Catch up News

It's been a while since I last wrote. There's a lot to catch up on. I guess that's part of the reason I haven't written. We've been busy. Since Nazinga we have had two of our kids leave with their French adoptive parents, had a friend come visit for a few days, we currently have a drill team here drilling a deep deep clean water well for us(called a forage), I got sick, and we had a surprise party for Nichole because she leaves tomorrow for the States. Her time here is up. These are just the big things that have been happening...not to mention all the little day to day things that make life here interesting. For example, Alfonsine (or Sina for short), an eighteen month oldish who is not yet able to walk, is now able to find me no matter where I am. When she sees me, she crawls and scoots over workers, babies, toys, and any number of other obstacles that might be in the way to get to me. And when she gets to me she, sits near me with her hand on my leg, very possessive like, and screams when other kids try to touch me. If I don't have a baby in my arms already, she will most likely try to crawl into my arms, which sometimes I let her and sometimes I don't. You have to be careful with Sina because if you pick her up and then put her down, she screams. And its not a typical baby cry. It's a bloody murder scream. It's horrible. We pray for her because of it.

The big things: Mathieu and Mariam are in France or on their way there with their new families. The moms and dads came last week to pick them up. They were kind and M & M were ready for them. We had talked and talked about their parents coming. They were as ready as two three year olds can be for a new life in a new country with new people. It was pretty amazing to see them with their families. Things are pretty quiet without those two...especially Mathieu. It's going to take some getting used to. Our Peace Corp friend, Corey, just came for a short visit. He went with us on our camel-riding adventure in Gorom-Gorom. He was on his way to Ouaga to catch a plane to the States for Christmas and had a few extra days and decided to visit. It was good to see him. It's encouraging to see how God is using him in his village while he is here with this government organization. Friends In Action is here drilling a well for us. We have a well, but it's not clean water and it dries up during the dry season. We have city water currently but it's expensive when you use as much water as we do(45 kids!!) so with this new well that is so deep the water is clean, we won't ever have to pay for water again because the well won't run dry!!It's pretty loud and dusty but the kids are having a good time watching the drilling.

I GOT SICK! For the past three weeks or so I have been feeling flu-like off and on. Some days I would feel horrible and then I would be fine. Sometimes it was with in hours that I would feel bad and then good again. And I was often tired. Tuesday Dec. 11 was Independence Day here in Burkina. The whole Northern Region celebrated here in Yako. The governor came and there was a big parade....and I was about to faint before Lynn caught me and sat me down in a chair. It was decided that I needed to go to the doctor. There is a Belgian doctor in Ouaga who works with some of the missionaries that we know, so we decided to go see him. He found that I had really low blood pressure (One doctor said "Was she in a wheelchair?!!" I wasn't...I was walking!) He ran some blood work and found I had some weird lymphocytes or something and also something with my liver. He said these were indicative of a viral infection like Mono or CMV. He didn't know about the BP. So he had me stay over night in Ouaga and drink Cokes to get my BP back up and he let me go home the next day, telling me I needed to rest. So that's what I'm trying to do now. Which is kind of hard because sometimes I feel fine, and sometimes I feel not fine.

MY FAMILY IS COMING IN TWO DAYS!!!! So I really hope I'm feeling more fine than not by then. But you never know because these viral things can last for while. I'm so excited to see my family. It will be good to have them here and see what I've been doing. They are also planning on helping me set up some things in my new house...I'm renting a house! We decided it was probably the best decision seeing as we have visitors all the time and it is tiring to have visitors in your house and space all the time. I'm glad they come, but it would be nice to have my own space as well, and having my own house will hopefully allow for that.

Nichole is leaving for the States tomorrow night. We had a surprise party for her with the big kids last night. It was a lot of fun. I made a slideshow of pictures from her year here, the kids made her cards, and Lynn made cookies and had games and hosted the party! She was surprised and the kids had a great time. I'm really going to miss her. She's become like a sister to me and things won't be the same without her. I'll start crying if I say anymore.

That's just a brief update on all that's going on over here...hope the snow and ice and cold weather is treating you all well!! :) Merry Christmas!

Elephants, monkeys, and more...

I've just arrived back in Ouaga after a two day trek to South Burkina, a 200-acre national park called Nazinga. This national park is home to approximately 500 elephants, and lots of baboons, monkeys, antelope and other such looking creatures, crocodiles, lions (that are never seen, only carcasses are come upon every so often), wart hogs...everything you would want to see in Africa except for giraffes. There aren't any giraffes in Burkina.

Nichole, Lynn, and I left Friday morning and arrived sometime around three. Its about a 4 1/2 hour drive from Ouaga. It's only about 30 km north of Ghana.

The first afternoon we were tired and wanted to rest before heading out on a "ballad" (a trip through the park to see animals....like a safari). We dropped our stuff off in our bungalows (very simple one room with bathroom) and went outside to look around. Nichole was the first to see any wildlife...monkeys running across the road. About fifteen of them. It was incredible. They just kept jumping off of the tree next to the road and sprinting across. We walked down the road and took a lot of pictures, although they didn't turn out the best because they blended in so well with the trees and dry grass. Southern Burkina looks a little more like Missouri in the fall than it does Africa. Except for the trees are quite a bit more spectacular than anything we have in Missouri. It smelled like fall. It was a lovely smell.

After watching the monkeys for awhile we headed over to the observatory. A little outdoor "room" next to a lake making looking for and watching animals easy. As we surveyed our surrounds we found our first elephants. They were across the lake and we couldn't see them very well except for when they moved...but it was so amazing to see! We weren't at a zoo. These elephants are free to go wherever they want whenever they want. They are not fenced in or kept on the park grounds in any way. There is a small village nearby that has trouble cultivating their fields because of the elephants...I can't imagine saying "My crop got ruined again this year because of the elephants." How bizarre!!

The next morning we had a 6:30 AM appointment with a guide who took us around the park. We had not been on the road for more than five minutes when we spotted elephants. Probably 100 feet from our car. They were RIGHT there. Just eating. About five of them. One of them started walking towards us and so we back up and he turned around and kept walking with the others.

Our guide later told us that there is one elephant in particular that all the guides know. If he sees them coming he deliberately blocks the road forcing them to find another path and has been known to charge vehicles. But mostly they leave humans alone.

We continued and saw a lot of deer/antelope animals running and sitting and eating. They are beautiful. Some have black faces and black legs and crazy horns that are striped. Its beautiful.

We saw some baby warthogs.

We came upon a family of elephants and we stopped and watched as they made their way across the road. The last one started to make his way towards us just as we were starting to move again. All of a sudden he raised his truck and trumpeted us. It was so scary!! He was huge and we thought he was going to charge us, but it was more like a warning to get away from his family. He was nice enough to let us watch and take pictures but now it was time to move on.

When we got back to our bungalows Nichole was looking down the road again and this time saw baboons!!! We hadn't known to be looking for them! When we first heard about Nazinga we thought it was just all elephants...no idea that we would be seeing so many animals.

We spent some time at the observatory and saw a lot of elephants bathing....the little ones playing, pulling each other under water with their trunks. It was like watching National Geographic in real life....because of the terrain I kind of felt like I was just sitting on the edge of the Lake until I looked across the water and saw an elephant! It was so surreal and amazing.

Lynn saw a crocodile. That was a little freaky. I saw the nose of one as he swam across the lake...that was scary enough. Apparently they've eaten a guides dog.

We went out again on a "ballad" and saw a lot of baboons...I think their red butts are redder out in the wild than they are in the zoo.

I think that was the craziest thing the whole time was that these animals are wild...this is where they live...and we are allowed a little glimpse into that.

The closest town to Nazinga is called Po. It's a fun city. Pretty. As we were driving down the road through the town all three of us thought and then later said that when we thought of Africa this is what we thought it would look like. Not that Yako doesn't "look" like Africa...but Po had something about it that fit our imaginations of Africa better than Yako.

I'm missing the kids...Deborah is home from the hospital!! Looking like a real baby. Beautiful. But it was good to get away and spend some time with Lynn and Nichole (who is leaving in 25 days!! It will be a sad sad day!!!)

My family will be here in less than a month and I can't wait to see them!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a note to say HAPPY THANKSGIVING to everyone!!!!!!
I hope you eat a lot of turkey and enjoy your families and friends and take a good nap; and I hope that the football games are good and eat some pumpkin pie (with whip cream!) for me!!
I'll be at an American missionary's home with some Americans that I have yet to meet, and for dessert we are going to the American Embassy. In between we have a lot of work to get done (Deborah is coming home from the hospital!!) and so I don't think it will feel much like Thanksgiving...which maybe is a good thing....

Baby News

About three weeks ago we received a new baby, Deborah. She was six days old and premature. She was tiny. She wasn't eating a whole lot and not gaining weight. While we were in Gorom she was treated for thrush (which I'm not really sure about, but it's a bacterial thing in the mouth and babies who have it have a hard time eating) and they (our nurses) put a feeding tube in her. The feeding tube was removed shortly after we returned, but she still wasn't eating a whole lot. There are six other babies in that room and she wasn't getting the attention that she needed. As we talked about our concerns for her we realized that if she was at home she would be in the NICU and have individual attention 24/7. I weighed her the other day and she weighed 3 1/2 pounds. She is TINY. I decided that I would take her in. That I would be her "mom" and she would sleep with me and go with me wherever I went because she needed it. That was Thursday. I spent the afternoon feeding her every hour or so and changing diapers. There wasn't much time for anything else. Thursday night came and I was up most of the night feeding her, changing her diapers and cleaning up after she threw up twice. Once was all over my bed and so I had to sleep on the floor...It was a long night. But there was grace. I prayed a lot. For myself and for her. She is just so small and weak. Her little cry sounds just like a cat meowing. In the morning, Lynn came over and said that in the middle of the night she remembered that there is a hospital for premature babies in Ouaga. We called, and while they can't take her for a long time (they only take babies who are less than a month old and she is a month), they did say that we could bring her up for a few days. We took her and one of our caretakers, Pauline, to the hospital yesterday. It was clean!! And the nurses were kind and there were pictures on the walls...all good signs that they will do what they can for her. I feel relieved that she is there with people who actually know what to do with premature babies. None of us had any idea what to do. I'm still a little unsure...a little unsettled. We probably should have brought her there before now. Like when she first came. So I'm praying for Jesus to show His faithfulness in her life. We had another new baby, her name is Safi...something. I can't ever remember it. She came while we were in Gorom and had all sorts of things wrong with her. She had a cut in her mouth and down her throat so she couldn't eat, and she had sores all over her head. She couldn't close her mouth all the way (not because her cheeks were too fat which is the case with one of our other babies, Perpetue). Her family told us she wasn't sick, but it was obvious that she was. While we were gone, they took her to Dr. Zala (I think I've mentioned him before. He is an amazing man who loves Jesus and children which is a rare thing to find in a doctor here). He did what he could and sent her home. Yesterday Nichole spent a lot of time with her because she was starting to become more and more worried about her, but we didn't know what else to do since she had already seen Dr. Zala. I slept in a little bit this morning (seeing as I didn't sleep well the night before and I spent all day yesterday running around in Ouaga) and as I was waking up and still lying in bed Nichole came in and told me that the worker in Safi....'s room and our night guard came and woke herup (by tapping on the window) at six this morning because she had died. It doesn't make a lot of sense because she didn't seem like she was dying-sick. And the worker said that she had eaten during the night(which, I know just because someone is dying it doesn't mean they can't eat...) it all just seems weird and surreal. Babies die so easily here and it's hard...it always seems like we should have done more....but being here in Africa there's not much more we could do in any of these situations.
On a lighter note, five of our kids got baptized today! It was held at this lake-type thing on the outskirts of town. A lot of churches were involved, and so we got to watch about thirty or so baptisms. It was beautiful. Our kids were really excited (Pauline, Ange, Lazar, Michel,Marcel).
Everything is brown again. It turns brown just as fast as it all turned green. And the weather is finally cooling off. We laughed the other day because Nichole and I were wearing T-shirts (with sleeves...normally it's too hot for sleeves) and feeling very comfortable...almost a little chilly. Our visitor was saying how she was so hot and she was sweating.We looked at a thermometer that she had brought (ours is broken) and it was 82ish degrees!! hahaha!! I guess my body has acclimated to the heat when I think that 82 degrees is almost chilly. I have a blanket on my bed now (just a thin fleece) and I usually wear socks to bed. Our kids are actually wearing clothes now and they all look adorable. Its so fun to see them in clothes (most of the time they just run around in their diapers because its too hot.
I can't believe Thanksgiving is in two weeks!! We are going to go into Ouaga and eat with some American missionaries and then head over to the American Embassy for dessert....Not quite like home, but we will still get to celebrate and that's exciting. I don't know if I said this before or not...but Ruth has gone home for the next few months. So it's Nichole and I here. Lynn helps us out a lot in making decisions...but mostly it's Nichole and me. Its not an easy job....it's only been a week so I'm thinking that it will get easier...

Camel Ride & A Night on a Sand Dune

I just got back from a mini-vacation that was much needed. Nichole and I, along with four other twenty-somethings who live in Burkina or have lived in Burkina and were visiting, made a four hour treck to the city of Gorom-Gorom in the Sahel Desert which is apparently the desert just south of the Sahara (I didn't know there was a desert just south of the Sahara...I thought the Sahara was it...) We had an amazing time.

Before going, Nichole knew one of the four people we were going with. He is a missionary here with the Baptist Mission working out of Bobo, a city in the South. We met him at the airport one time and have kept in touch. He's come to visit several times; and we meet up in Ouaga when we are there. Nichole and Ruth went to visit him in Bobo before I got here...He is the one who set the trip up. His girlfriend was here visiting. She was living in Burkina with the Baptist Mission about four years ago in a village for two years. The other two were Peace Corps volunteers. They are the only Christians in the group of volunteers that they came with and have since become good friends because of that. They both live pretty far from us in the south somewhere.

Being able to be with peers was amazing. I didn't realize how much I missed it. We were able to talk about our experiences in Burkina and what Jesus is teaching us. One guy brought his guitar, and we were able to worship and pray and read the Word together. It was refreshing to my soul. It was beautiful and restful. And now we (and soon to be I seeing as Nichole is leaving in about a month and a half and I will be the only twenty something white person in Yako) have friends in Burkina. We exchanged phone numbers and have been texting each other some and plan to get together over Thanksgiving weekend and whenever we are both in Ouaga.

Not only did I come away with new friends and a rested and refreshed soul, I came away from Gorom with a story that very few will ever be able to tell.

We went on an overnight camel ride. It was incredible!! We got on our camels around 830 in the morning and started our ride into the desert. We were in the middle of nowhere, and it was beautiful in a barren desolate way. I'm not sure if it makes sense. Maybe it's just something that you have to see....It's quiet and the sky is cloudless and blue and the trees are sparse and the grass is tall and golden and waves in the dry wind.

My camel, who I named Mel until later when I named him Rough Rider, was in fact a ROUGH ride. I don't think he knew how to run. Or walk really. It was soooooo bumpy and I was leaning to the side and he tripped a lot and I thought I was going to fall off so many times. Everyone else was like "yeah, its pretty bumpy and I'm leaning too" but no one seemed as concerned about it as me...Eventually one of the guys offered to switch camels when we stopped for lunch. We stopped about 5 km from where we were going to spend the night. We stopped and ate lunch and our guides filled up their water bottles at a well. We can't drink well water. There wasn't a pump nearby (water we can drink)...the pump was 5 km away...next to the place we were going to be sleeping. We had all only brought one bottle of water and this was nearing empty for all of us. We were in the desert. It was hot. We ate lunch and tried to rest a little bit but finally decided we needed to get going or we were all going to die of thirst. Our guides got up and saddled our camels again. They took us to water. I was on a different camel this time, and I could immediately tell a difference. The guy who took my camel could tell there was something not right with him (so that made me feel better. It wasn't just me!!) We traversed the desert and came to a small village with a pump with about fifteen children standing around. They were so excited to see us, and we were so excited to see the pump!!! That water was so sweet!!! I now have a little bit of an idea of what the Bible talks about when it talks about Jesus being living water and thirsting after Him and those kind of things. We were really dehydrated and that water was amazing. It revived us all. We walked a few more meters and came to a sand dune. We went up the sand dune with our camels and had some mats laid out for us. This is where we slept. On the top of a sand dune. No tents...just the stars. It was beautiful.... and freezing cold. Although we realized later that it was probably in the seventies...But when you are used to temperatures over a hundred everyday, temperatures in the seventies are pretty cold. We doubled up sheets that we had brought and Nichole and I slept as close together as we possible could. One of the camels slept about ten or fifteen yards from us. That was a little scary. We both were wondering what would happen if the camel came over and stepped on our heads...hahaha it's kind of morbid I know. But its what we were thinking. Before sleeping though we had a great conversation about Jesus and Galatians and Proverbs; and we had a great time of prayer. There was a cook along with us and he made us African style spaghetti with a chicken. Here in Burkina people eat with their hands, and they all eat from the same bowl. Plates and spoons are saved for special occasions. So we were given a huge bowl of spaghetti and a bowl of water (no soap!) to wash our hands. We circled up and dug in with our right hands (left hands aren't allowed!!) There was such a sense of community and intimacy as we ate by flashlight with our hands out of the same bowl. We had all eaten with our hands and out of the same bowl as Africans before but never before with all white people whom we had just prayed and shared our hearts with. It was beautiful. We slept well and watched the sunrise in the morning. We got back on our camels and headed back to Gorom. The ride back was so much better than the ride there because of the camel exchange. We were all hurting pretty badly but even still I was much more comfortable, and this time it was everyone else who was complaining about the bumpiness of the ride.

When we got back to Gorom it was time to head for home...and it was sad. None of us were really ready for our trip to be over.

On a side note, I would just like to say that my French has begun to mingle with my English; and we here often find ourselves saying things like "how do we say that in English?" Or we throw French words into our English sentences. We speak a kind of Franglais (French-English) with one another and it's pretty fun. And weird that it's sometimes hard to speak my own language sometimes...I'm saying this because its funny and because if you read words in my blogs that aren't normally used in English or I use a phrase that no one ever says it's because I've just translated the French into English because I don't remember how we say it in English...and then you can laugh at me. It's funny.

Nichole and I are here running the orphanage now...Ruth has gone home. It's been two days. So far....its ....ok. I'll write more on that later.

A New Family Is Made

This week we had one of our two year olds, Assya, adoptive parents come to pick her up. Her parents are Italian. Mom spoke English and dad spoke French so we were able to communicate with them, but it was difficult to remember what language to speak in.

Assya is a girl who is full of life. She's crazy. Running and smiling and talking (no words) and hitting other kids/taking things from them. She's not shy or reserved in anyway; but the last month and a half or so she hasn't been her self. She kept getting sick, and we think because of that she hasn't yet regained her strength. Her mom and dad asked if she was always so serious, and we said "NO!" We tried to encourage them to take her to a doctor when they got home...Doctors in Italy can do a lot more than the doctors in Burkina can.

Watching this family come together was one of the most beautiful things I've been a part of. They were so excited to meet their daughter. She was a little wary of dad at first but warmed up to mom right away. It only took her over night before she warmed up to dad.

She's been in the orphanage since she was two months old. She's never had the kind of one on one attention that most babies get, so we couldn't/can't imagine how new everything is for her. She slept in their bed, sat on mom's lap to eat, was held when she cried, rocked to sleep...everything is different.

They stayed for a few days and left yesterday. We exchanged contact info so we can stay in touch, and they can send us pictures of Assya as she grows...It's such an exciting thing! It's so wonderful that she has a family! She's going home to Italy where two older brothers are waiting for her. I had tears in my eyes about a hundred times the day they were first introduced. So beautiful...

On a not so fun note, I'm not sure that I've mentioned this but I feel I should, and if I have, forgive me. They are talking famine here. The rains haven't come for much too long (I can't remember the last time it rained) and most of the millet is spoiled. We can see the spoiled millet. As I look at my window writing this I see it; as I drive down the road going anywhere, I can see it. It's not good. There are relief agencies outside of Burkina that have begun to contact the country asking for different ways that they can help. It's a national problem.

There was a famine a few years ago and apparently this year's famine is not going to be as a bad. A man said that this year he will be able to fill one thing (I can't remember what they call them...but they are like our silos, only not nearly as big) of millet when he normally fills three...for the entire year. So it will be bad. Not as bad as it could be, but bad enough.

It's hard to know how to feel. I don't understand famine. How can there not be enough food? That's not something that we ever (in America) have to deal with. And me living here, I still won’t have to deal with. I will, thanks to those of you who support me, have money enough to buy food; but I will see it. If I stay for another year, I will see the families who don't have enough to feed themselves much less their children; and here it is the children, the youngest, who suffer the most. The adults will eat before the children do. We will see a lot of malnourished children, because families won't feed them or because mom isn't getting enough to eat, she can't give her baby enough milk.

I can't even imagine what must be going through the heads of the people here. But this is life for them. They have an opportunity to trust the Lord in a way that Americans will not be able to understand as long we have more than enough.

Jeanette Is Home

Just a quick note to let everyone know that Jeanette is back at home with her family!! Her father was contacted and is now being required to pay child support!! This is great news for both mom and daughter. Mom was glowing when she heard the news! So now we just have six babies in the big baby room and six in the small baby room and eight in the toddler room. Things are pretty quiet and much less chaotic than they were all summer when we had ten babies in the big baby room.

Assya's parents from Italy are coming this week to get her! I'm sure that's going to be an amazing experience.

A Day Like No Other

This is going to be a long blog. And it’s not going to tell you a whole lot about how I'm doing, but Saturday was the most ridiculous day I have ever had. In my entire life. I will remember it forever, and I'm so glad that Nichole was there to experience it with me.

Saturday was the proposal of our (the orphanage’s) seamstress. Her name is Dina. In Burkina, you have a big party when you are getting engaged. The engagement becomes official at the party (not like at home where we might have a party a few weeks after the engagement.) Here, you are not engaged until you have this party. Nichole and I decided that we wanted to support Dina and to see what it was like.

I'm going to preface the story of this day with a few things. #1 Nichole and I had wanted more "African" experiences. We don't live a very village life and have wanted to experience that more. #2 We had a way to get to the party but we didn't know how, exactly, we were going to get back. We had a room reserved in Ouaga at one of the missionary guesthouses...so as long we could get back to Ouaga we would be fine.

Dina's father is Pastor Job. If anyone has heard me talk about Zolo, then you have heard me mention Pastor Job. He's an amazing man. He offered to lead the way to the village where this party would be taking place. He wanted to leave on the six o’clock AM bus on Saturday. We were going to swing by his pastor friend's house around 5:50 AM to pick him up and go to the bus station together (Ruth was going to drive us.) So Nichole and I roll out of bed. Still groggy and don’t have anytime to eat anything. We get in the truck at 5:52, and the truck won't start. The clutch is out. So Ruth says "Start walking. I'll call Pastor Job. He has farther to go than you do." The bus station is about a fifteen-twenty minute walk from our house (orphanage.) So we start booking it as fast we can that early in the morning with sleep still in our eyes. We make it to the station at 6:15. There are no waiting buses and no Pastor Job. We reassure ourselves that he had farther to go than us and that he would not leave us without letting us know...we found a seat and waited for about half an hour. He finally showed up, saying that he had looked everywhere for us...which is funny because we were the ONLY white people at the bus station (it's a very spread out place). We ask about prices and discover that we are going to take a not-as-nice bus because it is about a dollar cheaper (and a dollar is a lot to these people) we get on the bus at 7:30 and start to head for Ouaga where we will change buses. We almost leave Denise, Dina's sister in Yako because she almost didn't make it to the bus in time. I ate a granola bar as soon as we got on the bus (THANKS, JENN!!!) because I was starting to get hungry. Around 9 the bus stops to pick up some more people and we buy some bread and we continue on to Ouaga.

We get to Ouaga and we need to find a taxi to take us to the next bus station. Pastor Job gets in an argument with a taxi driver about the price. He wants to charge us about four times more than he should because Nichole and I are American (we started feeling bad about this)...so we walk a few blocks and find another taxi that isn't quite so unreasonable. Pastor Job brought his moto so he follows the taxi. We get to the bus station and are assaulted by people asking where we are going. We wade through the people, find some shade, ignore the people, and wait for Pastor Job. He shows up about ten minutes later (I forgot to mention the day is starting to get VERY hot as it has been lately.) The boys who were swarming us are now swarming him telling him that there are no more buses going where we want to go (I still don't know the name of the village.) Finally a young boy takes Pastor by the hand and leads him to a very shady looking van. The boys admit that this van will take us where we want to go. They shove Nichole and I in the front where we are sweating to death because it’s so hot and the seats are leather and we are sitting very close together. We sit for about twenty minutes with what seems like nothing happening. They collect money from us (once again more expensive than it should be because of Nichole and I) which was a little worrisome...one should never pay before the ride has been given. Ten minutes later and nothing has happened. They tell us they need to repair the van (???? you didn't know this before???) and so we have to take a different bus. They give us our money back and flag down another van.

We are literally squished in this van. I was sitting on a fold out chair in the middle of the aisle with Nichole in between some old women. This van stopped frequently to pick up more people. Someone was sitting on the dashboard. There were bikes, motos, chickens, and people sitting on the ROOF of the van. OUTSIDE. We see it all the time here but I've never been in a van that had people on the roof. Finally we get to the village. Pastor calls Dina to come get us but he doesn't have reception (everyone has cell phones here) so we take the moto of another pastor friend. I'm on the moto with Pastor Job and Nichole is on Pastor's moto with Denise. Denise almost kills herself and Nichole and then kills the moto twice. It takes about ten minutes before we are actually on the road. It's probably about 11:30. There is a van full of people who are following behind us. Pastor Job and I get to the courtyard where Dina is and look behind us. Nichole and Denise are no where in sight. I greet Dina and her family as is culturally appropriate...and then we see two guys on the moto and the van stops and drops off Nichole and Denise. Apparently she really didn't know how to drive it and so the people in the van decided to take pity on Nichole!

Dina took us to her "room" it was a little tiny mud hut with a door about three feet tall. We had to hunch done to get inside (the party was at the courtyard of her grandfather...so this was like a guest room.) She told us to stay put, so we stayed inside the hut until we were bored. She told us we could go sit out under this huge tree. So we did. The tree was next to the road and we saw the huge van full of people. Dina then informed us that the van was full of Gideon (her now fiancé) and his family. Slowly, and I mean slowly, they started making their way up to the tree. Dina told us we were their reception. So we stayed and greeted them. There were about thirty of them. Dina came out and greeted them along with her father and some other family members (her mom and her FIVE other sisters were not in attendance.) Dina did not look at Gideon because apparently on the day of engagement they are not allowed to be seen by the other, talk to each other, be in the same room... which is very weird; and we didn’t' really understand why they do it this way. She served them a drink called zookume that’s really not very good, but the Burkinabe love it. Then she left.

Nichole and I stayed and chatted with the family for a little while until they started getting up and leaving. Gideon told us they were leaving and we were so confused. We thought it was over....and nothing even happened!!! It's getting into the hottest part of the day now and we are thirsty and still have not eaten anything since 9. Dina came out a few minutes later and we asked her where everyone went. She told us they went to greet another pastor and asked if we wanted to go...we said "we want to do what we are supposed to do...we don't know." She took us to the pastors...about a five minute walk (this is the most bush-setting I had ever been in. It wasn't a village. It was courtyards set five to ten minute walks apart from each other. We were in the middle of nowhere nowhere.) We greeted some people and sat down with the family while Dina talked to some people (not anywhere near Gideon of course.)

She called us when she was done and we walked back. We asked what was going to happen now. She said the family had to greet some other people; we would eat; and then we would be done and we could go home. We thought this was fantastic news...we had wanted to get back to Ouaga in time for dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant (yes, Oauga has some good food!!) We told Dina that we wanted to go back the same day and she laughed. We told her dad and he asked us about three times if we were sure...apparently everyone thought that we were going to spend the night in the village which we would have been happy to do if we had been prepared for it.

Walking back and forth from the pastors’ produced a lot of sticky things that stuck to my skirt so when we got back to Dina’s family's courtyard we spent a lot of time trying to get them off. Then Dina went back to cooking and Nichole and I sat and chatted with her dad and another pastor (there were a lot of pastors around.) It was really pleasant. They are incredibly gentle men who really love Jesus. we talked until about four thirty when we realized that the family had not yet come back and it was still hot and we didn't have any water (and we can't drink water out in the village; its not safe) and we still had not eaten. But we had to go to the bathroom. Dina led us back to the other pastor’s house (where I once again had to get the sticky things off) because she thought it was too crowded for us to use the WC at her courtyard. When we were done (here they pee in the same place they shower...they save the holes in the ground for poop...so we peed in the mud. It was pretty disgusting.)

Dina informed us that we were going to be eating in this courtyard and we could either go back with her and come back again when they brought the food over or we could stay there. We chose to stay. We sat with the family again and chatted some more and took some more pictures. We got nervous because we were sooo hungry and feeling dehydrated and there wasn't anyway for us to leave if we wanted to. It started to cool off and it looked like rain. Around six o’clock, people started checking their watches. Finally the food was brought over and we thought we would eat any time. Then I noticed that several of the man were wearing the traditional Muslim little hat things. It's Ramadan right now...the month of fasting from sun-up to sun-down. I had a horrible thought, "what if we are waiting for the sun to go down before we eat?" I dismissed it thinking that surely Dina would have told us this. Around six thirty or so Dina called us to come inside the courtyard (we had been sitting right outside it) to sit with her and her family. It was at this point that Pastor Job told us that we were in fact waiting until sundown to eat...and then he asked us again if we wanted to leave that night. We said "yes!" We still thought we could make it to our restaurant, Le Verdoyant, in time to at least get ice cream...a rare treat in Burkina and maybe some real food. Finally at 7:15, we started eating. It was village spaghetti...which isn't bad...its ok...it tasted a lot better after not having eaten all day, but we tried not to eat too much so that we would be hungry enough for Le Verdoyant. Luckily, Africans don't talk while they eat and they eat quickly. We were done pretty fast.

Pastor Job told us he talked with the family's drivers and he agreed to take us back to Ouaga with them. (they all live in Ouaga.) We were relieved to finally know how we were getting back. We walked back to the van (at the other courtyard...more sticky things.) The family forgot a bench and so a couple people had to walk all the way back to get the bench. Then we were shoved into this van. I have never ever experienced anything like this and words are going to fail the experience but I'm going to try.

There were about thirty of us in a van that is a little smaller than a fifteen passenger van at home - no seats...just five benches. We were crowded. I'm not sure there was a part of my body that was not touching another person. It was hot, and the three women kept talking badly about Nichole and me. We knew this because we know the word for white man in Moore and because they spoke with disdain in their voices...it was constant. We just wanted to get to Ouaga, get some good food, drink some water, and go to bed. It was 815. Things were going well for the first 30 min. until we came upon some members of our group who had driven motos and had broken down on the side of the road. We crammed two or three more people into the van and followed this moto through a couple of little towns, stopping to look for help along the way. Finally we stopped on the side of the road and everyone piled out of the van to wait while they fixed the moto themselves (where is AAA when you need them?!!) We were outside for about thirty minutes...people fell asleep. Nichole and I tried to remember all the good things: we got to support Dina, we were having an African experience, it had cooled down, the bugs weren't bad that night, the stars were beautiful. It was still a trying 30 min. though because we could see the haze of the lights in Ouaga in the distance....it was also trying because no one would tell us what was going on. Everyone spoke in Moore and no one bothered to translate anything into French, even Gideon which surprised us a little bit. Finally we were on the road again, but we followed the moto all the way into Ouaga meaning we could only go as fast as the moto could go...not very fast. When we finally got to Ouaga, the driver started taking some roads that Nichole and I didn't recognize, and we were heading away from the lights of the city. They were the worst roads we had ever ever been on. In some places it didn't even look like a road. Everyone in the van was laughing about something that Nichole and I didn't get (because no one told us) but we figured it out when finally we stopped and heard the driver ask where the paved road was. WE WERE LOST. Pretty soon after that, the laughter turned to frustration and things got really tense in the van. At this point, Nichole and I knew we weren't going to Le Verdoyant that night. After stopping three times to ask for directions, we finally made it to the paved road about ten minutes from where we wanted to be dropped off. We were dropped off and made the 7ish minute walk to the guest house and finally arrived at 11:35 that night! We were so thirsty and so hungry and so dirty and so tired. We drank a bunch, made a pizza and ate almost the whole thing, took showers and went to bed at close to one (don't worry, we were able to eat lunch at Le Verdoyant on Sunday, and it was amazing.)

It was the most ridiculous day. It was so draining. It was such an experience. We/I am so glad that we were able to go. Miraculously, even though we wanted things to be going differently the whole day, there was never a time where either of us lost our temper due to impatience. We kind of just took it all in.

The whole day there was never any mention of it being an engagement. No one ever said anything about it which I think is so weird. We discovered that Gideon really does love Dina, a rare find in Burkina. And at the end of the night, they went off by themselves to the edge of the group where we could just see their silhouettes. They were talking quietly and that was really sweet to see...even though they weren't culturally allowed to talk all day on Saturday, they do like to talk to just each other.

I know these words are not doing justice to the day...because all the elements played into it: the heat, the thirst, the hunger, the being completely dependent on others all day, being tired...It makes me tired again just thinking about it!

Babies, Home Studies, and School

This week I got to spend my first day and night by myself at the orphanage. It went pretty well. But I decided it wasn't something I could do long term...there are too many kids and people and stuff going on. It's overwhelming. Ruth and Nichole went to Ouaga to drop one of our cooks and one of our weavers off at a nine month course in weaving. These women will learn how to make some really beautiful fabrics. I'm still not really sure why our part-time cook went. My best guess is that she really wants to be doing weaving. They were both excited to go.

So since I've last written, Nichole and I have begun to “do medicines” on a daily basis. Our two nurses are doing an internship in Ouahigouya, which is hopefully going to be very beneficial to them both...and then to us. I'm used to doing them with Nichole. We are then able to have two of us who know what's going on (less chance of someone being forgotten) and two heads are almost always better than one. Monday and Tuesday I was on my own for meds again. No one was sick like they were the last time I did them by myself, but it was still a lot of work...a lot of kids to check up on throughout the day. Jeanette had a bad cold. I had to clean her nose out a couple of times because she couldn't breathe; and Lydia has impetigo so I've had to bring her in the house twice a day to clean her up really well and put medicine on her...it's purple medicine. My clothes the past three days and my arms and sometimes my face have been purple. It's funny. They are both doing better but it just takes time to do those things.

The baby that I blogged about last time, Alex has died. He died Saturday morning.

We have another new baby. Madina is one month old and beautiful...but she too had a fever the first day she was here. She's on meds and hasn't had a fever since so that's a good sign. Our babies need your prayers!!!

We have two new boys Joshua and Edward. Joshua is the twelve year old brother of one of our older girls, Irene. Edward is fourteen. They are fitting right in and are fun to have around.

School started Monday! It's strange to not have the kids around all day. They were all ready to go back. Ready for another year of studying...so that's good. They get more excited about school than kids at home. In a way I think they realize what a privilege it is for them to get to go to school so you don't hear them complaining about it.

This weekend is the engagement party for Dina, our seamstress!! She is glowing; she is so excited. Nichole and I are going to take a bus with her father to the village to participate in the festivities. It will be an adventure for sure and hopefully a lot of fun.

Assya's Italian adoptive parents are coming in two weeks!! It's so wonderful to know that she has a family!!

Last week I was able to start helping Lynn do home studies for the sponsorship program. I went with one of her employees, Boris, to visit the courtyards of families who want to be considered for the sponsorship program. I interviewed them and looked around the courtyard looking for electricity, animals, nice clothes, fat babies...things that would indicate the family is doing ok and not in need of the program. I LOVED IT. I loved being in the community and with the families. I'm looking forward to doing more home studies in the future.

My family bought their plane tickets to come visit me!! My mom, dad, brother, cousin, and two others are planning to visit from Dec 19-Jan 1. It's official. I'm excited! It's going to be great to see them.

It's hard to believe I've been here for four months. Sometimes it feels like I just got here and other times it feels like I've already been here for a year. It feels the same way with my French. Some days I'm feeling pretty good about it and other days not so good. It's always worse when I'm tired.

It's getting HOT again. And I mean hot. We are pretty much always sweating and needing water. It's going to be a long hot month before it starts cooling off for the winter. (I broke our thermometer so I don't actually know how hot it is...oops!)

My mom has told me that a lot of you ask about me and say that you are praying for me and I just want to say that I appreciate it!!!

If you are wanting ways to pray for me...

My French
My babies and their health
Wisdom to know how to treat their sicknesses
Wisdom to know whether or not to stay another year, or to go somewhere else
More joy because the joy of the Lord is my strength...and I need His
strength!

Two New Babies

It's still crazy around here.
Baby Daniel, who I told you about in the last blog, died on Saturday
afternoon. He was too small and too sick. Nichole and I were on our way
from Ouaga when he died. So about fifteen minutes after we arrived back
here at the orphanage we had to turn around and go to the cemetery to
bury little Daniel. Here, you have bury the dead the same day because
otherwise the bodies start deteriorating quickly. It's so hot.
It's a very sobering thing to put a baby into a grave. He was only with
us for a week, so we didn't have a chance to really know him, and so it
wasn't as devastating as it could be. It's still sad.

We got a new baby girl on Saturday, Soulemata. She is five months old.
And she had a fever yesterday but she seems to be doing better today.
And she's healthy in all other respects so she should be ok.
Yesterday we had a sad sad sad case brought to us. The mother says she
was raped by an uncle and got pregnant. When the uncle found out she was
pregnant he skipped town. She had the baby and then got married and was
allowed to keep this baby until she had one by her husband. She just
gave birth a week ago to another little boy. So she was being forced to
abandon the child, because her new husband would not accept this boy who
is not only not his child but is also a product of incest and rape which
is a shame to the family. They told us that this boy was two, and from
looking at his teeth (he has them all including molars) we think he is
probably more like 2 and a half. He is very sick. He weighs a little
over 4 kilos which is somewhere around 9ish pounds. We had to put him in
diapers for 0-3 MONTHS. He can't walk. he hardly sit up by himself. His
feet were swollen which is what happens right before a malnourished baby
dies. And his hair had started to change colors and thats a sure sign of
malnutrition. We took him to the hospital in Ouahigouya, to Dr. Zala's
(who has a private pediatric clinic and is a wonderful man) and was
admitted to the hospital. He had a fever on the way up and when we got
to the Dr.'s we found out that it was 40 degrees Celsius which is very
high. I don't know what it is in Fahrenheit but I know it's too high.
And while we were waiting for blood test results to come back he was
visibly getting weaker. He needs a miracle. So if you think of it, pray
for him!! We named him Alexander, Alex for short. He had another
name, but it was the name of the day of the week on which he was born.
It showed a lack of concern on the part of his family, who obviously
hasn't cared for him for a long time because he is so sick. So we
decided to give him a real name.

We have four really sick toddlers. They all have colds as well as
malaria that is resistant to the treatment we have been giving them. So
we had to buy new treatment and started them on it last night, so
hopefully by tomorrow morning they will be feeling better. They are all
just laying around which is not normal for any of them. I just sat with
them this morning and let them fall asleep on me. I figured it was more
comfortable than the ground. And everyone needs a little love when they're
sick.

Adeline has spent the past week in the village and is apparently loving
it, so her father says. Her aunt came today to get the rest of her
clothes, as Adi will be heading to her house from the village tonight. I
hope to visit sometime later this week...I miss that girl!

Elisee, who has been with us again for the past two weeks or so, is
leaving for his uncle's village tomorrow. He will live not far from Adi's
aunt (and both of them live in Yako) so they will be able to see each
other, and hopefully attend our school. He is excited. He's been washing
his clothes and packing all day. This is much different from the Elisee
who cried while packing at the beginning of the summer when he left for
his aunt's house.

The rains have stopped, and this is bad news. It's bad because it's HOT.
HOT. HOT. And it's a shock when it's all of the sudden so hot after
having been relatively cool every few days...now we have no relief from
the heat. It's also bad because if we don't get at least a few more good
rains a lot of millet will be lost. It's not yet ready to be harvested,
and without the rain, it won 't be ready.

I don't know if any of you have heard about the Flooding Disaster in
West Africa...I'm not really sure what they are calling it...but
supposedly there is flooding in West Africa including Burkina...so they
say. I'm not aware (and neither are the missionaries in Ouaga who told
us about this) of any flooding in Burkina. It certainly isnt' in Yako.
So, just in care you were worried...don't be. We're fine. We just need a
few more rains before they stop for the year.

An Atypical Day

So here is an example of an atypical day at the orphanage (no, that's not a typo).We are in the middle of malaria season. We have to keep a careful eye on all the babies because they get really sick really fast. And malaria is what the majority of babies die from during malaria season. And if you catch it early enough it's easy enough to get rid of.We have two nurses. They just finished nursing school and have left for a month and a half to do an internship. This is good for them. Not good for us. Nichole did meds for one day and then Nongewende, the woman who works with the toddlers/preschoolers, decided that she wanted to learn. We don't one hundred percent trust her to do them correctly but she is our best option, someone needs to know how to do them when we aren't here. I had never done meds all by myself. I've helped Nichole and I've helped Nongewende, but it's never been my sole responsibility...until yesterday. Nichole was sick. It was Nongewende's day off. So, the job fell to me.Which isn't normally a big deal until I started taking temperatures and we have three with fevers. So I gave out meds. Started a few on malaria treatment and thought we were ok. As the day wore on we got more and more fevers. And more and more weird poop things going on (diarrhea, black poop, yellow poop). A couple babies threw up in the morning (all of their meds!!) It seemed that every time I left a room to get something, by the time I came back there was something wrong with someone else. We ended up having five sick babies. Who all had to be watched carefully all day. One baby was particularly scary. He's our newest baby. He just came on Saturday night. We named him Daniel because his parents hadn't yet named him (a common thing herewith such a high infant mortality rate). He is 14 days old (as of today, the 18th), he was born a month premature and he weighs a little more than a kilo. He is tiny. And yesterday he had a fever of 102. I did a lot of praying yesterday. It was a scary day because these kids go downhill so fast if its not caught early enough. It seems as though the prayers were answered, because this morning we only had one fever and two cases of vomiting (and one of the ones who vomited had the fever) so only two sick ones....And I haven't checked on them since about ten oclock this morning (Nichole is feeling better and is able to help now!!!) but they were both doing ok.

On top of all that Adeline left with her father yesterday morning. She went to the village for a few days. She should be coming back here before she leaves permanently because she didn't take all her stuff with her. We had a few more hard conversations (one in which there was a misunderstanding and she thought I said that it was my idea that she leave...which was definitely not true; but she was excited to go when it was time. So that's good. It makes my heart feel better. And I know it's the best thing for her. And I will be seeing her most every day because she is going to go to school here.

Kids' Update

Sorry it's been so long since I've written!We have had a busy last couple of weeks.The first week of September Nichole and I went to Djibo, a town that ison the edge of the Sahara desert. We went with some missionary friends, and some who are now friends (we didn't know them before). We just went to visit. We haven't been to many other towns in Burkina, especially not any so far away, so we decided to go. There is an Australian couple in their seventies who have built a hospital up there. They have lived inAfrica for forty years and in Djibo for thirty-five. They raised all their children there. They are wonderful, gentle, kind people and it was so fun to get to spend time with them. Josselin, the wife, is an amazing cook and that was also a blessing. Djibo is home to a different people group. Different language, different looks, different culture. It really felt like we were no longer in Burkina. We were out of our comfort zone. We couldn't even speak French because very few are educated up there and thus have not learned French. It was a good trip. We were glad we went.

Jeanette is doing well. Her leg is healing nicely...she's even begun to pull herself/half crawl across the floor. This is so exciting because before she wasn't strong enough to move and would just sit there. Yesterday her mom (Her mom comes everyday to help care for her because of her leg) showed me that she could stand up while holding on to the crib. I almost cried. It was so amazing to see her standing up...even ifshe isn't doing it by herself. She's getting better. Alfonsine is happy most of the time now. We keep praying for her, and I really believe it's because we've been praying for her that she has stopped freaking out. She smiles more, she laughs more, and she's not clingy or cranky. It's a blessing. It was getting hard to want to be around her for fear that she was going to freak out.

Adeline is leaving tomorrow. That's hard for me. But it's good for her. Her father has been coming a few times a week for the past few weeks to get to know her; she loved being able to do this. On Monday he will take her to the village to meet the rest of her family. At some pointshe will come back here (we think) and then a few days later, and a few days before school starts on October 1, she will go to her aunt's house who lives in Yako. Her younger sister has been living there, whom Adi doesn't know (or doesn't remember) so this will be good for her. And her father lives next door with his new wife. His new wife is probably the reason why Adi is not going to live with him. People often refuse to take care of children that are not their own. She will probably attend the school here, so we should be able to see her everyday...and she will be more than welcome to stop by and visit whenever she wants. We had some hard conversations about her leaving. We thought she knew, but she didn't really understand. We spent most of the day Friday with her crying. It wasn't a fun day, but I think she understands now and is ok with it. She brought it up yesterday on a walk without crying or sounding sad. I was able to answer her question and then we were able to change to subject and talk about something else. That was good. I was a little worried that she would start crying again.

The crops are all growing. We have some millet that is probably twelve feet tall. The corn is being harvested little by little. They schuck the corn and roast it in some hot coals until it is charred on the outside. It looks gross and smells like burnt corn, but it actually tastes reallygood because its still juicy on the inside. I like it, anyway and I always make the kids give me some when they are eating it. And because they are eating so much of it, we have corn cobs strewn all over the courtyard! It's a mess!!

We got a new baby last night. He was a premie, born at eight months. He is now a couple weeks old and only weighs a little over a kilo. His mother died three or so days ago. He is tiny tiny tiny. But he is\u003cbr /\>adorable. He doesn\'t yet have a name, but there is a calendar that gives\u003cbr /\>a name for every day of the year and the family instructed us to name\u003cbr /\>him whatever the name is for September 4, the day he was born.\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003c/div\>",0]
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Adeline is leaving tomorrow. That's hard for me. But it's good for her.Her father has been coming a few times a week for the past few weeks toget to know her; she was loved being able to do this. On Monday he willtake her to the village to meet the rest of her family. At some pointshe will come back here (we think) and then a few days later, and a fewdays before school starts on October 1, she will go to her aunt's housewho lives in Yako. Her younger sister has been living there, whom Adidoesn't know (or doesn't remember) so this will be good for her. And herfather lives next door with his new wife. His new wife is probably thereason why Adi is not going to live with him. People often refuse totake care of children that are not their own. She will probably attendthe school here, so we should be able to see her everyday...and she willbe more than welcome to stop by and visit whenever she wants.We had some hard conversations about her leaving. We thought she knew,but she didn't really understand. We spent most of the day Friday withher crying. It wasn't a fun day, but I think she understands now and isok with it. She brought it up yesterday on a walk without crying orsounding sad. I was able to answer her question and then we were able tochange to subject and talk about something else. That was good. I was alittle worried that she would start crying again.The crops are all growing. We have some millet that is probably twelvefeet tall.

The corn is being harvested little by little. They schuck thecorn and roast it in some hot coals until it is charred on the outside.It looks gross and smells like burnt corn, but it actually tastes reallygood because its still juicy on the inside. I like it, anyway and Ialways make the kids give me some when they are eating it. And becausethey are eating so much it, we have corn cobs strewn all over thecourtyard! It's a mess!!

We got a new baby last night. He was a premie, born at eight months. Heis now a couple weeks old and only weighs a little over a kilo. Hismother died three or so days ago. He is tiny tiny tiny. But he is adorable. He doesn't yet have a name, but there is a calendar that gives a name for every day of the year and the family instructed us to name him whatever the name is for September 4, the day he was born.

A Day In The Life.....

Sometimes it's hard to think of things to write about because life over here in Yako has become so normal. I wake up and eat my cereal with the locally made yogurt that is delicious, drink my tea, read my Bible, and talk with Nichole. I make it outside around eight-thirty or nine. It'susually closer to nine. And I hang out with the toddlers/preschoolers for a while. We play with blocks, draw, and color pictures. Lately I've been getting out books for our kids to look at. None of them can read, but I think that this exposure to books is good for them. Books are rare in Burkina. Most of the books we have are expensive and are shipped in from France. Most people, even adults, don't know how to take care of books (which is strange because we are all taught from young ages how to take care of books) and because of how many people handle things here and the dirt, things tend to get ruined more quickly. So we keep all the books in the office, and I get out six or seven (I have adifferent helper every day to help me choose) and I'm trying to teach them how to take care of them. They are doing pretty well. The first few days they didn't know what to do with the books, but they are learning. One boy inparticular, Ferdinand, has begun to make up a story that corresponds with the pictures. Which is what kids at home do that can't read. It's what is supposed to happen. It's good for their little imaginations.

Imagination is one thing that we need more of here....the people are not taught to think outside the box or to use their imaginations which is hard for us to imagine. Beginning when we are little we are taught that we can do anything we want..."reach for the stars!" but not here. Here you do what your family or the government tells you to do, and it's not questioned. We have some kids who are very smart but only have vague ideas of what they want to do because they think that #1 it's unattainable or #2 they've never even considered what they would want to do.So all that to say, I'm glad our little ones are using their imaginations.

After playing with them for an hour or so, I spend some time with our"big" babies (the ones older than a year). Jeanette is doing well. Her leg is healed, although not correctly so we are going to put her in traction. Isaaca is walking a lot. He smiles all the time, and loves to tell stories. He talks a lot. Lydia lets you know what she wants. She smiles and laughs when she is happy, but if you do something that she doesn't like, she starts screaming! Serata is fat, and it's good to see fat babies here. She doesn't move a whole lot because she is so fat...and she's mostly a happy baby...she's still young. Ibrahim was sick and sad and had no personality when he came about two and a half months ago; but because of the love and attention of Nichole, he iscoming around. He's getting healthier and he's smiling and walking some now...whereas before he could walk but refused to and was mostly lethargic. Alfonsine is not normal. She's beautiful beautiful beautiful, but she was abandoned in the Ivory Coast along with her twin brother, Alfonse, who has since died. Some days she is fine, happy, smiling, laughing, talking... but all of a sudden, for no reason she FREAKS OUT - screaming like someone is torturing her. She grabs and pulls on anything and everything. If you put her in her crib, she rocks herself violently. We've started praying for her because her behavior is a little worrisome because it's so not normal. Since we started praying, she has had some days that have been better and some that have not, but we'll just keep loving her and praying for her. The most recent addition to the big baby room is"gross" Ibrahim (which just means fat Ibrahim...he's not actually gross). He moved up from the tiny baby room. He loves to move. He crawls everywhere and loves to smile and loves to drool. He has two thumbs on one hand and it's one of the weirdest things I've ever seen. He also hasa HUGE belly button. Over here belly buttons are huge in general..no oneseems to know why. But his is extra extra huge. One of these days I'll have to take a picture and post it. When he crawls it drags on theground. It's pretty funny, but I feel bad for him too.

After the babies, it's time for lunch and sieste. The afternoons vary from play with the preschoolers again to reading books/hanging out with the school-agers who love and need one on one attention. Some afternoons I have French class. Night time is for hanging out with the older kids, or the school-agers, watching movies, playing games, praying with the school-agers before bed, and making sure they go to the bathroom and brush their teeth. That's a "normal" day...although every day is a little different.

Ambassador, Adi, and Monkeys

I was in Ouagadougou this past weekend and on our way home we saw
monkeys!!! wild monkeys running across the road. From afar it looked
like weird dogs running across the road but as we got closer we realized
that the "dogs" were actually monkeys. I'm not sure how many we actually
saw because the first few we thought were dogs but there were at least
three or four that we counted after we realized they were monkeys. its
the first actually "wild life" that I’ve seen here. We see an occasional
camel, but they aren't wild, they are ridden by touregs who travel
around and sell things.

On a sadder note, Adeline is going to be leaving the orphanage soon. She
has an aunt who is able to willing to care for her in Yako (why she
hasn't been living with this aunt up until now I'm not sure) and so in
the next few weeks she will be moving out. It's a sad and good thing.
She deserves to grow up in a family, in her family but its hard not
knowing these people and not knowing if they will really love her or not
or see how amazing she is. Because she will still be in Yako I will
still get to see her sometimes which is good...but still sad. And lots
of mixed emotions.

Tomorrow the United States ambassador to Burkina is coming. She is
coming mostly to see the school, but she will stop by and visit us at
the orphanage too. everyone is excited and has spent most of the day
cleaning up. They've done an amazing job. I’ve never seen the courtyard
or the rooms look so good.

Good news about Jeannette. I know I stopped writing about her, mostly
because her situation kept getting more and more complicated and it was
too much to write. But Social Action has decided that her mother is the
one who should decide where she lives. This is an amazing un heard of
decision. Women are never given that right here. So Jeannette and her
mom have been reunited and its a beautiful thing to see. Also, her
broken leg is healed. i was a little skeptical at first because it
doesn't really look right...but a couple of doctors (one of whom is the
best orthopedic surgeon in Burkina and is from Australia) have said that
it's fine. So I'm trusting them.

Scabies are gone; Rain is here!

(This is a pic of Jeanette, "my" girl)

The scabies are gone!!
Well, at least we think so. Babies aren't scratching. No new little bumps are popping up and the old ones are fading away. The boy who had them the worst, Ibrahim, was a sad little boy; but due to Nichole holding and loving on him continually and not having scabies anymore, he's starting to come out of his funk. He's walking now (he could walk before and just refused to do so), and he will smile and laugh a little bit. We've discovered that he has a personality!

Now there is another baby girl who is worrying us a little bit. Her name is Alfonsine. She is the surviving sister in a brother-sister set of twins. Her brother died a few months after they arrived at the orphanage; they've been here for about nine months or so. Alfonsine is a beautiful girl. She's really gorgeous. But there is something not normal about her. When you pick her up she hangs on for dear life and will spontaneously freak out. She holds on even tighter and starts screaming. If you put her down she screams (and it's more than a pick-me-back-up cry...it sounds like you've just abandoned her or something); and if you put her in her crib, she cries and starts rocking herself rather violently. Sometimes she throws herself on the ground by your feet and holds on to your feet or the edge of your skirt and just screams and cries real tears. It's hard to watch, and it’s not normal. I don't know if I can really describe what she does, but we've decided to start praying over her and spending more one on one time with her. So on Thursday afternoon I brought her into the house with me for a little bit, and we just hung out. She didn't freak out for the entire thirty or so minutes that she was with me. So that's what I'm going to keep doing and see if we can't love and pray her out of whatever is going on with her.

The rainy season has brought amazing changes to the landscape of Burkina. It hardly looks like the same country. There is millet (which is kind of like corn), their staple food, to (pronounced "toe") is made of, growing everywhere. Right outside the courtyard wall there is some millet growing that we can see from inside the courtyard...it's that high! And it will just keep growing until its time to harvest sometime in October.
I've heard that it is ridiculously hot at home right now, and it’s strange to hear because it's not ridiculously hot here!! The rain comes and cools everything way down. Every night I'm able to sleep comfortably under a sheet and with my ceiling fan on a low setting. There have even been a few cold nights. One in which I had to sleep under a thin blanket, sheet, and in long pants!! It had rained for ten hours and I guess that much rain really cools things off quite a bit!

Scabbies

So. I had an interesting experience yesterday afternoon.
Well...the experience started about a month ago with the arrival of a
ten month old named Ibrahim. When Ibrahim came he had all these weird
bumps all over him, and he scratched them all the time (when I say
everywhere.I mean EVERYWHERE. It was bizarre) Anyway at first we
thought it was just heat rash, like everyone gets here; but then it
wasn't going away, so we started putting calamine lotion on him.That
didn't help, so we took him to the doctor; and they prescribed an
antibiotic. We tried that for a week or so; it didn't help, and
then some of the other kids started getting bumps and scratching. We took him to the doctor again and they gave him a different antibiotic. Still nothing was better.
Finally, we took him to Dr. Zala (have I talked about him before? He's
an amazing man with a private pediatric clinic in a city about an hour
away). He knew right away that it was scabies!! Which is apparently very
contagious and must be treated very carefully. Scabies is a parasite
that lives in the skin. It lays eggs and then they hatch. Underneath the
skin. Its pretty gross, but not deadly. So we got the medicine, came home, and yesterday began boiling all of the babies' clothes and sheets to kill all the bugs. Then we had to bathe all the children really well and then we laid them down and smeared this medicine all over their little bodies. They SCREAMED and SCREAMED and SCREAMED. We think it might have stung them because Lynn accidentally got some on her hands and chin, and she said it was burning. Our poor babies!! We had to tape gloves on their hands because if they get it in their mouth, it would be poisonous. We have to leave the medicine on for 24 hours and then wash them and take the gloves off. So as I write this, they have been washed and the gloves are (happily) off.

Hopefully that’s the end of the scabies; but I won't lie. All last night whenever I had an itch I thought, "oh crap. I have scabies" but don't worry. I don't.
One baby, Lasane', always sucks his thumb with one hand and plays with
his ear or his belly button with the other when he's upset...and he couldn't do that
last night or today. The poor guy was miserable!! But he made it through ok. Thankfully!

Also, today we had some visitors from Missouri!! They are the youth
pastors of a small church in California, MO that my friend's grandmother
attends. So that's a little weird (it’s a small world kind of weird) it
was pleasant to have them here...they were sweet people and we had some
good conversations about missions and what they've seen since they've
been here (they are just doing a short ten day trip (they are actually
on their way home right now); but because we had out of town visitors we
got to go to the good restaurant in town and have some chicken and
fries!! Eating protein is a treat! It tastes so yummy. I never thought
I'd miss eating meat, but I guess I do.

Update on Jeanette

I just wanted to update everyone real quick. Jeanetter does NOT have AIDS. Which is wonderful news, but she does have a broken leg!! That’s why she was crying so much when anyone touched her leg/foot!! Apparently it was broken before she got here and they fixed it "traditionally"
whatever that means. Then something happened a few weeks after she
was here (we have no idea what) that re-broke it or something. We don't
really know. We took her to the hospital about an hour north of here and
had it x-rayed. It’s TOTALLY broken - all the way through. The doctor
reset it (that was horrible to hear!) and then put it in this splint
thing and said she should be fine in three weeks because babies’ bones
heal quickly.
That was Friday. Since then she hasn't really been in the best of moods
as you can imagine. She's terribly uncomfortable and it’s hard to hold
her with her leg sticking out like that. We are taking turns holding her
and getting her out of her crib; otherwise she will just lay in bed all
day and get bed sores which would obviously be no good at all.
On a different note, we had about ten hours of straight rain the night
before last (Saturday night) which is great for the crops but now it’s
really cold. I'm sure that you all think that it’s relative; but
honestly it was like 65 degrees in the house last night. That’s cold....
We went to a wedding on Saturday for one of our girls. She had lived in
the orphanage for a long time. She married well, into a family with a lot
of money, to an educated man and she’s educated (so we know she will be
well taken care of). It was a lot of fun to be apart of. Weddings here
aren't all that much different from weddings at home. And we got to eat
good food and drink soda at the reception!!! There were a couple hundred
people there and they all got soda...which is ridiculously expensive.
For here I mean

AIDS

Well, I know that I mostly tell funny stories, because those are the fun ones to share, but I need to share these stories and they are not fun. In all my trips to Burkina I haven't had much exposure to AIDS until recently. Jeanette, my baby girl, is not getting better. She's not getting worse, but she's not getting fatter. so we took her to get an AIDS test on Monday. It was one of the most difficult things I have ever ever had to do. She has something wrong with her foot (you can't see anything) but she screams bloody murder when you touch it. So Jean, our day guard, was with me and he was holding her down, and holding her foot, because he had to and she was screaming and screaming and crying real tears. And when the woman tried to get her blood she had to try four times. It was awful to watch her get poked so much...and the woman would like dig around in her vein looking for the blood..oh it was awful and it made me want to vomit. I told Jean that when we got outside and he looked alittle scared like I might throw up on him...I didn't. But he did drive quickly home. Since I have become so attached to this little one, the thought of her having AIDS is devasting to me. I don't really think she does (We were supposed to find out today but didn't. Welcome to Africa) but if in fact she does have AIDS it will break my heart. Her family situation is not good and her having AIDS will complicate that alot. They don't have the means to take care of her, we aren't really sure they WANT to take care of her (given the fact that she is so malnourished) so if she has AIDS it will be a shame to the family and an extra burden because then they'll have to get her on medicines and they don't have money anyway. and if this is the case i'm sure that we will help out in some way...but its hard to know that we won't know how long she will live and that she won't ever get better and she will always be vulnerable to disease. it makes me want to keep her in the house with me where i can sleep with her and keep an eye on her at all times. So if you think about it...pray for jeanette and maybe for me too
The second story is that of a little girl who was being "taken care of" by her grandmother. i say "taking care of" because this woman did not know the child's name or the child's age. She was severely malnourished, was sick all the time and had Noma (a bacterial infection that is common here. it comes from bad oral hygiene and it eats away the flesh around the mouth. It's easy to stop if you get the right medicines, but once your flesh has been eaten it can't be regrown). we took her to the Dr. Zala and amazing amazing amazing man. He is a christian and has a heart for children and for quality medical care that is a rare find in burkina. He trust him with alot of our children and he never dissapoints. (well, unless he cna't do anything, but then thats not his fault) He became furious with the grandmother because this child was so sick, and then they did a blood test and found out she had AIDS (she was three...i forgot the mention that. the grandmother said she was two). She died this week. its so sad. this girls parents are out roaming around (not taking care of their child) and one or both of them has AIDS. So now Social Action (burkina's DFS) has to track them down and test them. and educate them on the disease. its really heart breaking. its heartbreaking that having AIDS still has a social stigma attached to it so people don't want to get tested. and if they suspec that they do have AIDS they don't want to know because they don't have to money to by the medicines and they're going to die anyway so why know how you are going to die?? its a sad sad sad thing.
On a more positive note, i was able to talk with my family on skype tonight! i got to see their faces as well as hear their voices and it was amazing. sometimes its just really really really wonderful to be able to talk with people who you know love you. adn seeing their faces was an extra bonus. So if you ever want to see my face you can get on skype and when i'm in ouaga and have access to wireless interenet that isn't soooooo expensive like it is in yako, maybe we could chat! it would be fun.
thank you to all of you who read my stories. It means alot that so many are interested in my adventures. I appreciate and crave all of your prayers. As much as I love it here, it's not an easy/comfortable place to be.

Rain!

Last night at about seven o'clock, as we were getting settled around the
dinner table, the wind started howling. The temperature dropped and we
knew we were in for a good rain. It rained. And rained. And rained. And
rained. Most of the night. It stopped for awhile I think and then it
started up again. Today when I woke up it was cloudy. It stayed cloudy
all day and rained off and on all day. It's one of the very very few
days that I ever spent in Africa in which I couldn't see the sun. It
makes me realize how much I really do love sunshine. And here, when it
rains, well there's nothing really to do. All the kids are inside their
rooms, most of them sleeping. And sometimes the electricity goes out
(thankfully not today and we were able to watch a movie!). And
sometimes, well every time it rains it is so loud inside that you can't
have a normal conversation with yourself much less anyone else thanks to
our tin roof. But even if I don't like rainy days I'm so thankful that
it IS raining. Millet is starting to sprout everywhere. The trees are
turning green. There is green stuff that you might mistake for grass
growing along the roadside, until you get up close and realize it’s just
a bunch of weeds. (Sometimes when I draw pictures with the kids, I'll
draw grass on the ground and they always ask me what it is. And they say
"Is that what the ground looks like in America?" and then I have to try
and explain that well. No. We have dirt, but we also have grass. What a
bizarre thing to try and explain.

Due to the rain and not being able to play outside today, I played inside
with Adeline. She started making clothes for a doll out of paper. And I
made a paper doll for her. We sat on the floor in my room and colored
and cut and taped and imagined. She's been asking for a long pretty
skirt because she doesn't have one. And I'm going to have a skirt made
for a wedding coming up in a couple weeks. So we decided that we would get
matching skirts. That’s a big deal here. Everyone wants to match. And
when your shirt and your skirt match it’s just beautiful...so they say.
But really, the African women do look beautiful in them...we Americans
don't look quite so fabulous, but they like it when we try. Anyway,
Adeline got excited about the idea of matching a white person. She told
me about how the people on the street would notice. She liked that idea.
She said we should wear our skirts on Sundays. I said "Sure!"

Jeanette, my baby girl, is doing ok. She is so feisty. She scratches my
face and then laughs. She tries to hit people and then laughs. She gets
fussy easily. But I'm thinking "hey this is better than her being
lethargic" I think it’s because of her attitude that she's still alive.
Sometimes I look at her and cannot believe that this child is almost two
years old. We weigh her every couple of days. She weighed 12 lbs 6 oz.
the first time. The second time it was 12 lbs. The third time it was
back to 12 lbs. 6 oz again...and the today, two days after the third
weigh-in she was more than 13 1/2 lbs! Which doesn't really make sense.
First of all...how do you gain that much in two days when you're eating
the same thing as before. And second I would have noticed that much
weight gain on her. She’s tiny! So we had been weighing her with her
diaper on, and I think from now on we are going to take it off, because
well...we use cloth diapers and they aren't all the same size, so one
might have more material and affect how much she weighs. We don't really
know...but that's what Nichole and I think anyway. So if you think of
her, say a prayer that she'll start gaining weight quickly so she
doesn’t loose any more developmental time (she’s not even crawling...its
amazing that she can even hold her head up) and thank Jesus that she is
still alive.

My Boys

Well, since I wrote alittle about "my girl" in the last entry, I thought it might be appropriate to talk alittle bit about "my boys" because well, they make my day. every day.
I am in Ouaga for the night. We are picking up a visitor named Sarah from the airport. Nichole and I spent part of the day at a pool (we got sun!) which is just one of the perks of being Ouaga. (The other perk is all the good food!!!) But anyway, back to my boys...while we were swimming we thought about how histarical it would be to bring them to the pool and after I share my story about what happened last night, hopefully you will understand why. (but it may be a story that's not funny unless you know the people...so if you don't think its funny. just trust me. These boys are comedians) Every night Nichole and I pray with our school agers. Adilene, Achielle, Abraham, and Aristede. One of us prays with Adi in the girls room while the other prays with the boys in their room. Last night was my night in the boys room. Earlier this week we had a movie night during which we watched karate kid. ever since you can see kids around the courtyard talking about and pretending to do karate. Its pretty funny. And last night, Aristede was practicing his karate. He told me he was going to pray for himself (he always does) and that was it. (he later added he was going to pray for his parents in america (which he doesn't have) or in france (also which he doesn't have). Abraham and Acheille took their turns saying what they were going to pray for (we have this conversation and then we all pray in our native language moore and english(obviously)) and the entire time Aristede was laying on his mat practicing his karate. These three boys are like the three amigos/stooges...something. They are always together. Always laughing and play fighting. And last night they were correcting one another's french. mid way through his karate chop aristede rolls over and says to achielle "you can't say that!!!!!! that doesn't even make sense?!!!!what does that even mean??!!" And then they all start laughing, because well, none of them speak very good french. he conitnued karate chopping and when we were finally ready to pray, achielle started and aristede sat up and karata chopped his OWN leg. HARD. I have no idea why he did it, but he started laughing and then I started laughing and then the other two boys started laughing. We were all laughing so hard that we couldn't breathe. we managed to get through the rest of our prayers (aristede was praying out loud through mine...im not sure why. he stopped when i hit him on the arm...but a few seconds later he started up again.) but then aristede began laughing again. for no apparent reason. he was laughing so hard he was crying!!! showing emotion is so rare here that when i see these boys laughing with one another so much and making me laugh so much it brings so much joy to my soul!! to see him laugh so hard he was crying was amazing to see..even though im still not sure why he was laughing so hard. so to see the three of them in the pool would be histarical. i wish you all could meet them. they are my favorite!!!
i also have another boy. he's three. his names is eric. he lights up when he sees me...and he loves to kiss me. its pretty fun to cuddle with him, its all he wants to do.
and those are my boys.