Tooth Tales

Emma's teeth are dropping like flies! She was giggling today because she couldn't even eat her supper. She has to modify...and bite with the sides of her mouth. It was really cute. She is, of course, really excited about a visit from the tooth fairy.

I realize I've been delinquent in my blog posts, but considering that it is July...I think I've done pretty well keeping up with my 365 project. Besides, with my Mom hounding me, I can't miss too many days. (love you Mom! haha). I know that I haven't posted for Sunday or Monday of this past week, but I promise I will. Just remember to scroll down in the next couple of days to see them, b/c I go in and adjust the date of my blog posts. I'd like to keep them in chronological order, b/c I'm considering printing my year in a book when all is said and done. So, if you see that I've missed a day...be sure to always check at a later date, b/c I always try to come back and update. The reason I'm not posting Sun. and Mon. tonight, is b/c I'm feeling pretty icky (sore throat, major headache, stuffy head :( boohoo, poor me lol!) and the pictures are on Ben's camera and I don't feel like getting it right now. (not the greatest excuse...I'll admit) However, I'll do my best to pop those days up tomorrow. Now...I'm off to bed!

Green with Envy

Meet Emerald:The prettiest chameleon I have ever seen. He belongs to the Needham's, but the Yeiters are babysitting him while they are in the states. I wish my camera could really capture the true coloring of this chameleon. Just amazing. And he can go from bright green and torqouise (sp?) to near black in a matter of seconds really. It is amazing. I love Rex...but I sure wish he had the same coloring. Hey...maybe Rex is really a female?? I have no way of knowing. I have always heard that in nature the male is usually the most colorful, so if that is the case with chameleons, then Emerald is definitely a male.

Yeiters came over to spend the night again, and so they brought their chameleons with them (they have 2 right now). The kids enjoyed another day together and it was really a lot of fun. Matt is out of town, and Susan is without internet, so we spent most of the day online Christmas shopping for our kids. We both got a lot accomplished. We had planned to do some scrapping together, but got engrossed in shopping and never even opened photoshop. We really enjoyed our fellowship together!

Ovah-load

Another fun day with the Yeiters. We have been able to spend a lot of time together lately, and we have certainly enjoyed their company! Our mission today...head to the hospital. The Sanderlins are a new-er missionary couple serving about an hour from us. In fact, they were just at our house on Friday and Saturday. Right after they left, she went into labor. I was planning to go to the hospital with them, to be a patient advocate of sorts, but the timing was odd. It was Saturday night, pretty late in fact. That would mean I'd have to spend the night and also not be there the next day for our busy Sunday. I was disappointed. I mean who doesn't LOVE to see the miracle of a birth!? But, it really did make sense for me not to go. It turns out that she had to stay in the general ward with other new Moms because they didn't have a private room. So I'd have really been stuck. Anway, all that to say, she had a baby girl! And she had it fast too...I didn't mention that, but her labor went super fast! I'm still jealous thinking about it! (just kidding lol!) Anway, Susan had Elena and Elias Sanderlin, and her 4 of course, and we had our 4, and we all piled into our car and headed to Mbingo Baptist Hospital. We tied our record again, 13 people in a 5 passenger car. Of course most of the car was occupied by tiny kids, and they can pretty much squeeze anywhere. And that is what they did. We got stopped just a few yards from the hospital entrance by the safety patrol (I can't remember their official title)...who said that our car was overloaded. Ben explained that our friend "put to birth" (that is how they say it when someone has had a baby) and we were watching her children and visiting them at the hospital. He let us through...not exactly sure what he'd have done anyway...dump a few kids out of the car, on the side of the road b/c it was too full?? haha!

We kind of killed three birds with one stone while we were there. We got to see the baby, and both Autumn and Drew had eye checkups. So, we were there for a while, but we got everything done that we needed to. From there we headed to our hamburger joint. What a sight...three adults with 10 kids - all so close in age. The kids were very well behaved though, and we had an enjoyable meal. Then back to the house for NAPS!! :D

Susan and the kids spent the night, and the Sanderlin kiddos were picked up by Rosemary. It was an eventful day, but we had a great time!

Sunday Visitors

Fred Kusik (I really hope that is how he spells his last name) has expressed interest in coming to Cameroon as a missionary. He's corresponded with both Yeiters and us and finally made plans to come out. He decided to come before the birth of his first baby. Well, he got to the airport only to find out that his flights were cancelled b/c of that icelandic volcanic ash that was a problem at that time. He finally rescheduled and was here to preach for our services today. Matt has been taking him all over the place to get a very quick glimpse of the country. It is definitely a whirlwind trip. He is only here for a week, but maybe we will have a future missionary family coming to Cameroon in the not too distant future!

Directly after church we headed over to Yeiters house and spent the afternoon and evening with them. We had a lot of fun. The guys sat around yacking...The kids played so well together...and Susan and I played Mario Cart!

Who's Your Favorite?

The kids still take turns sitting with their Daddy, and we continue to read through the Terrestria Chronicles. We are on the last book (sadly) and have enjoyed it immensely. The kids are learning a lot.

I always love when it is Faith Ann's turn to sit with her Daddy. As soon as she realizes that it is her turn, her first comment is directed at me and goes something like this, "Mom...tonight I sit with Daddy and that means Tomorrow I can sit with YOU!!"

Clearly, sitting with Mom is the ultimate prize.

Yahoo!!

I'm thankful for our internet connection this term. We have had some rough times with it in the past, but thankfully the continent of Africa is becoming more technological. When we first moved here, I rarely spoke to my mom. I think she might have called me once a week, on Saturdays. She found these decent phone cards to use. We also corresponded via email every few days, but Ben had to drive to an internet cafe to get it and to send it. What a pain. Now we have wireless internet in our home. We have two computers online and for the most part it works great. We still have our glitches...but hey, so does Comcast!

One thing I look forward to is my DAILY chat with my mom. I just plug in my headphone/mic combo, and we call computer to computer for free. When we actually need to call a telephone number, we call computer to phone for like .01 cents a minute! It is awesome! The kids are always wanting to talk to Mom, but recently Emma has shyed away from it. She told me that she was "Shy of Mimi." Not sure exactly what that meant, but Drew and I giggled at her and I told her to get over to the chair and put the headphones on and talk to her Mimi! She looked so cute standing there, blowing bubbles while she was talking with my Mom. I'm so glad my camera was sitting right next to me. :D

Making Friends

This adorable goat was tied up in our church property during Thurs. prayer meeting. We see them everywhere...and in the rainy season people tie them up in grassy areas to graze. In the dry season they roam free as grass is harder to come by. We once had a mama goat and her babies living on our front porch for a while. I guess they felt comfortable there. :D This particular goat was pretty easy going and the kids had fun feeding him a package of saltine crackers that they happened to have.

Services went well. Our attendance is down during summer months. The students are gone for the holidays, and we also have Camp Joy counselor training week, and a couple of our people are involved in that too. I really enjoyed the ladies prayer time in spite of the low numbers. I got to know Margaret and Isabelle quite a bit better tonight. I never really knew much about them. They began attending not too long ago. I always enjoy praying with the ladies and enjoyed the bit of fellowship afterward as well.

Birthday Girl

Well, today is Emma's offical b-day. She asked me this morning if she could have some new clothes. I was like, "Emma...we celebrated your birthday on Monday b/c Daddy is gone today, and I already told you that you'd get all your presents at your party." She was a good sport and was understanding though.

Her actual birthday ended up being a lot of fun for her. Our power went out sometime in the afternoon and our nightwatchman, Michael, was the one who flipped the breaker box off. He told me that there was a power line on fire and that we should cut the power. Sure enough, I could see from my yard a power pole completely engulfed in flames. I have no idea what the whole story is though. Anyway, once the fire was out, we went to turn the breaker back on, only to find out that the power was actually out then. They must have been working on it. Well, Susan lives on that side, so she was affected by the power line all night. She called me around 6 and said, "Can we come over and stay the night?" I was like, "Yes! Come over!" We had a great time. The kids were beyond excited! Oh my...they fell asleep SO late, and woke up at 6:30 a.m.!! Susan and I were up at an ungodly hour too, but it was so nice to be able to just sit and chat. We have been so busy...she has been especially, that it has been hard to get together. So, that turned out to be so much fun. (you can tell I'm writing this the next day, though my post date is actually June 23 :D ) So anyway, all in all Emma had a great birthday, full of lots of fun and very little sleep. haha! She is already looking forward to her next one. I keep trying to explain that it is a whole year away! and of course all the other kids are so ready to have their own birthday after seeing Emma's fun cake and all her presents. Faith Ann is next...July 14th and she is a very impatient little girl too! I'm glad hers is so soon.

more snail tales :D

I already wrote a few weeks ago how our kids love to hunt snails. In fact that huge one we found that day is still hanging around in our courtyard. We have lots of plants and moss growing on the little sidewalks in the garden area in there, so that thing has been thriving in that place. A couple times I have walked outside to check on laundry or something, and almost stepped on the thing! Well anyway, we go from one extreme to the other I guess, because check out this itty bitty one that Kate found today:
Feel free to click on the image for a little larger view, otherwise it is pretty hard to see! ;D The kids were pretty excited about it. I can't believe that Kate and her daddy actually found it! It is so tiny!

Birthday Bash

Let me first start my post by saying that I've done a ton of updating to my blog. I have been posting out of order and trying to catch up on some missing days. So, I don't want you to miss out on some pictures. If you are interested in catching up, click on the month of June in the sidebar (to the right) and start at the beginning of the month to find out all that has been going on.

Now on to our regularly scheduled program....:D

Well, Emma's birthday is Wed., but b/c of our crazy schedule, we decided to have her party earlier rather than later. She didn't contest it.


This past week I have been scouring the web for cake ideas. I've suddenly developed this desire to be a professional cake decorator. Obviously it is not happening, but I'll try my best for my kiddos. Kate's 2nd birthday party was the one that inspired me to try my hand at cake decorating. Kathy Whitely was here, and she just told me how easy it was to come up with a creative cake. To prove it, she whipped up a blues clues cake in no time flat. It was then that I made up my mind to make my kids birthdays special. We can't take them to Chuckie Cheese, or head over to the party palace to pick up specialty matching cups, plates and napkins. So, my way of making their birthday special is to make their cake special.


Ok, so back to the cake for Emma. I got her a Belle doll with matching horse and decided to do a princess theme. So, I dug out the marshmallows and confectioners sugar today and made up some fondant. She looks a little silly...a little plump in the hips...but here is the finished product:

Yeah, I've got a looooong way to go before I can be professional haha! But all the kids were amazed! We got a lot of giggles in as we began eating her dress! We had the Yeiter kids over to celebrate with us...and we had a great time!

And since Emma's birthday is officially not until Wednesday (she will be turning 6), I'll highlight the birthday girl then.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's day to all you special Fathers. I appreciate my Dad so much. The other day one of the kids came to Ben with a broken toy...and of course he fixed it. That is one thing I remember about my dad. If something needed fixing I always knew I could depend on him to take care of it for me. He is also one of the few people that I feel safe riding in a car with. I don't know why I mentioned that... :D But, it's true. I feel completely safe with him.



And another special shout out to the father of my 4 beautiful treasures. Ben is such a great dad. He always takes time to be with the kids. They can count on him to be there and he proves it now in the little things, "Daddy, wanna play a game?" ... "Sure!" When the big trials come down the road of life, I know they will feel free to always come to their Daddy b/c he was always there for them when they were small.

The kids were pretty excited about celebrating Father's day. They each colored and put together special coupon books for Ben. He has been happily redeeming them all evening. He's gotten big bear hugs, and big kisses. He even got the dessert of his choice...Cherry Pie! That was Kate's coupon, so she helped me put it together.

About the cherry pie...I got pretty frustrated with this stinkin' cherry pie, I'll admit. I have one jar of cherries left. In fact they were past their expiration date, but that sure didn't deter me. We can't get them here anymore...at least we haven't seen them in a couple of years, so the jars that I'd been hoarding, I used very sparingly. So, now on June 20, I'm using my last jar. Anyway, I followed the recipe to make this pie, but I could NOT get the juice to thicken. I kept adding more cornstarch and finally flour. I gave up, and decided Ben could have cherry soup pie! As it was baking I talked to my mom on the computer. She laughed when I told her about it and said that I would have Cherry jelly in that pie when it was done baking. She was right. Usually cherry pies are a bit runny when they are fresh out of the oven...not mine!
But, Ben said it tasted ok, and that is all that matters. :D

Go Cameroon!

If anyone is a soccer fan (or football fan) you know that the world cup is going on right now. Cameroonians as a whole are serious football fans. Michael, our nightwatchman, borrowed this huge tv so he could watch the games. Cameroon played tonight, so Ben wanted to watch a bit. Thanks to me he missed the first (and only) goal that Cameroon scored (by Eto). Thank goodness for replays! :D

Here they are engrossed in the game. Sadly Cameroon lost. The country is in a state of mourning tonight as their football team has to pack their bags and head home.

Little Helpers

Another day of water...so nice!! I have learned a little trick with my dishes...I just announce that I need someone to do the dishes, and the kids know that whoever speaks up first, gets to wash. So, today, Emma volunteered first. Faith wanted to help too, so I put her at the rinse sink, and she had fun getting all the bubbles off of the dishes. It is so nice that the kids are getting old enough to help out around the house! I love it!

We are looking forward to pizza tonight...with Mozzarella!!

Wake Keeping

That is what they call the night before the funeral. Our neighbors daughter died, and Ben went down to see the family and be encouragement to them. Pa Mbako, the father, has made a profession of faith and occasionally attends our church. He was showing Ben the grave that had been prepared for his daughter:
They don't normally tile the insides of graves, but his daughter was an important person within the African Union. Ben said the grave was enormous. Once the coffin is placed in the tiled chamber, they will cover the top with wood planks, and then they will pour a cement slab over the top of it forming a sarcophagus. We will most likely be listening to music all night, as the wake keepings are a time of music, drinking and eating. It seems the later they get, and the more they drink, the louder they and the music become. Almost as if they are attempting to drown their grief.

Work!

Another day of water!! Still laughable...we couldn't get two straight days of water for the life of us last week. Well, I'm not complaining. In fact I took advantage of that water and washed every bloomin' thing that I could find dirty in the house. I got ALL my laundry done (that hasn't happened in a WHILE!) and I cleaned my bathroom, the house got mopped, and all the dishes done. It was a very productive day, and I am TIRED! :D

Ben got home around 6 p.m. and he brought a treat with him!

We haven't seen Mozzarella in about 2 months and boy do I miss it. We have Edam cheese (a dutch cheese I think?) and it is ok on pizza...but just not the same as Mozzarella. So, that was a treat.

Thank the Lord for cheese and also for Ben's safe return home. He saw 2 serious accidents on his way home and it was just another reminder of the Lord's constant protection!

Jigger Update

Recently one of my readers asked for an update regarding Faith Ann's toe. For a while we weren't sure what was happening...we even thought that some remaining jigger eggs had rehatched, but I have been faithfully cleaning it and applying neosporin. Finally the skin started peeling off and this is how it now looks: If you look you can see the hole where the jigger was imbedded. Ewww! But, it looks good so far and from what I can tell, we shouldn't have any jigger babies on our hands. lol.

Ben is currently in Douala and I'm home with the kids. Pastor and Julie left today and are headed to Zurich for a couple days and then finally to Chattanooga. We so enjoyed our visit with them and all our kids were sad to see them go. Especially Faith Ann...she calls Julie, Nana, just like Julie's grandkids do. When we were home, it was Julie who was so good with Faith and helped her to adjust to the church nursery. Up until that point, Faith had never really been separated from me. I was ready to throw her in the nursery, but Faith wasn't ready to be apart from me. Julie helped with that transition and Faith got really close to her. She is best buds with Julie's grandson Kent. :D

Another ironic moment of the day was that our water came in. We have struggled with the water ALL week. Pastor and Julie only got 1 hot shower. Now how is that for treating your guests!!! We can't be accused of not trying. Ben spent a lot of time on the phone with the plumber. We got water for about a day and a half, but then it went out again. So, it is a bit funny to me, that the water finally decided to come in about half an hour after our guests left to go home. I keep saying...they sure got to experience life in Cameroon!

The Potter and the Clay

Today really was full of fun. It was our last day with Pastor and Julie before they headed home and we decided to visit a local pottery place in Bamessing. I've been there shopping before, but have never had the full tour, and it was so neat. After learning about where they dig for the clay, and how long they dry it and wet it and strain it etc...he finally took us to the potter's wheel and threw a lump of clay on there. That was my favorite part...watching as he formed that lump into a beautiful vase. Pastor had just preached at the graduation on this very topic. How we are the clay...and God, the potter, is forming us into what he wants us to be. Before this guy had to place the clay on the wheel, he had to knead it and beat out the air bubbles. What a picture! Sometimes we have to go through some pain and heartache...to make us more pliable.


After our tour, we went into the shop, where we browsed through all the finished products. Pastor and Julie found some nice souvenirs to take home. We hopped back in the car to head home. Cameroon was playing Japan in the world cup at 3 p.m. We'd been advised by the U.S. Embassy to avoid crowds and being on the roads during main events. If anyone got angry at the way the game was going...and we happened to be there...let's just say it can be dangerous. We think that we look so different than the Japanese people, but the Cameroonians lump us all into one category, "White Man." So, if they were looking to take their rage out on a white man for how the game was going, we didn't want to be there.


I spent the afternoon working on a cake. Pastor's birthday is tomorrow, but since they'll be traveling, we wanted to have a party tonight. He loves to fish, and whenever we are home, he and Ben take fishing trips together. So, my cake was a fishing theme and I love how it turned out! My mom got the little fisherman and gave it to Julie secretly before they left. Isn't it cute? I also put together a Mexican meal...we had tacos and fajitas. yuuuuummy! I made the tortillas last night, so thankfully the meal preparation was easy. I wanted to give myself plenty of time to get the cake done. I found the picture online and pretty much copied it. The ducks were the cutest part...and Julie had the hardest time eating hers! haha!


We weren't sure what to get Pastor for a gift, but when Ben went shopping with them on Friday, I told him to keep his ears open. Well, Pastor kept asking about this elephant carved out of ebony. He never did end up buying it. After they shopped they sat down to lunch and the restaurant was out of cold drinks. Ben took that opportunity and told them that he'd run out and get some cold drinks. They probably wondered what took him so long, but he went back to that store and bought that elephant! So sneaky!!


We have certainly enjoyed their stay and are so thankful for our church family that sent loads of suitcases full of wonderful treats with them. Thank you so much to my Calvary family. We love and miss you all so much!!

Silly Pic!

Ok...not much to write about today...just a hilarious picture to share.


Pastor and Julie brought a ton of gum with them for the kids. All my kiddos have been practicing their bubble blowing skills, and all of them are getting quite good. I wanted a pic of one of them blowing a bubble...and I scored a winner!

Sunday Sermon

It is always a treat to listen to someone preach besides Matt or Ben (no offense guys) lol! And especially when it is your home church pastor! It has been such a blessing having them here. Like Preacher's new shirt?

After our service in Bamenda, we had our quarterly food and fellowship. Everyone brought plenty of food and I did something I 've never done before....I hired my meal out! Wow...that made my life SO much easier. We just hired someone to make a huge cooler full of Jelloff Rice! How awesome! I'll definitely be doing that in the future. It is always so stressful trying to prepare a huge meal before church...especially since our first church is at 9 a.m. Not to mention they don't particularly care for white man cooking. I always try to make something that I think they will eat (beef stew over rice etc...) but every time, I see plates full of my food at the end of the meal. Oh well...no worries from here on out as we will try to find someone to cook for me. Then I know everyone will like it!

Graduation Day

Today was pretty full. The Fundamental Bible Institute had their graduation, so our day started early. We drove the church bus and picked up a load of church people at three corners at 9:30ish (we were on African time lol). We headed up to Sabga and arrived well after 10, but since they were also on African time the ceremony hadn't started yet. I can't even begin to tell you how packed that place was, but the graduation was well organized and turned out to be a wonderful event. I got a picture of Eugene there with his cap and gown. I love the home-made graduation caps. Pastor is out of focus, but he preached the message for the graduation. After the ceremony we went to all the homes of the graduates and ate a lot of food. Pastor and Julie were troupers and tried a little bit of everything for the most part. My girls were there to eat anything that the rest of us wouldn't eat. Kate in particular is my best eater. I say that as images of fish head are floating through my mind. Yes, she ate those too.

We finally got back home at around 4 and we were all pretty tired. I didn't do too much for dinner. I made omelets for pastor and Julie and the kids had some bacon and crackers and cheese. But we had pretty much had our fill of food for the day. Everywhere we went we were fed! :) That is the African way!

Crayola Fun

I'm really behind and trying to catch up on my posts...so this will be short and sweet.


Friday. It was rainy, cold, and relaxing. Ben and Pastor and Julie went into town. They had a lot of fun souvenir shopping and found all sorts of neat stuff. I knew with the extremely busy weekend ahead, that it would be best for me to stay home with the kids. It was a really relaxing day. I have started the kids on their vacation station books. It is two pages of review work from this past school year. They love it...it is fun. Well, everyone but Kate loves it. Surprise surprise. lol. I also told them that if they read every day they will get a prize (candy, gum, something small). So each day Drew has to read for 1 hour, and the smaller girls for 30 minutes. Thankfully the kids love to read.


Besides doing their reading I also dug out some of that crayola modeling clay. I can't remember exactly what it is called. You have 24 hours to mold with it and then it dries. I told the kids after it dries they can paint it. Kate made a snail, Drew made 2 spiders, Faith Ann made worms and here is Emma's creation:

MIA

I know I've been a bit MIA...We've been pretty busy with Pastor and Julie here. Last night we sat up and talked pretty late...in the dark! The power had gone out and we all just sat there and chatted. I ended up falling asleep sitting there on the couch! I have been getting to bed SO late and it was catching up to me. I also realize that my posts are out of order! There have been a couple days that I just didn't even get a picture (ahhhhh!), but I know that Pastor or Julie took one. So, when I get one from them, I'll make a post for that day. I'm still kicking myself that I didn't bring my camera to ladies Bible study yesterday!

We have really been enjoying our visit with Pastor and Julie. They have been good sports about everything. First of all they carried 150 lbs. of luggage for us. We feel guilty...they say it was fun. We are taking them at their word. :D Next, we have been having water issues. In fact we have been having issues for a while and it has been extremely frustrating for me. It wears on me...but it wears on me even more when we have company. I think they've gotten only one hot shower since they've been here. Pastor has been taking cold showers, and Julie bucket baths. I hate that. We finally got water for two days and now it is gone again. Can you sense my frustration?? Maybe not...should I type in all caps with a ton of exclamation points? Will it make me feel better if I do?? Probably not. Well, we talked about contentment at our ladies Bible study yesterday. I suppose it is about time for me to put it into action. :D

My mom asked me the other day about Rex. Since he is the only pet we have right now *sniff sniff* I suppose I should give you an update about him. He is doing well. There isn't much more to tell. :) He eats and is thriving and enjoys living in our window. Today he ate a ton of food - even one huge fat, juicy spider! Ewww! I was holding him when he ate it, and I closed my eyes and cringed. Sometimes he spits food out, and I was so afraid he'd spit that spider out on my hand! But, thankfully he didn't. lol! We have come up with a new system for giving him a drink too. Normally chameleons drink the water droplets off of leaves and branches. We used to spray the leaves and stuff, but he didn't seem to be getting enough. So, our new strategy is to just pour a small puddle of water on the table and he walks right to it and lays his head down and sucks it in. Here he is in action:
Isn't that funny? He sucks his belly in really skinny too. It is odd.

Well, it is late and I need to get to bed. Hopefully I can dig some of those other pictures out tomorrow and catch up on some of my posts!

Accomplishment (Post for June 5)

First of all...Happy Anniversary to me and my hubby on this day! 11 years...wow! I realize this post is completely out of order...but hopefully when I go in and adjust the date, it will eventually put it all in line. But, my mom has been bugging me to post these pictures, so I didn't want to disappoint her tonight. :D

June 5th was an exciting day for Drew. He finally learned to ride his bike! He still needs a little work on it, but he was cruising all over the yard on this particular Saturday. I was in the bedroom and Ben came in and said, "You need to go check out Drew" I walked outside and was shocked. He finally decided that riding a bike was something he really wanted to learn to do. So, he started practicing all on his own. I never really checked his progress either, I just knew that he was working on it. And then Saturday he was riding all over the yard. He had his occasional spills and stuff, but he did so great! He is pretty pumped and could NOT wait to tell Mimi on the phone as she has been bugging him to learn to ride. So, that is why I had to post the pictures. Here is Drew on his bike, and then you will see the progression of him riding around the yard. (all these pics are for Mimi and Grandma...so bear with me lol!)

Later on in the day we had a ladies meeting. All the sister churches got together again, this time it was at our church in Bambili, Bible Baptist Church. Since Julie is here, I asked her to speak. She did a great job and I know the ladies were so blessed as she shared on the topic of prayer. We had about 40 ladies there and it was such a great time of fellowship. Julie requested that the ladies sing What a Friend We Have in Jesus. I knew that she would be blessed when she heard the ladies here sing it. I can't even express how beautiful it was. They sing it with a second obligato part above the melody line and it just brought tears to my eyes on Saturday. The next ladies meeting, I'm bringing my video camera to record it so I can share it with you all. All that to say the meeting was a success. Even the pidgin speakers said that they understood Julie and it was just a great time of fellowship.

We came home and ended up staying up way too late chatting after dinner! The Andrews are going to be exhasted when this trip is finished, but I hope that they get a blessing out of being here. They certainly are a blessing to us!

Gifts of Love

What a blessing these suitcases are! Our church family packed them with goodies and Pastor and Julie had the burden of carrying them all the way over here. We sure feel loved! Thank you so much Calvary!!! We love and miss you!!

Our trip back from Douala was uneventful. It is fun traveling with first time visitors...you get to view the country through their eyes. The same way we used to view all the interesting things when we first came here. Now we don't even bat an eyelash when we see 4 people on a motorcycle...or a cow stuffed into the trunk of a car. Now everyone is tired...and hopefully after an exhausting day our visitors can sleep...even on a different time zone!

Douala

I know I'm behind, but I'm going to cheat and change the date of my post. So, while I'm writing this on Saturday, the 5th of June (My 11th anniversary!), my post is dated the 3rd of June.


So, I'll share the first day of our trip to Douala. We ended up leaving later than we'd planned, which I knew would happen, b/c try as I did to get all the cleaning and everything done before we left, I still ended up leaving a mess for Rosemary. She came down to watch the kids and when she arrived the kids kept saying, "Mom, when are you leaving?!" They love Rosemary!



Our trip was really uneventful. Thankfully the roads are fairly smooth all the way to Douala now and the temp. was cool. The skies were a vibrant blue and the sun shining. Just a great day for a 6 hour drive! Our meal on the way was some burnt corn that we bought at one of the toll booths. Here is Ben enjoying his: We got to Douala in record time. We went straight to the Baptist Guest House to settle the rooms we needed for our guests, and then we went shopping! We parked our van at the guest house and decided to walk. We had so much fun browsing. We went into a store called Orca...it was amazing. I learned that you can get ANYTHING you need or want in Cameroon...except...a bean bag. I have really been wanting a bean bag, and so for haha's we thought we'd look around. But, alas, no beanbag in Cameroon. Or in Douala at least. And of course, as I said you can get whatever you want, but you do have to pay for it. We found this adorable love seat...it was a double reclining chair basically. Oh I was coveting that thing! well...we checked out the price tag...2 million francs. Let's just say that our car wouldn't sell for that much money!

I did end up buying a few kitchen things and then some food treats. We got the kids some Honey Smacks cereal! We finally ran out of time, and headed back to the guest house. we put all of our stuff in one of the rooms and headed for the airport. Oh, I forgot to mention the hotel...:) When we reserved rooms at the guest house, they only had 2. So, we knew that we'd be needing more rooms. We had also reserved some rooms at a Catholic guest house just down the street. These guest houses are really great b/c they are like $14 a night. Well, the Catholic one was pretty dumpy, and it had a communal bathroom! We'd have to get up in the night, go out of our room to a bathroom that everyone shared. Ewww. I mean, I could have dealt with it if necessary, but I certainly didn't prefer it. Besides, it was our anniversary trip!! Ben suggested a hotel and I gladly complied. :D


We found a hotel within literal spitting distance of the Baptist Guest house where our guests were staying. We walked there and I was hesitant when we were outside, but was pleasantly surprised when we went inside. It was clean and smelled like your average hotel in the states. The air conditioners were humming and the check-in desk was like you'd see at a Holiday Inn or the like. We asked the guy at the desk to see a room. He picked up his little telephone and called down and told us someone would meet us on the first floor and show us around. The rooms were small, but neat and clean. They had an air conditioner on the wall, a flat screen tv, and a piece of wall art. I told Ben that we should book a room. So, we did! I know it isn't Hilton, but it was such a treat for our anniversary. Here are a couple pics of the bedroom and bathroom:



From there we headed to the airport. That is a long story in and of itself. I wont' go into great detail, but we wanted to be in the baggage area where our Pastor would arrive. We explained to the police that our Pastor's wife, Julie, had just had surgery on her hand and they'd need help. Well, everyone was on a power trip and refused. We went to the police commissioner, and from there sent to another office, and then back again. Then off to find the head of the airport, and then back to the commissioner. After over an hour of begging, pleading, haggling with these people we finally just gave up. We were waiting outside the baggage area, and finally one police officer asks Ben what he is doing and why he isn't inside. We explained what happened. He told us to wait a moment. We watched as he walked over to the very first man that we'd talked to...they huddled for a bit...and then that original police officer waved us into the room. Unbelievable. We made it inside just in time. God sent us a porter who knew the ropes and he got us through customs without our luggage even being touched and he even got the luggage to our car without us being hassled too terribly much. God worked out every detail. From there we went to our Cameroon version of Dairy Queen. A couple of us got pizzas, and Mrs. Boley got a hamburger, and Hanna got a chicken burger. It was very good. That restaurant is always a treat. Then we went back to our rooms and crashed for the night as everyone, especially the weary travellers from America, needed sleep! So, thank God for a full and profitable day...for safety and just a really great time. We are so looking forward to having Pastor and Julie with us. And I'll update more tomorrow!

Readers are Leaders

Today is ladies Bible Study day. I've been bringing Kate and Emma with me, alternately. If I bring them together, they are too much of a distraction. So, since Emma came last week, today was Kate's turn. She brought a bunch of books with her. I'm loving that she loves reading! I'm an avid reader, so I really want my kids to have a love of books. So far so good. :D


I brought my camera with me today so I could get some pictures of the ladies to post on my blog tonight. Wouldn't you know that of all days, today is the day that all the ladies decide NOT to come to Bible Study? I'm not sure what held everyone up. It is the end of school and everyone is pretty busy with exams etc... Maybe that is why. But while I was waiting, I was playing with my camera that I'd brought. I just kept taking tons of pics of Kate reading. Here she is telling me all about Amelia Badelia

I also ran one of my new My4Hens action on it - Pixie dust. Isn't it pretty! I love that action! All actions aside...Isn't SHE pretty? I think so :)

The parlour is done! Yay! Ben worked diligently ALL day today to finish up the tedious job of trim and it looks fabulous! Amazingly there are already new strings of spider webs all along the edges of our ceiling. They are fast!

Faith Ann's foot seems a bit better today. We doused it in kerosene again and loaded it with neosporin. She didn't complain of it itching at all today, so I think that is a good sign. Hopefully we killed everything in there. And I just pray that is the last time we ever see a jigger again!!

Tomorrow I will do the final bit of cleaning that I can before my Pastor and his wife come to visit. Rosemary is coming down to spend Thursday and Friday at our house and watch the kids while Ben and I travel to Douala. It is our anniversary on Sat. so we thought it would be fun to make the trip - just the two of us. We figured if we left a little early we could get a special meal together. There is a great restaurant in Douala that sells pizza and hand dipped ice cream! I also want to do some shopping. We haven't had mozzarella in over a month! :( Boy will it be a treat when we can find it again! I'm hoping they have it in Douala at least. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the trip with just my hubby, and our kids are looking forward to their time with Rosemary! They love her!