following the LEADER

These photos were taken by the team members at camp.

Brookley is gone.  We are sad.  She left today with the team, and her departure was just as dramatic as our arrival.  Last night the team went to the airport only to find out that the air traffic controllers across West Africa are on strike and their plane would not be leaving.  Such is life here (although this is actually a very rare thing).  Today Brent, Dave and Saber are driving the team to Ouagadogo where Air France have negotiated a flight out. 

We are definitley sad to see the team go, but it will be nice to have a few low key days.  Krystal, who will be living with us, is staying at the Teagues this week to help Shelley and Beki prepare for youth camp.  So, the boys and I will be at home alone much of this week.  This is a very good thing because Sam is now sick with the fever that I had two weeks ago and we all have upper respritory infections.  Life on the go has taken its toll.  He’s on medicine now and much more himself than he was yesterday.  When the fever started we took him stright to the dr for medicine. 

Dave and Brent are spending the night in Ouaga tonight and will return tomorrow, but then they’re going to Maduwa to prepare for the construction team that arrives in two weeks.  On Monday youth camp starts and will last one week.  Then the following Monday a contruction team arrives and will be here for two weeks.  They will be spending probably half their trip building a church at Maduwa which is in the eastern part of the country. 

So, that’s our life in a nutshell.  There’s not a whole lot to report on the boys because we’ve been spending so much time away from the home.  Nathaniel, my little star, rolled over for the first time last week.  I have some pictures of them that Ashley of Sam took while the team was here.  I will try to add them to this post tonight, but right now we’re going to the pool.   

Here she is getting her hair braided by Amina.  With her departure, one chapter ends and another begins again. Although she’s not leaving for 2 whole weeks, the team arrives tomorrow, so we’re starting to get sad about her time drawing to an end. As I type this, she’s giving both my boys a bath. That’s right, I completely trust her with a two year old and a three month old in there by herself. That’s how good she is. She also made a chocolate cake today all by herself. (That means I also trust her completely with my kitchen aid mixer that Aunt Claudia got me as a wedding present. The very same one that recently traveled back to America with us for repairs caused in part because I let other people get their hands on it). She’s amazing and we love her. Sam calls her LEEEEEE.

Sam is doing well, and I know it has been way too long so I will take time now to give you the full update on his big-two-year-old-ness. He has many new words that correspond with this environment. Koowaide and Icetea, muwigan come, pool, and pool bus to name a few. A pool bus could be the long yellow kind or the African minivan type that our friend Dankarmi drives. You better believe he had a field day when he saw Eye-yie-yie driving a Pool Bus. He talks about that several times a day. We have also started the potty training process. Sam seems way ready for this. Mommy and Sammy sat at the table one day a week or two ago and made a big sign for Sam’s room out of construction paper that says Sam can use the potty! We’ve been putting his “Sam” stickers that Grammy sent on it every time he goes, and it’s really working. Today he went twice. I think I’m about ready to put him on the pot every hour or so. To our great joy Sam has also started singing. This morning while Dave and I were trying to get a few more minutes of shut eye, Sam was standing beside the bed holding the plug end of the cord of our unplugged lamp in his little hand as an impromptu microphone. Singing Mama-Ah, Ya Ya (that’s Dada)- Ah, Woa Woa (that’s mulligan’s nick name)- Ah. We both rolled over and just smiled at each other. How can we sleep through such a beautiful serenade?

Nathaniel is growing too.  He loves his tummy time and smiles and laughs at all of us.  Sam loves to kiss him and tells me every time he sneezes, cries, or does anything else very interesting.  Mulligan and Nathaniel adore eachother except when Mulligan barks at the visitors, that makes Nathaniel cry, but he hardly ever does.  Amina asked Dave today why white babies cry less than African ones.  I smile at that.  He’s just a good baby!

The last several days I have been pretty sick, and I won’t bore you with the details, but I must gush about Brookley again regarding this matter. She has saved me. Between her and Amina, I think I might just hop a plane to the Caribbean. I went to the clinic and got some medicine, and now I’m feeling way better.

Other events that have been fun for us all are….. eating pizza in the basement of La Piller (one of our favorite restaurants), had cokes one day on the terrace of the Grand Hotel looking at the best view on Niger River, Sam found a new kitten friend that lives at the Orphanage (oh yea, and we love seeing the kids there too!)

and while Sam was taking his nap Brookely and I made her a wrap skirt out of Nigerien fabric. The fun times keep rolling.

There has been a ton of work for Dave to do with the team’s arrival tomorrow, and we’re all excited for the change of pace. I’m so sorry about the lack of updates, but it’s been quite difficult without internet at our house. When we’re at the Teague’s house to use the internet, there are so many other things (like r

esponding to an overflowing inbox and checking on accounts) that updating just doesn’t seem to happen. I wrote a lovely update on the fourth of July that never got posted because the power went out. Maybe I’ll go ahead and put that one up as well. While the updates will probably be coming less frequent, I promise to try and make them more info-filled.

We miss our friends and family back home, and we don’t want you guys to feel left out of our lives. We’re happy and for the most part healthy. Keep up the prayers! With love. hj

Happy Fourth everybody. We’ve been having a great day. Since we’ve arrived, our power has been out more than it has been on. This has meant difficult sleeping, no internet, and very dark nights. I have to admit that we have had moments of frustration and have spent several afternoons at the American Rec center trying to escape the heat. But last night we had power almost the entire night and today we’ve had 12 straight hours without it going off. Spirits are high. We even had a rain this morning and Niamey is a balmy 80 degrees. Celebrate!

Sam has started going on a morning walk with Amina again, and now Brookley and I have been going with them. The man that runs the corner store/shack has a kitty that Sam likes to greet. He also insists on buying Millet cakes from the lady that sits on the corner. African pancakes Amina calls them. This morning we made play dough and Sam sat with Brookley at the kitchen table and played while I made a cake for our celebration tonight at the Teagues.

Nathaniel is doing well too. He’s starting to adjust to the heat. He’s smiling a ton and growing bigger and bigger each day.

We have definiately given Brookley a taste of true missionary life as we plan our meals around how long things will stay good with a thawing freezer and fridge.