School days...

Above is the newest member of the Helping Hands' family, Francis. He is a lovely, 12 year-old boy who just came to us from the village. His 3 siblings have been with us for a couple of years now. Merander, Noel, and Dorcas all came to us malnurished and neglected. You might recall, Dorcas was two but was unable to walk or talk, she had sticks for legs, and had only her 12 year-old sister to look after. Since they came, they have all just blossomed and are doing so well. Dorcas has caught up on all her stages and started school for the first time this week. OK, back to Francis... his elder sister who lives in the city called us and told us the uncle that her two brothers were living with had died and the boys had no one looking after them. So Jake headed back out to the village to go investigate. An uncle had already come and taken the younger of the brothers, but Francis was still there. The family was happy for him to come with us as they could not provide for him. Since coming to the home, Francis has just been doing fantastic, he has probably adapted to his new life quicker than any of the other kids. He is friends with everyone and just fits right in, it is so good to see. The background on this family is that the father had two wives. He had 6  children with his first wife, and then married a much younger lady and had 6 children with her also. We have numbers 6, 5, 3, & 2 out of the last set of children. The Father died of HIV/AIDS and then the mother died of of the same disease when Dorcas was just a few months old (praise the Lord that Dorcas doesn't have the disease even thought she was breast fed). This maybe one of the reasons that the family neglected these precious children as there is such a stigma associated with HIV/AIDS here. We thank the Lord for bringing these precious children into our care and we know that He has a wonderful plan for them.


All the kids started school on Monday. We had two boys heading to secondary school this year (equivalent of middle school & high school). They are attending a government school now which are a lot different from the small private school they have been in the last two years. They now have classes of over 70 students and have very little room to ask questions or discuss something they don't understand. If you want to do well, you really have to study hard and give 110%. And there is of course all the different peer pressures that come along from being in a much larger school. Please keep Blessing and Aruna in your prayers, that they will stay focused, study hard, and be a light for Jesus in their schools.


We switched schools for all our primary (elementry) aged kids. We were not too impressed with the school they have been going to, even though it was a Christian one. We decided to take a step of faith and put them in a much better, but much more expensive school (there is no free education here). It is much more organized and is education focused. They also provide all the school books for the kids which is very rare, you usually have to buy them. It is about a five minute walk so it is a great location too. Jude is going there as well and is enjoying it so much. There are a lot of kids in Nursery 1 but he is having a blast. I'm not quite sure what they have been doing but he did tell me they had bread with hot chocolate and they sang a butterfly song (that's all I've got from him so far). Below are a few photos of the first day:

All schools here require uniforms, Jude sure looked cute in his!

Sandrine in her new uniform too, she has been soooo excited to go to school

Bena and Jude

It was pretty noisy in there!

All the kids lining up for prayers and national anthem before school starts.

(WOHOO, I can finally upload photos again!)

School books

So I had a huge ordeal getting the boys' school books to Cameroon this year, it has never been an issue before. I usually order from 3 different places, Sonlight, A Beka, and CBD.com where I get all my consumables and math. I just get it shipped to my parents and then they send it with a team or intern. I have always gotten it on time before. Well, in January a church blessed us with finances specifically for school curriculum. I went ahead and got a few extra charts, posters, computer programs, and books since I had the money all for it (it was a happy day!). I had it all shipped to my parents. There was a team scheduled for June so I wasn't concerned about getting it here. But then the team was rescheduled for next year so I had to look for another way to get it here. One of our Cameroonian friends just started a business of shipping containers from the States to here. He had already done it a few times with success so we decided to mail our boxes up to his warehouse in Georgia. It got put on the container and then low and behold, the container got stolen! Apparently this happens all the time. Our friend flew back to the States as quickly as he could to sort things out. It took about a month to find it and inventory all the things. My boxes were nowhere insight but I was told they could be inside a vehicle as it wasn't opened. Very frustrating! At this point it was July and our home schooling co-op started early August, I really needed my books by then. I also did not want to start school late as my goal is to finish early before we travel next year. I had a few days where I couldn't even think about it as it made me sick but after some prayer and a look at priorities I got my head on straight. We decided to go ahead and reorder everything and have it shipped directly here, expensive, but that seemed our only option. We have never had any trouble with losing boxes before but there is always that risk. PTL, Sonlight was awesome and did the cheapest possible shipping for a 40lb box. They also said I can return my previously bought curriculum if it does show up and they will give me a full refund, I love Sonlight! After emailing CBD and explaining the circumstances, they actually sent out my whole order for free and didn't even charge me shipping! How incredible is that?! Both of those boxes arrived the week before home schooling started. A Beka was the only one where shipping was way too much so I got it sent to my parents and then they shipped it here for much less. PTL, that box just arrived today so we are all set for school! We will also be getting a refund from our friend as soon as the container arrives and all the paperwork is sorted out. So happy I have a wonderful Father in heaven who is into details and worked the whole mess out. I think in the future I am just going to direct ship again as it is the most hassle free way.


So here is the what we are doing this year if your interested:


Josh:
Sonlight Core 5 (history, geography, readers and read-a-louds all focus on the Eastern Hemisphere)
Sequential spelling 3
Saxon Math 5/6
Abeka Language arts work book B
Abeka Science, Investingating God Worlds workbook
Map Skills for today 5
Wordly Wise 5
Typing instructor CD


Seth:
Sonlight Core 3 (history, geography, readers and read-a-louds all focus on early American history)
Sequential spelling 2
Saxon Math 3
Abeka language art workbook 3
Abeka science; Exploring God's World and  Health Safety, and Manners 3
Wordly Wise 3
Explode the Code 7 & 8


We do the four day schedule and Friday is our "fun" day. We always have piano lessons, art, watch a Mythbusters, and try to get some sport in there too. One week down, 35 more to go!

I'm back!

I know, I have severely been neglecting my blog but just so much has been going on I honestly haven't had time to sit down and write. But life is back to somewhat of a schedule since school has started up so I should be able to blog a couple times a week again (famous last words!). 


So since my last post our family has grown a little larger, we now have three horses and a snake; an african burrowing python to be exact. We were also given a monkey but I had to put my foot down somewhere (much to the dismay of my boys!). But we did find the little primate a home and he is doing well (current animal count at the Ski house: 2 dogs (one is pregnant), 2 cats, 1 turtle, 1 chameleon, 11 chickens, 3 horses, and 1 snake).  We are only looking after the horses for a year for some missionary friends that have gone back to the States. Since coming to Bamenda we have been contemplating getting horses but it is a big investment and lots of work so we wanted to make sure the boys were old enough to handle the responsibility. This way we don't have to buy the horses and we get to experience what it is like and at the end of the year the boys can decided if they want to carry on with all the work. So here is how school days are looking for us right now.


5:15 rise and shine for Jake and I
5:30 I go for a run
5:45 Jake wakes up the boys so they can take the horses down to the pasture (a mile away)
6:30 I get back and the boys are just about getting back too and they finish their chores
6:45 Wake up Jude and Jordan if their not already up
7:00 Breakfast 
7:25 Take Jude to school (only a five minute walk)
7:45 Take shower
8:00 Do devos (Josh and Seth too)
8:30 Start school
12:30 Pick up Jude
1:00 Lunch
2:00 Josh finishes up school
3:00 Head to our afternoon program (kid's club, tutoring, staff meeting, prayer meeting, teaching at Bible school or music practice at church)
6:00 Boys go get horses from pasture and feed them
6:30 supper
7:00 Family devos
7:30 Showers for kids
8:00 Bed time for Jude and Jordan
8:30 Bed time for Josh and Seth
10:00 Bed for Jake and I


Phew! So this is the plan anyway, so far this week it has been working like a charm but of course it is the first week! And Jude hasn't started school yet, it starts on Monday. The horses are pushing school back half an hour but I think it is going to work. The boys haven't complained about the horses yet even thought it is a lot for them. They have a lot of horse poop to pick up (which my compost is loving!) but they do get to ride all Saturday and Sunday afternoon. I have been so proud of them, they are doing so well, they are like pros already! They pretty much ride bare back most of the time too.


Our Co-workers, the Borns just got in today after being gone to the States for five month. It's nice to have them back especially to help out with the workload, since Bible School starts next week. 


Like I said above, Jude starts school on Monday, he is going to the same school that the kids from the Children's home are going to. He will be in the same class as his best buddies, Bena and Dorcas. It is Nursery 1. We'll see how he does being the only white kid in school, but he can stand up for himself pretty well and of course he has 19 friends there already so I'm sure he will be fine. He is soooo excited, every time we go past the school he shouts, "That's my school." We got his uniform this week, I'll post pictures soon.


Well, I have TONS to blog about, hopefully I can catch up in the next week or two. 

East trip

We just returned from spending a week out in the East of Cameroon. When we worked with Bread For Life we were out there a lot, assisting teams build a school and clinic, doing outreaches, etc. It has been four years since I was there and the last time Jake was out there was the night Jude was born, so almost as long. One of the most amazing things of the trip was the roads, the majority of it is paved now and from Yaounde to Mbang is took us less than 5 hours (once a 8-12 hour trip). Cameroon without a doubt is moving forward. 


So we started out trip with a 5 hour drive to Yaounde so spend the night with our good missionary friends, the Youngs (Daryl is a pilot). When we lived there we hung out all the time so it was great to spend a bit of time catching up. The next day we drove another 3 hours to see some more good missionary friends in Dimako, Nathan and Laurel Conrod with their 3 kids.  They are missionary to the Baka "Pygmy" tribe and live in the rainforest with another family and a couple of single girls. They are what I call real missionaries as they have no electricity except what they get from their solar panels, they pump their water from a well. and live a good six miles from the closest shop. They really have given up so much for the sake of the Gospel, makes me feel bad for complaining about electricity cuts all the time. Anyway, it was great to see the work that they are doing amoungs this mostly unreached people group. We also showed them how to slaughter a pig... they ask the man to bring it live but just as we got there we heard a shot and the man came up with a dead pig (he'd been shot with bird shot so there was a lot of pellets in him). So we had to kinda rush to show them how it was done as it was hot, the flies were out, and it was already dead. It was a pretty small pig but that was a good thing as there wasn't much fridge or freezer space (which is kerosene run). We made some yummy italian sausage and put some ribs and chops in the freezer as well. The boys had fun running around getting dirty, holding their pet snakes, and exploring the rain forest. It was a great time. 


Then we headed out to Mbang to visit the TMI team. The team is doing awesome and completing the clinic that another TMI team built 4 years ago. It is being led by Tom and Linda Maher who Jake led a team with to Scotland in '98. Linda was also one of teachers in Bible School. 


Right before the Clinic site there is  small Baka village, these are the people that we know pretty well, the chief has always been so friendly to us. As we pulled up, everyone came out running to meet us and the they all gave us great big hugs, it felt soooo good! You never know if someone is going to remember you but it was so great these people did. Everyone seemed to be doing well. Sadly one of the chief's children had died since out last trip, but he did have another baby too, and I think his wife was pregnant again. 


We had a lot of fun with the team, helping with the work, walking the half mile to the spring to fetch water, cleaning vegetables, translating, filtering water, going to the village to do a presentation, enjoying the evenings around the camp fire as they did devos (I got to lead worship one night). When we were out there 4 years ago a lady brought her young son to us who had fallen in the fire and his legs and private parts were covered in third degree burns. I blogged about it on July 24th, 2007 if you want to read about it in the archives on the side. Anyway, at the time the mother didn't seem very grateful or show much emotion about it. I know she was concerned for her child but she also didn't seem over zealous to seem him get better either. Anyway the first night we got there, she came running up to us, saying, "Jacque, mon sauveur", or Jake, my saviour. She was so happy to see us and said that as soon as she heard "Jacque" was around she had to come and say thank you. Carlos is doing well and getting big she said. So it made me realize that you never know what seeds you are planting in these people's lives even when they don't seem to show too much emotion at the time. We praise the Lord that Carlos is doing so well.


In the Baka village Josh pointed out that one of the girls had a swollen foot. At first I thought it was just mal-nutrition as a lot of them have swollen feet from that. But this was different, she had a cut under her foot and she could hardly bare for me to even touch the top of her foot. It was badly infected and the mother said it had been that way for about a month. She couldn't walk and you could tell she was in a lot of pain, poor thing. Jake ran to town and got some antibiotics (no prescription laws here) and pain reliever. I soaked her foot in warm water for the days I was there and a lot of gunk came out. We prayed over her and it was looking a lot better by the time we left. Josiah, a team leader, is going to continue to give her her medicine everyday and change her bandage. We were also brought a little baby that was having stomach problems and had a fever. There is such a huge need out there for basic teaching on nutrition, hygiene, health, etc and the Gospel of course. The Baka tribe is 50,000 strong yet there is so few that are reaching out to them. Matthew 9:38 has been my prayer for them these last weeks. 


On our way out we stopped at the Baka village one last time to say good bye. The Chief told us next time we come we need to build our house there and learn his language (the chief speaks a little bit of French). It was hard to say goodbye to them all. These people certainly have a very special place in our hearts!


On the way home part of our exhaust fell off, the car was full of fumes. For some reason the floor got really hot and the back seat actually melted on the bottom! Thankfully it was only an hour from home and we made it back safe and sound. Thank you Lord for your traveling mercies!


I haven't been able to upload photos on my blog. Hopefully I will figure it out soon. Till then check out the photos I posted on FB of our trip:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2068429425274.114876.1080983117&l=a2c5de027c&type=1

Back from vacation

SO, I wrote this blog over a week ago but couldn't post it as internet was down. We just got back from the East but I thought I would get this one up first and then blog about our trip out to the rain forest:


We got back from vacation over a week ago and I feel like I have been playing catch up ever since... I still have piles of laundry (the constant rain isn't helping!). But it was totally worth it, we had a blast. Vacationing with four kids is definitely a lot of work but we did have a relaxing time and it was nice just all to be together without any pressure of having to do something. We all came home with a nice tan. I have uploaded a bunch of photos to Face Book and you can look at them here (even if you're not a member).


http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2027423600154.112896.1080983117&l=471dae09bc


A few memories from the beach:


Going to bed to the sound of crashing waves


Digging my feet in the sand while doing devotions.


Body surfing with the boys and laughing so hard I could hardly breath


Walking on the beach collecting shells with Jude


Singing songs around the campfire at night


Watching Jordan chase leaves in the shallow river


Playing Carcassonne till I couldn't see straight.


Kayaking up the river


Making a raft (Bear Grylls style)


Jumping into the cool ocean after going for a run with Jenna


Eating the most delicious shrimp ever

Family vacation

This last couple of weeks have been a bit of a blur... just so much going on while trying to get ready for our vacation (finals at bible school, church programs, kids getting ready for Teen Missions, traveling out to the village). Jake's cousin Jenna came in after a day's delay in Paris. She is such a trooper and is fitting right into our family, it is a real joy to have her here for a couple of months. There have been some major storms here the last couple of weeks and the electric and water have been off a lot. Our internet router blew up as well as our laptop cable (praise the Lord is wasn't the computer!). It took over a week to get back up online and we were able to borrow a cable from friends until we can get one here, but it is so good to be connected to the world again. Tomorrow we head to the beach for just over a week, we are all so ready for a bit of a break. In a strange sense of irony, we just heard that the electrical transformer blew up there and that there has not been electricity there for over a week... hmmm looks like we might be vacationing with candles :-D. Anyway, at least we will all be together having fun.

So I will be posting lots of photos when we get back. Be back soon!

Yummy Dinner

Why do I have a photo of food on my blog you ask. Well this is one of the hens from the first batch of chickens from the  Children's Home (and it was sooooo good!)

Cut back to a few days ago....

We have 50 chickens and we slaughtered 18 of them on the first day. Believe it or not, my Texan-Iowan-country-boy-husband had actually never killed a chicken! The way they do it here is not the most humane or clean way so we decided to youtube it and found some easy, quick techniques. It worked like a charm, the chickens were dead in a matter of seconds after cutting their throats.

Next we dipped them in scalding water (140-160 degrees) for a few seconds

Then they were plucked, the feather pretty much just wipe off

Then we cleaned them, of course nothing goes to waste here, head, feet, even the intestines are all eaten. I am now an expert chicken cleaner!

We had all the older kids helping, this is a great skill for them to know. The littler kids were hanging out watching and being silly. 

Jude enjoying his chicken dinner

So our goal is for the orphanage to have two chickens a week and then sell the rest to to cover all the cost of feeding and raising them. With this first batch we have sold well over half already. Chicken is probably the choice meat for Cameroonians, it is what you always have at weddings, church events, or when you go over someone's house. It is one of the most expensive meats. Generally our kids only get it at Christmas. We ourselves have it very rarely as it is costly and you have to buy them live at the market so it's just not very convenient. We seriously haven't had chicken for like 4 months, which I know is weird as chicken is so cheap in the States. Anyway, now we have a great source to buy from! We will be getting the next batch of day-old-chicks next week. 

Summer plans

Here's our plans for the next couple of months. 


June 20th: Jake's cousin is coming out till mid August. She is going to be helping at the orphanage and with our kids, all while experiencing Africa for the first time. She is also a runner so I will have a runner partner for a bit. I am really looking forward to her coming!


June 20th-28th: Finish painting the inside of my house, we've been living here over three years and I'm still not done. It's not that I'm procrastinating, I love to paint but it is usually down to time or finances. But now I have the paint and the time. I just need to finish the hallway, the boy's bathroom, Jake's office and my laundry room and I'll be all done (next year I'll tackle the outside). 


June 29th: We head to Douala, then on to Kribi for 6 nights. Kribi is the most beautiful beach in the whole world. We are going with our friends the Dibbits and staying at a little guest house. It is the bare minimum but that suits us just fine as we are out in the sun all day anyway. We can also bring our dog Strider along and we don't have to worry that he is going to dirty the cement floors. I am really looking forward to this break! No responsibility for a week (besides the kids and Jake of course :D)! We usually bring lots of snacks, eat out at the local restaurants, and buy fish fresh from the beach so I don't have to do too much cooking. We spend the evenings playing board games or watching movies. It'll be great to have some quality family time.  Then we head to Douala again and spend two nights there before heading back home. Douala is the capital city and great for shopping. You can just about find anything there is you have time from parmesan cheese to real ham to a new power steering pump for our truck (so now you know what we'll be looking for). The Baptist guest house there has a pool so the kids love being there too.


July 9th: The older children of HHCH head off to Teen Missions Boot Camp. We will try to go to most of the evening rallies. Always a lot of fun! The kids will be gone a total of 5 weeks I believe.


July 10th: Start doing some summer school with the younger children at HHCH with the help of Jake's cousin.


July 14th: Go get the three horses we will be baby sitting for a year, so excited! Their owners are heading back to the States on Forlough. Ever since we have moved to Bamenda we have been thinking about getting horses. This is the perfect opportunity for us to find out if we can cope having horses without forking out a lot of money to buy them and all the gear. The boys will get to see if they really want to get up earlier to do their extra chores and experience what hard work it is to look after the horses. We live in the mountains here so it is going to be wonderful to go riding up in the hills to waterfalls and caves.


July 19th: Head to Yaounde (6 hours away) to visit friends


July 20th: Travel to Dimako (another 6 hours?) to visit our friends, the Conrods. They are what I call real missionaries; ministering to the Pygmy Baka tribe, out in the middle of the rain forest, solar panels, water from a well, pet snakes, etc. We'll spend a couple of days with them, hopefully going to show them how to slaughter and process a pig. They have three kids right around Josh and Seth's age so they will have fun running around getting dirty. 


July 22nd: Head further into the rain forest to Mbang (another 4 hours?). This is where we spent the summer with a Teen Missions team back in 2007 (I think). We helped build a clinic for the Baka tribe, an awesome time. We'll spend a few days out there with the US team and visiting all our Baka friends. We'll also bring lots of snacks and goodies for the candy-deprived-teenagers :D. 


July 26th: Head back to Bamenda


July 28th: Continue on with Summer school with the kids


Early August: Have a VBS at our church


August 14th: School starts again with our SCA session (Home schooling co-op). I'll have a 5th and a 3rd grader!


So there it is! I also want to get some cheese making in and my vegetable garden up and going. Of course through most of this I'll still be teaching kids club twice a week, having library time, teaching Mami how to read, teaching Sunday School at church,  and doing some schooling with the boys. I also am aiming to get out with the kids at least once a week, whether it be to the pool, tennis court, or hiking.  There is also the possibility that Seth will go spend a few weeks with my folks in Florida (Josh did that last year).

Jordan's B-day

It's hard to believe but Jordan turned one on Thursday. This year has just zoomed on by! We decided to have a little get together at our house. Our missionary friends the Hamms are heading home on Furlough so we combined a goodbye dinner with the party. We had our friends the Dibbits over too. I went with a cat cake, Jordan's favourite animal. She just adores our cats and surprising they don't seem to mind all her chasing, squeezing, and kissing. So we had cake and ice cream first, we went and sat out in the garden so all the kids could run around. I made a huge spaghetti dinner and we had a great time of fun and fellowship. Good memories!

Josh helped me make the cake

Birthday girl!

Finishing School

We finished school last week, phew! There was a few days when I wasn't sure I would get through it with my sanity still intact but we did! It was definitely more of a challenge trying to keep Jordan and Jude entertained while doing 4th and 2nd grade with Josh and Seth. I remember one morning when I was doing spelling with Josh trying to concentrate, Jude was asking me to look at a picture he had drawn, Seth was asking me to help him with a Math problem, the doorbell rang, and I looked around and Jordan was standing on top of Seth's desk clapping her hands (she is out little spiderman!). I was about ready to do my Shrek roar! Thankfully, most days went a little smoother. Jordan has a good hour or two nap every morning which allowed me to get all my reading in. I'm believing that next year will be easier. I'll continue to do a little spelling with Josh thought the summer but I am looking forward to a few weeks break (at the end of the month we head to the beach for a week!). It has been nice not to be quite so rushed in the morning and making breakfast a little bit later. I have been organizing, cleaning, and gardening already.

The kids at HHCH are all finished with school too. They had an end of school and graduation ceremony last week. It lasted a total of 6 hours! Blessing and Aruna graduated primary school and will be going to secondary school in September (equivalent of middle school). Marvelous and Godwill graduated nursery and will be going into class 1 next year. We are looking at a new school for the children next year, we have not been completely happy with the school they have been in the last two years. Some of the kids are still not up to where they should be and the teachers aren't too concern about it. They have also been asking extra money for evening classes so the kids can pass their exams... very frustrating, surely they should be teaching that stuff IN school. Also the children have only gone about a 10th of the way through their consumable books, books the school insisted the children have, but then they hardly used them. So there is another private school that is close by, it is more expensive but we have asked for a reduction, we are waiting to hear from them, please keep it in your prayers. Blessing and Aruna will be heading to Government school as they enter secondary schools. This will take some adjusting for them as most classes have 100+ children but we are believe they will do well. July we will start summer school with all the kids (going to finish off those consumables!).

Our beautiful kids!

Blessing and Aruna, our two graduates

Marvelous graduating nursery (I couldn't get him to smile, but he had been there 6 hours, so I don't blame him!)

Godwill (placed first in his class!)

They whole crew