Caleb Joe

Caleb is 5 months and 17 pounds! He enjoys laughing, sucking his thumb in a sideways manner, sucking his big toes when his big cloth diaper is off, riding on our houseworker's back, and of course drooling! He is pure sweetness! We miss all of you being able to kiss and love on him. Be assured he's getting plenty of love around here, though!

Creative Expression

As I walked out to the office this morning to do some work on the literacy book I was greeted by these muddy, well-placed hand prints just outside the door. I think Elijah might have had the recently viewed Curious George movie in mind as there were 5 other pairs of handprints on the other wall, progressively lighter! Everyone always says I'll miss those dirty handprints on the wall in a few years, so I decided to preserve them here. They are pretty cute hands, I have to admit!

Girls' Party in Lieu of Safari

Hannah struggled over whether to go on safari with the boys this last weekend. She ended up deciding to stay back if she could host a girls' party for some friends in Kara. Being that there aren't too many ex-pat girls in Kara at the moment she invited some ladies. We had tea and cookies, played dress-up, 20 questions, Hannah read a poem she had written about an Elephant, and we ate pizza and salad for dinner. Good idea, Hannah!! We had lots of fun!

A Guarded Heart and Mind

"...and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:7

I have had this verse memorized since elementary school and then wrote it on numerous pledge books, club signs and chalk boards for mixers during my club days at Harding, as this was the theme verse for our social club. For months now, I can't shake the question from my mind of what it means to have a heart and mind guarded by God's peace. What are they guarded from? There are the obvious things of worry or fear or a whole list of sins that are definitely the antithesis of peace. But, I keep thinking about the moments and days when I've felt my heart running away from me, either with emotional obsession or jealousy or hatred or the times my mind has been the fiercest battleground I could imagine...and I can attest that there is definitely no peace there, although my flesh seems to be mightily enjoying the distraction. These are the things I'm aware my heart and mind need to be guarded from. Is it the lack of God's peace that starts my heart and mind down these roads of sin? I think I've always thought of it the other way around. (My heart and mind are where they shouldn't be, and therefore I don't have peace.) And yet, this verse says that we can't understand God's peace and how it works. I'm asking the Lord to show me what he has in store to reveal to me about what it means for His peace to guard my heart and for his peace to guard my mind in Christ Jesus.

I'm thinking that the verse before that says "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer....." In everything by prayer. Have my heart and mind been running away? You can bet I haven't been praying when the thought or emotion first entered in. It reminds me of taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Any thoughts? I'd love to hear your point of view... I hope there's more to come on this in a later entry.

Elijah is 6!

My second child is now 6 years old! Although it is hard to believe, he has finally arrived at the age he has been looking forward to since he turned 4. He has had it in his mind for two years now, that 6 was the magical age when he would become a "big kid". He is pictured here on his birthday hike with his Daddy on some rocks just outside of Kara.

Elijah is bright, observant, determined, resourceful, tenderhearted, introverted, eager to learn new things, and loyal. Out of all of our children he reminds me the most of my wonderful husband David and I enjoy watching him grow physically, emotionally, and spiritually. The Lord is wooing Elijah to himself in different ways than he has wooed Hannah and it is beautiful to watch and be a part of. May He continue to grow into a servant for the Lord who is brave and unashamed of His God. Happy Birthday Elijah! How I love you!

Check out his birthday party on the media player!

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Oops! A couple of people have emailed me and said they couldn't post comments. I didn't realize I had accidentally enabled the setting that only registered blog users could comment. I've changed the settings so that anyone can comment. I love hearing from you!

From Where Do You Slide?...An Elephant's Backside!

We've had a fun New Year's trip with the Ries family up to the country of Burkina Faso which borders Togo on the north. We spent two nights in the nation's capitol, Ougadougou, with our missionary colleagues to the Dagara, Andy and Melissa and Elijah Johnson. Then, we ventured over to the city of Dano in south-western Burkina where they, along with their teammates the Chankins, Carters, and Burks, live and work among the Dagara people. We had a wonderful, yet too short, visit with all of them and hope to return again soon.

Our son, Elijah, announced yesterday that he thought Ougadougou was the best city in the world because of the Faso Park we visited while there. It seems to be Ougadougou's equivalent of Disneyland. At the persuasive suggestions of Andy Johnson, the manager let our families in before business hours so that our children could play on the playground area for around 75 cents per child. We were initially impressed by the huge statues of an elephant and dinosaur and all of the other equipment. We saw the stairs that led up into the elephant's mouth and as the children began to climb them we walked around behind the elephant to see what this play equipment was and found ourselves laughing incredulously at the design of this slide!!! Out slid our children from the elephant's rear-end, one by one. Oddly enough, upon closer examination, a small metal plaque on the elephant's foot read "Made in Spain. 240 volts" We have been mulling over theories for what the voltage was/could be used for... What do you think?