Toto, are we in Kansas?

They say there's no place like home. Last night we felt like we were back home. At about midnight, the wind started to blow REALLY hard (we're talking Kansas hard) just before the rains began. The huge tree in our front yard began dropping it's seed pods--which sounded like bombs-- (see photo) and branches, but apart from that and unplugging everything, we didn't think too much more about it and went back to sleep. When we woke this morning, we saw that there had been a lot more damage done than we thought. Our two pretty little trees just outside our classroom window were completely uprooted and had fallen over--into the garden, not onto the house, praise God! (Then again, had they fallen onto the house we might not have slept as well.) It's a pity as they were pretty trees and they created a lot of privacy, which is becoming scarce around here.

For us this isn't a terrible thing, as we are moving in about a month, but for the family who come here, it will be hard. (Then again, they don't know what they are missing.) It also cuts down on the shade to the house which will make it MUCH warmer. It was already made warmer a couple of weeks ago when the neighbors cut down 3 big trees in their yard to make room for a building.

When we arrived, it was still rainy season, but we didn't have any storms like a couple we've had in the past few days. On our way to church last week, we saw the remains of a HUGE tree that had fallen across the road. The trees here don't have to send roots very deep to get water so they don't have much holding them in the ground when the wind does blow.

Update to the update

Just a quick note about our situation and Sydney as we've had a few people asking if there are any improvements.

Yes, Sydney is better. After her 2nd dose, of 3, of medicine and a good night's sleep Wednesday night, she was bouncing off the walls yesterday, However, by Bible study time yesterday evening, she was dragging. She slept most of today but is back to--almost--full-form this evening. Thank all of you for your prayers. It's always hard to watch our kids suffer. Thank God He healed her!

As far as the political situation goes, we seem to be pretty much back to normal. There have not been any other problems since this brother was "detained". The average Jean or Jacqueline on the street don't seem terribly upset by it all, which is a good sign at this point. It could so easily go the other way. Thanks for praying for this as well.

As far as the students for the training school go...We are still waiting for them to show up in time to start next week. We'll see. We trust that God's timing is perfect and we'll just need to be content to wait on Him, eh?

I guess that's about all for now. We'll keep you posted if anything else comes up. Please pray for health as the rains start soon, bringing mosquitoes with them. We try very hard to keep protected but it only takes 1 infected mozzie.

Thanks for standing with us!

Update from Lomé

I just want to give you a quick update. Poor Sydney has malaria (her very first one). I took her to the doctor yesterday, who prescribed medicine for her. She is already feeling better today, although she still complains about headaches.

Unfortunately, Sydney's condition is not the only news that gives us some headaches. If you've followed the news, you might have seen that we're having some tensions in Lome, due to some quarrels between the President and his brother. We hope that it does not spread over to the population, and divide them. Please pray with us for peace and stability in the country. Although we are doing business as usual, we are also following standard emergency procedures i.e. keeping gas in the vehicle, mobile phones charged, documents and a rucksack ready. We are in contact with others who are informing us of any further developments on the situation.

Today is actually the day that we finally wanted to start our radio school. But we'll have to postpone it again by another week. Some students from outside the country have not yet arrived due to problems with their travel documents; others in Togo are still looking for money to join. If all come, who have said they want to come, we would have 7 students. We will see (said the blind man). Knowing, that God knows (the plans for our radio school and the situation in the country), everybody in our office is willing to trust him.

By the way, we still haven't made a decision concerning our trip to Europe this summer. We got the new that we are not expected to teach at the Radio Worldwide summer course in England. However, now my father has been diagnosed with cancer and will have radiation treatment soon. So, we don't know what to do. Please pray for wisdom.

Easter - in Togo fashion

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you were to color raw Easter eggs? Well, our neighbors in Lomé have managed to produce a new breed of chicken. As you can tell, even the children have not yet adjusted to the "new yellow".

We celebrated Easter today-in African style. It started out with church, which wasn't actually too bad (for me). If you were to ask Sydney, she would probably tell you a different story. Our friend Tony gave the keynote speech of the party conference (in English with a French translation), the girls sung a song with their Sunday School class, and we dedicated a newborn to the Lord. All in a record time of two and a half hours.

Other than that, it has been a pretty normal Easter so far. The girls did two Easter egg hunts yesterday. We had macaroni and cheese for lunch, and a chocolate cake has just endured 30 minutes of 350F temperatures in our oven.

Wishing you:
Happy Easter! Frohe Ostern! Joyeuses Pâques!


P.S. The chicks were actually dyed in order to confuse the ever present birds of prey. It must be working, since they are all still running around and growing out of their pink feathers..

Get them while they're there!!!

What is the difference between being greedy and stocking up? It's actually a fine line that we walk periodically here in Togo. You see, every half year or so, one or two of our supermarkets get a container of American goods. This time, they had loads of things like Dr. Pepper and Ginger Ale...and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese!!!!! We stocked up on it. I mean, this is a comfort food we really miss here. Since it is so expensive for packages to be sent, and we never know for sure if they will actually arrive anyway, we don't get much of this kind of thing. We saw it Saturday at the store and bought some. It was tempting to buy them all; however, we didn't want to cross that line between greed and stocking up, so we stopped at 16 boxes. We didn't want to be greedy. Elena is still worried that we were greedy. I doubt it because the next time we go there, it'll all be gone. Besides, we didn't buy a whole case like we could've--one sat there by the door ready to be put on the shelf!

UnHappy times without Helga

Well, the good times couldn't last forever. The day after Roger's birthday, Helga had to return to Germany. The girls each tried to fit themselves into her luggage. Sydney would not let go of her aunt at the airport and Fiona's emotions got the better of her.

It was the 13th time that Helga visited her brother. In the beginning it was him alone in Kenya and Zaire and later with Kathy and the girls in every single place that we've ever lived. We all think she's pretty special. As Roger always says, she's the best sister he has, and the worse one too (since she the only one).

Happy times with Helga

Well, I said I would write more when Helga arrived. She has been here just over 2 of her 3 weeks so I guess it's about time. We have had a great time so far. A highlight was going to Ghana (there are more "things to do" there than here). That was last weekend.

We went to a Botanical Garden where we saw, among other things, a hollow tree (photo left is looking up, inside the tree). It had started as a vine that grew around and killed it's "host" tree. It was really cool. This "tree", itself is over 100 years old and the host was already really big so one can imagine how old it was (photo right is of the girls IN the tree).

The next day we drove to the coast to walk on rope bridges in the canopy of the rain forest and to Elmina, the oldest European structure in sub-Saharan Africa. It was a notorious slave castle. The canopy walk was 7 "bridges" (photo below) between VERY big trees and was about 40 meters (131 ft) off the ground. Fortunately, you couldn't really see the ground for the treetops. I tried to imagine that I was looking out over rolling hills (the treetops) and seeing the periodic tall tree here and there (the REALLY tall trees). It didn't work and I turned around after the 2nd bridge. The rest made it all the way to the end.

Apart from a ton of driving--you wouldn't believe how many speed bumps Ghana has--and sleeping in a hot guesthouse, we had a good time. Since the media school (Mediafrique) starts on the 1st of April and our home school is still in session, we have been busy with our regular duties as well. Sydney gets to have Helga to herself most of the morning while we are in school, but we have all enjoyed her visit.

Another thing we have done while she is here is house hunt. We have seen many houses. Some we've only seen from the outside wall as the relator guy doesn't produce someone with a key (very common here). It's all rather different than what you might expect in your country. For one thing, we have to pick the guy up from somewhere: his "office", a filling station, or even from under a tree on the side of the road and then he tells us where to go. Sometimes we get to the house and find that there is no one to unlock the door. Sometimes it's simply a house we aren't interested in. For example, one was really nice but the local mosque was directly across the road with loud speakers aimed in the direction of the house. Our main questions are: "Is there a mosque or church that meets at all hours nearby, or perhaps a bar?" or "Do you have water all the time?", things like that. It's truly a different world.

We have seen 1 or 2 that we like, sort of, and will pursue them. In the meantime, we'll keep our eyes open as well. Please continue to pray. The best option we have seen so far still needs some work and it's questionable whether or not it will be finished before the end of May--this is Africa, after all. It would be nice to find one we could more or less move into right away.