Chez nous... (at our house)

Looking into our house today could be a bit overwhelming for some! (at times me included! ) But just so that you can know what our day is like I'll share a bit. We have toys strewn everywhere, and the girls are dressed up in various things: Kira and Elayna in hula outfits, complete with grass skirts. Elayna's is even topped with a bonnet that would do Laura Ingalls proud! Not sure how Laura would have felt about the bikini top accompanying it though...




In the midst of the chaos Silas happily jumps in his johnny jump up. He hops forward a few times until he reaches the end of the spring, lets himself swing back, and starts over. And over. And over. And over.









He has a new favorite person- our house helper Emilie! When she arrives each day he greets her with a big smile, waves, and now even gives her five. Yesterday while he was napping I left him with Emilie and took the girls to our neighbor's for play group. Emilie called to say he was awake, and when we got back home he was enjoying a ride on Emilie's back African style!

Oreo is loving the season with all the baby lizards hatching and coming out of the sand. She hunts them, catches them, and plays with them like a cat. Emilie calls her a "chat-chien" or "cat-dog." She still has way too much energy, and scares away the guy coming to read the electric meter. If only that meant we didn't have to pay that bill...

Kevin is gone on a flight. It's raining a bit, and near dark, so I'm hoping to get a text message soon that he has arrived back at the airport.

While he's been gone, the kids and I have been busy. Kira and I made carrot/zucchini muffins while the others napped. This has been a two week process believe it or not! You can't buy whole wheat flour here, but you can buy the wheat. So a couple of weeks ago Emilie went to the market for me. She bought a couple of kilos of wheat, and brought it home. The next step was about three hours of sorting out all the little tiny stones from the wheat. Once that was through, it had to be washed and spread on the tablecloth to dry for a couple of days. Once it was dry, it was put into a container to wait. After watching for awhile, I found some decent carrots, and the first good zucchini of the season a couple of days ago. So today Emilie and I tackled the project of peeling and grating (with my kitchen aid) 22 cups of the veggies. Before making the muffins, the flour also needed to be milled. You can go to local mills to have things ground, but if something exciting like hot peppers have been ground before your flour it can give your flour an exciting taste! We opted to use mill at home! Following that whole process we made a huge recipe of muffins and loaves. Now the freezer will have some yummy treats for awhile.

That gives you an idea of today. The biggest things I accomplished were a couple of games of Angelina Ballerina Uno and carrot muffins! But we've had a good day.

This month is the muslim fast of Ramadan. It's a sad thing to see so many people giving up eating and drinking during the day in hopes of earning Allah's favor. We often see people at prayer near the mosques and along the streets. But this month it's multiplied. It's hard enough when it's someone we don't know. But it made me so sad to see the friendly guard at the rec center stopping to do his prayers along the road. He always greets us with a big smile, and chats as he inspects our vehicle and opens the gate for us to enter the rec center. But until Ramadan I had never seen him stopping to pray at work. Pray for us to have opportunities to share, especially this month. Pray that we will find those who are hungry, not just from fasting but hungry for the Lord.

As the heat rises...

Well, it's back! What the local missionary crowd affectionately calls "mini-hot season" ( the month of October) has begun. I realize October is not here yet, but someone forgot to tell the weather! So our house is heating up more every day. It think it's about 92 F/ 33.5 C in here as I write. That may not sound hot to you, but most of the places we have lived you either have air conditioning, or it cools down somewhat at night. Not so here. In fact as I had my shower I was feeling the heat radiating into the room from the tile walls. This was AFTER the water had been beating on it for several minutes! We do have air conditioners in the bedrooms, but it's way too expensive to keep them running for long. As as soon as you turn it off, the heat rises again. Our electric bill is already more than our rent, so we only resort to the A/C when we need to sleep. It's hard to keep functioning as the temperature rises. Temperatures rise and tempers rise! It's hard to be patient with each other, and especially with the kids. We can't go to the pool EVERY day- too many things to do!

It's been fun having Amy and her baby daughter Claire (here for a month with husband/daddy Joe, to help SIMAIR,) over during the day. It is a great distraction from the heat, and encouragement to spend time with her! When we are each sitting and roasting in our individual homes it's a lot harder to be thankful! But together we can spend the day chatting, and sweating, and it's so much more fun! =)
I'm trying to come up with a list of things to be thankful for during hot season.
1) I'm thankful that I don't work in the hangar! No matter how hot it is here, it's hotter there in the "oven!"
2) I'm thankful that we live three minutes from the pool, and can get there often!
3) I'm thankful for cold water out of the fridge.
4) I'm thankful for kids who don't seem to notice the heat, and just keep on playing!
5) I'm thankful that Kevin just turned on the air conditioner for the night- I think I'd better go to sleep and enjoy it! Good night!

Cleaning out!

With a group garage sale coming up tomorrow, we are digging through our house and trying to get rid of things! There are so many things that we brought thinking we would need them. Now that we are here, they are either not useful, available here, or we brought too much for the time we are here. So instead of having a house full of things we are storing for no reason, we are hoping to share the wealth. =) Kevin, of course, is more that thrilled to see junk go. I, the packrat, have a little harder time letting go. But what if we need it someday...
But I'm frustrated with having no place to put everything, so even I am on board with this one. Off to see what else I can bear to part with!

The heat is back

After enjoying a few delightfully cool weeks (for here at least!) the temperature is going back up. The rainy season is petering out, and we are back to the oppressive heat. We enjoyed being able to cool our room down at night with fans in the windows. That's not so effective anymore, so it's back to the air conditioners when we just can't stand it anymore.

Our excitement over the imminent arrival of the plane was a little premature! It looked like all was set, but due to some mechanical problems, the company has decided they are going to change the engine before the plane comes out. So Bill turned around and went south again with the plane. Now it's back at JAARS in NC awaiting the arrival of the new engine. Jim didn't have to say goodbye to his baby quite yet! Now he'll have many hours of work to enjoy in the next few weeks.
Please continue to pray with us that the plane will get ready and out here as soon as possible! Many flight arrangements are having to be changed due to the plane not coming yet. Fuel prices have also gone up, and SIMAIR is having to raise its prices for the first time in many years in order to cover their costs.

The kids are all learning so many new things! This week Silas has gotten mobile. He scoots all over, and is no longer content to stay in one place. Elayna has decided that she is ready to potty train, and is making it fairly easy. Brynn and Kira are both really improving their swimming skills. So, despite the heat and the delay of the new plane things are going well, and we are having fun.

One fun thing about living here is the wild giraffes that live about an hour out of town. It's neat to walk up close and look at them.

These are granaries, where millet and other grains are stored.

With our book-loving gang, we spend a lot of time reading together each day. The girls love to do "school." Kira is just starting to read, and Brynn is having fun learning her letters. Elayna- well she just has fun in general!

Emilie helps us in our home for a few hours each day M-F.
She's a sweet girl, she works hard, and she's great with the kids.
I enjoy having her around and appreciate her help!

Sorry- he's in Timbouctou!

I love living in a place where I can have an experience like this: The phone rings. I answer it. A guy from the SIM Niger office is looking for Kevin. I reply, "Sorry, he's in Timbouctou today!" And it's true! With all the jokes about Timbouctou being the outer reaches of the world Kevin flies there often. And as one of our recent guests pointed out- it's closer to North America than we are! =D

As we start this new week, we are hoping for things to run calmly and smoothly... as least as much as they ever can with our gang! =) Last week ended up being extremely busy.

For Kevin, besides flying, the SIMAIR guys are in the process of cleaning and organizing the hangar. This is a huge task that is long overdue. They hope to get things somewhat in shape before the new plane gets here, and they start the paint project on the Saratoga. There will be extra people here helping, (Rendels, Freemans, and another former SIM Niger MK) and they want to be as organized as possible going into it. The paint project will not only involve painting the plane. ( a huge ordeal in and of itself!) It will be a time to do a lot of extra maintenance while it's not flying. With only one plane, it's hard to stop flying it for long! Other than the necessary regular maintenance and inspections to keep safe, there are things that need to be done occasionally. With the arrival of the new diesel plane they will be able to continue providing flight for missionaries, while doing some needed things on the Saratoga.

Speaking of the diesel plane... please continue to pray for its safe arrival! While the plane was in North Carolina the ferry pilot, Bill Scott, and Jim Rendel noticed a small potential problem. Hoping it was no big deal, the pilot watched it through the flight to Bangor, Maine. With the next legs of the trip involving long stretches over the ocean, and no place to put the plane down in case of trouble, they decided to go ahead and repair it before he left Maine. So the plane is delayed a few days while this issue is fixed. We want Bill- and the airplane- to be safe, so even though we anxiously await the plane's arrival, we're glad he is getting the problem fixed.

For me at home the week was busy in a different way. It was the first week of girls Bible study, so there was time involved preparing for that. They are a neat group of young ladies, and I can't wait to get to know each of them better during this year. Last week had several families eating meals in our home. We regularly have company, and really enjoy it. It just got a little busy when Emilie, our house worker, didn't show up for a couple of days! Now I know what you are thinking- I wish I had a maid! But there are so many things involved in just living here, I depend on her help! Imagine a day that your dryer is broken, (Emilie helps hang out our laundry, as we have no dryer.) your dishwasher is broken, (we don't have one!) and you are having company for the second day in a row. Add to that four kids four and under, several days laundry backed up due to the weather, dust that has blown in around all the windows, and a few other delaying factors, and you have my day! Normally that would be a busy day, but not overwhelming. But when you have to have all of this cleaned up and ready to serve someone else the next day, along with a list of other things needing to be done, it gets a little hectic. I'm not complaining- I love living and working here! Some days a nap would be nice though! =D Thankfully this week looks like it could be a little slower!

The plane is on its way!

After nearly a year of working and waiting, the new-to-us Cessna 182 diesel plane is on its way here to Niger! The pilot, Bill Scott, will be flying over the next few days, Lord willing to arrive safely here in about a week. The new plane should really help the aviation ministry here, by reducing flying costs for missionaries, and hopefully make flying an option for more people.

We can't wait to have the plane arrive! It will be a celebration at the hangar next week when we hear he's coming in!

With the time and care being put into getting this plane prepared and out here we could feel almost like it's the birth of a new baby. This has been a long "pregnancy" and we are ready for the imminent arrival! The difference is that Kevin was the one to do the work and feel the pregnancy pains this time! Ha ha!

Thanks for praying with us for the safety of the pilot, as well as the arrival of the plane!