So Much to be Thankful for!

Praise the Lord. Oh Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Psalm 106:1

It has been a lovely week; Tuesday was my Birthday and then of course, yesterday was Thanksgiving. On my birthday I slept in, had breakfast in bed, and was surprised with homemade cards and wonderful gifts from my boys. We had fun celebrating Thanksgiving yesterday too. It always makes me think back to my first Thanksgiving back in 1997. I had been in the US for a few months and I was invited to Thanksgiving dinner at some Staff’s house. That is where I had my first taste of a cheese log (and have been addicted ever since) and watched my first American football game. I really love Thanksgiving, it is probably the American thing that I have embraced the most (besides my husband :D). We had a get together at our house on Thursday with two other missionary families: our good friends the Dibbits, and another family that just moved to Cameroon, the Waites. Unfortunately the Waites were having some truck issues so Mark was running around trying to get it fixed and missed eating the meal with us but it was still a great time with good fellowship and way too much food! Then we had some more friends show up and had 12 kids running around the house and yard while us adults crammed pie into our already full stomaches. All in all a great day.

So I was just reflecting yesterday, I truly have so much to be thankful for, the Lord just continues to be so good to me. I notice that whenever I get stressed or disappointed, it’s when I’m focusing on myself and not the goodness of God. When I keep my eyes on Him, my heart is full of gratitude. So a few of the many things I am thankful for:

My wonderful Saviour, who loves me despite all me failures and selfishness. My Rock, my Refuge!

My amazing husband, who is truly my best friend and is always there for me (and makes me a cup of tea every morning!). He is the best dad to our kids and I love him so much.

Joshua, my dependable son, always loving, always wanting to please. My little peace maker. I love our time out in the garden together.

Seth, my little funny guy, always makes me laugh. Has such compassion for people and animals. I love when I play my guitar and he plays the djembe drum with me.

Jude, my little man, my little shadow. I love those quite times when we cuddle up and read books together all by ourselves.

My Jordan who brings such a joy to my life, I love all those hugs and kisses that she is so generous with and those cheeky little smiles

For all the dirt roads that have just been graded this last week in Bamenda. So much easier to travel around and easier on the truck

Our generator and water tower that keep us going through the frequent water and electric cuts.

Good friends, here and overseas, that encourage us and support the work that we do here.

Skype (and a reliable internet connection) so I can talk and see my precious family!

Thank you Lord!

All my goodies for my birthday

Thanksgiving Dinner

Farawa

Meet Farawa, another sweet boy we welcomed into Helping Hands Children's Home last week. In October the Lord blessed us with an amazing lady, Fransica, that is helping out in the HHCH kitchen. A fortnight ago her elder brother died and she travel to the village to attend the funeral. When she came back she told about the grandson of her brother who had just sort of been abandon since the funeral and wasn't being treated well by the family. Jake and Tim, with Fransica, drove the four long hours on rough, dirt roads to go and see him in the muslim village of Nsam. They first met the widow; now I'm not sure if this is a muslim tradition or a village tradition, but she is in mourning for 4 months, 10 days (I need to ask some friends about it). During this time she cannot leave her room and she can't even sleep on her own bed, she must sleep on a thin mat that is on top of rocks (see photo below). Also her roof is full of holes from a hail storm and they haven't been patched at all so she gets soaked when it rains. I guess this is to make sure that she doesn't forget her misery?! Poor lady! 

Farawa is about six years old (no one knows for sure) but is extremely small, not much bigger than our Jude. His mother died in June from a "sickness," (more than likely AIDS). They have no idea who the father is. Jake said the village was full of young girls that had babies with no husbands... kinda surprising for a muslim village. As you can see in the photo, Farawa's eyes are very yellow, or he has "itchy eyes" as they call it here. It is probably a sign of malnutrition but we will be getting him checked out by a doctor this week. He has never been to school but surprisingly, speaks quite a bit of pidgin English. Since coming to the orphanage, Farawa has fit right in. He had a tough first night but by the morning he was running around everywhere and getting into everything, he is quite the little character! He keeps asking when he is going to go to school. We will be enrolling him this week and as soon as we can get the uniformed made, he will start attending. Please keep little Farawa in your prayers that he will completely settle into his new home. Also he has always grown up in a muslim environment and is hearing about the love of Jesus now; pray that the Good News of Christ will really make an impact in his little life. Also pray that he will get a sponsor soon. 

Farawa's Grandmother 

Her hail beaten roof

The family signing paperwork

A beautiful little girl in Nsam

I have no idea what this is for but it looks vicious!

A little boy making bamboo stools. We buy these in town for 500cfa (about a buck)

A long day

Saturday was a long and tiring day but a good one too. About 10 days ago the Borns had a call from a friend, Philemon, out in the village of Benakuma. He told them that some twins (a girl and a boy) had been born there, that the mother had died, and that the family was struggling to look after them. We discussed it but HHCH does have a policy of not excepting children under the age of two as we are just not set up or have the staff to look after babies (we have made exceptions to this rule as Bena was 8 month old when we got her). Twins would be a huge responsibility but then later at our staff meeting we discussed it some more and felt that we should go and see them at least and assess the situation. Babies are generally a lot smaller here than western standards and especially twins. So on Saturday we were planning to head out to the village at 8. Some things came up and we didn't head out of town till 10:30am. The village is about a 3 hours drive on some very bumpy, bendy roads. It is always and adventure when traveling on dirt roads here, last time Jake went out there, they had to turn around about 2 hours into the trip as a truck had got stuck and was blocking the way. This time a bridge had fallen down and was replaced by logs and planks. The kids and I got out and walked across and let Jake brave his way across it in the truck. We also met the TMI director on the road (TMI has a rescue unit out there) and he informed us that one of the twins had died. 

 We finally reached Benakuma  and met up with Philemon. He told us that the family was actually in Benadae, another village about 40 minutes away (on more bumpy, windy roads of course!). My heart sank as I was starting to feel sick from the heat and being in the back with Jordan on my lap. By the time we got to the village I was feeling really rough. We walked down to the family hut and there was quite a crowd gathered to meet us. The Fon (Chief) of the village was there which always makes us happy so that he is in the know of what is going on. We met the father and got to chat with him. This is why we always make sure that someone from our team travels out to assess the situation as the story was quite different than what we heard through Philemon. Of couse the biggest one was that the girl had died a week after being born, even before we got the first call. Secondly we had heard that the mother had been alive for a week and that the father wasn't around. But the mother actually died a day after giving birth as she never delivered the placenta. She was very young, only 17; such a sad end to her young life. Medical help in these villages is so basic if not non-existent. The father is around, they were newly married and these was their first children. Obviously he is very distressed about losing his wife and then his daughter. His sister has been helping to look after the baby boy. Sometimes people will find a wet nurse but they didn't do that. They hadn't even named the baby yet as they were not sure he was going to make it. We asked what they had been feeding him and they said formula. We asked do they have some now, and they said no, it ran out a week ago. So they have probably been feeding him "pup" a corn mealy drink that they often give motherless babies here (certainly not what newborns need). So we discussed with the family and they basically said that they don't want the baby to die like his sister and that they can not provide for him (formula is $5 a can, usually impossible for people to buy enough for a baby). So we decided to bring him into the HHCH family. We have encouraged the family and especially the father to come and visit as much as possible and told him we will be calling him frequently. They decided to name him before we left, Godwill. As it came time to say good-bye, it was really hard for the father and sister. We really hope that they will come and visit soon or at least call. 

One the ride home we didn't hear a peep out of little Godwill, he just slept and slept. We brought a bottle and formula with us and Sara fed him half way home. I was super sick on the way back, the heat just really got to me, and we had to stop at least 5 times for me to throw up. At one point I just wanted to lay down in the dirt road and tell Jake to come and get me tomorrow. I felt bad cause we were already running late, we didn't want to keep little Godwill out on the bumpy roads longer than necessary, and it was getting dark. Thankfully I started to feel better about half way home and we could get going. We made it home about 7:30 at night. The Borns took little Godwill home that night and we will switching back and forth taking care of him till we are sure that he is gaining weight and thriving. We think at HHCH he would be "over" loved by all the girls :-D. Everyone did get to meet him on Sunday and today all the girls kept asking me when Godwill was coming to stay. WON will be hiring a girl to be a care giver specifically for Godwill. 

So far, Godwill has been doing well, he has started sucking well and keeping down his formula. He is 3 weeks old, and 4 pounds exactly. We'll be keeping a chart of his weight gain. So please keep this little life in your prayers, we are so grateful that the Lord has entrusted this little life into our hands. 

The village where Godwill comes from

Godwill's Father

Precious little Godwill (pink for girls is a western mindset :D )

Jordan greeting some new friends

Volunteers

Last month we had a young lady, Breanna, come and volunteer for 4 weeks. She is from Oregon but her aunt and uncle are pastors of a church in Kansas. My good friend goes to that church and she shared our newsletter with them, and they passed it onto Breanna, who has always been interested in coming to Africa. So she wrote us a while back and asked if she could come out and help out in anyway. We can always use volunteers over here, no matter how short or long, so we told her to come on over. Breanna just fit right in to our family and was such a pleasure to have. She helped in the house, at the children's home, wherever needed. In the morning she assisted me with homeschooling, in the afternoon she helped out at HHCH with kid's club, library time, tutoring the kids, etc. We are so grateful that she was willing to give up a month of her busy life and invest it in the lives of our kids. We're pretty sure she had a great time too. We can ALWAYS use more volunteers (hint, hint!). The photos below are of her time here. 

Breanna and Marvelous

At the seamstress' where she got a few African dresses made

Helping build the dog cage at HHCH

Knocking down the old toilet block

Keeping Jude entertained (he is really missing her!)

Beautiful hikes on the weekends

Breanna brought a gift for each of the children

We went and got pedicures together!

Breanna and Dorcas

Breanna got her hair braided twice

It took us four hours to take it out and she had quite the 'fro!