following the LEADER

My mom always said that the best toys were dirt and water. Today Sam enthusiastically agreed!

Dear Friends and Family,

I would like an explanation as to why Americans are so in love with Santa. I met him last Saturday at the American Recreation Center, and he didn’t make a huge impression. He was supposed to ride in on a camel, but rumor has it he fell off. I’m wondering how he makes it down all those chimneys with such poor athletic ability. I thought the camel was way more interesting than the man in the red suit. I would have preferred to sit on the camel’s lap. Santa just seemed to me like a man who couldn’t be trusted. Here are some pictures with the evidence to prove my theory.

In this one, Dad is trying to convince me that Santa is not such a bad guy. As you can see, I’m choosing to avoid eye contact.

Here, Dad has left me alone with Santa. His attempts at being jolly were just not working for me.

Finally, Mom sat down with us in an attempt to smooth things over. Her negotiation skills could use a little work.

Better luck next year, Santa!

I have to tell all of you that for months now, I’ve thought that this holiday would be lonely and hard for us. This, however, is turning instead into the first thing I am thankful for. Last night, as we went to bed, I told Dave that I feel excited about Thanksgiving. It’s turning out to really feel like a holiday. This is helped by the fact that the whole afternoon, yesterday, was spent in preparations for today. Last night I made an apple pie, biscuit dough, and cut the bread up into cubes for the stuffing.

Indeed, our blessings here feeling glaringly evident when we look around us, and in this way, we seem to have more to be thankful for here, than we would at home in the land of gluttony.

I am thankful for the people who will share our table with us today. Jeremy, who has truly become one of our new best friends. He is so crazy, and silly, and we love him so much. Dan Ligon full of fatherly wisdom. Lidia, who is sad to be leaving us in a few weeks to return home to El Salvador. She empitomizes a heart for service in missions. And Gisella, whose birthday is today. We will be having our Thanksgiving dinner at lunch and tacos this evening in honor of her. The good food just keeps coming.

I am thankful for the adventure of being the woman in charge around here. This is the first feast that has been compeltely up to me. I currently have three chickens in the oven. I will baste them with a honey glaze in 10 minutes. I have also started the home made stuffing that will go in the oven when the chickens come out. We will have mash potatoes, buscuits, gravy, cranberry sauce, green beans, and pie for desert. It’s been very fun to plan the menu.

We are also very thankful for all of you who love us are care enough about us to check in on us like you are right now. Your prayers and your love have gotten us to this point and really keep us going. We are sad to be away from our families today, but we are so thankful to the Lord for the path of adventure that he has us on. We would have it no other way.

This morning I fought back the tears as I lay in bed. I thought to myself, “No one on earth is more blessed than me.” Here’s why….

I woke up to the sound of Samuel playing in his crib and a call from my midwife. She just wanted to check on me and see how I’ve been feeling. We discussed the reasons that I could still be feeling sick this late in my pregnancy. She (like my mom) believes that it’s because I’m having a girl. She explained that the hormones in your body can be drastically different for boys and girls. Some people feel fine when they’re having one and sick when they’re having the other. I will be having an ultra sound in the next few weeks to confirm her suspicions.

I felt nauseous again, so Dave got up and put Sam in the bed with me. He brought us some Cheerios (a gift from the LINK). We sat there on our 400 thread count sheets, playing and laughing in the air conditioning. He put Cheerios in my mouth and I made my hungry monster sounds as I ate them.

Dave came in to talk to me before he left for Tillaberri (an hour and a half away) to distribute more millet, maize and rice for famine relief. That’s when the nausea won, and I had to get up and run to the toilet (yet again).

Dave took Sam out to the living room while Amina prepared pancakes for Sam, Dave, and Jeremy (who is traveling with Dave today). Then she made me my favorite breakfast and brought it to me in bed. One pancake. 6 pieces of bacon brought to me by my thoughtful sister-in-law, Nicole (she is quickly becoming my favorite person on earth). and Earl Grey tea (my mother-in-law and my pal Jaime have both sent me this) with sugar that Amina had to walk down the street to buy for me.

I sat there in bed on my fancy sheets, in a cool room, eating my favorite foods thinking about all the people who love me. This afternoon I will make salsa from a recipe emailed to me by my friend Holly. For lunch we will eat grilled cheese sandwiches. The cheese was given to us by the Teagues. In a land where so many people have so little, there is nothing that I want or could ask for that someone wouldn’t be willing to send or provide me with.

Thank you, each of you, for all the prayers and love and food. This pregnant woman couldn’t be more grateful.

Since I have been in Niger, the number one thing that the non Christian person has asked me to give them (besides cadeau- which just means gift), is hands down a Bible. Frequently, when we travel in car- which is marked Assemblies of God- we are asked by guards, soldiers, and police. Even the guards at the American Embassy have asked us for Bibles. The sad thing is, we don’t have one to give them.

Bibles are expensive here, and very hard to find. Dan Ligon, our fellow missionary, had to go on a search to find one to buy us in French. Bibles are heavy and take up a lot of space to ship. Had we realized this would be an issue, we would have tried a little harder to buy some in the States to bring with us.

This problem is surprising to me. I thought, with all the great work being done by Christians here, that we would have easy access to copies of the Good Book, if not in the tribal languages, than at least in French. Luckily, we do have a salvation message to give out in the Book of Hope. [For more information on this go to bookofhope.net.] I definitely think something should be done about this, but I don’t quite know where to begin. The pastors here give Bibles to people once they are baptized. Most of the Christians have one. I’d just like to have them to give away to all the Muslim men who are requesting them. Seems like a good way to spread the good news.