Aden Using his Walker

John and I had been planning to try and scour the streets of Freetown looking for a little walker for Aden to use.  We were blessed to be given this from a fellow missionary who wasn't using it anymore. Yay!

Camouflaged Cocoon

We found this outside our house.  Its a little cocoon that has camouflaged itself and barricaded itself in with little sticks and twigs to protect itself and hide from predators. 

I didn't see it but John saw him pop his head in and out a few times! I love seeing God's creation doing such cool things!

Dwight's Baptism

This past Sunday we took a team day at the beach.  It was us, the Courtneys, and the Gonzales family.  I just hate it when Chad makes us go to team days at the beach. :) I kid I kid.

Chad's son Dwight (13 years old) decided that today was the day he wanted to be baptized.  It was a very special day for Dwight, his family, and our team.  John and I felt so happy to be apart of such a blessed event!

I'll let the pictures tell the story...
 

The Holiness of God

I LOVE to read.  I wish I could read more but with Aden's new-found mobility, I spend a lot less time reading than I would like.   Right now I am slowly but surely making my way through a book by R.C. Sproul called the Holiness of God.  It was free on my kindle but is so good that I would have paid for it!  Here is an excerpt that I read today that just hit my heart like a 2 x 4.

The key to Kung's observation is that he speaks of sinners' continuing to live in the average situation.  That is, it is customary or usual for God to be forbearing.  He is indeed long-suffering, patient, and slow to anger.  In fact He is so slow to anger that when His anger does erupt, we are shocked and offended by it.  We forget rather quickly that God's patience is designed to lead us to repentance, to give us time to be redeemed.  Instead of taking advantage of this patience by coming humbly to Him for forgiveness, we use this grace as an opportunity to become more bold in our sin.  We delude ourselves into thinking that either God doesn't care about it, or that He is powerless to punish us.

The supreme folly is that we think we will get away with our revolt.

For me it is easy to down play the little sins in my life.  What Pastor Aaron Campbell (a pastor from Antioch Calvary in Philly that John and I listen to on iTunes) calls the "cute" sins.  You know... the sins that everybody understands and does... like failing to set aside time for knowing and reading God's word and sitting in His presence, having seasons of prayerlessness (yes, this is unfortunately a sin), and many others.  I say things like "Oh, well... I am just really busy 'serving' this Christian team we have here."  "I would have had to wake up at 5 am! Aden wanted a snack in the middle of the night so I am too tired to wake up early and my day is jam packed."  "Oh the day just slipped on by and I plum FORGOT to pray!" Or when I am guilty of envy, discontentment, etc.

The quote from this book is referring to the supposed unfairness of God when he quickly smites somebody in the Old Testament but I think it applies to today as well when God chastises us.  It often (wrongly) surprises me that I am chastised for my sin when God is often so long-suffering.  I am just thankful that though the punishment for sin is death, that I have a Savior that took that punishment on himself.  While I am not in danger of being suddenly struck down for my sin like Uzzah, I don't want that to give me confidence and boldness in my sin, but to instead run in repentance to an all-forgiving God.

Meet Gingersnap and Charcoal

Gingersnap is the momma goat.  We *think* she is in milk.  Charcoal (last picture) is the baby goat.  He still tries to milk but we don't know if he's successful.  Gingersnap is also pregnant so if we can't milk her soon (still waiting to get a stanchion built) then we can in a few months when she has the babies.  We are still working on letting them warm up to us.  I've gotten to the point where Gingersnap will approach me when I first come up to her to see what goodies I've brought for her to eat.  She doesn't really like me petting her but she'll barely tolerate it if I hold on to her leash and feed her goodies.  I am hoping John can build a stanchion this weekend and we're hoping she'll let us milk her (we may have to tie her legs together). 

 

Charcoal is a male.  We will have to decide soon if he is going to be our stud... or our dinner.  Will post pictures and a recipe soon if its the latter :)  John wanted to name him Fine Chop for that very reason.

Look at the house John built

But who would live in such a house you may ask? 

Stay tuned...

Willamette Medical Teams and the New Arrivals

We have some exciting news! Well at least WE are excited! The whole time we've been in country, we've been preparing to add some Chileans to our team.  It finally became a reality almost 2 weeks ago when the family arrived in country.  The couple is Pepe and Alejandra and their 10 year old daughter Escarlet.  They are just the sweetest family.  We immediately were drawn to their hearts and their passion for the Lord.  They came on faith alone for God to provide and it is just great watching it play out in action.  Their work is cut out for them as they learn Krio (and English).  Its been fun for me to practice and use the Spanish I learned so many years ago.  Please keep this wonderful family in your prayers.

Here is a picture of the entire "Willamette Medical Team" including all families (the Chilean family is right next to the Courtneys), well drillers, and, people who work at the damsite.  The picture was taken at the Newton Damsite which we are hoping to be moved into by the beginning of next year. 

Mom, please stop with the video...

Here is another video I took of Aden after lunch one day hence the messy face.

More on Aden's Underpants

Here is a cute video I took of Aden with his training pants on... the same day I took those pictures about a week ago.  He's got one top tooth in the video and today he has 3 teeth on top!

Aden isn't quite ready for training pants but I thought we would try them on since Grandma sent them here with the last team. 

I think Fruit of the Loom has their next model in the making with this one...

I can't believe he's getting so big!

We went to the beach last week with the medical team from Canada.  We found a dead crab.  Aden is not sure how he feels about it.

Sierra Leone From Earth to Table

Source

Sierra Leone from Earth to Table

This is a really cool PDF on the local foods available.  I read through it and noticed that not 'everything' is true from what I've seen but for the most part it is pretty accurate.  For example, it described "fufu" as a staple eaten almost every day.  However, from what I've seen and eaten, fufu tends to more of a special occasion food.

The picture above is of kola nut which is somewhat of a stimulant.  It has both caffeine and theobromine in it.  People chew it for the "high" or "coffee kick" I find it rather gross though... especially when I was doing dental cleanings on people that had never had their teeth cleaned and had chewed kola nuts all their lives.  It would probably be equivalent (but not nearly as harmful) as chewing tobacco.  I think it is probably the most common for middle aged and older ladies to chew it.  I have also been told that it takes the edge off hunger (much like coffee) for people that can't afford to eat as often.

Because I love food... I would love to answer any questions that you might have about the foods in that article!

8 months old... I Like Drumsticks

Forget that baby puree stuff... I WANT MEAT!

8 months old... Wake up Daddy Time

I love every morning that I can come wake up Daddy.  Today we were visiting Emily in Kamakwie in the north of Sierra Leone.  Daddy put up her solar for her. 

7 months old... my new hat

Is this hat not the most precious hat an overprotective mother could put on her fair, burn-prone, did I say fair son? Thanks Grandma Hunt!!

EC Part II

Like I said in Part I to this post, Aden and I started EC at about 6.5-7 months old.   I will be honest with you, it was not all snow cones and butterflies at first, partly because I think I jumped in with a little too much gusto.  The book I read that outlines how one can begin EC is called Diaper Free Baby.  Well, I wanted to know what Aden's patterns for peeing were and they said the quickest way to do that, and the quickest way for Aden to become aware of what he was doing, was to literally go diaper free.  That being said, you can imagine that I had some messes to clean up in the beginning.  Both numbers if you get my drift.

For a while in the beginning, the only thing I was able to 'catch' (EC lingo for landing in the toilet) were pees.  I made the 'psssss' sound and we spent a lot of time sitting and waiting on the toilet.  But hey, if you're into reading to your children... its as good a time as any.  We sing a lot of Old MacDonald Had a Farm and point to the animals in his book.  I probably didn't catch any #2s till Aden had a small bout with a fever and some diarrhea.  Those two days I 'caught' quite a few poops.  With poops I make a grunting sound.  I really didn't want to do the grunting sound as the book suggested because I just couldn't picture myself doing that.  It seemed more silly than the "pssss" sound.  However, now I pretty much use the grunting sound for both #1 and #2 because I think it registers more with Aden.  The same muscles that contract to do #2 he contracts to do #1.  He chose it, not me.

Just like his mommy he enjoys a good book in what my college roommates termed my "office"

Soon after cleaning up too many "misses", I decided to take a step back and do EC for what is convenient for me.  It is convenient for me to wake Aden up, nurse him, and then offer him an opportunity to pee/poop on his little Bjorn potty.  John and I have cleverly termed this a "potty-tunity".  Whether he takes his potty-tunity or not, I then put a cloth diaper on him (often without the waterproof cover) and hand him off to John in our bed while I make all of us breakfast.  This is our little routine in the morning and we love it.  John gets some one-on-one time with Aden before going to work and I get to make breakfast for my two loves sans having to worry about a baby crawling around and getting into stuff.

Apparently books are good for other things besides reading

 He seems a little concerned that I am infringing on his privacy with all this photography

After breakfast and before his 1st nap I will often give him another potty-tunity.  If he pees before his nap, he will often wake up dry from his nap.  Then I take off his diaper, nurse him and then back onto the potty he goes. This sequence is repeated for as long as we're home the rest of the day.  A few patterns to note: 1. He pees a lot more in the morning than in the afternoon (just like I do after my coffee) 2. He pees less now as a 9 month old compared to a 6 month old.  This may have to do with bladder size/control or it may have to do with the fact that it is HOT here and he may sweat a lot of it out now.

On days that we go into town or go out of town, I often only do EC in the mornings before we leave.  I have taken him into the bathrooms of other places and he has peed/pooped in them, but more often than not he doesn't.  Today Aden kept the same dry diaper on from the morning till about 3:45 pm when I noticed it was wet. He was due for a bath anyways and I like to put a fresh cloth diaper on afterwards.  Aden had peed 4 times (I think) and pooped once in his toilet. Not all days are that successful.  The day before I had missed some pees earlier in the morning but had caught his poop.  When we go camping or out of town, it often throws of his groove and takes another day or 2 to get back into eliminating on his toilet.

Why I like EC:

1. (Mostly) no more scrubbing poop off his cloth diapers.  -He still goes in his diaper occasionally and the downside to that is since I've gotten used to not having to scrub them, when I do, my attitude is not as good about it.
2. Less diapers in general to clean.  -Now that I'm not hand washing, I can go a lot longer between loads.
3. Doesn't take a lot of effort.  -I definitely put more effort in the beginning, but now it seems very natural and effortless.  And doesn't every parent put more effort into the beginning of toilet training before they begin to reap the benefits?
4.  I won't have to deal with toilet training a toddler in his terrible twos
5. Saves $.  -This one doesn't apply to me, but if I did buy disposables it would make me feel better to not be spending my money on them.

Any questions? Comments?  Keep in mind I know a lot of this sounds a little crazy/granola-ish and I wrote this post with a smile on my face because of how silly the topic is.