Well, Roy made it back just fine and we are now looking for new ways to minister. God is so cool! We have a pair of swallows who have made their nest on our porch. It was a big process to get them there as most of the people here knock down the nests. We, however, wanted them there as they eat mosquitos - a big bonus! Well, their young have hatched and yesterday we got to witness their first flight out of the nest. They were doing very well until it came time to reenter the nest which has a tunnel doorway up in the corner of the porch. I could almost hear their little voices, "This flying stuff is great! I think I'm getting the hang of this! WAIT! How do you land this thing...! The mother bird repeatedly flew out and then reentered with great patience trying to show her offspring that it really could be done. They eventually made it. The kids and I had a great time watching this, and then in the quiet of my heart the Lord said, "I have not forgotten you - I will keep showing you the way. Don't forget what my word says about the birds of the air and how they don't have to worry." What a visual lesson! God is good! Roy and I have started reviewing the picture bibles with a small group of guys and tomorrow Roy is going with a few of them to ask some nearby towns if we can start holding weekly services with them. In addition to that, I am going to start offering a health and wellness class to any of the area women who would like to come. Please pray for us as we look for the best ways we can serve God and help those around us.
So many people have said to me, "I could never do what you are doing". Well, I want to set the record straight. We are all fledgling birds out for our first trial flight - just trying to make it count and not completely crash and burn. For each of us God is there, quietly demonstrating the way it should be done, letting us know that he is there and will not desert us! I still worry what to fix for dinner ( esp without any beef, potatoes, cheese, or vegetables) and I still just live everyday the best I can obeying Him just for today - isn't that what we are ALL doing? Okay, so your noon is my evening and I wear less sweatshirts than you do - but other than that we are all the same. Well, there is one significant difference. I have gotten accustomed to having to search for pieces and parts of cameleons around my house and coming across tails, heads, whatever in the middle of my living room floor. (Jeepy eats cameleons and like any wild animal, he stashes some for later- so I have had to learn to find them before they stink) I think it's safe to guess that is NOT one of your daily obstacles - but he is just so COOL! :)
P.S.
To explain the new picture: Seth and his buddies were playing soccer one evening. Rain here can come up very quickly and with great gusto -so the game was unexpectedly rained out. They all ran to our porch and innovatively came up with a new game while they were waiting for the rain to stop. They each climbed in an empty rice bag and then hopped around like a potato sack race but playing soccer. It was a lot of fun to watch. On a side note, we put out two five gallon buckets under the edge of the roof (no eaves troughs) and within half an hour they were full.

Yesterday Dad and Clare left to return to the good ol' USA. Roy took them to the airport, so he will be back sometime today, if God gree... (That is a statement in Krio that is used whenever plans are discussed. I find the straight forward acknowledgement of God's plan to be so cool) Anyway, the kids are doing better than I thought, but it has still been a little of a sad day. We are not sure when they will be back, or if they will be back. However, we have to learn to be missionaries all by ourselves now. Roy and I had thought that we would be in the middle of teaching the next semesters classes right now, but as that plan has changed, we are looking at walking out to some nearby villages a couple of nights a week to some evangelism. Please pray for us that we will have God's leading in this. The rainy season makes this a little hard to plan as it tends to rain in the evenings and people are on their farms during the day. Abby has been going to help her friend Esther on their family farm. She really enjoys it and comes back so covered in dirt that you would think she was an African. She is a hard worker and is building some really good friendships. Seth's rash is improving, although he is still itchy about once a day. However, he does not seem to breaking out with any more. Caleb is doing well adjusting to things as well and he and Seth are thoroughly enjoying the abundance of mangoes this season. In fact, I often have to pull them up short on the consumption thereof - as diarrhea can be a direct result. ( But Mom, I've only had five and it's already lunch time... I'll still eat my supper, I promise...) I have been so blessed by my friendships here and the way that so many of the people here have stopped in to check on me and make sure that the kids and I don't need anything. Such kindness!

Good news! Mr. Y.Y. and Kumba had a healthy, beautiful baby girl! They are grinning from ear to ear and doing very well. Everyone here at the Bible School is so excited that you would think each person here had given birth themselves! It is such a wonderful thing and such a testimony to the miracle of God's hand. They have been married for 9 years and have been unable to have any children. That is very unusual in this culture. Mom and baby are both doing VERY well.
We just had the privelege of having our missions director, Gregg Verbuff come and visit us for just a few days. I am telling you, he is just such an encouragement and so spiritually grounded. He was like a breath of fresh air and yet solid in his view on God's word and on missions. We praise God for his visit and couldn't say enough good about him. God made sure that he got to see some fun things while he was here too, such as monkeys in the wild and a hammock bridge.
Seth has a really bad rash all over his neck, trunk, and arms. He has been miserably itchy and it started about 2 weeks ago. Please pray. We were able to go and see a British doctor in Freetown, but he said that he had not seen anything like it before. He gave us several medicines and they seem to be helping somewhat, but it is not completely going away. Please pray with us that the rash will resolve quickly.
Avacados are ripe now, so we are enjoying homemade guacamole and have discovered a way to make our own chips. It has been very enjoyable. Pineapple is also ripe now and you haven't had pineapple until you have had one that actually ripened in the tropics. We'll enjoy 2 or 3 on your behalf. We miss you all! Have a great day!

Well, yesterday I killed my first snake. I was on my way to get hot water from the outdoor firepot at about 8 pm and found a puff adder sitting just a few feet from the firepot. Unfortunately for him and fortunately for me, he had just eaten something and was moving VERY slowly toward the wood pile to hide while he digested. Needless to say, we are all much more careful when picking up a stick of firewood now. :) We also found a scorpion hole within twenty feet of our house two days before that. Mr.Y.Y. had seen it while I was trying to do an eye examination on him. (It would appear that he has a very bad cataract in his right eye. Needless to say, his left eye is VERY good since he spotted the scorpion.) However, he tried to help me dig up the scorpion and found a baby scorpion, but not the mother. The bad news is that scorpions don't have just one baby - where there is one, there are many many more. We are all being very careful. God's umbrella of protection is very appreciated.
It is pineapple season and we are thouroughly enjoying it. We are even getting inventive with it now as we are all hungry for new flavors. We made pineapple syrup and ate it over crepes for breakfast the other day. Not perfect, since this is all done over a campfire, but we sure enjoyed it. :) We also made a pineapple cake, and some mango sauce. We haven't had any meat in several weeks, so what we all really want is a big juicy hamburger!!!

To all you dear people out there - a big hello! It has been an interesting past two weeks. Caleb, Seth and Roy have all broken out in some sort of interesting rash. I am hoping that it is just heat rash or a grass allergy. Abby has been spending her time helping various people plant their dry season farm (groundnuts) and has been enjoying it immensely. Roy and I have been busy writing and administering the final exams for the semester here at the school. It is really challenging writing a good test to begin with, and becomes even more challenging when you throw in a language barrier. It is hard to write the questions so that you can be sure that everyone will understand the question. We are also finding out what classes we will be teaching in the next semester, which starts in a week. Needless to say, there is a lot to be done. Please continue to pray for us. These past few weeks have been hard, I am not going to lie. Dad has been quite sick, without much improvement for about 10 days. I am happy to say that he is now on the mend, but is still weak and tired quite a lot of the time. In addition that, we have experienced significant stress from an unexpected quarter. I can't really explain, but I can tell you that false accusations are hard to bear, but I thank God for keeping us above reproach in every way so that the truth was revealed. It is not over, and there are still repercussions that affect us greatly, but we serve God not man. It is great knowing that you work for the BOSS of all Bosses! :) A friend just e-mailed me and encouraged me more than she may possibly know. She reminded me that she had not forgotten us (that's BIG) and that God does not forsake us as long as we seek Him! WOW! I can't tell you how much that gave me a spring in my step (even more than chocolate would have):) Thank you!
Sorry I am not as light today - but I wanted to let you all know that when you pray for your missionaries, or anyone that you are apart from for that matter - it is a big deal that you thought of them. It means more than you may realize. Send a note to a friend, family, or random missionary today, and you will have made a BIG difference in somone's life. After all, isn't that what we all want to do with our lives? You don't have to go somewhere hot and eat monkey meat to do it, just send an e-mail instead :)

We made it safely to Kamaron and got to enjoy a two day visit. The kids really enjoyed the experience of four-wheel-drive travel. We even got to see some animals in the wild: harness antelope, monkeys, a duiker, and some bush fowl. We caught a lot of interesting butterflies, too. It was so neat to be able to show Roy and the kids where I grew up, even though it has completely changed. I was able to see several people from my childhood, one of whom lives in a nearby village. I have known Sona since I was eight years old and we have a very special connection. She is a deaf mute - some of you who have been to our home in Niles have seen the painting I had of her in our living room. It has been 22 years since I saw her last and it was SO good to see her. She started dancing and clapping and picking me up and jumping up and down. She is such a neat lady now and I cannot begin to tell you what it meant to me to see her again.
The second day we were there it rained and soaked our sleeping bags and our tent so we had to dry it out and then we strung it up with rope from the rafters of a nearby veranda and used rocks to hold down the edges. It was a lot of fun and the kids have decided that they want to move there. I tried to explain to them that they couldn't expect to get soaked every time ... just kidding! They really loved the people there and the area. People need so much and have so little, and yet their first thought is to give whatever they have in order to welcome you and show their appreciation. Sona gave us her last chicken, all the others had died. It is so humbling and yet such a blessing. We all realized how blessed we are, in that we have SO much, yet we hold things so tightly - why? Why not give them to bless someone else? Isn't SO much more
fun? :)
Anyway, yesterday was Mother's Day - so a happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there. The kids cooked supper for us and we ate it out under the bafa (a open hut with thatch roof and no walls) It truly was a special memory. We had chili and corn bread - and the best waiters in the whole world!!! What a lucky mom I am.

Today is a national holiday - the Independence day of Sierra Leone! What makes it really special is that it is the 50th anniversary of the Sierra Leonean Independence from being a British Colony. It is really neat. When we were in Freetown last week, the whole town was cleaning up and making things neat for the celebration. The trunks of trees and fences and roundabouts were all being painted in the colors of the Sierra Leone flag, which are green, white, and blue. Banners and flags were being flown everywhere. Here in Kabala, the same sorts of things are being done and I guess there is a big parade today. It makes me think of all the things that the kids and I are learning in homeschool. We are covering American History and have just finished studying the Revolutionary War. It is interesting to me to look at how much Sierra Leone has struggled through in it's first 50 years of Independence. America gained it's independence in 1782 and had a much longer amount of time before it's own civil war. How many other countries had a civil war on the heels of obtaining their independence? It would be an interesting thing to study- is this a pattern of learning to stand on one's own two feet? I am sure someone somewhere has already done a dissertation on it, but it is interesting to contemplate the big picture.
In terms of the small picture, I made an apple pie using mangos yesterday. I used the wrong type of mangoes, so it wasn't all that great, but everybody still liked it. Since I had the coals heated up for the oven, I also made pretzels ( never did that before) and mango sauce ( like applesauce - again, the wrong kind of mangoes.) I made the pretzels because Dad and Clare are both really sick with what I suspect is bronchitis, and the salt is always a good thing on your throat when it is sore. Anyway, we are all doing well, just waiting to arrange some sort of transport to go up into the interior of the country to see the places and people of my childhood. So, I will give you an update on that soon, I hope. Have a great day and smile - and turn on a light switch for me! :)