A snapshot of a blessed day!

Up at 5:30 to say goodbye to Reverend Joel and Reverend Ubak. They were visiting from Akwa Ibom State to officially open the Etiose school on Friday and to provide some teacher training on Saturday.

Hebrews Precepts for me, more sleep for Devin

It was hot!

We went out to the Assembly Hall at 7 a.m. to help arrange desks and chairs for church, and to sweep. Jack made a breakfast of “Frosties,” which are Frosted Flakes, complete with Tony the Tiger, and ice cold powdered milk. Frosties are about seven dollars for a regular size box, so they are a special treat. Topped with bananas, of course, and with a nice cup of coffee. Of course, it was already hot and the coffee made us sweat, but it was OK!

Showers (no water heating necessary), getting dressed, talking to people about this and that detail… I put my ipod on and did my Sunday morning sing walk/stop/prayer time, with an awesome amount of joyful tears. Some kids were playing soccer, several came to listen to my ipod for a minute. The catfish pond had been drained to just a couple inches deep and was being filled. Devin tried to fix the Wii transformer, which, unfortunately, fried. The boys really look forward to a little time on the Wii on the Wiikends, so there was a small tear for that as well.

By a bit after 9 we were out to church, setting up the podium and loudspeakers and such. It’s hot. The boys are just milling about. At 9:30, I teach the children’s Sunday school (I had maybe 20 kids today, in the clinic today, on 4 long benches), while Devin goes to Sunday school. Today was Isaiah 6 – I love teaching that to kids, but it takes longer when you have to explain “imagination” for a good five minutes before they can begin to try to imagine the scene. Then I keep stopping and checking, because “train of a robe” and even just “robe” are unknowns… etc. And, of course, I have to ask how to pronounce Isaiah, which was different, so I am thankful I asked. In the end, we had a wonderful time. Devin went to Sunday school in the Assembly Hall. They discussed the same passage from the perspective of Committed to Change. There were some good questions, he said, including “so you mean if I haven’t seen God like this in all His glory, I might not be saved?” We all join together at 10:15 in the Assembly Hall where we discuss Sunday school until 10:30.

Then church, which was hot. Lots of singing with clapping. A drum kit, but no other instruments. One of the moms has a stick she whacks kids on the head with. I had to leave to spank Ben in the middle of the service (but he escaped her stick!). Just about the entire Fulani boarding camp sat at the back and listened to every word today, so that was wonderful. They kept each other still and quiet. Church was short today, over by just after 12. There were less than 50 people if you leave out the 20+ Fulani kids.

Chicken hot dogs on wheat bread with Heinz catsup for lunch, with sliced cucumbers and carrots, Pringles, and drinkable yogurt. The ingredients for yogurt here are “powder milk, sugar, vanilla,” but it has a great tangy, coconutty flavor. Shortbread cookies for dessert. The highly processed food thing is so we can give our caterer Sunday off.

We planned to go with Phyllis at 2 to see our security guard’s baby boy, born on Tuesday. At about 2, we learned he wasn’t around, so we switched our plan around.

It was so hot, so Phyllis suggested we go to the river. So, 25 kids and 4 adults loaded into Big Jim and drove maybe a mile up the road and tops two miles down a dirt road to the Niger River. It was so wonderful. I was in my one piece swim suit and some capris (the whole swim). The muck was sick if you thought about it. The water was very warm with less warm streaks, and you couldn’t see your hand two inches in. It was awesome. We could go out very far and it was still pretty shallow, so no swimming skills were necessary (only a couple had any). We returned to the house and sprayed all the boarders off with a hose. We showered.

Devin popped over to Emi-woro because Phyllis wanted to splurge on “minerals” for the boarders (Fanta, Coke, Sprite). She payed an extra 50% for the convenience of location, so 48 bottles was $17. They were HOT, so we didn’t drink them, but put them in the freezer. I prepped dinner and then we drove over to Umar’s house, which is a very cool hut of mud and a cement floor with a beautiful thatch roof. Wow, newborns are so amazing. When asked if this is the first baby, we learned that it is the fifth, and this one makes 3 living. They will name him in a ceremony in a few weeks. The mother is experiencing pain, so we called the nurse and asked her to make a visit.

Came back, I finished dinner (spiral noodles, in a mushroom sauce (canned mushrooms, of course) and a yummy fruit salad of pineapple, papaya, and bananas and ice water to drink) while Devin got set up outside for a movie in the Assembly Hall. He put a slideshow of pictures from this week on, with WOW worship music, came in and ate with us and Phyllis and even Bassey at 6:45. Chronicles of Narnia at 7. I stayed in with Ben, who was “grounded” from the movie as a consequence for bad behavior. He was in bed at 8, after talking at least three hours’ worth. I came and wrote and got organized a bit for homeschool.

It’s almost 10 – Winter Olympic highlights (we have satellite for this month so we can see them!). And probably another quick shower, and bed – with air conditioner running.

Life is very, very good!

God bless you!