Merry Christmas!

Boys in their new PJ's on Christmas Eve

We had a lovely Christmas, a really wonderful day! Christmas Eve we did our family tradition of letting the boys open one present each. It's always Pajamas but they haven't worked that out yet :). They were really excited and it's so nice for them to go to bed and wake up Christmas morning with their new PJ's on. We had our missionary friends over for lunch and then another 3 families over for dessert later in the afternoon. It was busy but a lot of fun. Later in the evening we all played the Wii (a present from my brother and family for the boys for Christmas) and it was hilarious watching a bunch of grown-ups play it :). We praise God that we have such a great group of friends up here already.

Jake and I got each other presents when we were in the States but Jake broke our rule and got me some lovely little things anyway. He managed to find some almost new Crocs in a second-hand shop here, they are so comfy! He also got me some candles and chocolate, yum!

Highlight of the day was to speak to my family (thank you Skpe!). Such a huge blessings, managed to get a hold of all three of my brothers as well as my parents.

Sunday we head to the Beach for a few days for our New Year tradition of camping on the coast with a bunch of other missionary families. Really looking forward to it! It is out in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone reception, no electric, so all you can do is relax!Happy Baby!

Opening Pressies

Setting Christmas Table

Christmas Celebrations and Pork chops!

There's been lots of celebrating going on in the neighborhood as Christmas draws near. A big party's going on down the road where they are playing drums, singing and of all things, shooting their guns. We even had some pellets, or shells or something fall on our roof (told the boys to play inside today :). Jake drove by there and said that they were dancing with their guns and just shooting them off when ever they felt like it. At least they are all happy!

Can't remember if I blogged about this before but an American bloke that came to Cameroon for the summer taught us how to butcher pigs as it is really hard to get pork here and when you do get it, you never know how old it is. Well, Jake and I both enjoy a good pork chop, so we were thrilled when we got the chance to learn how to process all the pork, and when I say process, I mean we pick up the pig live and kicking and put sausages, chops, roasts, ribs in our freezer the next day. We did one before we went to the States and just did another one yesterday so we'll be having a lovely pork roast for Christmas (have to make some applesauce to go with it too). Anyway, will try to post some pictures in a bit, having a bit of trouble with the internet connection.

So much to do, so little time!

OK, I know I've been despicable with my blogging, I feel really guilty. Just soooo much going on right now (good stuff). In the last two weeks we've got the contract signed for the land and building for the orphanage (10 year lease); such a blessing, we can start renovating it now but it is officially WON's on the first of the year.

We also found a great location for the Car Wash and have a contract for that too, it should open in the first couple of weeks of January. Right now Jake and Tim have been working like madmen to get it fixed/cleaned up. I have barely seen Jake the last week, dawn to dusk he's been there :). But we are super excited about the whole thing, once the Car Wash is up and going, it'll bring in finances for the Orphanage.

Of course we have a lot going on with Christmas too, getting the tree up, baking cookies, wrapping presents. Can't quite believe it is already here.

A missionary family from the capital went back to the States for a few months and asked us to look after their dog, so we now have three large dogs, good thing we've a big yard. There was a bit of fighting between them all the first few days but they seem to all be friends now.

Seth turns six on Saturday. We are going to have a little party for him Sunday afternoon, he's excited. He's made lots of friends in the neighbourhood that will come, plus a couple of missionary kids as well. My babies are all growing up!

We've been doing really good about getting up and doing devos every morning since coming back from the States. When we moved up here in June we were super busy and always left reading our bible till the end of the day, something I don't recommend. Then when we were in the States our schedule was so different wherever we went it always felt like we were just pushing it in when we had time. So now we are up at 6am every morning and read till about quarter to 7. It's extremely refreshing! Josh gets up sometimes too and reads his bible with us, so cute! Also WON has a prayer meeting every Wednesday afternoon. It's powerful to get together and lift up all our concerns and needs to the Lord, things have been going really well with the ministry since doing it.

Anyway it is super late, need to get to bed. Will write more in a day or two!

Mountain climbing

Had a great weekend in Mbingo. We spent two nights at a little Guest House up there with two other missionary families, was a lot of fun. Mbingo is up in the mountains and sooo gorgeous. Friday we went for hike to see a waterfall. The weather was warm and a little overcast so it was just perfect. There was flowers of all different colors everywhere. We saw lots of birds including a green-crested Turaco (good job I had by bird book with me). Anyway we had planned to have a picnic up there and after about an hour of sitting up there, taking pictures, enjoying the view, the clouds started to roll in. We thought it was so cool and just sat there talking about them. About 30 minutes after that it starting lightning and raining really hard! Praise God our friends had brought an umbrella or Jude would've got drench. We made a mad dash for it down hill, I jogged most of the way trying to get back as quickly as possible to get Jude out of the rain. Praise God only his feet got wet. Everybody else was absolutely drenched and muddy. But it was still a great time and now we know next time to head back as soon as the clouds come!

We also got to relax, play games, read our bibles, watch a movie, and have great fellowship with our friends.

When teams come out, we'd love to take them up there for an afternoon to have a picnic and experience a bit of Cameroon's beauty (anyone interested?)

Hiking up, we're at about 5,600 feet here (and yes I am carrying Jude in my arms despite the fact that I have a baby carrier on my back :)

Looking down at the waterfall. This picture doesn't do it justice, it was actually a little scary looking over this rock, it was a straight drop down of a hundred feet or so.

Family picture, including our Stider with his tongue hanging out.

This is the exact same shot as the one above, just with the clouds that we though were so "pretty."

Lots going on

Well we've really hit the ground running, so many things to do, so little time :). On my end, I'm home schooling, home schooling, home schooling, and then some more home schooling. Jake and Tim (our fellow coworker) have been out almost everyday negotiating the price and writing the contract for the land we are going to rent for the orphanage. Lots of talking going on about all the specifics, they want to make sure they get it right the first time. Hopefully that will all be done by next week.

Jake has always had the desire to start small business here in Cameroon to help bring in funds for the ministry. While in the States he raised the money for a Car Wash business (Helping Hands). So that's also taking up a lot of his time, finding a good location, negotiating the price, filing all the business paperwork, etc. He is super excited about it though and we believe that it will be a real blessing to all involved. It will provide a good service for Cameroonians, it will provide several jobs and most of all it will provide much need finances for the orphanage. We'd appreciate your prayers on this, it's our first time doing anything like this; Need favour with all the paperwork, a good manager, good workers, and a good location at a decent price.

Well with all this going on we are actually taken a two day break this afternoon (after homeschooling of course :). Before we left we though we would be totally exhausted from coming back to the States and book a couple of days in a small guest house in a little town called Mbingo. It's only 30 minutes away but it is higher up in the mountains and absolutely b-e-a-tuiful up there! Much cooler, lush green mountains, we can go on hikes to waterfalls, can't wait. Even though we are not as tuckered out as we thought we might be, we'll still enjoy the little break. We are going with some really good missionary friends so it will be a great time of fellowship too,

We made it!

Finally made it back home safe and sound on Wednesday, PTL! The trip back was actually really smooth, all the kids did well and all our luggage arrived, always a bonus! Returned home to two very excited dogs and a cat that didn't remember us (or at least pretended not to :). She has warmed up to us again since them. The house is fine, the garden has bloomed, the nights are cool, our friends are all doing great, what else can one ask for! Thanks to everyone that was praying for us.

Now I have to switch my brain back over to Cameroon living, not freaking out when Jake is driving, the boys being dirty all the time (including Jude who is crawling and into everything), Gas prices (which haven't gone done a penny here), and how long it takes to go shopping. But it is super nice to be home! Got butterflies when we landed, so good to be back. Have been enjoying the bananas. Avocados are in season yet, can't wait. Lots of kids knocking at our gate asking for the Josh and Seth to come out, they've been loving it, playing outside all afternoon.

Went for a jog this morning, really tough as I haven't been for almost two weeks, but did finish my two miles, felt a lot better after it. It's dry season right now so everything is really dusty, especially so when a taxi or motorbike zooms past you. Need to get some of these extra pounds off that I gained in the States.

We have a new internet service since coming back, it's a lot faster and a lot more reliable so I should be posting a lot more from now on. I'm super busy right now; home schooling is top priority, need to catch the boys up on all their missed days... also lots going on with the ministry; While back in the States we manage to raise about three quarters of the money we needed to get the orphanage off the ground (the dollar going up really helped too). So that is enough to go ahead and start and believe the rest will come in soon. We are really excited. The next few week involves finishing all the paperwork for the children's home, closing the deal on the property we will be renting, visiting local pastors/other ministries to introduce WON to them plus lots more. Keep us in your prayers!

Heading home tomorrow!

Keep us in your prayers, we fly out tomorrow and after five flights we'll be home, yipee!

Back in Florida

OK, we're back in Florida, so nice to be back and know that we are on the last leg of out trip. Jake spoke at our church here (East Coast Christian Center) and did a great job if I do say so myself. That was really our last speaking arrangment. We did have a mission's luncheon this Sunday after church where we'll get to hang out and talk with people. Should be fun. We have a super busy schedule too, people taking us out to eat, people having us over for meals, going to the zoo with my parents, WON staff meetings, and packing.

Fun in Texas

Well, our time in Texas is coming to a close, we leave around 6am on Monday morning. Tomorrow we're speaking at the church here, really looking forward to it. Went to the Wednesday night bible study, had a great time getting to meet everyone.

Yesterday we went to the Fort Worth zoo, we met up with Jake's aunt and cousins. Hadn't seen them forever. It was a lovely day, seeing all the animals (90% of which are in Cameroon) and even having a picnic out in the parking lot (blanket and all). Jake's aunt also gave us a like-new laptop, a HUGE blessing. We needed another one and were planning to get one before going back, praise God we don't have to now.

Looking forward to getting back to Florida and seeing my folks for a bit. Then we head out on the 23rd, really excited about that, we're so ready to be home.

They Won!

Well, would you believe it, the Cowboys won their game on Sunday! It just added to the thrill of it all for the boys (and Jake). Here's a picture of the boys with Jerry Jones, the manager of the cowboys. They got there early and manage to get a pic with him :). They had a blast, I was worried it was going to be too long for the boys but they had the best time and haven't stopped talking about it since. They'll be Cowboy fans for life now (Jake is very happy).

Yesterday all the men folk left to go hunting for a couple of days. John has a camper up on a piece of property where they can hunt for boar. I opted to stay back with Jude :). It's been really nice to have a bit of peace and quiet, catch up on email, blog, start on my Christmas cards (I know, it's only October) and of course watch some movies. Got to see "I am Legend" yesterday, freaky but really enjoyed it. Also enjoying sitting out on the balcony with a blanket and doing my devos with no interruptions. There was a frost last night so extra crispy this morning, but absolutely lovely.

Texas

We made it safe and sound to Texas lat night. It was a real long drive. The boys did great but we were certainly glad to get out of the car! There is only so much I-spy that I can take :).

 

Anyway we're at Jake's dad's right now, he has a beautiful house on about 20 acres. They have 2 miniature donkeys, 2 long horn steers and lots of dogs and cats. The weather is perfect, cool and crisp. I got up and went on a two mile jog this morning. I've been slacking doing my exercises since Jake went to India because I couldn't leave the kids by themselves so it felt great to get out for a run again. I had a great time just praising and talking with the Lord, looking at all his amazing creation. The horses in the fields were peering curiously at me over the fences. Everybody around here has at least 20 acres of land, my kinda of place :).

 

Jake is over the moon as ever since coming to the States he has been looking at tickets to go to Dallas Cowboy game. But even on ebay they have been gong for a couple hundred dollars so that is just out of the question. Anyway, Jake's dad knew a local DJ and asked him about getting some tickets and he said he'd see what he could do. Later on the DJ called up and said he managed to get four tickets and that my father-in-law needed to go pick them up from the office. When he got there, he found out that the tickets are on the fifty yard line, 39 rows up. So they're super close to the field. Jake, Josh, Seth, and Grandpa go tomorrow to enjoy the game. It's so nice to be walking in the favor of God. Now let's just hope that they win (not sure if I have that much faith!)

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Yeah!

Jake made it home safe and sound on Wednesday, it was so good to see him and of course the boys went crazy. Jude just stared at him :). Jake says that he's changed so much in the two weeks, that Jude's a lot bigger, he now has his top two teeth and he's crawling too. Anyway it's soooo nice to be back as a family again. Jake had an awesome time in India, he was kinda expecting it to be like Africa but it wasn't at all. A lot more built up in the cities and a lot poorer in the villages. People weren't quite as friendly and they never shout out at you as they do all the time in Cameroon (White Man!). But they were really receptive and had great turn outs to the crusades at night. They saw hundreds of people saved, so the pastors are super busy following up all the new converts. Jake got to be Pharmacist during the medical outreaches. He said he had a hard time with the language, he wanted to speak French to everyone that didn't speak English and of course they had no idea what he was talking about :).

Jake also got to meet Praveen (child in top picture, and oh yes, that is sweat!). He's an orphan that we've sponsored for the last few years, we always pray for him and get his letters but it was so awesome that Jake got to meet and spend some time with him. How cute is he!

Also the bottom picture is Jake with a water buffalo, he said they're everywhere. It funny because Jake was kinda scared of them and this is about as close as he would get to them (and he grew up on the farm). There was a lady on the team that is in her mid 70's (a real trooper) and Jake was looking though her pictures and she had one with her arm over a buffalo's neck :). Jake was pretty impressed.

Thursday we will be back on the road heading to Texas. Since Jake got back we've been visiting a lot of people, been really good. Had a lovely lunch with a family from Church today that support us, they're a real blessing! Great to have "family" wherever you go.

One more day

Jake gets home tomorrow, can't wait. Should be on the plane right now.

Jude started crawling 3 days ago, he is into everything! Looking forward to another pair of helping hands tomorrow :). Josh and Seth crack up every time he crawls, they think it's so funny. Had a fun morning, went over to a friend's house that home schools as well. We were planning on doing some school work but got to chatting and the kids were playing so we never got round to it. Her husband and her (plus their 4 kids) are seriously thinking about going on the mission field so it was great to talk and share some ideas and encouragement. Always gets me excited when I hear that the Lord is stirring up the hearts of people to get out on the mission field.

Fun in Florida

Today is Josh's 7th B-day (sorry no pictures, Jake's got the camera). We went to the beach, had a lot of fun. Josh got to chose where we had lunch so of course we went to Mickey D's. Hard to believe my baby's already 7, wow where has time gone! Done some other fun stuff this week. Went down to Manatee Grove. It was really awesome, the manatees actually came up right in front of us (a bunch of them) and stayed there for-ev-er. Whenever I've been their before I've never seen them close up. Also the boys went and played chess at the library which they absolutely loved. They can't wait till next week (ahh, boys after my own heart!).

All is going well with Jake. The team is super busy, they have a crusade at night that is over 3 hours away. So they have been getting back to the hotel around 3 in the morning and then there up and at 'em by 7am. But they have been having a lot of people coming and seeing many saved. They did some painting yesterday. Less than a week and he'll be back, yeah!

Good Friends!

Yeah!!! Heard from Jake late last night. They all arrived safe and sound in Andhra Pradesh after two days of travel. Jake's really enjoying it so far, said it's very different from Africa. Lots of people! He should be calling again in a few days, so glad he's enjoying himself.

Had a great day today, got to go to church, it was awesome! Great praise, great preaching! The kids had a blast in kids church too. Really looking forward to Wednesday night, it's just a night of praise and worship (Concert for One). Some good friends came up to me after church to give me a gift card for Kohls. They also asked to take the boys bowling while I went shopping, to which I gladly said a big fat yes! Had a great time picking out some much needed clothes and having a bit of time alone with Jude. They boys had a blast too, they'd been wanting to go bowling since playing it on the Wii at my brother's. Praise God for good friends.

Also got to see some other friends at church who I haven't seen for-ev-er, Marc and Andrea Pavcov and their two boys. Andrea was a leader on a TMI team Jake took to England in '96, so they go way back. We also used to hang out at their house when we were dating in Bible School (oh, the memories :). They were missionaries in Mozambique but their little boy fell down a deep well and they had to come back to the States for medical needs. Praise God, he is doing great now and they will be heading back to Mozambique next year. Andrea also homeschools so I might go hang out with her one morning while Jake's gone. Anyway you could check out their incrediable story at http://www.freewebs.com/mapavkov/nateswell.htm

Missing things...

Haven't heard from Jake yet, but no news is good news I guess. Hopefully we'll hear from him tomorrow. Other than that been doing well. My folks are going to render their house soon and asked me if I had the chance, to clear some of the bushes that are up against the house. So did that for a bit this afternoon, I had a big pair of shears and some snips but it was tough work. Boy, I really wanted a machete; I would have had it cleared in minutes! I'm definitely Cameroonianafied (if that's a word). Also been noticing how people don't greet each other in America much, hardly anyone shakes hands (and no one kisses on the cheek) and I kinda miss it. I also miss Cameroonian fruit, still haven't had a banana that I've enjoyed here yet, we're just too spoilt in Cameroon with the sweetest, most delicious bananas in the whole world :). So I am missing Cameroon but of course enjoying all the great stuff in the US too. Went "garage saleing" this morning (one of my favorite things to do), found some great deals and I don't get to do that in Cameroon very often :)

India

Back at my parent's house now for a bit. Jake left for India this morning (on our 9th wedding anniversary no less :) but really happy he got to go and see the work over there. He was really excited, he is still traveling right now and will be in India sometime tomorrow. We'll all really miss him for the two weeks he's gone. I'm looking forward to a fortnight of some sort of schedule though. I got to home school all morning with the boys, worked out for 30 minutes, went to the library and read some books with the boys, got them into bed by 8pm, and I'll do devotions before I head to bed tonight (after watching the debate). With all the traveling we've been doing it's been hard to do all this so it'll be nice to have a bit of a break till we hit the road again. I should also be able to get plenty of blog posts up!

Back in Florida

Wow, can't believe it's been over three weeks since my last post... time is zooming by. But we're all doing great and enjoying our time in the States so much. We've done a lot of traveling in the last couple of weeks (check out our Ski Tracker on our home page) and seen lots of our friends and family. The boys having being having a blast getting to do so many new things. It's too much to recap right now but here are a bunch of pics of our adventures:
This was one of our many stops to break up the long drive for the boys, at Russell Cave in Alabama

These Photos were taken at a wildlife conservation place in Kansas, lots of real and stuffed animals. went for a walk on a trail too, the highlight for the boys was finding acorns :D (not common in our part of the world).


This is our mini Bible School Reunion. Making pyramids (and leg Wrestling) was one of favorite past times in the old days so we decided to give it a another try :). It was so great to see old friends and just hang out together. We have 10 kids between us all now!

Went canoeing with our good friends in Iowa. Got drenched by rain halfway though but still a lot of fun.
So now I know why whenever Americans come to our house in Cameroon they always say our cat is so small. US cats are triple the size to the skinny, scrawny felines in Africa. This is Pumpkin, who Josh had fun with.

Find Waldo, I mean Seth!

Riding Popcorn with a little help from Grandma Heidi.

Going for a ride on the Mississippi with Great Grandpa.

Just got in to the Ho Jo's just past Atlanta, it's about 10:30pm. Left my folks about 3pm so ready to hit to Sack. It's exciting that we have started our travels around the States, the boys did really well in the car. Tomorrow we will be in St. Charles, MO at a mini Bible School reunion. Really looking forward to it. On the way we are stopping at a national park in Tennessee that has a hiking, bird watching trail and some caves, should be fun! Anyway, need to end, early start tomorrow.

Fun in the Sun

So right now we are hanging out at Jake's Mum's. She recently got a new condo in Palm Cost, FL. It's in a beautiful location, right next to the beach. Also has a little waterpark with a pool close by. The boys have been having a blast (as have we). They also got to go to their first a baseball game, they're making lots of memories. We've traveled down to the Tampa area yesterday stying with Jake's grandma. We are having a bit family reunion tomorrow, really looking forward to it and seeing everyone. Going to have breakfast with Myrl and Martha Allinder on Monday (for all you BMWers).

First baseball game

Culture Shock

Not sure if we are experiencing "culture shock" or not but coming back to the West, things do seem very different. Here's a few;

- In Cameroon, our boys are always being played with and picked up by everyone... just a normal thing, everyone is friendly and wants to talk with them. At the Heathrow airport there was a guy laying on a chair, Seth was playing near him and stood up and just rested his elbow on his leg). The guy gave him the dirtiest look (in Cameroon this would have been totally acceptable). Along the same lines, we were at the pool the other day and all of a sudden Seth just jumped on this guy's back and he got another dirty look... in Cameroon when we go to a pool, everyone plays together.

-When we go to a shop in Cameroon, the boys always just go walk around wherever they want too, and we'll just find them when we're done (even Jude get's taken from me by a shop worker). There is no fear of strangers or someone taking them or something... here I have to watch them ALL the time, they think it is so strange they have to stay close.

- Drinking water straight from the tap, so bizarre!

- Boys not being completely filthy by the end of the day.

- Things are so cheap! I know Americans are complaining but gas is almost half price here. Looking at prices of cars in the newspaper! So cheap compared to Cameroon. Ham, cheese, milk, toys, diapers, formula, at least half price here if not more.

- Going out is so easy, there are toilets everywhere (no public toilets in Cameroon). There are water fountains everywhere (have to bring bottles with us wherever we go in Afirca). The roads are so smooth, traveling is so incredibly easy.

-Jude is still adjusting, he hates being strapped into anything... in Cameroon, most of the time he was on my lap when we travel as we always have people in the car with us (only when we went out of the town he went into the car seat). So he hates the whole car seat thing. We never had a high chair, he can't stand being buckled into one, and every time I change his diaper at diaper changing table he screams, he much prefers to be changed in the back seat of a car bouncing along the road :). But he is starting to get used to it now.

Anyway... I'm sure I'm sure I'll come up with a few more before I time in the States is over :D

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London Outing

Trafalgar Square

The day before we left England, we had a day in London with my parents. We met up with some of our friends (Stano and Alic) from Slovakia who now live in England. I hadn't seen them since I left Slovakia 11 years ago. It was so amazing to see them! Stano was actually one of the first people to get saved when we were out there and used to lead the praise and worship in our church. He met Alic at one of

the meetings and my Dad
married them. They now have two lovely girls, Tatiana and Daniella. It was great to speak and hear a little Slovak again, it has been a long time! My mind wants to automatically speak French now so I had to really concentrate to get my Slovak to come out.

Anyway, we had a great day in England, no rain but a bit chilly. Went to Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace where we saw a marching band of guards... had a delicious picnic in St. James park, boys got to feed the pigeons. Then we went onto the Natural history museum. I remember going there as a kid and just loving it. The boys, who are really into dinosaurs, loved seeing all the enormous bones. They also had a "Creepy Crawly" section where I must admit, critters looked mighty small compared to the ones in our back yard in Cameroon :).

It was a long day but so much fun, something the boys will remember for a long time.

In the good 'ol USA

Made it to the States, lovely to be back. Just about over Jet lag now, went to bed about 7.30 last night and slept right through so feeling good.

We had a blast in England, my brother's wedding was beautiful. It rained everyday we were in England beside the day of his wedding and the day we went to London. They had their wedding in a large hall in a English vineyard (a pretty rare thing). The sun was shining, the pictures outside turned out great. Then we went back to a small pub where the reception was, had lovely food, live band, even got to meet some of my old school mates who I haven't see for over 18 years. My Aunt and Uncle from Spain came over too, so great to see them.

England!

Finally got a chance to sit down and write on my blog (it's almost 11pm). Arrived in England safe and sound on Monday. Went to get our rental car, we're expecting a compact Focus. That car wasn't available so we got up graded to a Ford Mondoe station wagon for free! Much larger and nicer, so great to be walking in the favour of God!

Been doing a lot of driving (and eating). First night we had fish 'n chips with my brother and his fiancée, Lou. We're staying at their house which is in a beautiful little village near Cambridge. Got to go down to Torquay in Devon to see my older brother who recently gave his life to the Lord. It was so wonderful to see him and also see the change in his life. He is doing really well, has a good job, lovely apartment, and an awesome church. We had a lot of fun and got to go down to the beach with the boys. Very cold and windy but beautiful. Also drove right past Stonehenge on the way, very cool to see.

Yesterday we drove to Kenilworth (close to Stratford, home of Shakespeare) to speak in a small house church that supports us. This was our first time to visit them and we had a lovely time. Got to share about what the Lord has been doing in our lives and showed our picture slide show. We had a great time meeting everyone and catching up with the pastors, Bob and Liz Barker who used to teach Kids club at F.G.B conventions I went when I was a kid.

Well, it's getting late, tomorrow is the wedding, can't wait. Got to get to bed, will write more soon!

Travel, travel, travel...

Well it's 10:30pm. We are just about packed and think I have remember everything. We leave for Yaoundé early tomorrow morning (6 hours drive). We have some things to do in town then we'll spend the night with some good friends and then we fly out Sunday evening... it's starting to soak in a little bit now, getting really excited (as are Josh and Seth). Not sure when I'll have a chance to get on the web again but hopefully sometime next week. Keep us in your prayers!

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Our busy schedule

OK, just about got our itinerary sorted out. Here's what it looks like so far. Please keep us in your prayers as we will be on the road a lot. Last time it took us a bit to get used to all the road rules and speed limits of the West. Need to remember to give way, not drive so close to people, and not go flat out everywhere you go :D.

If we are in your area, we'd love to say hi! Let us know...

17th -Fly out in the evening

18th -Arrive in London. (10:40am). Pick up rental car, head to my brother's house in Six Mile Bottom, show off Jude to all my family

19th -Go to my brother Dan's in Torquay, spend the night, catch up on all the news

20th -Family dinner with my brother Ben and his fiancé's family

21st -Speaking at Living Word Church, Warwick

23rd -Ben and lou's wedding (need to go shopping some time before this to get a decent dress and pair of shoes :|

25th -Day in London with my Slovak friends the Olej family (I haven't seen tem for over 10 years! can't wait). Go to Natrual History musuem

26th -Fly out in the morning, arrive in Orlando 6:40pm, go to Jake's Mums in Palm Coast. While there we head down to Clearwater area and have a big family reunion, looking forward to seeing everyone again.

 

SEPTEMBER

3rd - Go to my parents in Cocoa, go to our Florida home church, East Coast Christian Center, yeah!

7th -Leave in the afternoon to visit friend in Jacksonville, spend the night.

8th -Go to St. Louis, MO to visit Calkin Family. We'll be having a Bible school reunion too, should be lots of fun, see some faces I haven't seen in a long time.

10th -Go to Clarinda, IA, speak in church and see all our friends family.

15th -Go to Muscatine, IA, see Jake's Step Mum and family. Hopfully do some horse riding.

19th -Go to Nashville, TN, visit Schneider family.

20th -Go to South Carolina, speak in Earls Gove Baptist church, get to see friends from last team that came out.

22nd -Go to my brother Sam's house in Destin, FL. Get to meet my new baby niece Amy Carmicle. Boys get to play with their little nephew Will Carey who has changed a bunch since last time we saw him. Get to hang out with my sister-in-law and see the church my brother is assistent pastor of.

28th Back to my parents in Cocoa, FL.

OCTOBER

1st -Jake leaves for India for 2 weeks with mission trip from our church. He'll get to see how WON orpahange runs over there and meet the orphan we sponser, Praveen. I get to hang out and relax a little with the boys in Florida. Hopefully get some homeschooling done, go to the beach and just have fun with my little men.

15th -Jake get's back from India

23rd -Go to Texas to see Jake's Dad and family. Also go down to Commission To Every Nation headquarters. Jake gets to go on hunting trip with his dad and the boys.

NOVEMBER

11th -Back to Cocoa, start to pack up and get ready to fly out, go shopping for anything that we might need.

23rd -Fly outback to Cameroon! Phew!

 

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First day of School

School sessions started today, the boys had a great time. I got to help out with looking after a couple of preschoolers. Also had fun watching the boys play football (soccer) and it's always a laugh watching little kids trying to do jumping jacks, there's a lot of coordination going on! Josh and Seth made lots of new friends as have I with all the parents around.

We had the US T.M.I. team over for dinner on Tuesday, it was so nice. The head lady leader, Linda Maher (who we spent last summer with out in the East), had her birthday so we sort of celebrated that, with chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting, yum! I also made fajitas and had a bunch of freezing cold soda with lots of ice (anyone who's been on a TMI team knows how much that means). After we ate, the kids jumped on the trampoline, ran around the house. The boys were playing with Josh and Seth some type of cops and robbers game. They had every toy weapon from the toy box, got dressed up in masks and hats from the dress up box and went running around the garden like manics, hiding and chasing each other in the dark. Needless to say our boys had a blast. Also great to talk with some teens that feel the Lord calling them on to the mission field (possibly Cameroon), after all it was on a TMI team to Papua New Guinea where I felt God calling me to be a missionary... and the cycle goes on :D.

Full House of teens

Internet trouble (again)

Well, having lots of internet troubles again, not sure what's going on. Hopefully it will get sorted out in the next day or two as have a lot of emails to write and driving directions to look up for when we are in the States. Lots still going on here, Josh and Seth start school sessions tomorrow with a bunch of other missionaries kids, they are so excited. We got Seth a little backpack yesterday for school, he so sweet, he's been wearing it all day :). Also trying to get prayer cards made up, and working on a presentation video for when we speak in churches. Oh also Jude's first tooth broke through today, didn't seem to bother him at all.

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Homeschooling

Great news about homeschooling. When we were in Yaounde I was part of the FES (Field Education System) that Wycliffe Translators organized. They provide all the curriculum, with 3 "school" sessions throughout the year where all the kids get together and do classroom school (plus lots of over fun stuff like plays and swimming lessons). Anyway when we moved to Bamenda I was still planning on going with them. But I was thinking it was going to be expensive; traveling to Yaounde 3 times a year plus the expense of staying for 3 weeks at a time.

Anyway, I recently found out that the Baptist Center here in town has a similar system for missionaries up in this area. I went and talked with the director on the weekend. It was really good time and saw all the curriculum they have. They use Gospel Light which is solid Christian good material. It's a little more expensive but it will work out cheaper in the long run. They also do the school sessions (only two though), one which starts on the 6th of August. So we've switched over to them and Josh and Seth will get to go to "school" for 10 days before we head over to England. Then when we get back, we'll get busy homeschooling. All very exciting. Oh also, the director comes for two weeks sometime during the school year to teach the kids and give the mum a bit of a break. Also helps her to see where the kids are at and if they need help in a specific area. Praise the Lord we managed to get this all sorted out before leaving, it never ceases to amaze me how the Lord provides for our every need.

Couldn't resist putting a photo of our Jude in. He is doing so good, sitting up all by himself now, drooling a lot so I think he's teething. Jude's favorite food: avocado and bananas (can you tell he's was born in Africa or what :)

3 weeks today!!!

Three weeks from today we will be having the joy of going through the Yaounde airport to fly to London. 3 weeks! AHHHHH: we've got so much to do in that short time. But I am super excited, it will be so great to see everyone again.

Since coming to Bamenda we've been looking for a church we can get plugged into. The last couple of weeks we've been attending a Full Gospel church that is only a few blocks away from our house. The pastor is very nice but the only problem is, is that they meet in a small room (20' by 20') and have the most enormous speakers in it, and of course they are up full blast (if you've been to Cameroon you'll totally understand). A lot of churches here seem to think that the louder the music is, the more anointed it is :D. So needless to say you can't even hear yourself sing and little Jude just holds on to me for dear life. They also don't have a children's church for the first service. So we tried another little Full Gospel church today, it's about 3 miles from our house. They are only 3 months old with about 50 people in attendance. They meet in a very small room. They have no instruments or speakers yet so it was super awesome. The worship leader had a great voice and it was all real Africa chants and everyone sounded so great, we really enjoyed it and was able to worship the Lord without bursting an eardrum :D. They also had kid's church during the praise and worship (a little unique) but the boys had a great time and made some friends. Josh got to close in prayer, he was excited about that.
There was a student preaching today so we haven't heard the Pastor preach yet but we'll go back next week and see. But we really felt welcomed and comfortable there so this is big praise. Once we get back from the States we can really get involved however. I loved to work with the kid's church of course.

Neighbourhood Kids

Some kids in our area finally came knocking at our gate last week (I was wondering what was taking them so long). Josh and Seth had fun playing with them (even though they are about 5 years older), their friends had a blast on the trampoline! Then yesterday and today our boys got to go out in the neighbourhood and play. They were gone all afternoon and had a great time with all their new buddies, it'll be a great way for them to pick up some pidgin English. I'm really looking forward to starting a Bible club up at our house when we get back from the States.

Need Tees?

My brother, (who was recently featured on my blog when he got baptised) just started up his own website with Christian t-shirts he designs. Pretty cool, check it out. I love the "Created" one!
www.cafepress.com/triumphantees

Boot Camp

We went out to the Teen Missions Cameroon Boot Camp the last couple of nights. It was a lot of fun, there are about 140 teens there, they sang (and clapped) their hearts out, a lot of fun! One of the youth from our church in Yaounde came too so it was great to see her. Jake spoke last night at the rally, he said it was weird not having a translator (it's English speaking here). It went really well though and about 10 kids recommited their lives to Christ, praise the Lord. The US team is doing great too, hoping to have them over for a meal once boot camp is over.

It's all in the name

Anyone fancy some Pee Bread? It's a Bamenda specialty! Let me tell you what it says on the label incase you can't read it, I wouldn't want you to miss a single syllable:

Pee Special Buttered Bread: Beware of Imitation - Delicious bread for the people
(And my personal favorite:) Pee leads and others follow

It actually doesn't taste too bad, still yet to find out why it is called Pee bread though.

Our little Jude

Yummy toes!

Big smile :-D

Jude had a pimple on his "posterior" (this is a family friendly blog after all) and I gave it a squeeze and out popped a worm, ahhhhh! It was actually super tiny (2 millimeters?) and it's what we call here, a mango worm. Our dogs get them a lot in their legs during the rainy season (they can get as big as your pinky) but we've never actually had one. Praise God that I found it when it was still super small. Someone told me that the flies lay their eggs in the clothes when they're damp on the line. We do have a dryer but we rarely use it to keep our electric bill down. But from now on all of Jude's clothes are going in it!

Yummy!

Here's the cake the boys and me made for Daddy's Birthday (July 4th!). It was more like a pink, white, and blue flag but still tasted pretty good. On the 5th we got to go hang out with some other missionary families and Cameroonians, played some vollyball (in a very muddy field) and then had a cookout after. It was a lot of fun and nice to make some new friends.

Wohoo

Yeaaaah, got internet back at last. The Antenna for our area was having some major issues, so yesterday we went up to the Catholic church (where the antenna'a fixed) to see if we could figure out the problemo. So it has this rickety old ladder (made from scraps of wood) to get up on the roof (at least 3 stories high) and then you have to climb up the roof that is covered in slimy moss to get to the steeple (at least another story high). It wasn't too bad going up but coming back down was tough, and heights don't usually bother me at all, but my heart sure was pumping on this one :). Anyway, we finally got it all sorted out and we're back online which made it all worth while. These last few weeks we've been checking plane tickets, car rentals in England, sorting out dates with friends for speaking/visiting, maps of distances to places... just things you can't use the slow internet cafes for. So needless to say, we're pretty happy.

OK, besides all the travel plans, been busy with the house, finally got the front room painted. Got a bunch of plantain trees pulled up in the garden too. We did find some little snakes in amoungst them (ahhh) and also this wierd looking critter. After checking it out on the web we now know it is a slow worm which is actually a legless lizard, and is good for the garden as it loves slugs, so next time we see one, we won't kill it (you learn something new everyday :D). Giant snails and bunches of other creepy crawlys are also residents here, lots to keep the boys occupied :).

Next week Boot Camp at Teen Missions Cameroon starts. Jake's going to speak Wednesday night at the rally, really looking forward to seeing all the 130 plus kids as well as the American team.

:(

We've had no internet for the last two weeks, kinda frustrating but hopefully will be back on soon. Have so much to write about. Will write more soon.

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South Carolina Team

Been a busy week as we were helping out with the Bread For Life team that came up to Bamenda to renovate the BFL Guest House. It's the same team that came a couple years back (Earls Grove Baptist Church) who we went out to the East with to build the School. They're a great bunch and we had a ton of fun with them. They got to do a couple of VBS' and tiled and painted the Guest house, lots was accomplished.They also brought diapers and a bunch of baby clothes for Jude (and a lot of other goodies) which are a HUGE blessing, it's been so hard to find small baby clothes here, I was asking my friend about it and she said that they think it's a waste of money to buy small clothes as the babies grow out of them so fast, so they prefer to buy big ones, and just roll up the sleeves/legs till they grow into them :D

Anyway the team left this morning, so now it is back to unpacking and painting at our house, fun, fun, fun...

The photo is of a nearby waterfall the team visited (I told you Bamenda is beautiful!)

Loving Bamenda

Really enjoying Bamenda, it's been so cool and raining a lot, very different than Yaounde. We've been busy cleaning up the yard, chopping down lots of plaintain trees and other overgrown bushes. We have an enourmous avocado tree in the garden that has the best tasting avocados ever, we have been eating tons of them. We also have a bunch of guava trees that have real tasty fruit too. The boys just love our big yard and have been playing outside all the time. Couple of pictures of them below having a good time.

Back tracking

OK, let me catch you up with what's been going on the last few weeks. We had our last Sunday at our church in Yaounde on the 1st of June. It was Jude's baby dedication plus our sending off. It was a lovely time as the pastor blessed Jude and the elders prayed for our family. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone, but I have to remind myself that we aren't that far away. The following week was an emotional one with lots of people having us over for meals, and many people visiting, such as the youth, women's group, and all the childrens workers from church. The last night we were in our house, we had no furniture as it was all packed in the moving truck, some close friends came over who are actually from Bamenda and we sat up late (on the floor) laughing and telling stories. I know that God will bless us with great friends here too but Ill sure miss all our buddies in Yaounde.

We made it!

Praise the Lord we're finally in Bamenda (and on the Net!). We've been here just over a week now and loving it. It was a long 6 hour drive up here with 3 boys, 3 dogs and a cat all in our truck but we survived! This last week we've been busy cleaning house, painting, unpacking boxes, setting up the school room, cleaning up the yard and garden, plus a million other little things, so it's been a little hectic to say the least. But we're starting to feel settled in now and at least have our kitchen all put together. We've got a great internet connection so we'll be able to keep up on our website a lot better than in Yaounde. I will be trying to blog at least every other day, I have soooo much news to catch up on. But for now I am going to reply to all the emails that have been piling up... but had to put one picture of Jude up, this was taken 2 weeks ago so he has changed a lot since then even. He is loving Bamenda and has been sleeping so much better here, I think it is the cooler weather.