The Ants Go Marching...

...not just one by one here. And I should add that they are the "biting and devouring everything in their path" ants. It's that time of year again. Every black speck you see in this picture is an ant. There were definitely some making trails, but mostly they were completely covering our veranda floor, walls and ceiling (this picture isn't even an 10th of the area they were covering). Thankfully we spotted them before they came into the main part of our house, and were able to empty 3 cans of bug spray to discourage them from advancing any further. I snapped this picture of Nathan in mid stomp and spray. He had to keep moving or they would start crawling up his legs and biting. Normally this happens in the middle of the night when it's so much harder to combat an army like this, but we were fortunate this time to catch them in the morning.

The Game Boy

Once Asher had finished all of his school work for the day and his brother and sister were still working on theirs, he started creating his own board game. It's very cute and you can really play it. His rules work. Just don't land on the night-time square or you'll lose a turn because you have to "sleep" until the morning. It's been fun this time around that our kids are old enough now to enjoy card games and board games...and even come up with their own! One thing though about Asher's game, he's played all of us and hasn't lost yet...hmmmm.

What has 112 legs...?

Nathan got the boys a clear bucket with a clear lid so that they could have a giant "bug jar". It does NOT come in the house, but occasionally stays on our veranda. Well, the snake from a few months, their first inhabitant of the bug bucket, ago slithered away. Since then we've had a chameleon that crawled away and a frog that they eventually let go. This one beats it all. One afternoon, the boys were collecting spiders. YUCK! In a quick glance, I counted 14 in this picture. YUCK! I'm amazed that they got this many and I'm frightened that there are so many big spiders living around the outside (hopefully not inside) of my house. And then the brave souls that would hold the spiders...can you see in this picture of Kamatu how long those spider legs are? Gives me the creeps.

RIGHT HERE!!!

The kids and I were making paper chain cut-outs of people, Christmas trees and birds and decorating them. Well, in the process Asher wanted to make other things out of paper...so he made a huge arrow and stapled it together. I became busy in the kitchen preparing dinner and was only half listening to the kids and simply replied "sorry" at the comment that there were no more staples in the stapler. A little later, I saw that Asher decorated the wall with his arrow. Very cute, pointing to the stocking, showing what his priority is this Christmas. When I looked at it a little closer, I realize that he had fixed it to the wall using a glue stick!!!

Advent

We lit the 2nd candle on our Advent "log" that Nathan made for us. We are going through a book that has ideas for each day to focus your family on the birth of Christ. One of the fun activities we've done was played "I'm going on a trip to Bethlehem and I'm taking..." going through the alphabet. We made it harder and tried to think of stuff that Mary and Joseph might have taken. The kids are getting into it, but Asher is a little concerned that in all of this remembering the real reason for Christmas, we are going to forget about the "getting lots of stuff" part of it. Hopefully he won't be too disappointed this year as there are no Walmarts or toy stores around here.

Anyhow, we are making new family traditions and singing through the Birth of Christ section in our hymn book, and playing and replaying the 3 Christmas CDs that we have. Simple, but memorable.

Family Time

After having 3 weeks of different guests, we decided to have a little family outing in the forest. We took a bucket with plantains, coco-yams, matches and a machete to have ourselves a little picnic. We waded through the mud and muck for a while, then followed the path to an enormous tree that had been cut down and milled. Avele followed us and we were glad for his company, though I was surprised that he slipped off without any of the other Baka kids noticing and following too! The kids climbed around the felled tree, which made quite a fun playground, while Nathan started a fire and cooked our snack and I swatted the filaria flies. We are so blessed to be able to step into a National Geographic magazine and have such amazing adventures!

Pets

Boaz is not only a chick magnet...but a critter magnet as well. For the past couple of days, he's been carrying around this rhino beetle on a leash so it won't fly away. Well, tonight he left it in the veranda and the dog kind of chomped on it. But, though he's sad about the big bug...he still has his pet chameleon and is actively looking for crickets to feed it.

Travel Troubles

Sorry for the view...butt, this is a common one when we travel nowadays. In the past 3 weeks Nathan has changed a flat tire at least a dozen times, and not always the same tire! Keep in mind that we only drive 1-2 times a week. You figure out the average! Compare this to our first term where he changed a tire (maybe) 3 times in 3 years. Crazy! I guess we need to take some time and replace the tubes, instead of having them patched...though it's always a different hole each time. But, Nathan's such a pro at this now that he has a system and his tire changing "kit", including the yellow tarp, handy at all times and can switch out the tire with the spare in less than 7 minutes! Other than the tires and a bit of shaking and wobbling that wasn't there before, and a few other minor details...we are praising God that our Hilux was able to be fixed and that we are making good use of it until we find something to better suit our needs.

The Carpenter

Nathan got this beautiful red wood from Bertoua (don't know the name of it) and made a shelf for Nandry. That's the real color, without any stain on it! Since the kids all share a room, this shelf goes next to her bed, giving her a little bit of privacy from her brothers. Nathan really enjoys projects like this where he can create stuff, and he's pretty good at it. Today he finally has some time to re-create the water tower that fell down shortly after we arrived. It's always neat for me to watch how carefully planned and purposed he is on the details of these kinds of things. Makes me proud!

Yet Another Thing...

Last night, after the lost in the forest trauma, and everything was calm, I was in bed and heard a crinkling noise. I wasn't going to pay it much attention, but then decided to check it out anyway. I turned on my handy flashlight that is NEVER far out of reach and saw this scorpion on the floor right next to where I'd just been walking and moving a plastic bag full of stuff. I don't know if it was in the bag, or on the floor when I had been there, but I'm so glad I didn't see it at that point!

This is only the 2nd time in my life that I've seen a live scorpion (that wasn't in an exhibit), first time in my house...but I guess this isn't impressive for folks from Texas. It was about 4 inches long from claws to where the tail curved.

I know this doesn't help anyone who is thinking about coming over to visit us, sorry! I really need to put all this stuff out there, because I feel like I am being bombarded by stuff that's trying to convince me how difficult and uncomfortable life is here. Keep us in your prayers!

Moment of Panic

This afternoon, the kids went for a hike in the forest with the Anderton boys (13 and 10). They were going to explore around a big tree in the forest. My understanding was that it wasn't far away...turns out it was over a mile away. As the sun started to go down, I expected the kids home at any moment. Nathan and I were getting dinner ready. We discussed going to check on them and make sure they were coming home, but we waited a few more minutes. Once it starts to get dark, it gets dark FAST. Nathan went out and started walking down the road in the direction that they kids left, and came across Reda Anderton also going in search of her boys. Reda told Nathan just how far away this place was that they were going, and Nathan rushed back, hopped in the truck and took off, hoping that the headlights would prove to be handy.

When I heard Nathan come back and say he was taking the truck, I started praying and shaking the whole time until I heard the truck returning. As soon as Nathan hit the main road, he saw Boaz and Nelson running to get home, and the others weren't far behind. Thank the LORD!

Lots of tears of relief from the kids and their Mama (me), lots of hugging, lots of thanks to God for His protection.

The kids made it to the tree earlier, played around for a while exploring the "cave" of another tree that had fallen, then decided to take a new path home. Aparently that path lead someone's field, and it was getting dark. The kids were coming up with survival tips like, "we can eat the macabo (root) so we won't starve" but they couldn't come up with how they would make a fire to cook it. They all stopped and prayed together at one point, then kept on walking towards the direction they thought the road was. Asher was crying alot by that point because it was dark and they had to walk across fallen trees through a swampy area. One of the branches he was holding onto broke and fell beneath him, and all the kids heard a hissing noise after that. HOW SCARY IS THAT? Nandry told me that she was trying to keep her emotions under control so that she wouldn't scare Boaz and Asher with how frightened she really was. She kept telling me when she got home how much she missed me and how bad she was shaking as she walked.

Finally they came to an abandoned house and recognized where they were in relation to the road and our houses, but they still had to make the long trek up a big hill and back along the road in the dark.

I think that Noah (the 13 year old) was pretty shaken up, and felt pretty responsible for the whole thing as he came to tell us what happened. We tried to calm his fears as much as we could that we weren't upset about it, just so relieved that they all made it back ok.

We are all the closer now as we "debriefed" with the kids tonight, and all the wiser as to what our limits are as to where and when we go into the forest, and how soon to start coming back!

Another cute thing, that actually set me more at ease, was that the Baka kids were playing soccer near our house, and they all joined in the search for our kids as night fell. I knew that if our kids were truly lost in the forest, the Baka could find them. My biggest fear was that something else didn't find them first.

I'm just babbling on and on now, but it's helping the tension release. Boaz, when he first got home, looked the least upset, just like it was another adventure for him. But later he told me he was very, very scared, just trying to be brave.

Ok, our internet connection is going to go off soon, so I need to wrap this up.

A Picture's Worth How Many Words?

Sorry, my brain is fried right now, we've had some exhausting days recently, but I really wanted to post some more pictures and stories. I'm going on the theory that a picture is worth 1,000 words (though Nathan and I were wondering if the phrase uses the word thousand, or million?). Well here are the photos to make up for my few words. Though I've already used over 50...
These are the mongulu (leaf huts) that are right near out house. They only take a few hours to make, but last a few months. I love this picture because it was just starting to rain and the Baka took their fires into the huts, so you can see the smoke coming out through the door and roof...does a leaf-hut have a roof?

In Contrast is our house, though very small and basic, it's still so much MORE than a leaf hut. Can you just hear the rain pounding on the tin roof? Deafening!

Nathan's being the hero here and helping tow our landlord's vehicle out of the mud with our Hilux (that's now white and working, mostly...though we haven't yet been reimbursed from the accident).

On his way to help the Andertons manage an army ant invasion around 11pm last night (though they were doing quite a good job even without him), Nathan found this snake in the yard. It's very docile and Nathan's trying to decide whether we are going to keep it as a pet, sigh. It's a burrowing python?

Ok, in this picture we are doing a reenactment of when the Pope came to Cameroon and the Baka people presented him a turtle as a gift. We didn't eat it...but some of our neighbors did AND wasn't it so nice of them to clean out the shell for us? Yes, it's now stinkily sitting on my window sill. I'm wondering if it won't make a good hiding place for the snake if we make terrarium.

And lastly, a good rainy afternoon activity for our kids and the Anderton boys: playing with the pattern blocks from the kid's math curriculum. Lots of creativity with squares, triangles, hexagons, rhombus' (rhombi? seriously?), and parallelograms.

And that was part of our week...

Someone's Dinner

Here's our teammate Jennifer with Joe and a (medium sized) jumbo rat that was caught with a jumbo rattrap in their house. Read the story behind this rat on Jennifer's blog. I tried to get Mixie to catch the mice in their house. Though she was intrigued with the smell, she didn't move from the time I put her in the house until 5 minutes later when she darted out. I guess she (Mixie the cat) could judge the size of the beast better than I and didn't think she had a chance.

This Week's Science Lesson

Nathan has the privilege to teach Science to the kids this year. Mainly because I can't do everything and he's so much better with the more hands on type learning/teaching AND he loves to play with stuff (they get to do experiments with batteries and also plant stuff and watch it grow). Our washing machine is not working, and we have tons and tons of laundry to do because of the smell and mold that is covering everything we stored for the last year. This past week when I walked out into the veranda and Nathan had the washing machine all apart, I heard him saying to Nandry, "well, after OBSERVING the washer and COLLECTING DATA, my HYPOTHESIS is that the balance switch gets triggered and stops the spin cycle, so lets TEST our hypothesis...how's that for an example of the scientific method?" It's still not working...MY hypothesis is that the circuit board is fried and we need to wait for someone to hand carry us a new one, bummer.

The Cat

Our most loyal and long-lasting pet we've had so far. Mixie the cat. As you can see, nothing, not even cobwebs on a high rooftop, will stop her from catching any lizard that dare show itself in her territory.

First Missing Tooth!

Boaz finally lost his first tooth! He's been waiting for this ever since the tooth fairy left money under Nandry's pillow during the last couple of years. Boaz has quite a thing for cash, especially free cash that he finds on the ground or UNDER HIS PILLOW!!! And, yes, the tooth fairy does come to Cameroon and leaves 500cfa for the first tooth (about a dollar).
The scab next to his mouth is from when Asher bumped the burning stick that Boaz was blowing on, right into his face. The kids are LOVING fire. They start at least one a day under the cooking shelter and now that we got them to stop throwing leaves on their fire, they are roasting their own plantains for a yummy snack.

Where to start...

I need to blog about this first month we've been back in Cameroon, but where do I start? Wayward washing machines, tumbling towers, badly behaved batteries, merciless mold and mildew, might-have-been malaria, dreadful doggie pooh, relentless rainy season, lacking language skills, scary surgeries back home... (Karen, we are trying to beat Jenn for the Ashia award).
Thought this was cute. Nandry wanted to extend friendship to the girls of the neighborhood so she got our her coloring books and crayons, locked the rough little boys out of the veranda and had a good time. The baby in the green shirt is baby Nathan, the only boy allowed in because he was being watched by his older sister. He was terrified of us when we first got here but is slowly warming up to our presence.

The Good Hurt & a Bittersweet Goodbye

Nathan posted on Facebook about some of our final preparations for Cameroon, including a last trip to Taco Bell. It is our preferred fast food, even over McD's. I can't believe how many meximelts, soft tacos and been burritos Nathan and the kids can down. I can't even eat the salads (which are insanely expensive compaired to the rest of the menu) because they are served on fried flour tortillas, and I have a wheat gluten sensitivity...though I take my chances some times and suffer for it. Ooooh, I just googled Taco Bell and am looking at the allergen list (wow, no MSG) -- not much I can eat but rice & pintos! So, I pretty much watched them scarf down their last instant tacos, took some pictures and sipped a strawberry-mango frutista freeze. I was reminding the kids about the few times we went out to eat in Cameroon, and what it was like. We would receive a menu, study it for a while, then order. The waitress would come back in 2 minutes and say, "we don't have that", so we'd order again and get a reply of, "we don't have that either". After about 4 tries, we finally ask what they do have and order accordingly. Next, we watch the waitress, armed with a market bag, leave the restaurant and return 10 minutes later. Then, after trying to keep the kids occupied for the next hour while the cook prepares the things they just bought at the market (still not sure why they claim to be "out" of certain menu items), and having long ago finished our drinks, our food arrives. It's usually pretty good, just beware of the fermented ketchup that's been sitting out unrefridgerated for a few weeks. Ah, we'll enjoy Cameroon but we'll miss the good hurt of Taco Bell.

Winding Down

Here's some of the fun stuff we did this past weekend. The kids got to enjoy a few days at the Crane's lake house swimming in the pool and the lake. Last Thursday Nathan drove to DC to turn in our visa applications to the Cameroon Embassy, so the kids and I got out a scooter, a 2- wheeled bike and a 4- wheeled bike out of Grandpop's garage and made the mile long uphill trek to the community pool. We were so sweaty by the time we got there (it was very hot and humid), but it was worth it. It started to rain after we'd been there for about 45 min and they made everyone get out of the pool, even though there was no thunder, and wait out the storm which fortunately only lasted about a half hour. The kids spent part of that time in the warm showers because the rain was kind of cold! I think the pool is preferred over the lake now, they especially like diving in the deep end and sliding down the water slide. Wow, when did my kids outgrow swimmy diapers and waterwings?

Then, this past Saturday we got tickets for the PA Renaissance Faire and went with my parents and my nephew Chase. I asked Boaz what he wanted to do for his birthday, suggesting monster trucks or a rodeo and he said that he really liked pirates. When I looked up the Ren Faire, it just so happened to be Pirate Weekend and they had a few special things for the kids like learning how to sword fight and talk like a pirate as well as following a treasure map with clues to get some of the pirate booty at the end of the day...Aaaarr! Nathan really liked the falconry show (this owl was HUGE!) and it was impressive to see the jousting tournament. I know it was staged, but it was still really cool and took alot of skill to do the things they were doing on horseback! Nathan got some good video and I'll see if he can post it...especially the guy who did a back flip starting from the horse's back and landing on the horse's back, while it was moving!!! Ew, and the guy that swallowed swords! It made me gag just to watch, but it was fascinating.

Calendar Marked for Sept 3rd!

We have some good news! The document that we've been waiting months for finally arrived and Nathan was able to drive to DC and apply for our visas at the Cameroon Embassy. We re-booked our tickets and plan to leave on the 3rd of September.

We're very excited to get back "home". Please pray that all the traveling details will go well. Our visas and passports should arrive by mail this week, and we are doing our final packing (more like "shifting" what's already been packed -- thank the Lord that Swiss Air gave us extra baggage allowance!). We haven't had a piece of luggage lost yet, let's pray that our record continues...

Our 7 Year Old!

Boaz is now 7 (his birthday was last Friday). What a great pose before blowing out the candles! He's holding a stuffed animal owl and pirate sword, and the cute little pirate in the background is his 3 year old cousin Chloe. We had a good time with 8 of the 9 grandkids in the Crane family, doing dinner, ice cream cake and making a mess of the toys in the basement! We sure are going to miss this bunch when we go back to Cameroon. We are very glad that we were here to celebrate 2 of Nandry and Boaz' birthdays this Home Assignment, though it's still unbelievable that we've been here over a year!

Happy Reunion

The Abbott Family is back in the States now for home assignment, after 4 years in Cameroon. We are so glad that we got the chance to visit with them for a few days. The kids picked right up after a year of being away from each other...and so did the adults! We stayed up a bit late catching up on the last year and probably didn't help them get the rest they should have had during their first week back. We really are going to miss them and hope this year brings much refreshment!
We went to the World's Fair Park and played on the playground and in the fountains (which Asher enjoyed a little too much at first...think self-administered enema).

Sunday Night with Pops

I tried to tell the kids not to get in Pops' way while he was playing the marimba, but my Dad assured me that they were his accompaniment. Boaz has the 2 mallet per hand thing going on too!

New WTers...headed to Cameroon!!!

Nathan and I got to go to the final banquet for World Team's candidate orientation (RACE) last night and meet some of the folks who are interested in Cameroon, coming to Cameroon and some who will be joining the Baka team. It was so good and encouraging to talk with them and get a feel for where they are in the process and to share our pictures and videos.
Heidi, who is in the front next to me will now be raising support and is hoping to join us this fall. She will be there for at least 1-2 years working on the orchard with the Baka and making strides in small-scale farming/agriculture and targeting it to their needs.

Happy Birthday Nandry

We are celebrating Nandry's birthday this weekend at Lake Meade. Nathan's sister's family arrived late last night so Nandry woke up this morning to find her best pal Kayleigh here. She said that was the best way she could think of to spend her birthday. Later tonight my parents are arriving and later still Nathan's folks will get here. Tomorrow will be a fun party day with her more of her Crane cousins coming. It rained most of the afternoon today, but that didn't stop the kids and the guys from playing in the lake. We're hoping for a beautiful day tomorrow with sunny skies.

While We Wait

We don't have our visa, yet.


This past Saturday we took the kids to Hibernia park and went rock hopping in the Brandywine. They had a blast and it made for some nice photos. We're using bug spray, but we've found 3 ticks so far on the kids in the past 3 days. We're watching those spots closely, especially with all we've been hearing of Lyme.

This weekend we'll celebrate Nandry's 9th birthday with some of her Crane and Conrod cousins up here in PA. I'm glad that we get this extra chance to see everyone...and I'm hoping birthday presents are small and easy to pack (think DS game or money!).

Catch of the Day

Asher caught his first fish this past weekend at the Lake. I think the cape helped by giving him extra superhero strength. He was so proud! Both of the boys learned how to cast a line and got lots of practice. We threw the fish back in...maybe we'll cook them up next time.

Pre-haircut

My little thugs here, wanted mohawks when I was cutting their hair. I let them have their hair like that for one day, then finished cutting it all the next day. I didn't realize this style was back in until we went to the pool and there were a bunch of little boys with mohawks (just not spiked on the top).

DELAY

Our bags are packed and we are ready to go...however, we haven't received our paperwork yet and have postponed our plane tickets. Our plan was to leave on the 4th of July, but we are now waiting until we have the documents we need before re-booking our flight. Keep lifting us up in prayer!

Bedtime Questions

The kids were getting to bed pretty late tonight, and they were trying to stay up as long as possible. Here are the questions I got called back into their rooms for:

Boaz: Are elephants warm blooded, or cold blooded? What about dogs? How do cold blooded animals get warm?
Asher: Why does lightning come from the earth?
Nandry: What's 255 plus 265...no wait, I mean 165 plus 165?

I love them so much! I can't explain where those questions came from. Maybe Boaz was thinking about his stuffed animals...we haven't seen lightning for a few days...and the random numbers????

Pray for us all as we go through another transition from life in the US to life in the Cameroon jungle. Nandry's been getting very sad about all the people that we are leaving behind.

Sorting...to store, toss or pack.

The kids lined up all their stuffed animals so they could watch a show that Nandry and Boaz were going to perform. I'm deep in the packing mode, so when I see anything going on like this in our house, I can't stop and enjoy it because I'm thinking of what category it needs to be in (store in the US, take to Cameroon, or throw away/give away). Then I think about the best way to get rid of the things we aren't keeping without the kids or Nathan noticing and making a big stink. First of all, I can't believe all of the stuff we have collected in the past year. When we leave, we'll have 10 suitcases, 50 lbs each, that is our allowance, plus 5 carry-ons. Seems like alot, but it's filling up quickly and we still haven't packed some of the big stuff like Nathan's drill and possibly a keyboard and a propane water heater. Our first term we didn't use all of our luggage allowance and only had 9 suitcases. But, we did ship a bunch of stuff over. We are trying to avoid shipping things this time.

Our bush house is small, so each time I pack something I try to picture where it's going to go in our house (there's no more space in our kitchen for any more appliances like the smoothie maker Nathan wants to bring).

It's easier for me to "go without" and not buy/pack things that are more frivolous. But it's so difficult to demand that the kids do this. Nandry wants to take all of her crafts, dolls and toys but is ok with leaving all of her stuffed animals. Boaz wants to take everything because he wants to show the Baka kids and give some of it away to his Baka friends 'cause "they will think it's so awesome". Asher wants to take everything, even stuff that Nandry and Boaz are leaving.

I hate that we live so high above the Baka people when we are in Cameroon, but yet compared to being here in the States we really have so little. Packing is such a stressful time for me when I think about it in this way.

So for now we leave behind bikes & scooters, tea sets, stuffed animals, dress-up clothes, Nerf guns, body boards, musical instruments, decorations and kitchen appliances to surprise us when we come back with how big we've grown and how much we didn't really NEED them in the first place.

Buried in the likeness of His death...

...raised to walk in newness of life. Nandry and I got baptized today on our last Sunday at Atlantic Shores, which also happens to be Father's Day. T. Jay Williams, the youth pastor, performed the baptism. Nandry was a bit nervous and not sure what to expect, so she was glad that I went first while she stood in the tank and watched. I'm so glad that I got to share this experience with my daughter. It was a happy day for Nathan too, and a Father's day that he'll never forget.

Graduation

The words of the Dora the Explorer song are stuck in my head, "We did it! We did it! We did it, yea! Lo hicimos! We went OVER to the States and started preschool. We did it! We did it! We did it, hooray! We went THROUGH the school year and learned our alphabet. We did it!..." Oh boy.
Asher didn't want to go to graduation because he wasn't really sure what it meant and what it required of him. When we told him it was basically getting a piece of paper that said he didn't have to go to preschool anymore, he didn't believe us. The ceremony was cute. I've never seen so many cameras and camcorders in one place before. The kids pledged to the flag, the Christian flag, the Bible, and then sang some songs that they had learned throughout the year. It was so great that Asher got a chance to be in this environment with lots of kids his own age and with such loving and kind teachers. I'm not sure if Asher (all the way on the left) is actually singing in this picture...I kind of think he's yawning. With all the activities of the past week, the kids haven't been getting to bed as early as they should.

He did it!!