Tooth Tales

Emma's teeth are dropping like flies! She was giggling today because she couldn't even eat her supper. She has to modify...and bite with the sides of her mouth. It was really cute. She is, of course, really excited about a visit from the tooth fairy.

I realize I've been delinquent in my blog posts, but considering that it is July...I think I've done pretty well keeping up with my 365 project. Besides, with my Mom hounding me, I can't miss too many days. (love you Mom! haha). I know that I haven't posted for Sunday or Monday of this past week, but I promise I will. Just remember to scroll down in the next couple of days to see them, b/c I go in and adjust the date of my blog posts. I'd like to keep them in chronological order, b/c I'm considering printing my year in a book when all is said and done. So, if you see that I've missed a day...be sure to always check at a later date, b/c I always try to come back and update. The reason I'm not posting Sun. and Mon. tonight, is b/c I'm feeling pretty icky (sore throat, major headache, stuffy head :( boohoo, poor me lol!) and the pictures are on Ben's camera and I don't feel like getting it right now. (not the greatest excuse...I'll admit) However, I'll do my best to pop those days up tomorrow. Now...I'm off to bed!

Green with Envy

Meet Emerald:The prettiest chameleon I have ever seen. He belongs to the Needham's, but the Yeiters are babysitting him while they are in the states. I wish my camera could really capture the true coloring of this chameleon. Just amazing. And he can go from bright green and torqouise (sp?) to near black in a matter of seconds really. It is amazing. I love Rex...but I sure wish he had the same coloring. Hey...maybe Rex is really a female?? I have no way of knowing. I have always heard that in nature the male is usually the most colorful, so if that is the case with chameleons, then Emerald is definitely a male.

Yeiters came over to spend the night again, and so they brought their chameleons with them (they have 2 right now). The kids enjoyed another day together and it was really a lot of fun. Matt is out of town, and Susan is without internet, so we spent most of the day online Christmas shopping for our kids. We both got a lot accomplished. We had planned to do some scrapping together, but got engrossed in shopping and never even opened photoshop. We really enjoyed our fellowship together!

Ovah-load

Another fun day with the Yeiters. We have been able to spend a lot of time together lately, and we have certainly enjoyed their company! Our mission today...head to the hospital. The Sanderlins are a new-er missionary couple serving about an hour from us. In fact, they were just at our house on Friday and Saturday. Right after they left, she went into labor. I was planning to go to the hospital with them, to be a patient advocate of sorts, but the timing was odd. It was Saturday night, pretty late in fact. That would mean I'd have to spend the night and also not be there the next day for our busy Sunday. I was disappointed. I mean who doesn't LOVE to see the miracle of a birth!? But, it really did make sense for me not to go. It turns out that she had to stay in the general ward with other new Moms because they didn't have a private room. So I'd have really been stuck. Anway, all that to say, she had a baby girl! And she had it fast too...I didn't mention that, but her labor went super fast! I'm still jealous thinking about it! (just kidding lol!) Anway, Susan had Elena and Elias Sanderlin, and her 4 of course, and we had our 4, and we all piled into our car and headed to Mbingo Baptist Hospital. We tied our record again, 13 people in a 5 passenger car. Of course most of the car was occupied by tiny kids, and they can pretty much squeeze anywhere. And that is what they did. We got stopped just a few yards from the hospital entrance by the safety patrol (I can't remember their official title)...who said that our car was overloaded. Ben explained that our friend "put to birth" (that is how they say it when someone has had a baby) and we were watching her children and visiting them at the hospital. He let us through...not exactly sure what he'd have done anyway...dump a few kids out of the car, on the side of the road b/c it was too full?? haha!

We kind of killed three birds with one stone while we were there. We got to see the baby, and both Autumn and Drew had eye checkups. So, we were there for a while, but we got everything done that we needed to. From there we headed to our hamburger joint. What a sight...three adults with 10 kids - all so close in age. The kids were very well behaved though, and we had an enjoyable meal. Then back to the house for NAPS!! :D

Susan and the kids spent the night, and the Sanderlin kiddos were picked up by Rosemary. It was an eventful day, but we had a great time!

Sunday Visitors

Fred Kusik (I really hope that is how he spells his last name) has expressed interest in coming to Cameroon as a missionary. He's corresponded with both Yeiters and us and finally made plans to come out. He decided to come before the birth of his first baby. Well, he got to the airport only to find out that his flights were cancelled b/c of that icelandic volcanic ash that was a problem at that time. He finally rescheduled and was here to preach for our services today. Matt has been taking him all over the place to get a very quick glimpse of the country. It is definitely a whirlwind trip. He is only here for a week, but maybe we will have a future missionary family coming to Cameroon in the not too distant future!

Directly after church we headed over to Yeiters house and spent the afternoon and evening with them. We had a lot of fun. The guys sat around yacking...The kids played so well together...and Susan and I played Mario Cart!

Who's Your Favorite?

The kids still take turns sitting with their Daddy, and we continue to read through the Terrestria Chronicles. We are on the last book (sadly) and have enjoyed it immensely. The kids are learning a lot.

I always love when it is Faith Ann's turn to sit with her Daddy. As soon as she realizes that it is her turn, her first comment is directed at me and goes something like this, "Mom...tonight I sit with Daddy and that means Tomorrow I can sit with YOU!!"

Clearly, sitting with Mom is the ultimate prize.

Yahoo!!

I'm thankful for our internet connection this term. We have had some rough times with it in the past, but thankfully the continent of Africa is becoming more technological. When we first moved here, I rarely spoke to my mom. I think she might have called me once a week, on Saturdays. She found these decent phone cards to use. We also corresponded via email every few days, but Ben had to drive to an internet cafe to get it and to send it. What a pain. Now we have wireless internet in our home. We have two computers online and for the most part it works great. We still have our glitches...but hey, so does Comcast!

One thing I look forward to is my DAILY chat with my mom. I just plug in my headphone/mic combo, and we call computer to computer for free. When we actually need to call a telephone number, we call computer to phone for like .01 cents a minute! It is awesome! The kids are always wanting to talk to Mom, but recently Emma has shyed away from it. She told me that she was "Shy of Mimi." Not sure exactly what that meant, but Drew and I giggled at her and I told her to get over to the chair and put the headphones on and talk to her Mimi! She looked so cute standing there, blowing bubbles while she was talking with my Mom. I'm so glad my camera was sitting right next to me. :D

Making Friends

This adorable goat was tied up in our church property during Thurs. prayer meeting. We see them everywhere...and in the rainy season people tie them up in grassy areas to graze. In the dry season they roam free as grass is harder to come by. We once had a mama goat and her babies living on our front porch for a while. I guess they felt comfortable there. :D This particular goat was pretty easy going and the kids had fun feeding him a package of saltine crackers that they happened to have.

Services went well. Our attendance is down during summer months. The students are gone for the holidays, and we also have Camp Joy counselor training week, and a couple of our people are involved in that too. I really enjoyed the ladies prayer time in spite of the low numbers. I got to know Margaret and Isabelle quite a bit better tonight. I never really knew much about them. They began attending not too long ago. I always enjoy praying with the ladies and enjoyed the bit of fellowship afterward as well.