best friends

Do you remember being this age and having a best friend?

I do. Her name was Debbie. Our friendship is still alive today, but I remember those days as some of the best of my life. I look at this picture of these two girls and I am shot back through time when life was just about the moment in front of you. You know what I mean? The moment of play, or pretend, or food, or dress-up, or private eye (with special invisible ink). Those were the days that if you were with your best friend, nothing else mattered, not the day before, the next day, the scary school moment or any other "less than perfect" emotion or circumstance.... all because you had one other person who believed alongside of you. One other person who would pretend with you, who would jump in if someone picked on you or who would play "kick the can" when no one else wanted to.

Gosh, I saw these two girls and that is where my mind went, but only for a moment. Then, my mind quickly matured and I started thinking about the responsibilities of the day, my three kids, what happened yesterday and the things I had not finished. I also started thinking about next day of traveling and what I had to get done before we left. Then, I went to the next week and wondering if anybody was going to go to the things you should be going to but John and I are choosing to take a vacation week while still being in Jos. Would that work? Would someone else do what you think you "should" be doing....? So much clutter, so much wasted space and emotion.

There must be a line somewhere, right? A line that says, "LIVE IN THE MOMENT, but it is okay to HOPE FOR THE TOMORROW." Is it always going to be the before and after and not the MOMENT?

I don't know the answer, obviously, but I do think that I want today to be exactly what the moment calls for. It also made me want to pray for my kids to all have a best friend. To pray for the orphans we work with and alongside, that each one of them today, will have a moment with a best friend that even if life is hard, they can slip away and enjoy a moment with someone that will help them live!

AND maybe I will teach my kids "kick the can" tonight in the dark while writing with my invisible pen..... or maybe not, who knows what the moment will call for.

wheelchair accessible

In the USA there is talk of "is this wheelchair accesible?". For the most part here in Jos, there is no where that is wheelchair accessible. BUT, these capable bodies find a way around what is not easy to get around.

Here are just a couple of shots of different, creative ways that people have thought of to provide themselves with the means to do what needs to be done.

Pretty amazing, isn't it?

This last photo was of a girl coming out of the wedding we went to as well, in the village.

daily changes

Well, we went to OLA on Thursday afternoon and saw that Little Mary was gone. She had been adopted to a good home. We knew it was in the works, but it always catches me a bit off guard when one day they appear to be a part of your daily landscape and the next, they are removed and you are left with the feeling that you are different because of them.

Just because little Mary is gone, the babies are still very numerous here. Little Joseph has officially moved over to the orphanage side and is strong enough to not have to be in the hospital. Praise God for health, but prayer is needed as the babies are many and the hands are not.

Starting from the Left: Sarah is holding Ogeci, Gus is holding Lucky and Sami is holding Joseph. The other babies are inside still being bathed and clothed.

a little getaway

A few weeks ago it was Pastor Appreciation day at our church, so we (my parents, my brother and us) paid for the pastor to stay at Miango Rest Home for a couple of days to just get away and rest, relax and be still. My mom and I took some time to take them there and get them settled. This is a picture of them right when we picked them up.

They look good, don't they? They were dressed so nice and were 100% ready to go when we got there. Which I find interesting since we live in a culture that is usually about 45 minutes behind the time.

As we got there, the village school was in session. Which really, was such a good thing to see; however, the teachers let the kids stop school to greet us at the door of our pastor's house. It was quite overwhelming, encouraging and discouraging at the same time. It was precious to see these tender children during their school day. It was also sad to see that they stopped school to say hello.... but our stay was maybe ten minutes, and then we stopped being an interruption and the day went us as usual (I think anyway).

It was nice seeing the pastor and his wife take a small vacation. Those are not common ideas, the idea of vacation, time off or rest, especially for those living in the village. But, they did it and I pray it did what it was supposed to do.

tree lighting

Yesterday was our first time, as a family, going to a cultural function where there was fireworks. It is called the annual "tree lighting" ceremony. The local radio and tv station puts it on and they have two hours of a program (different bands, the gospel message being shared through Scripture or other artistic avenues, speakers, etc...). It felt to us like the 4th of July because of the warmer weather and the outdoors type of event.

The top photo is of the group of us that went. And the next one is the stage where all the performers did their thing. As I took these photos and the night became darker I had not realized the amount of people that actually came to this event. Before I knew it I stood up and looked behind me (well into the evening) and there were probably about 10,000 people who had joined in, way past the amount of chairs, and were piled on top of each other in the back. So many crowded around that for a moment, I was a a bit panicky.

The next photo is just at the beginning of the night (before it even started) people who had come early enough to claim the chairs. Which we apparently had gotten there at that time as well. I am so glad to. As the night was coming to the close and it was getting time to "light" the star for the tree and end with the firework show, people in the back started lighting their own fireworks and throwing them into the crowd. For a moment (about 45 minutes) there was a constant prayer going on in my head, just in case. I could tell that my kids were becoming a bit anxious as well due to the fact there would not have been a way to work though the crowd behind us to remove ourselves if we so chose.

All in all, that moment escaped us and the Lord provided a great firework show for our whole family to see. It really was beautiful with the band playing in the background. John and I had to chuckle at the culture of it because as much as we LOVED the closeness of the fireworks, we had a deeper understanding of the safety hazards that were taking place at the same time. But, our kids have never been to the USA fireworks (at least not that they remember) so it is not like they would know the difference. It just might be a shocker to see how far away people could be to the "show" and still see them..... but we will tackle that another day.

P.S. Oh I forgot to mention, before the Best act of the night, they introduced Sarah as having her 12th birthday and really made her feel special as she stood up and about 10,000 people waved to her and said happy birthday. She was then given a Santa's hat, some biscuits and a dedicated dance just for her. It really was super fun to experience with such a crowd.

12 years old

Today is Sarah's birthday. Gosh, I tell you what, this "choose your own meal for your birthday" is killing me. I have finally gotten into a rhythm with coooking and then throwing in three birthdays within two weeks, along with Thanksgiving and I feel wiped out with cooking from scratch!! But, I am building my character, correct?

But, on a celebratory note, I love Sarah, our oldest. She wanted people from our ministry there, so most came and we had a great homemade noodle meal with some random gravy. We did take some time to put her in the "hot seat" as we all went around to share what we enjoy about her. It is so fun to see her traits come out, no matter what the age. She shares and desires for people to be included. Sarah is strong and courageous and independent in nature. She is a great daughter who takes cares of so much around here.

It reminds me again of where we live and how it impacts our children. All three of them take it in stride, but Sarah has a special grace about her that allows her beauty to come out when sometimes, life isn't as easy for other twelve year old girls. However, with living here, we also see that life isn't nearly as hard as it could be either.

Another birthday enjoyed and celebrated! She doesn't know it, but tonight we are going to a special "tree lighting" ceremony where hundreds of people come together and enjoy a band, watch some fireworks and then take in the moment of the official lighting of a huge Christmas tree in town. Our B2B staffer, Daniel, is one of the band members playing, and he is going to wish Sarah a special "Happy Birthday" moment in front of the hundreds. She will LOVE every MINUTE of IT!!

We will show you photos tomorrow (I hope)! Have a blessed day!

hopefully more focus

On Sunday our kids forced us to finally decorate our Nigerian home for Christmas. We had about a half of a suitcase with the makings of Christmas, just a few items actually. So within, twenty minutes we were finished.

John and I went and took a nap (you can only imagine how wiped out we were with all the decorating :)). When we woke up our kids had taken it upon themselves to make snowflakes to allow at least a little bit more of a holiday spirit. It was beautiful!

Should we make this our family Christmas portrait? Just kidding, but I am not exaggerating when I tell you that this little section is about all we have beside our Mexican nativity scene. I guess Christmas is more than just the decorations and the beauty we have as a family come to make it to be. This year we will have less distraction and my hope is that we will have more focus on the birth of our Lord and Savior. We will see, huh?