Pet of the week

Our kids found this gal outside of our house climbing a fruit tree. She's much fatter than most chameleons we have ever seen, and the Baka tell us that she is going to lay eggs soon. Cool. Well, that same morning that she was found, Nathan and I were on a trip to Bertoua (closest city about 45 min away by car) to do some shopping when he slammed on the brakes, when hopping out of the car and came back with another chameleon saying, "it's a sign!" A sign of what??? That it's chameleon season? So we have both of them in the Boaz' home made terrarium (along with a tiny frog that Asher caught) and are trying to find them enough flies, butterflies and bugs to keep them happy (or, well, alive at least). They are much easier to take care of than a monkey! We'll let them go in a week or 2 before we leave the village. The Baka say they eat the big black flies that are around here as well as the "wosili" or day-biting-mango-flies...the ones that can give you filaria. So it seems like they are good to have around. Most Cameroonians are afraid of them more than they are afraid of most critters. We asked one woman why she was so afraid and she said it's because when they get on you they can change to the color that you are wearing. Oh...

Laughter...the best stress reliever

Lately, we've been really stressed. Nathan, doesn't normally get stressed and it's been really hard for him to find a way to express his sadness, frustration and anger from all of the "unlucky" things we are experiencing. Me, I get crabby and unmotivated to move forward (aka - lazy) when I'm stressed. Well, today in my crabby unmotivatedness, I looked through some of our old photos and got really cracked up by some of them. Here are a few precious jewels.

Nandry always had SO MUCH hair. I think she's only 2 in this picture.

Boaz, has the remains of a busted lip in this picture...you wouldn't believe how many pictures I came across with him with a busted lip or black eye (OR broken leg....)!

And just looking at baby Asher's expression and imagining his sinking feeling of being absorbed by the ball pit makes me laugh - is that mean?

Eclectic

What do you get when you cross a 5.5 K run with 90 degree weather and throw in 59% humidity?

A gal who really needs a shower! Since I can run in Africa w/o passing out, I can't wait to see how far and how fast I can run once I get to PA. It'll be a breeze.

What do you get when you cross a husband who is an "idea man" with a big piece of plastic and the beach?

A kiddie pool with a great view!

What do you get when you cross a fun-loving daddy, a dare devil son (Boaz) and a swimming pool?

A mom who says, "I'm glad I got a picture of that...but NEVER do that AGAIN!"

What do you get when you have 5 kids ages 2-7 and home made crowns and scepters?

A really fun reenactment of the story of Esther for Sunday school.

Maximum Security

I discretely snapped a picture of the jail where Abele is staying. It reminds me so much of the Old West. He seems to be doing OK, just hungry and he gets cold at night (someone stole his jacket and his sheet). There are 4 other Baka guys in prison there from various places, so he has some company and can speak his own language with them. We certainly don't understand the system, but the jailer said that we had to bring him something if we wanted to see our friend. So we brought him (the jailer, and we brought some for Abele as well) a regime of plantains. He said, "What is this? I want money." Which was the first time since this new "fight against corruption" that someone flat out asked for money. Usually they just beat around the bush, knowing that we KNOW that they want money but they aren't legally allowed to ask for it. The jailer let Nathan in anyway and I stayed in the car with the kids. Nathan was so surprised when Abele came out and gave him a hug! The Baka as a people are not huggers or kissers (or really even much of hand-shakers). Abele asked to see me, he said, "Please, I'd like it if your wife just came and shook my hand." It was neat! This second picture is of a common security system that folks use around here. Especially in the city, places are protected by walls with broken glass bottles stuck into the concrete to prevent anyone from climbing over the walls. Ouch...that would stop me! This picture is not from the jail, but it is the same as what they use at the jail (but you can't tell by the first picture).

To laugh or cry...

This is the before picture, that we took last week before we left for our World Team Cameroon conference and mini vacation. The walls were almost done, the only thing left was placing the window and door frames and pouring the headers.

This is the after picture, that we took when we got back from conference only to find out that a bad rain storm with strong winds knocked down the middle wall into the scaffolding, then the scaffolding fell and knocked down the opposite wall. (the pictures are taken from different angles - btw)

Think we'll get the addition done in the next 6 weeks?

Quotes

Does anyone know of a way I can set up a space on our blog for quotes? Leave me a comment or email me. We’ve had so many good and funny quotes lately around our house that I’d like to share!

Here are a few recent ones:

“Mama, will they pick you?” - Boaz said this when we were watching the Miss Cameroon pageant on TV at the Douala rest house and I was explaining to him that they were trying to find the most beautiful and talented woman to represent Cameroon.

“We are from outer space!” - Comment from Asher as he and Brianna were outside playing.

“Can we just plan on not getting ANYTHING done today because that would help me out more than planning stuff and NOT having it get done!” – Um, that was me after a frustrating few days back from conference and vacation where at every turn there was something preventing us from moving forward (the addition walls falling down from a bad wind/rain storm—seriously—and then Nathan’s new batteries to his power tools dying and not being able to recharge…among many other things!)

"Because he had a chair." - My comment again after Nathan and I were talking about why Barbers were the dentists too in the old days...after talking about how the "doctor" here in Dimako is the photographer, coroner, anesthesiologist, surgeon...etc because he's the only one with the equipment.

Asher had a successful 4th birthday celebration on the 29th of March!

What's more fun than a barrel of monkeys?

We said "farewell" to Kemi and Mixie this past week. Our Peace Corp friend in Dimako is keeping them during the next year while we are home on home assignment. We will miss our silly little monkey and our patient cat, but I'm looking forward to having a clean veranda without monkey droppings all over it! The kids seemed fine with saying "goodbye", but we'll see how much Mixie and Kemi in the next couple of weeks before we leave the country. Personally, I think Asher will miss them the most!