Got Milk?

So, one of the things that we can't easily get here is good milk. No problem for me, I am not a milk fan. However, my husband is!! Now, the milk we get here generally comes in two forms:

1. Radiated milk: It sits on the shelf until you open it. Once opened it goes into the refrigerator. It can sit on the shelf a really, really long time. The taste...not so good!
2. Powdered milk: Just like baby formula but milk instead. Thankfully, Zeke doesn't mind it. Arnett, thinks it's the worst thing in the world. The taste...worse than the radiated milk.

Now the locals, drink raw milk, fresh from the cow. You generally see guys walking around with these big jugs selling milk. Now, these jugs aren't cold so the milk is in the heat until they sell it. A lot of the Africans here like "chunky" milk - aka spoiled milk. A lot of the dishes they cook for breakfast will have chunky milk in it...YUCK!!! It's one of those things you pray before you eat it..."Lord, help me to get this down and keep it down!!" Well, there's a "milk man" who's always on our street. For over a year now he's been trying to sell us milk and get Arnett to take on another wife or two but that's a whole different story!! :~) Some friends of ours have been buying raw milk and pasteurizing it themselves. So, Arnett decided the other day to buy some milk from him. After he got the milk home he realized the milk had already been heated. Now, we don't know how well the milk man heats his milk, so we gave that batch to our house helper. Arnett then went and told him,
I want some 'fresh milk'. Like really, fresh milk, straight out of the cow, fresh milk". The milk man said, "Ok, I'll bring you some Saturday morning." Well sure enough this morning the milk man comes with our fresh milk. We got our 4 liters and instructions from the milk man to make sure we heat it up  before we drink it! So, that's exactly what we did...we pasteurized our own milk. Now, this sounds really intense but it's really no big. First, we ran the milk through a filter to get out any trash. Second, we poured the milk into a double boiler. Third, we heated the milk to 170 degrees and held it there for 15 seconds. Last, we poured it into a pitcher and put it in the refrigerator. Later tonight, we'll have some good ol' milk!!! At least I hope it's good!! :~) I'll let you know how it turns out!! Here's a few pictures of my two guys pasteurizing the milk:

 

Until next time...

Busy, busy. busy

WOW! A lot has been going on. For those of you who receive our updates, I'm sure you read that Zeke was really sick. I happy to report that, Praise the Lord, he's doing much better. So, what have we been up to?? Well, it feels like a lot but at times it doesn't feel like a lot. Let me explain...

For the past 5 weeks we have been desperately trying to go out to D-village. We have created a bond with the people there and really want to go out and encourage them in the word. However, for the past 5 weeks something has prevented us. The first week we had just a busy, non-ministry related week. Well, non-ministry in the fact that we weren't where we felt we should be, D-village. Our friends from out of town were down. Our supervisor returned from South Africa. We had a couple with another organization come for supper. So, I guess the ministry was loving on people and spending time with them. The second week, Arnett had to make an unexpected trip to two villages to do some work for our partnering churches. I was also sick that week. We also were busy with two team meetings that week. Once again, not where we felt we should be. The third week we had a team meeting and then an all-day orientation with a volunteer team. We also had to make a trip out to a village for one of our partnering churches. The fourth week, one of our teammates got sick and was unable to go and visit a volunteer team in their village, so we went for her. The fifth week, was this week and Zeke got really sick. So, at the moment we are a little frustrated. Wondering if God is preventing us from going or is Satan? Wondering if we should be focusing our efforts elsewhere. Will you please pray that God would give us clear direction. We take comfort in His word... Proverbs 16:9:

A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps.

So, what exciting things have we been doing when things weren't busy, busy or we weren't sick. Well, first there was the goat we got to goat-sit. Yes, you read that right. Here's how the phone call went...

Me: Hello.

John: Hey, you want to do us a big favor??

Me: I don't know, what is it?

John: You want to watch our goat for 3 days?

Me: Your WHAT??

John: Our goat...

Our friends had been given a goat in a village they had visited. Well, their dog was not a happy camper about the goat. So, to save the goat's life we agreed to goat-sit for a few days. Zeke loved having the goat here. In fact, I think his papa has already made plans to get him a goat when we get back to America!! Here's a few pics of the goat:

Zeke feeding the goat.

Yes, that is the goat in our house!! Zeke went outside and left the door open. The next thing I knew they were both in the house. At night, Zeke wanted the goat to come inside. He couldn't understand why the goat had to sleep outside!!! Only in Africa... :~)

Last week Zeke, the three girls, Abby, Sarah, and Michelle, that live next door and I went to one of their friends farms. This guys parents have several different types of animals...goats, cows, donkeys, chickens, and turtles!! We had a really good day. We got to visit with his mom and she made us lunch. We got to pick mangos and take some home. Zeke got to play with all the different animals. His favorite was a baby cow. He did NOT like the turtles. Here are a few pics from our day:

 

Zeke and the baby cow.

Playing with sticks.

Zeke and Mommy on the turtle. You can kinda see the fear in his face.

Abby, Me, Zeke (screaming his head off!), Michelle and Sarah holding the big turtle.

Zeke trying to climb a mango tree.

Until next time...

Still learning to Trust...

So, today started out rough, again. Arnett had planned to go to visit several villages that we work in and I had planned to go visit D-village. When I woke up this morning, I woke up to a sore throat and body aches. Great, another day ruined by sickness. I was defeated. I wallowed in my defeat until about 1:00 this afternoon. I had just put Zeke down for a nap and came into our room to retreat. I knew what I needed and that was to spend some time alone, with God. So, here it is 2 1/2 hours later and I feel like a new woman. Amazing what a little time with our Heavenly Father will do!! When I sat down and opened my journal my eyes were immediately drawn to the last thing I had written last night. Here's what it says: "Father, during the hard times, help me to stop and offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving." I then, immediately remembered the verse God led me to last night, Psalm 116:17:

"I will offer You a sacrifice of thanksgiving and will worship the LORD."

Oh boy I so, did not do a good job stopping and offering a sacrifice of thanksgiving. In fact, I didn't. At least not until I was reminded of my prayer from the night before. Thankfully, God, He's full of mercy and grace and He lavishes it on me constantly. Praise Him!!!

At the bottom of the pages in my journal and a few "divider" pages throughout there are different scriptures and sometimes quotes. Today when I sat down, every page it was like God was talking directly to me. Mending the hurt, disappointment, and defeatedness I felt. First thing I saw was a quote from Oswald Chambers,

"Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time."

WOW! I so needed that because I was really not understanding God ways!! Thanks God!! Then, the following verse, Zephaniah 3:17:

"The LORD your God is with you...He will take great delight in you; He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”

Another WOW!! Thankful that He did exactly as His word promised. Then, the following verse, Proverbs 3:5-6:

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding;  think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths."

So, for probably the past 6 months God has been teaching me to trust Him. Trust Him with what He's doing in my life, in Arnett's life, and what plans He has for us in the future. That's a big one for me, especially the future part. You see, our term here will end in about 7 months and people are constantly asking, "What are you going to do when you get back home?" To be honest, we have no clue. I know God is calling me to stay at home with Zeke and any future children He blesses us with. I also know that there are a lot of uncertainties, which honestly, scares me!! Like, where will we live?  How will we make a living ? And probably my biggest concern/fear...what about health insurance? I also know that God will provide, it's just learning and choosing to trust Him to do it. Guess He's preparing me in advance for the next thing He has for us. Praise God, His word promises to guide us on the right paths!!

God then led me on a scripture hunt, leading me to write down 19 different scriptures/passages. They all fit into areas that God is currently working on me with: Trusting Him, His promise to led us where He wants us, Waiting on Him, and Him being our Rock and Strength. I'm so thankful for God's word. It ushers me into His presence and am so utterly thankful that He allows me and even wants me in His presence. How utterly fitting, that the last page I journaled on today had the following, from Psalm 16:11:

"... you will fill me with joy in your presence..."

So, I close, filled with joy because of the Lord's presence. Until next time...

A horrible, rotten, no good, very bad day...

 

Okay this post is for the sole purpose of getting my frustrations off my chest, so please forgive me. Today has been just what my post title says! A rough day to say the least. We have Malians who work for us and they never show up on time. We know African culture is to show up, time doesn't really matter. However, mix that with our American culture of "be on time!" and it equals chaos! Most days it's not really an issue and we don't worry about it, but there are days, like today when it throws our entire world into chaos. We're frustrated because they didn't show up on time, we take said frustration out on each other, and then we don't get done the things that needed to get done. Ah! Such is life today. Honestly, I'm done with Mali, at least for today. I'm ready to go home.

Okay, so I wrote the above paragraph this afternoon, it's now bedtime around here. You know, God, He's just amazing. Today, I was supposed to go meet with an African friend but when I called her this morning she didn't answer and she never called me back. Honestly, this morning when I got her voice mail I was relived. I guess God knew I needed a down day, a break from African culture. Second thing he did today was amazing too. First though, let me explain a little bit about rain around here. In Mali, it normally only rains 4-5 months a year. Now, it's not like in Florida where you can get rain anytime of the year. Those 4-5 months are in a row. Normally, June-October. This is why so many people here run out of food. They plant during the rainy season and then they get too much rain or not enough rain. Well, this afternoon it was kinda overcast, I thought, "If it wasn't April 6th, I would swear it was going to rain." Well, rain it did!! I was shocked!! It was so nice, it cooled things down and lifted our spirits somewhat too!! Praise the Lord for these amazing gifts. The verse from my quiet time last night was

James 1:17 (HCSB)

Every generous act and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights; with Him there is no variation or shadow cast by turning.

Thank you Father for your perfect gifts that you blessed me with today. Until next time...

A little encouragement needed....and received...

So, I started typing this blog Friday afternoon but stopped. I stopped because I was trying to make something true that frankly, wasn't true. Yesterday, was our 6 year anniversary. We had made plans for Zeke to stay the night at a friends house and we would go to dinner, stay at home, and then go to a pool the next day. You know, have some time just for us. Well, Thursday night Zeke started with a runny nose and cough. A little while later, Arnett said he wasn't feeling too hot. Great, now both my boys are sick and we won't get to go out for our anniversary, just like we didn't get to go out for Valentine's Day. Guess, I should have started there. Arnett and I hardly do anything just the two of us. For Valentine's Day he had arranged our friends to keep Zeke so we could go to dinner. He surprised me with it and everything! I was so excited. Then, I got sick and we couldn't go. Of course, I was thinking, "Great! Now it's our anniversary and he and Zeke are both sick and we aren't going to be able to go." I was really bummed Thursday night and was having a pity party for myself (okay maybe more like a rant and rage session) as I was talking with God. Then God led me to Colossians 3:15:

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

So, Thursday night I was really trying to choose to be thankful. I was making mental lists of things I had to be thankful for and all. Friday, we woke up, I was still hopeful that we could still go. We hem hawed around for several hours. Then we finally decided not to go. All my feelings of thankfulness went out the window. I was mad!! We recently heard about this saying that is popular among expats living in West Africa. The saying is, "WAWA - West Africa Wins Again". Well, that's how I felt. West Africa had won AGAIN!! I tried to remember what God had shown me the night before but I was failing. Finally, I decided to make the best of it. So, Friday night, we ate an early dinner, made some popcorn and watched a movie as a family. Saturday, we got up and piddled around, then we went out to lunch, came home and rested, and then we went to some friends house for dinner and a movie. It was a great day!!! We spent the evening the same way we had 6 years ago, surrounded by friends. Praise the Lord!!

So, I've decided to choose to be Thankful. Things I'm especially thankful for today:

1. Celebrating our 6 year anniversary.
2. Zeke has been relatively healthy, especially considering where we live.
3. A great weekend despite our plans didn't go according to the way we felt they should.
4. Despite Arnett feeling like poo he was still willing to go have a date night/day with me.
5. Friends here who've become our 2nd family.
6. Today was a day of doing nothing but rest, a great way to finish out our anniversary weekend.
7. Supper tonight...BLT's with REAL bacon (not the microwaveable kind) from America and homemade french fries! YUMMY!! (I know BLT's are nothing special but when you haven't had REAL bacon in a long time they are especially good!!)
8. Earlier this week we found a children's picture Bible at our supervisor's house. She agreed to let us borrow it. Every night we've been reading a couple of stories to Zeke. He loves it and looks forward to it every night! Praise God for this little treasure He gave us!! Praise God our son loves sitting and hearing the stories from the Father's word!
9. Zeke's new found love of reading books.
10. Our sicknesses have been minimal since we've arrived back from America.
11. God's faithfulness.
12. God hasn't given up on us yet!! Why, I don't know but He hasn't and for that I am especially Thankful!!!
13. God's mercy, His love and His grace which are abundant!!

So, I challenge you, whatever circumstances you find yourself in, try choosing to be Thankful. I know it's not easy but it's a choice we all have to make. So, here's to thankfulness. Until next time...

Oh, one more thing... a few new pics of Zeke...

So, for some reason Zeke has an obsession with these little trash cans we have. For some reason he likes to put them on his head. As you can see, he doesn't affect his ability to drive his little car either. This kid cracks us up all the time!!

Zeke and his Daddy reading a book together. He's really starting to love reading.

6 years ago today...

6 years ago today Arnett and I joined hands as husband and wife. 6 years ago if God would have shown me what our life would be like today, I would have laughed in His face. I need to remember that when I'm worrying about the future and want Him to show it to me! I Praise God for all that He's done in our lives. It is only because of Him we have made it this far!! So, today, I want to say, "Arnett, Happy Anniversary! I love you more today than I did 6 years ago. I am so looking forward to growing old with you!! I thank God for blessing me with such a Godly man. A man who loves Him more than He loves me. I am truly blessed!! I love you!!"

This picture was taking September 2008. We we had already sold our house and I had quit my job. We were preparing to go to Virginia to start our 8 week training program before moving to Mali. We had also just found out we were pregnant with Zeke. Sorry, don't have a wedding day picture with me! Until next time...

Haircut Time!!

So, Zeke and I have both desperately needed a haircut for quite some time now! Praise God, He knows every detail of our lives! I got an e-mail Wednesday morning from a colleague that read, "the hair cutting lady is coming to my house Thursday at 3, let me know if you need a haircut!" Praise God! So, here's some before and after pictures of Zeke (sorry I haven't taken any pictures of myself)...

Zeke found a pipe and already has a very creative imagination!! His pipe has become a gun!!! Guess, guns are bred into a boys imagination!!

See how long his hair was!!

Now, nice and short. He looks like a little man! He's growing way too fast!!!

So handsome!!!

Until next time...