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.