Meat Delivery!

And you wonder why I have become more of a vegetarian here. And this is not the exception to the rule, this is the every day occurrence. I see meat packed in the trunks of taxis, laying on the side of the road and crammed into trucks like this almost every day...

A Cockroach, A Carnival and Contraptions!

A Cockroach-

I am not afraid of bugs. I kill large biting ants, termites, mosquitoes and spiders with frightening regularity. But cockroaches…..something about those guys just makes me run the other direction! Thankfully here in our house we have had very few. With last nights cockroach that makes 4 that I have seen in the house in just under 2 years. Not bad!

Bennett was headed to bed and went to the bathroom and came running out yelling about a big bug. I went to investigate and this is what I found…

We had left the drain cap off the shower and I think that is where he crawled up. He was about 1.5 inches long. *shudder* He ran around the bathroom and I tried to just keep him there until Paul came to “deal with it!”. However, he ran under the door and into our bedroom and headed towards the kids sleeping mats. So i grabbed this large leather stick that is used for driving camels (an ugly gift that hangs on the back of our door for some unknown reason) and started wacking away!  And the score is Chantelle 1 – Cockroach 0.

Gah- still hate cockroaches though!

A Carnival-

This morning the French school that Bennett attends had it’s annual Carnival. It is called a “Kermesse”.

As soon as we got there the kids went and got their faces printed. Arielle wanted a mask.Bennett didn’t want a lion or tiger or anything since he said they were too scary and instead pointed to the picture of a Christmas tree and said he wanted that!

Here are a bunch of photos from the activities. As you can see there was fishing for ducks, throwing wet sponges at Daddy, can bowling, sack races and a lot of other activities. And of course the snack table!

Arielle and two of the kid’s best friends- Ophelia and Callista   

 

Surprisingly, both kids enjoyed taking a turn or two riding the horses. Arielle had a moment of panic when she first got up, but was a real good rider after that. Bennett took to it like a natural too!

 

Contraptions:

Two quick things to show you.

Paul is making headway on our tippi-tap design. This low-tech hand-washing station will be delivered to 60 families at the end of the month to coincide with the beginning of our urban food aid distribution.

And the second contraption to show- our outdoor trusty thermometer. I had it sitting in the sun, and this is what it said. 52 degrees (125 F)!! Yikes! And it is only just the beginning of hot season- it is going to get hotter!!

Pray for our friends…

 

Some times events in our life here in Niger remind us of how closely we need to be walking with the Lord, how much we need to rely on Him and trust the call He has put on our lives to work here.

Today I would ask you to pray for our friends the Brooks family. For those of you who know them, you know their recent events. For those of you who don’t know them, let me give you a very brief overview of the events since December. After 2 months sick on and off, Daughter 2 is medically evacuated to the USA. Instead of being there 2 or 3 weeks, her and her mom were gone almost 2 months. Their flight over was a gong-show (you wouldn’t even believe it all if i told you- one highlight- “nurse” left bag with all medical supplies somewhere in the airport by accident. airport security blew it up with suspicion, all remaining medical supplies returned to them in a baggy for the rest of the flight home) Their flight home was delayed when their return tickets were cancelled suspiciously, their return flight was due at 4pm on Feb 18th. The coup d’etat started at noon. They were directed to the neighbouring country and had to wait 2 days. Daughter 1 gets hit in the eyeball with an airsoft ball. Two days later, Daughter 2 gets her cornea scratched with a knife. Electrical fire in their house. And now a few days after that Daughter 1 (M- the oldest) is being medically evacuated to Paris. She is having massive allergic reactions to something and they can’t figure it out and she can’t leave the clinic. So once again they are on a medical flight out. Wow. All this in a year would be a lot , never mind 2 months. So I ask that you would pray for them. I believe they are under serious attack.

Click on this link below to go to their blog. Jason writes eloquently of feeling a little like “Job” and how these events reflect on his call. I have often felt some of the same sentiments. All I can add is my AMEN BROTHER!

Please pray for them, especially for M who is sick!

http://5nomads.blogspot.com/2010/03/may-name-of-lord-be-praised-job.html