Baby Naming

In West Africa, a new life brings an important rite of passage. For the Christian family, a presentation of the baby at church is done around 2 months or so. This is a very important event that all family and friends attend to honor God for the gift of life and show your support for the family.

For the Muslim West African a different kind of celebration is in order. One week after the birth of the baby, family and friends gather and a sheep will be prepared or just a meal if money is a problem. All of the precious little baby's hair is shaved off and the name is given.

The family of my friend was blessed with a sweet baby girl last week and so I went this week to find out what her name will be and see how she looks with NO hair.

Sometimes at these gatherings, we are able to share stories of baby Jesus being presented at the temple. There is some beautiful prophecy at this event. Check it out. And usually we are permitted to pray God's blessings on a new life and pray that he or she follows God in spirit and in Truth.

Pray with us for this little one, whose name I can't pronounce let alone spell, that she will indeed find Truth.

Recital

Last Saturday Karis had her first ballet recital. She had said all week, "I don't ever want to do ballet again." Then the big night came. We did her hair up with a TON of hairspray, her hair just loves to slide out of anything you put it up with. She had two new outfits for the recital as she was in two dances. We hauled her off to the show an hour early and then didn't see her again until she was on stage. She walked out looking a little scared and then all of a sudden she realized there were hundreds of people there looking at her and she broke out into a big grin. OK, a couple of those gathered might possibly have cast a glance at their own kid a time or two, but Karis was by far the cutest!! She even had her own fan club in attendance. Most of her missionary "aunts and uncles" were there. Altogether we purchased 10 of those incredibly overpriced tickets and all said at the end it was worth it to see Karis dance.

Now I promise in those two incredibly dark pictures, is our little princess. The whole stage was really dark, but then to add to the problem the big light that was supposed to be illuminating the current dancers was knocked over before the kids even started dancing. Later the next day I found a low light setting on my camera. Where was that when I needed it!! We've got some video too, but have not been able to figure out how to get it online for you. I know you are all just dieing to see our Karis perform. I'll be sure to let you know the second we figure out how to do that!

Our love to all.
Heather

Family Time

I took a little vacation the first of this month to go and see my family. I got to meet my youngest brother's girlfriend, my other brother's twin babies, and my sister's youngest son. I was so glad to see my family, but still not able to do all that I wanted to. I was supposed to be taking it easy so I didn't get to travel to see everyone else. My family gathered at either my Mom's house or my sister's to visit me. I was so glad that they were all willing to take the time out to do that. It was great getting to know the family that I'd only heard about. I even managed to see a little of Mike's family right before I left. They came to see me off at the airport.

I love and miss you all. I wish I'd had a chance to get with everyone.
Heather

Bouake Orality Pastors Conference

Jeff Singerman leading the conference of 30 plus pastors in Bouake.

Me telling the story of the temptations of Jesus Christ.

Me telling the story of the Canaanite woman of faith.

Olivier telling one of his stories.

Barbara Singerman telling one of her stories.

The 4 of us left Monday morning to the North of Cote d'Ivoire. Several years ago Cote d'Ivoire had a civil war and the north is still held by the rebel army. There is peace, but we were a little nervous. God granted us safe travel throughout the region and we only had one stop where an army person demanded money. God was truely with us. We started the conference Tuesday morning with Jeff and Barbara leading most of the conference and telling several stories to the Pastors and church leaders, and then getting them to retell the story through skits, plays, music and just plan old fashioned memorization. We had about 40 people that came to attend this conference.

Wednesday night after the conference a pastor invited us to go another 45 minutes north to look at an orphanage he had started several years ago. He now has about 25 children in his orphanage. Most of these children lost their parents in the war, or were just plain abandoned. I will tell more about this orphanage in one of my next posts.

Thursday Olivier and I got to participate in this conference by telling stories and answering questions. It is a thrill to be able to share God's word in a different language. It made me reflect on why I didn't share more bible stories with others when I lived in the US. It is an easy method and also very easy to introduce in a conversation. We learn bible stories when we are children growing up, but for some reason we change our method when we enter highschool. Everyone loves to tell and hear stories, so why have we not shared more stories that can change peoples lives.

We ended the three day conference Friday and drove the 6 to 7 hours back to Abidjan. All the Pastors claimed they were going to impliment this new method in their churches. We praise God for his guidance and direction with this conference.

Please pray for our future confernces as we will be holding the next conference here in Abidjan the 3rd and 4th of July. We will also be going to the West of Cote d'Ivoire in the following weeks. May God receive ALL the glory.

-Mike

It's A .........

BOY!!!!!

Heather visited the Dr. today and had a ultrasound. Beyond a doubt it is a boy.

Happy Birthday Heather!!!!

Happy Birthday to most beautiful wife in the world!!!! Have a great day!!!

Happy 10th Birthday Caleb!!!

You can't tell, but that is a 10 in candles!!!

It's hard to believe that Caleb is already 10 years old. That means I turn 40 and that does not seem possible. It seems like yesterday that we brought him home from the hospital. We started the day by giving Caleb his presents that we ordered for the Mission Team to bring us from the States. We spent a lot of the morning playing Legos and new computer games. Caleb decided he wanted to go swimming and we went to a new place. It was a lot of fun. Sorry no pictures. It was a fantastic pool with a slide and diving platform that Caleb, Karis and Autumn (our team mates daughter) really enjoyed. The slide was very fast and probably dangerous, but the kids had a blast. We then went over to the Moodys house for birthday cake. By the end of the day we were really tired as me and Caleb had brand new sunburns we had to nurse, so sleep came pretty quickly. Happy 10th Birthday Caleb!!!