December 2011

Jenn brought home another very sick newborn.  This little guy’s body was so tense and he wasn’t figuring out the whole breastfeeding thing.  His mother had given up.  But with much prayer, Jenn’s care, some supplemental formula and medicine, and a whole lot of encouragement to the baby’s parents, he is thriving today!  We are so thankful for Jenn’s medical ministry and the ways that she can reach people through meeting their felt needs.



We visited Nkolbikon, a village 16 km way that’s dear to us, to greet them for Christmas.  We took this opportunity to give out pillowcase dresses for the little girls donated by a church in Chesapeake, and other clothes (mostly hand-me-downs from Boaz & Asher saved up over the last 2 years) for the boys.  We left some rice and other provisions for their Christmas/New Year’s celebrations.  We also played the Christmas Baka Likano Bible stories and had a time of worship together.  Wow, these kids love to sing!

I think this is the place where our kids have had the best interaction with Baka kids.  Just the other day, kids from Nkolbikon walked all the way to our house (16 km away) because they wanted to see Asher!

One of our dearest family traditions is to celebrate Advent.  We have a candle for each week before Christmas.  We do more purposed family activities in the evenings in the month of December, in preparation for Christmas and for reflecting on God’s greatest gift to the world, Jesus. 

 Our family gift giving on Christmas is so special.  We try to do our various celebrations with our neighbors and our nearby village ahead of time so we can guard this special time just for us.  This year, since Christmas Day was on a Sunday, we opened most of our presents on Christmas Eve.  It was so incredible that most of the presents where very thoughtfully home-made, with each recipient specifically in mind.  

November 2011

Got into canning…local corn was being harvested and I was excited to save some for the next couple months!  Also did beef…helps for preparing “quick” meals later on.

We had our 2^nd Thanksgiving celebration this year (we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving in October).  However, we had a cold meal (potato salad, bread, turkey lunchmeat, salad and dips) due to the unavailability of propane…we were on our last bottle and praying that it would last until Christmas, or that another bottle would become available.

 

Geri, our home school tutor, arrived for her 6 month stay in Cameroon.  We were so glad to have her come and teach the kids.  She’s done great with them especially in the areas that I’m weak, like writing and special assignments that I just never have time to get around to do.  And...we decorated our Christmas tree right after Thanksgiving.  So glad that we fit it into our suitcases coming back this time! 

October 2011

Found good homes for the last 2 puppies (these guys will make good guard dogs eventually), and salvaged my garden!!!

Aunt Elsie, our home school coordinator, was out for her 2 week home visit and did school with the kids while I entertained the flow of visitors that came our way.  She was a true God-send and I don’t know what I would have done without her there.

Among the visitors were friends that we met in Switzerland this past summer at Breathe.  They are an Australian family that brought their 3 girls (the ages of our kids) and another Aussie friend.  We had an amazing time, Nathan got to travel with Nick, the husband, to visit Baka camps farther down south.  Then Nathan took them on a tour of a few other parts of Cameroon (including the beach…we were a bit disappointed that the kids and I couldn’t take a break from school but had to keep pressing on and miss this). 

 

And…6 weeks later, Nandry took out her studs and try on the assortment of earrings that she had been waiting to wear since forever!  So hard to wait.  Such a pretty girl! 

September 2011

Nandry got her ears pierced.  We had gone to the hospital in Bamenda to see if they would do it there, since many baby girls have their ears pierced after they are born.  But, the hospital method was a little too traumatic for us (“hold still while I push this by hand through your earlobe…it will hurt, but be brave”), uhhh, no thank you!  We were able to find a pharmacy in Bertoua that had an ear piercing gun.  Still painful as you can see on Nan’s expression, but it was worth it!

 

Buttercup had six puppies in August that reached the age where they were making a mess all over our veranda and yard (and garden!!!) and were ready to bless some other people with their presence.  They are a German Shepherd and Beauce Shepherd mix.  Found homes for 4 of them pretty quickly. 

Spent a couple of days with the Schilinski clan!  We got to ride horses in the beautiful hills of Bamenda, visit Prespot and try our hand at the pottery wheel, and just a have  a great time with their family.  This picture is from the trip home from our picnic that got rained out.  Good times! 

Africa Area Conference in Bamenda.  A week of catching the vision for the future of our field and spending time with our WT colleagues. 

The kids had their own Bible Boot Camp during the conference.  They practiced putting on the armor of God.   

Playing Catch up

Time to play catch up here...It's been way too long since I blogged.  There's so much I've wanted to write about, and so much that has gone on with our lives here in Cameroon, with the kids, with the ministry and with me personally.  Most times I don't know which thing to write about, and how much to share.  But, I'm attempting to catch up and keep going. 

Family photo in at our August SCA school session.