Ready...Set...GO

Well, this is Andrew again, sooo I guess, expect a lot of words and very little pictures, hah. Don’t worry, the blog queen will be posting again soon, I just like to throw some thoughts out there every once and a while.

Does it surprise you that I have been thinking about some stuff lately? Well, I have. Here is what has been on my mind lately. Obedience. There are several reasons why this has been on my mind lately, but mostly it has to do with our future. Here is the problem, surprisingly… I don’t know what the future holds. I know it is hard to believe. I have spent many hours trying to determine what the future holds for both our family and for The Raining Season aaaaand I have no clue. OK, so what do we do now? There are some big things going on right now on both of these fronts where knowing the future would be extremely beneficial. I know it sounds stupid because you think I would grasp that knowing where God is headed in all this is almost impossible so I should just deal with it, but I can’t seem to get it off my mind. So let me tell you what I have learned recently.


We have found that since we have lived in Sierra Leone there are many times when we have to stop and refocus. Why are we here? What is our main purpose? Is this stress really that big of a deal? Just a time to take the Nintendo game out of your mind, blow inside it, push reset, and pop it back in. (I don’t know why I decided to use that analogy, it works for me, ok). I will admit it, there are wonderful days here, and there are really tough days here. I once had someone tell me, “Don’t doubt in the darkness what you came to know in the light”. Some days our future in Sierra Leone is so exciting my heart starts racing just thinking about it. Sometime the future seems like such a heavy burden that I want to run away. So I had a tough day not too long ago. It was a long day of meetings, dealing with heavy things, and big decisions. I was drained on my way home and honestly couldn’t wait to get home, get my kids in the bed, and have a nice quiet sit down with a good book (is that terrible?). When I walked in the house Heather greeted me and said, “ the kids have been stir crazy today and I think it would be really helpful if you took any that want to go back up to the center tonight for bed time prayers.” NOT what I wanted to do and I think I had a pretty terrible attitude hiking back up the hill with kids in tow. The children at the center have bedtime prayers every night in their rooms except for Wednesdays and Sundays when they have a general worship time in one of the big rooms. Tonight was general worship. Last time I went to general worship, I was asked on the spur of the moment to bring the lesson (mini-sermon). I REALLY was not in the mood to do any preaching this day. I mean, I was really weighed down and struggling. I was relieved to see that Pastor Daniel was ready to bring the message and I was free to hide in a corner and try to keep kids from climbing all over me. I found the most secluded corner I could find and was relieved when Abubakkar, Melvin, and Auntie Hawa (holding Sarah) sat down around me. I like these people, but at that moment I mainly liked them because I knew they wouldn’t climb all over me. Maybe, I reveal a little too much about myself on these dumb blogs.


Ok, I am sitting there during the service and one of those moments when God punches you right in the nose happened again. Do you remember Sarah? She is the little girl I blogged about last time that had the burned face/throat, stick thin limbs, and was extremely scared of me. Well, she is doing a lot better, she is doing a WHOLE lot better. I was sitting there in my funk and looked over and started watching Auntie Hawa playing with Sarah. At this moment I witnessed the love of Christ first hand. This wasn’t just an Auntie doing her job of keeping Sarah busy, this was genuine love for this little cast-off girl. Auntie Hawa was laughing hysterically and get this…Sarah was laughing hysterically. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. At that moment Christ spoke to me. He said, “THIS is what I do. I am the Restorer. I bring good news to the poor, I bind up the broken hearted, I set the captives free.” It was restoration right before my eyes. Ok, I was watching this and God punched me in the nose about my attitude; then he decided to slap me around a little bit more. Sarah, who was previously very alarmed when I came near her, looked over at me and saw me laughing at her and she gets up and comes and sits in my lap. I was a little surprised to say the least. She then started playing with my fingers and the most mysterious other play thing according to EVERY kid at the center….my arm hair. After a minute or so she looked up at me and laughed, then got up and went back to playing with Auntie Hawa. At that moment, whatever the future holds seemed so small and easy to carry. My lesson from God didn’t end there (maybe it will never end). This last Sunday I was sitting in church with none other than Sarah bouncing to the music on my lap. I looked down at her and saw her watching the worship leader with a HUGE smile on her face. I looked up to see who was leading this song and it was Auntie Hawa. That, my friends, is discipleship. That is showing the love of Christ to the broken. That is a Christ like relationship. It doesn’t stop there. It is everywhere at TRS. These children are being restored physically, yes, but they are also being restored spiritually. I see uncles playing soccer with the kids and then helping them memorize their scriptures for their upcoming contest. I see Aunties disciplining these twerpy 5 and 6 year old boys and then praying with them at night. I see our Finance Officer crunching numbers all day and then preaching God’s truth to the kids on Sunday. I see our teams going to serve malnourished babies at a local hospital and taking TRS kids along with them to teach them to serve those in need. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Go and make disciples….


So, back to my depressed self, hiding in the corner of the room. God chose that moment to remind me what I am here for. I am not here to do cost analysis, interviews, program development, meetings, etc., all that is just how God is using my training to build his orphan ministry here. I am here to be a discipler. To these children, to the community, to my own children, to my wife.


Ok, so I was reflecting on this life lesson when God opened my eyes to something else. He said, “reflect on how you learned this last lesson.” I learned it through an action, through obedience, not through reading about it or having a preacher tell me. God’s sanctification process of his children is so wise and effective; I am continually amazed. He knows me so well. The Bible is full of commands for obedience even going so far as to say to love God is to be obedient to his commands.

1Jn 5:2-3

“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.”

Not burdensome, huh? I sure felt burdened when I was worrying about everything under the sun for my family and for TRS. I was sure NOT burdened when I was watching Sarah. What was I missing before? Maybe…..obedience. You see, I spent most of my life with the mindset that I need to know everything before I do anything. I need to figure out the right path, make sure I studied all the theology behind the verse, and make sure I was mature enough to handle the obedience prior to taking the first step. But, that doesn’t match up with what I read. 1 John 2:6 “whoever says he abides in him must WALK as Jesus did.” . Jesus told his followers to lay down your nets and follow me. Obedience came prior to knowledge. I believe baptism is in place as an early part of becoming a Christ follower because it sets a pattern of obedience and submission to the King. Once again, obedience prior to knowledge. I am not looking for a theological argument here, I am just stating that I see a LOT of examples of Christ calling people to obedience prior to there being a large amount of knowledge in place. Why? This doesn’t seem like a very logical thing. Wouldn’t you end up with a lot of dummies following blindly…maybe. Maybe that is the reason for the command, so we walk without tripping over our own feet. I am learning more and more that through the obedience comes intimate knowledge of the Son and in turn, intimate knowledge of the Father. Take my sons for example…would it be very effective for me to just tell them what to do and have them study my words for a while, and then have them make the decision to do the action? It is far more effective for me to show them how to do it myself (Jesus’s ministry here on earth), and then ask them to do it for themselves with me standing right beside (great commission). Through this they learn not only the action, but more about me. Why I do the things I do, what my thinking is behind the action, life lessons through failure, how to walk with their father hand in hand. I used to think of the Bible as a book of commands. Now I see it as a path or window to know Father God better. The commands just help me know him better. His commandments are not burdensome even though my enemy tells me they are.

Ok, so fast forward a couple of weeks and I am sitting in church again. I happened to be sitting next to our newest intake, a young girl who has polio and is bound to a wheel chair. She is an incredible little girl. She is handicapped physically, but not mentally, but I tend to forget this because I focus on her outward appearance. I was standing next to her worshipping, but not singing out loud because all I wanted to hear at that moment was this little girl singing her lungs out to Jesus and doing her best to raise and clap her hands to the King. She was so excited to be sitting there singing to her Father. After the song was over I guess I was standing too long and she leaned over, punched me on the leg, and in perfect English said, “UNCLE, sit DOWN.” God, just saying to me…”see, I am still doing it. It is what I do. You go do it too and you will know me more.”


I don’t know why I felt compelled to share these lessons. I just want to encourage people through things I have learned so that others can experience Christ the way I am just now starting to. It is true life. It isn’t easy, but it is rich and filling and I don’t feel numb any more. God’s commands are not to put a burden on us, but to free us from Satan’s grasp. To be different. To join him in restoration. It is a better way. I spent so many years being told it is NOT a better way or that my OWN way is better; but that was a lie. I also had the thinking of, “ok, I am saved. Now I need to just work on not sinning and attending church for the rest of my life and I have got it made.” I was so focused on myself that I started treating my salvation as the end game and forgetting that me becoming a Christ follower is only the BEGINNING. I hate that I spent so many years in inactivity. I missed out on so much, hoping that others would want to know God by my being an “example” of “not sinning”. Hey man, don’t you want to be like Andrew? He is such a nice guy who doesn’t seem to be doing anything majorly wrong. Who was I kidding? In God is beauty, good things, true life, truth, richness, eternity. Our enemy is evil, darkness, numbness, complacency, lies, he robs us of what we were created for. Brothers and sisters, be hot or cold…..hot or cold. God plan is not in the money, the ministry, the material gifts, the time. His plan is in the sanctification, to make the givers trust him more, to make the receivers rely on him, to make those who “do” understand true life, to break the hold of the enemy, to open our eyes, and to do what he has done from the beginning…draw his people back to him. To make me more like Jesus, to make Sarah more like Jesus, to make you more like Jesus, so that we can be in communion with him. It is what we were made for. I am not talking about obedience in “not sinning” as I so long thought. I am talking about obedience to the things he says to go and DO. So I encourage you, show God your love to him through obedience, it is not burdensome.

Read these scriptures. Don’t just glance over them…

1 Tim 6:17-19
As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, this storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is TRULY LIFE.

1 John 2:3-6
And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says, “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in Him should walk in the same way in which Jesus walked.

Luke 4:18-21
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Walk like he walked. Don’t sit. Show Christ’s love to the world. There is a lot of hurting people out there. Some, don’t hurt any more. Isn’t Sarah beautiful…

Water is life...and death

The joy of rain after 10 days of no water,

The threat,

The assault,

The retaliation,

And another welcomed assault,

The update: Nanna came to visit for 3 weeks and is here presently.

We have 3 new family members. I have long searched for chek chek chickens. We have only seen them in one place and the owners have not wanted to sell them. Everywhere we go I would tell the kids to be on the lookout and for the first time ever I did not get mad when the kids started yelling in the car. The announcement was music to my ears. We hit a jackpot of sorts and there were several to choose from. Rita and Nina were the obvious choice We named Nina after Nanna since she was with us when we got her. When Levi was small he could not say Nanna and instead would say Nina and so it stuck for a while. They are so awesome! In case you don't know about chek chek's they have they wildest feathers. They curl out and up instead of laying flat. Ours have a zebra print feather on most of their bodies and light brownish orange on their chest and poofy little chicken booties. I adore them and am so happy to be re-filling our coop.

The other family member came from Uncle Michael. He brought Levi a chameleon for his birthday. We had made a cage for him for his birthday to keep just such a possession so it was perfect timing. Levi named him Gary.

Slash that. 4 new family members. It is taking me weeks to upload, type and publish this blog so in between writings we added one. Albert is now the caretaker of a strange pigeon that decided to stay with us. We were on the porch talking with Morlai when there was a commotion in the razorwire of his wall. He came down and got a stick to help it out and he flew strait over to ours. Albert climbed the wall and got him down. It was a little strange but the bird just let him pick it up. He has been tucked under Alberts arm or waddling all around the compound all day today. He has made a spot in one of the cubes in the chicken coop. I am hoping that they are kind with it. We shall see in the morning how he faired. The Sierra Leonians have a saying something like 'water is life'. From the time we moved here January 18th until just a month or so ago there was not one drop of rain. The dry season can be very difficult for the people because all the water dries up and it is difficult to get clean water to drink, cook with or clean anything including yourself. So water is in fact life. Unfortunately, water is also death. We stand in awe of the rains that have been happening lately and we have only seen the beginning. It rained for 2 days and one night strait. Most of the people here build their homes of tin or mud that they bake into bricks. Neither of which are very sturdy. We have heard stories about those people having to stay up all night with buckets scooping water out of their homes. They build their beds on stilts so that when the floods enter they can put the few belongings inside up on the bed. I haven't seen it for myself yet so I can't give any more detail than that. I can only imagine that it would be exhausting if not terrifying. Especially if you have children. So during the downpour that happened a few nights ago four people from one family died when their mud hut collapsed under the weight of the rain and an elderly woman who lived on a slope from what I understand was washed away as well. Andrew and I stood on our porch feeling terrible for those people who suffer in this way and pray that there would be a remedy.

Where the name of this blog originated.

So I was talking with our visitor Robin and realized that I wanted to post these few funny things of late. A few weeks ago Dave and Brad were here and brought a memory stick full of basketball games Andrew had missed. This was the first time our African boys had ever seen this sport. As two of the basketball players ran in excitement at each other to do a chest bump and then one slapped the others buttocks. Albert laughed hysterically and said to John, "This is how they greet each other?!? They slap each others booty and jump at each other!" That has always been a little funny to me anyway but to see their reaction was all the more so. Recently, Andrew and the boys stayed up to watch X-men. Actually, I think maybe they needed to be a little older in hind site but we didn't remember it having any bad scenes. It was just a little too scary for their age and they thought that everyone was a witch. They did, however, love it. I was in and out of the room for the first half of the movie but ended up sitting in on it because it is so funny to watch them react to movies. There is a scene in that movie where several of the mutant good guys are surrounded by police and more and more police cars keep coming with sirens on. Two of our boys have never experienced a police car like that and in the scene the mutants are trying to explain that they aren't trying to do anything wrong to no avail because the police are all posed to shoot which they did. They shot Wolverine right in the forehead. That caused another of the mutants to start shooting fire everywhere and John shouted, "YEAH, bring it with your whew whew whew." Sometimes I have trouble breathing around here! Also, during that same time frame we were reading about Abraham and God's covenant with him. The sign of that covenant was circumcision which launched a funny episode in itself about a boy at the center who had to be redone and a chicken pecked him in the privates which they all cringed about. But the real blurb that was hilarious came the next night when Andrew asked if they remembered what we read the night before. There was a pause where everyone was thinking and trying to remember when John very seriously says, "they all got short!".....................uh, yes, good job John. (C-A-T lego's) Today we are celebrating the entry of the very first person God placed in our lives to care for. I remember being at the hospital and feeling shocked that they were about to let me take him home. It is such a weight and burden to do a good job at this role. It has been very difficult to carry out but there are days when I feel successful. He prays beautifully when he decides to. I am pretty sure that he has made me laugh every day for the last 6 years and I truly adore this beautiful, smart, funny, and quirky little freckle faced boy. (Wolverine) I will end this one with one of my favorite parenting moments. I learned humility and how to lock yourself in the bathroom not-so-discreetly to hide from serious embarrassment. We took someone to a doctor's appointment. While waiting, Ivey had a dirty diaper. We trekked out to the car to get the diapers and wipes and I realized that I was not going to be doing this one in the car so we went back in and sat in the chairs next to the bathroom to wait our turn. After about 5 minutes I began to wonder if I had just not turned the handle hard enough but didn't want to disturb someone twice if there was someone in there. Levi, who was approximately three time, and loud, made the announcement that it was taking a long time. I quietly said, "Yes, it is." and hoped that he would end it there. He suggest loudly that maybe it was poop. "Yes it probably is." I said quietly again while I noticed a few snickers. There were approximately 15 people in this waiting room and I am pretty sure that all of them heard it. I tried to change the subject because I had found by that point that if you try to deter children from talking about a subject there are so many questions that you might as well write a 12 page essay about what they shouldn't say and why. So I chose to just answer quietly and hope he would be interested in the People magazine. But unfortunately that is when the poor woman finally emerged from the bathroom. Before I could collect Ivey and her things and close the door behind my little announcer he dashed in there to the toilet and dashed back out and shouted to me(the lady had not even sat down yet), "YEP, IT WAS POOP". I too stayed in the bathroom for quite some time.

Satiated

We owe a LOT of thanks right now to many people. One of them is Dave Williamson. Dave and his wife Amber have been great friends to us since 2005. Sometimes you know you have awesome friends but then a circumstance proves it and you find yourself amazed. That is how I feel about the last few years. When we decided to adopt they somehow secretly got a million donations for a huge yard sale where they cooked hot dogs and sold drinks and made a ton of money! We were so amazed and I didn't know what to say so I don't know if I said anything. Then we decided to move to Africa and work for a nonprofit group in a nonpaying position. Since that would require fundraising the Williamson's jumped to action and have been advocates for us from the first day. They have done an incredible amount of fundraising for us. One of them was a blanket drive. We stood in amazement at the work they and our other awesome friends put forth on our behalf. And again I felt like writing on paper just couldn't sum up the wealth we felt not only for the money they raised, but also the effort to support us. This is the busy season at work for Dave. Ambers mother has been severely sick. They have two kids and volunteer regularly as softball and soccer coach and nursery workers at church. They are really busy. However, they just did a second yard sale at their home and again raised a large sum of money to help cover the remainder of what we have to raise for our two years here. Also, Dave is the leader of our mission board and Amber is our financial partner who takes care of our donations and banking there in the US. They have worked I don't even know how many hours doing errands for us, buying us an oven, getting our container packed and loaded and I don't even know what else. THEN, Dave came to visit us. That requires plane tickets, shots, and vacation time, visas, passports, and $100's of dollars in bug spray and wet wipes. All just to survive 100 degree weather, freezing cold showers, crazy drivers and amebas. He packed lightly because he wanted to have enough room to bring the two checked bags stuffed absolutely full of AWESOME gifts. He gave us updates on friends. He jumped out of the car to join me on the corner of a busy street to haggle with a women about large buckets for our laundry room and then jumped in to buy them. He was patient when it took till 9:00pm to make dinner or till 10:00am to make coffee. He worked in the heat sanding down the metal corners on a piece of furniture we had built, wrestled a king size bed into the house, and as per usual had us laughing most of the week. His presence reminded me how much I love his wife and her italian cooking and super kind heart. She also gave up vacation time and single parented for a week and a half while her husband was here. As I type this he is probably in the air flying home. He will be quickly getting things for our container and then shipping it the next day. What could I possibly say to all of that? I am afraid nothing comparable. But geez I really love them! I feel so simplistic saying this but THANK YOU Dave and Amber for serving us and daily caring for us. I kind of feel like Jack Nickelson in the movie 'As good as it gets' when saying this, but you make us want to be better people. The other person that we want to thank on this blog post was also a visitor this week. We met him and his wife in college at Harding. Then our paths crossed again just a few years ago when they came to Harpeth Community Church and joined our small group. I liked them immensely from the beginning. Brad and Lindsey Conner are hilarious people with huge hearts that beat for the same things that ours do. Lindsey and I are what people in the south refer to as 'cut from the same mold'. So she's awesome. And Brad is an amazing carpenter who makes really beautiful things and is extremely knowledgable on anything to do with homes and how they work. They too have been involved from the beginning with our mission and have worked so hard to help us get to where we are. We rent our house because it did not sell before we left. So he volunteered to do any repairs needed while we were gone-for free. Lindsey gave up many a Saturday with her husband while Brad came over and helped us prepare the house for our departure. He patched walls, fixed leaks, put a lock on our attic, painted and I don't even know what else because that last couple of weeks before we left is such a blur for me. Then he and Dave told us to just leave anything in the garage that needed to go to the container and leave the mattresses we slept on the last night at our house where they were. When we left they went in, got our mattresses and everything in the garage, and loaded up Brads trailer with all of our container possessions. They packed and palletized all of it and stored it away until time for the container. Because of my forgetfulness I have had Brad get things out of our attic twice in the last few months-he is probably sorry to have that key! He came to Sierra Leone last week specifically to do projects for us. We e-mailed him the list of items we wanted to build and he spent untold hours getting the right tools and etc. to prepared and packed for that. He also spent thousands of dollars on plane tickets, visa's, passports, and shots all to wood work in the super hot African sun with several kids surrounding him asking what the buttons did and kicking up sawdust clouds. He even skipped the monkey sanctuary outing because he insisted on getting work done. Here I will insert that laundry takes up so much time here. Not only because we are now a family of seven but also because it is a more complicated line of events. There are lots of dirt stains and piles of muddy clothes from the water discharge pipe when the machine shakes all over the place. But no more. Brad made a platform for the washer, added a platform to lay folded clothes on and cleaned out the entire garage. We put the said buckets in place and I now have one for towels and sheets, one for lights and one for darks. All with lids to keep the stink down. No more muddy clothes! No more digging in piles of cloths and having giant African cockroaches scurry up your arm. He even put up two clothes lines in the garage since it is the raining season and we can't hang our clothes out to dry right now and are at the mercy of unreliable electricity. It is SO fantastic. He fixed the door frames(it is really nice to be able to close all of our doors), fixed our couch, and put hooks up to hang the cork boards and mosquito nets. He made us a king size bed. He made nine large rolling bins for our boys to have storage under their beds. He made three fishing poles for our the boys and they are now awaiting a beach day. The boys are so excited. I am so amazed! He did all that in only a week! His wife also single parented for a week and a half so that her husband could come here for us. We woke up one morning and everyone left to go to the monkey sanctuary with the team that was here-except Brad who didn't want to go so that he could work on projects. Really late that night we found out that it was his birthday AND his wedding anniversary. And again, what words could possibly mean enough to compare to all of that? So again, THANK YOU for all you have done for us!!! You really are so encouraging to us and make us want to be better people. We love you so much!!! I singled these two families out because they just visited us but we also want to say that we owe a huge thank you to so many of our friends. We just are so blessed and couldn't be more thankful for all the gifts and time spend doing errands and time serving at yard sales and shopping for items on our list. We are still in such shock and awe at the Fannie Mae type relationships we have. We are so far in debt to you that I don't know that we could ever repay it. Therefore, we daily thank God for you and pray that each of you would be repaid 10 times over for all you have done for us!

Rotting Roses

There is a veranda off the side of our bedroom that was built with these decorative concrete blocks that are open to see outside but you are kind of hidden. I stood there sinning for quite some time the other day. I was coveting the neighbors plants. There is a certain vine or bush, I am not sure which, that grows here that I love but for weeks no one could tell me where to buy it. I stood there admiring the beautiful bright pink one in this neighbors yard as he was on a ladder trimming and pruning. And then a terrible thing happened. I had also been hiding because this certain veranda is a dead spot where for some reason no one thinks to look when calling for me. I had been laughing every time one of our children went by yelling my name searching for me which they did with increasing loudness every few seconds. I don't feel even slightly bad about it because Andrew was right there playing ball with Albert and he was completely capable of telling them to stop tattling for the 100th time of the day. I even ate cookies while doing it. And to my utter dismay, they found me. That is not, however, the worst thing that has happened. In the last three weeks the electricity has only worked for 2 evenings. It came on at night and went off by the time we woke up. Guma(the water system) has not been flowing for over a week now. We have run out of both reserve barrels and Andrew, Albert and John spent Sunday morning filling buckets at a different tap and bringing them to the barrel just to try to have enough to wash ourselves and the dishes. The laundry is becoming a problem because all of our sheets and towels are dirty and Isatu is out of undies. Then, something happened with our ground wire and current was coming into the house so if you touched anything metal it would shock you. Sometimes it would be really strong. That can be alarming. Therefore, we have not been using the generator regularly. Even if that weren't an issue there is a fuel 'crisis' as they call it where there the gas stations run out of fuel. So we have had to be conservative with the generator. The lack of consistent cooling in our refrigerator caused some meats to go bad which was expensive. And our kitchen smelled horrible for a day. Next, Levi and Ivey got a crazy rash and we put creams on it but nothing worked so we finally took them to the doctor. It turns out they are having a reaction to the malaria medication and have infections in their intestines. The rashes are gone, Levi is back to normal and Ivey is close to being back to normal so no one should worry. We actually were surprised to find out they were sick because they never acted unusual or told us they were hurting. Also, we couldn't go to River #2 for our family day on Saturday because the car's 4 wheel drive isn't working and it makes a terrible noise when you turn a certain direction so it was in the shop. So, we went today instead and terror of all terrors the beach was filthy. It is usually so clean and beautiful but today there was trash everywhere. We inquired of the british man named Freddy that we just met and he said that according to gossip, when the rains come-which they have- that all the trash flows off the river banks and it all floods to the ocean. NNNNNOOOOOO!!!! We have mixed emotions about the rains. On one hand it gets so beautiful here when all the plants are blooming and green and we love the cooler weather. The downside is that besides the mentioned trash ruining my day of escape, there are termites, mosquitos, ants and all kinds of crazy bugs swarming right now. The termites are so annoying! They will fly right into your face. While I am giving the list I'll go ahead and make it complete by saying that on top of everything else our internet stick isn't working. I am typing this on Tuesday night but who knows when I'll post it. I am supposed to be ordering things for the container, and e-mailing our friends list and all kinds of things but with no way to charge the computer and no internet stick that is proving to be quite the problem. As I was typing this the electricity came on and about 20 minutes later the lights started doing the dreaded wave of dimming and brightening but this one was different. There was some clicking and I went to turn off some of the outlets. I was standing there debating turning it off at the wall switch so that it didn't blow anything out when flashes of lights happened outside. I ran out on the front porch and all down the street the light poles where flashing and shooting sparks. It looked like fireworks. Then it was only one. The one that is right outside our gate in front of the compound next to ours. It kept it up for a good 30 seconds and finally the last sparks shot. Andrew had joined me for the last part of that and we ran next door through our shared gate to see if Mr. Brama was ok. He was. He said they need to trim the trees and that the wires touched. So I came back in and started to type this when the electricity went off in one last definitive swoop. A guy who does landscaping came and we bought two of the vines I love for a grand total of $6, the electrician came and we think that the current leak is fixed now, all four of our fuel barrels for the generator are full, the refrigerator is cleaned out, the car will be fixed soon and Levi and Ivey are better. So we are fine but please pray for the electricity and water specifically. After several weeks it is getting tiring and the longer it goes on the harder it is to deal with. Fortunately, we get our drinking water from the store so the water shortage is not affecting that. The washing of ourselves, dishes and laundry is the issue. God has blessed me with a terrible sense of smell so I am not suffering yet but the stink is mounting. Andrew on the other hand has a great sense of smell so it is fortunate also that God has allowed me to always smell like roses. That's probably how my kids found me on the veranda.

Some days mothering takes it out of you. Every day I feel like it is worth it. Today started out with Levi and John at the door of my room with the usual 'Mom, good morning' and then they came and laid down on the edge of the bed to coax me up to get them oatmeal. They do some tooting, giggling, and joking. Oh I love that. They have daily chores and when they were sweeping the compound Levi found a heart shaped leaf and saved it to give me. Oh I love that. Levi got an injury that I had to bandage and he screamed like he was dying. When I was finished and I looked up at John who had been standing there and he had tears flowing down his face. When I asked him what was wrong he just motioned to Levi. Empathy. Oh I love that. Albert has been getting up early every morning this week to 'train' with Andrew so that he can beat me when I play fight him. I tease him that when I get done sleeping I will come win but I know that I don't even stand a chance against this 14 year old in 6 months. Oh I love that. Isatu and Ivey are quite a handful and I am pretty sure that their teen years will put that second sentence in jeopardy. The determination, stubbornness and persistence will serve them really well if harnessed just right. Oh I love that too. I am pretty sure that my mother said that same thing about me. I started to tell my mother happy mothers day on a facebook post but then decided to publicly explain a little about her parenting which I hope to implement. When I was approximately 7 years old we were in the car going to Walmart and there were these men who had parked on the busy side of the parking lot holding signs that said 'will work for food' and I asked what they meant. She explained that they were hungry and that they were trying to find jobs. That really bothered me which she noticed. She told me that she would buy the food if I would go and give it to them. So we went into the Walmart deli area and she bought the food. That really long parking lot seemed so short at 7 when walking towards those two strange men. I kept contemplating what to say as I approached and I can't remember what I did say but I remember the mans face. He thanked me and I walked back. That really long parking lot seemed even longer walking back feeling awkward but I had plenty of time to pray that God would bless them and take care of them. There was another similar event many years later when I was in the 10th grade and working as a waitress. A guy that worked with me was also a student at my high school so I would talk to him regularly. I noticed some oddities about him but didn't inquire because I didn't want to be rude. It was in the middle of winter when I found out that he was moving and I asked where his family was going. It wasn't his family that was moving. It was only him who was moving out of the outdoor shed he had been living in because the people he was renting it from were going to up the rent because he was using to much electricity with his outdoor heater. He couldn't afford the price increase. He was in 11th grade! Where were his parents? I was baffled at how this could happen. How could the people charge him more knowing he had no where else to go? How could I ask my single mother who was struggling to pay for us to do something extra? But it bothered me so much that I told her about it, offered to help with any cost and she said he could sleep on the couch. I took a while to decide if that was what we should do but by the time I finished my saga of a prayer and finally offered that to him he had found something else. But she said yes. My mom taught me empathy, compassion, and love. I don't know how many times she has told me that she hoped that there was never a day that I doubted that she loved me. Mom, there has never been a day where I have doubted that you love me. I am so thankful for that and I hope that my kids can say the same. God blessed me around 7 1/2 years ago with a second mother. Andrew's mother and I are very similar. We started our relationship with her teaching me all about gardening which I had wanted to do for many years. When we still lived in Memphis I loved going flower shopping with her, learning about different plants and getting tips on making my pansy's bigger and better-which they always were due to good advice. Then, about 1 year into our marriage when I had the shock of a pregnancy, she taught me how to sew through the making of curtains, bedding and misc. items for Levi's room. That was yet another lesson that I had really been wanting to learn. You wouldn't believe how much time she spent letting me break her machine over and over again. And then she bought me a serger for christmas and another time a monogramming machine because we shared the love of sewing. She has taught me over and over again about generosity with your time and possessions. I thank God for the place that both of my mothers have had in my life. As I sit in West Africa holding my shirt high up on my neck and slapping at termites and mosquitoes, they will be angry to know that they had a part in me bringing their grandchildren here-but they did. God used what they gave me in empathy, love, and generosity to help me sit and stay here today. I pray that in 20 or so years all 5 of our children will be sitting somewhere in the world remembering lessons on those same things that we taught them. Oh I would REALLY love that.

Heathers addition to Andrew's post

The incredibly macho, handsome, rugged, and muscular guy who stomps on sissys with Isatu

The incredibly macho, handsome, rugged, and muscular guy who stomps on sissys with Kadija

For He makes all things new…

Well, this blog post is just going to be a random collection of thoughts over the past month. I am not the writer my wife is, nor do I have any good pictures so…this may be boring. Also, I have been thinking about a lot of things so this will also be LONG. Malaria meds man- As I mentioned before we are asked for money about 10 times a day. Some people have true needs; some are just hoping they have found a sucker. I pray for wisdom daily and try to rely on the convictions from the Holy Spirit to guide me to know who is who, but sometimes it is really hard. Some days I feel very soft-hearted to all who ask and try to give as much as I can, some days I want everyone to leave me alone and I keep a tight grip on my leones. The times I get hard-hearted are usually when I am driving back home from downtown Freetown, because the number of people who ask me for money downtown jumps to about 483 and I am worn out by the time I return. About 2 weeks ago I drove into town to get some supplies, I was stopped in traffic and this guy comes up to my window telling me that someone is trying to call me, as I was looking where he was pointing his buddy was on the other side of the car grabbing my backpack. Luckily I had the forethought to hook my bag to the emergency hand brake and he couldn’t get it out. I turn around, yelled, and flexed my muscles and he ran away with great fear in his eyes. Actually, I yelled, he yanked the bag again, I grabbed the bag for a short tug of war, then him and his buddy gave up and casually walked away. It REALLY makes me mad when people steal things, especially my own things. It makes me double mad when 20 people are standing around watching it happen and all they did was laugh and tell me to roll my window up higher. JERKFACES!!! Sooo, this really got me fired up for the rest of the day and I was in no mood to be handing out money when someone just tried to steal it all. Well Mr. Scrooge made it through town and successfully completed the mission of not giving ANYONE ANYTHING!! Looking back on what happened next I think God was smiling a little bit when he put me in this situation. I am sitting in the same traffic on the way home when this man runs up to my car; I immediately grab my bag and get ready to tell him to get lost. He starts explaining to me that his daughter has a very severe case of malaria and he is short the money he needs to buy her medicine. I am sitting there thinking, “get away from me, I am sure you are making up some sob story, and I am not in the mood to deal with it right now.” Believe it or not my finger was reaching for the button to roll up the window (maybe I am the jerkface). He stopped me by saying, “PLEASE sir, I am not a beggar. I just have nowhere else to turn. See, I have just come out of the pharmacy and the medicine is 40,000 leones and I only have 33,000. I do not know what to do, but my daughter is dying so I must do something. I saw you sitting here in your car and decided that she is worth it for me to come and beg you for the money. PLEASE sir, if you were not in the car I would be on my knees at your feet asking you this question.” I looked up at his face and saw the same look of desperation I saw on the lady who grabbed my arm that day. This was a man fighting for his daughter, if Ivey were dying and I ran out of money I would be asking everyone I could think of for some money. The look on his face and the way he talked to me made me realize that he HATES having to ask me, but he LOVES his little girl. He was 7000 leones short…one dollar and 60 cents. Yes, Scrooge gave him the money and God once again reminded me that I have a long way to go. I am starting to realize why Solomon asked for wisdom above all things. I really wish I were better at knowing what to do, how to act, and how to reflect Jesus Christ to all I meet. I want people to see me and see a glimpse of King Jesus shining through me. I kind of dull the shine when my heart is so rock-hard sometimes. New Intakes- We took in some new children into the Covering a couple of weeks ago. Most of you blog-stalkers know this already from the other TRS people’s blogs, but I still wanted to write about it because it was beautiful. The first girl out of the TRS poda-poda (van) was an older sister of a girl in our center that we did not know even existed. The girl in our center had not seen her sister in 2 years, but told us she thinks about her every time she eats and hopes that her sister has food as well. We were able to reunite these siblings and that was beautiful to see. The next child off the poda was a young boy about 3 years of age. This was a very special intake because this child was one of the children that TRS was not able to rescue a few years back from a very abusive situation. Frankly, most of us thought we would never see this child again as he was in the last stages of starvation when we were forced to walk away. We have a few other children at the Covering who also grew up at the same place. They know the abuse, they know the neglect, they know the fight, they know the conditions that this young boy was just rescued from. Not long after this young man came out of the poda in the arms of a woman who loves him dearly one of these previously rescued children came down the stairs, she saw this boy, rushed to him, held him tight, and started sobbing. This girl RARELY shows any emotions…but she knows…she knows what he has been through, and she knows where he is now. It was beautiful. The third child out of the poda was a handicapped girl who is about 9 years old but weighs less than Ivey. This is one of those cases where a flood of emotions hit you. The abuse could not be hidden on this girl. Her arms are stick thin, her legs are nothing but bones, she has sores on her bottom because she has been sitting on the floor for so long, and her face, mouth, and esophagus have major burns because she “accidentally” drank boiling hot water. I see her and I get very angry, I get sick to my stomach at the evil present in this world, evil that would hurt and neglect such a helpless child. This little girl was scared. She grinds her teeth when she gets nervous and I could hear the grinding from 10 feet away. I could almost see the wheels turning in her head as she took in her surroundings trying to determine the best way to survive. What she didn’t know just yet was that she was already in the arms of someone who would NEVER hurt her, she was surrounded by kids who would welcome her with open arms, she had cooks looking over the balcony at the new arrivals who would always keep her belly full, she had people watching who will always fight for justice, she had aunties around her who would go back to the states and tell her story to raise up sponsors for her, she had caregivers pouring out of the building ready to clean her up and love on her, she had a family that will, above all, introduce her to King Jesus, teach her to walk in his ways, and watch as she falls in love with Papa God, soon she will join in with all the other voices as they sing at the top of the lungs, “ I tell Pappa God Tanki”. I checked on her recently and her wounds are healing, she is getting fatter, and she smiled at me…I am hoping soon she will recover enough to let me hold her. Right now I am scary, but that is ok, she has been through some tough things…but she lets her aunties hold her…she likes for them to hold her. That is beautiful! Kadija- Some of you may remember a recent post of mine where I mentioned one of our caregivers so unselfishly giving blood to a little girl who was dying. That little girl is Kadija. She is my friend and she comes in my office every day to give me a hug. I really like this little twerp. I think she is about 5, but she also weighs less than Ivey, I guess a lot of kids weigh less than Ivey, but you get what I mean. I like Kadija because she is super quiet and somehow is able to sneak up on me and jump in my lap without me even knowing she is in my office. I like her because after giving me a hug and visiting for a few minutes, she be-bops on out of here to head up stairs and get some food. I like her because she never forgets to come see me. You see, Kadija doesn’t live here; she lives just outside of our gates with her mom. She loves her mom very much and her face lights up when I ask how her mamma is doing. You see, up until these last 2 months Kadija was sick. She was really sick. She was sick all the time. Her hair was orange from malnutrition and she was such a skinny little thing. The TRS church has embraced this family outside of our gates and built relationships with them. We noticed that Kadija did not look well anytime we saw her. Because Pastor Daniel cares for our community he was able to check into this situation. You see, Kadija’s mom is very young, so young in fact we thought it was her sister at first. She is young and she works HARD trying to care for this little girl, but she just doesn’t know how. She can only afford a little food. She had a box of medicines because she knew her little girl was sick, but she didn’t know what to do with the medicines. So Kadija was sick, Kadija was dying, Kadija received life giving blood. I love our staff here. They are wise men and women. My first thought was that we need to get her into our program. In fact, I just knew that was the right thing to do. Well, once again I was proven to that I have a long way to go. You see, like I said before, Kadija loves her mamma and her mamma loves her. Her mom didn’t need a hand out, she needed a hand up. Sooo now our nurse works with her mamma to teach about medicines, we share our Kids Against Hunger food with the family, our house supervisor walks to kadija’s house every day, picks her up, walks her up to the center to eat lunch and play, and then walks her home late in the afternoon. This gives little Kadija a daily nutritious meal and exercise to strengthen her weakened frame. It gives her mamma time to go work to raise their standard of living and keeps a family together. They come to church here on Sundays now because they saw King Jesus in our staff. I know most of you think I am this incredibly macho, handsome, rugged, and muscular guy who stomps on sissys. I am ok with you thinking that, just stay away from my office when Kadija comes around or you will find me with a cute little 5 year old on my lap trying to explain to her how a wireless mouse works (this is difficult because my Krio is still about 50/50, she speaks no English, there is no word in Krio for wireless). Beans and Rice- Growing up my mom would always tell me, “well you don’t want to be eating beans and rice now do you?” This was always during a lesson about spending your money wisely so you have some left over, or not buying more than you can afford. I cherish these lessons as they have helped shape who I am with finances today. Well, the other day I was in my office eating beans and rice for lunch and just busted out laughing. I eat beans and rice a lot here…and you know what…I really like beans and rice. I really like that my mom and dad cared enough to teach me about money, but mom, I am going to have to change the warning about foolish money spending now that I am in Africa. Adoption ban- after 2 years of waiting I am happy to say that the adoption ban in Sierra Leone has lifted. We are still waiting to hear how to proceed through the correct channels with the government, but doors have opened. This is a great thing for TRS and a great thing for our family. Praise God! The Sierra Leonean government is making strides in putting together an adoption process that will help curtail child trafficking and allow many children a chance at a family. Please be praying for the government, TRS, and our family. My kids- I am just going to go ahead and call it right now. God has BIG plans for my kids. Heather and I are just the ones that are equipping them, but God has BIG plans for them. I thought he had big plans for us, but I think maybe I am wrong; maybe our role is just to give our kids a different perspective on life. I see it every day. Their personalities, talents, and passions complement each other so well and they will be such a strong team as they grow. I see Levi being so curious about the world around him, being able to build almost anything, and always ready for adventure. I see Albert having such a passion for God’s word that I can’t get him to go to sleep at night because he is up reading his Bible. I see him light up when I talk about unreached people; I see him quietly soaking up the world around him. I see John able to win anyone’s friendship with his humor and smile. I see Isatu’s kind spirit, servant heart, and love for prayer. Ivey Lane spends most of her day encouraging. She is just wired to encourage others. She is so sensitive about other people’s suffering that she regularly cries at movies because someone is being ugly to someone else. When Levi taunts her because he beat her at something she says, “you really did a good job, Levi”, and she isn’t being sarcastic, she really admires the job he did in beating her. I see my children fighting for justice, serving the poor, praying, praying, praying, being open to God’s leading even into an adventurous place. I see their white faces opening doors; I see their black faces opening doors. God has a plan; as hard as it is to follow sometimes I am so glad he is leading me. I wish I understood how all of this is going to work, but I don’t. I pray that God will use them to share the good news of his Kingdom. I pray that he will show Heather and I the best way to prepare them. I can’t wait to see how these amazing kids will be used. I am so proud of them. If you are not asleep by now from reading this long blog post I pray that the scripture below will be an encouragement to you. Thank you for following along with us and thank you for praying for us. May God Bless You!! Isa. 1:10-13,16-17 Isa 58:1-3,5-10 Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah! “The multitude of your sacrifices-what are they to me? says the Lord. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals: I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths, and convocations-I cannot bear your evil assemblies…Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins. For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. “Why have we fasted,” they say, “and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?”…Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the kind of fast I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-when you see the naked, to cloth him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. I pray that my children will see their parent’s stumbling attempts at trying to follow these directions from God and be encouraged to follow Him into greater things. I pray that their lights will break forth like the dawn and that the glory of the Lord will be their rear guard. I pray that my children will spend themselves on behalf of the hungry, that they will shelter the wanderer, clothe the naked, seek justice, defend the cause of the fatherless and widow and most of all I pray that my kids will love and obey the Lord with their heart, soul, mind, and strength….whatever the costs, wherever the road may lead. That will be beautiful…

Mangos bombing the tin roof

Every now and then we are startled by the very loud thud of a mango hitting the tin roof. I have jumped up in bed several times thinking surely someone had busted down the door only to be told by an orange lipped guard that everything is fine. The kids and Andrew love them. I do not. But it is so nice to have fresh fruits in your yard. I think I would like to have that in every house I live in but if I have the privilege of planning the landscape I am going to move it away from the house a few yards.

It finally rained! Only for about 15 minutes and then it was gone. That is the only rain we have had for the entire time we have been here. I know I have said that several times but that is just amazing to me. We woke up to the sound of it and the kids were so excited that they went strait out to play in the rain in their pajamas. I did not stop them because I was in front.

I opened the bag of flour I was going to use for pancakes and saw a worm on top. That is not what I was hoping for! Our cook tells me you have to sift it every time. So, I am sifting the worms out of flour these days and not eating raw cookie dough any more.

I am now the mother of a nine year old. We asked John if he had ever had any kind of party or cake at the refugee camp and the answer was no as expected. At the center they celebrate with 4 parties a year to celebrate all the birthdays of that quarter. So, I loved getting to celebrate just him. We made him follow a streamer that went from his bed all through the house and at the end we were in the living room waiting to pop the confetti poppers and sing happy birthday. He opened his presents and after a fun day at the beach we had pizza and cake. Yes, those are matches. We are in Africa and I didn't have candles. I am so thankful that God has allowed us this time to be his family. He brings joy to our lives and is really a wonderful person that I adore.

Levi will surely be a biologist. He spends all his time outside looking for creatures. Two Saturdays ago there was a spectacular development. He found a hermit crab. It was way over at the far side of the beach. He begged us unmercifully to take it home. I relented reluctantly. Why? Because they are gross and I was remembering the episode a year or two ago of him loosing one in our house that was missing for months and then showed up one day in the kitchen. Then one day he died and fell out of his shell on me. Disgusting. But, a disgusted mother is no match for a pet needing 5 year old so he took it home. It promptly died. I did not take this one out-he did. This Saturday he came home with somewhere around 19 hermit crabs and 5 clams. I love this photo of him trying to haul all those gross things plus sand across the beach to our car.

This really is getting out of control and I need to put my foot down. However, when he woke up the day after bringing them home, he literally went strait to the crab box and stayed there all day. He loves to watch them. I want to yell, 'no more crabs stinking up the back porch!', but how could I take away his joy? Here he and Ivey are eating egg sandwiches and 'studying hermit crabs'.

And, he is so quirky. This is how eats banana's:

And the funny label of the week is:
Diabetic Raspberry Extra Jelly

The other day I pulled out a map of the world that has been color coded for Christianity. It shows all areas where it is illegal and what area's are hostile with intensely persecuted churches. Albert was very interested and asked several questions about that. He has said for years now that he wants to be a pastor. I showed him how the line is all across north Africa and the persecuted realm is coming south. The line at this point is just north of Sierra Leone. I said, "It appears that God is doing something along this line because many missionaries are feeling led to go to countries and area's right along this border all the way across Africa. I think it is time to push that line back". He smiled, agreed, high 5'd me, and walked away. I almost cried. There was a day that I thought my job as a mother was to protect my children from ever suffering anything including a persecution. I felt that I needed to pray that God would not choose my child. Today I am at peace with the fact that of all the things I have to protect my children from, God is not one of them.

the two request

So we have a request. Actually two.
Request #1
The boy we have mentioned in two recent post about selling the biscuits and hurting his eye has now been kicked out of his aunts home for not selling biscuits on Easter. He instead went to church with us. We had no idea that he would get in trouble for that-we just invited him. At first he said he was coming but didn't show up for a while. When Albert went over to check on him he said he couldn't come because he didn't have anything to wear. So Albert walked him to his closet and told him to pick something. He went and showed up the next week too. He had apparently knocked on the gate and we didn't hear him. So he went on his own. He was sitting there playing drums when we walked in. He grinned from ear to ear at our surprise. He came over to tell us about his situation and say that he was walking to his uncles house to ask if he could live with him. The answer was no. He asked his mom who according to him abandoned him at birth and never comes to see him if he could live with her and she let him know he would have a new dad when he got there. He was not excited about this option but agreed and I don't know what happened but she showed up and left without him. He is currently staying with the really nice lady across the street. We are wondering if anyone out there would be interested in helping with his school fees. We think it is going to cost approximately $500 and the cost of a uniform, lunch, and transportation.


Request #2
We will be shipping a container soon that will bring some of our last items that were bigger and we couldn't bring on the plane. Since being here we are figuring out what things are reasonably priced and what things are expensive. We have a food list of items that cost triple here what I could get it there when I was couponing. So are looking for around 3 Super Savers out there who would not mind shopping for us. We will take as much of each of these items as we can because with 5 kids we are going through things pretty fast. I have been watching the Publix site and many of these things are buy one get one free or even just on sale at Publix this week. They have a limit to the amount that you can buy so we need several people to buy as many as possible. We have to have the items at the home of our shipping coordinator (who lives in Spring Hill, Tn but items can also be dropped off at Logo Chairs in Franklin, Tn) by April 27th. If you are able to shop at Publix for these things please add a message at the bottom of this post and let me know. When you have a total and we will have our fantastic financial partner reimburse you.

Here is the list:

Instant Oatmeal
Peanut Butter
Powdered Milk
Tuna Fish
Honey
Cascadian Farms-Honey Oats cereal
Shredded Wheat cereal
Raison Bran Cereal
Cheerios
Chex cereals
sunflower seeds-shelled
oatflour
Parmesan cheese
Emerald brand almonds
Barilla alfredo sauce
Canned vegetables(green beans and peas)
Louisiana Hot Sauce
dried beans(black eyed peas, light and dark red kidney, navy, etc)
grape, strawberry or blackberry jelly/jam
Levi would like to request Mac-n-cheese($4/box here! Isn't that crazy!)
Velvetta cheese
Nutella
Chocolate chips
M+M's
Creamers in Hazelnut
Canned drinks: coke, dr.pepper, sprite, fanta, mountain dew, canada dry.
Starbucks coffee (Pike place roast ground for a french press)

Misc items:

Borax and Armand Hammer washing detergent (for making our own laundry detergent-thank you Rachel Ropiecki)
Paper Towels
bleach

Thank you advance if you can do this!!!

Beating Dudas

Today we saw something new.
In my 32 years on earth and 19 of christianity I have never heard of the tradition of beating Judas on Good Friday. Today as we drove to our weekly family day location-River #2- we past what I would call a scare-a-crow stuffed full of clothes instead of straw. He was sitting in the middle of the road in a chair. The kids yelled, "Dudas! It's a Dudas". Of course that launched 100 questions on our part and found out that on Good Friday they stuff these things and call them Dudas which means Judas from the Bible. They beat it to smithereens at some specified time of the day because he betrayed Jesus. We passed a total of 3 and as we were coming home from the beach they had all been annihilated. The clothes were spread all over the road. Has anyone else ever heard of that?



Speaking of the beach. We love it. All week we look forward to it and everyone gets so excited, myself included. People ask us how we are doing here and what life is like but it is really hard to answer that. Last Friday I really had a meltdown. Thank goodness it was only an inward meltdown and no one around me knew that I was upset. It started because I get really antsy when anyone is inside our compound and we had 3 other people here besides the guard and cook. One of them was trying to take something they shouldn't and they were all waiting on me to pay them for various things. I didn't know how much so I was trying to call Andrew who I couldn't reach and the kids kept kicking a soccer ball on my new little sprouting flowers that I was excited about growing. That is not all but I am going to choose not to elaborate more than that. Andrew also had a tough week. While we are aware that we are much wealthier than anyone around us and we want to help people it gets so exhausting to have people ask you for things everywhere you go. There is a man in the area who waits at our door every day and if we go outside the gate he is there ready to ask for some money or an egg or something. You think someone is coming around talking to you because they really do want to know you but then they ask for money and you find out that they were only building up to asking for something. It will be hard for us to make real friends here because of that. There is another man who comes about once a week. He is not all there and begs without end that we would call BBC to tell them to stop talking to him through the radio. He is sure that they are telling him to hurt people and they are telling other people to hurt him. When we were buying chickens I had a lady rush me and shove a boy towards me. She then held his face from behind so that I would look at his face and said, "Look at this boy! Look at his face. He needs a chicken, buy him a chicken!" Except this boy didn't look like he was sick or that he was doing without any meals or anything so I said no and moved on. There has yet to be a time when we go anywhere that at least 5-10 people don't beg us for something. Then you also have the everyday difficulty of living. There is no dishwasher so you hand wash 7 peoples dishes. You also can only do laundry when all the stars are aligned there is electricity. You have to hope that it will stay on long enough to make it through the wash and dry cycle. If you have to hang it on the line-well it is probably going to be pointless. Like today, I washed the cover on our bed and hung it up on the line. The nail came out of the cement wall(again) and the cover went strait into the water drainage area where it is really gross with dirty food and muck. The other day the people in the compound next to us were burning trash and the smell permeated everything on the line. So anyway, it is hard here. But you know, we really feel like it is where God wants us and we would not be happy anywhere else. On the way to the beach Andrew commented on how he liked it here. And I do too. Some days I may not feel the same but overall we are at peace with this and are learning to love it-even the hard parts. I kind of like the way everything is so old school. You want furniture-build it. You want eggs-go ask the lady with the coop. You want to know how the game ends-listen to the radio. Everything has pro's and con's. Here are the photos of this weeks biggest pro's:


Beautiful Isatu at gorgeous River #2


Albert


John, Levi and Isatu


The little fishermen-no bites today. They were quicker than any of us expected.
Ivey

Seven chickens

We have the chickens!!!
I finished painting the inside of the coop white and we went down the street to collect the shavings from the carpenter. After dropping them off at home we drove down to Lumley where I had seen the chickens. They were right in the middle of a market and it is a busy time of day at 5:00 because people are buying the food they need for dinner. So Andrew stayed in the car while I took Albert, John, and Levi to check it out. We had to slide between booths of hanging garlic, bowls of beans, smelly fresh fish laying on trays. Once we had squeezed through the small space to get to the chickens and bartered with the lady to determine a price I let Albert pick his chicken. The lady shoved an arm into the cage of about 20 chickens and yanked the pointed out rooster. It was a little alarming how rough she was with it but I am sure she thought he wasn't living past tonight anyway. So then I held John up to pick his chicken. He also picked a rooster and so ended a large selection of birds for the rest of the family. He had the funniest expression. One of uncertainty, as if he didn't know if he still wanted this squawking, flapping, talon ended bird. But the lady was shoving it at him so he took it and held it with two hands all the way back to the car. Levi picked a beautiful solid black hen and grinned from ear to ear as he carried her to the car. They got in and put their chickens in their designated bucket and I got Isatu and Ivey out. Isatu wanted white and Ivey wanted black, but yet again the roughness of the chicken handler was alarming to the kids. They both shrieked back gasping at the terror of this bird yelling at them and the lady holding it in their face barking 'take it'? So I took the chickens and convinced Isatu to hold hers while I carried Ivey and her chicken. As we were turning to go the lady who was probably in her early twenties said something to me and I replied that I was coming back and getting 2 more. I have never seen anyone react in the way she did to a purchase I have made. She asked, " Two more?! Your coming back to buy two more?" I shook my head yes and held up two fingers and she jumped up shouting to her fellow venders "She said she's buying two more!" She jumped up and down and pumped her fist in the air laughing and yelling that over and over. All I could do was laugh and leave. So I took the two girls to the car and getting in was quite a scene. I put Ivey's bird in her bucket in front of her and it came flapping right back out. Ivey flipped out! She pressed herself against the seat as hard as she could and in quick repetition scream yelled at the bird. That set Isatu off and she tried to jump out of the car wearing this wide eyed frightened look and saying she didn't like fowl. Of course Albert and Levi were laughing hysterically and John was doing his usual hilarious commentary. He says 'uh huh' in a deep voice at really funny times. It is almost impossible to describe him but he can get Andrew and I laughing until we cry. So we got the girls in and I went back for the other two hens and we went home. Everyone was so excited to get the chickens to the coop and even Ivey and Isatu calmed down and enjoyed the scenes.
The chickens quickly established the pecking order and we gave all of them names. Albert's rooster, Poppet, came out on top and is currently ruling the roost. John's rooster is second and was named Lion-King of the Coop. There is a little uncertainty about the middle but we are pretty sure that my hen is last in pecking order because she got bossed quite a bit. I went to check on them before I locked up tonight and they were all huddled up together sleeping so I think they are going to get along just fine.

the atari farm

Sometimes I feel like I have been dropped into some kind of alternate universe where we live on a strange farm with plenty of roosters and atari music. We will just be driving down the road and suddenly hear atari sounds blasting from giant speakers that they have set up for school field days. Goats are always crossing the roads and the other day we were in the middle of Freetown and saw several hilarious things including a guy pulling a giant wagon(which you see all the time) but with an oversized helmet on so he looked like an atari character. I couldn't get my camera out in time or I would have an extra photo on the blog today. Also, we saw several motorbike taxi drivers wearing coats. One was wearing a fur coat. I guess it gets cold when you buzz through heat waves. Another alternate universe phenomenon. Again, I didn't get my camera out in time.
I have been amazed at the fact that we have been here for 2.5 months and it has not rained once-not once! I don't know how the trees stay green. I guess the oceans humidity is enough.
We sit outside to eat every night because it helps us to avoid mopping the dining room and because in this alternate universe it is so hot that sitting outside is better than the heat inside. Our tin roof could burn the skin off you. When we sit outside there are two patio type areas in the back and we always line up on the edge of them. We have been trying to have what we call 'mommy daddy time' periodically with each of our kids so that they get to spend one on one time with us. I overheard Levi say to John as he sat down next to him on the patio that he had really enjoyed Levi Johnny time. I laughed and asked him what that was and he replied that he and John had sat on the front porch together that afternoon and played and talked together. So that was Levi Johnny time. So sweet! There is always a lot of giggling and throwing toys from bed to bed at rest time too. While sometimes I have to go in there 40 times to tell them to be quiet I usually give it my sternest voice and then smile to myself when my back is turned to them because I am glad that they are bonding.
There is a common scene at our house where Samuel the guard and Albert huddle around the radio to listen to the soccer game. That feels so old school to me and I love it.

Also during dinner-we are all eating and talking when suddenly Ivey shrieks, "Look at my mustache!". Yes, that is a chicken bone. I can't promise that she is not always this dirty but I will say she is sometimes clean...


We painted the chicken coop today and are getting the shavings tomorrow. Friday is the big day for chicken hunting. We have been learning about them all week and I just have to share this hilarious excerpt from a fantastic site for beginning a backyard chicken farm;
• Young pullets often lay malformed eggs before getting established in a normal laying routine. Older hens may occasionally lay abnormal eggs due to age, stress, or illness.
• Pullet eggs--the first ones produced by each pullet--are smaller than the eggs that the same hen will produce as an older hen.
• “Fart egg” and “oops egg” are terms for tiny eggs that quickly pass through the oviduct without reaching full size.

You can imagine how that went over sitting in the chicken coop reading that to 3 boys.
I couldn't quit laughing myself so we moved on to the painting.
You really don't have buy kids toys for them to have fun. This "shooting hat gun" made by Levi from discarded wire was the source of hours of enjoyment on his part and torture for everyone else that he was 'shooting' by running at and poking.
And after all that is it any wonder that this is what the end of our day looks like?