Bloomin' Onion

Look at this massive onion that Ben brought home from town today! I should have taken a picture of the green pepper too. Someone has an extremely productive garden! When we were trying to take the picture Faith Ann kept complaining, "It's too heavy!!"

Ok, back to my mouse saga. As soon as I closed up shop last night...finished my blog post telling you my mouse woes, would you believe that little booger came right out in the middle of the office floor. He scurried right up to the sticky pad I have set out, and rather than running along the wall and getting stuck on it, he ran around it and came out towards me! I was so mad at that thing. So, I'm sitting here watching for it...he runs back under the bookshelf and then I see him try to scurry under the desk...Where My Feet Are! I kept stomping my foot and it would run away, and in about 20 seconds it would come back. I scared it off about 4 times and it was so persistent! The 5th time I grabbed a can of bug spray and fumigated it back. He never came out that way again. I'm not convinced that hurt him though. I think he is still hanging around. I put peanut butter on the sticky pad and hope that will trick him into stepping on it. We will see. It is kind of a fun game for me now. As long as he isn't tearing my kitchen apart he isn't bothering me too much. If he leaves the office I won't be happy... Ben was talking about how funny it would be to just sit there with a shop vac. We could totally suck it right up! He is so bold and comes so close I'm sure we could do it!

Be sure to head over to my digi blog tomorrow if you are interested in digi stuff. ScrapMatters is hosting a blog train and I'm a part of it...The train is huge and everyone has a little freebie to give away. We are also sharing a "moment that matters" in our lives, so I plan to ride on the train and read everyone's special moments. Visit anytime after 9 a.m. est tomorrow!

Picnic season

I guess it is picnic season...at least the kids seem to think so (and YES, we need to mow our lawn! haha.) Today was just one of those days you want to be outside. It was overcast and cool and breezy. We were in the middle of a cloud a chunk of the day and the kids spent all morning outside playing. When it came time for lunch, they decided to haul one of their tables and 4 chairs out into the front yard for a picnic. They were so proud of themselves that they got all that furniture outside by themselves. This pic isn't the greatest...they are making weird faces but it is true to life nonetheless. :D

I didn't blog last night. I have a hard time getting my blog done on date night and by the time Ben gets home and we put the kids to bed, I'm just ready to sit down, eat our dinner and spend time with my hubby. The biggest damper to the whole evening was our sighting of THREE mice. We saw one come in under our front door during devos. We managed to catch that one fairly quickly. Then Ben and I went to our bedroom and saw one run behind our bookshelves...we put sticky pads on either side and finally caught that one. And before I crawled in bed I checked email and I saw one scurry behind a box of tracts in the office!! That last one we still did not catch. I have NEVER had so many mice in my house. But, it seems to be a season or something. The Sanderlins, missionaries about an hour away from us, emailed us and asked us how we catch mice b/c they have a similar problem. Ben said that there are boys all over town selling homemade sticky pads for "arratas" (roll the "r" when you say that - it is pidgin for rat as I'm sure you already guessed). They are all so tiny and really dumb and if you happen to spot them, fairly easy to catch. Because of their size they can sneak in our house any ol' time. We leave our doors open a lot and there is just no getting around it I guess...but it has never been this bad! I'm thinking we need one more cat.

Well it is late and I am heading to bed. It is pouring rain right now and I'm loving the sound and want to fall asleep to it! :)

Play

The day started out fairly warm. After lunch the biggest storm blew in and it got downright COLD in a hurry. The girls had a blast playing out in the rain. Kate especially. They were freezing to death when all was said and done, but it was worth it. Even now as I type this I'm cold...I'm ready to go snuggle under a warm blanket! It is just one of those kind of days...and I love it!

This virus we have is slowly working it's way through the entire house. Drew is now down with a fever. He's a good sport and I'm thankful for the chewable tylenol that Pastor Lee brought over from Dyer Baptist Church. What a blessing that has been b/c we have gone through a lot of it!

Two ladies came to Bible study tonight. I was giggling at them b/c they were dressed like it was winter. The Cameroonians don't handle cold very well. I think the overall consensus is that rainy season is far better than dry, so nobody is complaining! Beatrice was missing tonight. She comes every week, and her daughter Vanessa also comes sometimes, but Vanessa has been very sick since Saturday and Beatrice was at the hospital with her. They are pretty sure she has malaria. That is one thing we are very blessed to have avoided so far...malaria. The first two years we were here, every time the kids got sick we went and got them tested, but we have since learned that b/c of our elevation, malaria isn't common here. Those that do get it, most likely pick it up while traveling away from Bambili. I'm sure one day we will have to deal with it, but I'm thankful that we haven't had to deal with it yet, especially while the kids are still small.

Playing Catch UP

I realize that I've been a little MIA...but it isn't without good reason. Mostly anyway. First off, Ben traveled and I was home alone with the kiddos. That didn't leave me too much free time. Then my computer kinda crashed. I booted it up on Friday and got nothing on my screen. My desktop was blank except for my recycle bin and it said it couldn't retrieve the info on my computer. I panicked of course. Rebooted about 10 times. I finally got it to come up in a wierd mode...wasn't safe mode, I really don't know what was going on. So, I spent most of Friday backing up my computer. I have ALL of my digital scrapbooking kits on here, and lots of pictures and all my completed digital layouts. So, it was with great relief that I got those on an EHD. Then on Saturday our internet was down. It was down Sunday morning as well and then the power was out. The internet did come back on Sunday afternoon thankfully, so I spent a good chunk of that day re-installing avg, yahoo messenger, photoshop, etc...I also spent a great deal of time trying to get a math game to work for Drew...to no avail. I won't even go into that.


So...here I am. Monday, April 26 and I have a lot to catch up. Here are some pictures that will update you on this past week.This one is of Kate on April 19th. I didn't blog that day but I did get my picture. We went to the Needham's house for dinner that evening. They had a batch of fairly new kittens that are super cute. The kids had a blast playing outside until after dark with all their animals and best of all their swingset.

On Saturday (the 24th), Ben got back from his trip to the Southwest province of Cameroon. He called me from Foumban and said he'd be flying over our house in about 25 min. So, I set a timer and we all went outside and waited. I thought I had an idea of which direction he'd come from, but I was wrong. We heard him in plenty of time though. I snapped a picture of him:

And he snapped a picture of us :D Here is a view of our house from the airHere we are zoomed in a bit more. You can click on the picture to view it a little bigger.On Sunday (the 25th), Kate found this pretty little butterfly on the porch. The kids love bugs. I'm always afraid their love of nature will get them into some sort of trouble. Last week, Kate thought she was being funny and stuck a leaf to her sister's head (Faith Ann). Later that night I noticed a funny mark where that leaf had been. The next morning it was all red and bubbly like a sunburn. I put neosporin on it and it is now in the process of peeling off. Odd...

Today (th 26th) was family day and we stayed home and had a picnic on our front porch.We need to repair our screen. The kids didn't really appreciate the wasps flying in and out, but at the same time it is a great place to trap flies for a while to feed the chameleon. We brought him out so he could feast with us too. :D

So, now I'm caught up and hope I can stay that way provided the power, internet and computer comply. :D

Partayyyy!!!

So, Ben is traveling (he left Thursday morning) and I told the kids that on Friday we would have a party to celebrate the end of school. We are mostly finished...Kate has 2 weeks of spelling lessons, but that is like 10 minutes a day. I got all messed up because they start spelling about 6 or 7 weeks into their 1st grade lessons. Well...I kinda messed up and started her late, so now she is paying for it. She doesn't mind too much. And Drew had just a few more lessons in Heritage studies, but again, those are like 15-20 minutes a day. But other than that, we are done. So, I thought we'd celebrate. Drew and I made a special snack from one of his math lessons. He was given the ingredients for 1 serving and we had to change it to 6 servings. He did pretty good, with my help of course. Then for supper we all made our own pizza pockets and I set up a tent for the kids with mattresses on the floor. I draped a bedspread over the furniture and I also put the tv on a coffee table and they all snuggled under there and watched a movie. Then, for the big challenge...they are "camping out" there all night! We will see how that goes. It is 11 p.m. and I just heard Faith Ann let out a big noisy yawn...probably to inform me that she is still awake. (I'm just in the next room.) I'm sure they will be up early, but it will be fun for them, and it is definitely not something we do often, so it is special.

Ben is out surveying two of Cameroon's 10 provinces. He flew in Tom Needam's 4 seater airplane (I think it has 4 seats...I have managed to avoid flying in it thus far) and they went to Bertoua and Ngounderie. He has called me each night and we also track his flights using a "spot" gps thing that Tom turns on while flying. So, tomorrow morning he leaves pretty early to head home and fill us all in about his trip. The kids miss him and look forward to him coming home!

More power problems

The power has been SO bad lately. It goes off early in the evening and then we don't get it again until sometime late the next morning. And me...being the procrastinator that I am, get to around bedtime and realize...Ahhhh, I didn't do my blog post! Of course by that time Ben is ready for bed and shutting the generator down. So...thus my delinquence.(surely I didn't spell that right). And murphy's law is always in effect. Now that I have water to wash my laundry...I lack the power to do it!

Now to explain my picture...Cute Emma is studying the Native American Indians and made a feather head dress for her class today. Isn't she cute? We are scrambling to get school done...since we are at the end of the year...we are cramming lessons in. I know that everything they are doing right now...they will be doing the first couple weeks of next school year anyway. Plus I have all summer to drill any problem areas...which I plan on doing. Drew WILL have his times tables memorized by next year. He is playing his multiplication game faithfully every day and I can tell such a difference. We got it online for free...it is called timezattack. They have a $40 upgrade, but the free version goes through every fact, and while monotonous, it is such a great learning tool. Of course they advertise what the upgrade will do...and Drew was wondering today if we could pay for the upgrade. I thought I'd at least check on it, but when I saw the $40 price tag I said, "Sorry Drew but no way!" :D He is such a good sport too...his reply was..."Well, ok. This one works just as good." He is such a good kid!

Well, it is date night and I just finished putting together my last chicken fajita...dinner is calling me!

Sunday Snack Night

Sunday night is snack night. We come home late from church and end up eating lunch around 3 on a normal Sunday, and so for dinner we have snacks. Usually it is popcorn and a dessert of some kind. Well, you know that last week Kate learned about special camping ideas in her family time activity. Of course we tried the hobo dinner...and it was definitely a keeper. Well, she also learned about hobo desserts, so she begged me to make them, and I told her we'd save the idea for our Sunday snack night. So, tonight we had hobo desserts. Here is a picture of Emma making hers.
You take a banana and cut the peel at the top so that you can peel it back, and then close it back up when your dessert is made. You cut a deep slit in the banana lengthwise and stuff it full of marshmallows and chocolate chips. Then, you wrap it in foil and bake it so all that gooeyness is inside the banana. Definitely not appealing to me. The only way I like a banana is if it is nice and firm, just after ripening...with maybe even a little bit of green still on it. Too ripe and I won't eat it. The cooked, hot, mushy banana kinda grossed me out, but the kids loved it. Top it off with fresh watermelon and it was a meal fit for a King as far as they were concerned. Now, the watermelon was yummy tonight! I've not been impressed with the watermelons here in Cameroon, but this one was a winner! It was so, so sweet. MmmmMmmm! The kids ate a ton and we still have half a melon left to enjoy tomorrow!

power problems

If it isn't one thing, it is definitely another. You try your best to roll with the punches when living in Cameroon. :) Today it was power. Now, our power goes out quite frequently. Every night it blinks on and off. Almost like someone is standing at the main power breaker for all of the Northwest province flipping it up and down while erupting in evil laughter. Annoying for sure, but it doesn't, for the most part, interrupt our daily life. Then, they will often announce on the radios that there will be an all day cut in power and it will return at 5 p.m. Of course we know that their 5 p.m. actually means 7 or 8 p.m. Well, yesterday we woke up and the power was out. I didn't think much of it. I knew that it wasn't a storm b/c we had been through that big storm and the power came back on after all was said and done. After lunch however, I noticed that Yeiters were online. That meant they had power. Hmmmm, we still didn't. She informed me that the power had been on since 11. I was like, "what?!?" That meant...no power for us. Ben went around and checked with our neighbors and they too were without power. So, it is just our quarter we decided. After dinner checked once again, and we had power but it was running at around 160...when it should be 220. So, we didn't dare turn the house on. We are running on our generator until bed time. We decided that at bedtime we will turn the house back on, but unplug everything (electronics, appliances etc.) and just turn our water heaters on. So, hopefully we can get a hot shower in the morning! :)

My picture for the day...Drew putting together his "bone guy." He got this as a gift from Mimi. He loves science and loves this bone guy too. He thinks it is pretty cool learning about all the different bones in our body. Yesterday I bought a digital element pack by Jacque Larson over at Lillypad (a digital store) and it is all about bones. The designer hand drew all the different skeleton parts and used them to teach her daughter. I thought it would be great to use them to scrap a page for Drew with his bone guy, and also to make up a little learning tool...print the different pieces and let him put the guy together on paper. We will see if I ever get to that :)

A Relief

Well, good news regarding the water. It wasn't that we were without water...the problem was we had a break in our water line on our property. Our nightwatchman, Michael, noticed it today and told Ben. Ben spent most of the day running for parts to get it repaired. When all was said and done, it is still leaking slightly, but we have a plumber coming in the morning to make the final repair. The glue that Ben had to seal the pipe where he spliced it was old and wouldn't seal. So, he ran to 3 corners to buy some more, but the store there had a tube that was just as old as ours so would have been a waste of money. It was too late for a plumber to come tonight, plus a rainstorm was moving in, and they won't repair anything in the rain anyhow. So, we can get the job finished tomorrow first thing in the morning. As you can see, Emma was Ben's little helper today. Ben is quite the handyman and I'm SO thankful for that. If we had to wait for hired people to come and take care of all of our repairs, we would live in frustration. Life moves so slow here...you might get someone in a few days...or next week. So, Ben has taught himself to do some electrical work and he can do a lot of plumbing too. Plus he is a painter by trade and also worked as a carpenter for a few years. There isn't too much that he can't do...well, he doesn't do car repairs. Labor is so cheap we take the car to the shop. Plus, the mechanic will even make house calls and come pick up your car and take it to the shop. Can't beat that! So, why bother to learn!

Another relief is that Kate is completely better. I'm so glad. I hate it when my kids are sick!

Tonight our power was out for quite a while as a heavy, heavy rainstorm moved in. It was WONDERFUL!! Have I mentioned how much I love rainy season? :D Well, Ben went to bed b/c he was tired, and I did dishes by candlelight. Right as I finished, the power came back on, so I figured I better come in here and do my blog post...even though it is midnight now...or my Mom will be mad at me. (luv ya Mom!) Just kidding...she won't really be mad, but she really looks forward to my daily posts so she can keep up with the kids. I'm sure my mother-in-law is the same way. She probably doesn't get details from Ben about the kids like she does from me. Men are just that way. Short, sweet, and to the point. I like to elaborate...I'm very verbose.

Ok...so now I'm going to shut up as it is super late here now...and I'm tired. Goodnight!

Big Eater

Kate does a pretty good job hunting for food for Rex. Today she hit pay dirt...first coming in with him while he was trying to swallow a moth half his size...and then this... She found him a big grasshopper. He's already got a big chunk of that guy in his mouth by the time we snapped this picture. It must have taken him at least 10 minutes to get the whole thing down. The legs were the hardest part. :D (Ewwww!) He is doing great so far and enjoys living in our window. The kids carry him around quite a bit now, and it doesn't seem to bother him.

Today was catch up day in school with all the kids really. I'm trying to push them to have everything done. Emma did some extra math lessons, Drew went through a few pages of his division lessons, and Kate did yesterdays and todays phonics/handwriting/reading lesson. We are in the home stretch...and I can't wait.

Our water finally quit today. (boooo!) I guess maybe they figured out that our line was getting everything and nobody else had any?? I really don't know, but it is SO frustrating. I can't even begin to describe how frustrating!! I won't get my shower tonight :( and...I thought about doing a load of laundry this morning (while we still had water) and never did end up doing it. I could kick myself! Thankfully the rains are here and within a month or so everyone should have running water all the time.

Well, Ben is calling the family for devotions! I got my post done early tonight!! I'm so proud of myself :)

Bookworm

Drew loves to read and scarfs up pretty much any book he can get his hands on. Recently he has been begging to read some of our story for family devos, so Ben has been letting him read from time to time. I love listening to him...he makes up different voices for the characters just like his Daddy does. It is hilarious listening to him...he can do a mean Brittish accent! haha!

Kate's fever was back up today...101. So, I made her stay in bed. I think she was feeling better yesterday and just overdid it. With her immune system down, she might just be fighting something else off. Who knows. She didn't complain too much when I banned her to the bedroom and made her watch movies.

Tonight is date night...and I'm making fajitas! We are out of Mozzarella, (happens often here...one time we were without it for a few months!) so I decided to do something Mexican. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Countdown

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1...Only 10 more days of school...more or less. Drew will still be doing some math b/c of his delay in division, and Kate will still be doing some spelling, but for the most part in 10 days we will be done. I can't tell you how nice that will be. I can probably get Drew mostly caught up in Math by having him do two lessons, so long as he understands it. If he gets stumped, we will have to slow down. The beauty of homeschooling really. In traditional school, he would have probably been lost at this point.

Ben took a walk with the kids today to pick some mangoes off of our tree. I think he got about 8 big mangoes. Once they ripen I'll make some mango crisp or something fun with them. They kind of taste like peaches when you cook them that way. As you can see by the picture, the gardens have perked back up and we are certainly enjoying the rains. Even now, the wind is blowing...it is cool out. I love rainy season!

Kate is doing even better again today. Her fever was up very slightly before she went to bed...but hopefully that is the last of it. It seems like things hang on sometimes. I'll keep checking her tomorrow, but she was pretty boogery today, a sure sign that she is feeling better LOL

Back to the grind

Thankfully Kate is feeling well enough to do school. She's still not 100 percent, but I let her sit and watch school in the "sick room" (our guest room...that is where she's been hanging out the last several days.) Drew and I spent a while on math today...he worked for a whole week on his times tables, and now he is getting back into his regular lessons and re-doing his last several pages on division. After explaining it and going over the concept with him, he sat down and did a page of division problems and got them all right. It took him a while, but I explained once he knows the facts, he'll breeze through division too!

During Kate's lesson today, her teacher had a "family time" activity. She discussed camping and a fun meal that her family makes while camping...Hobo dinner. Kate was all excited and came telling me about her teachers great meal idea. I told her to bring her school disk in the kitchen and we watched it together and that is what we had for dinner tonight! It was SO yummy too! I just chopped up potatoes, carrots and onions, and piled them on top of a double layer of aluminum foil, sprinkled some lipton onion soup mix, and put a hamburger patty on top. It was a little time consuming as I made six of those packets, but well worth it. They cooked in the oven for 30 min. and all the veggies were tender, and the meat was done. The kids LOVED them and ate every last bite! Definitely something I'll do again in the future. Here is Kate eating her hobo dinner:

Lazy Sunday

The kids and I stayed home ... Kate is still sick and I figured rather than pass our contagious germs on to everyone we would lay low. We watched a Bible Video and did coloring sheets. Kate is doing much better today. She even got up and got dressed...she has been lazing around in her jammies so I took that as a good sign.

We got rain again today. Not too much, but every little bit is nice. And another day with amazing water pressure. I'm not sure what is going on, and I'm not going to ask either. I will take each day of water as an amazing blessing!

Ben taught my Sunday School class this morning. He then rushed home to drive our church van for Bamenda. Eugene, who normally drives, couldn't get a taxi from Sabga, so wasn't able to make it in time. He said that services went well, and he returned home around 3 p.m.

Our evening was nice as a family. We watched the old Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory...such an odd movie. I made popcorn and lemon bars. Often when I work in the kitchen the kids love to hang out in there with me. Sometimes we listen to music, or books on tape. Tonight Drew was reading for everyone. I love this pic that Ben got of all of them huddled around a book.Well, tomorrow is back to the grind of school. We have 11 lessons left and then we are done...YAY!!! I'm SO excited!! And of course the kids are too. And since there is school tomorrow...I better head to bed! G'night!! Oh.....one more thing, I keep forgetting to tell you all to head over to my digi scrapping blog. I know some of my readers have gone over there and a couple have asked questions that I've recently answered. Today I worked on a tutorial, "How to create your first digital scrapbook page." If you are interested in that, head on over and check it out...you will find a link on the sidebar off to the right. Ok...now really...goodnight! :)

No Excuses

No excuses really as to why I haven't blogged the last few days. Thursday the power was out all night...Friday I did a ton of cleaning and was just plain tired. Plus I have a sickie in the house (kate), so that also keeps me busy.
No picture for Thursday...the first day I forgot so far this year. Not too bad really...
My picture from Friday represents all I was able to accomplish with the water we have had... Oh yeah!!...lots and lots of laundry! I spent most of my time doing clothes and cleaning my bedroom. I scrubbed down the windows and underneath the bed...mopped the floor...dusted and cleaned cobwebs. It took me a while, but it looks so great in there. I'm still not finished actually. I can't even begin to tell you the amount of dust on those windows. You remember that dust bowl picture I took a few weeks ago...well, just think 5 months of that. I don't even bother cleaning windows in the dry season. A total waste of time and precious water!

Today I got this cute picture of Emma She's so pretty. The kids had a lot of fun feeding rex today. He is happy and healthy now and back to his normal self. One of these days we will get a good pic of him with his tongue stretched out while getting a fly. It is pretty cool. Kate spent her day in bed...watching movies. She isn't eating much still, but I can tell she is feeling a little better today than yesterday. We will stay home from church tomorrow...but Drew suggested we have our own sunday school here. I thought that was a great idea...now I need to decide what to teach them! Have a great Sunday tomorrow as well!!

Tooth Fairy Time

Well, Kate lost another baby tooth today. She was pretty pumped b/c that means the tooth fairy will grace us with her presence tonight. Yippee! And our kids don't get a paper with a measley little 1 dollar on it...their bill has a whopping 500 on it! 500 francs to be exact and it is the equivalent to a dollar, but it sure looks a lot nicer on the paper! haha!

We had another nice rainstorm this afternoon. Today was cool and breezy. The kids kept commenting on how cold they were! They all had their sweatshirts on. I was enjoying it! And another blessing was that we got water today...it came in at around lunch time we still have it! It is a blessing!! The whole house got mopped and we used regular 'ol water!

Ahhhhhhh *sigh*

See that map above...that big pink arrow is pointing to where we live on the continent of Africa. See that dark brown spot on the map? That is rain. Oh yeah...I had a little party tonight I must admit, b/c it wasn't a little sprinkle...it was (actually 'still is' as I type) a nice steady, heavy rain. It threatened literally ALL day long. Finally at almost 7 pm it started and it is now 9:45 and still coming down! Yay! I can't even tell you how wonderful the sound is. I don't ever remember appreciating rain as much as I do this year. It is glorious!

Our day went well. The kids did well in school, but are itching to be finished. Drew will finish, but will probably have a week of math after all is said and done to finish up. He is really struggling and so this week, we are taking a break from lessons and we are concentrating on his times tables. He doesn't know them, and so for one hour every day I'm going to sit and work with him one on one. We recited the times table chart at the beginning and ending of the hour. We drilled the 2's and 3's with flash cards for most of the hour and then he took a timed test. I told him when he can finally finish the timed test in under 2 minutes with a perfect score...he will get a special prize. Then this afternoon when he was finished with all of his other subjects, I made him dig out the flash cards again, and he went through the 2's and got them all right. So...I thought that was a good start. It is just memorization, and surely a week of constant repetition will totally help him. His videos drill them, but he must be sleeping through that part. I just need to focus some one on one time, so I know he is really concentrating on it.

In ladies Bible study today we started a new topic discussing cults and false religions. I know the ladies enjoyed it and I certainly need to study it myself. I need to know scripture well enough to support what I believe when I'm asked.

Another blessing tonight...water. 3 nights in a row now! I'm surprised! So, I'm off to do a load of laundry and to enjoy a shower, hopefully. We had water last night too, but once it filled our reserve tank, it died out. We still had it, but not enough to come out of the shower. So, I filled all the buckets that I could, in order to save water in case we were without it for another week. Every little bit helps!

Family Day

As you know, Monday is family day. We altered our plans a bit and went out to eat, then shopped in town, and then went to Yeiters house for dinner. It was a full, but very fun day.

Our lunch was great as always...well, the bread was a little dry...but, not too bad for Cameroon. :) We went shopping at several places in Bamenda for some stuff for dinner at Yeiters. We were in the Vatican (our local grocery store - has 3 aisles) and a tall white man walked in. Faith Ann started jumping up and down and yelling, "Hey...you're a white man!" haha! We don't see too many of those around, so they kinda stand out! LOL! From there we went to the bank, another store for some different groceries (you can't find everything you need at one store - you have to go to several) and we also hit one of my favorite stores....Manasata, a.k.a. The American Garage Sale store. My treasure for the day...Tupperware! Sure it is used, but I can always use more tupperware in the house. Especially when you have critters crawling through your kitchen cabinets (yes...we have another mouse). So, I need to wash them up and put them to use. And also set some traps! Oh, and back to the tupperware - the beauty of that stuff is that even though it is used, and purchased on the dark continent of Africa, I can still trade it in if it ever cracks, chips or peels!!

Here is a picture of our ride home.Yes, the dust is getting crazy! However...it did threaten rain ALL day and finally at dinner time we got a light sprinkle. While certainly not enough to do anything, it gave me great hope that it actually can still rain in Cameroon!

Happy Easter!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday. We prefer to call it Resurrection Sunday to keep our focus on the true meaning of this special day in April...Jesus conquering death! We had a great day of services in both Bambili and Bamenda.

The exciting part was the car ride. Whew! Look how packed we are in the front seat! This is on our way home from Bamenda. I had my two girls, and then Trinity who amazingly stayed fast asleep the entire ride home. Even with the girls elbowing her, and her head smacking on the door b/c of the bumps on our lovely Cameroonian roads. We carried all of the Yeiters girls today because Matt was still in Benakuma. We had a great time of singing and fellowship in our ride to and from town. Oh, and that nice white shirt I have on...you should have seen it when I got home!

The sky threatened rain today, but nothing fell. Yesterday it thundered and we heard that it rained some in Bamenda, but no rain came to Bambili. I think it is close though! Keep praying!

We got water tonight...the last time we had water was last Sunday. So, I guess this is the new pattern. Once it starts really raining, it should be about a month before we have regular running water in our pipes. I can't wait for that day!

It is late...and a shower is calling my name!! Goodnight!

London Bridges

Ben got this great shot of the kids playing London Bridges tonight. So cute! They were having so much fun playing with one another. They were wild today, really getting on my nerves with all of their screaming and giggling. But, I didn't say a word, because they were playing SO well together! Truthfully I enjoyed listening to it. It is great when they get along. They usually do get along and play well with one another, but also have their occasional sibling quarrels. All a part of growing up. My brother, Jay, and I used to fight like cats and dogs! But we are really close now, and I hope that is how my kids will be.

I got home from Susan's at about 1:30 and fed the family lunch. Ben kept sending instant messages to me over at Susan's asking if I could hear his stomach growling all the way over there. That man can't survive a day without me. At least here he can't. In the states all he has to do is call Papa Johns! But in Cameroon...the only number to call is "Chez Becca's." The rest of the day I spent folding and putting away all of the laundry that I got done...and doing dishes...and surfing the web some. My kitchen is clean (mostly) and most of my laundry is put away and I'm SO ready for bed. Our favorite church is at it again. They must be having special Easter meetings. So, we will be crankin' up the old fan again! Happy Resurrection Sunday to everyone tomorrow!

Good Friday - post for April 2

Ben got this picture in Bamenda today. As you know today is good friday, and the Catholic churches have a tradition of re-enacting Christ's trek down the Via Dolorosa on the way to Calvary. Hundreds of thousands of Catholics from each Parish, follow a life size cross to designated stations, singing and praying as they go. The picture isn't the best as it is shot through the dusty windshield, but it gives you an idea.

My good friday was spent schooling the kids. Matt went to Benakuma this weekend and so Susan invited me down to spend the night. I accepted! So, as soon as Ben got home, I grabbed all my dirty laundry, and my computer and my fan (will explain soon) and drove the short distance to their house. I'm SO thankful for Susan's help in my laundry. We haven't had water in a week now, and she allows me to use her washer (and water) to keep caught up. Thank you SO much Susan!!!

Anyway...our neighborhood Presbyterian church had it's All night singing and healing service. They continue to blast their speakers throughout ALL of Bambili and Bambui. Susan's house is so near to their meeting house. She kind of jokingly said, "We should go sneak and have a look at where they are meeting." So after debating for a short time, we went and threw on dark clothes that covered us from head to toe and locked all the doors and headed toward this meeting. We didn't exactly want anyone to see us headed there and think we were actually attending, but we were just curious. So, we sneaked through her Cypress bushes, falling out the other side into someones farm. We thought we'd be so sneaky...as soon as we both tumbled through, two guys walked by and said, "Are you going to church?" What?? What in the world would give them the impression that we were heading there? It isnt' that close to her house! There goes our plan of being secretive. We waited a while for them to get way ahead and started down the path. We both carried heavy flashlights for light and for a weapon. Well, we soon realized that one flashlight didn't even work, and the other was so low on batteries we just kept clicking it on and off when necessary. What amazes me is that the Cameroonians walk in the dark so sure-footed! It really is something else! We got to the main road, and ducked behind trees and bushes when anyone passed. We passed a bar (yeah we were nervous) and got to the dead end street right next to where they meet. However, there was a bar on one side and a big group of men and a bright streetlight. We decided that being as late as it was, the wisest choice would not be for two white women, at 10 p.m. at night, to walk through that group of guys. So, we turned around and rushed back, never even seeing the meeting at all. They sang and preached, and yelled and screamed and healed, and spoke in tongues until 9 a.m. Sat. morning. Thank the Lord I thought to bring a fan with me or I would have never slept!

Happy April Fools Day!

Did you all get to play some jokes today? Well, we didn't. I guess I just never stopped to think about the fact that it was April Fools day. Oh well...maybe next year. If you had some funny instances, share then in a comment, so I can get a good laugh!


Ben brought home a watermelon last night, so since we get back from Thursday church so late, I decided that watermelon would make a great dinner. The kids ate almost the entire thing...along with some crackers. But they were satisfied and all I needed to cook was a little something for Ben and our nightwatchman, Michael. So, it gave me a bit of a break. Here is Emma enjoying her watermelon. I did notice that her hair is extra curly today. Hmmmm...humidity...maybe rain is coming? Keep praying!!