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! :)

Hey all! We went to Freetown and I was able to meet with the woman in charge of nursing registration. I turned in all of my forms, but it turns out there is also an interview - about what I am not sure (should I study???) So, I am waiting for them to call me to tell me when to come back to Freetown for the interview. In the meantime, we also applied for our alien registration, which was expensive, but necessary - and Dad has gone back down today to pick them up. This is difficult because it costs a great deal to go to Freetown. When we were on our way back up from our trip, we had car trouble and the engine kept overheating, then we lost our ability to shift into first or second gear. It made for a long trip. The kids did a really good job being patient, since what would be a five or six hour trip on a good day extended into a ten hour trip with no lunch and no supper except some peanuts. Needless to say, we were all glad to get home safely. Little 11-year old Kumba is sick today with fever and stomach pain. It turns out she has been sick for a week now. I am trying to talk them into going to the hospital. Hopefully they will, since this has gone on a long time and she is dehydrated. I have her taking ORS, but am trying to impress on them that it is a temporary fix, not a solution. The cost of health treatment can put a big strain on a family, so it is hard all the way around. Keep her in your prayers.

I have the best news!!!! I have been waiting these five months for a chance to get my medical license so as to be able to practice here. It has been so hard to see so many problems that I know that I could help with and yet I have my hands tied. Well, I finally was able, through the help of Rev. Samson (the school principal) to make contact with the government hospital several miles away. They were very encouraging and anxious for me to begin practicing. Through them I was able to get the information about who to contact in order to be registered. The gentleman who helped us meet with those in charge of the hospital, just happens to be best friends with someone who works in the nursing registration office. He has volunteered to go down to Freetown with us and to accompany us to the office there. This type of things goes a long way in facilitation of licensing. Praise God! The sister in charge of clinics in the area is going to come out to the Bible School on Wednesday and see the room that we have allotted and make her recommendations as they want me to also be an administrator of the immunizations for the underfives program. The country is trying very hard to meet the 90% goal for immunizations. I got home from that meeting and found out that one of the missionaries with another organization had networked with a friend who used to work with Mercy Ships. Mercy Ships had contacted her for recommendations of contacts inland with which they could connect to do so land based clinics. This other woman recommended me, so I will be contacting them here as soon as possible. Boy, when God is ready to move, you better hang on for the ride. I am excited and scared as there is no safety net and I am in uncharted waters. Pray and praise God for what he is doing. Missing you all and hope you are well.

To those of you who are praying - THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!! This morning was quite and adventure,but for you to understand it all, I need to lay some groundwork. A few days ago, we had a rainstorm - the second one that strangely occurred in the middle of dry season. As a result all of the area mice are seeking a less waterlogged area in which to live. I do need to clarify something though. You know those bumper stickers that say “My kid can beat up your honor student”? Well, the same can be said of our mice. If mice from the U.S. saw one of our mice, they would probably feel that they were in one of those movies where people run screaming through the streets as something large either climbs a skyscraper or smashes buildings with its feet. These monsters don’t do the normal thing and eat your crackers or chew a hole in the cereal box. They have a strong liking for electrical cords. In fact, they chewed completely through one. So, we set really big traps with peanut butter and hoped for the best. Well, they got the best – they really enjoyed the peanut butter and we did not catch a single one – but they also ate another electrical cord. So last night, we set traps AND put out rat poison. During the night the rats kept Dad and Clare up for the third night in a row. Dad got up and tried to scare them away from the electric cords. Unfortunately, one of them apparently ran behind the kerosene fridge. A kerosene fridge runs by a lamp type wick located on top of a tank full of kerosene. This one happened to made of extremely heavy plastic. The mouse happened to bump the glass protecting the flame and as a result the flame was able to move down into the tank of kerosene. This caused the fire to slowly spread inside of the component, slowly melting the plastic – so that an hour or so later, Dad smelled smoke, came out to check on it and found the fridge in flames. Here is where your prayers come in – had the fire gone on even 15 minutes longer (or less) I would probably not be here writing on this blog. The kerosene was very close to leaking out of the tank and if it had, the entire place would have gone up in flames. PRAISE GOD!!! A student who had wounded his hand and could not sleep for the pain, saw the flames and came over to help. Again, praise the Lord! For those of you who are praying- THANK YOU!!

So, we had planned on leaving a 7 am this morning to head to Freetown, but instead we had to clean up a mess, empty the fridge, and dispose of a dead mouse (which we did catch). We now have no refrigeration at all and will have to try to find something else in Freetown. Praise GOD for his protection. If it had happened the next night while we were gone, the house would have been completely destroyed.