Merry Christmas - We love you all!

The Best Baka Christmas Pageant Ever!

Some of our Baka friends put on a Christmas play this year for the village to come and see. It was very simple, but so precious! Here are a few pictures. It was getting dark so the quality of the pictures isn’t the greatest. The first one is of Mary (played by Tendi, and baby Jesus was played by her 3 week old son) before the angel came and appeared to her. She has her mortar and pestle and is making “Jabuka”.

In the next photo you can see (if you look hard enough) the wise men bowing down to baby Jesus and offering him their gifts of cassava leaves, a couple hands of plantains and a live chicken. Mary and Joseph are sitting there under the star of Bethlehem, and behind them are 3 shepherds and their herd of sheep (which were our kids and the Baka kids on all fours, bleating “baaa baaa”).

After the play and some explanation of the meaning of Christmas in Baka by Samba, we brought out some juice and popcorn and played some music for dancing. The last two Christmas’ we have tried different ways to give our Christmas gift to the village. Our gift includes rice, salt, bouillon cubes and candy for each family. This year we decided to hand this out after the play. Kpess and Sufiyo helped us out by filling up bags of rice and salt and making sure that each family didn’t take more than their fair share.

Finally after more dancing and merrymaking, folks started itching to get a ride back to the village (2 miles away) and cook their rice to have with their dinner. Barry made 2 trips in his car; Nathan made one (he had to fill the tire with air before they left…couldn’t imagine why it was so low!).

So…now email us or leave a comment letting us know what YOUR village / neighborhood / church / family is doing this Christmas!!! :-)

One more post before going home

Here's Darla (our new tutor who just arrived on Sunday), Nandry, Asher, Aunt Karen and Boaz (with some cool 3D glasses) trying on some Christmas tinsel. I just wanted to post this last picture before we leave for the bush tomorrow. Pray for Darla that she adjusts well to village life and that she hangs in there for the next 6 months!!!

Gotcha!!!

This is our little girl, Nandry, who is growing up way to fast! She’s so smart and clever that sometimes it takes pictures like this one of her with a basket on her head, or her sitting in a bucket to remind me that she’s still a fun-loving little girl who likes doing goofy stuff to get a laugh. She is “Miss Info” and would love to have your undivided attention to tell you the incredible thing she just learned in school about the reed warbler and the cuckoo. She is also our artist and gift-giver. If you are ever visiting our house for any amount of time (even as little as 5 minutes), you will walk away with an original piece of artwork, care of Nandry. If you stay for a few days, you might have to bring an extra suitcase for all the pictures and crafts that she has made for you. By the way Grandma, she was upset after you left because she found a bunch of stuff she made that she meant to send home with you…be expecting a package! Nandry can greet you in Baka, and have a pretty deep conversation with you in French and she’s not shy about it at all. And in this last picture, don’t let her girly-ness fool you, she can climb trees like a little monkey!

You talkin' to me?

Meet Asher. This is his snorting face, it’s one of his favorite responses when he’s asked a question. Here’s what usually happens. Someone (usually a Cameroonian) will come up to him and in French say, “Hello baby, shake my hand.” Asher gives them a blank look for about 10 seconds, then snorts like a pig, and walks away. No one yet, fortunately, has said that he’s rude…they just laugh. I’m trying to figure out if it’s just Asher’s way of saying, “I don’t know you so therefore I’m not going to talk to you.”

Asher is our puzzle man. When he’s not running around outside with the others, you can be sure to find him quietly on the floor of his room putting his favorite puzzle together for the 100th time. He’s good at seeing little details and fitting them together.

All of our kids bring us flowers that they pick out of our garden, our neighbor’s garden, the orchard and the forest, but of the 3 kids, Asher is the one that brings me flowers constantly and is very bothered if I don’t put them in water RIGHT AWAY. He loves to smell them all too and his “smelling” face is almost the same as his snorting face (see above).

And here’s a final picture of Asher just hanging out in a tree with his infamously infectious grin.

"Mom...Can I keep it?"

Meet Boaz, our animal collector. I was going to say "our animal lover", but I think that Asher actually LOVES the animals more, Boaz is just completely fascinated with them. These were all taken when Nathan's parents were here. In the first picture Boaz has a lizard. Do you know how FAST lizards are? We were completely amazed that Boaz actually caught it. It wasn't so cool that it got away and was crawling all over us during our dinner.

This next picture is Boaz with a handkerchief full of rhinoceros beetles that the Baka caught and were going to eat. One of the phrases I hear most often during the day is, "MOM, come see what I have in my bug jar!" (and the next most common phrase is my reply of "GET THAT THING OUT OF THE HOUSE!" Often it is more than one species of cool looking bug. Boaz is already planning out his zoo and all the animals that he's going to have in it.

Here, Boaz is holding a "chat-tigre", which means "cat-tiger". We aren't sure of the English name. Anyone know? These are ferocious like a bobcat with rat-shaped faces. They are soft and cuddly-looking up close...when they are already dead.

In this last picture is what Boaz really really wants. A horse. He's been praying for one lately. He's gotten to ride one twice here in Cameroon, each time when we were at the beach.

To get your car washed...any puddle will do!

Hey Dad Crane...here are some new ideas for the carwash. Have you ever thought about opening up the stream behind the buildings? That's where the real money's at!!!

And now you need something for all the grease-monster trucks:

Why are some people so...URGLY?