A whoa nelly month!

Have you ever had so many important, big things going on at once that you feel like you are in a fog and can barely see one step ahead of you? Welcome to my life for the last several weeks!

In the last month, we had a visitor from our home church- Paradise Community Church in Phoenix, Arizona. It was wonderful having Erica come visit! The girls were enamored with her and she was so kind- doting on them and playing with them. She even hosted a sleep over for Charlie that included a fashion show and nail painting! In addition to blessing our family with her sweet spirit, she was able to shadow doctors at the hospital in Banyo as well as Mbingo. She even saw an all day long surgery where two surgeons reconstructed a jaw bone from a piece of leg bone!  (Hopefully these times will inspire her future medical career!) She visited an orphanage, saw many, many muddy roads, visited big cities as well as small villages, and trudged through the daily rains!

A highlight for me of her trip was the teaching we did for teenage girls. Erica taught about puberty and I taught about caring for one’s body as well as our identity in Christ. The lovely and amazing ladies at Paradise Community Church sewed 50 reusable menstrual kits to give out to the community! Each kit (based on the “Days for Girls” designs) had reusable menstrual pads, underwear, soap, and a washcloth inside a beautiful bag. They were a big hit with the girls and a gift that will keep on giving as they will empower the girls to care for their bodies in a dignified and sustainable manner. Also, the kits were so pretty!

And, bless her heart, Erica put up with me as I packed up our house in Banyo and moved to Mbingo. Ya’ll, I was in full-on crazy mode. I could barely remember my name I was so frazzled. But one foot in front of the other and we managed to pack up everything we owned and put it in and on top of a bush taxi we rented! Whoa nelly, I don’t know how they got it all in/up, but they did (trunks were piled 3 high on top!). As we unpacked, one of our friends said, “This is amazing! They keep taking things out. It is like a clown car!” We traveled 14 hours over muddy roads (at one point 10 men had to gently guide our van down the road as slid in the mud with absolutely no traction- our van was on a giant slip and slide) and roads with pot holes big enough for entire cars to fit in! This journey was not for the faint of heart to be sure! 

We then moved into our house in Mbingo and I frantically unpacked trunks while simultaneously packing to go on a trip to the capital to escort Erica to the airport less than a week later. We rode 9 plus hours on a public transport bus to Yaounde. Spent one day shopping at all the fun “big city shops”! Then she went to the airport and I made another 9 plus hour trip on public transport back to our home in Mbingo (after having mud splattered on me from head to toe thanks to a taxi).

The next day, the girls and I traveled to Bamenda for Charlie’s homeschool coop! In a period of 10 days, I think I traveled 44 hours on public transport! That is almost 2 full days in hot, cramped, uncomfortable buses/ cars on muddy and bumpy roads. My back, neck, and tail bone were sore for days!

For two weeks, I taught “cooking skills” at the homeschool co-op while single parenting the girls as Josh worked 16 plus hour days in Mbingo. And let me tell you, I was tired before we even started the co-op time. Then O decided this would be a great time to debut epic toddler tantrums- hitting, kicking, screaming, biting, and so many time-outs. Poor thing. She has had so much transition in the last few months, but did I mention how tired I already was and that I was spouseless at the time?! I texted Josh so many times, “I CAN’T DO THIS!!” 

But Charlie had so much fun with her friends and she even learned to hula hoop!

But, alas one step at a time and one foot in front of the other! I am thankful for a Lord that carried me through it all!

Now on to our next journeys- 1^st grade, the next steps in the adoption process, and new ministries in Mbingo! But hopefully I won’t have to take any big trips for a while!