The little things (or not so little things)

Since we shipped a 40' container this time we had plenty of room to bring things back with us. Normally when we're back in the States we have to be concerned about every ounce as we are so tight on space. Walking around garage sales was torture as things were so cheap yet we had no way of getting them over here. Well, this time we didn't hold back, we went garage-sale-crazy and people gave us a ton of stuff too. Here's a list of some things I'm really happy and grateful that we brought back to Cameroon.

20ft step ladder: Jake had made us a wooden ladder which I couldn't use as I could hardly pick it off the ground let alone get it upright as it was so heavy. In the States we found the step ladder at a yard sale and toted it across the country on top of our RV which was highly embarrassing but totally worth it. I can now trim all my bushes, change light bulbs, and paint the ceiling without the risk of breaking my neck by standing on piled up chairs.

American size refrigerator: My fridge here in Cameroon was on its last legs as we bought it secondhand over eight years ago. The thermostat was gone and it couldn't get fixed so it was on timer which never really worked; everything inside was either frozen or spoiling. We weren't planning on shipping another one but a few days before the trailer was shipped we still had extra space. We ran around for a morning looking at different appliances on sale and finally found this one at Best Buy of all places. It was super cheap as it has a scratch on the front and it was a display model. I stilled hummed and harred about spending the money but Jake insisted that we get it. I am sooooo pleased we did, it has been such a massive blessing. We have lots of people over all the time so I need to stay well stocked with food. It is also awesome to have a top freezer (my last fridge didn't); we can have cubed ice now (if we make ice in our deep freezer it tastes like the dog's fish in there). Little things like ice make life much more pleasant! I thank the Lord for the fridge each time I open it. If we had bought it here it would have been at least triple the price (if you look closely you might see your picture on it :D)

Chainsaw: Someone blessed us with their chainsaw. Jake has had his eye on one for a while now and he's enjoying choppping unwanted trees and limbs down in our yard. I have to watch him or we'll be treeless in a moment! This is proving HHCH with plenty of extra firewood too. 

Larger generator: Someone also gave us a much bigger generator than what we had before. Our last one would either run the fridge or freezer and a couple of lights. The new one can run both appliances, the washer, hot water heater and my tea kettle (makes this English women happy!) without any difficulties. This is truly helpful for when we have those long power cuts of a few days at a time. Our old one is heading down to the bible school so they can have lights and the projector on nights that the electric goes out.

Popcorn seasoning: Jake's cousin bought us a ton of popcorn seasoning. Popcorn is probably one of our top snacks here as corn is cheap and abundant. We generally sprinkle sugar or salt on it. Well, life has become a little brighter with the discovery of these little shakers bursting with flavour. I thought ranch was may favourite till we popped open the jalspeño one the other night. Only downside is that we're eating popcorn most nights now!

Flossers: need I say more?!

Cooking supplies: Jake's mum took us Christmas shopping and I picked out nuts and different chocolate chips (toffee, white, dark, light, mint, etc) as my pressie. So nice to be able to make yummy chocolate chip cookies or throw a couple of handfuls into homemade ice-cream. Also lovely to have almonds to toss on top of our salads or into our granola. 

Grinder and sausage stuffer: this was donated by our butcher friends along with lots of other butchering supplies. We plan to open up a butchers by the summer as another WON business to provide steady jobs and bring in extra income for the orphanage. Of course we wanted to test out the new grinder and sausage stuffer before we train someone on them. The grinder was so quiet and fast (15lb a minute!) and the sausage stuffer made the whole process incredibly quick. I think back to 4 years ago when we did 80lb of sausage meat by a hand grinder, now that was a workout!