So that's it! My first 6 weeks of #40weeksto40. If you stuck around to the end of this... kudos to you! I hope to not be so lengthy in the future. Pray I make it through my next 40 day focus and toss me some quarantined ideas for my list!

Hands and Feet... 2019 Goals and Updates

From the begining of this journey....

Several years back in 2012, Eric and I decided that we needed to scale back on Christmas. We celebrate with Santa in this house, but we wanted to make Christmas about giving rather than receiving. So we decided that Santa would bring 3 gifts to our kids on Christmas morning, and our gift to our children was to give them $50 each that they have to spend on someone else.

The first year we did it, it was really more fun for us to watch than them I think. :) We got the Samaritan's Purse catalog and they spent the longest time looking through deciding what to do with their money. Did they want to buy chickens, or goats, or school supplies, or medical supplies, or combine their money and buy something bigger like a donkey? It did this momma's heart good to watch them spend hours looking through to decide what to give others. I think all in all that year we ended up with mosquito nets, chickens, school supplies for 50 children, and a goat. Not too shabby for $200.

The next year when they were looking through the catalog in October, Brayden (8 years old at the time) was reading each section. He was very thoughtfully reading the description of what each thing would provide, and trying to make the best choice he could with his $50. He said, "I think we should supply clean water for Christmas." I told him, that he didn't have enough for the hand held water pumps. They would clean water for 1 household for up to 3 months. But it was $250. I told him he would have to convince his brother and sisters to combine their money, and then they would have to try to raise $50. He said, "No Mom, for a whole village. I want clean water for the whole village." I kind of laughed and said, "well buddy, that is $10,000. I don't have $10,000. We only have $200." He looked at me with the most sincere and serious face and said, "well... we have to try."

That is where the idea was born. I could not turn him down. I knew it was a long shot, impossible actually in my mind, but I wanted him to know we did everything possible. I wanted him to know God could do BIG things. So scared to death, we let the kids write a letter to friends and family.

We spent the next 2 months doing so many little odds and ins chores for generous people. The kids were 3, 5, 7, and 8... so we were a tad limited on what we could do. But people came up with some crazy awesome things for these little people and we did it! Sorting Legos, picking up sticks and pinecones, decorating Christmas trees, feeding farm animals, addressing Christmas cards, making Christmas cards... if people thought of it, we tried to do it! We baked about 9 million cookies for cookie exchanges and Christmas parties. The kids went through all their toys and started selling them. They gave their birthday and Christmas money to the cause.  A local paper picked up the story, and MOPS international picked up the story. We had all kinds of people sending money in that were far away, but wanted to help us reach our goal! Any where from $2 to a $2,000 donation came in. It was unbelievable and humbling.

  

As we got into December we learned that Christian Relief Fund (another amazing organization) had an anonymous donor that would be willing to match whatever we raised! We were so excited!
All in all the kids ended up raising more than $6,000! With the generous matching donor they met the goal and had the funds to dig the well! It was such an AMAZING lesson for my children God can do ANYTHING!

February of 2014 when the well was dug, they sent us pictures and it was the amazing, awesome feeling all over again! The well provided clean drinking water to people who were walking 9 miles to the closest (not clean) water source. This was the beginning of a life changing situation for this community.

Since that year of taking a leap of faith, we have continued to stay in touch with the village and the needs that arise there. In 2016, after moving to Maryland we took another leap of faith to raise a huge sum of money to put a solar pump in the existing well. The clean water that was being able to accessed was still on a hand pump situation. This would not only make it easier for the children to access the water (they are the primary water fetchers), but it would also allow them to farm the land.

This is the year we started to partner with We Help Two. It is an amazing organization that lets us sell fun and funky socks and receive 60% of the profit AND they provide us with a pair of thermal socks for the homeless in our area for every pair we sell. This was the perfect opportunity to show our kids how we could help both globally and locally. It also gave us the platform and opportunity to speak Jesus in the public school system where the kids were attending.

That year we had an outpouring of love from our community and a ton of people we didn’t even know. We raised $8,029.33 to help a little village in Kenya! And beyond helping the village on the other side of the world, y'all bought funky socks... like tons of them! And with the generous WE HELP TWO we provided 550 pair of warm socks that were distributed all over the state of Maryland, Washington DC, Missouri, and a few states in between for people in need over the winter time. And not only that... but 174 pair of fun funky socks for kids in the hospital! With those funds you provided a Solar well pump for fresh flowing water for that little village in Kenya. Not only did you do that, but there was so much money raised beyond the goal that they purchased beds, and mattresses, and lots of goats and chickens for the community!

In 2017, my mom passed away from kidney cancer after a very short but fierce battle. She was a pre-school and kindergarten teacher for 25 years. It felt very hard to want to do anything that year with the loss of my mom and the (very unexpected) birth of our 5^th child, but when our contact at Christian Relief Fund told us that the biggest need was to build a pre-school and kindergarten classroom, we knew this was what the Lord wanted us to do.  Our goal was to purchase 2 cows and a classroom (to be donated in my mother’s name) for the village in Kenya and to be able to have 200 pair of warm socks to donate here locally.

 Not only did we meet the goals- y’all blew it out of the water! 
We got not 2, but 3 cows!
 We got not 1, but 2 classrooms!!!
 Not only did we get the classrooms, but desks for all 60 students! All of them y’all!!! ALL! 
And we have more than 400 pairs of socks to donate! and we did it in my mom’s name. We partnered with We Help Two again, and we were able to use the end of the campaign to have people sponsor socks to go to children fighting cancer. 

Last year our goals were HUGE! We wanted to get all 34 students attending at the Kriete School in Chemurgui sponsored. This would provide them with clothing, food, schooling, medical and Bible teaching. This was our number one priority, to make sure these kids were taken care of. We achieved this goal through lots of generous friends and family on Thanksgiving Day 2018!

On top of finding sponsorship for all 34 students, we had the ambitious goals of providing a herd of 30 goats  ($1,500 price tag)to the village and building a 10 stall bathroom house ($5,000) for the school. The bathroom situation there was not safe. They had one outhouse with a pit that was caving in underground and the walls falling in around it. On top of the unsafe situation, the church and the school shared this one outhouse and the student would have to walk across to the church to use it! Can you imagine?!?! 

 Last year was the first year that we did not reach all of our goals by Christmas. It was a hard one for me to swallow honestly. It felt like a failure. When we sat down with the kids right before Christmas to explain that the herd of goats was purchased, but we only raised 1/2 of the funds for the bathrooms and wanted to know what they wanted to do, they didn't hesitate... we work until we raise it... even if it takes all year. This was a humbling moment for me. I was ready to just donate what we had and move on, they (once again) taught me a fantastic lesson in trusting the Lord will provide when He is ready. 

So after an very long year (and baby #6 entering this crazy crew) and a LOT of manual labor and generous people, the last of the funds were raised at the end of August!!! So not a year, but 10 months of work for last year's goals!!! 

We believe the Lord is doing amazing things and letting us be just a little part of that. In the last three years through WE HELP TWO we have donated more than 1,145 pairs of socks to the homeless in Southern Maryland/ DC area and more than 450 kids in the hospital and foster care in our area have received fun funky socks… and that is only the local impact! Y'all.... that is a LOT of socks!

So that brings us to now...

OUR 2019 GOALS:

1. Provide the Kriete School with an acre of land. The amount of people coming to this area because of the clean water and school has more than doubled since last year this time. Providing an acre of land for them to expand the Kriete School campus is at the top of their need list! This comes with a price tag of $7,000.

 2. Build 2 more classroom buildings for the school. The school we built last 2 years ago has done so well! It is bringing so many new people to the area. We currently have 52 kids on the waiting list to get into the school. That means our attendance there goes from 34 students to 86... plus staff. They are bursting at the seams and need more classrooms!

3. Provide people with the opportunity to sponsor a child waiting. As I said above, we have 52 students on a waiting list to get into the Kriete School in Chemurgui, Kenya. Sponsorship is $35 a month. This provides the child with medical care, food, education, and each child will be taught about Jesus. They have just started loading all of the children on our waiting list to a private page HERE. There will be a total of 52 (not currently on there).

4. 250 Warm socks for local Homeless and  50 sponsored pairs for local children So once again, we are partnering with WE HELP TWO to try to raise funds and put socks on 250 homeless here in Southern Maryland. We also are trying to get 50 pair of socks sponsored to donate to kids in the hospital and foster care system.


RECAP:
$11,000 to be raised

250 packs of socks to sell
52 opportunities to sponsor a child


HERE IS WHERE WE STAND:


We have an INSANELY GENEROUS donor that has pledged $8,000 toward our campaign this year! That is right!!! We already have $8,000 toward and $11,000 goal!!! only $3,000 left to raise!!! We can do this!!!

 HOW YOU CAN HELP:

1.     PRAY- We covet your prayers. We believe in the power of prayer and know that God can do ANYTHING! We ask for prayers for the success of this campaign, the hearts of the people that will help us reach our goal, people of Chemurgui, Kenya and the homeless here in Maryland. And as a mother, I ask for you to pray for our family… that we always keep the focus on the Lord and remember we are just the hands and feet to His amazing works!

2.   BUY SOCKS- $15 is for a 3 pack of socks for you. When you do that, $9 goes to the Classrooms in Kenya AND a pair of thermal socks is donated to the homeless here in St. Mary’s county. You can order those HERE through our direct store link We Help Two sock store until OCTOBER 31^st! We have so many NEW designs!!! These can be shipped directly to your door or (if you are local) choose the "campaign host" for your shipping option and I will get them to you in November when the campaign is over... FREE SHIPPING!

       3.     SPONSOR A CHILD- This is a decision you will not regret! It is a $35 a month commitment that will                change a child's life FOREVER! Sponsorship not only changes the child's life, but the entire family!                    When you sponsor a child you are giving them a safe, Jesus filled, environnment to go to during the                    day, which in turn give parents the opportunity to work to provide funds for the family. Go HERE for a direct link to the children on the waiting list for the Kriete School in Chemurgui, Kenya.

4.     DONATE! Socks aren't your thing but still want to see this awesome things happen? We've got you covered! You can send donations to be applied 100% toward the CLASSROOM project through PayPal to krietesinkenya@gmail.com HERE or you can send donations to:

Cassie Kriete

27595 Avonlea Ct.

Mechanicsville, MD 20659

5.  SPREAD THE WORD! If you have already bought socks or donated... please spread the word! Share our story and our mission! Wear your socks! Take pictures and tag me in them! We are relying on you to help us get the word out!

      6. Watch for upcoming events/fundraisers! We have a few irons in the fire and are working out details of at least 2 more fundraising efforts coming in November/December! Keep an eye out!

THANK YOU!!! To everyone that has and continues to support this mission! Thanks for joining us on this journey!