Home again, home again!

Home again, home again jiggity jig! We have been back in the US for over 2 weeks now and it has been a whirlwind of fun and crazy. The reverse culture shock has not been too bad- so far Charlie has not pulled down her pants and peed in any public location- or at least that I know of.

I think the transition has been so easy because we have been blessed by people who have taken care of us and doted on us in so many ways. Our first US blessing came when our plane landed in Chicago. Dear friends of ours picked us up, let us take showers at their house, fed us, and supplied a plethora of toys for Charlie to play with. It was the best 8 hour lay over we have ever had! Then when we arrived in Phoenix, Josh's parents picked us up at the airport and have been blessing us non-stop since. They have graciously let us stay at their house until Josh gets a job and we find a place to live. They have also taken on the role as "the most funnest people ever" according to Charlie. As soon as she wakes up, she wants to play with Grandma and Grandpa and amazingly they usually want to play with her too! This provided me lots of time for my consigning project.

(Notice the outfit Charlie is wearing- 6 month old outfit that should have gone to the sale, but is perfect for "tea" with Grandma).

Much of my time so far has consisted of getting Charlie's old baby items ready to sell at a consignment sale, working at the consignment sale, and buying new fun toys and clothes at the consignment sale. There was also a few shopping trips thrown in there- ok more than a few and also several dining out experiences.

Josh has been keeping busy looking for a job in the IT field- searching for openings, networking, and brushing up on his skills. And lots of Myth Busters watching.

Charlie has been having a blast playing at the playgrounds and splash pads. We have gone to the library and the Children's Museum also. Add to that swimming and new toys- we have worn her out every day. She is having a blast, but almost everyday asks when we are going back to our home in Banyo because "she misses her friends."



We have transitioned back to the American lifestyle quite easily, but occasionally I look at the things around me like one of my African friends might. The first time I went to the grocery store, I was overwhelmed by the abundance of produce- and how clean it was. There was no dirt on the carrots! When I walked through the mall, I thought about how crazy/amazing it is that there are so many brightly lit, beautifully decorated store there were that just sold clothes! When we first drove on the roads in Chicago, Charlie kept on saying "whoo, whoo, whoo." She was so excited by how "fast" we were going.

Thank you for all of your prayers! We are so thankful to be home with family and friends.

No place like home...

There is no place like home, there is no place like home....

Sorry for the Wizard of Oz opening, but Charlie loves this movie and it is often in my head- as is Annie, but I will spare you my singing “Tomorrow” because it will most definitely get stuck in your head for all of eternity.

I digress.

This time next week, the Shinars will be back in the States! Maybe I should say we will be “home” in a couple of weeks, but really Banyo feels just as much like home to us now. Maybe the best thing to say is that we will be at our other “home” in a few weeks!

 

As a missionary, you learn to get used to dichotomy. We are American, but no longer like we once were. We are African, but not really. We are foreign, but familiar. Everything around us is familiar, yet foreign. We feel at home in 2 different places. So naturally, our feelings are split when it comes to returning to the States. There are many things we will miss and many things we that make us excited about returning!

Food- Almost everyday, Charlie will say, “When we go to Grandma's house, we will have lots of....”
99.9% of the time she fills in the blank with food- cheese, blueberries, ice cream, etc. (Once she said we will have lots of toothpaste and tooth brushes!) We all are looking forward to foods we can only dream of while in Africa like sushi and tender chicken, but at the same time we are going to miss our 20 cent humungous, creamy avocados, the exotic guavas that are just starting to produce, and local foods like egusi (pumpkin seed soup).

Clothes- Surprisingly, Josh thinks my African mumus leave something to be desired, yet I have to admit I am going to miss the joy that is loose, comfortable tent-like clothing. And having only 5 outfits makes getting dressed easy. But I get his point. We have a running joke amongst the missionaries about Josh and his never ending supply of gray t-shirts. They are all he wears. My eyes wouldn't mind seeing him in something a little more fashion forward! But like me and my mumus, he thinks his gray shirts are sublime. So an immediate trip to the mall is in store for us upon arrival! Also related to the clothes thing, on the top of my “things I am excited about having in America” list is a dryer. Rainy season weather is not very conducive for drying clothes outside on a clothesline. I cannot tell you how many hours a week I spend hanging clothes, moving clothes in and out of rain, in and out of the sun, in and out of the house, etc. On average it takes 2 days to dry clothes! And often, the clothes start to turn ripe smelling. To have warm, fluffy clothes that smell like Tide and Downy straight out of the dryer sounds dreamy.

Weather- If there is one thing we are not split about, it is weather. Rainy season is not great for clothes drying, but it is gorgeous and the temperature is perfect- not too hot in the day and cool at night. The sound of the rain at night when falling asleep is amazing. Now, the weather in Phoenix at this time- not so amazing. Boo. Hiss. Not looking forward to that at all.

Activities- On the flip side, we are not going to miss the lack of things to do (especially after dark) here in rural Africa. I realized the other day that we have not been anywhere after 6pm in almost a year! When we get back to the States, I am going to go to the movies or out to eat at night and I am not going to wear a head covering. I know, scandalous!

People- Of course what pulls our hearts in opposite directions the most are the people we love. We are beyond excited to see friends and family. I can't wait for Charlie to interact with her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins again. I can't wait to be with them either! But, when I think about our friends we are leaving behind, my heart aches. I know that we will see most of them again, but when I think of my elderly patients and the fragility of life in Africa, the what-ifs make me teary. Today when I said goodbye to a patient and good friend of mine, we were both in tears. Me crying is not that big of a deal, but these people rarely even cry when a loved one dies so to see her crying was special and heartbreaking!  

 

On that note, maybe now might be a good time to break out in Annie's “Tomorrow!”

Mango Mania!

 

 

 

I don't know if I ever ate a mango in the States- perhaps the occasional Mango Strawberry Smoothie at some smoothie shop, but never a whole fresh, juicy mango in all of its glory. When we first moved to Cameroon 2 years ago, we arrived in the middle of mango season. Wow, I had been missing out! We feasted everyday on them. Little baby Charlie LOVED them to the point where they caused an unfortunate increase in diaper changes! We would tell our house help not to give her anymore, and of course she would cave and give Charlie a big bowl after the slightest whimper of “maaango pwees.” Notice the mango bits all over her face and bib! Who could deny such a cute babe?! 

 

 

 

 Last year, we evacuated Africa and missed most of the mango season, but this year the mango party is on again! They are everywhere. Almost everyone has a tree near them. There is a road near all of the municipal buildings in town that is lined with mango trees. The air is permeated with the smell of fallen fruit that has fermented. We also have a mango tree in our yard, but sadly ours has only produced like 5 whereas most trees produce hundreds. Luckily for us, we can buy 3 mangos for 20 cents at the market! We have eaten so many, I am surprised we are not orange. Almost everyday we eat mango slices. But I have also embarked on some mango recipes- green mango pie (unripe ones taste like apples when cooked), mango cobbler, a botched attempt at mango sticky rice, and the latest recipe- mango Italian ice. Oh yum. Two years after being introduced to mangos, Charlie still is obsessed! Here favorite treat is to get every last bite off of the mango pits!

 

 

 

The Beach!

Josh went to Central African Republic in May and all of the other expats in our area were either home in the States or on Yaounde (12 hours away) for a meeting. So as not to be the only missionaries left in Banyo, Charlie and I headed down to Yaounde as well to hang out with friends. We thought Josh would be in CAR for a month, but he was able to get the work done earlier than expected. He returned to Yaounde and we had a week to wait before our ride back to Banyo would be finished with his meetings, so we decided to drive a few hours to the coast of Cameroon. You may remember that last year when we evacuated, we went to Kribi to “wait out the situation” in hopes of a quick return. Well, a year later we returned to Kribi with a lot less stress and worry. All we had to worry about was this:

Ah, the beautiful ocean was just steps from our hotel door! (So close in fact that one night our room flooded- water, sand, seaweed, crabs, and all!) We lounged and played and ate so much fish and shrimp! It was a great break and we are thankful for the time to rest and play as a family!

 

 

Danforth Days in Banyo!

I have always wanted to be one of the cool bloggers that have guest bloggers on their blog! Well, I don't know if this counts or not- but I stole a blog from the Danforths about their visit to Banyo. Why rewrite a blog that was done so well already?! Enjoy!



Oh, what fun!  We had a super 2 days with the Shinars, and I can tell you honestly that though we miss them at Gamboula, it was wondrous to see them shine in this new place of ministry.   Josh was a delight with his enthusiasm over the great new system of internet he had installed for the whole station. They have had some disappointments lately with believers, and Josh has taken some major responsibilities on just for the They have had some disappointments lately with believers, and Josh has taken some major responsibilities on just for the interim.

 

Charlie was fun, not just because she is the cutest little curly top, but she is a trip to have a conversation with.   She sure latched on to Grandpa Roy – they were coloring partners.

 



We had a tour of the very nicely kept hospital, and Lori has many new friends there, including Dr. Smith, one of the most humble and gentle men I’ve had the pleasure of meeting.  Lori does home visits to Fulani, and we were privileged to go with her to the home of one of the cutest little old men you’d ever hope to see.  He was hit by a motorcycle 8 months ago, resulting in 2 broken legs and a broken arm.  When we asked if he’d mind us taking pictures, he turned to me and asked me if I had any teeth for him!  Oh my goodness what a kick!  His 4 front top teeth are missing, and he’s always asking Lori if she has teeth for him!  Well, when he found out I didn’t just happen to have dentures in my pocket, he proceeded to pull out a mirror to make sure his hat was sitting exactly right on his head.   After 3 or maybe 4 adjustments, he was satisfied and let John take his photo (which for some reason disappeared from the camera).  He was SO serious, no smiles for the camera – partially because of his missing teeth, I suppose.

 

He sure was smiley as we talked to him.  He was at the point in his rehab that it was time for him to stand up for the first time in 8 months, so Lori and I helped him up.  He did have to be convinced beforehand that his legs wouldn’t just break again under his weight.  (What weight?!?!—he probably weighs 90 lbs dripping wet!)  Though Lori was chatting with him in fulfulde the whole time, at one point he turned to me and said over and over again as if she wouldn’t understand, “you tell Charlie’s mama thank you, thank you”.   Lori’s eyes teared up, mine too, and she quickly changed the subject, but that was AWESOME.  What love and friendship has grown there!  Lori always takes along one of the Fulani guy believers, so that the door she opens by showering love and care can be followed up on with deep talk, heart sharing, and prayer.

We were thrilled to worship with Fulani Jesus followers and to meet the Shinars’ friends, including some orphan boys who are lovingly being cared for believers on the station.

Our travels on the long road north were punctuated by beautiful scenery, very unlike what we are used to in CAR.  God is good, all the time!

A Zack attack in Banyo!

In May, we had a most excellent visitor- Josh's brother Zack also known as “bro,” “Uncle Zack” or “Dr. Zack.” The day after he arrived in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, he jumped full on into African life- he took public transport! Many, many hours were spent cramped in a smelly, bumpy bus. There were even “salesmen” on the bus trying to sell medical supplies like blood pressure cuffs. True to Zack Shinar fashion, he was an enthusiastic participant in the new experience.

Fast forward to his last day, the Baptist Hospital of Banyo had a special service to thank Zack for his work at the hospital.

At the ceremony, one of the men prayed that Zack would have more energy to do more good works. More energy?! I don't think anyone that knows Zack would think that he lacks energy! True to form, Zack saw and did everything that Banyo had to offer:

• He worked daily with Dr. Smith at the hospital seeing patients and participating in surgeries.

• He ran up Mount Banyo every chance he got.
• He walked to places I have never even been in Banyo.
• He went to the cow market and ate “questionable meat.”
• He hosted “Africa Gospel Radio” twice.
• He thoroughly entertained Charlie

 

• He helped the pastor's wife pull weeds in her garden.
• He went to the local Labor Day parade.
• He helped teach masculine and feminine nouns to people learning English.
• He rode a rickety bike here, there, and everywhere.
• He navigated the market by himself.
• He taught the hospital staff about EKGs, medications, emergency diagnostics, etc.
• He set up an “emergency corner” where supplies for emergencies could be easily obtained.
• He beat up Josh a bit

• And much more!

We had a great time with Zack and were sad to see him go! You can check out some of his radio appearances and an interview he did with the hospital's Nurse Anesthetist here: http://edecmo.org/edecmo-episode-9-antithesis-ecpr-african-inginuity/

Velveeta hoarders

One of our expat friends is leaving Banyo to return to the United States. Although we will miss her, truth be told whenever a Westerner leaves there is always a silver lining- free stuff they can't or don't want to take home with them.

Today, we scored a box of Velveeta. Yes, that gelatinous, glaringly yellow possessed American “cheese.” It was expired by a month and a ¼ of it had already been eaten, yet we were ecstatic! We sliced a few chunks off immediately and ate it straight. All three of us were oohing and aahing. Then we had nachos! That box of Velveeta is such a treat for us. Cheese is like $9 a pound here and the closest place we can get it is 9 hours away. I am sure we will hoard the rest and eat it for “special occasion” meals. That is what happens with any food item that is rare, expensive, or brought over from the States- it turns us into squirrel like food hoarders! Giddy, squirrel like food hoarders!

Jealousy and perspective!

The other day I commented on two of my friends' Facebook statuses that I was jealous. Jealous of what? One went to a movie alone and the other went to Target alone- as in without children. Every once and a while, I get stir crazy. We do not have a car which means I cannot “up and go somewhere” on a whim, not that there is a lot to do around here (especially after 6pm). Really I only get for the occasional trip to the market or to visit patients in the bush- neither of which would I classify as “relaxing.” And the without kids part, oh how I would love to go somewhere fun without a toddler saying “mommy” 5 million times per minute. Jealous. Jealous. Jealous.

Then today I went to visit a patient in the bush only to learn that he had died yesterday. He was really sick and in pain, so it was not unexpected news. A Fulbe friend and I sat with the family, gave our condolences, and prayed with them. On our hour drive home, we discussed what happens when a Fulbe person dies. There is no “funeral” and the body is buried immediately. If it a man that dies, his wife (or wives) must remain at the place where he died for 4 months and 10 days. As in they cannot leave. They cannot go to the market or a friend's house. They are also not allowed to bathe or even change their clothes for 4 months and 10 days.

So while I may not be able to roam the glorious aisles of Target, at least I am not in mourning and stinky. Perspective. Perspective. Perspective.

Josh's blog about Mbingo

I thought I'd commit briefly on what I did these last 41 days. A few months ago while attending a regional conference of missionaries, I made my nerdiness known (yes I realize that it is impossible for me not to) and was asked to fix an imminent problem at a hospital an hour away. It had been down for over a week and they knew the problem was on their side. I happened to guess what the problem was off the top of my head so just hours later with the help of Chris Jackson, it was working again. I was asked to return as soon as I could and teach their IT guys how to manage their fairly complex network.

 As things do, it began to snowball and the idea turned into: move out there, teach a month long class to all the regional hospital IT guys, fix the hospital's network, write a few databases, and on and on and on... Lori, our sending organization and expat friends all prayed about it and decided that a 1.5 month-long trip would be a great idea. We all moved out to Mbingo on February 4^th, to a beautiful house full of luxuries (washing machine, microwave!) and immediately started work. Fourteen IT guys (and even a girl!!!) came from as far as 9 hrs away.

They spent 2 weeks, 3 hrs a day (including Saturdays) listening to me babel on about subnet masks, parabolic antennas, and structured wiring to name a few. I gave them a quiz everyday and even a final exam. They all tried very hard and did very well. I was impressed that they understood me as well as they did. They each received a certificate of completion. Two of the Mbingo Hospital IT guys and one expat, Jesse Paulsen, took the class and continued to work with me for the next month at Mbingo hospital.

We completely rebuilt the network. Mbingo Hospital is a massive hospital with over 300 beds, digital X-rays, Electronic Medical Records, case logs, and electronic billing. It has 24 routers/APs (even after it was greatly simplified), 12 switches, 12,000 ft of Cat5 cable, 5 servers and spans over ¾ of a square mile. There are over 275 devices on the network including each doctor's tablet. Needless to say, I worked continuously alongside the three other guys the entire time. We greatly simplified the network, removing stuff that had built up for the last decade without anyone redoing it. We removed 2,000 ft of cable that was causing loops and reorganized the rest so that future folks could more rapidly understand and make adjustments to it. The problem was that so many people had come and worked on it for short periods, but no one had spent the necessary time to completely reevaluate it. We trekked around the premises removing bad APs, realigned them, changed the frequencies, relocated them, optimized them, removed them, simplified them... Overall the wireless network was running considerable better. We added a Linux firewall to filter inappropriate content, block bandwidth hogs, and block facebook and other social media sites during work hours (extremely popular amongst some and not so much for others). We added an internal portal website which allowed the staff to more rapidly look up phone extensions, connect to internal servers, and test their connections.

 We also created a program which would monitor all the devices on the network and alert when something went down. I presented my findings to the heads of the hospital and made some future recommendations which they seemed to take seriously. Overall I had a wonderful time, lost some weight, and felt some significant improvements to the hospital's network were made. Hopefully the training I did will allow these 14 Cameroonian IT guys to further God's love and mercy through improvements in the Cameroonian hospital systems.

Of mice and chemo!

Asha (hello)! We just returned from Mbingo, Cameroon! Mbingo Baptist Hospital is an amazing place that does things most other African hospitals couldn't even dream of like a surgical education program, physical therapy, and cancer treatments!

When I was preparing to come to Africa, people would ask what are you going to do there? Will you be working with chemotherapy? I would laugh. Ha, yeah right! Well, you never know how God will use your skills! The real reason for our trip to Mbingo was for Josh to work on the hospital's internet network. He worked long, exhausting hours on that thing (maybe when he recovers I can get him to blog about it). So even though I was the “plus one” of the invitation, I helped out in the oncology clinic where they treat breast cancer, cancers related to HIV, head/neck cancers, lymphomas, and more. They give chemotherapy to about 30 patients a week. For my heme/onc friends, they give Cyclophosphamide, Doxorubicin, Etoposide, Methotrexate, Bleomycin and more. They give the real deal chemotherapies!

 

The outside of the oncology clinic

Now let's just take a moment and realize how amazing that is. Medical care in Africa is difficult. There is limited money and supplies and can we just talk about the mice?! I ranted the other day on Facebook that I saw a mouse in the maternity ward. Yep right there with the brand spanking new babies. A doctor friend told me that she was getting a piece of equipment out of a bag and found two mice in there! They had torn up the instruction manual and made a nest in the bag! But that is not all, after the mice made their exit- there was also roach in the bag! Two mice and a roach on a piece of equipment that was then used on a child- that is medicine in Africa. And this is at the “Mayo Clinic of Cameroon” - the nicest hospital I have ever seen in Africa.

All that to say, giving chemotherapy in Mbingo is awesome. It is so needed. Cancer is the number one killer world wide and Africa is not exempt. Three lovely nurses manage the oncology clinic.

 

Nurses Judith and Helemina

They have never had any formal education about the medications they are giving. Chemotherapy while life saving is also dangerous. It is known to cause cancer, birth defects, miscarriages, chromosomal changes, and more to those repeatedly exposed to it. Several studies of oncology nurses have found traces of chemotherapy in the nurses' urine! When I first arrived at the clinic, I was shocked to see the nurses mix the chemo at the patients' bedsides. There were small, red kool-aid colored pools all over the room- Doxorubicin (and who knows how many other small spills of chemo that are colorless). The safety of the nurses became one of my top priorities. I am happy to say that they are now mixing the chemotherapy under a homemade hood (well most of the time- baby steps). We also worked on the importance of checking blood flow and preventing extravasation. They had never checked blood flow! They also never double checked the dose ordered. Now, they get out the calculator to check BSA and the dose. Can I get an amen?! For patient safety and employee sanity, I converted the chemotherapy protocols into pre-printed orders. Doctors have to write less and it is easier for the nurses to calculate doses. Hopefully these little changes will make a big difference for the staff and the patients.

 Me, a patient, and nurse Helemina

Also, we got to take a helicopter home to Banyo because it was already at the hospital to bring a critically ill patient. The helicopter was a lot of fun!
 

 

 

Smore community please!

In Phoenix, we knew our next door neighbor well (maybe too well- there were many an evening that Josh went over there uninvited to bum delicious meals off of them). But our other neighbors, we either just knew their first names or just their faces and that was after eight years of living in the same house. It saddens me now how little community there was in our “community.” After living in Africa in different missionary communities, I think I have a much better understanding, appreciation, and need of community.

When we first arrived in Africa, we lived in the Meskine, Cameroon community. Whoa are ever indebted to their hospitality. They brought us tuna casseroles, taught us how to bleach vegetables, cared for our sick child in the middle of the night, taught us Fufulde, and helped us adjust to African life. In Gamboula, they helped us learn Sango, prepared our house for us, fed us over and over again, taught us how to be missionaries, and helped us grieve our evacuation. In Banyo, they welcomed us without even knowing us. They have given us their space to live in, their car to drive, and even their famous cookies to eat.

Now we are in Mbingo, Cameroon for a month (Josh is teaching an IT class). We are living next door to the Barriers (two doctors that work at the hospital, their 6 month baby boy, and their 3-year-old son who has become Charlie's BFF). And when I say next door I mean NEXT door- we share a duplex- which means a shared back yard and revolving doors for toddlers to run house to house.

Once again, they have been so kind and giving. They fed us the first night we were here (many nights after too) and let us bum vegetables off of them for a week. They shared their son's toys with Charlie. They even shared their dinner table with us each evening.

Each night one family brings a meal to share with the other. It is great and it got me thinking of how amazing community is. Community is not only sharing of things- it is a sharing of life. It is doing life together. It is eating together, studying the Bible together, praying together, playing together, and struggling together. Community requires honesty, transparency, trust, generosity, nurturing, and time, but it is so worth it.

All this to say, I pray that we all seek and participate in real community. (I plan on really getting to really know my American neighbors when we move back!) Life is meant to be lived together. God said it was not good for man to be alone and he wasn't just talking about a spouse. We are made to attach and connect. People are like smores- on their own graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate are tasty, but mush them together and they become something even more amazing. They are not easily separated, they are often messy, but they are oh so sweet!

Charlie and her new BFF sharing smores!

Market day!

Today is market day! Everyday of the week in Banyo you can go shopping, but Tuesdays and Fridays are "big market" days. The bread is fresher, more cows are slaughtered, women from the bush come to sell their items, and town is abuzz with excitement.

 

When I first arrived in Africa, I was way intimidated by the local markets. They are something else. I never went, then when we were in CAR we were so isolated that going to the big market across the border was a special treat for me, and now I love to go.

 

To get to the market, I usually take one of these to and fro for 40 cents.

 

 

Here is the outside of the market where leafy vegetables and big root vegetables are sold.

 

You can also buy used clothes, toys, and junk from Europe/America that are in piles outside. I bought two Christmas stockings and a Santa hat here in October for 60 cents.

 

Go past the stinky fish (some dried, some "fresh"- I never buy it because the smell is awful, awful, awful. I just can't stomach it.),

 

 

Next you find more vegetables like carrots, tomatoes, green peppers, onions, etc. We are so spoiled to have these here, these kind of vegetables were hard to come by in CAR.

 

 

Next, you can make your way through the maze of small alleys. (These bowls have corn flour in them- used to make a play dough like consistency food called fufu.)

 

 

All through the small passage ways you will find various shops- hardware stores, baby stores, soap stores, cloth stores, etc. Sometimes the shops are mixed and you can buy a bra at the hardware store (I dare you to ask Home Depot where their lingerie department is!). It is amazing what you can buy in these shops. A few weeks before Christmas, I bought Christmas lights that were made in Communist China, sold by an Islamic African, and bought by a Christian American in Cameroon. Crazy!

 

 

 

Chicken (live chickens that is) and fish are sold outside, but the Fulbe are cattle people- so the beef is at the heart of the market. And yes, we eat this meat. You can buy a pound of fillet for less than $2.30. See how many flies you can count!

 

Besides choice cuts of beef, you can also buy cow feet or entire heads! Bon a petit!

 

 

 

Past the butcher, you can get your hair cut (if you don't mind the smell of dead cows).

 

 

 

So there you have it- Banyo's Super Wal-Mart: groceries, clothing, household goods, and fresh meat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charlie-1, Parents- 0

Oh ya'll!

So last week, we went to a missionary conference in Bamenda, Cameroon. I was very excited for the conference for the following reasons:

• Worship and teaching in English
• wearing clothes that do not look like a mumu or have an elastic waste band- aka jeans
• meeting new missionaries and catching up with missionaries friends
• friends for Charlie to play with
• some time for relaxation
• shopping for things we cannot buy in Banyo like powdered sugar and shampoo, even Honey Nut Cheerios!
• Childcare

 

Childcare. Ok, I am going to be honest here- I was most excited about childcare. While Charlie has a nanny during the morning, that is my working time. In the last 4 months, I have not had a baby sitter during a stretch of time that allowed for any quality “me time.” Momma is tired, ya'll.

Well, sadly I returned from our conference tired even with the glorious child care. Why? Well, my child is “that child.” At one point I overheard someone say, “that is why God makes puppies and kids so cute because if not we would go crazy.” Yeah, she was looking at my child who was dancing on the stage like it was her own personal rock concert. In comparison to the African children that sit like serene statues in church, I knew my child was a little more “spirited.” I chalked it up to cultural differences. At the conference however, there were 4 American children in the 2-3 year age range. Again, these kids were perfect little angels- don't get me wrong, they had their tiny toddler moments too- but only just enough to disprove my theory that their parents had sedated them. Their children sat quietly through an hour of adult sermon time- my child ran circles around the building like Forrest Gump. She fled from her parents at every opportunity. I would talk with someone for a minute than spend 20 looking for her- only to find her half way across the campus with someone asking, “You didn't know where she was?!” My child also found the sugar bowl next to the coffee and proceeded to help herself to handful after handful of the sweet forbidden goodness. Another, more responsible, 2-year-old stood by pointing at Charlie so that some adult would intervene and correct the situation. I felt like I spent the whole time chasing after, threatening, putting shoes on (because she refuses to wear shoes- ever), restraining, pleading with, and putting my child in “time out.”

I know this is a “season” and it too shall pass. The terrible two's are almost over and then we will move on to what many people call the “terrifying threes.” Oh Lord have mercy! In the meantime, I will focus on what one of my friends said when I was comparing Charlie to the other well behaved kids: “So she was the fun one!”

 

Happy New Year!

It is 2014! The year 2013 has come and gone and it was one for the books- whoa, I mean whoa! In 2013, we:

• lived in 3 different countries-  Central African Republic, Cameroon, and the US
• became refugees
• had our house looted
• lived (or crashed) in 5 different houses
• moved to Africa for a second time
• started our ministries and language learning all over again in a new town
• fell in love with that new town
• saw God do amazing things

I even ate a grasshopper in 2013!

2013 was a wild ride for sure and I am not sad to start a new year. 2014 promises to be an exciting and eventful year as well, but hopefully in less traumatic ways! We will stay in Banyo, Cameroon at least until May and maybe into September at which time we will experience reverse culture shock as we re-enter the US for a time of training and support raising. We have many decisions to make about our time in the US- where will we live, where will we work, where will we eat first: Red Lobster or sushi? When I think about going back to the US, I have a lot of mixed emotions. I look forward to seeing family, but I also think, "No! It is too soon, I am not ready to leave Banyo yet!" 

When I think back over 2013, I most remember feeling "empty" like Naomi did when she came back to her homeland empty after the loss of her husband and sons. But today, at the beginning of 2014, I am glad to associate more with the end of the Book of Ruth. "The women say to Naomi, 'Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer.'"(4:22). The Lord has redeemed our loss in CAR with a beautiful new beginning in Cameroon. I am really excited to see the ways the Lord will work here in 2014 and I am overwhelmed with joy and gratitude that I somehow get to be a part of that work.

If you are starting the new year feeling empty, know that the He longs to redeem these empty times. I pray that in 2014, the joy of the Redeemer overwhelms your life. Happy New Year!