To Banyo we go!

After hours of sorting through trunks, bags, and boxes, we have triaged
our earthly goods down to fit on to the tiny plane we are taking to
Banyo tomorrow. Tomorrow is the day that our lives change again. A new
town, new people, a new house, and a new way of life. Please join us in
praying that we will not be side tracked by the many changes, but
instead that we would focus on the plans of the Lord and the people He
has called us to serve. Bon voyage! May this be a good journey!

The Traveling Twosome!

Sorry it has taken me so long to update about our journey to Cameroon. Well, the short of it is that we made it.

The long of it is that it was crazy. Our 30+ hour journey started even earlier than anticipated when we saw on the news that there was a fire at the Atlanta airport and everyone flying out that day needed to get there earlier than normal. So yea, let's make this thing that much longer. We breezed through the baggage check and all of our bags were under limit- which I was sweating. We had a few hours to kill, so we roamed the airport and ran up and down the empty corridors. The time came for us to board the plane, which we did, and after a long time at the gate, we had to deplane due to a flat tire. Our 12:30 flight turned into a 2 hour wait in line to get re-booked and a new flight at 7:30pm. We roamed the Atlanta airport some more- we even road the plane train through all of the stops a few times. After 10 hours in the Atlanta airport, we finally left the ground.

When we arrived in Washington DC, I realized when we were lost on their plane train that I lost some of our many boarding passes! Once that was fixed, we just made our flight from to Brussels. Thank the Lord, Charlie and I had 4 seats to ourselves, so she was able to run a muck on our row without bothering too many people. I say “too many” because we definitely disrupted our fair share of travelers and airport workers. I mean there is just so many times a person can say “no” or restrain a cooped up 2 year old. Give me a break people! I wanted a sign that said, “Traveling alone with a toddler. If you think you can parent her better, than do it. Really. Right now. She is yours!” The row of seats allowed us to also lay flat while sleeping. That was amazing. Oh thank you Jesus! We arrived in Brussels pretty well rested. We once again ran a muck in the airport. The moving sidewalks were a hit with Charlie and the Belgium sugar waffle was a hit for me. On a plane again we went and YES we had 4 seats to ourselves again. The flight to Yaounde was uneventful until we realized only 1 of our 5 pieces of luggage arrived- even our stroller was gone. We got to the place we were staying after midnight local time and Charlie and I crashed.

Again, the short of it- we made it (eventually all of our luggage did too). It was overwhelming and exhausted, but we made it!

Girl interrupted

Whoa Nelly. These last few days have been a doozy. I mean the most challenging of all my 2 ½ years as a professional parent. The Shinars have had some major changes and moves over the last year. I have felt the stress often and had been impressed with Charlie's rubber-band like adaptability. Well, I think it has all been bubbling under the surface waiting for this very moment to explode. Oh this child is ridiculous. I have so many black and blue marks on me from the biting. Although she was almost fully potty trained before we left Africa, she will now not even sit on the potty. Her favorite phrase is “I don't want to!” (said at the top of her lungs). For the first few nights, she screamed all night long. She runs away from me at any opportunity.

All this is well and good on its own, but dealing with this as a single parent getting over jet lag, in a foreign country, and preparing to go to a new village has kicked my booty. Oh and I have a cold. Oh man. I cannot wait for Josh to get here on Wednesday!

But today I saw glimmers of my sweet baby girl. Her impeccable manners at dinner tonight almost make me forget about the expensive candy bar she took off the shelf and proceeded to eat at the grocery store today.

The Animal Child

"A two-year-old is kind of like having a blender, but you don't have a top for it."- Jerry Seinfeld

(Charlie put "her makeup on.")

So on Tuesday, I am taking my two-year-old on a 30+ hour trip across the world. Solo. In a confined space. Did I mention by myself? A two-year-old. 30+ hours.

Terrible two's. I mean something happens in the 2nd year of life that is so traumatic that there is a widely known term for two-year-olds and it involves the word "terrible." TERRIBLE.

Actually, I think it should be called the "Split personality twos." There are moments in my day with Charlie that she does something so wonderful that I look at her in all of her cuteness and pray "Oh please Lord let her never grow up." Like the other day when I told her I loved her and she squealed and said, "I am soooo happy." But to put this in perspective, this sweet exchange was proceeded by an epic tantrum in Target in which she glared at me and taunted "I want to hurt you mommy." Um, ok Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. 

So needless to say, I am a little panicky about traveling alone with my devious angel. I am even thinking of investing in one of these.


Yes, it is a child leash and I cannot get this scene from Modern Family out of my head:

 

 

But my dog/child sealed her fate today with a mad dash run around the busy Costco parking lot. My child may look like a leashed animal at the airport, but she will not: fall down the escalator, board a plane to Tahiti, or ride the baggage claim carrousel. Thank you and Amen.

 

(If you want to shoot a prayer up for my sanity on Tuesday, that would be great! We leave Atlanta at noon (Eastern time) the 3rd and arrive in Yaoundé, Cameroon at 5pm (Eastern time) on the 4th.)

 

 

Donde esta el "Banyo"?

If you speak Spanish, you are probably wondering why I am asking where the bathroom is and why I spelled baño incorrectly. What I am trying to say is, "Where is Banyo?" See it is a play on words. Get it? If you don't speak Spanish you are probably just confused. If you do speak Spanish, you are probably confused.

Now that we are all confused, let's get on with it then.

Banyo-
*it is not a bathroom
*it is a city-in Cameroon, Africa
*it is where the Shinars are headed!

Banyo Location in Cameroon
Coordinates: 6°46′48″N 11°49′12″E / 6.78000°N 11.82000°E / 6.78000; 11.82000Coordinates: 6°46′48″N 11°49′12″E / 6.78000°N 11.82000°E / 6.78000; 11.82000
Country	Cameroon
Province	Adamawa Province
Division	Mayo-Banyo
Elevation	1,259 m (4,131 ft)
Population (2012)
• Total	37,783

Call it optimism or denial, but until last week I was still holding out hope that we would be able to return to Gamboula. Josh has been there for almost 3 weeks now working on an extensive wiring/internet project. He confirmed what all of the news stories have been saying-at this time, CAR is not safe for foreign families with young children.

So, um new game plan! We are going to be joining two couples in Banyo in their Fulani ministries. Banyo is an exciting place as far as the Fulani are concerned- there is a growing group of Believers and the Fulani Believers even have a Christian radio station.

Now you know as much as we do about Banyo. Do you hear the crickets? Yeah, we don't know very much about our new home and that stresses me out a bit and when I say a bit, I mean a lot. A LOT. I am trying to practice that thing called trust. It should be an adventure to say the least!

Charlie and I leave next Tuesday the 3rd for Africa. We will stay in Yaoundé- the capital of Cameroon for a week to do supply shopping and wait for Josh and the Danforths with join us there before we take a small plane to Banyo.

Here are some images I found from Google (since I have not been to Banyo, I can't say for sure that these really are Banyo. I mean for all I know, they may be some where in Canada!)

An update from Josh in Gamboula

I made it to CAR safely but my nerves were a little rattled. We had just heard that the General who was keeping Gamboula peaceful(unlike the entire rest of the country) was moved back to Bangui. In his place an unknown new guy who had just taken office that day. I along with 3 other missionaries drove the 11 hours from Yaoundé to Gamboula. When we got to the border crossing we hid our vehicles on the Cameroonian side. We took a taxi and filled a local ag truck with the rest of our stuff. I along with Timothy rode in the back of this pickup along with one of our local friends. We picked up a plastic 10 ft piece of pipe to carry back to Gamboula for a fish pond and mounted it to the truck, unfortunately much resembling a missile launcher. Needless to say we didn't look all that friendly as we crossed the border into CAR, especially me holding on to said pipe to prevent from falling off the back of the truck over the bumpy roads. The day was absolutely gorgeous though and as the wind blew through my hair and the warm sun gently peeked through the trees, I felt totally content with life. Even if things went horribly wrong at the border with my bazooka-look-a-like, I was at peace. I was fully expecting to be greeted by the 40 turbaned AK47 wielding "new government" that is now normally present, but luckily we had just missed them. One nice, armed border crossing gentleman let us in, not even checking our passports. I did shake hands with the new guy but it was just a pleasant "hello" and "how are you" as we passed through. We left a few cokes with them for good-will. I'm living in my old house now all alone.

The looting wasn't too bad all things considered. They didn't get anything I hid in the attic and all that I noticed was missing was the 2 laptops and the desktop. A bunch of stuff was broken needlessly like our floor fans and all our dishes are new but most of that was replaced by Aleta before I even got here. New stuff is kind of nice really. Most everything that I think is important is still here. I'm not sure about Lori or Charlie's stuff though.


Things are a bit elevated here. We had a mission wide meeting yesterday to discuss all the unpleasant details of being in a torn country. Evacuation, where to run and hide, rendezvous points when things settle, etc, etc. It is a little nerve-racking to sleep but I'm so tired from all this work that I don't have time to think about it too much before nighty-night. Timothy and I along with Bonard and Fredoline have lunch together each day. Even though I've lived here longer than Timothy his Sango is at least 10 times better than mine. I have made improvements though, I can tell already. It is lunch as usual with Bobo and Fifi. Lots of laughing. Today I explained that I taught high school kids how to dance. They were a little confused so I showed them a video. They LOVED it. They got up and tried to do some moves. They said "it is so fast!!" We talked about starting a ballroom dancing class here but after a few minutes, the obvious became clear...No way.

Yesterday Fredoline explained how she and Bonard fled when the rebels broke into our house. It was pretty frightening but she was able to hide in Charlie's room until she heard them actually get in. Bonard had already fled to the Ag building but kept an eye out for Fredoline. When she heard them enter she made a run for it to the back door and got out. Bonard and she caught eyes and Bonard said "Loro fadeso hio hio!" or "run now quickly quickly!". She made a bolt for it and made it without being followed.

All the CAR people remember me and greet me enthusiastically. I never knew so many people knew my name. They really love having me back but immediately the where's Charlie question comes up...I can tell the whole story in Sango now, I've told it so many times!

I got the internet working here after a "Feed Horn Assembly Cross Polarization Adjustment", also known as hitting the satellite dish with a hammer a few times and hacking some Linux root passwords. (Side Note: just saw that 6 inch rat/squirrel thing in our living room again. Just waved hello and went back to typing.) The internet is now wired all the way to the furthest houses now after doing some troubleshooting. Marus is helping me again full time. Today we dug a trench to the chateau (when I say we, I mean Marus) to run a line for our Gamboula 2 side antenna pointing towards our "tree relay" (working on it). I'm working non-stop on getting all this tech stuff working. A month seemed like a lot of time to get it done but I'm concerned about having enough time already and I'm only a few days in! Tomorrow we brave climbing the tree. We need to get some measurements then hopefully by the end of the week we'll get it mounted. -Joshua

Farewell and goodbye

I hate goodbyes and I am really bad at them. I get awkward and clumsy or really sappy and blubberish- especially if I will not see the person for a long time. So instead I prefer to do the “pretend that it is not really goodbye for a long time” thing- meaning I just say “Bye, see you later” like it is no big deal all the while trying to hold in the blubbering, sappy, awkward fest.

Although I hate goodbyes, I feel like I do them often. The first of the monumental send offs was when I moved from Georgia to Arizona. While it was hard to leave everyone in my family, I particularly remember saying goodbye at the airport to my little twin nieces, who at the time were 4 years old. With their sweet cherub cheeks and baby curls, they fought over who would get to hold Aunt Lori's hand. While they didn't grasp the meaning of the separation, I was devastated that they would continue to change and grow while I was gone. And they did. Every time I return to Georgia, they are taller and so not babies anymore. In fact, those little girls start high school tomorrow! A lot has changed since that airport goodbye!

 

I also vividly remember my mom crying when I moved to Arizona. I tear up just thinking about it. Actually, my mom crying at the airport is a reoccurring image because I think she has cried every time I left after a visit. Now that I am a mom, I get it. If my daughter moved across the country, she would take my heart with her. So now my heart grieves every time for the grandparents that have to say goodbye to a certain adorable, curly-haired princess.

 

The sadness I felt when I moved across the country was multiplied when I moved across the world- across the world! No longer was I only a short plane ride away. I felt the sting of this goodbye all the way to my core. It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. Blubber fest for sure.

Yesterday, I had another monumental goodbye. My husband of 9 years left for another country without me- on a day when the whole world was on high alert for a terrorist attack. Insert nervous sigh. But I managed to keep it together as best I could at the airport when I dropped him off. That was until from the backseat Charlie said, “Where daddy go?” Me- “Daddy went bye bye on the plane.” Charlie- “No, I want daddy. See daddy. Please. Please. Mommy please, see daddy. No bye bye. Charlie go too. I want see daddy.” Insert choked up crying mommy saying, “me too honey.”

 

I am happy to say that Josh has arrived safely in Cameroon and already has duties lined up at the Rainforest International School for the next week while he waits for his ride to CAR.

 

We would love if you could pray for safety for him over the next month as he returns to CAR to complete several projects. Also that he would have discernment as he decides whether it is safe for Charlie and me to join him there in a month or whether we should go to Cameroon as a family. Charlie and I have another monumental goodbye facing us in a month's time as we go back to Africa too, please pray for meaningful and memorable times with family this month. Thank you and

goodbye.

 

Now try to watch Kermit say goodbye to Miss Piggy without shedding at least one tear. I dare you.