Helping Hands Children Home is up and running!

Praise the Lord all is going well at the Children's Home. A month ago we received our first orphans that we got from a village called Ngie. First, their is a little boy called Kingsley, his folks died a while back, he was malnourished and anemic when we got him. He is a super precious child and ALWAYS has a smile on his face and gives the biggest hugs.

KINGSLEY

Next are three siblings who's mother died a few months back when a tree fell on her while farming and pushed her into a fire. The children all had different dads, some of whom are dead, one who wants nothing to do with them. Their grandma was looking after them but she is very old, has a serious (and I mean serious) leg infection so she can't walk, and all the kids were struggling to survive. They all had very yellow eyes and were anemic when we got them. The oldest is Ocila (8) who is like a Mum to her little baby sister Bernadette, she basically did everything for the baby, looking after her 24 hours a day. OCILA

BERNADETTE

Then there is her little brother Marvelous. When he came he was very shy and sad but now he is just a bundle of joy and always has a mischievous smile on his face (he keeps the Ma and Pa on their toes :). His baby sister just adores him! Bernadette has really filled out in the few weeks she's been at the HHCH, she just eats and eats.

MARVELOUS

They are all sooooo incredibly precious and we just love them to pieces already. Baby Bernadette still won't come to me but she is warming up to me. Here's a pic of what they were like before we took them. They're in the front room of their mud house, can you see the difference in them already!
Then just two days ago Jake and Tim when out to another village about 6 hours away and got 5 more kids. It was very rough roads so Jake had a lot of fun. We got another girl, Perseverance, and 4 boys, Nestor, Kari, Rodin, and Blessing. The are all in the 10 to 12 age range but they don't know for sure (one thing we need to get made for all the kids are birth certificates). They all seem to be doing well, Nesto has a fungus or something on his toenails (we'll head to the doctors on Monday) but other than that they all seem healthy, PTL. I will get pictures of them up in a day or two. Please pray that these new children will adjust quickly to their new surroundings, they all lived in mud huts before with no electric or running water, had very primitive bamboo beds that they shared with a lot of people. They had absolute rags for clothes. So to come to a place that has concrete floors, a mattressed bed with blankets, and 3 meals a day is a BIG change for them.

The only problem we've had with the children so far is trying to get them to drink a cup of milk a day. They've never had it before and don't like it :-). They will soon get used to it.

Also pray that we will find sponsors for all these children quickly, we are still starting up at the Home so there is still lots that we need to get (tables, chairs, wardrobes, pots, plates, etc.). We know that the Lord will provide for everything!

Team Photos

We said good-bye to our WON team on Thursday. It was sad to see them go, we had such a great two weeks with them. Check out the photos below and see all the great things the team got to do... maybe you would be interested in coming on one or even your church sending a team out here, we have lots of work to do and it will be the experience of a life time!

A huge THANK YOU to all you team members, what a blessing you were!!

Nancy, Allison, Bill, Brandee, Terrell, Lisa, My mum Phyllis, Jessica, my dad Malcolm, & Femi

A hard working bunch!

Allison and Lisa painting the ceiling

Good job Femi is tall!

My Dad doing some plastering

What the orphanage looked like before they started painting

One of the two buildings they painted

Bill hanging out with Bernadette, our first baby at the orphanage

Traveling out to a village

At house in the village

Out in village

The Girls with their tailor made dresses

Dancing in Church!

Nancy sharing her testimony at church

Terrell Singing a song at church

Our Hike up to Mbingo, breath-taking!

Good food (yes that is a fish's tail)

Having some fun with local kids

Visiting a beautiful waterfall

The cave behind the waterfall

Jessica teaching HIV awareness to students at a secondary school

Visiting Prespot, a little pottery place in the middle of nowhere

The team is here

Bernadette, our little baby at the Children's Home

Well, our team from Florida is here! We've been have a great time, with lots and lots going on. We also received our first children at the orphanage almost two weeks ago now, so exciting, things are really moving along. We're super busy with the team right now but will give more details when I get time (team leaves next week). The children are doing great though and are just so special, we praise God that He has brought them into our care. Anyway, need to get some sleep, it is super late and have an early start tomorrow. Have so much to blog about, will soon, I promise!

Our team up the Mbingo mountatin

Painting at the orphanage with team

Keeping busy!

Internet has been really bad the last week, so has the electric, it goes and comes, goes and comes... all the joys of rainy season (plus mosquitoes). Other than that, all is going great. At the orphanage the rooms are just about ready, toilets are getting tiled this week. Jake and Tim went out to a village today to see some orphans… we should know by Friday if we are going to receive them or not, very exciting, our first kids!

Then the team from our home church in Florida will be here next Friday... Jake and Tim leave on Monday for Yaoundé as they still need to do some set up for buses, hand the WON paperwork into an office down there, go to the American Embassy to get Jude's social security number sorted out, do a bit of shopping (cheese!) and then pick the team up. I'll be home alone with the boys for a week getting as much homeschooling in as possible so we can have two weeks off while the team is here, as well as making sure all the last minute things are set up for the team. Can't wait!

As requested here is a picture of Patrick and Anna the Pa and Ma of the Children's Home. They moved in last month and have been such a blessing! They are amazingly hard workers, keeping everything spic and span and always have a smile on their faces. We really praise the Lord for them!

FYI, Jude Said "Daddy" for the first time tonight when Jake walked in the door, soooo cute!

Quote of the day

My brother called me the other day, so when we sat down for lunch I asked the boys, "guess who called me today?" Lots of thinking going on so gave them a clue, "someone in America". Seth, is all sincerity, asked, "Barack Obama?"

Yummy!

Grossest thing happened at Church the other day when we were getting ready to take communion. Here everyone that partakes of it goes up to the front to hold hands and prayer, etc. Anyway I was right up the front and as the pastor took off the table cloth covering, a big ol' cockroach ran out and under the table. Everyone made a mad dash to try and kill it but it was too fast. The pastor said next time we must flame our bread before putting it on the table (holding it over an open flame to kill any germs as bread doesn't come wrapped here). Anyway as we started praying the little guy came out running around our feet until someone finally squished him. Never a dull!

Not sure if I mentioned before about us finding a church that we really like, it took a bit as all the churches here are very loud (huge speakers in tiny little rooms, literally can't hear your self think). Anyway we came across a small new church plant, about 11 months old now. The Pastor is really great and so is his wife Mary. They have three small children just like us. Had them over for dinner and got on really well. Jake has preached at the church a couple of times already and we feel really at home there, a real blessings. After the team has come and gone, I'm going to start helping out with the Children's Church (not enough time right now).

More Pig business

You might remember that I blogged about us slaughtering pigs and processing them to make chops, ribs, sausages, etc. Well, we have had our first major order for 30 pounds of patties for a men's prayer breakfast... we're also going to make sausages for any other missionaries that are interested plus any hotels or other people that might be too. We won't be millionaires from it but it should keep our freezes stocked with Pork which will help out our pocket a bit for one day's work a month. We are doing this with our co-workers the Born's so we started brain storming about names the other day and came up with Borski Pork (gotta say it with a Russian accent for a better effect :). 10 points to anyone that can work out why we called it that.

Update on orphanage: Things are moving along, the Ma and Pa (Patrick and Anna) are all moved in and doing well. They're extremely hard workers, like I said before, they are an older couple but that doesn't stop them. Jake was filling up a wheelbarrow of rubble the other day that Patrick was pushing. He didn't fill it up all the way and Patrick insisted that the fill it completely up, great to see such great workers... praise the Lord! Less than 4 weeks till the team gets here, can't wait!

Whatever the weather....

Yeahhhh, it's officially rainy season now (March 15th)! We had one really good rain about a week ago (could have gone out and danced in it). Since then had a few light showers, actually right now it is drizzling (or spitting as we say in England). It has already cut down the dust, can finally drive with the windows down and open the windows up in the house too. It should also help our water bill out as I've been watering my flower garden like crazy trying to keep everything alive :). All the Cameroonians are getting their "farms" ready, burning the old plants and grass, turning the ground over and making their mounds. Starting to feel a bit like spring here.

Getting close...

Lot's been going on. Really close to having the orphanage open, lots of digging, plastering, and carpentry's going on down there. I've been there painting the ceilings (such a fun job!) and will be working on the walls this coming week.My face is covered with white speckles of paint that Jude keeps trying to pick off :). The "Ma and Pa" are ready to move in so once their room is all finished they'll be there. We have the applications for the orphans ready and they will be handed out next week to all those who have told us of different orphans and then we'll start the background checks on them... so things are moving along nicely. Just seems like we don't have enough hours in the day sometimes to get things done! Jake's been working on the "sponsor an orphan" brochure... if you interested in one or a few for you church, let us know.

Praise God we had our first rain since Christmas... it lasted about two hours.... soooooooo incredible nice! It's just been so dusty lately that it's hard to even go for a walk as it's just all in the air, the house has been constantly dusty, no matter how often you clean it. So it should start raining more and more now. I did my vegetable garden turned over and put into mounted rows. I brought a bunch of seeds back with me from the States, especially different types of tomatoes and lettuce as you can only get plum tomatoes and one type of lettuce here, so that will be a good school project with the boys.

Jude in the garden, having some fun!