Celebrating Elena

I realize we just posted something, but this is really important! Just think, you get 2 for the price of 1 today!

Thru Pawnee Heights School (where the girls went last year in Kansas), the girls are able to keep up with the Accelerated Reader program (AR). They read books and take comprehension tests on them. Elena was totally unmotivated to take read and take tests until she started reading books from a series about a girl called Mandie, around Christmas-time. She has become a "reading machine" these past few months and we've found a supply of these books to keep her going. She accumulated 243.1 points. She found out, via a friend on skype, that she would've been 3rd in her class had she been there! The school ended today and apparently the top 4 (who were there) got prizes. It's a pity that she worked so hard and did so well and got no recognition for it. Therefore, we want to celebrate her and her success here on our blog.


WELL DONE ELENA!!! We are very proud of her. If you can, please write her a short email, congratulating her as well. Her email address is fantastic_elena@yahoo.co.uk

Thanks!

What's up in Togo

I was inspired to write a bit of something to let everyone know we are still here and what's up. I have thought about writing but just haven't had the energy lately. Last time we wrote about Roger's colleague who had the fall with the motorcycle. Well, he finally went to the Dr. and found out his foot is broken. Since he walked round on it for about 5 days, it was too swollen to put in plaster last Friday so it will all take a bit longer. Anyway, that has meant that Roger has had to teach Adama's class this week. It would've been easier had he been prepared for the class but he wasn't. As a matter of fact, he has been preparing the day before all week (or waking in the wee hours and preparing). It's been a bit stressful as it has meant that, apart from the ladies who cook and clean, Roger is the only one there for everything. Hopefully, it'll be a bit easier next week--on the training side of things, that is.

On the homefront, next week will be even more hectic. We need to have everything packed by Wed. morning as the man with a big truck/lorry will come and move our things. Fortunately, this man comes with his own "muscle" so we don't have to help load the thing! It was looking like the girls and I would have to do all the moving on our own, but Roger is pretty sure he can swing it to be here that day. I'm pretty tired lately as well, as packing is tiring (tho we don't have that much stuff). Unfortunately, since Roger is swamped with work, I'm pretty much on my own. The girls have helped some, but for the most part, just hang around asking what they should do now that they have packed all their toys. (Actually, I told them to keep out a few things they wanted to play with until after we moved. They all complied, but Sydney--now 3 days later--has decided she doesn't want to play with these toys and is bored because she has "nothing to do". Too bad!)

It'll be nice to be moved. We still don't have much furniture--tho our bed has arrived, but we still have no matterss for it. I guess we'll be living out of Action Packers for a while, still. However, soon after we move, we plan on having a/c's put in a few rooms!!! That will be great. I was packing stuff today and sweating into the box at the same time. It's been extra hot lately, and when the electricity is off, it's worse.

Well, this is again a long entry. Roger tells me he "likes shorter entries", but, oh well... I'll put another photo on here. This one is of our friend the Blue-brested Kingfisher. He is the mascot of our newly named "school"--Kingfisher Elementary. (By the way, I just realized he hasn't been around since our trees got blown over last month.)

A few thoughts

I was looking at the blog today and realized we hadn't written anything for a while. It's not that nothing is going on here, it's just that it all takes over and we don't think to put any of it in cyberspace. So, it's rather long, but, here goes...

ROGER

The training school finally started, April 28th. Roger has been really tired because of all the work but in a big way, it's nice to finally start doing what he came here for. (**Right here I'll say that just today the other teacher was insured when the motorcycle he was on, fell over. His leg is banged up and he wants to go and have it x-rayed tomorrow. Please pray he is back to normal very soon**). We hope the "extra" things will slow down for him. He has spent quite a bit of time looking in on the renovations at the house we'll move into. We had to have furniture built but most of it is not yet finished, although we ordered it at end of January. The girls' beds are the only things that are ready so far. Hopefully, we'll have a bed and some chests of drawers to put our clothes in by the time we move!

THE "GIRLS"

Homeschool is almost fininshed for this year. I believe we have all settled down and are learning to "find our way" thru it all. At this point we would like for someone (preferably female) to come to Togo for a year to help teach. I think it would be a good thing for all of us as our students generally respond better to someone who isn't Mama. It would really lift a burden of my shoulders, since I am already wondering how I'll teach Sydney as well next year. She's very excited to be starting kindergarten and has been telling everyone about it. So, if you would like to come yourself or if you know of anybody who might fit the bill, please contact us.

MOVING

We are all excited about the "big move". We plan on moving on the 27th. I think everyone is looking forward to it! One big thing is that we plan on having a/c's and we are ALL ready for that. It should be easier for Roger as the new house is only 2.5 km from his office/school. We could even go there as well for a visit once in a while. It also helps to have something to look forward to. Our days are usually so much the same that even the thought of packing our things and moving then unpacking them in a different house across town is exciting.

A REQUEST

One thing I'd like you to pray about is what to do about our house helper. She is an older lady who is, well, not ideal--actually, the ideal would be NO ONE, since I don't like having anybody in the house all day. However, that would be almost impossible since I am teaching. Anyway, we'd like to find someone else but are having trouble thinking of this lady being without a job. It's not that she's bad or anything, she's just not what we need. She needs to be in charge somewhere, like in a nanny position or so. We just need someone who will help with household chores and not try to run things. Please pray we find a good way of phasing her out and finding a different person.

ENDING THIS LONG THING

Thanks to all of you who read this. Somehow, it makes us--well, me at least--feel closer to friends and family knowing that some of you read this and even look forward to what we might say next.

I'll leave you with a small photo of the girls. They were dressed up for their "Thursday Club" party. (By the way, Thursday evening meetings are the highlight of our week and we are so thankful to God for providing them).

Boy, time flies!

Well, I officially feel old. Last weekend, we got to see one of my former students and her BABY--and her husband, of course. Mari was one of my students in 2nd and 3rd grades at Rethy, Zaire. She has grown up and, along with her husband, wants to come to West Africa to work with a radio mission. They were in Ghana last weekend getting to know some of the people they will work with and we got to see them. It all started earlier in the week when her father wrote and told us they would be coming. He knew we were in the neighboring country and thought we might like to know. As Roger's school hadn't started--yes, it was put off yet again--we decided to go for a quick trip.

It was really lovely to see Mari and Alex and their cute daughter Adalyn. Thanks to Facebook, I can keep up with many of my former students, but she is the only one I've actually met with a child. I am thankful that I got to be a small part of the lives of these people and to see many of them as lovely Christian adults is, well, awesome. It also makes me see the need to pray for my own children and to try to raise them to know Christ.

I'm thankful I got to see Mari and her little Adalyn (and Alex, too, who was, by the way, a student at one of our radio courses while we were still in the UK, shortly before they got married and we left for France) and look forward to having them as "neighbors" in Ghana.

By the way, the girls thought Adalyn was great. They all wanted to hold her. However, the poor thing was uncomfortable with heat rash and sweaty all the time so didn't like getting far from the fan. (I can totally relate!)

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.