Ronurie

On Sunday we went to a village we have been working in called Ronurie.  There is a fledgling church there.  In the timne language, the word 'to baptize' means 'to drown.'  As such, it was somewhat funny in translating

"who wants to be drowned(baptized)?"
"I drown(baptize) you in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost"

We were able to baptize 41 people in this community! It was awesome to be a part of!  It seemed like one of the most joyous baptisms I've ever been to because the whole community would start laughing as they came up out of the water, partly due to their reactions.  Most people in Africa bathe in rivers, bringing the water up to them to rinse of soap instead of being submerged.  So at each baptism, there was often a look of panic and thankfulness that they did in fact come back up out of the water! Everybody watching thought it was hilarious.

Our Jesse Tree

John and I have always disagreed on how to celebrate Christmas.  Jokingly I call him a Scrooge but he truly just wants to celebrate Christmas in a way that honors Christ.  If that means zero presents given and received from/to us... then thats what he would be prefer.

Me... well my love language is giving/receiving gifts so Christmas has always been a time to love and be loved by friends and family.  However, I do agree with John that the focus often shifts to gifts/materialism and away from Christ.  Coming up on 4 years of marriage in January, we have wrestled with each other over how to keep the focus on Jesus.

Now that we have Aden, we are trying to put our plans into action as we start our own traditions.  We want him to be able to see the difference in the way we celebrate Christmas as Christians as opposed to how the rest of America celebrates it. 

We decided to make a Jesse Tree in place of a traditional Christmas tree.  If you don't know what a Jesse Tree is, it is based off the verse Isaiah 11:1:

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

Basically you can dress up a regular tree with ornaments that represent each day of Advent where you read from the word all of the genealogy of Jesus as well as other important events of the bible.  It goes from Creation to Abraham to Moses to Daniel to Mary and everything in between. Since there are no Blue Spruces or firs or pine trees here, our Jesse tree is made out of paper that I colored and cut out. 

Each day has a corresponding verse to read.  I can't wait to do this with my children when they are older and can participate.  Instead John and I have been doing it together, although we haven't been perfect about reading it each day (I know I know... I'm slapping my own wrist!)

And like all Advents it ends on the day of Jesus' birth!

What do you guys think of the Jesse tree? Do you do one or would you ever? I am hoping that if we ever move back to the states that this would replace our 'Christmas tree' and that we would just have ornaments that represent the days of Advent with maybe a string of lights.

Blanket Time

John and I are planning to follow Growing Kids God's Way... a parenting style per se.  The secular version is Babywise.  I bought the Babywise II version because its cheaper and I can get it on my kindle. 

Anyhoo, Babywise II is for ages 6-12 months.  One of the biggest things I liked about this book was the idea of "blanket time" or "playpen time."  The idea behind blanket time is that you can start putting your child (once they are 4 months old) on a blanket by themselves for some independent play.  It fosters independence from mom and dad and gives them some focus time for creativity and learning.  This becomes more important as they get older.  Basically, I put Aden on a blanket (starting for 5-10 minutes) with a toy or two and then leave his line of sight.  I also put a timer on for however long its going to be and then let him at it. 

Aden has done really well with this so far, partly because we've unintentionally given him some independent play time under a mobile since he was quite young.  The reason for the timer is so that they know when the timer goes off, play time is over.

As Aden gets older and can crawl, we also add playpen time where the concept is the same but there are the confines of the playpen.  What is interesting to me is that you still have blanket time when they move, you just teach/train them to stay on the blanket and play within its confines.  I'm not exactly sure how one teaches a crawler to stay in a 4x4 foot area but I'll let you know if I figure it out.  I did watch this youtube video of some 13 month old twin girls having separate blanket time and staying put so it can be done!

Here is Aden during some blanket time right before I swoop him up!

I don't know if you can see it, but there is line of drool coming out of Aden's mouth.  I don't know why but drool seems to be a lot cuter in pictures to me.  And obviously drool is only 'cute' on your own kids.  Its every other kid who is a slobbery mess.

Outfit from Vicki... Thanks Vicki!

Blessing in Disguise

So I had told you all about our dirty water problem... well there is more and it all unfolded 2 days ago.

But first let me tell you about our water filter.  As I had been putting this dirty, mucky water in our filter it was taking forever to drain and I could see the filters covered in the muddy red dirt.  I knew we would have to clean it out soon so it would start to drain a little faster.  I also had noticed the filtered and 'clean' water was starting to not look so clear as it once had.  I told John that the water was starting to look dirty but I think he misunderstood what I was saying.  I thought maybe he just thought it was harmless.   So we continued to drink the water until about 2 days ago...

I approached John again saying "I really think we should clean out this filter, the water in the bottom just doesn't look that clean to me" I must have said it differently this time because he said "oh no! There must be a leak!" So we start cleaning out the top of the filter and it is just filled with dirt.  Our Berkey can hold 4 different of these ceramic filters but we only were using 3 and we plugged up the other hole. 
On closer examination, we saw that two out of the 4 ceramic filters were broken!!!! We had been drinking contaminated water this entire time!

John and I were shocked! We each did get sick once (what we always attribute to food poisoning... we get a fever, lack of appetite, sometimes vomiting and almost always diarrhea).  But for drinking the 'city' water GUMA for almost 2.5 months with no filter that is pretty good! I can tell people have been praying for our health because we have had friends who have drank the GUMA water once and got sick just from that one time.

So we tossed the two filters away and got out another filter but it was broken too! We had let a friend borrow it while we were away and it must have broken on her bumpy journey up country.  Needless to say, she felt AWFUL that they were broken.. and we will FOREVER give her a hard time for it, but it really was no big deal.

One of my first prayer requests that I tell people when they ask is for health for John, myself, and especially Aden.  I give all the praise to God for answering these prayers because it is quite miraculous in my opinion how healthy we've been despite drinking contaminated water.  Also, we live in a compound with 3 tanks and for some reason... the ONLY tank that got the dirt in it was the tank that feeds our house.  The other tanks didn't get this soot in their water.  If not for this soot, we would not have ever checked our filters to find out that they were broken.

We are now using a Katadyn filter that we luckily found on the streets here (a very rare find indeed!) and we have 4 Aqua Rain filters on the way with the next mission team that is coming! 

Peek-a-Boo

We may or may not have had our video camera stolen out of one of our windows with a stick while we were gone Sunday :(   We left one of the windows open and the mosquito screens unlocked thinking nothing of it and trusting the Sunday daytime guard/groundskeeper.  Its not too big of a deal... just disappointing we are in this predicament and having to confront the individual.  I am going to tear apart the house tomorrow/clean just to make sure we didn't misplace it by accident.  I am hoping for the latter.

We first noticed it missing when looking for a camera to record this most fun peek-a-boo session... We were able to use our computer's webcam in a pinch!

Without further ado...

Why We Drink Filtered Water

Left: Our Filtered Water

Right: Water out of our Sink

I wish I would have done this earlier in the day because it was worse... by midday most of the dirt had settled in the tank so it looks a lot better.  I think this next picture does it better justice though.

Hey Blue Eyes

This Would Be Funnier If It Happened to Someone Else...

Someone from the UK recently bought us a pound of coffee.  I had been off of caffeinated drinks since I found out I was pregnant.  The later half of my pregnancy I had a decaf coffee 1-2 times a week.  Since returning to Sierra Leone... John got me hooked back on the stuff. 

Because coffee is hard to come by here, John and I eek out every last ground of it.  We grind it fresh from beans using Chad's grinder and put the rest in a little ziploc baggie to use for the next 2 days.  This story is about a baggie experience going horribly horribly wrong.

So rewind to a couple of days ago... I had just ground a small batch of that new UK coffee and was looking for that baggie that we re-use.  I see it in the spice rack with a few grounds from the old batch.  I think to myself "oh I guess I didn't finish up the last batch."  Today I go to scoop out some coffee for the french press and I notice I get some of the old grounds in there.  I think to myself "ooo, I wonder what this flavor combination will taste like.  It could be from the lb. of Starbucks Verona that we brought in with us on the plane!"

I sit down to do my bible study with my coffee in hand and think... "wow... this has a very distinct cumin-like flavor.  How odd!" Supposedly this stuff from the UK was supposed to have chocolate undertones.  I continue to drink it and now I detect some real spice.  "Wow... its even spicy!" But... I continue to drink it as my mind wonders what is going on with the coffee... "I have been having a lot of cumin lately... am I just going crazy and think everything tastes like cumin now?" "I don't remember the coffee yesterday tasting like cumin and being spicy" "Is it salty too?"

And then it hits me.  I had put the freshly ground coffee in a baggie that had TACO SEASONING in it!  The chili powder had made it nearly the same color as coffee and that early in the morning... I'm sure things were a bit fuzzy.  At this point, the great debate runs through my mind as whether to continue drinking this Mexican Coffee (not as good as it sounds!) It KILLS me to waste this precious commodity.  But then .5 seconds later I was dumping out the french press and grinding some new coffee. 

Now I sit here with some new delicious coffee (with the promised chocolate undertones) thinking I have to share this story... although it would be a lot funnier to me if it had happened to someone else!

Rolal

John and I spent last Sunday in one of the villages that John dug a well in last April. 

Our friend (also named) John led a church service this day.  In the picture, John is signing the village's guestbook.  I've rarely seen this practice done except in Africa.  If you go almost anywhere, even more so in Tanzania than in Sierra Leone, you will be asked to give your name, phone number, and address and what dates you were visiting said place.  Its hilarious!

Somebody conked out after an eventful church service!

These little sweeties were eating the rest of our lunch that we didn't finish.  We had granat (peanut butter) soup with these cut up fish in it.  They cut up some fish (maybe a small trout size) and leave the bones in them.  John always was telling me about how he hates it when these fish are in the local food.  This Sunday was the first time I had it and I didn't mind at all.  I took out the main vertebrae but ate the smaller bones because they were quite soft.  I also ate a fish head! I heard they are good for you and if you know me at all... I will try almost anything in the name of good nutrition! lol!

A beautiful day!

Surprisingly Thankful

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

1Th 5:16-18

I know I am a little late on this whole Thanksgiving business, but I hope this holiday season as well as my day to day life is marked by recognizing that I have been given so much to be thankful for.  A bible study I was doing recently took a look at 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.  Particularly the part that says give thanks in ALL circumstances.

God's will is that we are to be thankful even in circumstances that seem inconvenient, frustrating, or unfair. 

Here are a list of my 'seemingly unpleasant' things that I am thankful for here in Sierra Leone:

No Electricity- We have weeks at a time when there is no electricity and weeks when we get electricity 5 days a week.  When we lack electricity, it helps me to identify with most of the third world, especially when it is really hot outside and we can't run fans... I know how they feel.  I also spend more time reading because I spend less time on the computer and the internet.  And finally, it makes me really appreciate electricity when it comes, something I take for granted in the US.

Cool/Cold Showers-  I am thankful for these because it helps me to cool down after a hot day or after I workout.  I waste less water because you only want cold water coming down at you in a trickle rather than gushing out.

Food Poisoning- I can identify with illness and suffering in others more now.  I get to relax and take it easy on the couch and watch movies.  My jeans fit a little better afterwards.

Slow Internet- teaches me patience.

Conviction of Sin- I am so thankful for the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  It always hurts deep when I am first convicted and I often run away from dealing with my response to it, but it eventually leads me to repentance and a closer, more intimate relationship with the Father.

Washing Aden's Diapers by Hand- Makes me feel like Laura Ingalls-Wilder (loved loved her books growing up).  Gives me some ammo to say to guilt trip Aden when he grows up and forgets to call "I labored for these many hours AND I washed all your poopy diapers by hand" (Haha, I'm totally kidding... I vow not to resort to manipulation with my little or grown children to the best of my ability)

Spending Frugally- John and I have spent a lot of our nest egg that we had saved up to move to Sierra Leone with the moving, the baby, and this past container.  We have decided to try and be really frugal with our spending to save up for another trip back and for future kids (which may coincide with each other) We aren't going out to eat as much or at certain places because we can't afford it.  Each purchase we make we think "do we really need this?" etc.  While spending frugally isn't quite as fun as having all the money in the world, it makes me appreciate the occasional treat more.  I put my focus instead on the blessing of people in my life and not material possessions.  We are not poor by any means compared to the people we are serving, but we are not living the life of luxury either.  I am thankful that Aden will get to see this way of life and not be spoiled by much of the materialism that defines America.  I am thankful we are 'livin on love'  Thank you Alan Jackson.

And now to my list that I am thankful for because they are obviously wonderful things in my life (including my long list of foods they have here lol!:)

John- innovator, companion, laughs at my lame jokes, put a fan inside our mosquito net so we can be cooler at night, makes me coffee and breakfast often, reads fantasy books with me (Harry Potter, Wheel of Time, and yes I made him read Twilight with me--- that is love people!), pushes me in my faith where I need to go but don't want to

Aden- laughs and smiles at me, is healthy and chubby, I love love love the biggest smiles when I wake him up in the morning and from some naps.  He has reset my priorities in a good way and giving me a new purpose.

My parents-they skype us almost everyday, send us care packages and do whatever errands we need stateside, are so generous

John's family-John's sister Amy is coming to visit us (partly on assignment from her school) in March and I CANNOT wait!

The Courtney Family-This family is so generous, kind, and open their home and lives to anybody.

Gabe and Sada- The dentist and his wife, who has become a close close friend.  Sada and I have really bonded over the raising of our young boys and is someone I can always call with questions.

Ernest-He works at our compound, is so kind, and washes our laundry by hand every week.

CCOF, CCR, and all of our friends and supporters

electricity- when we have it and I am thankful we will be getting some solar with this container that is coming in a week (hopefully!)

fridge and freezer- The Courtney family gave up their extra fridge that has a tiny freezer in it!  We have electricity every night (we run a generator) so even if we don't have electricity during the day, it stays pretty cold as long as we don't open it all the time.

fans
internet
Skype
WOTH bible study
our weekly women's bible study
ice
cabbage
oatmeal
avocados
tropical fruit
Choitram's ice cream
chocolate 
pumpkins

I could go on and on but this will suffice.  What are you surprisingly thankful for?

Aden at 4 months

Stats

Weight: 7.5 kilos (16.5 lbs) - 75th percentile
Height: 25.75 inches - 70th percentile


Aden had his first check-up appointment here in Sierra Leone.  It was interesting for sure...
We get to Women's Aberdeen Center (where I had my pre-natal ultrasounds done) at around 8:30 am and get in line after about 25 other babies.  Its a first come first serve deal and they only give vaccines on Friday.  We had tried to go last week but didn't get there until after 11:30 and there was a huge line.  A little after 9 am, they started calling people back.

When it was Aden's turn, they put him in this little carrier and hung him up on what looks like a meat hook.  They use kilos here.  Since last year when we were here, they have recently switched everything to the metric system.  We used to fill up our gas in gallons (Emperial), but now its in liters.  But that is neither here nor there...

Afterward the weighing, we sat in a chair while the nurse was trying to figure out what vaccines he needed.  She gave him two shots... one for Pc and one for Hib.  Aden also got an oral polio vaccine.  In the states, he would be due to get the rotavirus and DTaP vaccine. I'm not sure if they couldn't figure out that he needed those vaccines... or if they are not a part of the 4 month routine here.  Aden of course cried with the shots... they seemed to go really deep with the needles in his legs.  He came out of it pretty quickly though and was smiling.



Milestones

Rolling Over- yay! he did it! both ways! He prefers rolling over onto his stomach and staying there although he still can't get one of his arms out from underneath his body.

All Smiles- Aden smiles all the time when we make faces and high pitched noises at him.  He also lets anybody hold him which we were really hoping for.  He may not pay them as much attention as mom and dad, but he's content being held.

Schedule:  Aden is still eating every 2.5 to 3.5 hours.  I've kind of relaxed a little on pushing Aden toward the famous 3 hour babywise schedule.  I find that my milk supply does better when I throw some 2.5 hour feed cycles in there.  I still do the 'feed-wake-sleep' cycle which I really like because I think it ensures he gets proper infant rest.  At night, I feed Aden between 10:30 and 11 pm and he usually makes it till 6:30 or 7 am.  Occasionally he wants to snack at around 5 am which I don't mind because I'm awake anyways (I'm a total morning person!)

Naps: This month we had to do the CIO (cry-it-out).  I thought we would get to skip crying it out with him because he would go down so well when he was swaddled right.  However, in the mornings we would find the swaddle wrapped (loosely) around his neck or covering only his face so we decided to wean him off the swaddle.  I think weaning off the swaddle was the main reason we needed to do the CIO.  It took one full day of crying it out at each nap, and then it slowly got better.  He still fusses for around 5 minutes for a few of his daytime naps.  Also, I am not a hard core CIO person either.  If he's crying I let him for 5 minutes... go in there, put his pacifier in, and calm him down.  Usually that does the trick... if not I let him go for 10-15 minutes and then do the same thing.  I know eventually I'll have to wean him from the pacifier which I am planning to do around 6 months when any need for non-nutritive sucking has diminished. CIO is really really hard but the benefits of a baby that goes down for naps and nighttime sleep easily are totally worth it.

Clothes: Still fitting into most of his 3 month clothes (when he wears them), but they are starting to get a bit snug.  It won't be too long till we upgrade to the 6 month clothing although I think its partly due to the fact that his cloth diapers add some bulk.  We're also putting in an order for some bigger diaper covers to be sent in with the next team. 

Aden gets more and more fun everyday.  He loves his merry muscles jumper and is now starting to grab toys.  What a blessing children are!

Dis Na Soursop

Ok, so my mom was the only one to guess at all right, but yes it is called Soursop.  I'm not entirely sure what they call it here. 

I am so sad to say this... but I did not enjoy this fruit :(   I really really wanted to like it but it had a very sour and off-tasting flavor.  I am willing to give it a second try though because this other expat told me she really liked it so maybe I just got a bad one.  Also, in South America and other tropical areas it is often used for ice cream and jams so maybe it just needs a good dose of sugar to be revamped into a tasty treat.

It is also known as a graviola and guanabana and is touted to be a potent cancer killer.  I'll let you all know if I try it again and like it! 

Wetin Na Dis?

Alright... I thought I had discovered all the tropical fruits they have here but I was wrong... Anybody know this one?

Thanksgiving!

A couple weeks ago I started making a list of everything I'm thankful for... but I'll post that in another few days or so.  But I wanted to get some pictures out of our Thanksgiving here Salone style!

Here is the pumpkin pie I made... The crust is 2/3 whole wheat... all butter, no shortening

This is before I spilled out some of the filling walking to the oven

Finished product

Some veggies I roasted underneath my chicken

My chicken that John so graciously carved... I used this recipe... its my go-to roast chicken recipe and always gets rave reviews... so easy!

Our table of food for thanksgiving... We had about 22 people including munchkins.

Its so funny when we put Aden in clothes because we have him only wearing his cloth diaper most days... he just looks so much bigger and like a little man.  And yes... John has a pirate 'stache... I don't notice it really until we skype with friends or family and they make some comment about it.  The pirate 'stache tends to spring up anytime he gets close to the ocean.

Momma and Son

A little Wii action for the kids (notice John is in there ;)

I changed the layout of the blog a little today so I could post bigger pictures... hope you enjoy!

Leaders 4 Life

I really enjoyed this post from our friend Chris today...  It puts much of our daily frustrations and hopes into words.  Thanks Chris!

My Two Loves

Aden loves his Daddy.  I worked a half day this week at the dental clinic and I come home hoping I would see a huge smile from my boy signifying that he missed me.  Instead he stares at me... I swoop him up anyways and kiss him all over.  Then, he looks back at John (whom I had taken him from) and gives HIM a big smile!  Oh well... guess you can't separate the bond of manhood ;)

Merry Muscles

I knew any children that shared John's genes would love this... and I was right!

Kind of wish they came in big people sizes!

The Poop Disaster Continues

I rarely write two blogs in one day, but today is special.  Or maybe not so special...

Aden-2... Mom-0

It happened again... seriously

This time it mostly wasn't my fault.  The boy had a diaper on.  So this is what happened.  I woke him up for his morning feeding.  I then plopped him on the bed (with a diaper mind you!) next to his dad while I made some breakfast.

A couple minutes later I hear John say "OH NO! THIS BOY POOPED EVERYWHERE"

I was thinking to myself "haha... nice try John, I wasn't born yesterday" I say, "you're joking right?" He says, "No I'm not joking, he seriously pooped all over the bed."

Seriously?

The first thought that popped into my mind was "uh oh, that was our only other set of sheets" the second was "we'll just wipe it off the best we can.  I'm not going to be able to blog about this second one though because people will think I am wacko for sleeping on poopy sheets"

But then my sanity returned and I remember that we live with another couple and they would probably lend us some sheets.  "Yay! I can blog about it then!"

Here's the deal... we have these special "overnight heavy wetter" cloth diapers that we put on Aden over the night.  They do a great job soaking up enough liquid but they are not as tight has his prefold + cover so they are more prone to blow outs.  And that is what happened my friends. 

But it wasn't me that dealt with clean up this time :) 

Actually I helped... and put on clean sheets!  Hopefully this will be the last post about our son's BM.

Something Borrowed...

John and I were very blessed when people gave us some gently used baby items that they had used for their kids.  And like most kids, Aden is non-the wiser!

Below is a boppy from Aunt Sally and Uncle Lowell (we added a safari cover just in case he spits up on it and it needs a wash).  It was so nice having that pillow on the plane to rest Aden in for naps and such.  Also the little mobile/play area is from Dr. Gabe (a dentist I work for here) and his wife Sada that I am good friends with.  They have a 8 month-old son Isaiah that we play with once a week.

He says thank you for my toys!

P.S.  We had gotten this Merry Muscles (the new and improved Johnny Jumper) from my cousin Amanda, but we forgot it when we left.  We were sooo sooo sad about it because Aden loves standing up on our legs and stepping/bouncing.  However, we just had a team of pastors arrive yesterday and they brought it so hopefully there will be some fun pictures and videos to come!

No More Nakie Time

It all started when I was trying to prove to John that Aden DID in fact roll over.

Well he finally saw it on Saturday.  John saw him on his side (he had been on his tummy) and then kick his way to his back. (thank you for all those people who said it does count!)

We are still working on the back to front roll however.  The thing is… these cloth diapers sure do get in the way of efficient rolling.  The prefold + cover creates quite a bulky situation and limits one’s range of motion.  So all said attempts of rolling over were done bare butt… or what we like to call in our household… nakie!

This is a very dangerous game with an infant.  So dangerous in fact you would have to be a little crazy to let your nakie baby on your bed without something underneath him ‘just in case.’

So, smart mama that I am, I had a prefold diaper underneath his bottom. 

And also like a good mama, we were practicing rolling over some more because she wants him to beat all the other little infants his age    to win a bet against John that he’d be rolling over by Thursday  to see the look of delight he gets when he rolls over by himself!

Then it happened.

Aden was on his stomach trying his hardest to recreate the roll he performed seemingly effortlessly on Saturday.  As his mama, I could see the look of concentration and effort he was putting into this roll.  I was so excited that he was so intentional about the roll.  But no… mama misread that facial expression…

Amidst all the practice rolling, the prefold was all hither skither underneath him and could not contain the mess of poop that came out of this little boy’s bum.  I tried to save the sheets but I was too late!

These are the days that I miss throwing dirty clothes in my mom’s high efficiency washer to have them clean and dry and free of mango fly larvae in an hour.  (Luckily we have an extra pair of sheets!).

These are also the days I will look upon someday and smile remembering what a gift my son is.

A Gem I Found in Scripture

I love going through scripture and reading a section that I have read many times before only to find a verse tucked away that I don’t remember seeing before and having it touch me so profoundly.

Today that happened in Luke 22.

Luk 22:40  On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation."

Luk 22:41  He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed,

Luk 22:42  "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."

Luk 22:43  An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.

Luk 22:44  And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

Luk 22:45  When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow.

Luk 22:46  "Why are you sleeping?" he asked them. "Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation."

Jesus had encouraged his disciples to pray that they would not fall into temptation.  Jesus, in anguish, asks the Lord to take the cup from him but says “not my will but yours be done.” Everything was normal and how I remembered it until I got to v 43.  God sends an angel in heaven to Jesus and strengthens him.  Jesus would need this strength to endure what he was about to go through.

Why I love this verse is because I know it is available to us.  When we turn to God in times of temptation or weakness and ask for strength, He is ready and willing to send an angel to us!

Amen!

Does it Count?

Maybe you can help settle something between John and I.

I was home with Aden the other day and we were having some tummy time on our bed.  I propped him up on his hands like I’ve done numerous other times, but this time something different happened. 

On his own volition, Aden begins to lean to the left.  His lean slowly but surely turned over to a roll.  He went from tummy to back all by himself! 

Does this count as his first roll? John says it doesn’t because I put him on his forearms but I think it should!

Let me know what you all think!

Rosy Cheeks

When you become a parent, you make tons of mistakes.  Some of them you won't realize till later in your child's life while others you realize quite instantly.  This mistake took about a day turnaround.

Remember all of us napping at the beach? Well, we took that nap in the shade under a big leafy tree.  The leaves didn't shade our bodies 100% so I put a light cloth over Aden's body and an umbrella in the sand to cover his face.  I didn't put any sunscreen on Aden because you have to be a bit careful with sunscreen and babies.  You don't want to use it too liberally on their skin if they are under 6 months of age.  When we took Aden out into the ocean we didn't put any sunscreen on him but kept him under the umbrella.

Well, that was our big mistake.  I had noticed when we got home that night that one of Aden's cheeks was a bit red but I thought it was because he was leaning it up against my skin.  The next day I saw that one of his legs was red too!  "Oh no!" I thought. "My poor apoto" (timne for white person)! "I ruined his porcelain skin forever!"

By the next day both had turned a more rosy color and he seemed none the wiser that his parents took him sun bathing.  Mommy still felt bad about that one!  Lesson learned: always always put sunscreen on for beach days!

Baby Beach Day

Yesterday was Halloween and our teammate Emily was back from upcountry.  She is hosting a team in a week.  Once the team leaves she will go with them back to Oregon to spend her furlough with her family over the holidays.

Gorgeous Bureh Beach!

A little bungalow we hung out in to eat and set down our stuff

Emily, Robin, and Chad

Owen and Anabelle building sandcastles

Aden and I hanging out in the bungalow out of the sun

Somehow I still got burned in a weird spot on my back and nowhere else.  Not sure how that happened!

Aden's first ocean experience.  Brought some shade for Aden!

The beach knocks you out so we all take a nap in the shade of a tree with our umbrella for a little extra sun protection for Aden.

Perfect way to end the day!

Bed Bugs Continued...

What are these?

Here is its size in relation to a post-it note

They aren't technically bed bugs because they have wings.  We have seen these around our house quite a bit... they can be 2-3 times bigger.

Pretty sure these are what is biting us because I found one trying to bite me this morning up my shorts.

Anyone?

Aden's Chuckles

Momma makes him smile quite a bit

But nobody makes him laugh like his Daddy!

Good Night, Sleep Tight... Don't Let the...

Bed Bugs Bite!!!

Never thought I would have to say that in all seriousness to anybody.  But yes, we may have a bed bug situation up in here!

Or we may not... its currently a mystery.

Rewind to when we first arrived. 

I have noticed that I was getting more 'mosquito bites.' I chalked it up to doing late night feedings for Aden away from the safety of our mosquito net.

About 4-5 days ago we noticed some interesting looking bites on John.  They were mostly on the right side of his body on his abdomen and thigh.  We're talking probably 20-30 bites.  That is no mosquito.  They were also kind of clumped up together and in a path.  Uh-oh we're thinking... "the shingles is back! But why does he a few on the other side of his body?  Does he have bilateral shingles?  Let's keep him away from Aden for a while... we don't want Aden to get chicken pox so young!"

A day or two passes and John doesn't get the flu like symptoms that got him bed bound the last time he had shingles. I also notice my bites are kind of clustered together too.  They are not on my core but I also wear a shirt to bed.  What could it be?

Then I look up bed bugs.  Uh-oh.  Our bites look like bed bug bites.  And they itch like nobody's business! Bed bugs also feed at night and we notice our bites when we wake up in the morning even though we've slept inside a mosquito net. 

We start looking into ways to get rid of these unwelcome visitors.  It is a nightmare! These little buggers survive 100 degree temps, freezing, a year without being fed and they hide in pillows, sheets, box springs, clothes, and any other nook or cranny you can think of!  The internet says to "call your local pest control guy who specializes in bed bugs."  Do third world countries have pest control guys? Removing them would consist of getting some mattress and pillow bags sent from the U.S. with the next team in November or December.  And then in one clean sweep we would have to iron all of our clothes, take everything out of our room, slather murphy's oil on all of our wood furniture, use some kind of toxic pesticide,and isolate and protect our bed.  Then we would have to use white sheets so that we can see blood stains, feces, exoskeletons which would let us know if we were successful.  But in the meantime, we would just continue to sleep with these parasites until the next team comes.

Here is a Bed Bug

Source

So last night we go searching for some signs of bed bugs.  We probably should be able to see some eggs, some exoskeletons that have been shed, possibly some live bugs (they are 1.5-7 mm long), and fecal stains.  Yet when we take out our mattress and look at the bed posts, mattress, and sheets we find no such proof!  What in the world? We see nothing.  There are some black dots on the wood supports of our bed but they could just be a part of the wood... they aren't clustered together like they are on the internet.

Bed bug droppings

Source

We also find some little beetles (3 or 4 of them) that we initially think are the bed bugs other places in our room and in our house.  However, these little buggers have wings and bed bugs are wingless.  So whats been biting us? It could be bed bugs... it could be something else... we have no clue! But either way... we mean to get to the bottom of this!

On a side note... any prayers you can offer up that we are not getting bit by bed bugs would be greatly appreciated! It just sounds like such a pain to get rid of and even if you do all those things, there are no guarantees.