Uganda????

everyday it seems as if i am saying... well that will be something to blog about! everyday! it is always something in Africa :)
So in my last post i told you i would have stories and pics of the wedding we were going to today. Nope no pictures because we went THE WRONG DIRECTION. when going out of town we took the wrong street. on the way we asked 2 people if we were headed the right direction and they said yes. erggggg
so we figured we were at the wrong place when we ended up at a stop sign and a customs area. Yep we were at the Uganda border! Not the country we wanted to see. at least not on this trip. so we called the pastor and explained our situation. he felt bad but still wanted us to come... but since we had already had to add water to the truck 2 times so it wouldn't overheat and had driven 4 hours we decided that another 3 1/2 hours would either do us in or the truck. So we headed home very disappointed. such a bummer.
well until next time remember i love all ya'll and if you ever see a stop sign at the end of your journey, you just might be in another country.
april

really there were only 2 small very small bugs

So yesterday I had my appointment with my midwife. She is awesome and we feel so blessed to have her help with this pregnancy. While at the appointment we realized i had a slight bladder infection so today I went to the Adventist doctor for some lab work. It was interesting. We walked into the clinic and they were having a prayer meeting. So we joined them and listed to a little bible study/prayer in Kinyarwanda. Not something that would happen in the states. So of course i had to go pee in a cup. I tell you what, it is hard to pee in a cup in a place where you don't want to sit on the toilet and you are pregnant. My legs were almost shaking from trying not to fall. I know ya'll wanted to know all that. :) So the test came back and the doctor didn't feel like it was an infection that needed to be treated right now. It wasn't bad enough for a pregnant woman to take meds. so i have to force myself to drink tons of water, which i do not like doing but for the sake of the baby i will. He is a great doctor and we are glad we found him. He is from the states and is a cardiologist.

So after i went out and about shopping with a friend. It was fun. it is always interesting shopping in Africa. I wish i had all the time to tell all the stories. life is different for sure.
So my friend dropped me off at the Chinese restaurant where i was meeting spencer for lunch. I had a huge bowl of soup. It was yummy... despite the bugs in the soup. The first bug I said wellll it really isn't that big so i took it out and kept eating. The second bug was even smaller so i kept going and said okay if there is one more i will stop. So the last thing i found i couldn't decide if it was a bug so i just stopped looking at my soup while i ate. Seriously it was too yummy to throw out. ahhh the things you do in a different culture!
so right now i am suppose to be cooking dinner while spencer is cutting luke's hair. so, i better go. we are having Chinese leftovers lol!
we are headed out to a village about 3 1/2 hours away tomorrow. we have to leave here at 6am in order to get to the wedding festives on time. we will come back on sunday. and i am sure with lots of fun stories and pictures.
okay love all yall and remember... sometimes it is just better to eat at Chinese resturants (at least the one here) at night... there's less to see :)

Mele Kalikimaka

Yesterday I had a busy day. It started out with a field trip with Abby's class. I drove and transported some kids in what I call the beast. Our big truck. The kids rode in the way back and had fun on the bumpy road to the teachers house. I almost thought we needed to put it into 4 wheel drive to get there. The kids made all kinds of noises going over big holes. The 5th grade and her class went to her teachers house to make Christmas cookies, do crafts, play games and watch a movie. They had a lot of fun. So about half way during the day I left for my bible study Christmas party. That was fun especially since right before I got there I went by to check our mail and we had received a package from the states. Wahoo. Of course I didn't open it. I waited until the kids got home from school. That was Spencer's orders :)

So after the party I went back to the field trip to pick the kids up. Again they had fun on the bumpy ride and sang songs all the way back to school.
So I had about 1 hour after dropping the kids off at school so I stayed in the beast and fell asleep until school ended. After that i came home rested for a bit and then had a PTO meeting. Wozers I was so tired when I got home i forgot to set my alarm clock and the kids were a few minutes late for school today. opps!

Today the kids had a program at school. It was so good. They sang well. Afterwards we followed my midwife and her family back to their house and heard the baby's heartbeat. The kids liked hearing it but said oh and ran back outside to play. They have rabbits and turkeys and a huge playset so they had a blast. We really like our midwife. She is from Canada.
Anyways tomorrow i will be with Abby's class for the morning. Her teacher has a meeting.
Okay so now is the time I say something funny but i am not feeling funny tonight. Maybe I just need to eat. lol Actually salsa is screaming my name right now. Ahhh yummy. or maybe that is the snickers bar. dang it ... both are having some sort of duet.
well more later i love all yall and remember... satisfaction does come from a snickers bar.

ewwww i touched the small intestine!!

I would say happy thanksgiving but it has already past. lol So happy holidays... can't wait to say Merry Christmas. Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I love watching people at the mall and stores. Everyone seems to be in a great mood. The weather is usually great. Whether in Florida or TN. I love winter! I love seeing happy people walk around with their shopping bags and something hot in their hands.
Anyways we had a great thanksgiving. There was a team here from Canada so we joined them on thanksgiving day for a Safari. It was a great time. Even through our flat tire on the journey. The team brought us some awesome Christmas presents for the kids. They are going to have an awesome Christmas. God is so good to us. Even though i can't go shopping at a mall or my favorite store Target i am okay with that this year. :)
Oyeah about our thanksgiving dinner. We had lunch with some of our closest friends here in Kigali. They are missionaries with YWAM. We feel so blessed to have friends that have been so close. It is so hard sometimes to get close to people in the ministry and we are thankful for them. So on the YWAM compound/base they have live turkeys. Nick went in the morning to pick out the turkey, brought it to our house and here it was killed, cleaned and cooked. It was and interesting experience for sure. When i was preparing the turkey I was making sure it was extra clean so i was examining it once more. I pulled on what i thought was fat and it apparently was the small intestine. EWWW it was wiggly and freaked me out. Ahhh the joys of preparing your own meat!! All in all is was good. A little tough but good. Especially with all the other food we had with it.
Out house is beginning to look a little like Christmas. Our tree is up and the train is around it. The kids are loving the feel of Christmas.
Okay all for now. I love all yall! and remember... love on family members and friends this season.... i would LOVE to :)

# 26 out of 100 ways to eat an avocado

So i know it has been a while but i have just started feeling better. I haven't thrown up in several days! yay! didn't think i was going to make it this baby was making me really sick. Morning, day and night. Anyways i am still very tired but at least feeling better.
The family is doing well. Luke and Abby are very excited about the new addition to the family. They think it is really funny to stuff pillows in their shirts and run around the house making throw up noises saying he look I'm mommy. hahahah!
we feel very blessed to have such a great boss. He allowed Spencer to stay home on his previous trips to take care of me. Family comes first! very thankful for sure.

if you can pray for my dad that would be great. he has a test next month to determine if he has cancer. I am sure everything will be fine but the time waiting on hearing answers can be very long and stressful. It is hard sometimes to look towards the cross and leave the world behind. especially when you hear news that is hard. But I know the road ahead is easier with God than the road with the world. For thine is the power right! absolutely. remembering that we can do anything... we can get through anything with God's help.

Okay so my thoughts maybe a little random these days. This pregnancy has been interesting this go around. lol

Here are some prayer requests:
- the holidays are coming up and it is always hard to celebrate them alone.
- the pregnancy continues to go well. we will be making decisions on where to deliver the baby soon.
- education on our field. pray for spencer as he finds teachers and resources to teach our pastors and lay people on the field
- health and safety for the family. living in a country torn by war can be a little difficult especially for those who have been affected personally.
- we are headed this weekend to a village/city 3 1/2 hours away. pray for safe travels!


okay we love you all and remember... when eating avocado... cut it in half, take out the seed and pour salad dressing of your choice into the holes. Yummy.
april

feeling very sick and sleeepy

Okay so it has been a while since my last posting. To tell you the truth posting has not been on my mind. I have been really sick the past 2 weeks. You know that morning sickness they talk about when someone is pregnant... well it is morning, day and night for me. Yuck I have been really sick. I feel bad in the morning until night. And to be quite honesty... i have been sooo emotional as well. I know that this comes with pregnancy. But lately i have just wanted to get on a plane and head home. BUT this is home i am just asking for your prayers to make it through this part of the journey. I trust this doesn't discourage you but encourage to say some extra prayers for me this week and weeks to come.
So today we are 7 weeks along and Abby is getting irritated that she still can't see the baby. wow this is going to be a long pregnancy. lol
Spencer was suppose to leave today to head to the north of Rwanda and into the DRC. Because i am having a rough start to the pregnancy our boss Chanshi decided it would be best for Spencer to stay home and take care of the family. We feel so blessed to have a boss that makes sure family comes before work. I am so relieved... it would have been a difficult week.
Through it all I still give glory to God. Still feel blessed to be serving Him and having our needs taken care of.
As I am typing this a bird flew on our security bars. I am thinking man how cool is that. I love all the birds we have in our yard. They are so pretty. We are coming into spring and everything is coming into bloom here. It is so pretty. I try to take in all the goodness here so I don't find myself thinking of the part of the States I miss.
Okay maybe more later i am getting very sleepy... yes it is morning and i am sleepy. C'est La vie!
love all yall and remember.... Yalla Baxna... God is good!

Butare, Rwanda

okay so this past weekend we drove about 2hours away to a city called Butare. It is the SW district. There the district had a children's ministry seminary where i taught. It was good and i enjoyed being with the leaders of the district.
The drive there was beautiful. It almost seemed as if we were driving through a country town in the US. Maybe TN or SC. There were lots of trees and crops. Lots of houses in the middle of nowhere without electricity or water. I often wonder how people do it... walk everyday for water but that is what the know and they probably don't know any different. especially the children. it is not uncommon to see young kids probably 3 or 4 carrying water jugs. or carrying veggies to sell at the market. a different sight for sure.
The hotel was decent. It had 2 beds and a bathroom. Spencer downloaded Extreme makeover home edition so that night at the hotel we watched it. This is our families favorite show. We all sat on the bed and boohooed : ) so while we were watching the electricity went out. good thing luke remembered his flashlight. the guy from the restaurant came and let us know that dinner was ready and gave us a candle. what great customer service.
so the only real big issue of the trip was we all had stomach issues. that really wasn't the issue the issue was the church only had an outhouse with a hole in the ground. that was pretty yucky!
so i know i shouldn't have waited this long to post about the trip b/c now i have forgoten everything i wanted to post.
i guess this week i have been a little distracted because I"M PREGNANT. yep that's right .... child #3 is on its way.
pray i find a good doctor and everything goes well. also that the kids won't drive us nuts about it. Abby wants to listen in my mouth and stick her had down my throat to touch the baby. she is crazy!!
okay all for now and remember... save those taco bell hot sauce packets.... i will probably need them soon...
april

no title! lol

okay so we are headed out of town this weekend for a children's ministries seminar that i will be speaking at. pray for safe travels and electricity for my PowerPoint :) I would love to show the Jesus Film for children but we need electricity for that too. Originally we had planned to leave today after the kids got out of school but decided to leave on Sat morning instead. This will cut down on expenses and only stay in a hotel one night. The local DS there asked about where we want to stay and spencer made it clear just make sure we have 2 beds and a clean bathroom!!! i would sleep on the floor as long as there are clean bathrooms :)

so if everyone makes it through the day without any sicknesses we are going to a friends house for pizza night. i say that b/c it seems every time we plan something with someone the past couple of weeks someone throws up. glad that is over.... for now

so we are beginning to feel more and more settled. although yesterday i had one of those days where i just wanted to be home. home as in.... a normal home where we didn't have roof leaks, plumbing issues, power outages, bad water pressure and a place where we had stores where we can buy everything in one place, carpet, fast food restaurants for those down days, etc etc etc.....
BUT God is good and he continues to part the waters for us. Daily He gives us his hand to make it through storms (even the roof leaks that are a result of the storms). God is good and we are glad to be here! Today anyways! lol

Did i tell you about our garden? Our guard hired a girl to come and plow the yard for veggies. It is HUGE! i think we will be having veggies growing out our ears. it took her 3 days with a baby on her back. she was amazing! there is no way i could have done what she did. very thankful she did it.

Okay so i am sure i will be posting before spencer leaves but please keep us in your prayers while he travels and the kids and i stay home. He is going to Kenya, DRC, Burundi and 3 districts here in Rwanda for their district assemblies.... All in about 16 days. He leaves on the 25th. Boohoo!

okay all for now i need to go prepare for this weekend and go on a search for some cheese for the pizza.
love all yall and remember... if you seem to be a little competitive when playing soccer stay away from the president's wife hehehehe

april

lysol and prayer requests

HA so i posted this blog on our family blog.. spencer was happy since it has now become his posting grounds. So if you happen to read our other blog it will say the same thing.lol


i know it has been a while... a week or maybe a few days not sure... time is really going by fast here. Life is so fast here and at the end of the day i have accomplished so little.
So luke threw up 13 times last night and sat on the toilet 3 times. He is much better today so I am hoping for a quick recovery. I have began to wash clothes, sheets and the house now smells like lysol.
I did have a lot planned for today but not any more. Just relaxing before soccer practice tonight. The game is in 2 days and I still need to get my game on. lol
It has been a month since Joyce, spencers mom send a care package. Gosh sure hope it gets here soon since it has our new debit cards in it. Our other ones expired last week. Don't worry we got out enough money to help survive for a while.

Okay so i haven't given you and prayer requests in a while so here we go...
1. I will be teaching a seminar next weekend. Pray it goes well and we travel well to the city. We will be going through mountains so we will be bring the motion meds along :)
2. still waiting on getting the computers and satellites for our district learning centers out of costumes... any day now
3. spencer will be traveling to Kenya, Burunidi, DRC and 3 districts in Rwanda soon for their district assemblies. 16 days.... which is not bad since it was 24 days and some of the time he will be here in Rwanda which means we will see him some.
4. we need some work done on our car... hopefully it will not cost a fortune. thought our car sold in Senegal but the guy is trying to negotiate more. boohoo
5. we still need to hire a night guard...had to let the other one go.
6. praying that we have a team come to work on our compound. we have several roof leaks and other projects that need to be done. having a team will help finance the needs on the property!!

okay better go... love all yall and remember... always untuck your mosquito net when you have a child throwing up...

April

blue toenails

okay so i had a meeting with the women who i will be playing soccer in about 2 weeks with. The first lady i met... don't think she is actually going to play... is a pediatrician at a hospital here in Kigali. she is also the director of the w omens council of Rwanda. she was nice.... owait lets start over
so i left the house a little early so i could find the place where the meeting was taking place. I drove around in a large cul-de-sac for a while until i decided to sit and think. i knew the place was close by but the lady wouldn't answer her phone. so finally i decided ..that's it.. i am going to go where i think it is a force my way in. so i drove up the the prime ministers office and said to the military police again ( i did about 4 times) i need to come in. there are gates and military guys guarding the gate. of course none of them spoke english or french so i was getting frustrated. as i was forcing my big ol truck in they asked me what i needed. as i was explaining to the woman in charge another lady said she was with me. okay so she probably didn't say that b/c it was in kinyrwanda. so anyways i parked my car, met another lady and began to go to the meeting spot.
so here i am walking with the nicely dressed professional ladies and all i can think about is ..don't look at my toes... don't look at my toes. here i am in a casual dress, hair in a ponytail and blue toenails that need to be repainted. oyeah and my big huge bag that didn't really match. owell heehee
so during the meeting i found out that this is really a bigger deal than i thought. apparently it is being advertised on the radio and tv and the tv station will be there on game day. they also said they are trying to work with BBC and CNN. Ha this is going to be interesting
so early today i cut up a pumpkin, boiled it and made it into a paste. tomorrow i will make pumpkin pie. ummmm yummy
okay so bye for now i love all yall and remember... when wearing flip flops make sure all your toe nails are painted!

worm like thingy

okay so don't laugh when i tell you that i am going to be playing in a soccer game in just over a week. HA it is a fundraiser for some orphans here and i will be on the expact team playing against the Rwandan Parliamentarian women. it will be fun and i am sure spencer will take lot of picures.
so today was s good day. we went to lunch at a pretty good buffet today. ha well i say pretty good b/c it was good BUT as i sat down to take a bite of these green like tomatoe things (i was pretty excited about them so i piled my plate full of them) i realized after i ate some that there was a worm like creature in one. ewww so i just descretly moved them to the side, swallowed and enjoyed the rest of my non-worm like food. all for the low price of $5 a plate. haven't decided if we will go back... have to think about it guess :)
had a PTO meeting tonight... it was good... actually it was my first ever pto meeting. i am now the K and 2nd grade rep. heehhee
okay so now i am goona take a long hot shower.... mainly because we finally got our water back yesterday, or was it the other day... anyways when we are out of city water the showers are not fun. you just stand there with the showerhead in your hand dripping the water over you.. not that you needed to know
so anyways love all yall and remember... gosh- i just can't remember tonight!
april

what's your latest news?

okay so i guess i just feel like writing today. never really been a big writer! i actually remember my teacher in highschool teaching me how to write. maybe i should just call it scribbling our typing for that matter.
so on my computer internet browser or what ever you call it, i have a tab that says "latest headlines" when i click on it it is a listing about things that the BBC thinks is worth reading or knowing about. my thought is this... i think we or someone should create another tab that says "latest headlines" but this tab would not be about trauma or the latest bomb coming your way... it would be a tab about miracles. wouldn't it be awesome to see miracles across the world rather than the messed up things that happen! for me the headline would look like this:

Jennifer Finch Showlater healed!
Sam Green healed!
5 year old Kate healed!
the hundry are fed!
the poor are rich!
the lost are found!
families are reunited!
families are healed!
THE WORLD HAS BEEN DELIVERED!


okay just saying... love all yall and remember share your latest headline...
april

standing on the promises of God

Okay so i have 2 thoughts this morning. Not sure how much they will mean to you or if they make sence so here we go.

1 - being delivered - as i sit here starting to work some, i am worshiping through music. right now i am listening to the new album that Selah has put out. I stumbled across it the other day on itunes and downloaded it really fast. they are my favorite group.
so anyways being delivered. As i listen to a particular song on the album all i can think about is a friend of my Jennifer who is going through a surgery today to remove her cancer. I am also thinking about a little girl Kate that is 5 and is suffering from a brain tumer. I am thinking about a father of 3 and Nazarene pastor who is going through cancer treatments in Nashville. I wonder what it feels like to not be able to go on. Trying to feel some sort of feeling that I need to be delivered. why is it people suffer so much in this life? why are some people delivered and some not. is it a matter of faith? surely not especially for a 5 year old girl. as i sit here and have tears streaming down my face i pray for deliverance. pray for healing and comfort for these 3. i also pray that their lives be touched with a since of delivery from sadness and pain. O Lord deliver them today! Help us stand firm on your promises. even if the promises are for this complete delivery when we meet with you in heaven.
For me i ask for delivery of worry and stress! i ask God to choose me to be lifted up his arms and carried through whatever comes my way today.

2. - famous - okay so spencer has always laughed at me when i told him years back that I really felt like the Lord was gonna do something with me. okay so he didn't laugh because of the thought of being used just the part of when i said i was gonna be famous. HA so yesterday i felt like God was really trying to speak to me again. WHAT IS IT? where and how am i gonna be famous or i guess i should say used by God in a way that everyone see it. sees Him working through me.
maybe just maybe i am just seeing Gods face clearer and i am suppose to share that he is famous! HA or maybe i will be on TV heehee

okay love all yall and remember when making hashbrowns it is easier and faster just to grate the potatoes not cut them into little bity pieces.
april

birds on my window

This morning I woke up to the sun shinning, birds chirping (right outside our window) and a nice cool breeze. After opening all the curtains and enjoying the setting i made coffee and got on the computer. Of course checking facebook to see what has happened while I was sleeping.
FB can sometimes be hard on me. I see posts like... went to a highschool football game, ate at a great resturant with my husband or had a girls night out. Being reminded of such a life sometimes gets me in the mood to go home. Go to a place where life is filled with family and friends. So why, why is it I still like to see what everyone is up to? Who knows maybe I just need to be reminded that life is what you make of it. No one or place can make me happy forever. These things are temporary and at the end of the day it is gone. memories are still there but the event is gone.
Today I am gonna try to abide in the things that are present here. Enjoy the life here. Listen to the African birds. Love my family and love this setting.
love all yall and remember... add a little milk to your tea... yummy

april

no water but still Praising God!

I can feel your prayers. I can tell when someone is praying for me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Living in Rwanda is more different than you can imagine... but also the same in many ways. We live differently than we would in the States but God is the same here as he is in the States. Even though we can go days without city water or hours without electricity, God remains the same. I have come to realize that loving God and serving Him should be the same whether or not we are comfortable with what life gives us each day. He reigns through the storms and He reigns through the days filled with sunshine and no problems.
Is it easy?... of course not but I realize that when life gives us bumps in the road we just have to jump over them, just strap on the load and take off... run with joy and Praising His name.

So today I breathe a breath of fresh air... this air completely filled with the spirit of God. I blow it your direction so you can feel this refreshing breath with me.

love all yall and remember... make sure your water tanks are full for days like this : )

April

yummy juice and no fuel for the truck

Note to self.... never rely on the fuel gauge to know if you have fuel. Okay so we ran out of fuel this morning. O-well just one of those days here. I think though i have come a long way. I always thought that when something happens at the Eby's (missionaries in Senegal) house they seem to take everything so good. When their car broke down... o-well it happens. When someone broke in their house 3 days in a row... we are doing fine they said So i think i am getting better - i just try to remind myself that someone else has it worse. Someone else doesn't have gas in their house let alone in a car.

The kids are back to school today and I am suppose to have a skype meeting with another missionary. Opps she must have forgotten. Or maybe she ran out of gas too : )

Yesterday I went to the market with Abewe and Luke. Luke went because Abby went to a friends house, they had the day off of school. The market was a little different than the ones in Senegal. It was cleaner and a little more orderly (if that's a word). We bought cooking bananas, onions, sweet and regular potatoes, tomoatoes, rosemary, egg plants, rice, and some casava flour. Abewe made this paste stuff out of the flour for lunch. You are suppose to dip it into the sauce that she made. It was interesting and we told her she can have the left over flour. Ha! She said she would just keep it here and make it for her and the guard. I said okay! you go for it. Even though she speaks some english my little phrases are a little hard for her to understand. She usually just responds with a "not a problem".
Okay all for now. Sorry that i haven't posted many pictures lately. It takes forever to upload here. We are in the process of receiving our computers for our district learning centers and then once they are up we may be getting satellites for the Internet which will give us better internet. Yay!
So if you remember pray we can get everything worked out to get this up and running! Not only for better upload speed but for your pastoral training that is much needed.
Love all y'all and remember... when making homemade pineapple juice... don't add too much water... there's no going back... well unless you just go get more pineapple.
april

stuff

Friday was a half day for the kids at school. It was some sort of accreditation day for the school. So we got invited to a friends house of Luke and Abby. This family has a girl Abby's age and a boy Luke's age so it was perfect. So all the kids piled in our cruiser and i followed the mom to their house. The kids were talking a mile a minute and were having fun in the bigole truck we have.
The kids played while Juliet and I chatted. It was so nice and I felt right away that we could beome good friends. Jackie speaks english so our conversation was great : ) I also met 2 of her sisters and had a good time getting to know a little about their family. They are Rwandan but grew up in Uganda.
So this is what I came away with... we Americans have too much stuff. I realized that this family seems to be doing well (according to their home). They have a nice house and 3 house workers (that i know of). But they do not live like we do. We americans have too much junk. After leaving her house and walking into my house i though man do we have a lot of stuff. I was a little embarrassed and though imediately that we needed to scale down. It could be embarrassing to have her to our house. When we sold most of our belongings before we left the states i thought we scaled down. Nope we have got more to do. I have decided that I do not want anyone to envy us. Envy can be very bad and I do not want that.
Although i do have to say this may take some time for me. I like my stuff and sometime wish for other stuff. I also have to say that I do not want the new shoes they have in the Target ad this morning. wow they are not something to envy : )
Anyways just a thought..
love all yall and remember....... tea does actually taste good with milk.

a journey

so what is my life as a missionary? what is my perspective? well tonight I am grateful that i have been called to be apart of something bigger than me. something sometimes hard and sometimes easy. my perspective changes everyday. actually it changes every time i get in the car and ride down the road. some days i think what in the world are we doing? but most days i think how awesome it is to be used by God. to be used in a way that i can not do or be anything on my own. I need Him to help me smile at the people who just stare at me. I need Him to help me be Christ to everyone without saying a word. I am glad I am here on this mission road.

love all yalll and remember... everyone is one a journey, where is your road leading you?
april

ahhh rain!

growing! as a child i am not sure if i ever thought much about growing. yes i know at some point as a child i thought i would be a doctor or an actor but i am talking about the growing deep in the relationship with our heavenly father.

o-wait need some mosquito spray...........
okay now i smell like a can of sportsmen Max Repel Formula - o-well it has a long lasting protection

okay so as i live a different life here in another country and another culture i begin to be forced to go deeper. i am wondering though if i am being forced to go deeper because of the challenges and frustrations of living such a life... as a missionary. or maybe just being a christian we should expect these challenges to happen. I am convinced that if life was easy I wouldn't be forced to rely on our Father for guidance. I probably wouldn't be constantly asking Him why things seem the way they are. why is life difficult for the kids on the street? why can i not buy regular sandwich bread that last more than 1 day? today i am thankful that i am talking with God daily. forced or not i am talking. could i chat more? sure thing...
maybe i will stop asking why and just know that He is in control over everything.

yesterday it rained a little. grass is getting greener and the smell of clean is in the air.

i wonder what the roots look like in the ground of the brown grass. isn't awesome to know that once we drink of the water life can come back! our lives can begin to grow and the roots are restored.

just saying...........

i love you guys and gals.... and remember always keep your computer battery charged in case of poweroutages!

april

a dog and a Toyota!

Okay so now that we have our"official" assignments we are ehasdkjfoa (that was exhausted). Don't get me wrong we enjoy being busy but life is going at a fast speed right about now.
Kids are enjoying school. Spencer is also enjoying school but stays busy with the job responsibilities and school. SO if some of you don't know he is attending NNU and his edu tract is MDiv. So now i have 3 kids to say "did you do your homework?" lol

Anyways we have had a great week. Not only did our car sell in Senegal but we found one here in Kigali as well. FInally no calling James the taxi guy early in the moring to wake him up to come and get us for school. No more moto rides carrying my groceries speeding down the road. Although I may still have to take a moto every once in a while for the fun of it. I loved it... well i like it after i was on it. walking to get one was no fun.

This week we also got Beauty. She is our dog. It is funny to see our guard with her. He is trying really hard to act like he is fine with her and for the most part i think he is but he is still a little nervous. Actually Beauty already really likes her. As soon as he leaves an area she is right behind her. She will be a good guard dog and a friend to luke and abby.
Okay really i am tired so this is all for now.
i love all ya'll and remember.... life is too short come to Rwanda... it is beautiful here!

me

a little help for a friend...

Okay so I am asking you for prayers for a missionary family that has had a rough week. A few nights ago while they were sleeping they were robbed. We are thankful that no one was hurt and that they were asleep when this happened. Unfortunatly the person who broke in took 2 work laptops, lots of money and a new psp that belonged to their son. As you can imagine it would not be fun for this to happen in the states but I can imagine it being worse when you are facing this alone in a different "home". So please join me in praying that they feel safe and at peace for what has happened.
If you would like to join us in helping to replace these items please let me know and I can direct you to where to send money.
The family is the Eby's and they are serving in Senegal.

I love all yall and remember... keep praying for your missionaries!!!!!

April

dinner tonight

Okay so today's dinner conversation went something like this:

Abby - Hey mommy i want to live with God.
Luke - Abby you can't live with God. He is not a man and he does not have a family.
Abby - I don't think that is true. God lives on a planet.
Luke - Abby, God is like bigger than than a planet he can't live on one. He is bigger than outer space.
Abby -Uuuu mommy I want to be in his family. I want to be his friend.
Luke - Abby, God made us because he wanted friends. God is light.
Abby - mommy can i have some more rice and onions.

Okay love all yall and remember... well I can't remember!
April

a 4 course meal for lunch

Okay so we asked the legal representation for the church of Rwanda here to sign a letter for us so we can get our container. The internet was down in his town all day yesterday and this morning so he got on a bus to come give us this signed paper. We were very happy for him to take this trip for us.
So when he got here it was lunch time so I invited him to eat with us. I was reminded of how things/life is so different here. Okay how should I say this. We had sandwiches. For the Pastor it was a 4 course meal. He ate the bread first, then the meat and cheese, then the tomatoes and lettuce. He told us that sandwiches was not a normal thing to eat. Obviously! :) As he began to eat his lunch I was thinking man he is tearing that sandwich up. Then later today i thought- if I was outside washing my clothes in the buckets that our guard uses and he was watching me wash he would probably think the same thing. What is she doing to her clothes.
Life is different, people are different. No one is right or wrong we are just made up different. I am so glad that God decided to change things up in different places.

So the picture above is a store that the kids created in their room. Notice Abby is only selling a picture of John Wesley for 100 RFW which is about 20 cents. What a bargin! If he only knew :)

Okay all for now... I love all yaaalll and remember - floss daily!

man that stinks

1 month later. a little stress, a little money... all for a visa - not priceless! Okay maybe a little worth it but man was that a little crazy. Anywho.... whop there is it is... our VISA. Maybe next year when we renew it, it will be harmless.
Okay so this morning we contacted the guy about our container. He said all should be in order and he will call us later (laughter) okay whatever you say... we will wait.
So I decided to take a moto to the grocery store. I love this means of transportation. Although it would be really nice to have a car. We really need to get one because the kids school starts on Sept. 1st and we would have to pay about $24 a day for just the rides to and from school. Wow that is a lot so we need a car. Well actually we need a 4x4. Unfortuntely we do not have all the money needed for a 4x4 so we are praying on what to do. This is a need if we want to head to the villages and actually make it down our road when it rains. Which it does rain here. Praise God. The road to our house is a dirt road that is on a slope so please pray with us that funds come in for this huge need.
Okay so back to the moto story. So the first guy I found with a moto wanted 500 rfw and I got it to 400 rfw which is about $.80. I was excited until I got on and realized i was going to vibrate all the way there. So with the vibration I stated singing "How Great Thou Art". My voice sounded like it does when speaking really close into a floor fan. After a while I began to laugh when singing it. Not sure if the guy was happy when I hopped off his bike. Heehee
On the way back the moto was much newer and I didn't vibrate. BUT at one point we were about to run into something and as I began to move forward from the motion the helmet I was wearing flew forward and I smelled an well to be not so crude a not so pleasent odor. Ewww. Good thing I was wearing a scarf on my head. Anyways just a little more ways down the road I noticed the guy (driver of the moto) was starting to lean forward. Kinda like what you see when someone is racing their motocycle. So I though hey I guess I will lean forward too. Nothing changed really. We kept about the same speed so not sure what he was doing. Maybe he has a bad back.
Okay so in the middle of all this at the grocery store I found chedder cheese. I was so excited because the only chedder cheese that I have found here was been about $20 for a small block. This was only about $3. HALELUHIA!!
Okay so spencer is wanting me to go clean the libray so I better go... hide :)
I love all yall and remember.... when moving to a Country that has moto taxis BRING OWN HELEMET.
April

a Sunday morning walk

So today we went to a church in Kicukiro. We took a taxi to there because the Pastor was going to meet us at the gas station which is close to the church. Well... we thought it was close. So after waiting about 15 miutes with people staring at us. Yes they really stare here. Kinda weird but noting to call home about. Anyways the Pastor got there and he said it is up that way a little. About 1 kilometer. not too bad except it was all up hill. Although I can finally say I stuck with it and did not hold Abby. I made her walk all the way to the church. As we started a ascend up hill 2 girls met us and began walking with us. I wasn't too sure what they were doing but I just greeted them and offered them sour worms. They like them. We walked through an incrediable neighborhood. Even thought the road was all dirt the house were so nice and clean. Lots of bannana trees and a beauitful view kigali.
The girls ended up walking with us to the church. I think they were actually the assistant pastors girls. They were cute and just kept smilling at us.
I think the church must have practiced their music knowing we were coming. The whole singing... from adults to kids was great. It was a good service. Especially since Spencer preached. AND by the way as we were walking to the church it kinda came to me that... hum I wonder if they have a translator for Spencer. So I asked and Spencer said ...he just said no. Only from french. So guess what... Spencer got to preach his first sermon in French. I was so proud of him. It was great. The Lord is soo good and really moved through him today.
So we assended down the mountain. It was a nice walk. The kids really wanted to take the bus... and it is much cheaper.. so we did. We were the first ones on the bus so we picked the seats up front. Although I think they want you to head to the back but no way. So we waited until the bus was full to leave. I am telling you it was full. It was a small bus and it was so packed that the helper guy (the one who takes the money) couldn't hardly close the door. But it closed and we were off. Only about a 15 minute drive and then about another 10 minute walk.
We got home to not much eletricity credit (here you pay ahead). So the day guard took some money and paid for more credit.
I made tortillas so we took the left over meat that we had and we all had a yummy lunch. Tacos!
then off to bed for our Nazarene nap. zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Okay all for now. I love all yall and remember.... never be the first one on the bus... you will be sitting for a loooong time!
April

blablabla

okay so sorry if i don't proofread my blogs... this is just a reminder that I don't do spelling or grammar checks before posting. sorry if i drive you crazy but .... hey life's too short to be correcting mistakes. HA!

love all ya'll and remember.... just go with the flow (the good flow that is), love God, love life and love people!

me

welcome to the east side

So the new language here in Rwanda sounds a little like this. "balsdlkfaweoovsfjsjf". Seriously! I am anxious to learn the language because most of the people here speak the "dfajsdfjssdfsf". I sure wish I would have learned another language other than English as a child. I think my brain would be more flexible now if I would have. Luke and Abby's brain is sucking it up. Especially Luke's. it is amazing how he can communicate. Our day guard doesn't speak french or english but he somehow communicates with him.
Our yard is amazing. Luke has had more band-aids this past week than he has his whole life. the kids love being outside and are exploring all kinds of stuff. Our trees are huge and perfect for climbing. Our yard is so green. We love the grass.
Anyways so today is attempt 2 at getting our visa. Hopefully everything will go well. If not on to plan B. No big deal just a little waiting for our container.
Spencer starts his classes with NNU soon. Wow between his school and trying to find a car.. the deputation moula is going fast. At first we thought we were going to look for a big truck to make Spencer's traveling easier on the roads but it looks like for now we may have to get a cheaper vehicle and have him ride the bus where he needs to go that have bad roads. Unless there is a donor out there that wants to help a sista out. LOL just kidding - well not really!
Okay so i need to run some errands today. the bank, grocery store, find the Fed Ex people, find walmart.... heehee
Okay until next time remember... I love all y'all and the grass is greener on the other side... at least the East side of Africa it is!!!
your sista in Rwanda :)

a motorcyle taxi?

Okay so my first experience with grocery shopping was pretty funny.The actual shopping wasn't funny it was how i got home. Alright so a local Pastor took me to the store. We headed on the bus and arrived at a small store down town where I found some necessities to help for a couple of days. I asked the pastor if the store excepted visa cards and he assured me several times that they did. So I pulled up the the register with my load of stuff and asked if they excepted my card. Nope she said. I was about the wring the guys neck but i realized no matter what question you ask here the answer is always yes. "So do you know if they except cards" YES, "Are the monkeys coming in our yard dangerous?" YES, "Do you speak english" YES "Did it rain yesterday?", YES, are you answering Yes to every question?" YES. Okay so I didn't really ask these questions. So back to the story. So luckly I had a $100 bill that I had in my purse from traveling so was able to us it. Yes you can us USD if the bill is made after 2004 and it is a large bill. So the next crazy thing was there aren't oust bags to use to fill your groceries with. There is a law in Rwanda that there are no plastic bags. So that means everything was being packed into these small (lunch size) brown paper bags. But you can buy these reusable bags too. So I bought 2 and filled my brown bags full of groceries in them. BTW that are no large hefty duty bags to put your home trash in either. So now with 2 large reusable (the kind that are popular in the states now) bags we walked out of the store. Not too excited about catching the bus with these large bags the Pastor started to negotiate with the motorcycle taxis for us. After he got a fair price there I am sitting on the back of the motorcycle in a dress with a large grocery sack on my lap. There were lots of people looking at us. But hey, we got home a whole lot faster than taking the bus. So we are weaving in and out of traffic and I am trying to hang on to the guy and the groceries. We made it home and everything was good. Hummm the life of a missionary... some of you guys are really missing out :)
So right now I am sitting at my desk drinking coffee, eating pineapple (one of 6) a local pastor brought us, listening the the birds chirp outside and thinking how beautiful Rwanda is. It really truly is a beautiful, clean and safe (despite what friends and families may think :) ) place to live.
Okay so pray for us today (although I realize most of you are sleeping) that we continue to adjust to this new culture, get our work visa's so we can get out container delivered and learn a NEW language so we can communicate with the people here better. We would also like for you to pray we can afford a truck.
Okay I love all y'all and remember...don't forget to stop at your local Starbucks, they are selling Rwanda coffee right now.
April

don't pack it in your carry-on... what was I thinking!

I know it has been a year since I last posted. Well, not really but I have heard enough complaints that I am posting now. Just kidding again, I am now just coming to the point that I am ready to share my crazy stories and thoughts with you again. Whoever you are!
Okay so the last couple of months have been a lot of fun and really tiring times. We spent about 45 days in the states and now we are in Rwanda. Okay so here is a short overview of what we did in the states.
1. arrived in Kansas and was greeted by our friends Jason and Jewel Alvis. there they gave us their car and we headed to Arkansas. had our first meal prepared by Jewel (awesome yummy food)
2. arrived in Springdale, Arkansas the next day and stayed with our friends Sara and Justin Guy. Had a blast with them too. (ate at my fav restaurant with some other old friend.. the Vetters, Jim's mom, greg and Cherie and kids, tara and wyatt and kids and of course our craziest friends Justin and Sara
3. arrived in Greenbrier, Arkansas 2 days later (i think) at spencers parents house. began to rest a bit from our long journey
4. spoke at a church the next Sunday in Greenbrier
5. next Sunday drove a few hours to Jonesboro, AR for the AM service and then to McCory, AR for the PM service
6. the next week drove about 6 hours to TN for services in Clarksville and Nashville. stayed with spencers sister Julie and family... while we were there the kids went to Hermitage's vacation bible school for one day.. they had fun
7. drove back to Arkansas for more services and a district assembly (where spencers dad retired)
8. drove to Alabama for a service at Coleman 1st.. stayed in an awesome lake house where the kids jumped in the water without life jackets on (they can't swim but we jumped in after them)... after the AM service the church had a huge slip in slip where abby got in with her dress on... after getting wet they changed clothes and we headed to Florida.
9. stopped for about 30 minutes at about midnight in Lake City and saw some friends Lynn and family (i know you too Brit)
10. arrive in Lakeland, FLordia in the middle of the night at my parents. slept in the next day but got to spend a couple of days with my parents before the busy days in Orlando
10. arrived in Orlando for our General Convention and Assembly and stayed with spencers sisters family in their huge condo they rented. God is good, only stayed in one hotel the whole time in the states.
11. can't exactly remember what all we did in Orlando. we stayed pretty busy EXCEPT some old college friends of mine flew into Orlando and I loved every minute of it. Natasha, Deeee, Veronica and Big Al. Love those girls!
12. kids went to Sea world with my wonderful bro and aunt Leatha... my bro also went with us to Disney... (btw had free tickets!) now that was a fun day
13. went back to my parents for another few days and had a good time... miss my parents already... and my inlaws :)
14. drove to South Carolina and spoke and Midland vally church. arrived there on the 4th so the kids got to see some fireworks
15. drove back to Nashville, TN on that next monday and did a little shopping before we flew out on wednesday.
16. arrived in Kigali 29 hours later and now it is 2 weeks later
okay i will post about our first couple of weeks here next time. as you can imagine i have alot to say and am not saying enough about our time in the states.
we feel very blessed to have been able to go home in the middle of our contract. we loved the states but are glad to be home.

i love all yall and remember... do NOT put peanut butter or choc. surup in your carry on... it will be taken away from you from the airport security and you may just cry! BOOHOO
April

lost in America

Okay not really lost but getting verrrryyyy sleepy. So i haven't posted in a while and this one isn't going to be very long. We landed in KC been to Arkansas, Tennessee, back to Arkansas, Alabama and now in Florida. We are off to Orlando tomorrow for a while.
Love love begin with family. So excited about seeing the Nazarene family this week. Thinking about going to Disney and shopping for Rwanda.
Pictures later. Just letting you know that we are safe and sound. or how ever it goes
love all yall and remember get as many hot sauce packets from taco bell as you can and bring it to the Africa booth in Orlando.
april

46 miles to the gallon WOW! and gas is soooo cheap!

Hey all! So I am sitting here in Arkansas looking out the window while drinking coffee. Right now I am enjoying air conditioners, grass, no sounds of calling of prayer, washing clothes in a huge washing machine that only takes 20 miutes, clean air and being able to drink water from the faucet. Wow and these are just a few.
I assumed that when I would come back to the states I would eat out all the time and shop like crazy. Well it is weird because I'm not. Now don't get me wrong I am shopping a little and eating out some but not like I thought. All of those cravings for shopping and yummy foods aren't so important now that I am actually here. Maybe the Lord is trying to teach me something. The other day when I went to wal-mart, I was overwellmed by the choices to make. There were soooo many choices... of everything. Amazing and things are only a fraction of the cost. Anyways enough of that.
Okay I have been dealing with this cold ever since I got on the plane in Senegal. WIll it ever go away!!!!!!
So we lost abby's shoes in the airport and one of Luke's broke. Not too bad since that is the extent of our drama of our 28 hours of flying and waiting in airports.
Last Sunday we went to Greenbrier Church. It was an awesome church. The service went well.... well except for the drama that took place about 5 minutes before church started. Okay so this is what happened.
Ofcourse Abby had to use the bathroom. This is what she always has to do when we go somewhere new. So i took her and everything was fine until I went to squirt soap in her hands and instead of it going in her hands it went straight in her eye... and the screaming began.... wow can that girl scream! Anyways so after I got her to calm down a little a nurse came and we took her into the church kitchen. It took 3 of us to hold her down to finish getting the soap out. O-man you could't even see her eyeball. When we opened her eye there was soooo much soap. I guess I would be screaming too. The nurse washed her eye out and she was fine. Of course I was so shaken up and I cried too. Not much though. But it was right before I was suppose to speak. We both recovered and the service went well.
Okay so I better make a list of what I need to get to take back with us. For some reason I can't remember. HA! After all those months of doing with out I can't remember what it was I was missing! God is good!
Please contine to pray for us as we are traviling alot this summer. Pray that we sell our car back in Senegal and raise enough funds to buy another in Rwanda.
Okay more later. I love all yall and remember... diesel cars get awesome fuel milage. We get 46 miles on the gallon!!! Wahoo :)

April

ahhh salsa!

Okay so I guess I will blog some today. Nothing better to do on a very beautiful sunny day here in West Africa. Ha! Just kidding. Well not really it is a beautiful day here... like always. We are gonna miss the sunshine when we move but are really looking forward to rainy days. It has been such a long time since I have smelled the scent of rain - not sure what it was like. Let's see maybe I will inhale and remember......... nope not there.
So anyways I am thinking we should start packing today. Even though the moving company will pack everything I am not sure they will clean all the sand and dust off our things before packing it. SO.... I guess I better start taking the desert off of lamps etc...
Right now Luke is playing with his cars and tractors and Abby is at the table eating salt and vinegar chips... Like mother like daughter. Spencer is still in bed. We have been so tired lately. I think it has something to do with moving internationally again. Moving can be a little stressful. The moving company comes on Wednesday. That is 4 days from now. Wow! It is coming soon. We are keeping the kids in school until next Friday. The longer the better. Plus the last days here will be filled with paying bills and all that fun stuff. Hopefully our car will sell SOON. I think this is what is stressing me out so much. Someone buy our car!!!

Okay off to get the boss out of bed.
Love you guys... remember life is too short.... play (I mean eat salsa) hard!
April

Abby is so sneaky!

Okay so my daughter is so sneaky. She is getting the older girls at school to buy her snacks. The girls just love her and she gets to decide everyday which one is her mom... I think based on my her snacks and carrying her around school. Yes I have talked with her about it. She told me at first they were suppose to buy her toys but now just snacks. Plus she also sneaks out of the park area for her age to see these girls. O-yeah she also sneaked out of afterschool gymnastics to play with them. Oooo I got her for that one.

Anyways we are on the count down until we leave for the states. Well kinda, right now i am tired so not sure what the days are left.

So Spencer got stopped by a police the other day. Yes dad he got a ticket! The ticket was for something expiring on the car. Go figure... this seems to always happen to us. There are so many different steps here to actually get your car legal to drive we must have skipped one. SO the po po decided not to take the car after our pastor and his wife came to the rescue.
This morning Spencer and I went down to the police station to pay our ticket.. they guys just told us that he would spank us next time and didn't make us pay anything. wahoo! SO we got back in our car and headed to the place to pay the expired thingy ma bop. it was a total of about $5 --- $6 if you include the $1 we spent on the guy watching our car at the police station. It was so funny. I think the guy was used to getting a smaller tip b/c when Spencer gave him his 500 cfa.. which is about 1 dollar on a good exchage rate day... he was trying not to smile. Then as he walked away he pulled the coin back out of his pocket and looked at it again. It was funny.
Oyeah i forgot to tell you... today at the police station (mom you can skip this part) I was walking along and there was this guy brushing his teeth. Well kinda some people here us this stick to clean their teeth with. Not sure what it is called but apparently Mohammad used to clean his teeth with this kind of stick. Anyways so he started to say something to me and the pieces of his stick came rushing out of his mouth onto me. I was like... gross you just spit on me. he just looked and kept talking. Yuck!! I guess you would have had to been there. Trust me YUCK!

Okay all for now... plleaasseee pray that our car will sell. We really do not want to move with this burden...

Okay love all yall and always remember... Hakuna matata - No worries in Swahili (one of the Rwanda languages) ahhhh more lanugages to learn.

our crazy schedule!

So here is an update on what and where we are doing this summer. We will be packing up our house on the 20th of this month. May! Yay :) After they company comes and loads everything up we then move down the road to a guest house. This guest house is really cool because there are a couple of kids that live on the property and there is a couple of basketball goals and a tire swing. The kids will enjoy themselves there. We have decided to go ahead and keep the kids in school until the 22nd. This will give us time to tie up loose ends of our house and stay in Dakar.

Our plane leaves Dakar at 9:50 pm so that means we have to be at the airport at 7:50. Our plane gets to Brussels at 5:30 am the next day. This flight is 5 hours and 40 minutes. Wow what a trip. I hope the kids can sleep on the plane good. Then we leave Brussels at 11:05 am and arrive in Chicago at 12:50 pm. This flight is 8 hours and 45 minutes. Leave Chicago at 3:34 pm and arrive in Kansas City at 5:10 pm. This flight is 1 hour 25 minutes.
Our friends Jason and Jewel Alvis is hosting us the night we get there. They are crazy because they are actually moving to Korea the next day! But we really look forward to seeing them and their cute little kids.

Okay here are some other dates:
May 31 AM - Greenbrier, AR
June 7th AM - Clarksville, TN - Park Lane
June 7th PM - Nashville, TN - Nashville First
June 11th AM - Greenbrier, AR - AR District Assembly NMI Luncheon
June 14th AM - Jonsboro, AR - Jonesboro Forest Home
June 14th PM - OPEN
June 21st AM - Cullman, AL - Cullman
June 21st PM - Gardendale, AL - Gardendale
June 22nd we will head down to Orlando for our General Assembly and Conventions. This happens every 4 years in the Church of the Nazarene. We are still not sure if we will head straight to Lakeland or to Orlando. Probably stop in Lakeland for the night and then head to Orlando on the 23rd. Yay I get to see my parents! We have to get there a day earlier because of the booth we are needing to get ready. Come and see us in the exhibit hall! FEF booth in the Africa Region.
June 28th AM - ALL the Nations Service in Orlando (we are not speaking :) )
June 28th PM - Lakeland, FL - Lake Gibson
July 1st PM - Lakeland, FL - Highland Park
July 5th AM - Midland Valley

Wow what a schedule. God is so good! We are excited to be at every church that is planned and really look forward to seeing family and friends. Yay! Here we come!

July 8th we leave for Rwanda from Nashville, TN. Our layover is in Brussels again so it is almost the same flight as far as time goes. We will arrive in Kigali, Rwanda on July 9th at 6:45 PM.

Okay any questions? No... good! See ya soon and remember... God is good... all the time!

April

PS - the picture is our car here in Dakar.... PLEASE pray with us that we can sell it! We are really needing the money from it to help with our needed 4X4 in Kigali!!!!!

Ewww a bug!

Okay so Spencer is in Kenya right now. As I type this I only have 3 more sleeps to go and I am about to go to bed now so.. almost there. Of course the kids are on spring break the WHOLE time Spencer is gone. O-well at least I don't have to get the wall gate every morning. Although we have been pretty busy during their break. I have been taking them to the club and it has been so relaxing. We have gone everyday but Sunday and yesterday. We didn't go yesterday because it was their punishment for being bad. Actually it was my punishment but since I said "if you fight one more time, we are not going to the club tomorrow". Man I wished I hadn't said that.

Anyways I bought our transition plane tickets today. Yeah! Sooo excited. We will be leaving here on May 26th and flying to KC. Our friends The Alvis's gave us a car so we are going there to pick it up. They are actually moving to Korea the day after we arrive. Sure wish we could have more time with them. Hey you never know what could happen. We could move to Korea! Ha :)
We are so ready to be in Rwanda. We are looking forward to meeting the people there and begin relationships them.

WOW a huge big black bug just flew on me. Well not huge but it did land on me and not sure where it went. Ewwww. I wonder what the bugs will be like in Rwanda? Probably more of them because of the rain it gets. Hey I will take bugs any day if it means I have rain. I really miss the rain. It hasn't rained here since sometime last year. It is getting really sandy now.
SO where was I ... before the bug thing??

O-yeah so after we leave KC we will be starting our deputation services then down to Orlando for the conventions. We really need to raise money for a 4x4. Spencer will be traveing by this 4x4 in Rwanda, DR of Congo and the other countries that I have mentioned before. They are soo expensive here.
Okay so I am going to close now because I can go take a shower with out the kids knocking at the door or seeing little hands come up from under the door.

Bye for now. I love all y'all and remember... God is bigger than the boogie man! (hehe... that's what I keep telling myself when Spencer is gone)

April Oyeah the picture above was painted by Luke and Abby. It is our house here in Dakar.

Happy Easter :)

This week has been kinda crazy for me. About 2 weeks ago I agreed to volunteer at the kids school for a whole week which was last week. Monday morning the day I started teaching Luke's class I started to feel sick. Anyways to make a long story short I felt and looked about 4 months pregnant. Even though I knew I wasn't pregnant I still took a pregnancy test.. it was negative. So the doctor thought it was best to just go ahead and get an ultrasound to see what the problem was. Again no baby... hehe! Dr. Steel is an awesome doctor that we can call on any time we are sick AND he doesn't charge us. When we were getting directions to the ultrasound doctor he just said just come to my office and I will take you there. What a huge blessing. Anyways apparently I had some kind of infection and it is getting a little better.
So even though I felt terible I still went to work. It was nice having something different to do. Since I was Luke's teacher he felt like he needed to help me with everything. He felt the need to translate everything in French even though it was an English class. It was kinda funny.
Yesterday we went to an Easter Egg Hunt and was there for 6 hours. It was a lot of fun. We had a hunt, egg, cookie and cake decorating. Abby also swam in the pool and I was able to read in the sun. Fun time for sure.
Okay I need ot get dressed for church!
Happy Easter everyone... and remember we will be home in 1 1/2 months wahhooo!
april

birthday month

I am sure that most of you reading my blog are friends of mine on facebook so I won't go into too much detail of some of the things that happened this week. But just incase some of you aren't my friend (boohoo) I will tell you. Soooo... here are some fun facts about this week.
1. Abby lost another tooth. I actually pulled it out without her knowing and she was searching for her wiggly tooth. That was pretty funny.
2. I found a bag of salt and vinigar chips at the store. Okay so I actually found 5 bags. Abby and I decided it was best to try them out before we spent the $3 for each bag so we opened it up and decided very quickly that we needed to wipe the store out. So we bought all they had.. Very yummy.
3. Found jalapenos at the grocery store. Yep I pretty much bought all they had in hopes that I would find a recipe for canning them. A few months back i bought some canning Ball jars from a missionary leaving thinking one day I was going to can something. So wahoo I canned my first food and it was soooo good. By the way... when you find something in the store that you like you need to get what you can because there is a good chance you will never see it again.
4. We have our moving out date. The moving company is going to come and pack up our things on the 29th of May. They do all the packing for some insurance reasoning. I am not going to argue. Pack it up!
5. We had 16 kids eat on Friday. They ate all the food up plus had a half of banana each. They were happy. I am going to be sad not to see these kids anymore when we move.
6. The other night when I was checking on the kids... Luke was talking in his sleep and it was in French. He laughed at himself when we told him the next morning.
7. Dana and Stephen Porter who are missionaries to Angola are in South Africa right now. Anyways they bought some Easter candy for us and sent it through one of the missionaries that lives here. There are real choclate eggs that you can paint and then eat. The kids are going to have a blast.
Okay gonna relax now the kids are in bed.
I love yall all and remember.... it is birthday month for me.
april

i get by with a little help from the club

I know I know I am a slacker... it has been a while since my last post. Well I have been... ahh busy I guess. Not really just lazy : )! So yesterday after convencing ourselves that it was okay to join the "American Club" Spencer was turning in our application and paying when Abby's school called and said she was sick. I said okay but looked at Spencer and said Abby said she is sick but... Okay our wonderful beauitful sweet Abigail loves to ... not tell the truth. She has become really good at being dramatic and convensing of "her world". So I left Spencer with the business and headed to the school (which is only a few blocks away). When I looked at Abby she started crying. I knew she was sick. Poor baby, she threw up 2 times yesterday and once was on Spencer. Of course it was that 10 minutes I was at the store. Today she woke to a 104.1 fever. She cries and says everything hurts. Not sure what really is hurting b/c like I said she is very dramatic.
Luke wants to go swimming today since we are now members (just for one month by the way). I may take him when Abby is sleeping later. It is a very relaxing place and the kids love the pool.
The kids school asked if I was able to teach Luke's class from the 6th-10th. I said yes and look forward to being with the kids. Luke wants to be my helper and of course he will help with French. Yes that is right he speaks great French. It is a whole lot smoother than mine. But he is immersed in it everyday for 7 hours.
Anyways I need to help Abby with breakfast. We have found some gingerale in one store here and she is drinking it. She is staying hydrgerated so that is good. She ate some pizza last night for dinner and kept it all down. By the way the pizza was soooo yummy. I made 2 kinds mainly becasue the yeast made the dough rise alot and I had tons of dough. Okay so the first one was Hawaiian with fresh pinnaple, bacon and green peppers. The second one was a made up pizza. It included pinnaple, left ofter barbque shrimp from the night before and green, yellow and red bell peppers. I am looking forward to the left overs today.

Okay more later... I love you all and always remember... leftovers saves money!... to join the American club :)
April

o-yeah the pictures are of the kids on their field trips. Abby went on Monday and Luke went on Wednesday. Their school project is about the environment and they are making a movie! I sure hope it is ready before move!

keeping it simple... man that is hard!

When I was reading today from the book of Luke I think the Lord was trying to tell me something. Hummmm...

Okay I am not going to lie... on Sundays I like to look at the Target ads on the internet. I look forward to seeing the new styles and how much things cost. Not really sure why. I just miss shopping and decorating my house. I used to really enjoy heading to Target in search for a great deal. You know those end of the isle deals. Well, as I look back at the things I used to do in the states I might not have been keeping it so simple. Okay so I know the Lord was not talking about shopping when he demands simplicity. But that is some of what I got out of the scripture.

So lets figure out what else He was talking about. It seems to me He was telling the disciples to go and preach the good news of God's kingdom and heal the sick. But the thing is He said to keep it simple and not load yourselves down with a bunch of equipment. Make your self real to the people, preach and heal. He even mentioned while traveling from town to town don't go for the luxury places to rest.. be modest and content where you are.

So do you think that God wants us to not live in a palace or a house decorated to the T. Absolutely not! To me it is a reminder not to get distracted in the luxury... Keep it simple. People don't need to see us they need to see HIM. So I guess we don't need to get so caught up in life that we forget what he is asking from us. To reach the lost!

Anyways as I write this I am thinking about all the things I would like to buy while in the states. Aren't you glad that the Lord conintues to knock on our door. That He contines to work on us day after day and reminds us that He is all the luxury that we need.

Okay more later I guess.
I love all yall and remember... facebook rocks!

a bald husband and minty Reese's Pieces

Okay so my husband shaved his head yesterday. Yes he is bald now. I actually kinda like it. Anyways today we had 24 kids come to eat lunch. i am so thankful for our guard since he is the one doing all the work. Especially cleaning up afterwords. It was a yummy meal and the kids were happy. I sure wish I spoke Pulaar... I guess since I can't chat with them I can still be Jesus to them. One of the little boys got in trouble because he was trying to hid the biggest piece of meat. Cheikh caught him and took it away. I think he was probably just following the directions of his parents b/c he brought a bowl in with him and hid it under his shirt. We tell the kids they can't take food with them until everyone has all the food they want. There really isn't much left over.

After school today we took the kids and met Abby's friend Mia and her mom at the trampoline. They jumped for about 30 minutes for about 6 dollars. It was a lot of fun for them. It is a huge trampoline. I am not sure why we havn't done it before today.

Tomorrow there is a guy who is coming to look at our car. The air conditioner is broken and you can only roll down one window. It is really hot so I guess it is time to do something about it. He was suppose to come today but c'est la vie... that is life.

I love Saturdays I can sleep in at least 30 minutes more in the morning. Although we have run out of poptarts.... poptarts are easy for the kdis to get by themselves.
Goodness the kids are growing up so fast. Our families are going to be surprised. Yeah looking forward to seeing family.

Okay gonna go.... write more later
I love yall and remember... don't ever put Reese's Pieces in a container that previously held mint gum in it... boohoo they taste minty now.

April