Life in a Construction Zone

I am writing this in our new home! Our friends who so graciously loaned us their home while we worked on ours returned yesterday, so we had to move our family. Since our house still needs a lot of work, we were given the option of moving to another temporary residence, but the entire family was tired of the moving and just wanted to be in our place, even if it meant living in a construction zone. So last night we spent our first night here. I thought I would post some "before" photos, and then later once we've made this place more homey, some "after" photos.

This is the back porch, off the kitchen and dining area.

Living room. As you can see, I have lots of curtains to sew. The awnings are nice because they help keep out some of the heat from the sun.

Dining area. We can't eat in it yet, but that's ok because I can't find my forks anyway.

This house has a lot of bathrooms. Nearly every fixture has to be repaired or replaced. This one is waiting for a new shower but the sink and toilet are finished.

Kitchen. I am very happy to be able to reach my cabinets! The guys hung them the way all cabinets should be hung, with the height of the person who will actually be using them in mind. It's so cool beans! No more dragging a stool all over the kitchen. Well, okay, I need a stool for the top shelves. To give you some perspective, David is taller than our refrigerator.
Our priorities are so obvious in this photo. I can't find pots and pans or silverware, but I know exactly where the Cokes and the coffee maker are. Now to get an outlet for that coffee maker.....

One of the kids' rooms. Both of their rooms are just waiting for paint and curtains.

Master bedroom. Also waiting for paint. All that wire is going to become our back up light source for when the power is out: solar panels will charge a battery pack and the batteries will provide power for the lights. The batteries are already running our internet antenna!

This will eventually be the office/sewing room/storage room. We no longer have a garage to store stuff or work in so for now it is where the guys are keeping their tools and supplies they need to fix the house.

This may not look like much, but it's beautiful to me! This is a new concrete foundation that will hold our water tower and reservoirs!

We have a lot that we are thankful for. We are in our own place, sleeping in our own beds. We had power and water last night. Good friends came yesterday and helped us clean our friend's home for her and another friend helped David get some work done on the new home.

There have been a lot of unforeseen obstacles causing our progress on the house to go slower than we anticipated. When I looked around yesterday at the broken, ruined things that need to be redone, I was reminded of Isaiah 58:11-12: "The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; You will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings." A lot of things are being rebuilt and restored in our home to make it not only functional, but a sanctuary and a source of blessing for our family and friends. I think it's a perfect picture of what God does in our hearts.

Moving Day: Take Two!

Coffeemaker (Photo credit: Daniel Panev)

Cool Beans! We have moved out of our old home. But! - We are not yet into our new home. We are sort of in limbo, staying in a friend's home, until the new one is repaired enough for us to move in. So for a short time, home is not where our furniture and other stuff is, but where our coffee pot is. We have to be out of this temporary home by Friday so I really, really, really hope we can go straight into the new home and not into another temporary one. It would be nice to be able to put things away, rotate our three day's worth of clothing out for something  different, have access to all of the school books, stay in one place, etc.

Matthew Lind securing our water tower.

One reason we can't settle in yet is because in Congo, home is where the water is. We do not yet have a fully functioning bathroom or a way to store reserve water for times when the city water is off.

Almost everyone has "moving day" photos, but in all the times I've moved, I have never moved a steel water tower like this one, along with two big water reservoirs. Once the tower, tanks, and water pump are installed at the new house, we will have a much better water situation. Right now we have to get a concrete footing made to hold that tower.

photo credit: Jocelyn Frey

Another unusual item we moved this time: the chicken. The cats are with us, but the chicken and the parrot are both already there and being taken care of by our guards for us. We transported her in a little box to keep her calm and our friend Jocelyn snapped a photo of her leaping out of the box at her new home. Yep, that's our new gate back there. And it's my favorite color! That's Emmanuel in the photo. He and several other members of our team helped us move all our stuff before the big deadline. We are so grateful for the friends God has given us here! Because of their help, everything was out of the old house within a few hours, using just vans and a pickup truck.

Do I miss the old house? Nope. It had some nice features but I brought all the best stuff with me: my family, the things that made our house feel like home, my pets and flowers, and my coffeemaker.

No Place Like Home

Ruby Slippers (Photo credit: ZakVTA)

I just sat down to lunch, yeah, at 3:15pm. We've already had quite a day. My sandals gave me a nasty blister on my toe, which kept getting worse, so after Daniel finished school we headed for the house (we are staying at a friend's house down the road for a few days while we pack and move.). We were supposed do actually DRIVE to the house so that after packing for a few hours, I could return here to cook supper, bringing back my dirty laundry and the items we will need between now and when we move into our new home. My car decided it does not like this moving thing and it is not going to run anymore. So, blister and all, we walked to the house, discovered I had forgotten the key, walked back, returned with the key, and proceeded to pack until I ran out of boxes and realized I had forgotten to eat lunch and maybe that was why I felt so tired. Um, there's a lot of stuff still.

On the way back to my friend's house, the first time, I spotted the reason why I am packing in the dark in 94 degree weather with no fans or a/c. This is my power line. It's hard to see the details because I took this with my cheapo phone but that is a broken bottom of an office chair wedged between the wires to keep them from touching each other. The blue and white you see are plastic grocery bags that have been tied around the cable to "repair it." Throw in a few tree roots and you have my power line.

Here's another section of my power line, just a few meters from where I snapped the first photo.





I will miss my neighborhood and being close enough to walk to see most of friends. I will not miss my power line.



Saturday the vet came and spayed our 7 month old kitten. He was supposed to come to check on her the following Monday but never showed. By Tuesday morning she still had not eaten and was lethargic. Her breathing was rapid and noisy. I called the vet and told him I was anxious about her and he said he would come. He said "today" but he showed up on Wednesday. By that time, she had improved a little on her own but still sounded raspy. He gave her antibiotics and went on his merry way. Today she is much better. Lunch break is ending so here's one more photo. Next post will be from the new house!

This is how we keep our cat from licking her incision. I cut the ends off a clean tube sock. She is obviously humiliated at having to wear David's half-sock.  That's why she won't show her face for the camera.

Quitch Yer Caterwaulin!

Lily and Elliot

Lily, our seven month old kitten, is in heat for the first time. She was supposed to have been spayed in August but somehow I kept forgetting to call the vet. She's roaming the house, completely obsessed. Now I know where the term "caterwauling" comes from! Oh my! She is a very petite cat and it is hard to believe the amount of noise she is capable of making. The last two days we've had her crying in the house, at least two males crying on the porch, and the parrot doing a fair imitation of all of them. A regular cat symphony. Thankfully, the vet is coming today for another front porch surgery (see The Vet for explanation).

As I laid in bed at 4:30am listening to the cacophony, in my stupor I began to think about cats, and God, and people. I thought about all the times I have whined to God, cried out to Him or acted self-centered and obsessed. I thought about all the times someone else around me has acted self-centered, or whined, and given me a clear picture of what I must look like when I behave that way. Oy!

When the neighborhood cats are doing their caterwauling on your porch while you are trying to sleep, after a while you lose patience and frustration grows. You want to throw a bucket of water on them or something to make them quiet down.

I'm glad God never says the kind of things to me that I have said to/about my cat (and admittedly, my kids):

"Can you believe it? She's little but boy can she make a ton of noise!"
"Can't you see I'm trying to rest here? Tone it down a little!"
"Aaaaaagh! Stop the whining!"
"Where's my water gun?"
and one I heard when I was a child, possibly from my grandmother: "Quitch yer caterwaulin!"

It's a house!

Hooray! With ten days left on our current lease, we finally have a house! It needs some work/repairs and a good scrubbing, but with some TLC we will soon have it feeling like "home."

The focus now is on getting the house ready for us to move into it, and we are grateful for Matthew Lind to help with that since time is short and David is working at the hangar during the day.

For now excitement is taking a back seat to other emotions: relief at finally having a place to go and whatever the opposite of enthusiasm is (anti-enthusiasm?) at packing, moving, all the cleaning, working and unpacking. We are also feeling gratitude for those who spent time helping us find the house, for those who prayed for our search, and for the help we have to get the house ready.

More photos and info later!

Mussolini for Dinner: Ten Cool Gifts!

tortellini (Photo credit: scottfeldstein)

When I feel down in the dumps, I often turn to the Psalms and to my favorite praise music, making them prayers from my heart to God as I read and sing. This past week as I was feeling discouraged and asking God for help, encouragement and direction, the Giver of All Good Things responded lovingly and generously, beyond what I deserve.  Here are some of the gifts I received this past week, in order of my random thought patterns.

1. New friends – I met a lovely Christian woman, her father, and her new son this week and got to spend a couple of hours getting to know them. They are passionate about missions and it was a real treat to get to connect with them.

2. Generosity – This same family brought enough clothing, formula, and medicine for the orphanage to fill my trunk! My daughter’s school had a drive for the orphanage also and collected lots of food, clothing, and toys. There were many other instances where I was blessed by seeing people show generosity toward others.

3. Letters from home (well, emails, really)! And an email from my son!

4. Unexpected help – We literally had no clue how to look for a house here or what questions to ask a potential landlord before we made a decision on a house. In our prayers we told God, “we don’t know what we are doing or where to look.”  He sent a friend with experience in house hunting to help us!

5. Pumpkin! – Our new friends brought us a few gifts also, including REAL PUMPKIN! We are all very excited about having pumpkin pie with real pumpkin. We did a little happy dance in the kitchen!

6. Electricity – I don’t understand how our old cable keeps going other than God must be sustaining it. We’ve had more than the usual amount of electricity and it has been a nice break.

7. Prayers – Lots of people have let us know they are praying for us! We know God hears and answers, and knowing that folks are praying is encouraging to us.

8. Closeness – As the housing options have been narrowed down, our family has had to talk a lot about what is important in a home to each of us, what is not important, how we are all feeling about everything here, and we have grown closer. It is always a gift when your child desires to share their heart with you, especially as they grow older and more independent.

9. Possibilities! – We don’t have a house yet, but we have a couple of possibilities! Both have pros and cons and neither one is a sure thing yet, but we finally have found a couple of places that we know we could make work for our family.

10. Humor – Always a great gift! I wish I were better at making others laugh. I am sure it looked pretty amusing to our guard and my family when the parrot escaped, as I tried to catch her without getting bit. She actually chased me across the porch trying to bite my toes! Picture a grown woman feeing from a naked, running parrot! And if you want to know how the mind of a boy works, just give him a stack of cards from an Apples to Apples game and listen to him as he goes through them:

“I thought Mussolini was a kind of noodle.”

“If Dick Cheney was our vice president, then who was the bad guy in True Grit?” (That would be the character Tom Chaney.)

After being told that Al Gore was vice president with President Clinton: “you mean Hillary?”

Two Stories to Every Side

I feel as though a lot more time has gone by since my last post than actually has. In addition to our two cats, our hermit crab, and the chicken that adopted us, our menagerie now includes an African Grey Parrot. That's her in the photo. We don't know why she is almost naked. I do know from having pet birds in the past that a bird that is stressed or bored will over preen and/or pull out its own feathers. The African Grey is a very intelligent species and needs a lot of attention and stimulation to keep them entertained and happy. We plan to buy or make some toys for her cage and spent lots of time nurturing her.

We've learned some interesting things about her already. For one, she bites. Hard. She drew blood her first day here. For another, she likes peanuts. A lot. We've been experimenting with various foods to find out what she likes to eat. So far peanuts are her number one choice, followed by palm nuts, mango, papaya and cabbage. Also, she has quite a repertoire of sounds and at least one comprehensible word: "hello." She can do several whistles, including cat calls, and perfect imitations of the following:

a cat
an owl
the little toy plastic whistles that the police buy and use here
a chicken
a car horn, this was pretty impressive. She totally fooled us.
a person laughing
a magpie, we aren't so impressed with this one
the loud and squeaky wheelbarrow they use everyday on the construction site across the street

We are really hoping that we can find a house and move before she has time to learn how to imitate the neighbor's Guinea fowl, or their constantly crying baby, or their habit of screaming their guard's name loudly.

Speaking of moving, here's an update on our housing situation and a Cool Beans story. After a wonderful week of having power almost constantly, Sunday morning our line went out again. The story from the electric company on Monday was that 25 meters of line was burnt and needed to be replaced. A year ago we paid $75 for three meters, so we figured that to mean it would cost $625 or more. We have to move in less than four weeks, so we told them we could not pay for that. There are other people on the line but it seems like our family is often the only one willing to pay for repairs. We resolved ourselves to having no power until the move.

Fast forward to yesterday. I had caught a stomach bug from David and hadn't been eating, which caused me to wake up with a migraine on top of the nausea. Then I couldn't get the generator to start. I called David and he came home and fixed the generator and took care of Daniel, including making sure he did his school work, so I could go to bed. In the midst of all that the guys from SNEL came and told us their "new assessment" (sound suspicious?) of our power situation.

"That story was for the birds!"

The new verdict was that only ONE meter needed to be replaced and it would cost $100.00. David gave them $20, partly since we knew it was only $20-$25 per meter just last year and partly because it was all we had on hand. He told them that should cover our share and to knock on the other gates if they needed more money. Amazingly, by 6pm we had three phases of electricity for the first time since May. By 7:30 we were down to two again but we were still happy. If it lasts today, we will have made our money back on what we would have spent in generator fuel and we will have had a cold refrigerator, hot water, and a dryer. We are hoping and praying it lasts until we move. I still have a headache today but not a migraine anymore, more of a residual effect that is slowly wearing off. I wanted to share all this because I know lots and lots of you were praying for us yesterday and we could tell. Not only did God take my migraine away and enable David to get the generator running, but He gave us electricity when we thought it was impossible!

Also we MAY have found a house. We are trying to line up a meeting with the landlord and our program manager and work out an arrangement that both parties can agree with. I won't go into details on the house until we know if it's the one. Thanks for praying for us!

Mundele, moi!

I’ve been visiting the orphanage for over a year, and I think that FINALLY, some of the kids have learned my name. Every time I go, the kids ask me my name and I tell them “Maman Nancy.” They always call me “mundele,” which sounds kind of like “moon-deh-lay.” Depending on the tone used, it can simply mean “foreigner,” or “white person,” or it can be derogatory. Friday, Daniel and I went to the orphanage and took our friend Roz along. I made a batch of bubbles and took them with us to entertain the kids. After a while, I stopped blowing bubbles and let the kids take turns blowing.

The kids do not take turns well. Pushing and shoving commenced, along with cries of “mundele moi!” That loosely translates to “hey white lady, pick me!” If I didn’t respond quickly enough, a couple of the kids in particular would yell it louder and slap or pinch my arm. Finally I got tired of that and I turned to one of them and said “pas mundele! Maman Nancy.”  It took them a few tries to get the pronunciation, but pretty soon about 15 kids were loudly and repeatedly chanting “Maman Nancy!” They were having so much fun with their chant that they forgot about shoving each other around so I went with it. The whole thing was pretty amusing.

My car overheated on the way home from the orphanage and blew a hole in the plastic water reservoir, so long distance driving is out for the time being. Between that and the fact that we have to be out of this house by the end of the month and still haven’t found a place to live, I am not sure when I can get back to the orphanage. I’m going to have to step up the packing and house hunting, but the realtor says he has no more places to show us within our price range. Please pray for our search for a home and for our search for what we need to repair the car. Also a matter of prayer, I suspect our cable is burnt again because once again we are without power while everyone around the corner from us who is on the same power line does have power. We just paid for repairs on that cable and the new electricity lasted about a week. 

Sometimes when a lot seems to go wrong at once, I want to act like the orphans and yell to God, “Hey, pick me! Pick me for your blessings!” I know He has blessed me, in amazing ways and in abundance. Sometimes, though, I am impatient like those kids and I want Him to answer my prayers in my timing, meaning immediately, instead of his timing. 

Candy Theology

We were excited to find Rolos at the store recently, then disappointed when we realized that these Rolos are different. They are square. I know, I know, they are still "chocolate covered caramel from end to end," but now the other part of the commercial jingle of my childhood - "you can roll a Rolo to your friend" -  is no longer true. At least not if I am in Congo buying Rolo candy from South Africa. Rolos are supposed to look like this:

Rolo original chocolate coated caramels, as sold in the UK (September 2006) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Those little square versions can't possibly contain as much caramel, so how can they be the Rolos I remember? I guess I can consider this a little reminder that things change sometimes. Change doesn't have to be a bad thing. I'm grateful to my core that I am not the same person I was back in the early 80's when I was in middle school and astronauts were singing about Rolos on TV. (If you don't know what I am talking about, you'll have to catch the commercial on YouTube.) I'm also thankful to know that God is still working on me and years from now I will not be the same person I am today.

More has changed than the shape of the candy. Across the top of the package is a declaration that this candy has no artificial colors, flavors, or preservative. It's all real. You could joke that candy companies are more transparent than some people are, but it is partly true. My "real-down-to-earth-what-you-see-is-what-you-get" friends are gold to me. 

In my childhood, there were only about six lines to that commercial jingle, and half of them were about rolling a piece of candy to your pal, your chum, or your friend. Nevermind what our moms always told us about playing with food or eating off unclean surfaces. What kid from my generation has never tried to roll a Rolo just to see if it worked? This new packaging, though, says nothing about sharing with friends. It does say "Do you love anyone enough...to share?" I jokingly told my family I would have to think about it. To me, this is not a good change. It's a suttle switching to a more self-centered, self-indulgent marketing approach, sugar-coated in humor (pardon the pun). I've been thinking about all God has given me, physically and spiritually. Do I love anyone enough to share? It's not so hard to love some people, but do I love everyone enough to share? 

Odors and Allergies

Isn't that a gorgeous flower?! I had never seen daisies with blue centers before, but my friend Lori had these growing in her yard when we visited her family in Kenya. Flowers are in my "favorite things list," along with fabric stores, new books, handwritten letters, and coffee. One of the things I don't like about the prospect of moving is starting over planting flowers in a new yard, but it is also one of the things I look forward to. I was just beginning to gather some flowers and fruit trees in my yard here when we found out we would have to move. If we find a place with enough space, I will dig up my frangipani tree and take it with me because the blossoms smell so nice.

This is one flower I won't be digging up to take with me or purchasing at the market for our next yard. It's called a Lantana plant and we recently discovered that Daniel is allergic to it and has a reaction every time he brushes up against it. I'm sure you've seen this plant and other color variations of it in the U.S.

Last week, Daniel had another interesting allergic reaction. I had purchased some locally grown peppers, a hot variety that is called pili-pili. Daniel saw the peppers laying on the counter and picked one up to smell it. I told him that peppers have oils in their skins that can burn if you touch them and then rub your eye and made him go wash his hands. I guess when he smelled the pepper he bumped his lip because a little while later we were watching a video and Daniel stopped the movie and asked "Does my lip look swollen, because it feels funny?" He looked a little like Will Smith after his character ate the shellfish in the movie "Hitched." His hand was also swelling. Benadryl is Daniel's new best friend.

Besides the pepper fiasco, we had an experience that was both amusing and unique to Congo, I'm sure. When we bought our jeep a year ago, it had this sticker on the windshield:

This is the equivalent of what we called "city stickers" where I grew up. My parents got one every year for each of their cars. If you didn't have one, you could end up paying a fine if you got caught. Even though we purchased our car in 2011, this was the current sticker at the time.

Then word got around that there was a new sticker, and the police were stopping cars that didn't have the correct one. Getting stopped by the Kinshasa police is not something everyone longs to experience, so we got a new sticker. I paid $110.00 for the newer, less-outdated-but-already-expired sticker that now says I am current through 2010. That amount included a $10 penalty for being late to buy their late sticker. Seriously. If you visit Kinshasa, don't be deceived if it looks like a million people are driving around with expired stickers. If it is blue, it is "current" regardless of the dates printed on it.

We are still searching for a home to rent and would appreciate prayers. We were talking wistfully the other day about what an amazing place we could get for the same amount of rent if we were searching in the mid-west U.S. Some things we used to take for granted in the properties we rented when we lived in the states are:

light fixtures
built to code
switches and outlets all work
water and electricity at least part of the day
no missing tiles or torn linoleum
closets
cabinets
no leaks in roof or plumbing
screens on the windows
toilets that work
hot water heaters
kitchen sink
door knobs (yes, we have viewed homes that were missing doorknobs)

Most of the homes we have seen so far have had very few of those items. It can be discouraging. We are definitely not looking for perfection, but hope for something that we can make feel like "home." Something cheerful and not gloomy. We have to leave this house in just a few weeks so we are starting to feel pressed for time.

A house we looked at this week that had lots of "issues." Most of the rooms had a lot of mold and water damage. They had a bucket under the kitchen sink to catch the leak and a dead rat was floating in the dirty water. Between the rat (the second one we found at this house), the droppings, and the mildew this kitchen smelled - interesting.



We are very, very grateful to have power today after going without for almost 72 hours. Yesterday the SNEL workers came to my gate ten minutes after finally getting my power back on and asked how it was. I told them that I had two phases (we are supposed to have three). They demanded $25 for "tape" to fix the third phase. After I paid them, they turned the power back off to "fix it." Four hours later the power came back on and we still had two phases. Sometime during the night it went off again and when it came back this morning we were down to one phase. A little while ago we bumped back up to two phases. Sooooo..... we are hoping that since we have to move anyway, maybe we can find a place that gets better electricity. The first thing I did when we got power was start laundry. The second of course, was to bake brownies!

When life hands you weeds and lemons, make lunch!

Lemonade Picture (Photo credit: JenWaller)

You've heard the expression, "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade." Here's a new twist on that old adage in my latest post on the MAF Blog.

A nasty GI bug has come to our house. Everyone except David has succumbed to it. We've had the usual internet and power issues and all the rumors that go with them. My car broke down again on the way to the orphanage last week, which always makes me leery of going the next time. We still haven't found a new place to live and the clock is ticking.

Things aren't all weeds and lemons here. God has been very gracious in meeting our needs to communicate with others, do our tasks that require electricity, and get places. We know He has a house for us to rent and will lead us to it in his timing. We know our illness will pass and in fact the worst part is over. In spite of having already missed a day due to sickness, Emily and Daniel are both off to a good start with school. It is a huge blessing that David has not become ill because he is in the middle of a caravan inspection.

For those of you who, like me, don't understand all that is involved in an inspection, just know that the plane cannot be flown until the inspection is completed. All ministry with that particular plane is on hold, so everyone pitches in to get the plane back on the job asap. Some of our other team members have also been ill this week, so please keep the entire team in your prayers.

Toddler Olympics

I used to post at least once a week and sometimes twice, but for the last week or so, whenever I try to do anything on the internet that takes more than a minute, I get this:

“could not load the webpage because ____________.com took too long to respond. The website may be down or you may be experiencing issues with your internet connection.”  

I’ll keep doing my best. Obviously since I got this posted, persistence and patience pay off in the long run but the posts will definitely be less frequent for the time being. 

Here are the latest news and prayer requests. 

Last Monday my little man turned 11. We had a quiet family party and enjoyed an evening together. This coming Monday is the first day of school. Emily is a senior this year. Daniel is in 5th so he is now a middle schooler. Both of them are looking forward to new classes this year. Emily is happy about having both choir and drama. Daniel is happy about having medieval history. 

Sunday we had the privilege of meeting a couple of families who were coming through to adopt children. We picked them up and took them to church and then ate lunch together. 

We are still searching for a new place to live. I had hoped to find a place and be much further along in the packing and moving process before school starts because of the amount of time that home schooling requires. Please pray for us to be able to be flexible but also to be able to do the things that need to be done. 

Electricity has been pretty bad lately. While getting laundry done is a challenge, we are very grateful that the weather has not been too hot and that we have solar powered lights, gravity fed water, and a little gas stove to make life easier. The rumor is that power will continue to be sparse until rainy season arrives.

Friday, Daniel and I went to the orphanage. We arrived quite a bit earlier than usual and caught them eating their morning snack. All of the kids, who range in age from 2 to 6, were walking around with jars of baby food. It was the fruity stuff, not the nasty vegetable stuff, and they were eating it with their fingers and slurping it from the jars. It was also hair cut day. There were two stations set up for this. A worker would grab a kid, lather his/her head, and shave it with a straight razor. This happens once a month in order to prevent parasites and make it easier to treat ringworm, scabies and mango fly larva.

We have heard that our U.S. team is doing very well in the Olympics. These kids have never seen or even heard of the Olympics. But they do have their own Olympic-style competition on a regular basis. 

• Dot & Dash: A child dips his finger into his baby food, puts a dot onto the bald head of a randomly chosen neighbor, and then makes a run for it.

• Grab & Go: What happens when one child spills his food or drops a toy and other children happen to see it.

• Cling & Swing: A child grabs the leg of the nearest adult, usually me, and holds on tight in hopes of getting a free ride around the courtyard.

• Sit & Shove: A child sits on someone’s lap and shoves all other children off.

Five Facts and One Educated Guess About Congo's Olympic History

Giant Olympic Rings unveiled at Heathrow ready to welcome visitors to London 2012 (Photo credit: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Some friends of ours have a dish and invited us over to watch the opening ceremony for the Olympics. Since we don't have television, it was a real treat to get to see something live, and in English. I thought you might be interested in the Olympic history of the Democratic Republic of Congo. While there isn't a whole lot of information out there, and some of the information I did find conflicts, here is some interesting trivia about DRC in the Olympics.

* The Telegraph reviewed all 205 national anthems for the London games and the DRC made their list of the top ten worst anthems. You can go to the link above and hear a clip and judge for yourself, as well as compare it to the other nine.

* The Democratic Republic of Congo has never won an Olympic medal. Maybe this year!

* The DRC first participated in the Olympics in 1968, under the name Congo Kinshasa.

* The DRC's second Olympic appearance was not until 1984, under the name Zaire.

* Five athletes were sent to the 1968 games. All five were cyclists.

* How many athletes from the Congo are competing in 2012? Good question! According to Congo WorldWide Services, seven athletes were chosen to complete in six categories, including one participant in the Paralympics. The official Olympics website, along with several other sources, claims that four athletes are competing: one in judo, one in boxing, and two in athletics. The paralympics section of the Olympics website has no athletes listed as yet for DRC. Since the Paralympics don't start until the end of August, it is possible that all of the athlete names have yet to be posted.

English: Olympic rings with smileys inside (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Missionaries are known for going, not for staying. As a result, while the teams paraded into the arena you could hear people in our group saying things like "that's where so-and-so is from," "I know someone who lives there," "we used to live there," and "I've been there." We found ourselves cheering firstly for our own team, but secondly for the DRC team and the teams of all our friends who couldn't be with us.

Here's a recipe for you. This is one of my favorite quick and easy snacks to make. I've had this recipe for so long that I can't recall where it came from. Originally it called for pecans but pecans cost an arm and a leg here, so I decided to try it with peanuts and it worked just fine. You can make up a batch and munch it while you watch the games!

Sweet and Spicy Nuts

1 egg white

1 TBS water

3 cups nuts (any variety)

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cloves

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup sugar - for my friends in Congo, if you use the local sugar instead of white sugar, just increase the salt a little to balance out the added sweetness.

Heat oven to 300F. Beat egg white and water slightly. Stir in nuts. Mix remaining ingredients and stir into nuts. Spread on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Other sources:

Top End Sports

Guardian

Sweet Feet and Baby Philippe

Between the car troubles and the travels, I had not been to the orphanage in several weeks but got to go back today. I had some toys and blankets with me. The workers got excited about the blankets, but the kids got excited about the toys (see above). We are in the dry season, which means no rain and cooler temps. It also means all the kids have runny noses and icy cold feet. I rubbed lots of little dirty feet today and went home with lots of bodily fluids on my arms and clothing. I also got lots of hugs and kisses. 

This little guy's shirt says "Aujourd'hui j'ai décidé d'être sage!" Translated that means "Today I have decided to be good!" As a matter of facts, he was being very good.

Many of the kids are possessive of the toys and refuse to share for fear of having them taken away by bullies. Dieu Merci had a ViewMaster toy and insisted on showing each picture to me, several times. He is one of the most cheerful and sweet natured kids at the orphanage.

I had to take this little man's picture because he is almost always throwing a tantrum and today we caught him smiling!

Originally, this little boy's name was Patrick but it was changed to Giles, with the French pronunciation. I am not sure why. Giles arrived at the orphanage as an infant and is a year old. He was born without arms and is already being encouraged to use his feet to do things for himself.





Today was an fun day because with school out there were lots more kids than usual and they were all playing well together and being very sweet and affectionate. I saw two babies that a month or so ago I wasn't sure would still be alive today and both are gaining weight and getting stronger. It is such a thrill to see a child that was once listless and feeble smile and wave her arms and coo.

It was a heartbreaking day also. A new baby arrived 8 days ago. His name is Philippe but we were told it will be changed to Jacob. Again I don't know the reason for the name change. Philippe is less than a month old. He has cleft palate and either cannot or will not eat. He has only two fingers on his right hand. His right ear is deformed. His right eye is missing. Both of his feet are horribly deformed, as though they are on backwards and upside down. A severe birth defect here is often thought to be a curse or brought on by magic and the babies are then abandoned, which is how Philippe came to be at the orphanage. I really don't know if he will live. I'm thankful he is at least in a place where he is being loved. Pray for Philippe and the staff at the hospital, and for his mama and papa, wherever they are.

Natalie, tired after a morning of playing hard.

The Malevolence Offering

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After church yesterday, our youngest asked us: “What is the malevolence offering for, anyway?”
Before you get any wrong ideas about our church, he was referring to the special benevolence offering that our church collects the fourth Sunday of each month. The money is used for people who need help with medical expenses. It was an innocent mistake, and quite funny, but it made me stop and think about my own attitude toward giving. Do my gifts and my attitude toward others reflect a benevolent heart, or a malevolent one?

I enjoy giving very much. Sometimes, though, the needs here are so great that you feel as though any thing you do is not even scratching the surface. It’s overwhelming. Often people have certain expectations of missionaries, and so they ask for help with an air of entitlement and treat us with resentment if we don’t meet those expectations. Sometimes we just get weary of being asked over and over for help.

I don’t want to give with worry in my heart or just to meet someone's expections. I don’t want to harbor ill will towards the people who might benefit from my giving. Neither do I want to forget that even if my gift seems as small and insignificant as a pebble in the ocean, God can use it to bless someone and show His love and power (think five loaves and two fish)! God has done so much for us! Giving to others in His name is a way to express my love and gratitude toward Him and to love my neighbors. When I truly love my neighbor, it is a joy to give!

Daniel’s question gave us a wonderful opportunity to explain the difference between those two words, and to talk about honoring God and showing love by giving to others.

Speaking of "malevolence offerings," SNEL is still spreading their ill will and mean-spiritedness about the city. Last week, I wrote about some of the antics the local electric company is up to (see my "Bad Guys" post here.) At that time, two of the four MAF families who rent actual homes and not apartments had already been targeted. Now a third family, the Linds, is being harassed. They've posted an update to the whole SNEL fiasco HERE. We are the only family that has not been visited but we don't expect to escape. It would really be nice though, if the timing of our move works so that we don't have to deal with this in both our present home and our future one! As Matthew and Lisa said though, the bottom line is that God is in control. Whether or not we have power, He is still all-powerful! Keep praying for salvation for the SNEL officials, and for all the families who are being affected by this.