Easter Weekend

We had a full Easter weekend. We started off by having an Easter celebration at the children's home Saturday morning. First we did a cross craft then an egg hunt in the yard (with candy and coins inside). Next I taught an Easter lesson using the resurrection eggs, the kids really enjoyed them. Last, we showed the Jesus film for children. We were planning on showing it on the projector but when Jake open the projector up he realized the cords weren't there. So 30 of us gathered around the laptop but it was actually fine. We made a bunch of popcorn, roasted peanuts, and juice, so it was a lot of fun. It's wonderful to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus with these precious children.

Then I headed to church for worship practice. We decided that Easter Sunday would be a celebration service, with mostly praise and worship with a short exultation at the end. I stayed at practice for three hours and finally headed home before we even started singing (3 hours of praying, choosing songs, writing them down, phew!). 

Sunday service was really special, the praise and worship was great and really uplifting. It is amazing just to be in the presence of God. My fingers were aching by the end and I broke a string, but a really awesome time. Jake gave a short exaltation and did a fantastic job at preaching the gospel. He certainly didn't mince his words. Praise the Lord, one lady came forward for salvation and many come up for prayer. It was a wonderful service. Then we headed out with our good friends, the Dibbits for pizza. Not very traditional I know, but a special treat for us. 

Making cross murals

beautiful Dorcus

Kingsley's cross

And the hunt begins...

Searching...

With their eggs

Sakina won some chocolate

Watching the Jesus Film

Our little Jordan all ready for church (I know, the purple shoes don't match but she doesn't have any black patent leather ones :-)

Our boys (a rare occurrence for them all to be so clean!)

Jordan and her buddy Miracle

Our kiddos before service

Sandrine update

Praise the Lord, Sandrine will be back home tomorrow (and Pa of course)!! It's been just over fours weeks that Sandrine has been at the hospital and she's done incredibly well. Her legs have already started to straighten and she's gained a couple of inches in height because of it. I know the rest of the children at HHCH will be so happy to see her.


I did go and spend the weekend with Sandrine a couple of weeks back. She has a tiny little room with one single bed. I managed to set up the pack 'n play for Jordan so it was just Sandrine and I in the bed. It felt a bit like being in the village with pit toilets, authentic African food, and everyone being super friendly and not even bother to knock when they come into your room. My whole evening was full of visitors, chatting with those also staying at the hospital. One person had come from the extreme north just to be there and another from the capital city, Douala. It is amazing to think this place is only 30 minutes away from us. On Sunday, Sandrine and I just hung out, playing games, reading books, and going for walks. It was so nice to have some one on one time with her. I didn't see Jordan much as she just got taken away by everybody. 


Some things did make my stomach turn though... it is also a home for mentally disabled children. I guess the families pay for them to be there and find a caretaker. A couple of young boys were close to our room, the caretakers were less than compassionate, even whacking them across the face when they wouldn't eat. At one point I went and tried to rub one of the boy's hair and he cowered away from me, so sad! I did get them to smile at me after a while. I know they are probably the fortunate ones to have a family that actually pays for them to have someone to look after them and not just left in a hut somewhere but it still was very hard to see. I also saw mothers making their children (with braces on) walk by hitting them with switches... arrrh it is so hard not to interfere in such cases. I know the mothers have the child's best interests at heart but it is hard to see the kids so upset. 


On a happier note, Jordan is now walking... her clothes are staying a lot cleaner! We are also 7 weeks away from being done with the school. It has been a great home schooling year, 3rd and 5th grade next year... yikes!

Stormy weather

Last night we had a major storm, it felt like we were in a hurricane for a few minutes. This often happens at the start of rainy season. It made us realize that we need to get our roof patched in a few places! Also my favorite pear tree snapped in half :(... we have 4 others but this one has the best tasting "pear" ever. Thankfully the bough fell away from the chicken coop and only knocked down a little bit of their fence. So the boys and I spend the afternoon chopping up the wood (for firewood) and collecting all the avocados. I think the tree will continue to grow, yay! Looks like we will be eating pear nonstop for the next couple of weeks. The children's home will get a bunch plus neighbours. I'm still trying to figure out if it's possible to can guacamole... any suggestions?

Car wash

Well you know what they say, imitation is the highest form of flattery, so I should feel very flattered right now. A car wash in town just put up some new signs and they seem very similar to those of Helping Hands Car Wash that Jake runs (all profits go to the Children's Home)

 Here is the one that Jake designed and I painted

And another one that Jake got made here...

And then here is the ones that the other car wash just put up...

They even stole our motto! Oh well, it must mean that we are doing a good job if they want to copy us so bad, right ?