What have we been up to? Whew, here we go…
Michael has been working so diligently on the adoption of
our 2 babies girls. He has been hounding the Social Welfare Office, arranging
travel for relatives and running interference with the lawyer. So, we are happy
to report that some progress has been made!! Yay! It is a slowly but surely
thing but he has been relentless and it is starting to pay off. We are on our
way!
He has also been working on the community outreach portion
of our TRS ministry. We have been spending time out in the community and seeing
what and how TRS can be a part both with teams and an ongoing basis. We’ve been
talking with team members, staff and locals finding the best fits. Ok, this has
been fun! We are loving getting ideas together, dreaming big and figuring out
logistics. Can’t wait to start these projects!
He has become a runner once again. He fell back into it sort
of seamlessly. I sort of hate him for it. I wish I liked exercise, but it
hurts, so I will leave it to him.
Rachel has a control problem. Now it is out there. You probably
didn’t notice it before, but confession is good for the soul. We have been
talking with different NGO’s working in SL to see if there are existing
ministries that may need help or that we can collaborate with in certain
projects. I had a neighbor talk about her foundation which focuses on breast
cancer awareness here in SL. Breast cancer has affected my family personally
but more than that my heart aches when I look at the health care system here
and what women must endure. This organization is really working to make a
difference here and they have a staff that loves Jesus! I wanted to help them
get ready for their first half-marathon ever here in Freetown. So, I
volunteered to make little pink ribbons for them to sell as a little
fundraiser… On day 3 of my work, I became the coordinator of the run. There is
that control issue.
The run was a success! We had around 600 participants,
raised money to help support the clinic Thinking Pink runs and more importantly
were able to spread the message of awareness in some high official’s forums. It
was pretty great. As of yesterday, I am retired from duty and tired!
Another bonus was a great number of people we were able to
network with that we would have never met otherwise. Sierra Leone is a country
of who you know and now we know a few more people! We also made some friends
that we are happy to add to our lives.
With all of this I have gained a major appreciation for
working moms. It is crazy! Trying to do all I need to at home and get anything
else completed, wow, it’s hard. At one point I told Michael to push Maggie down
if she tried to take her first step without me, I hated missing out on what was
happening here! Don’t worry, no babies were injured.
Aubrey has read somewhere around a million books. She is
working really hard at her schooling this year and working on making a few
friends here in our neighborhood. She is only a month away from 13 and she
reminds us daily. I wanted to be a mother to daughters, just not the teenage
kind. How did that happen?
Anna is a rockstar. We were sitting on a bench the other day and
two girls her age walked up and sat on a bench across from us. She stands up
and says, “I’m going to go make those girls my friend. I’ll be right back.”
Aubrey and I sat with mouths gaping and watched as she walked over, started
talking and hanging out with these two kids. She walked by a minute later and
said they were heading to the swings to talk, be back. Rockstar.
Ella still loves all things Africa. She has decided her
chosen profession…drumroll, please…She is going to be a street vendor who sells
things from the top of her head. At any given time you will see her walk
through the compound with something on her head yelling “groundnuts two
thousand” or “sweet cake five hundred.” I’m hoping to redirect her dreams at
some point.
Hawa has learned too much English. It is a nonstop
talkathon. There is often some interpretation needed, but she gets her point
across. She wants nothing more than to plant her baby’s hair, po-po it around
the house and cook papella (we have no idea what papella is, it is not a local
dish because the locals think she may be speaking Spanish, so it is open to
interpretation). She is pretty stinkin’ cute. I like her a lot.
Maggie did conquer walking. Our house will never be the
same. She is into everything and she has quite the temper. She isn’t a crier
but she does like to yell, hit and throw things when her demands are not met.
It’s bad, but it is a little cute too. Look, it’s #5, I know I wouldn’t let it
slide with #1 or #2, but now I am worn down a bit. We correct but then we turn
away and giggle like crazy. She is also talking quite a bit. She waits until
the girls go down for bed then goes through her roll call of Aubrey, Anna,
Ella, Hawa. I just think this kid is adorable.
What is on the agenda? Finish this adoption!! We want to
legally have our kids. We are still working on TRS items, including their
internship program and some discipleship programs. We really want to
incorporate the kids at the center in some serving programs as well, because we
believe fully that if you want a kid to grow up to serve you have to teach them
to early. Exciting, right?
That is the short! Aren’t you glad I didn’t go for long?
Next blog will be a post from my kiddos! I’m excited they are a little less
than enthused. They will get over it!
Funny story: I went into the supermarket a few weeks ago. We
have a little grocery we like to go to because we love the employees. They are
incredible, kind and loving to our kids and we just enjoy the experience. I
walked by our favorite employee while I was heading to an aisle to join my
family. He was eating a very delicious piece of cake. I said, “Wow, that looks
great!” He promptly replied, “Have a bite.” I declined and started to walk off.
This is a sharing society. You can only say no so many times. So, it got to the
point I had to accept his offer. There was only his fork. Yes, this kind man
did feed me his cake from his fork in the middle of the supermarket…and yes, it
was delicious. What’s the moral? Tell people who have cake it looks delicious
and you may get to eat cake!
