Life as Usual

Repost from May 5, 2015

There's not much happening out of the ordinary these days.  I feel like we are all waiting for the "big storm".  We will be getting a rush of volunteers and personnel starting in June and going through the first of next year.  We'll have 5 young adults working with us this summer, 2 young ladies for the fall, 2 young ladies coming in October to stay for a couple of years, 1 man coming in January to stay for 3 years and a family with 4 kids coming in October to join our team for the long haul!  Add to that 6 teams from churches and I'm pretty sure there will be no reason for anyone to sit around idle!

The big kids are working on school, while the little ones do all in their power to make sure that nobody works and everybody plays.  Ben is a constant source of comedy relief.  You just never know what he'll say or in what language.  He's quickly gotten back up to speed in his French.  He still has a lot to learn, but if he wants to say something, he usually figures out some way to do so!  There are some other MKs staying at the guesthouse that is on our compound this week.  Ben wanted to go out and play with the other kids this morning and asked if that would be OK.  I told him he could and before he turned to go he looked around and said, "Do I have to be nice?" "Don't you think that would be a good idea?" I asked. "Yeah, probably," he replied.  Sometimes I wonder what all is going on in that little head.

Ty baby has finally showed that he does have the ability to crawl.  Anyone that has seen him recently knows that he gets around by flopping across the floor on his belly.  It sort of looks like a dry land butterfly stroke.  It's really funny that the Africans call it swimming.  For quite a while now we have been getting the question, "Does he crawl?" and any African sitting close by says, "No, he swims."  For the last coupleof days, the swimmer has been occasionally crawling, but if he really wants to go, it's back to swimming.  He is also obsessed with pulling up and walking with assistance.  He loves to be outside, so he fits in pretty well around here.  Everybody jokes that he has two "mamas".  My special friend Viviane is so good with him.  She loves to sing and Ty loves to be sung to, so they do great together.  Without her help, ministry for me would be near to impossible, but as usual, we make a great team.  It is funny that Ty actually has song preferences.  The very first day Viviane saw him, she sang him to sleep by singing How Great Thou Art in French.  To this day, no matter how mad he is, he instantly calms when she sings that song to him.  He may not stay calm for long, but he always listens a little and he usually listens as long as she'll sing.

Well, Ty baby says blogging is finished for today.

With love,
Heather