Chandler Renee - 5 months

How the heck did we get here?! I cannot believe this little girl is 5 months old! The past couple of days I've been watching her sleep and keep thinking, "When did she get so big?!" This has been a fun month for her. Her daddy got her a doggy (or got himself a doggy). Chandler loves watching Barley play. She also went to an African beach for the first time. And celebrated with mommy on mommy's 26th birthday. She spent time in the village when we went out with volunteer teams and did an amazing job. She also attended her first wedding. It was different than most other wedding she'll attend since it was a Muslim wedding. For the most part she did good, but she did get a little overstimulated a few times :) 

Possibly her biggest accomplishment this month is getting on a sleeping schedule. She's started taking 2 main naps a day... one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Sometimes she takes one more in the evening just depending on how busy the day was. This has been a blessing for us. Her morning naps just so happens to be during my language time! Also, all we have to do is put her on her belly in her crib and she goes to sleep! She's not quite back to sleeping through the night again yet. Some nights she gives us that pleasure and other nights not so much. She LOVES to laugh! She can sit up for about 30 seconds at a time. While on her tummy she's figuring out the crawling movement with her legs. And we had to buy a rug so she could easily roll around on our tile floor. Let me just say, she rolls all over the place. She's become obsessed with textures & her exersaucer!

She's now 25.5" long and her head is 18" around! We don't have a scale so I'll have to get her weight tomorrow at our supervisor's house :) But she's definitely grown all around.

going for a walk

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

sleeping beauties

Wearing red, green & yellow for Benin's independence day

excited about her treats brought by a volunteer team

rug infatuation

with the bride the night
before the wedding
(also the end of Ramadan)

overstimulation at it's finest!
(with the bride & her best friend)

the first time I drove in Africa

We've physically been in Africa for 10 months. During those 10 months I've only sat in the driver's seat to drive around a compound. That's it. Any of you who have traveled here probably understand my hesitation for driving. Let me try to put it into words. There are rules here that are loosely followed. There are red-lights at some intersections that work some times. There are sometimes lines on the road, but they're not really followed. There's a few hundred motos (meaning motorcycles/scooters/two-wheeled vehicles) surrounding you at any given time, who also loosely follow any rules that might be there. Not to mention there are people walking/running across the road wherever they want and whenever they want. The only thing I have going for me here is that I already know how to drive a stick shift (thanks, Dad!). So, I think you can understand my hesitation.

Yesterday, everything that had held me back from driving had to be thrown out the window. I had to drive in Africa.

We had a bit of an emergency situation. First, let me say everyone is ok now. And it wasn't Chandler. Let me just take you through our morning.

Chandler woke up at 5:15 a.m. wanting to eat. I fed her and she was back asleep by 5:45. At that same time, Trey got up because his stomach was hurting him. He went to the bathroom and came back with no relief. He then started saying he was itching all over. I told him to see if he had a rash anywhere. He went to the bathroom again and was in there for a few minutes before I realized he was throwing up. I say to myself, "Hm, that's not good." At the risk of waking my sleeping beauty, I turn on the light and wait for him to come out of the bathroom. He says again that he's itching all over & that he feels like something is really wrong. As he lays down on the bed I begin to examine the itching, noticing a rash showing up on his legs... and his arms... and his chest. I immediately begin to search for medicine and find nothing that I know will help while Trey finds himself back in the bathroom. At this point we decide to take the chances of waking up our supervisors. We didn't have any medicine that I knew would help and his rash was spreading quickly. As I'm on the phone with Barbara, he continues to get worse. He's lying on the bathroom floor, trying not to vomit again and trying not to scratch the uncomfortable rash. Barbara gets off the phone to look for medicine and come up with a solution. She calls back and I tell her it's still getting worse and she says to get him over to their house.

Ok, get him to their house.... hmmmm... that means I'm going to have to drive. ME! DRIVE! WHAT?! So I change clothes, grab a shirt for Trey, and grab the babies bag (since I have no idea how long we'll be out) and run to the door. I decided to get everything to the car before making Trey get off the floor and waking the baby up. I went outside and told our guard, "Bonjour! Monsieur est tres malade." (see, my French is coming along.) He understood and began to help me get the gate open. I run back inside and get Trey & the baby. We all get in the car and off we go. Lucky for me it was only 6:30ish and there weren't many people on the roads. We get to their house and Barbara tells us to stay in the car we're heading to the guest house where the volunteer medical team is staying. At this point, Barbara drives. We get over there and see a doctor. He says Trey is having an allergic reaction to something. He gives us Benadryl and says to take Prednisone as well. We head back to their house and Trey decides he just wants to get back home and get in bed.

Off we go... I'm back in the driver's seat with lots more traffic. I go to pull onto the busy road and seriously, it probably took me 5 minutes to inch my way out. No one would stop to let me out.. the motos were honking at me, the cars were flying past me, and people were giving me dirty looks. I finally get out there and start on my way. Oh my. SOOOO STRESSFUL. And it was only for a few minutes. I needed to get about a mile on the main road before I could get on side roads. We turn on the first side road and Trey immediately says, "Turn around. We have to go back." WHAT?! BACK?! Luckily we knew of back roads that could get us to their house. The worst part of that is they are very bumpy roads with a very sick husband. We get back to their house and get inside. Trey crashes on the couch and I can finally breath.

After about 2 hours (and 2 other doses of medicine) Trey's feeling well enough to get in the car again. This time I was a little less stressed. We made it home safely & without hitting anyone. Trey crashed for the rest of the day. In total he took 5 different medicines to help with the symptoms. We are still racking our brains as to what could have caused this reaction. It was too long after he ate to be a food reaction (so we think) and can't seem to find any bug bites. We're not the only ones trying to figure out what happened, we have some nurses & doctors helping as well. He's doing much better today. And so am I now that I don't have to drive again!

Guest Blogger: Ministry

Well, I am writing the third of three blogs. It has been more difficult than I anticipated it would be. My desire was to share about “Firsts” in my journey to and time in Nigeria. The previous blogs described my travel to Nigeria and the culture which I witnessed Trey and Kristen living in daily. This last blog in the series (I can’t believe I penned a series of blogs. Thanks Kristen, for this opportunity) shares about the ministry in Nigeria.

Now remember, as one of Trey and Kristen’s family members, I believe that I can speak for the family. We live in a world of emotions that combat each other. First, like any parent or family member we want them with us, but as believers in the Almighty God and Creator, we believe that they are in the center of God’s plan for their lives and we are comforted by that fact. I can honestly say that I would rather have them in Africa in the center of God’s will (yes, I still believe that with the addition of Chandler) than living next door to me out of God’s plan for their lives. The reason they are in Africa is to minister to the lost and hurting people of West Africa. It is this first hand experience that I want to share about.

One of the greatest illustrations that I can share is one that the kids shared with me. They shared of a church that was burned to the ground by enemies of the Gospel. They began worshipping under a tree at the location of the former church building. They brought cement blocks and 2 by 12’s to sit on. It was not long before the enemies of the Gospel came at night and destroyed the cement blocks. The church continued to worship at this location, now however they brought logs to sit on as they heard the teachings of our Lord and Savior. Question - how will they keep these logs from being destroyed? Answer – the Deacons of the church carry the logs home to their houses and brings them back at the next time of worship.

I am thankful to Trey and Kristen for showing and providing ministry opportunities while I was in Nigeria. There is a ministry there that is fascinating to me. It is a ministry to women who are outcast and hurting. They teach them the skill of sewing. One part of this was making clothes. I spoke with the missionary there about buying a shirt that was tailored for me. I had just experienced them selling a shirt, measuring the individual for the size and promising them the shirt would be ready in two days for their departure. I thought that was a good idea, I said “I am also leaving in two days” and then I asked, “what would it take for me to have a shirt made to take back home with me?” She measured me and said, “A miracle.” Needless to say Kristen brought the shirt back to the states to me when she came a month later. I want you to understand this, for almost a week I had been seeing people who showed lostness and hopelessness on their faces.  In this place of sewing, I saw hope and faithfulness.

In the marketplace I saw an ocean of people who did not know the Lord. A flood of emotions flowed through my body as I saw people who visually showed lostness and hopelessness. I can say with 100% confidence that I have not seen that in my life in the states. An experience opened my eyes to the pain that is a part of daily life in this land. We were in the marketplace and as a six foot, white American, I stood out. A group of children approached and I saw that they were well organized in their persistent requests for money. It became obvious why, when their master came into the picture. All I could see at the moment was this non-believer and follower of a false religion having complete control over these children. I pray that God’s light is seen in this dark place. It is sad, but yet not unlike our own country where many times false gods dictate the lives of people. Our co-workers, our next door neighbors many times live under a dark master. The enemy is well organized and has a plan, but “greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world!”

I had an experience on a Thursday night in Nigeria that transformed the way I pray for missions. We had the great privilege of eating dinner with 12 missionaries and family members. After we ate, they gathered together as they always do on Thursday nights and prayed for their ministry partners. I pray daily for all Christians around the world who face persecution (in a all encompassing prayer). This night as they spoke prayer requests they mentioned individuals who lost their home for their faith, they mentioned people who were beaten because of their faith, and then they mentioned individuals by name who gave their lives for their faith. They spoke of individuals that they had just seen a week earlier. My life will forever be changed because of this night. I know we don’t experience persecution in the states, and we have the freedom to share Christ whenever we want. The Christians in northern Nigeria don’t, but in persecution they find strength in the Lord. My prayer is not only for them, but for us. “God in our homeland of freedom, may we experience the urgency of sharing the Gospel as our brothers and sisters do around the world who experience life threatening persecution.”

 Our days on this earth are numbered. We choose each day how we live our lives. It has been said that we make 1000 decisions a day. Yet each person makes one decision that is for eternity.  How dare you or I walk through our day without an urgency to share the Gospel.  How dare we share our lives with people around us, and not share the meaning of life as God’s child.

As I finish this third blog, let me go back to the phrase “Go big or go home.” Let’s all “go big” for Christ (whatever that may be for you; missions, sharing about Christ, using your place of employment to tell others of God’s love, etc.) because our home is not of this world.

Safari

After our meeting in Kenya, we were able to take some vacation time and go on a Safari. It was incredible. We stayed in "luxury" tents in the middle of a conservancy... meaning, the animals could come to our tents at night. The tents had bucket showers, toilets, & sinks... meaning we could shower, flush the toilet, & wash our hands. After our evening safaris they filled up our big buckets with HOT water so we could take a nice show before dinner. While we were at dinner they put hot water bottles in our bed to warm it up for the cold evening, along with our turn down service. After dark, we had guards that walked us from place to place carrying spears, you know, just in case a lion showed up. In fact, our first night a lion was spotted between tents 3 & 4... we were staying in tent 4. Chandler was fussing and we heard growling outside our tent. We decided it was just a warthog. It wasn't until the next morning that we found out it was a LION! We went out in the mornings and evenings to look for animals. We saw lots of animals!