Hamdallaye Village

Each Wednesday the kids and I have been going to the village to visit. Last week we took our camera and got some good pictures. The parents of this baby wanted us to take her picture. This is my house worker and her daughter (the little girl is her daughter). She's standing in from of her cook house.
Here's another picture of a cook house or outdoor kitchen. They use this during the rainy season (currently). During dry season they just cook outside. I thought it was neat to see this vine growing up on the hut.

Sink hole

One morning we woke up to this sink hole in our yard.

For some reason I found it really funny, joking that it was from a meteor!

These pictures are close up. Upon examination it was sunken about 2 feet down. Strange. We think that it was the site of an old garbage pit. Here we dig garbage pits for our wet/slop garbage. When it's full we fill it in and usually it gets cemented over. Not sure what happened with this one.

We had a guy work on filling the hole in several days later. Each time it gets filled in, it sinks some more!

Cute

Elianna with Aidan's boots.

Store Stocking continued

Here's the other store stocking pictures.

Stocking the Store

Unfortunately I am unable to post more pictures at this time.:( One of our current ministries is stocking the store after Pete buys supplies. There are several others who help with stocking. This week we all worked together as a family. The kids thought it was fun. I'll post some more pix later.

Friends

Aidan and Eli enjoy the game of horsey. I remember doing this with my dad. They have a blast. Sometimes Eli gets dumped off if Aidan goes too fast.

For the most part, Aidan and Elianna are pretty good friends. When they do fight Elianna is quick to come over to Aidan and say hug, hug. I pray they will continue to be good friends as they get older.

Village Visit

Last weekend our family went to the village. Which is literally outside the gates of the base where we live. We were formally introduced to the people there so they know we're new here and that we'll be working here. Although right now our ministries are support, helping the missionaries in the village. We still have a desire to be involved in the lives of Guineans here. On Wednesday the kids and I went to the village again. We're going to each week for a couple hours. It's good exposure for all of us. Pray for the Guineans, pray for the missionaries learning their languages and teaching God's Word. Pray also that we can have an impact on their lives as some of them work for us and as we make the effort to go visit them.

Packages

Once a month or so we get packages from home. These are part of the shipment that Pete was picking up at the port. It's such an exciting time for us all. Pictured here is a package from Aunt Sue for the kids. They loved it! They are especially enjoying the books that were in it.

Off to Port

Last week Pete had to get some shipments out of port. He drives about an hour away to the port. He spent all day Thursday trying to get the shipment only to come home without anythin. He had to return the next day and get it. Aidan got to go along and watch them load the stuff into a big truck using a forklift. Here's a picture of them taking off in the morning. They had so much stuff to get them had to hire a big truck to transport it. We didn't get a picture of the truck.

Green Eggs

I really like eggs. They're so versatile and good for you. Here in Guinea we consider them one of our quick meals. An omelet in a pita bread. Our eggs are farm fresh as well. We don't have fancy options like buying egg white already separated in a container or eggs stamped with omega 3 on them. Sometimes it's hard to tell if your eggs are good or not. In the time that we've been here I've seen and smelled my share of bad eggs. I'm not talking about mildly bad eggs, oh they're bad. Green and brown inside! I need to get into the habit of testing them in water to see if they're good. Mainly though you can smell them if they're bad! It's nasty. Sometimes they've sat out in the sun too long. It's very hard to tell. Anyways hope this brings some humor to your day, sometimes it can make me really mad if 4 out of 6 eggs is bad and I'm having a bad day. Twice in the past two weeks I've gone to my egg bowl to be greeted with a foul smell and one time with maggots on the eggs. That time I just threw out the 4 I had left! C'est la vie en Guinee. It's life in Guinea.

Bagels

I've always wanted to try making bagels. As you may have guessed we can't get them here. So we gave it a try. I'd say it was a success. They take a bit of time but are fun to do together.

Here they are before simmering or baking.

We added some sun dried tomatoes that we'd brought from the states.

The kids had fun making the balls and than poking the hole in the middle.

Monkey Business

Last week a guy brought by a baby monkey or chimp. He thought we might like it as a pet. We declined but the kids enjoyed petting it and playing with it for a bit.

This guy is one of the believers here who has faced persecution for his decision to follow Christ. He has just starting attending the believers meetings again. Please pray for him.

The kids loved the monkey.

Elianna thought it was great. She really has a soft spot for animals.

She also really loves to suck on her fingers which doesn't make a good combo when she's petting animals. Especially ones that carry disease!

Break Down

Life in Guinea would not be complete without break downs and vehicle trouble. Last week pete went to get supplies like he does every week. It's usually an all day job. He leaves at 8am and returns at 6pm or so. Well somewhere around 4:30 or 5pm he called to say that he had car trouble. He was driving the white patrol at your right. He was fully with food and the coolers on top so he couldn't leave the car at all. He was able to get ahold of our mechanic friend who came to help him. The little vehicle at the right towed Pete home some 15 miles maybe even up some decent hills. It turns out the problem was that his radiator hose blew due to low oil. Now it's one week later and he's on a supply run again. Hopefully there won't be any breakdowns!