Roy and Dad are coming back from Freetown today - Hurray!!! We have certainly missed them. They thought that they would be able to leave early in the morning, but unfortunately they were not able to head out until noon. Getting out of Freetown can take hours because of the holiday traffic. So, they will not be here until late in the evening. Roy called to tell me that they were half-way here. Praise God for cell phones here in Africa, because otherwise we would just have to wait and wonder. Abby doesn't know it, but they are bringing a kitten for her for Christmas. She is going to love it!! However, the kitten doesn't love traveling, so Roy is putting the cat back in the box for the 350th time. Poor thing!
Sheku's mom came by today and said that she is going to be traveling home to see her family for Christmas and wanted to know if we would pray for them right before they left. She came all the way from her house with her two children just to ask me in advance if we would do that for her. She was so happy that we would. Wow!! She is a really neat lady. Sheku says he is feeling better, but he is so weak from being sick so long that when he came down to play with all the kids, he fell asleep on the porch. Please pray for him, that He will be well again soon and able to run and play with all of the other kids.

Good news! Sheku and his dad returned from Makeni and they were told that he just has a severe case of malaria, probably recurrent malaria. They returned with medicines and hopefully he can get well now. Praise God!
We are attempting our Christmas cookies today. It is a hot job over a fire and three stones, and we can only cook about 8 cookies at a time, but boy are we going to enjoy them. We took some pictures are we are going to try to post them on facebook somehow.
Roy and Earl went to Freetown for a few days to stock us up on groceries and to do our Christmas shopping. Our wish list mostly consists of chocolate!!! It's funny how much better things taste when you never have them. It sure teaches you to enjoy the little things. When I start to wish for certain items, or any easier way to do something, I just look around and see everyone else with so much less than I. I see how people here struggle just to have the basic things that we consider neccessities, or perhaps don't consider at all because they are always available to us - and I am humbled. So, today praise God for how He has blessed us in America, and remember that the easy life is not necessary for happiness - God is.

In the past few days I have treated several people for infections on legs or hands. It is so hard to not be able to do much since I have no medications and no license. It is like watching an accident happen in front of you, with no way to stop it. However, I have been able to liberally dispense antibiotic ointment, bandaids, and advice (such as it is). I sent my little friend Sheku to Makeni for treatment. I suspect that he either has sickle cell disease or recurrent malaria. Either way, he has been sick off and on for over 3 years and sometimes doesn't go a month between episodes. I am really concerned about him, so please pray. His mom is very diligent and worries a great deal about him, so I hope that this will bring them some answers.
We are preparing for Christmas in a rather non-traditional way. It is hard to get the feeling of the season when it is 90 degrees, you can't play Christmas music, and nothing seems any different than any other day. We were blessed to find a small tree in the belongings we bought from another missionary so we are enjoying that. We have also figured out how to expand our cooking repetoire. I have now made banana bread, no-bakes, and brownies over a camp fire. Christmas cookies are my next attempt, so wish me luck. Think of me as you slid your cookie tray into an oven that you turned on with a flick of your wrist and I will think of you as I dress in a tee-shirt every day!:)

Today Pastor Samba found a snake in the well, so he and his son were trying to kill it using a tree-trimming tool that is used to trim the fruit trees. My kids were so excited and were just dying to go see it. I had to laugh. Surely, the television generation does not have a real sense of what a snake can do. To those of us who have only seen snakes and wild animals on television, the idea of seeing one in real life sounds exciting, but the real experience is SO MUCH different than the virtual reality of television. I told them they could see it once it was dead and that the men trying to kill it really did not need a bunch of white "pikins" running around an open well in the ground to worry about as well. :)
Yesterday, Abby and I went up to watch her friend Esther get her hair "planted". That is the word that they use for the tiny braids they do in their hair. It was alot of fun. Esther's mother, Hawa, is a really neat lady and helped teach me some Limba greetings at the same time. We had a good time together. It is especially exciting because Hawa and her friend Namissa asked me what my role was going to be here at the Bible School. When I told them that I would be teaching Health, Wellness and Nutrition, they got very excited and told me that they want to be the first in line to learn because they feel it is very important. Praise God for thier desire to learn.

Yesterday I had a really neat experience. We do not have running water in the sense that the USA refers to. I like to say that we do: we run to the well, the water runs down your leg on the way back from the well, and the water runs out of the bucket when you tip it over. I guess it is a matter of perspective, eh? Anyhow, the kids have been having difficulties washing their hands because it is hard for them to simutaneously pour from a bucket and wash their hands at the same time. In one of my community health books there is a description of a "tippy-tap", which is a large bottle or gourd that can be suspended from a tree. A small hole is put on one side near the bottom, and the tube of a ball point pen is inserted. It can then be filled with water and as long as the cap is on securely, the water will not come out. A person can loosen the cap, allowing air in to replace the water, and the water will stream from the pen tube. One can then wash their hands, then tighten the lid to turn the water back off. SO, I made one for our bathroom so that the kids can easily wash their hands. Several of the Bible School men were on the verandah while I was making it. One of them was teasing me about being a blacksmith, because I used a hot wire, which I had heated in the coals of the outdoor fire, to make the hole in the plastic water bottle. When I finished, I took it out to show them. Several of them were amazed and asked for an explanation of how it works. I did my best to explain it in Krio, which is rusty to say the least. They understood though, and eagerly asked if I had another plastic bottle so that they could go make one at home themselves. Praise God for the brain of the person who thought of such an innovative solution. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Okay, it took me a week, but I finally figured out how to enter my own blog. Don't laugh, the instructions are suddenly in French and the internet sometimes doesn't work. Anyway, we have now been in our new home for 1 week. Roy and I finally got our bed together last night, so we are off of the floor, no more spiders to sleep with. The kids have been on cots, except for Abby who has had her bed for 5 days now. Next we build a bed for the boys. We are still living out of trunks, as we have no dressers, but hey, we have been doing that since June. I think we are just determined to get the most out of our $18 Walmart trunks. LOL! I can't wait until the house is settled so that we can branch into ministry. I did, however, have my first case today. It is difficult, because I can't treat anyone until I have a Sierra Leone license, so I can look and I can carefully recommend, but I am afraid that this little boy may have something serious and chronic going on, so it is really hard to sit on my hands. I have decided to adapt a moto from Dori in Finding Nemo, "Just keep praying, just keep praying, la la-la la la " . It is also going to be interesting to see how we fit everything into a day. Clothes are washed on a washboard, water has to be boiled and strained, or else pumped through a filter, showers come with some assembly required. We made peanut butter the other day - it took us an hour, but we filled the whole jar. In the morning I get up and make cream of wheat or oatmeal over an open fire. Anyway, the people are great, and have been so kind to us. We have made several friends already. The school celebrated it's first graduating class the Saturday after we got here. God is good. Now, y'all go enjoy your running water and thank God for it today. :)

Once again I have fallen behind. We HAD planned on leaving for Sierra Leone on September 16, but as many of you know, Caleb broke his leg. His leg is healing beautifully, and he will get the cast off on November 2, 2010. However, in the meantime, we found out that I needed a hysterectomy for a large fibroid. As a result, I had my hysterectomy on October 11, and had my first check-up on the 21st. I am healing fast, so the doctor said that he would see me for my final check-up in five weeks instead of six. We are now talking with the travel agent to book our flight for sometime on the week of the 15th of November. We are very excited, but somewhat tentative, as we are waiting for something else to happen to delay us. It seems too good to be true that we are finally going to fly. In the interim, we have rented out our house ( they moved in on the day of my surgery) and we are staying with some very kind friends from church. God has definitely provided through them. Thank you again for all your prayers.

P.S.

The little girl in the left-hand column of this blog recently started to climb into some hot water thinking it was her turn for a bath. She has severe burns on her chest and stomach as well as on her arms and hands. She is being transferred to a hospital near to the capital city. Please pray for her.

SURPRISE!!!

Well, I have not kept up very well - so here is a summary. I finished the course in West Virginia and we had planned on camping down to Florida to take the kids to Disney before we go. They have never been there and are just at the right ages. However, we had to go home first to finish up some work on our house to get it ready to sell. Also, we found out that due to a computer glich, our reservations had not gone through. So, we worked on the house and were playing it by ear as far as our Disney trip. In the meantime, we started our flight booking with the travel agent and were planning on flying out on September 16. Someone contacted us through our realtor to see about renting, which is really neat since they are involved in ministry as well. Having our house issue settled was a huge weight off of our minds, so as of Thursday morning, we asked the travel agent to reserve our tickets and we went to get all of our yellow fever vaccines. At lunch, I took Caleb over to spend the afternoon playing with his best friend. Approx 15 minutes after I dropped him off, his friend's mom called me to say that he had broken his lower leg. It turned out that his leg had been clamped between a trailer door and the base of the trailer and a quick trip to the ER revealed that he had indeed broken both the tibia and fibula. SOOO, we are now on hold, possibly until the end of October according to the orthopedic surgeon. Please pray for us - our house is rented out as of October 2 and we had already gotten rid of our furniture. Mentally we had one foot on the airplane, so this is a long 2 months of limbo. However, I am convinced that God has a very good reason for all of this - so we might as well enjoy the ride. Lemonade anyone?!? - Lemons abound!

I have now finished my third of four 2-week modules in my tropical medicine course. This last module was on parasitology, which I was really looking forward to, but it was brutal - very beneficial and extremely well-taught, but challenging. I praise God for this opportunity, but my brain has never been so full. Thank you again to all who are supporting us and praying for us. I can't begin to tell you how much it means to us. We have enjoyed West Virginia very much and have also enjoyed the people we have met here. I am a little sad that it is almost done, but I am also excited to be going on to the next phase of our journey.

I am almost done with my third week of class and I feel as though I have been given four months worth of information already. I am so glad I came. This is an excellent course and I praise God that I am able to come here. We are staying at a campground in a small cabin and I am so glad that we are. Roy and the kids have been able to go swimming and biking almost every day. God has been good to us in providing us. The camp owners have been wonderful and they are going to buy some supplies so that Roy can fix up the cabin that we are living in, which will give him something to do. There is a little girl living at the campground that came to church with us last week too. Keep us in your prayers

WEST VIRGINIA, June 16, 2010

We arrived safely in Morgantown and actually had a very good trip. I was a little concerned at first that Seth would have a difficult time. He started crying before we even got on the toll road because he was upset at having to sit in the car all day and be bored. But, he did fine for the whole trip. On the trip down here, I was thinking about all that has transpired in the last several months. I was struck by how many of you have been part of a miracle. God has worked through each of you to perform the impossible. I wish I could find a way to list all of the miracles that have occurred to make each of the needs be met. God is so GOOD! Thank you for your prayers, and I will continue to keep you posted.

ONE WEEK TO GO

Well, this is the last Monday before we head to West Virginia. It is so strange to think that we have less than a week before we go. I haven't really been able to absorb it yet, but I have so much to do that I really don't have time to think about it. God has provided in so many fantastic and unexpected ways. A HUGE thank you to all who are supporting us financially and in prayers. We live by your prayers, so don't quit. The kids are getting excited, but a little nervous too as it gets closer and becomes more of a reality. I am trying to teach them a little of the trade language (Krio) before we go, so conversations around our house have become a little odd. :)

CUTTING TIES

Well, I turned in my resignation to my supervisor yesterday. Wow! Somehow taking a step of faith doesn't feel quite as ideal as it sounds. I am a little sad, somewhat scared, and a lot excited. Can't wait to see what God does. Keep praying, it's what is holding us up right now. God is SO GOOD!

Off and Running

We are so excited because we are now down to needing only $200/month more. GOD IS SO GOOD! Thank you so much to all who have donated and all who have prayed. Nothing would happen without prayer. So...it looks like we are off. :) So many decisions to make and so much to do.