Press Release May 5, 2009

At approximately 2:30 am – Saturday morning, a Royal Air Moroc plane landed at the Niamey, Niger International Airport,  carrying 2 very important people – Rev. & Mrs. Ron & Jerry Childs. AKA Mom & Dad, Grama & Grampa; or Mommy & Daddy to hundreds, maybe even thousands of Africans.   They were arriving home following an unexpected extended stay in the United States.  Of course the plane was carrying additional passengers, but none as distinguished or precious as the aforementioned.  Neal & Danette Childs, along with their 9 year old son, Tobi were allowed inside the secured area to welcome them as they entered immigration.  The first face they saw was Tobi’s, whose ear to ear smile told all those around him how happy he was to have Grama & Grampa back where they belong.  A reliable source reported that when Tobi went to bed Saturday night he declared he would not be able to get to sleep because he was so excited about their return.

The joy didn’t end there.  All of their bags arrived in tact and even the customs officer seemed happy, as he allowed them through without opening a single bag.  Outside, grandkids Trae & Tanika were anxiously waiting their turn for a hug, together with a group of pastors and church members who were standing with welcoming arms.   It didn’t matter that it was the middle of the night.

Any bystander observing the small crowd would easily notice that Rev & Mrs. Childs were just as happy to see their extended family, as the family was to see them.

The group was seen circled, singing a song of praise to their God in the airport parking lot.  After a prayer of thanksgiving, the crowd dispersed and the Childs family returned to their home, right where they belong.

Catching up April 19, 2009

So. We have traveled from the western part of Niger to the eastern section – Diffa. Pretty close to the ends of the earth. But I have to say it had been quite awhile since I’d been in Diffa, and I was pleasantly surprised by the development there. There was a brand new paved road – and it was right in front of our church!  When we bought that land a few years ago, we didn’t know it be right in the middle of a ‘metropolis’.  But God knew.  And I’m telling you, it’s a nice road.   While we enjoyed ourselves out there very much, the time had come to make our way home.  Another 2 day journey in front of us.  But the roads were improving, and we had good company.   I will have to say though, that I’ve never seen anyone with the ability that Sharolyn had to be able to sleep in the car.  And this was not driving down Interstate 95 either.  Probably something closer to trying to drive out to see the Beverly Hillbillies.  Pretty impressive.

Two days and countless potholes and speedbumps later, we arrive back into Niamey -which now did seem like a metropolis when put into perspective from whence we had come.  But our journey with Jack and Sharolyn was not yet over.  Oh no. In February every year there is a softball tournament in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.  Trae went 2 years ago.  Neal & Trae went last year and when they came back Neal kept talking about how much fun it was and said that next yaer we should all go together.  Agreed.  I just had no idea how quickly ‘next year’ would roll around.  It happened to fall during Jack and Sharolyn’s visit.  We thought it might be something they would enjoy as they have been to Niger multiple times and this would be something different.  So we asked them this:  Were they interested in flying from California to Niger, taking a 2 day drive to Diffa and back, and then taking a 1 day drive not to another town, not to another state, but to another country to watch a softball game?  Being the adventuresome souls that they were (and are), they said they’d love to!  Whaddya think of that?  What would you have said?  It was hot (however, not ‘hot season’ hot like it is now) but it was really like a little slice of America for a weekend in a West African country.  There was no apple pie, but there were hot dogs and  ice cream cones!  For real!  And it was over Valentines Day weekend, so that made it even a little more special.  We all went out to eat with Trae and Tanika (Tobi too) and some of their friends.

OH, but the games!  There was a social league and a competitive league.  Anyone who knows Neal or Trae doesn’t have to think very long to figure out which league they were in.  However, they were on different competitive teams.  This is very similar to the NUTS tournament that is held here in Niamey in October.  I believe I wrote about that one – Neal’s team and Trae’s team ended up playing each other in the finals, Trae’s team walking away with the victory.  Much to Neal’s, ummm, how shall I say it?  Disgust.  Yep, that’s it.  Disgust.  So, here we are again.  Different country, same teams.  Pretty much.   The 2 teams were matched with each other for their first game.  The old guy’s (Neal) team won.  If I was more with sports talk, I would have probably remembered the score.  On the tournament went, with neither team losing any more games.  It ended up with Team Nomads (the mature guys) and the Sahel Sons (the ‘younger’ set, mostly) facing each other once again in the finals.  The Nomads were looking for the win.  OK, both teams were looking for the win.  But the Suns had won it in October, and besides, the Nomads were undefeated.  Can’t they take turns?  I’m pretty sure no one wanted to win as much as Neal did.  Even if it meant beating his firstborn son’s team.  He never plays anything except to win.  It is scriptural you know – run the race to WIN!  Anyway, it was the final game and was it exciting.  I wish I could remember all the details and spell them out like someone on Sports Center.  That, however, is not me.  But I’ll do my best.  Nomads were up the whole game.  At one point, by quite a few runs.  (at least I didn’t say touchdowns).  Last inning and the Suns have last ups.  They are down.  I believe (don’t quote me on this) they needed 5 runs to win.  Well, can you believe they got them?  There was a bit of a discrepency at the final play – something about whether a base was touched or something like that.  But when that final play brought the winning run in, real live mayhem erupted among the Suns.  They were walking on air.  The Nomads, however, were not.  Once again, victory eluded them.  The interesting thing about the game, was that there were 4 sets of fathers and sons playing – fathers on Nomads, and sons on the Suns.  We took a picture of the 4 pairs, where the Dads were supposed to be cheering for their sons.  It was a real stretch for Neal.  I will post the picture soon.  But what about us Moms?  Who were we supposed to be cheering for?  Husbands?  Sons?   I’m telling you, it was a stressful thing!   All in all, great fun was had.  Good food was eaten.  And our good friends enjoyed themselves having traveled from the ‘ends of the earth’ to  ‘Little America’ in a matter of days.   And Jack even got to play on Neal’s team in one of the games as someone was out for injury.  (You know how it can be with those old guys!)  Jack was thrilled to do it.  Sharolyn, however, was not.  She was concerned about being able to get a stretcher onto the airplane they would be boarding 2 days later.  I think Jack was a bit stiff, but I’m pretty sure the fun he had far exceeded the pain.  Oh, and Sharolyn told me that she couldn’t believe how good the attitudes were of all the players, both from Niger and Burkina.  The teams were made up of mostly ex-patriots, but there were a few nationals that played.  She said if we were really in the US, well, she couldn’t repeat some of the things that would be said.    Way to go teams!

Neal is slowly getting over their defeat.  Though I  think it’s still a bit painful to talk about, he is happy for Trae.  This was Trae’s last tournament, since he’s headed for university this year.  I have to wonder though, if there won’t be some kind of a rematch – many years down the road.  Could happen.

Blogging Hiatus April 15, 2009

hia·tus (hī āt′əs) noun

“any gap or interruption, as in continuity or time”

I have been on an unplanned blogging hiatus.  An interruption of sorts, but I can’t really identify what the interruption has been.  It’s certainly not because I haven’t had anything to blog about.  There’s been plenty – believe you me!

January was the beginning of our new bible school format – modules.  Three weeks of classes; Monday- Saturday from  8-12 & 4-6  every day.  It went great and all 9 that started, completed successfully.  There will be 5 of these throughout the year, then a graduation.  I taught “Roots of Character”.  A class that can uncover some not so pleasant revelations in your own life…  At the end of the month, Tanika had another eye attack for which much prayer went to the throne and like always, God came through.  The attack we precipitated by a soccer ball to the face while in P.E., kicked by one of her siblings who shall remain nameless (but he was in her PE class).   She is no longer playing soccer – or contact sports of any kind.   Then we had some very good friends/ministers come and did tons of stuff with us.  They were the speakers for closing of the module.  We then took them to Park W, the game reserve in Niger.  It’s camping, but tents are provided, complete with cot beds.  Not bad at all.  Thought it was unseasonably warm for early February (it’s always unseasonably warm if you ask me), the nights were still cool enough for hot chocolate and  a sleeping bag – seriously.  You get a real feel for what darkness is out there as  there is no electricity. The campground is not fenced in but is in an open area, nestled into the middle of some rock formations on one side and the river and some trees on the other.  We woke up to monkeys swinging in the trees around us.  We saw lots of cool stuff, the biggest being the elephants.  And we got pretty close to them too.  Good thing it was too hot for them to charge (so I tell myself), because I’m pretty sure they could have outrun us, as close as we were.

We then took our guests on to Maradi for a couple of days for some ministry in our churches there.  Then it was Diffa or bust.  We have now traveled from the western side of Niger to the eastern side – 2 days drive.  Not many visitors have been out to Diffa with us.  But they were game.  We had a great time.  We were there to install a new pastor in the church.  The current pastor was relocating toa church in Niamey, and the new pastor and family was an answer to prayer.  We have reached many Fulani people in Diffa, but we’ve not had a pastor there that can speak their language.  Pastor Abdu and his wife Aissa both speak Fulfulde so it is a great fit.  They are not new to us as they have been pastoring with us for a couple of years.  The changeover was an emotional time and the whole church, including Pastor Zabeiru, was in tears.  That was a good thing.

Lamido, a Fulani king, has been in our church for more than 3 years.  We are trying to reach out to his ‘tribe’ but it is challenging as they are nomadic so are never in one place for more than a week or so.  While there, we drove out to find some of them – not an easy thing to do.  Not sure how many kilometers we went, but it was many more than if we knew where we were going.  Understand, we were not driving on a road – not even tracks.  Just desert.   First we found the well.  It was quite amazing.  In  my almost 11 years in Niger I’ve seen many wells, but I’ve not seen anything like this one.  I certainly didn’t expect to see it suddenly appear in the middle of a barren, windy, desert.  What a contrast!  We were driving along and there it appeared, behind some scrub brush.  The first thing we saw though, were the herds of longhorn cows, donkeys, goats and sheep.  Apparently this well was built for the Fulani, to provide water for them and their animals.  How they find it is beyond me.  Maybe they have a GPS.  It was a large, round cement structure with 4 wide mouth slanted cement platforms off the bottom of each side.  The water was poured from homemade rubber ‘buckets’ into each platform and then drained into nicely built cement troughs for watering the animals.  It was a very hot, dusty day and these beasts were ready for a drink.  But they all had to wait their turn.  It was something to see.   Also something to see was how the water was pulled from the very deep well.  Two donkeys were tied together and tied to a rope.  The bucket on the end of the rope was dropped into the well, and a small child – 6 or 7? had a stick to smack the donkeys forward.  They walked and walked and walked until the bucket appeared at the top of the well.  The big person at the well would pour the water into the trough thingy and then shout.  The shout was the signal for the child to turn the donkeys around and bring them back for another run.  This was all done in triple digit temps.  This is all done daily.  Makes me think twice when the only effort I put into getting water is twisting my wrist.  OK, some days I have to fill a bucket from our outside water storage and bring it in when our water gets shut off.  But there are no donkeys involved with that.

On to visit one of the Fulanis’ homes.  And I use the term ‘home’ loosely.  Lamido was in the vehicle with us, directing us and we’re pretty sure he has no clue where we’re going.  But he’s having fun.  All of the sudden he shouts at us to STOP!   Apparently we were driving into someones’ living room.  Pardon us.  All we saw off to the right was a bush and behind that bush was a bed of sorts.  Rather regal looking really.  It had 4 carved wooden posts on which was layered 6 or 8 mats.  The more mats, the better, apparently.  Under another bush were various brightly colored cloths, covering household goods – gourd bowls and spoons mostly.  We backed up and, well, parked.  No two – car garage here.  Not even a bit of shelter from the sun.  It didn’t take long before there were quite a few people assembled.  Not sure where they came from as I’m pretty sure I didn’t see people as we were driving on our barren ‘road’.  The men naturally assembled together on a mat under a tree.  Neal and Jack began sharing the gospel with them.  Pastor Abdu was there as well so he was able to interpret from Neal’s Hausa to Fulfulde.   Sharolyn and I began ‘talking’ with the women.  Girls, really – smiling at and holding their babies.  I managed to find a Hausa speaker (well, she had a little bit of  Hausa) so I had the ladies all sit down (no mats for them) and I began sharing the Gospel with them.  Something they had never heard.  I was given the preferred place to sit – on the bed.  They were so open and when I asked if anyone wanted to receive Jesus, most of them raised their hands.  I waited for Pastor Abdu to finish so he could come and pray with them in the language they would understand.  That’s what it’s all about.   Now, it is Pastor Abdu’s job to start discipling these new believers.  We are thinking about a plan to be able to bring some of them into Diffa for a time of dicsipleship.

You know, this is the kind of thing I think of when people tell me that they are so thankful that God didn’t call them to Africa.  We’ve even had people say they feel sorry for us,  having to live where we do.  But how many people do you know  get to experience what I’ve just described?  How many of you have had the opportunity to share the Gospel with someone who didn’t even know of its’ existence?   Don’t feel sorry for us.  This is a privelege.  There are many that are a part of reaching the tribes and nations with us, but we are the ones that get to be on the front lines -  experiencing  it first hand!  Sure, there are days that the heat seems too much, the people too resistent, the traffic too crazy, and life just too frustrating, but it’s all worth it.  Because we are seeing with our own eyes the Gospel bringing people out of bondage, changing their lives.  Every tribe and every nation will profess that Jesus is Lord!

Christmas and Camels January 15, 2009

The fact that I’m just now getting around to writing about our Christmas holiday has nothing to do with how great it was.   I could list lots of excuses for the delay – but I won’t.  I’ll just get on with it.

First, we put up our beautiful, 11 year old artificial Christmas tree.  It used to be 7 feet, but I’m pretty sure it’s shrunk with age.  So what if we had to use old socks, duck tape and clothes pins to get it together.  Unless you looked closely, one would never know.  Just don’t blow on it.  This was my first Christmas in this house to decorate fully.  We have 4 trunks of decorations and I used them all.  My only regret was that I didn’t get them up sooner than December 8th.  I kept trying not to think of how long it was going to take to get it all down, and just enjoy it.  We’ve been here for awhile now, so most people we know, and some we don’t, are aware of the fact that we put a large tree in our house in December.  Everyone enjoys it.

On December 15th, Brian and Kim, my brother and sister-in-law, arrived with their 3 tired and excited offspring – my nieces and nephew.  It was so great to finally see them after so much anticipation!  It had been a year and a half since we last saw them and Jack, Kate and Ellie had grown so much.  Let the games begin!

They arrived to 95 degree temps.  They left behind -10 in Minnesota.  What a shame!  I could pretty much guarantee them that they would not be having a white Christmas – which was perfectly fine with me.  I’ve rather grown used to a sandy Christmas.  On the way home from the airport Kim gave the best description of what it’s like to drive in Niamey.  “It’s like being in a video game!”  We came up with all kinds of scenarios for a driving game that could take place in a West African city.  Anyway, after we spent a bit of time getting caught up, we suggested that they get some sleep, as their wake-up call would be coming at 6:30am.  It was the last day of school for Trae, Tanika & Tobi and there was a final assembly before school was out.  It was the only opportunity for them to see the school and they were going to come!

We managed to get everyone to the school assembly on time and when school let out for the break, I had such a great feeling of freedom – and I’m not even a student!  It felt so good that for the next 2 weeks we didn’t have a scheudule to keep.  We were just going to hang out together and have fun.  This was Brian and Kim’s first trip to Africa, and it was our first time to be with my side of the family for the holidays since 1997.

The next day we went to Park W – Niger’s ‘premiere’ (and only) game park.  On our way there and back we stopped in 2 of the villages where we have churches to greet the people and show off my family.  At the park, we stayed in tents that had cots.  It was cool enough for blankets.  We saw lots of 4-legged deer type animals but the biggest find was elephants.  We saw 3 of them crossing a stream.  Very cool.  The park is situated on the Niger river and this particular area is beautiful.  We enjoyed an African meal of cous cous and stew outdoors by kerosene lamplight.  (mostly because there was no electricity).  We made smores and sang Christmas carols around a campfire.  We had  a great time and returned the next day.

The next days were filled with eating, baking cookies,drinking tea and coffee on the veranda, kids playing, more eating and a bit of exercise.  We played with children in an orphange, went and saw giraffe and took a ride down the Niger River in a ‘boat’  looking for Hippo’s.  We succeeded in seeing one as he slipped into the water. (At first we thought it was a big rock!)

Christmas Day was the best.  So as to avoid being in the kitchen, we made our brunch the night before.  That baked while we read the Christmas story and opened gifts.  That took some time considering there were 10 of us.  We spent of the rest of the morning looking at the pics we had taken so far, some played x box and some of us went walking.  In the afternoon, we had a local man bring his camel to our compound for camel rides.  And they are great photo ops!  Before sunset, we took the short trip to the sand dunes and played in the drifts while the sun went down – though it was a very dusty day and we didn’t see much of the sun behind the dust.  That was a blast.  From there we went to our favorite restaurant and ate Nile Perch and steak brochettes (kabobs) for dinner.  What a day we had to celebrate the birth of Jesus!

The following day we had a Christmas party at our house with all of Niamey pastors, church workers and their families.   What a time we had playing Jenga and Musical chairs.  You have never seen the game of Jenga being played with any such ‘enthusiasm’.  We had the kids play the first round of musical chairs and even the little ones were highly competitive.   But ‘you aint seen nothin yet’ was appropriate to say when it came to the adults.  They took it very seriously – if you can dance seriously around a group of chairs.  We ended the night with Christmas songs and some lively worship.

On Sunday, we all went to church in Say, the village where our pastor has been facing so much persecution.  It was a cultural experience to say the least.  Food had been prepared for us, and we had to take pictures to see what it was that we were eating (using the flash).  It wasn’t until we viewed the pictures later that we were able to see the room we had been in (no windows).  Jack and Kate and Ellie acted as if they were made for Niger.  They weren’t timid about anything, and loved the people.  They especially made friends with any baby that would have them.  And there were plenty of those!  They were a blessing to everyone they were around.  Jack is 10 and has always been Trae’s shadow when we’re together.  Though he was that, he and Tobi (who is eight) were almost inseparable.  They had never played together like that before, but we determined that the age difference between 6 and 8 (the last time they were together) is different than that difference between 8 and 10.  Kate, who is 8, had so much fun hanging out with her glamorous teenage cousin Tanika.  They made necklaces and gave each other pedicures and laughed a lot.  Five year old Ellie – well, she was everywhere.  No kidding.  Wherever we were, there she was.  And adorable.  I’m pretty sure she’ll go into some kind of entertainment when she grows up.  That, or she’ll be a vet.  She couldn’t get enough of any animal.

So, I think it is evident that our time together was better than fantastic.  It was a sad day when we had to say goodbye at the airport, but at least we know that we’ll see them again not in 2 years, but in 7 months, when we head to the US.   I actually miss them more now than I did before they came!  When are you guys coming back!!!???

Malaria Misconceptions December 10, 2008

Yes, Malaria kills.  But it doesn’t’ have to.  I’m not writing this to downplay the seriousness of malaria – I know  children who have died needlessly from it.  But it is so very treatable.  And when you live in a malaria infested area like I do, it’s as common as getting a case of the flu.  Sometimes not even as bad.  But here’s the difference.   The flu, basically untreatable, runs it’s course and you’re over it.  Malaria, if left untreated, can kill.  That’s the tragedy.  When people who are poor get sick, they usually wait too long to do anything about it.  When you are struggling for your next meal, money is only used to buy medicine in severe cases.  And by then it’s often too late.

Over the years we’ve had many visitors/teams.  A handful of them have gotten sick and fewer of them we have treated for malaria.  The treatment is mostly harmless (unless you have liver problems), and the quicker you nip it, the fewer symptoms you will have.  The thing is, when folks at home hear that their loved one may have malaria, some take it as a death sentence.  That’s why we usually suggest downplaying it (or saying nothing at all) until the person returns home and friends and family can see him/her healthy.  Imaginations can go crazy with those at home thinking of their significant other in the wilds of Africa!  You wouldn’t believe some of the stories we’ve heard!

Then there’s me.  I’m proof that malaria doesn’t have to be a huge deal.  For the past several days, I haven’t been feeling just ‘right’.  Mostly in the evenings.  Late afternoon and evening I was getting a strange headache – kind of deep inside my head (fever and headache are the 2 main symptoms, but not exclusive to those).  I never had a high fever, but would feel like I wanted to take a hot bath (remember, it’s about 80 in the house), and then I’d start sweating.  Yesterday I did my ‘walk’, because sometimes when I’m not feeling 100%, exercise straightens me out.  Last night I kept getting sharp pains in my head, which was quite bothersome.  Then I couldn’t sleep.  Then when I woke up, I was all sweaty.  The headache started earlier in the day today, and I suspected that I had malaria.  I know the feeling.  Since we don’t take any preventative, we treat symptoms pretty quickly- at least with the kids.  I don’t jump on it since it tends to cause insomnia and give me a metal taste in my mouth.  But on the other hand, I don’t want to leave it…  I had 2 hours to teach in the Bible school this morning and that went fine.  Then I had some grocery shopping to do.  I was basically trying to forget abut the headache/sweats.  From there I decided to go to a relatively convenient place to get a blood test.  Neal suspects that they always give a ‘positive’ result, meaning you have malaria.  But I do know of people tested there that have gotten a ‘negative’ test.  I paid my $4, got my finger pricked and was told to call for the results in 30 minutes.  I drove home and called at the appropriate time.   It was ‘positive’ for malaria but they said it was just starting to show up.  I had treatments at home, left by our medical team so I didn’t even have to go to a pharmacy.  I’m getting ready to take my 2nd dose soon.  And there is new and better medicine since the last time I’ve had to do a treatment, so I don’t expect any bad side effects.  Still have a headache and chills/sweats.   The only other symptom I have is that I feel like doing something, then when I try to do it I feel totally worn out.  So, unfortunately today I didn’t do my walk.   I expect to have a good night sleep tonight and teach my 2 classes tomorrow morning, as scheduled.  I’ll see about the walking thing…

We usually don’t make it a practice to go into details of the natural challenges we face living in Niger.  I felt this time though, was a good opportunity to dispel the myth and fears that some have about what it is like here.  We don’t get sick every time  we go into villages where there are real diseases and unsanitary conditions.  In fact, we hardly ever get sick.  We do trust God, but we also use wisdom.  We have good immune systems, we eat healthy, (we eat way less processed food than the average American) we take good supplements and we take medicine when necessary.  Yes, there are things that happen when our only option is to trust God but no one needs to worry about us –pray, but don’t worry.  Because relying on God is a good place to be.

Exercise of Choice December 9, 2008

Walking.  That’s it.  My exercise of choice.  It’s one of the things I’ve had to ‘give up’ since I became an official missionary over 10 years ago.  When I lived in Little Rock, I had a 3 mile route  mapped out, including hills, that I walked almost daily.  A few years back, in Maradi, I decided to give walking a try.  This meant I would have to wear a long skirt along with my sneakers.  But I really missed walking, so I shoved my pride and did it.  It lasted all of 2 days.  First, I know I looked like a dork, trucking along like I had somewhere to go.   There was really nowhere appropriate for walking, other than the main roads.  While moving along, trying to mind my own business, 3 separate people stopped and asked if I needed a ride somewhere, or if I was having problems with my car.  Because why would I be walking anywhere on purpose, when everyone knew full well that I had a vehicle?  After that, it was back to my DVD workouts.  Until recently that is.

Several weeks ago, after 8 hours in the car on our way home from Maradi, Neal and Trae decided to play tennis – to get some activity after the long road trip.  I thought that was a good idea, and suddenly thought – I could go with them to the American Rec Center and walk around the softball field!  I dragged Tanika with me (unwilling as she was), and while the guys played tennis, we walked.   Tanika couldn’t keep up with me and I shamelessly pointed out that she was 16 and I was 43.  It brought me back to the good ole’ days in Little Rock.  Why I hadn’t thought of this before now is beyond me.  It was great!  So, since then, I have been consistently walking 4-6 times/week. This is the best weather to do it in too – it’s dry/cold season.  And even though it’s still 95-100 in the afternoons, it’s very dry. I have several comparisons to describe how hot it can be here, but now I’ve got one for how dry it is.  While walking, I involuntarily attempt to swallow.  Because of the dryness, it’s almost as my throat is sealed shut.  Well, I guess it is, in fact, sealed shut.  At least for a few seconds.  When I swallow, I can feel feel my throat opening very slowly.  It’s kind of a freaky feeling.  I’ve walked in mornings, afternoons and evenings.  Afternoons are my least favorite because dry or not, 95 is still hot!

I use the term ‘walk’ loosely here.  I mentioned looking like a dork before?  Here’s what happens:

I leave the house and make the 5-minute drive to the rec center.  I wear my work-out clothes, and add a wrapper in case I have to get out of the car for any reason before I get to my destination.

Upon arriving, I immediately walk 1 lap very briskly, but not too ‘dorkily’ just yet.  I don’t know the distance around the perimeter of the softball field, but it takes about 2 minutes 20 seconds for 1 fast lap.  After that first lap, I stop at the cement picnic table and stretch, along with a set of 20 straddle squats.  Now I’m ready.  I grab my 2lb weights and do a set of 3 laps.  First lap I walk very fast, pumping my wieght carrying arms.  Second lap I use the weights to work my tri-ceps.  Third time around I pump my arms forward and back in unison, which I’m hoping works back muscles.  After lap 3, I stop to wipe my sweat, get a drink, and lest I get too excited about my break, I throw in another set of 20 straddle squats.

This gets repeated 2 more times, and each time around the field I’m doing something different with my arms.  That’s the dorky part.  Trae has confirmed that for me.  Each 3 laps gets awarded with a quick stretch and several gulps of water.  And more squats.    After my 3rd set of 3 laps, I add a bonus lap, which is when I do quick sets of all the arm exercises I’ve done.  Why all the emphasis on arms?  I’ve read Proverbs 31 lots of times and although I’m not yet a maker and seller of purple cloth, one thing I can do is make my arms strong and firm.  At least that’s the idea… I also do lunges along the back line of the field.  I don’t know how many I do, I should count sometime. But it’s enough to make my legs shaky.  By the time I’m done, I’ve had 1.5 liters of water to drink and I’ve done 80 straddle squats.

That lap is followed by another set of squats, a good stretch, and a cool – down walk/stretch lap.  That’s my 2nd favorite lap.  I’ve checked my heart rate and found that it is higher than it should be – given my age.  Except that I believe I’m stuck in a 30 year old body.  If that’s true, my working heart rate of 170 is just right.  It’s down to 120 after my cool-down lap.  My goal is for that to drop even lower, more quickly.

Next comes ‘floor work’, minus the floor.  I improvise with a cement bench.  I do a set of 30 push-ups – girl style.  Then 25 side leg lifts on each leg.  Then 40 calf raises.  Then a last set of 30 push-ups. Still girl style.  And then my final stretch, and my final walk around the field.  That’s my favorit lap!  I don’t work out because I love exercise.  And I’m certainly not athletic.   I work out because I love how I feel when I’m done.  That’s what drives me to keep on.  I don’t need a friend to help motivate me.  In fact, I prefer working out alone.  I’m not very coordinated so I prefer to keep my dorkyness to myself.  But I have also found, with age, (I’m somewhere around 30) that I don’t care much how I look when I exercise.  I’ll leave that to my kids to be concerned about…

I don’t time my laps, but I am consistent – the whole workout from warm-up to that last lap takes between 50-55 minutes.  Every time.   When I’m done, I sit down on a lawn chair (I use ‘lawn chair’ loosely) and remove my shoes and socks to pick out all the burrs that have gathered there during my trek.  Then I put my shoes and socks back on.  I know, it’s kind of gross, but I prefer to get the sand and stickers out before I get home and drag them through the house.  On the rare occasions that I have time, I sit in my lawn chair and enjoy a Diet 7-Up, while praying/thinking.

Sometimes while thinking, I try and figure out what took me so long to figure out that I no longer had to give up my exercise of choice. I have some more thinking to do to figure out what I’ll do when hot season comes…

Last, I drive home — slowly, so I can enjoy the AC as long as possible and finish cooling down.  Because if you saw me at the end of my workout, you would understand where the phrase ‘beet red’ comes from.

Update December 6, 2008

I last left off at the Softball tournament in which Trae’s team took the championship, and Neal’s team 2nd place.  Where to go from there?   During the tournament, Trae had a birthday – his 17th.  Not really believing that.  But if I check his birth certificate, I can see it’s true.  We had a big group of his friends gather Saturday night at one of the newer restaurants in Niamey – you can actually get ice cream there.  So that ’s what we all did.  Winning the tournament then was appropriate since it was his birthday.  Since Trae was in the motorcycle accident, we haven’t had the bike repaired – it’s a very long and painful story – insurance is refusing to pay a cent, even though it was clearly ruled the fault of the driver of the truck.  In the meantime, we all decided that it would be best if  Trae could drive a car instead of the bike.  So he persued getting a license.  Technically in Niger, you are not eligible for a license until you are 18. Trae was 16.  But he ‘looked the part’, so he started drivers training.  Those 2 words can be a bit deceptive.  ‘Drivers Training’.  I think it’s more like ‘Drivers Un-training’.  But I’m not going to dwell on that.  It was a long and very painful process, one in which we had to submit to the powers that be while trying not to spoil our testimony.  But victory was finally had and Trae recieved he license 2 days before he turned 17.

Grama & Grampa were heading for the US and will not be here for Christmas, so we celebrated our Christmas with them in September.  It was quite fun, as their gift to Trae was his very own car!  The idea is that he’ll use it for this year and then sell it and have some money for college.  Works for me!  It’s a 2-door Toyota and it reminds me of my first car – a Ford Fiesta.  My dad lovingly referred to my car as a ‘rollerskate on wheels’.  That it was.  Trae’s car is similar – only smaller.  But unlike a bike, it’s all enclosed and he can fit 4 people in there (sort of) besides himself.  It’s been a great blessing to us, as he is able to take the kids to and from school when we need him to do that.  And he has been willing to do so.  Fuel is amazingly expensive, so that’s been an education for him all by itself.  He’s a good driver and it seems that parents of most of his friends are ok with their kids being in the car with him.  That’s something we told him he always has to be sure about.

OK, what else…I guess since I’m on the subject of Trae, I’ll continue.  He has applied to and been accepted as a student at Oral Roberts University.  He has also been nominated for an invited to campus for the “1st Annual Whole Person Scholarship Competition”.  So he will be in Tulsa the last week of February.  It’s a huge investment, but it will be well worth it if he were to win one of the 25 full tuition – 4 year scholarships being awarded!  So, please begin praying with him for favor even now.  I’m somewhat in denial that I could be old enough to have a kid about ready to enter college, but again, unfortuantely neither of our birth certificates will lie.  Registration is August 14th.  If anyone has figured out how to slow time, please let me know.

In October we had a medical team come for their 2nd year in a row.  We traveled with them to Maradi for several days of medical outreach and ministry.  This was scheduled during our kids Fall break so they could be a part of the team.  Trae and Tanika interpreted for doctors and nurses, Trae helped wrestle cows for the vet, and Tobi worked in the ‘pharmacy’, counting meds.  We then were in Niamey for more village outreach, as we are now working on doing more in this region.

In November we had our 10th annual campmeeting – another trip to Maradi and though it was short, it was well worth it.  Our guest speakers were from the US and from Nigeria – ministering on our theme – Unity: One Vision, One Purpose.  We enjoyed ourselves – especially the part about our pastors taking care of most of the details.

This past week we had 3 visitors from Kensington Temple in London, England.  They were looking to come and ‘check out Niger’ and we offered to show them some of the things God is doing here.  We kept them pretty busy and according to them they accomplished even more than they hoped.  That’s what we like to hear!  We ended up with 2 bonus days with 2 of them though, because Air France would not allow them to fly – they were told the validity of their passports was questionable.  So it took 2 days of running around, again working on maintaining our testimony, but they were finally allowed to leave.  At one point Neal asked me to go to the Air France office because he was so frustrated and he didn’t want to ruin his testimony.  It was basically harrassment and when they arrived home they were told that Air France in Niger had been ‘unreasonable’. Ya think?

This next week we have a Nigerian pastor coming from Benin for both our Maradi and Niamey bible school graduations.  Then, the day after he leaves, my brother Brian, his wife Kim, and our nephew and neices, Jake, Kate and Ellie are coming to visit for 2 weeks!  We can hardly wait.  It’s their first trip to Africa and we are so thankful for the sacrifices they are making to come and be a part of our life here.  It’s going to be a great Christmas!

I really have so much more to say, but I need to stop for now.  And I’m sure you are ready for this novel to be finished for now as well.

I plan to write again soon.

To Win…or to win. October 30, 2008

Where to begin.  I ‘blog’ in my head all the time.  I just don’t get it into print very often.  Then I forget what I wanted to write about.   Today I’m going to write about the weekend of October 10th.  The Annual NUTS tournament.  It’s a French acronym for the Niamey Universal Softball Tournament.  This is Trae’s 3rd year to be a part of it, and Neal’s 2nd.  Trae of course was on his school team the Sahel Suns.  There were several teams from Niamey and teams that came from Burkina Faso.  Neal was on Team USA, which was made up mostly of Embassy people and missionaries.  The games began Friday afternoon.  Both my guy’s teams were doing well.  Then they had to play each other on Saturday.  Someone had to win.  Which meant someone had to lose.  Team USA pulled ahead with victory.  There were some very exciting games, and 2 in particular where both of their teams (not playing each other) were down 7 and 8 runs in their last inning and they had last ups.  Even though they were different games, the end of each game was almost identical.   ‘My’ team came from behind and the game was cut short when they made their winning run, much to the surprise of their opposing teams who had been ahead the entire game.  Those victories put them in the finals together – playing each other for 1st and 2nd place.  Neal’s team hadn’t lost any games, and Trae’s team had only lost to Neal’s.  The final game was Sunday afternoon at 4:20.  I really enjoyed watching the games, especially when they weren’t playing each other.  I really did find it hard to know who I wanted to win – who I should be shouting for.  In the end, I just ended up shouting the whole time.  Trae would have a great hit.  “Yeah Trae – way to go  – Run!” I would shout.  While Neal was on 1st base getting the runner (Trae) out. “Yeah Neal – way to get im outta there!”  What’s a body to do?  At least I wasn’t the only one with split interests.

So, the final game.  I did not attend.   I could end here, and allow one to think that I just couldn’t take the pressure, but that’s not entirely true.  Actually, it’s not at all true.  It’s fun and it’s competitive (if you know my family) but it’s not THAT competitve.  My absence was due to the medical team we had arriving at precisely the same time THE game started.   So I was at the airport, anxiously waiting to see the whites of the eyes of our team of 7 from New Orleans.  The plane landed and with the help Number 11, our baggage guy, we begged my way into the airport (people are no longer allowed in b/c of security) and wore down the security guy with our determination, use of Hausa, and explanation that our guests needed lots of help (sorry team).  I was in and wondered after 4 bus trips from the plane to the airport (It’s about a 50-100 meter drive, I think the busses are for ’show’) if they had actually been on the plane after all.  They finally showed up on the last bus.  We waved through the glass after I got their attention.  Then Number 11 went to wait for their bags and that’s when Neal called.  The game was well under way and I could hear all the shouting.  I could hear what I was missing.  He was calling between innings to see if they had arrived.  Yes, they had.

The baggage finally started coming.  If you’ve never been in an African airport, you’re missing out.  Oh the things people check onto the plane.  But that’s material for another post.  It took patience, but we finally collected all 14 of their bags and had all carry-ons accounted for.  While in the parking lot introducing the team to Niger sweat,  loading the vehilces and fighting off all those attempting to ‘help’ with the bags, Tanika called my cell phone shouting- “Mom!  We won!  We won!”  “Great” I said!  But wait a minute.  Who exactly is “We”?  I guess I should have known that she, being a member at Sahel Academy, would be rooting for the Sahel Suns.  Instead of her father??!  Yep.  Sure enough.  When I inquired who ‘we’ was she incredulously said “The Suns”, and I’m sure was thinking to herself ‘who do ya think?’

We finally made it out of the airport and the team arrived at our house welcomed by 2 very sweaty guys – one victorious, and one, well, – not so much.  I gotta say though, Trae didn’t gloat much at all.

After a weekend full of softball, sweat, hot dogs and cotton candy (yep, the school has a cotton candy machine) it was time to change gears.  Well, the sweat thing wasn’t going to change.  The next morning we would be on our way in 3 vehicles driving 9 hours into Niger’s interior where masses of spiritually and physically sick people were waiting and hoping for victory.  That’s a game we were ready to play…and win!

Dessert Day, and a few other things. October 9, 2008

Nope.  That doesn’t say desert day, but with the temps we’ve been having (108) we need no reminders that we are indeed living in the desert.  But, let me get back to desserts – those wonderful yet often guilt producing items.  We have a team of 7 from New Orleans arriving on Sunday afternoon.  Lots of planning has been going on on both ends and we can’t wait for them to get here.  They are a medical team and we will be doing clinics in both Maradi and Niamey regions during the 9 days they are with us.  Due to the nature of life in Niger, (cooking is very time consuming) and due to the fact that I no longer have a home in Maradi, most food preparation is done in advance.  This is also partly due to the fact that I am involved in whatever the team is doing and am not free to do lots of cooking each day.

Normally I have Hannatu helping in the kitchen.  She only comes 4 days/week and Thursday is her day off.  I almost asked her to come today, but thought I was pretty much done with things.  What was I thinking?  I started right in this morning on brownies.  Two batches.  I mixed them separately as I don’t feel that they turn out the same when the recipe gets doubled.  I’m also not very good at spreading the batter evenly into 2 pans.  Next up were Apple Brownies – no chocolate involved.  I got everything mixed up and then opened the produce drawer in the fridge to find that there were only 2 scrawny apples there.  This is due to the un-named apple thieves that live in my house.  What was there were the guavas I found yesterday in the market.  Though when chopped they look similar to an apple, the only taste resemblance would be the tartness, if in fact your apple was a tart one.  Though not needing to be peeled, guavas are not particularly easy to chop due to the pesky little seeds that fill about 1/3 of the fruit.  And it’s not like you just cut open the guava and easily slice out the seeds like you would an apple core.  Those seeds are embedded in the meat and somewhat spaced out.  I’ve never taken guava cutting lessons, but I just cut them in half and scrape out the center with the seeds.  While doing this, I wondered if it was really necessary since the kids eat the guavas ‘a la natural’ seeds and all.  But, I reckon it would be a bit unpleasant to bit into a ‘apple’ brownie and bite into one or 2 of those little puppies.  And I can tell you from experience that they are hard.  So, I continued to cut, scoop and chop.  Lukeman needed to go to the market for me to get all the meat I’m going to need for the team so I had to go to my room and get the money.  When I came back he had taken it upon himself to chop the guavas for me.  What a guy.  And he’s fast!  Well, he didn’t realize my thing about the seeds.  Why would anyone want to extricate the seeds anyway?  The reason I realized that I was so determined to get the seeds out was because one time I made a guava smoothie – threw them into the blender – seeds and all.  The seeds did not ‘blend’ and seriously reduced the enjoyment factor of the smoothie.  I didn’t want this to be the case with the apple brownies.  So thus began the even more tedious task of removing the pulp part with embedded seeds of the already chopped guava.   I could go into great detail, but I won’t.  Except to say that the task took about 4 times longer than it should have.  But I do appreciate Lukeman’s initiative.  In the end, the apple brownies turned out quite nice.  Amazing guava flavor they had.  I also added chopped pecans and even a few white chocolate chips (both items lovingly brought to me from other visiting teams) and dumped them in.

The brownies and brownies finished almost all at the same time.  The chocolate ones were wonderfully chocolatty.  I used cocoa I brought from Paris and is it good stuff!  Deciding I had been dealing with enough sugar for the time being, I proceeded to make a huge salad.  A couple of days ago in the market I was thrilled to find fresh basil, parsley and mint.  And some fresh spinach.  So I bought some.  Not exactly sure what I was going to do with them, but fresh herbs…I couldn’t resist!  I question the authenticity of the spinach.  When cooked, it gets slimy, very much like okra.  Even raw in a salad it somewhat slides around when you chew it.  I don’t think real spinach does that.  No matter.  In my salad I put in all of the above only for Tobi to say at dinner tonight, “What is in this salad?  It doesn’t taste good!”  Not sure which item he meant, but it didn’t really matter, as he knew he would be eating every bite (covered in Ranch dressing of course!)

Saturday is Trae’s birthday.  This weekend is also the annual NUTS softball tournament.  This will be Trae’s 3rd year to participate, and Neal’s 2nd.  They are both on different competitive teams so it’s very possible that they could end up playing each other in the finals.  It’s alot of fun.  Lot’s of softball games.  So, since Trae will be occupied most/all of Saturday, and since our team arrives on Sunday, he asked if I would make Alfredo for him before then.    Decided to do that today as well.  I even added in some of the  pretend spinach and no one was the wiser.  Who could be with all the cream, butter and cheeses?  For birthday dessert I made him Mango stuff.  Kind of like a crisp.  Well, the recipe calls for peaches but those don’t exist round these parts, so mangoes it was.  Actually, if it wasn’t for our ‘mango day’ last July, mangoes wouldn’t exist right now either.  They are out of season.  But they do exist in my freezer.  After the rich Alfredo/secret spinach dinner, no one could eat much dessert.  But I know in another hour or so the savages will be back, looking for more.

That was the end of desserts for today.  But I must mention here that Tuesday was also a very productive day.  And am I ever thankful Hannatu was with me.  Actually, she thanked me for helping her with her work!  We made lasagna, enchilada sauce, refried beans, meat pie sandwich meat and highly sinful cinnamon rolls.  We started the day with lasagna.  One of those huge disposable aluminum pans for the team, plus a regular 9X13 for the family’s dinner.  This requires of course everything being done from scratch.  Well, except for the noodles.  Those are now available for purchase.  I have a pretty simple recipe for it which does not include terms like ‘cheese cloth’, ‘hang’, ’strain overnight’.  It’s not suitable for eating plain with a peach (or Mango), but is fine for baking.  It can be made as quickly as you can boil a pot of water, dump in milk powder and vinegar, and drain.  Of course I added a fair helping of my ’spinach’ to the end resulting cottage cheese.  To be honest, the cottage cheese is Hannatu’s department.  I was working on the sauce (I was thrilled to have a use for my fresh basil and parsley).  As one may or may not imagine, I use my ‘cookery’ often.  My pots and pans take a beating and the ones that I’m using now I brought back with me when we returned to Niger last summer.  I don’t think they ‘make them like they used to.’  After all, who needs industrial stength cookware when it gets used once or twice a week.  Maybe.  Several of my ‘new’ ones are already wearing out their non-stick coating.  My square griddle is seeming to be warped, probably due to overuse with the 1000’s of tortillas it has cooked.  I’m not exaggerating.  I think what I may be trying to do is excuse what happened to the lid of my stew pot on Tuesday.  I was minding my own business, happily cooking my lasagna sauce while carefully keeping the sweat from my face from dripping into the pot (have I mentioned that my kitchen is hot?) when suddenly I heard a ‘pop’ sound.  Just like that.  “POP”.  It was the lid on my sauce pot.  It’s glass and it had shattered, but was still in tact, held in place by the metal rim.  My biggest concern was my sauce.  One false move and I could be throwing away 3 kilos of ground beef, 2 quarts of fresh frozen tomatoes, tomato paste, my fresh basil and parsley, various spices and lots of onions and peppers.  It wouldn’t even be suitable for the dog with chunks of glass in it!  It was of course hot, so I had to search for my potholders.  I very gently moved the pot off the stove and on to the counter.  The lid had a knob on the top but I figured touching that would cause a cave in so I very, very gently grabbed the rim of both sides of the lid and lifted up and away from the pan and tossed it to the floor.  My intent was to get the glass as far away from the sauce as possible.  I succeeded with that, though I won’t mention how long the glass cleanup on the floor took.

Could this have been from overuse?  Can one over use a stock pot?  Anyway, it looks like I’ll again be on the lookout for more pots and pans next time we’re in the Western world.  For now, my sauces will have to be cooked topless.

Happy Birthday To Me September 30, 2008

Today is my birthday.  I apologize if my title is a bit obnoxious, but I do want to remember today and the best way to do that is to get it on my blog.

The day started with Neal bringing me fried eggs on a homemade english muffin with a slice of fresh pineapple.  He didn’t make the english muffins, but he did a great job frying the eggs.  And I really do enjoy the simple pleasure of breakfast in bed.  Particularly because after a night with the AC running in our room, it is the coolest room in the house!  After breakfast, Neal, Trae and Tobi went to a softball game at the school.  Tanika stayed home and made me a peanut butter cake – yep, homemade, right down to using peanuts ground into peanut butter in the the open market.    Then I almost talked myself out of doing my workout but thought better of it and made the right choice – like I’m always telling my kids to do.  Working out is somewhat time consuming.  Not so much because of the workout (I do between 43 and 52 minutes each day) but because of the time it takes to cool down afterward.  If I shower right away – as anyone who comes near me wishes I would do- I just keep right on sweating for the next hour or so.  So I have to stop sweating first (not an easy assignment given our relatively high temperatures) and then take my shower.  But now I’m going down a rabbit trail.  Back to my birthday…

The guys came home and we got ready to go to a nice French restaurant for lunch.  One might be surprised that Niger would have a ‘nice French restaurant’.  It really is.  Niger was colonized by the French, so they do have some influence.  It was great to have my in-laws with us as well.  Ya know, I don’t really like the term ‘in-law’.  It sounds so cold and impersonal.  I would just say Mom and Dad, but then those who read this and know me would be confused and think that my parents were here.  That would have been great too…  So just to be clear, we had lunch with Neal’s parents.  It was really nice to have them around on my birthday.  It’s been many, many years since I’ve been with any parents on my birthday, so it was really nice to have some around to help celebrate.  I will also remember this birthday as one I had to share with the end of Ramadan – a huge Muslim holiday signifying the end of a month of fasting.  It was busy everywhere.  No shops/stores/markets  were open but the roads were way crowded with vehicles and people and animals and many other various and sundry things.  But again – a rabbit trail.

After lunch, we came back home to enjoy cake and open presents.  Mom and Dad gave me some cloth and a beautiful bracelet that I had been admiring at our gold/silver guy’s shop.  When I opened it I commented on how much I liked it, and that Neal doesn’t like getting me jewelry so I count on mom and dad for that. Tanika got me some really cool wire picture holder thingys that I haven’t seen around here before.  Trae printed out and is going to bind for me many, many pages of songs with chords so I can practice them on the keyboard.  I had hinted about wanting that.  Tobi then handed me he and dad’s gift.  It was a combo effort on the part of them both.  What was inside?  Another beautiful silver and gold bracelet with a matching ring.  Jewelry!  Bite my tongue!  Tobi made sure I knew the ring was from him, and told me exactly how much he spent on it.  (Dad had to kick in quite a few bucks too).  I was really surprised that he went with jewelry and he has such good taste.   I might stick up a picture up of my new jewelry but I don’t want anyone to get jealous.   They are both silver/gold but different styles that really look gorgeous together.  So – kudos to them all.  What wonderful gifts.  I am blessed.

Later we went to the American Rec Center and had a chocolate shake and just hung out in what is lovingly called ‘the cold room’.  It has a great AC, and Armed Forces Network TV.  Back home we were going to play Blokus, a brain challenging strategy game but opted instead for a game we haven’t tried yet.  That game proved to be not at all challenging so we chose the much more stimulating task of watching TV.

When I was putting Tobi to bed he brought up my age.  I might as well just get it out of the way.  I’m 43.  Now, I know I can hear many of you saying something along the lines of “she’s not really that old, is she?”  Right?  I know that’s what you’re thinking….  Anyway, Tobi asked me if when I’m 50 if my skin will look like Grama’s.  I reminded him that Grama is almost 70 and has very nice skin.  He said, “I know she does, but will it be white and brown together?”  I said I didn’t know.  He asked why that happened.  I told him it was changes that take place as you get older.  “Like a disease?” he asked.   Of course I told him no.  I said like me – you can see some wrinkles around my eyes.  Now this is precious.  He said “Really?  Where?”  while  examining my face from a distance of about 2 inches.  He claimed he could see no wrinkles.  I don’t think he was trying to be sweet, he just couldn’t see the wrinkles.  I didn’t point out that we were sitting in very reduced lighting.  What a wonderful end to a wonderful day.  I am blessed.  Did I already say that?