Grasshoppers and airplanes

Jordan can sit up now so I can bathe her in the sink (a lot more easier on my back!). She loved it even though I don't think she is going to fit in there for very long. I'll guess we'll upgrade to the big bath next.

It is mangwin (type of grasshopper) season here right now. They always come as dry season starts. People attach fluorescent lights to high poles with a sheet on metal behind them and a bucket underneath. At night the grasshoppers fly into the light, hit the metal, and fall into the bucket. Then for a reason I don't understand they can't get out.  They are an expensive delicacy for $10 a bucket. They fly into the house ever so often and the boys have fun catching them. A couple of days ago I told Seth to take one out and he said he wanted to eat it (he eats them at his friends). So when our friend offered us some yesterday, Jake took a handful. I got my friend to cook them (I have no idea). They boil them first, them fry them. Jake and Seth enjoyed them but Josh and I were too chicken (the little eyes bug me!). I'm sure they are great protein though.

So the President still has not come to Bamenda. He was meant to be here this week but it is now postponed to the 9th. It makes life a little more complicated as there is a curfew at night and lots of police check points set up. I'll be glad when he has come and gone! They are going to do an air show when he is here and 3 jets and 3 helicopters have been flying over often. I remember Jake's Great Grandma telling me that when she was a girl the teacher used to let them out of the classroom if a plane was flying over so they could see it. Well, I'm doing that too, the boys go crazy over it! They usually never get to see planes flying over. Then when I was down at the meat market yesterday and the jets flew over and the whole place erupted, people were cheering, shouting, and dancing. It was like Cameroon had scored a goal in the world cup or something. It was cool to experience, enjoying the simpler things of life. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving week. Our good friends, the Youngs, came up from Yaounde to visit for a few days. They are missionaries with Jaars/Wycliff, Darrel is a pilot. We've missed them a lot since moving to Bamenda so it was great to get some quality time to catch up (our kids had a blast seeing their kids too). 

Thanksgiving Dinner with the Youngs. Also our good missionary friends the Dibbits were there (plus Simon). We all ate way too much!

We went for a picnic by a waterfall

Jake hiked to the top of the waterfall with the kids

The first term of Faith Bible College ends this week. We praise the Lord it has been a great semester. Registration starts this week for term two, please pray that we have good attendance; we are believing that we will see at least another 10 people join. We did hold a Pastor's breakfast to help promote it, it went very well.

Tim sharing at the Pastor's breakfast held at a restaurant in town

Also the last few weeks I have been busy painting my kitchen whenever I've had an evening free. We've been in this house over two years and the kitchen has been very neglected. It badly needed painting when we moved in! We also have started to make cabinets for it. We are making a section every month or so.

Sweeping the cobwebs down before painting the ceiling.

I chose a sunny yellow, it seems so bright in there now! And here is the first cabinet we made, Jake designed it. It is so nice not to have to bend down to get my plates and cups out anymore. And this is made out of solid Mahogany! I love living in Africa where this stuff is so easy to get.

I also celebrated my birthday last week, 31! It was a lot more easier than 30, that's for sure. One of my close missionary friends, Val Ham, made me a lovely cake and we all sat out in the garden and ate it so that was very special. I can't remember the last time I had a cake for my birthday. 

Val with my cake, yum!

Jo Jo helping me to blow the candles out

And of course I had to get one in of our little Jordan, who is now practically crawling! She is just ready to go!

I'm still alive!

I know it has been for-ev-er since I posted, as usual life has been crazy busy, but good busy. Here is a little update of the last few weeks.  We finished week twelve of school on Friday, we are a third of the way through already even though it seems like we just got started! It is going really well though and I'm even a little ahead on my read-a-louds, a miracle! We have a miniature zoo in our schoolroom right now as we are studying bugs in science. There are caterpillars, crickets, grasshoppers, and earthworms in jars all over the place, a boy's paradise!

All is going well at the children's home, I will blog about it more in the next week or two, but there are some changes coming up this month (good changes). We received three big boxes in the mail from the church Jake grew up in, First Baptist Church of Clarinda, Iowa. They were full of shirts and shoes for the kids, what a huge blessing! Their VBS helped bring them all in, it is wonderful to see how the children's home is continually being blessed, God is good. All the children did great on their mid-term exams. We also might be getting another orphaned girl this month, please keep that in your prayers.

Sandrine continues to improve and is really zipping around with her walker now. She is such a sweetie!

The new church plant is growing, I already have two helpers with the children's church,  they are doing awesome. I am starting to feel we are a team. It's great to be making so many more Cameroonian friends. I'm still helping with the praise and worship. Last week the leader called me on Saturday saying she wasn't well and if I could do it by myself. Praise the Lord is went well, even if my voice was almost gone at the end (there is no mic). The Lord is always stretching me (and I'm finally playing my guitar again)! 

There is a little bit of unrest in the air right now. The President, Paul Biya, will be visiting Bamenda at the end of the month. He has only visited here one other time, in '88, so it has been a while! We are in the English zone and there is always turmoil between them and the French zone. There are many people that do not particularly like the president here. So there is a 8 o'clock curfew in town, and they are taking anyone out past that time to jail for the night (and making them register to vote for the next elections!). The Bible school is having to close a lot earlier. There are a lot more police and soldiers out and about, so we alway make sure we have our paperwork with us. Never a dull moment on the mission field!

My folks are defiantly coming for Christmas, can't wait! They will be here for almost three weeks so it will be great. Of course they will be spending all their time ohhhing and ahhhing over Jordan :D. Jordan will be five months next week. She already has two teeth and is the most adorable little girl in the whole world! I just couldn't love her anymore! 

 The three big boxes that came

 Sakina and Tahirih in their new shoes and shirts

The kids looking very smart in their new clothes

Sandrine update

Sandrine is doing so well and fitting right in at the Children's Home. She went to the hospital for a check-up this week. The doctor reexamined her feet  (this time she wasn't screaming her head off). The doctor said that there is no reason why she shouldn't walk, we just need to keep stretching out those muscles. Tim managed to find her a small walker in town, such an answer to prayer! Sandrine has been using it and really getting around fast. As you can see from her knees in the photos she still likes to crawl but we are being pretty strict with Sandrine to use her walker when she is outside. It is wonderful to see her so happy and full of life. We have noticed that she likes to whack the other kids if they do something to upset her, or touch her when she doesn't want them too. I'm guessing she had to be pretty tough to look after herself in the village! So we are working with her to stop that. She is already picking up a lot of English and when I gave her a book from the library today she said thank you with no one prompting her. She's a quick learner!

 Using the walker

Standing by herself

 Taking a couple of steps by herself

 Big smiles

Laughing at the dog that was running around :D

I have been spending Thursday afternoons up at HHCH to help any of the children with their homework. I have really been enjoying the time I spend with them, where we can just sit, chat, and laugh. I'm there on Monday's and Wednesday's afternoons too but I'm teaching Bible class, running the library, checking on the kitchen, etc. so I don't have a lot of time to just sit and chat with the kids (especially since Jordan was born). 

Some things I saw at HHCH this week that made my heart happy. Ma returning from the market and Tahirih running up to meet her and giving her the biggest hug. Cidoni telling me that Helping Hand's is the best orphanage. All the kid's clapping and cheering as Sandrine walked around the table by herself.

Good News for Micah

I don't know if you remember but back in May I posted about when we went and visited our missionary friends who live out in the village of Bafangi. They are bible translators there. I mentioned a little boy from that village, Micah, who had a cleft palette and could not talk. Well, our friends told us that he had his operation a couple of weeks ago and is doing really well. The hardest part was that he wasn't able to eat for about three days after the surgery, poor little thing! There is still a slight gap in his palette as there wasn't enough skin to close the hole completely but the doctors are hoping it will grow over by itself. So that is a big praise. Now Micah will have to learn to talk, please keep him in your prayers, thanks!

A morning at the dentist

I spent all Friday morning at the dentist's. We actually have a wonderful dentist here, Florence. She was trained in England and is married to a Canadian missionary so she knows how to be a little more gentler with us wimpy westerners :D. I had a filling fall out about two months ago but I just haven't had time to get it taken care of. So when Kingsly at the Children's Home started complaining of toothache I decided to finally make time. I also took along Seth and Josh as the needed some things done too. My friend Joy also came so she could hold the baby while I was being worked on. 

Florence found that I have three cavities besides the filling that fell out, yikes! She fixed two and will do the other two this week. For some reason she doesn't like the white filling and always goes on about how the metal ones are so much better and more durable. I literally had to argue with her to give me the white ones. She said, "Why does it matter, you already have a husband?" Too funny! Anyway I managed to convince her to give me the white fillings even though she was shaking her head at me (made me feel very vain). I did have to the nurse Jordan halfway through as she was screaming her head off. I felt wierd with cotton balls in my mouth and the little bib thing on :). Anyway Josh had to have a tooth removed as his permanent one was coming in on the side of it. Seth had two teeth removed as one was rotten and the other was in the way on his permanent tooth. And little Kingsly had two teeth removed too as they were in a bad state. Poor little Kingsly, it was his first time to visit a dentist but he was very brave and did great. And the damage for three hours of work of two fillings and a total of five teeth being removed; $100! Sometimes I love living in Africa (okay, all the time)!

Most of the kids at the children's home never brushed their teeth before coming to HHCH (but they also never had much sugar either). Their biggest problem is plaque. I talked with Florence and she is going to come out the orpahange next saturday to check all the kid's teeth and see who needs what done. Then we can work at getting them to the dentist in order of greatest need as funds come available.

A Good Week

It’s been busy week, especially for Jake. Besides all he’s normal daily work, he has been at the Bible school Monday through Thursday, teaching the last night. Friday he taught at a Bible study at our house and today he preached at church in the morning and the evening! He’s amazing! Next week shouldn’t be quite so packed.

We celebrated our 11^th wedding anniversary on Saturday. A good friend looked after all 3 boys for us. In the afternoon we went looking around second hand/import shops in town, I haven’t done that forever! It’s hard to do with all the kids as you really have to rummage and then barter for everything but you can usually find some good deals. I found hair conditioner, non-stick cooking spray, and even Martha Stewart measuring spoons!  We ate dinner at a new hotel in town that makes pizza! They were soooooo good, much better than my homemade ones that’s for sure! I had a curried chicken pizza with a fresh cream sauce (instead of tomato), sounds weird, I know, but amazing! Then we came home and watch Slumdog Millionaire, incrediable movie! So it was a great day. Hard to believe I have been married for 11 years already!

Sandrine, the little girl I mentioned a few weeks back is now at HHCH. She spent four days in the hospital where they removed 60 plus jiggers from her hands, feet, and knees. She is doing great. They first few days she was very weepy but she has really settled in now. Every time I go to HHCH she has the brightest smile on her face and gives me a great big hug, she is so precious. We are doing some stretches with her to help loosen up her legs. We are going to keep working on the muscles until she is walking, we’re believing it won’t be too long. Sandrine speaks no English but we do have four children who speak her language so that is a blessing. Before you know it she’ll be understanding and speaking English. Please keep her in your prayers!

Jake with Jordan before church this morning (awww!)

 Sandrine and Jake

Sandrine's much improved hands but they still have some swelling

Her feet are looking a lot better too

Kool-aid and other stuff

We use a sachet of kool-aid everyday as juice is expensive here, it's what we always have with lunch. I noticed we were getting pretty low the other day and though, hmm need to get someone to send me some more. Tom and Linda Maher came and stayed with us last weekend and with them they brought two packs off Kool-Aid (plus some other goodies)! Just little things like this always remind me how God is always providing for our every need (if you can call KA a need :D). I know this might seem really small and insignificant but it meant a lot to me, God is into the details!

Below are a few pictures of the last week or so. I desperately need to take more photos of Jordan, it's that fourth Child thing! 

Seth with one of our puppies (who we have now sold) 

Josh with a beetle he found in the backyard

 Found this one under Josh's photos... should I be worried? 

 Jude reading to Jordan!

 Josh's newest pet, Tripod the Chameleon. Josh found him when he was out in the village with Jake picking up Sandrine. He only has three legs but gets around really well. Jake spent the afternoon with the boys building a cage for him. It is amazing to watch him catch bugs with his tongue!

Faith Bible College

Last night completed the second week of Faith Bible College. We have 8 people registered, we were hoping for at least 10, but 8 is still great! The school holds evening classes at an office space WON is renting in town. They have classes from 5-8pm, Monday through Thursday. Tim is teaching a class, we also have two local pastors teaching classes. Jake is teaching the Foundations class on Wednesday's night. He has been studying a lot lately, I love seeing my husband reading and studying the Word! It's also bringing up lots of Bible/theology questions and talk in our daily conversation, love it! 

The first week was a little tough as there was no electric in the whole city. This week was a lot better as they had light and could use the projector. Next semester I will be teaching an elective on Children's Ministry, really looking forward to it.

 

Jake teaching (yes, it's cold here right now!)

 

Tim teaching by candle light

Home School

For anyone interested, below is a list of the curriculum my boys are using this year. Josh is a lot more independent in 4th grade, and Seth can do much more by himself now that he is in 2nd. Teaching’s been a lot easier than last year so far (I know, I’m only in the third week). We start at 8am and we’re all done by 1pm (with a 20 minute break at 10). We do four days of regular school with Friday as our fun morning. We do art, PE, music, and usually some science project (more work for me but the boys love it).

This year we switched to A Beka Language arts as that’s not one of Sonlight’s strong points. The difference is AMAZING. The A Beka workbooks are great and Josh (my little math and science dude) is doing so much better already with creative writing and grammar. It was like pulling teeth to try and get him to write an interesting story or poem last year. Sonlight’s history is wonderful though, I think I enjoy it more than the kids. I never studied American history before so I’m learning along with them. Sonlight does have a LOT of reading (history books, plus read-alouds) but I cherish cuddling up on the couch and reading with the boys.

Jordan does great, I feed her right before school and then she’ll usually sleep most of the morning. Jude on the other hand is at the stage where he is wanting to be a part of everything so I am trying to come up with creative ways to keep him occupied so he’s not distracting the boys all morning (anyone know a good play doe recipe?). So here’s the list:



Grade 4:

Sonlight Core 4 history (American history part 2)

11 read-alouds

18 readers

Saxon math 5/4

Sequential Spellings (2)

A Beka Developing good health workbook

A Beka Understanding God’s world (science)

A Beka Languae arts (God’s gift of language A)

A Reason For Handwriting (D)
Word Study (E)

Wordly Wise 3000

Map skills for today workbook


Grade 2:

Sonlight Core 2 history (World history part 2)

15 read-alouds

21 readers

Saxon math 2

Sequential Spelling (1)

A Beka Health, Safety, and Manners

A Beka Enjoying God’s world (science)

A Beka Languae arts (2)

A Reason For Handwriting (B)

Word Study (B)

Explode the code 4, 5, and 6

Map skills for today workbook