Bandana Pants & Skirt

Isabelle's skirt and Caleb's pants were each made from 2 bandannas. My idea was to put 2 of the same color, but they wanted one red and one blue.
These were super simple to make. The skirt is 2 bandannas sewn together, with the top folded over for elastic.
The pants were copied from this pattern.
I should have made these before the 4th of July!

Isabelle turns 7!

Isabelle's birthday was July 15, but we had too much celebrating to fit into one day. She started partying Monday evening. Midhuna was leaving the next day, so we had her come over for cookies.
Wednesday evening we have our team meeting and celebrated with cinnamon rolls, pineapple upside down cake, peanut butter cookies, and brownies. After the meeting the Harveys and the Marshes stayed for supper. One of Isabelle's favorite present was some clothes from Isabelle Harvey that she had outgrown.

Of course, we had to have another little party on her actual birthday with some neighbors. Isabelle decided she wanted her birthday to last all year, but we had to draw the line somewhere!

4th of July

I wasn't planning to do anything special for the 4th of July, but Isabelle really wanted to have a party. We invited some of our neighbors to come over for lunch after church.
The food was different than any 4th of July celebration that I have attended.
We had the following:
mango juice
curry chicken (Midhuna made this Indian dish for us)
rice
homemade bread
spam and egg salad (canned "ham," boiled eggs, and mayo)
fried plantains
chips (a rare treat- you can't buy them here, they have to be made from scratch)
banana yogurt (also made from scratch)
brownies

We enjoyed the food and the time with friends.

Kelly

Isabelle was glad to see Kelly back.

Package

We love getting mail and today we had another fun mail day! May 26 we received 3 packages. We were so excited- can you tell? They were mailed at different times: January 14, February 6, and March 17. It's funny that they all came on the same day.
We got stickers, candy, books, stamps and more. Some of it was geared for Valentine's Day and Easter, but we enjoyed it just the same. :)
Thanks to Cut Bank Community Bible Church (especially Lowell and Bonnie), Paul & Doris, and Sarah for the mail.
After receiving those packages, we didn't get anymore mail until yesterday. On Thursday Stephen received a slip saying that we had a package at the post office. The kids and I went to pick it up today. They had mail for some of the other missionaries as well, so we got to deliver it. It's fun to see the excitement on everyone's faces when they find out they have mail.
We received a card my mom mailed in December, and a package she mailed July 3. It's crazy the way different things take different amounts of time. Sometimes the same person can mail things weeks apart, and we will get the second thing first. It's just another way that life here stays interesting.
Ian also got a small package from the Orts, and all the kids had a card from their cousins Jack and Joy Beth.
Thanks so much everyone for helping to make our day special!

Animals in the Road

When we moved from Balitmore to Montana, we invented a game to keep Ian occupied during the long days of driving. We called it "Animals in the Road." We would pretend there was and animal in our way, and describe it to him. He would try to guess what type of animal.

I was reminded of that today while we were out biking. We've seen a variety of animals in the road. There are always various insects, lizards, and a few snakes. There are usually a variety of goats, sheep, ducks, chicken, and dogs. Occasionally, we will see some cows in the road. Today was the first time we saw pigs in the road. I wish I had the camera with me!

Between the trucks, cars, motorcycles, scooters, bicycles, wheelbarrows, pushcarts, pedestrians, and animals driving or bicycling here is like an obstacle course.

We finished our last day of school yesterday. (Yay!) We should have more of a chance to be out and about now.

Today we rode bikes down to the mission to pick up the newest addition to our household- a white male kitten. The kids have named him "Blizzard." I'll put picture of him up when I have a chance.

Math Time

These pictures are from a couple of months ago. The kids are all working on their math. Caleb doesn't have any math yet, but he likes to draw in one of Isabelle's kindergarten math books or play with pattern blocks during math time.

Midhuna

Caleb and Friend

This little girl was with a patient in the hospital. She noticed our kids playing in the yard, and came to play with Isabelle.
On one particular day, Isabelle wasn't feeling well, and needed to stay in bed. The little girl couldn't understand why she couldn't stay with Isabelle.
Caleb was happy to fill in the gap and play with her. In spite of their difficulty in communicating, they had a lot of fun together.

One Day

Since moving here, we have discovered that no two days are really the same. We never have to worry about getting bored! Tuesday, May 25 was an especially interesting day.
Knowing that the day would be busy because of the arrival of the team from Liberty, I decided to start school a little early. We had a couple of hours of uninterrupted school time before things got busy.
Danielle came with the news that we needed to make a curtain for the bathroom in the guest quarters, which were in the process of being remodeled. Of course, sewing is much more fun than school, so I didn't mind taking on that project.
The kids were outside when they discovered some excitement at the Pharmacy Depot. (It's one of the sheds next to our house.) There had been some evidence of rats and Sarah and Suzy decided to try to find their nest. Fortunately or unfortunately, they were successful.
Sarah gave the kids the job of killing the baby rats with sticks as they ran away. There was much shouting and flailing with sticks, but the rats all ran to safety.
While the sewing machine was out, I made some adjustments to a bag that I had made for Danielle to carry on the plane.
Ciska came with the news that she purchased a big fish, but she couldn't bring it here on her bicycle. Suzy was able to help her out. She took Gloire (Ciska's assistant) in the truck to pick up the fish while Ciska finished lunch.

There are always lots of interesting things to see outside our door, but sometimes I am hesitant to take a picture. Ciska saw me call Isabelle over to see this particular lady, and asked if I wanted a photo. She called the lady and man over, and they were willing to pose for me. It always amazes me when I see what the women can carry on their heads!
After lunch, Ciska had a letter she needed delivered to the other side of the hospital compound. She was busy cutting up a giant fish, so Isabelle, Caleb and I set off to act as post man. While we were coming back it started raining, and we all got soaked! I changed into a dry outfit, but Isabelle and Caleb thought it would be a good time to use their swimming cover-ups.
I had a few minutes to spare, so I finished a apron that I was sewing for someone.
Finally, the group from Liberty arrived, and we had a chance to meet them. They had treats for us. :) The kids are holding some Nintendo and computer games. A few they bought with their Christmas money, and the rest were gifts from Stephen's parents.

As we were about to sit down for supper, we heard another truck pull up to the house. Ginny and Joan had just returned from speaking to women in a village about HIV. The women loaded them with gifts before they left- sugar cane, pineapple, plantains, bananas, and chickens. I had to get a picture of the chickens in the back of the truck. They shared the food with everyone at the mission compound and hospital compound. Ginny was happy to add the chickens to her flock. :)

After that, we had supper and got ready to go to bed. We needed to get some rest to face whatever the next day would hold!

Coyote- the mighty hunter

These pictures are from about 2 months ago. It was one of the first times that he killed a lizard. Since then he has grown, had several near death experiences, and killed many more lizards. He's usually thoughtful enough to leave us the tail, sometimes with part of a leg still attached.

Family Photos

I realized it's been a long time since I posted. We're all alive and well, just busy with this and that. Sometimes real life doesn't leave much time for the computer. :)
I hope to post some more over the next week and let everyone know what we have been doing.

Why I'm grateful for concrete floors...

I have had many opportunities to appreciate the concrete floors in our house, but this weekend gave me quite a few more.

Our water was out on Friday morning. This happens from time to time, but remedied when the generator is turned on. It pumps water from the well into the water tower, and then we have water again.

On this particular morning "someone" turned the sink on in the bathroom. Since there was no water, they did not bother to turn the sink off.

During our school time, the water came back on. When school was finished, the kids started picking up their things. Isabelle walked into the hall, and realized that their was water in the hall. There was about 1 or 1 1/2 inches on the bathroom floor, flowing out of the bedroom and into the hall.

Our mop is like a squeegee. I was using it to push water out of the back door. The kids found the process quite interesting.

The floor slopes in various places, so the water was only on one side of our bedroom, and there was nothing on the floor that could be ruined.

Isabelle found the situation so entertaining, that she wanted Ciska (our cook) to see. She showed her and Ciska basically took over the clean up. I felt guilty, but had to admit that she was much more effective than I was.

She took the dust pan and scooped water into a bucket. After she filled up one bucket she had Gloire (her assistant) take over. Gloire finished in no time.

The other thing that happened this weekend was that Isabelle had a stomach virus. She thought she was feeling better, and wanted a little to eat. She ate a little and ran for the bathroom. She didn't quite make it. Clean-up was easier on a concrete floor than it would have been on carpet.

There have been many other spills, leaky spots on the roof, and a hole in the bottom of the bathtub. It's pretty easy to clean them up.

I think maybe concrete floors are underrated in the US!

Mail Time!

We got a package from the Alliance Women in Baltimore. It made us feel really special.
The kids were super excited to open it up and see what was inside. (OK, I was pretty excited, too.)

There were birthday cards for the boys and myself, and Valentines Day cards for all of us. The `cards were all personalized with something we would like. Isabelle's card had felt flowers that she could take off and use, and Caleb's had some animals to color. (Thanks, Megan!)
There were lots of stickers and candy, which we are slowly enjoying. (We have to make it last.)
The package took about 3 months to get to us, but it was in good condition and all of the candy was good. If you have letters or packages on the way, I will be sure to let you know when they arrive. Things have been slow because of problems with the planes here, but that makes things that do come greatly appreciated.

Princess Party

Isabelle decided to have a princess party. We worked together, but she planned most of the things she wanted to do.
She invited all of the other girls and their moms. (Plus Danielle, because she doesn't have any girls.)
The invitations told everyone to dress up in fancy clothes. As you can see people got into the spirit of the party.
We painted fingernails and toenails, did crafts, and had cookies and juice.
Now Caleb has decided he wants an animal party. We will have to come up with something...

Update

We did get resupplied with gas yesterday, and we are now back to cooking on a stove and having a refrigerator.

Our New "Stove"

When I said I wanted a new stove, this wasn't what I had in mind.
We have been out of gas since sometime toward the end of March. For the last 6-7 weeks we have been cooking on a kerosene burner.
It actually isn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I will be glad to go back to using a stove. It's more work, and it's inconvenient because you can only cook one thing at a time.
I haven't been able to make bread during this time either, except for a couple of times in an outdoor wood oven.
The gas for our refrigerator lasted until last Monday. We have only had about a week without a refrigerator.
There is good news, too. The gas is here now, and this afternoon we should have things workign again.
Our real new stove came at the end of last week. Once the gas is here and hooked up, we will be using a 6 burner stove.
But we'll keep the kerosene burner just in case.

Animals

All over town there are sheep and goats. The look the same except that one has a tail pointing up and the other a tail pointing down. I can never remember which is which.
We have to be careful while riding bikes not to hit them. It can be a little tricky at times.
The cat is Dash's replacement. He was gone when we got back from Brazzaville, but the Harvey's had another batch of kittens. This one is named Coyote Jack, and he likes to climb on the burglar bars just like dash did.
Caleb says that he likes him better than Dash. He loves to be around the kids, and follows them around when they are outside.

A Typical Morning

I've begun to realize that there is no such thing as a typical morning here. My goal is to do school from 8:00-11:00 AM with a 30 minute recess at 9:00.
This morning started a little slow. Last night, we were at a friend's house for Bible Study, and got to bed a little late.
Mama Melanie (the lady who does our laundry) came about 8:00, and we started school about 15 minutes later. After that, many things seemed to happen this morning. Thank goodness Stephen (finally) had a day off!

- Our stove was out of butane, and there were no more tanks in the storage shed. I had to make a couple of phone calls to try to figure out if we could get one. (We couldn't.) Then when our cook and her assistant came, I got to explain it all in French (along with trying to figure out how many people would show up for lunch today- 9 adults and three children.)
- Coyote Jack (our cat) got locked in one of the sheds close to our house, and I had trouble opening the door. Stephen was able to get him out.
-Caleb discovered that he had a huge cockroach in his chair. I'm glad Stephen was here to handle that excitement.
- Two young women showed up looking for "Mama Ginny." I don't think they spoke French, but maybe they were shy. Mama Melanie speaks some French, so she helped me figure out what they wanted. After calling Ginny to come to our house, she realized (with Mama Melanie's help) that they were looking for jobs cleaning, but we had no openings. Ginny went back to praying with patients and I went back to school.
-Our water went off.
-On top of all of that, a NGO is using the chapel for some training. They seem to be taking more breaks than anything else, so they are milling about or sitting under trees all around. (Not that they are bothering us, but it is one more distraction.)


Finally, it was 10:00, and we decided to give up on math, and take a break for our "petite party." I bought Coke and Fanta Orange to celebrate Stephen's first day off in a couple of weeks. We shared it with the three ladies working, and had some time just to talk together.
And then, of course, recess. Maybe the rest of the day will be normal and boring. . . . .

Update

Isabelle picked out this cloth while we were at the market one day. Ciska (our cook) made the outfit for her. She only charged about $4. The wrap type skirt is what women wear here most of the time.

It has been awhile since I posted. We have been doing well lately, just busy. We enjoyed our trip to Brazzaville, but it was a little longer than we had planned due to airline issues. We returned Sunday, March 7, and Stephen went back to work that afternoon & evening.
He started call the next day, and has been on call all but three days since then. (Dr. Harvey had an unexpected but necessary trip to Brazzaville. He should return today, and Stephen will have a bit of a break.)
The rest of us are doing well, just busy catching up on things after being gone, plus the usual- I'll spare you the boring details.e to
It hasn't all been work. We've had some time to play, too. I hope to post some of our recent pictures this weekend. :)
I seem to have caught a cold, and my throat is too scratchy to do all of school today. I'm letting the kids watch a movie, while I try to catch up on a few other things. (like blogging.)

Company Girl Coffee- Visit from the Ambassador

Our excitement this week was a visit from the US ambassador to the Republic of Congo. He met with various officials, had lunch at the Harvey's house, and did a tour of the hospital. After that he (and the group with him) came to our house for a drink and snack before heading back to the plane to Brazzaville.

The picture above shows the group beginning the tour. The picture below is most of the group posing for a picture in front of our chapel.

It was at some point this week that I realized our kids are not having a normal childhood. I don't know why I had not thought about that before. Maybe it is just that we do so many things that seem normal, like school, eating, hanging out together. However, they seem to be enjoying themselves.

What do you do with the laundry when it rains?

You hang it up inside, of course! We have clotheslines in all of the bedrooms, but there was too many clothes. We had them hanging everywhere. After it stopped raining, I put them back outside, brought them in the evening, then put them back out the next morning. Fortunately, there was no rain the second day, and everything dried.

Making Your Home a Haven

This week the focus was on chores. I've been working on building them into our routine. The main bulk of the housekeeping work is done by Melanie, who cleans two days a week and does laundry two days a week.
Things here get dirty very fast. All surfaces have to be washed every week. This includes windows, doors, door frames, shelves, desks, and everything else. The walls even have to be swept. I'm very glad to have Melanie's help or I would never be able to keep up with it myself!
The smaller things the kids and I take care of ourselves. I do some things before they are up in the morning. Then we all have morning clean-up right before breakfast. They pick up toys, books, clothes, and shoes. Sometimes they sweep or put away laundry. I wash breakfast dishes, and make sure the kitchen is clean.
Before lunch and after supper, we have similar pick up times for the kids. I also have them help me bring in the laundry in the evening on laundry days. If it is dry, we will fold it and put it away. Other times, we put it on the indoor lines to dry. The next morning, it goes back outside if still wet, or folded and put away if dry.
When I think a little extra motivation is needed, I will set the timer and we race to see who can finish first. Suddenly, what was a boring task becomes a fun game as we try to be the first one done.
Having everything written on our schedule has helped so much. It helps the kids know what is coming at certain times, and it helps to keep me on track, too.

I didn't have any pictures of us doing chores, but this one was too cute to resist.

We went for a bike ride on Wednesday. Dash did not want to be left behind. At first, he was sitting on my bicycle tire. After I made him get down, he tried to climb in the bike trailer with Isabelle and Caleb.

When we returned from our ride, this is where we found him. I had to take a picture.

I seem to have a talent for closing my eyes in almost every picture. This was the only one that I got of us in our aprons together, though. I made my apron on Monday and Tuesday, and Isabelle's today. Here we are wearing them for the first time, just before we mixed up bread together.

Bike Ride