a short post but a big week

Okay so I'm not technically a missionary anymore but I needed to post about being a missionary! (although I am still on Cobra insurance :)) lol

This past week has been a hard week for me. I have been missing my friends, my (old) home, the slow pace life, my life as a missionary. Don't get me wrong I do like it here but some days it's just hard adjusting.

Everyone says that its harder to adjust going back to your "home" than it is going "there". I absolutely agree. I don't ever remember life being emotionally hard when we first arrived in Senegal. I guess we were just too amazed and crazy comfortable about the way of life there. anyways...... so I'm coming off of a week thats been emotionally difficult.

So...... I continue to make my pancakes homemade, make my banana bread from scratch and I still try to find ways to reuse some of those ziplock bags.

Praying to be content. 

I love all ya'll and remember.... slow down, love people and give grace! 

April

momma i'm comin home!

Hello followers of my blog. Or maybe you were just curious of my recent post to Facebook. Anyways thanks for your interest in my life.... and my family's!

So...... here it is!

After 5 1/2 years in Africa we are headed home.

As Abby would say, "We are just going to that place we call home, but I'm not sure why because home is here in Africa." We have been very blessed to have served in Africa over the past few years. I really count it a huge gift that the Church of the Nazarene has given to our family. We have seen, heard and been a part of some really great things God is doing. We know He will continue to do great things here and we also know He is preparing a new path for us where He will also do great things.

As our time here come to a close, we have mixed feelings. We are excited about returning to our home country (in May) but sad to leave a place where we have called home for most of our children's lives (all of Silas' life!). Abby turns 9 this weekend and when we left for Senegal she was 3!  Time does fly!

As we enter another big transition time we appreciate your prayers for us! Here are a few things just off the top of my head ;)

selling our car and belongings here in Rwanda
transition for the kids... and of course me and Spencer
finding a place in ministry back in the States

For all of you who always said you were gonna come to Africa to visit.... you snooze you lose! Ha!
For those of you who have prayed for us, came to see us, sent us care packages, emailed us encouraging words, gave us financial support we thank you from the bottom of the salsa bowl! We love you as much as the chips and salsa from a real mexican restaurant. We appreciate you! We can't wait to see you.


Love all y'all and remember.... momma I'm coming home! (does anyone remember that 80's rock song?)

April

Grace

One day I went on bike ride. As I was getting on my bike I noticed that my phone was hanging out of my pocket so I reached over and tucked it back in. After I reached my destination I soon realized that my phone, my IPHONE, had fallen out! Frantically I rode back home and searched for it along the way. When I reached home I asked our worker to help me in searching for it. By this time, I was pretty upset and was riding my bike up and down the road looking for it.

A few hours later our worker came back with some neighborhood street kids. Since we don’t speak much Kinyarwanda, communication was very limited. Here were several kids sitting outside our gate with a growing group of bystanders trying to help get the phone back. It was apparent that these street kids had the phone, or at least at one point they had it.

These kids were young. They appeared to be around 4-7 years of age. There were 6 of them. Everyone was saying that they were thieves and that we needed to take them to the police. I kept thinking…how could such young children be thieves? How can these young children walk around all day without adult supervision?

As I was sitting at our gate looking at these children and watching them lie about the phone, my heart broke for them. The whole situation made me very sad. I was saddened because they seemed to be getting in trouble with all of the bystanders who had gathered. I’m thinking the whole time, “They didn’t steal the phone!” They were walking on our road and found it in the sand. It wasn’t their fault that they found it. Now, at this point, they knew to whom the phone belonged and they still weren’t willing to give it up, but they didn’t steal it. Even after talking with them for hours and taking them to the police they still were not budging.

The question that kept coming to my mind was, “How could I love on these children that are called thieves?”

A few weeks after the phone incident, these kids were still on my heart. I felt convinced that God wanted me to help these boys. God has called us to feed the hungry and love the unlovable, right? So… I sent our worker looking for the boys.  

It took him days of searching to find them and all the while communication was still difficult. At first the boys refused to come. I am guessing they were too afraid we were going to take them to jail.

Finally the day came and 6 of the boys came to eat lunch – 3 ½ hours late. We made them rice, maize, carrots and green beans and meat. They all ate until they were full. It was such a great sight for me. I had been praying all day they would come, and finally they had come. I am hopeful they will come back next Friday and then the next and then the next.

Matthew 25:37-40

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

to be honest

today my life as a missionary is not so fun and here are some reasons why;

haven't had water from the city in a few days! which means dirty kids dirty husband and dirty self!

ordered a water truck to fill up the water tanks and they don't get here until 9:43pm (i guess i can say "at least they got here")

can't get olympics on tv

internet is slow

my house is dusty b/c of the dry season

Okay i guess i will stop and check on the water guys.

I do love all y'all and remember..... I do love my job.... when we have water: )

25 fun and crazy things I have seen and done

my life as a missionary is sometimes crazy but I am enjoying the journey that it is bring my family and I through. We are now entering into our 4th year in Rwanda (6th year in Africa). Wow does time fly. Spencer got a text from our phone company saying that he gets several free texts and some free airtime because he has hit his 3 year anniversary! I found that quite funny. Not sure if we have ever had a phone number that long in a long time : )

Here is a list of things I never thought I would experience or do over the last few years:

1. visit 6 African countries with my children
2. rinse bugs off of my fish because of the corn flour
3. bump the 5 second rule to "if the floor doesn't look too bad than eat it" (especially if it is American food)
4. take my kids to school on a moto (with me driving)
5. use the bathroom that is just a whole in the ground
6. throw rocks at monkeys so they would stop eating our corn in our yard
7. nurse Silas on the platform at church
8. eat several meals from a restaurant held up by cardboard boxes
9. have satellite tv (we even get Disney and Food Network)
10. play soccer at a national stadium with the presidents wife of Rwanda
11. eat goat on a bamboo stick
12. travel to another Country without Spencer or kids (Burkina Faso)
13. have a baby in South Africa (which was better than the deliveries in the US)
14. eat at McDonalds and KFC in Africa
15. use cloth diapers
16. buy a goat for a pastor
17. pasteurize my own milk and make cheese
18. prepare a turkey for a thanksgiving meal that was just killed in my yard
19. see the mountain gorillas
20. make everything from scratch
21. watch my kids grow up thinking that women's breasts are just a baby's bottle (sorry not offense here) ha!
22. ride in a bus packed with so many people you can't move
23. watch my kids play using a different language
24. wash out and reuse zip lock bags
25. share a meal with several people using one bowl

There are lots of other things I can think of but will just keep to myself! HA! Not sure I will share everything with those who might already think I am crazy. hehehe

Okay off to a celebration. We are announcing a new District Superintendent for one of our districts!

Love all y'all and remember.... always rinse the bugs and rocks out of your rice before cooking.... well at least in Senegal and in Rwanda! : ) extra protein right?!?

just shake the ants off!

Other missionaries have said to me in the beginning that your house help become like family. Esther has been working for us for a while and she has for sure become part of our family. I know most of you are thinking... it must be nice having house help : ) Yes it is really amazing! Actually to be honest in the past it has been a love/hate relationship. BUT Esther is unique! We love Esther. The kids really love her as well. Especially Silas. Silas is constantly asking (well telling) her to come and play with him. He is also really good at convincing her to give him juice or a snack.
Househelp is giving a job to someone. The pay is extremely affordable here. Since we moved to Africa we have had someone at least 2 days a week. For a while I could only handle someone in my house 2-3 days a week. That was enough for me. Esther comes 5 days a week. I know crazy! But when she started working for us we knew right away that she was great. Plus she is a single mom and not only supports her 12 year old son but her parents as well as other siblings. Her approximately $100 a month supports this many people.

About a month ago Esther had a medical (female) problem and had to stay in the hospital for a couple of days. It was a very difficult time in her life. At the time she had 2 boyfriends. Well not really but she really likes this one boy but her family likes another. It's kind of a romeo and Juliet story :) anyways....
this November her family is planning a wedding for her and "the other guy". The one who she does not love. Today she just cried! With her broken english and my broken french we prayed together. Today I am asking for you to pray for Esther. Pray that either her family can understand that she doesn't love him or...... well not sure what the or is! I don't think I will ever be able to understand some of the cultural differences here.

Today Luke, my first born turned 10! Time is flying by! I remember 5 years ago we were telling everyone "we will be back from Africa when Luke is 8"! HA!! We are still here on this journey serving our God! Luke has had a few birthdays now in Africa! God is good and has really blessed us with an amazing son. Luke is smart and has a sensitive heart! Yesterday he made some business cards. His company is titled "Poor African Children Fundraiser"! What a sweet child.



Okay going to bed I love all y'all and remember.... don't leave the chips open on the counter. You may just have to shake the ants off when your ready for a snack. you know your a missionary if..... you just shake of the ants!

april

a cow, a cow

Lots of stuff has happened since I last blogged. Life has been crazy busy. The kids are growing up, ministry is happening, we went to the states and we moved into an amazing house. Over the past couple of years we have been told we could move off the Nazarene compound. Since it was our home and our children felt at home there we decided to stay put. BUT since December was one of the hardest months for us ever in the 4 years on the field we decided it was time. So.... we moved. Our new home is in Kimironko which is only about 10 minutes from our old house. The kids and us love it!. luke is able to ride his bike to his friends house which is a first for him. We love living in a neighborhood! God has been so good to us. Especially working out the details of this home.

Spencer is in Butare for the week. We have a team here from Mt. Vernon First Church in Ohio. They are building a technical school for orphans as well as laying a concrete foundation on a church/district center. The team brought us several fun items including a weed wacker! :) Fun fun!

Next week the team is taking us (me and Spencer) to see the gorillas! This is definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity. Especially since it is so expensive to go. I am soooo excited. I am sure you will see tons of photos on fb. Maybe even on my blogspot! lol

A couple of weeks ago we had Abby's 8th birthday party. There were tons of kids here. More kids than were invited. How does that happen? lol BUT we had plenty of cupcakes to go around.

Spencer, Luke and I will be starting Kinyarwanda lessons in about 2 weeks. Goodness didn't I just finish learning French! lol -

Okay better go find out what Silas is doing. We are going through the terrible twos and he is so sneaky!

Love ya lots and remember.......... when your 21 month old keeps saying a cow, a cow.... look up there might be 2 cows right in front of you!