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 ?

Rabbit Farm

HHCH was blessed with some extra money from a church in the States to start up a rabbit farm. This will add some extra protein into the diet of our children. Hopefully it will also add some more monies to their food budget through sales. Jake grew up raising and even showing rabbits (he won $300 for a rabbit once!) so he is really enjoying designing and making their cages. I must admit the rabbits look too cute to eat but the kids don't think so :D. 

 Norbert, Jake, and Tim hard at work

 Cages with nesting boxes

We bought our rabbits from a Catholic farm where they raise rabbits, pigs, chickens etc. plus teach people about raising them. They have an amazing setup.

 We have one more of these cages made now plus a few more rabbits. They are currently in the garage but will be moved outside once a lean-to has been built.

Four bunnies already! The mother rabbit pulls her fur out to make a nest. They are so cute!

Delanee Scone

So I have mentioned Delanee Scone, an intern that has been staying with us for the last couple of months. She is from Satalite Beach, FL. She has a blog going too, check it out, it might be nice to see what is going on over here from another person perspective:


http://ready2impact.blogspot.com/


Lanee only has two weeks left here, I should have put this up sooner!

Front Wall Project

This month the front wall of the new Helping Hands Children's Home location has had a face lift. Delanee (our intern) has been busy painting and putting the logo up on one section. She has also put a scripture with a mural on another. On Saturday we spent the morning with the kids, getting them to put their hand prints all around the logo. The kids had a blast and it looks fantastic. No one will be able to miss the orphanage now!

What it looked like when we moved in

After a layer of plaster and a lick of paint

Delanee hard at work

Just about done

And the fun begins...

Marvelous (in his Sponge Bob PJ's no less)!

 Derek, Kingsley, Marvelous, and Noel

Getting their hands painted

We went through a lot of paint thinner

Jake was our step ladder

Our little Dorcas

Just about finished

Sandrine and other news

Wow, it has been well over a month since I blogged last, where does the time go? So much has been going on, hmm, where to start? Well, we do have an intern staying with us, Delanee Scone, who will be here a total of 8 weeks. It is so nice having an extra pair of hands around and she has done some awesome artwork at the orphanage. All the kids love her and we will be sad to see her go home in a couple of weeks. We have also got a rabbit farm up and running at HHCH, plus a chicken coop built. The rains have come and the farm has been turned and ready for planting next week.  I will post pictures of all this soon.

Much has been going on in the life of Sandrine too, she went for a consultation at a hospital that specializes in crooked limbs (only a 30 minute drive, amazing!). The doctors said her problem isn't serious and that her legs should straighten out just fine. They measured her for braces and then we took her back there last week. She will be at the hospital for about a month as she learns to walk with braces and has physical therapy every day. Pa is staying with her. The biggest issue was her fear of the hospital and doctors as it wasn't too pleasant for her last time when they dug 60 parasites out of her hands and feet.

We went to visit them yesterday, Sandrine ran out to meet us, she was so happy. We took Ma plus Bena and Dorcus, our two youngest, as Sandrine requested they come and visit her. She was so excited to see them and it was great to see her all smiles. It was a big relief to see her not upset or sad about being there. She had just got her braces that day, and is starting to wear them a few hours each day. Eventually she will be wearing them all day long. It is already pushing her foot forward which is great, but you can tell it is a lot of pressure for her. She can't walk independently with them yet but it won't be long. She does her exercises everyday with lots of other children that are in the same situation. Pa is doing great job of looking after her. I was hoping to take over next weekend to give him a little break but since I'm still nursing Jordan, I don't think it will be possible. I would have to do all the exercises with Sandrine which would be hard with a 9 month around. Pa said it's not a problem but hopefully we will get to give him a bit of a break somehow. Please keep Sandrine in your prayers, that her legs will straighten the way they are meant too and that the process won't be too painful for her. Once she can walk well in the braces she will come home. She could wear the braces for up to one year. 

Inside their hospital room

Sandrine showing us her new braces and shoes (she is very excited about them)

My handsome boy

And Jordan chewing on the new braces...

Happy Sandrine

With her braces on, still big smiles! It's amazing to think how far she has come in such a short time.

Our wonderful Ma and Pa

Bena, Sandrine, and Dorcus (best buddies)

Want to Come to Cameroon?

Are you  interested in coming to Cameroon to see all that is going on over here? Well now is you chance! Win Our Nations is sending a team to Bamenda on July 5th to the 19th. The team will be building a toilet block at the orphanage plus spending some quality time with the children. They will also be doing evening outreaches in the town with a laser light show. These teams are always a great time of drawing closer to the Lord plus being a huge blessing to the people of this country. I seriously believe that all Christians should go on at least one missions trip so they can see how most of the rest of the world is living and to broaden their perspectives. The team costs $3389 which includes, all travel, lodging, food, and project money (it does not include, your passport, visa, shots, or spending money). I know this can sound like a lot of money but I have found that whatever God orders, He always pay for! It you sign up soon it would give you plenty of time to raise this money. The team will be leaving from Orlando, FL, so you would have to meet the team there. Families are welcome. Click on the website below to print out a brochure:


http://winournations.com/Win_Our_Nations/Cameroon_Team.html


Please feel free to share this in your church, or with friends and family. There is limited space so first come, first serve. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to email and ask me any questions (schilinskiclan@gmail.com) or call the WON office at 321-684-1062. Below are a few pictures from past teams to whet your spirit a bit :D

Jordan Connie

Our little sunshine turned eight months yesterday. She's almost been out as long as she's been in! Jordan certainly brings so much joy to the whole family, she is just so precious. Here are a few things I've noticed so far that are different between baby boys and baby girls (beside the obvious one :D )

-Girls keep you a lot cleaner when you're changing their nappy, I haven't been peed on once! I swear Seth used to wait to go till I took his nappy off.

-Jordan is timid of our dogs, she'll hold onto me a little bit tighter when they walk by. The boys were trying to bite their ears off at this age.

-Jordan gets a diaper rash in about .01 of a second. I never struggled with this with my boys... her sskin is just ssooo ssensative!

-Much more talkative (already!)

-And something else I've never realized before; crawling isn't easy when your wearing a dress.

The rain is on its way!

We had our first rain this week. It hasn't rained since November so it was very welcome. Granted, it was only a few drops, but it was still a blessing. The boys went crazy running around in the garden, hoping it was going to pour. You can see on our dusty grill how little precipitation it really was. But it has rained gently in the night a couple of times since, so the dust is down, praise the Lord! I also don't have to water my garden constantly, phew! 

See what my wonderful husband found at a second hand shop in town... it is a heavy duty meat slicer! We really are becoming quite the butchers, with our industrial meat grinder and pig processing shenanigans. This slicer is a huge blessing though, as you can only buy ham in 5KG chunks here, so obviously we never buy it. But now we can, we'll just slice it, put it into pound packages and freeze; life just became a little bit easier. And yes, I am in my PJ's. Jake came back late after bible school with it so we had to clean it all up and try it out. We slaughter a pig next week so maybe we will slice some belly bacon.