Ok, so it's been a while.

I know we or rather I made this resolution to be more faithful in keeping the blog up to date.  In light of that I guess that twice a month isn't too bad?  I'm going to attach some pictures from the last few weeks.  The big event was Elianna's 5th birthday last week.  She got to celebrate for several days.  On Wednesday the 17th we had a party in the afternoon with some of her little friends here and because a friend was in from a nearby village.  It was a fun time.  I enjoy the planning and preparing but don't feel that I do so well at the execution.  We made some paper flowers, played ring toss with a fun set that we made and blew bubble snakes, ate cupcakes and ended off with water balloons.  Many of the ideas were thanks to the magazine "Family Fun."  I have a subscription and someone sends it to me every few months.  I really appreciate it because many of the crafts/ideas are basic and don't require fancy things that we can't get here.  Elianna also shares her birthday with David one of our dormers and Lizzy one of our teachers.  On Friday we celebrated with KFC chicken (homeade) and oven fries and a jello poke cake.  Saturday we went to the pool and enjoyed the day with Kayla another one of our dormers and her brother Colton.  Sat. morning Pete started to notice a stiff/sore neck.  From Sat. - Wed.  it was really sore but has been really improving.  This week is busy here because our mission is hosting a translation workshop.  Most of the missionaries from the villages are here and attending sessions on translating.  We're not sitting in on the sessions but do have some extra kids around for snack and playing in the afternoons.  Almost forgot the temperatures have been soaring lately.  We're heading into the hottest time of year.  We saw 107F last week and almost everyday it's over 100F in the afternoons.  There are a few really hot hours where motivation can be really low.  Enjoy the pictures.  As I was attaching pictures I thought of a few more things to add.  There's a pix of Ian wearing an outfit that was Aidans:)  Also our supply buyers have had to return to the US due to medical concerns so we now have to do all our own buying of supplies.  A few weeks ago we bought a 50kg sack of flour and divided it out into buckets.  How long would it take you to go through 50 K of flour?  We're getting to the end of our.  Mainly because I help with a little tortilla business every week that consumes around 8kg of flour. 

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Snakes and other things.

This week was not uneventful.  Early in the week I (Pete) was out locking up the school etc at night and almost rode my bike over a 4-5 foot Night Viper.  I called the guard over who quickly disposed of it and then I ran to get a camera for proof of this snake.  You can see pictures below.  This past weekend we were off to the beach Saturday to celebrate a co-workers son’s birthday.  It was a great time together with friends at the beach.  Aidan says it is one of his most favorite beaches to go to.  He enjoyed looking for crabs and shells and small fish that got trapped in the pools of water when the tide went out.  Elianna had a blast playing in the sand and water also.  Ian also had a good time playing in the water and sand.  Faith and I enjoyed having some downtime just relaxing-Faith in the sun and I in the shade.  Also I played some tackle football in the water with 3 other dads and 5 kids.  Last week ended on a sad note as a guard from Conakry died.  He had been suffering from an illness for a while and passed away leaving a pregnant wife with two kids behind him.  The unfortunate thing of it all is that he died going to an eternity separated from God.  Although many of us will miss him it is a tragedy that we will not see him again in heaven.  Pray for those working to learn languages, translate scripture and teach Gods word to those here who do not know him.  Pray for us in our relationships with Guineans that we would model Christ’s love in our lives and that it would be his love that is our motivation for service. 

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Our week in review

We're hoping to make some changes on the blog.  Hopefully it will be updated weekly and we'll have input from all of our family members, excluding Ian.  Stay tuned...  We'll do our best to include pictures as well.

 

From Eli...

Elianna got her own beads for Christmas and is excited about making jewelry.  Aidan and Elianna watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

 

From Aidan...

Aidan was excited when we got packages this week.  He and Elianna got flip flops that they could color on with special markers.  His fit perfectly but Eli's are a tad bit big.  Aidan just got a nice short haircut.

From Pete and Faith

Packages were a bit hit this week.  We usually get them roughly once a month.  We got 3 packages.  We were only expecting one of them so it was a real treat.  There were some gifts for the kids from one of our supporting churches and some goodies for all of us.  A big bag of jelly bellies and some flavored coffee for Pete and I.  We also received a bunch of Christmas cards earlier in the week.  It was really nice to see some pictures of friends and family and read the notes and letters. 

 

We had some really cool mornings this week also.  One day we saw 54F and in the afternoon it was just shy of 100F.  The afternoons are beginning to get hotter and it will only continue for the next few months.  Elianna and I went into the village to visit and came home loaded down with gifts, some grapefruits, mandarin oranges and a squash.

 

You may not realize some of the 'extra' things we do in addition to being dorm parents.  Each week we have a Sunday evening service here on our mission center.  The missionary men who live here and one from a nearby village take turns teaching/preaching.  So at least once a month Pete has to prepare for that.  This week some of our coworkers are sick and need to go to the capital for medical attention so Pete is filling in on teaching.  Nearly every week we also lead the music/worship for the service as Faith is the only one who plays an instrument.  It's been a growing and stretching time but is good as well.

 

Ian got 2 big goose eggs on his head this week.  He is walking really well and getting used to wearing shoes and walking outside.  He's pretty good at not putting stones in his mouth but gets very dirty when outside.  He hasn't been sleeping well and is waking up almost every night. It makes for some tiring days for Mom and Dad. We're planning to move him in with Aidan and partition our room with a wall and make a small room for Elianna.  In time...it won't happen for a little while.

 

A few months ago our mission center, where we live, was blessed with some new play equipment.  A church sent over some things and donated money to get stuff made.  It's really nice and our kids and so many other enjoy it.  Saturday morning we spent some time playing tag on the equipment with our kids.  Our center also has a sports court, a cement fenced in area with a basketball court and option for volleyball and tennis.  Recently a lot of the kids have been roller blading.  Aidan and Elianna are learning as well.  Eli is really determined to get it.

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And more pictures

A smattering of pictures.  Ian's 1st birthday, Christmas, Aidan's 'new' used bike, all I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth, A box house, Our giant snail, Our post Christmas beach trip, crabs, a birthday greeting on the beach.

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the last few weeks in pictures

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Life takes over

I know it's been over a month since my last post.  It has been busy but sometimes I'm just not motivated to post on the blog.  An overcap of the last 6 weeks...We're well into dry season now.  Along the roads the trees are dense with red dust.  For the last month we've been enjoying some cooler nights and mornings.  The afternoons are hot but bearable.  Hotter more unbearable weather is yet to come but we won't think about that yet.  We finished up our first semester in the dorm.  The following week we had our field conference.  It was shorter than usual but enjoyable.  The next week we celebrated Christmas and enjoyed some fun times with coworkers.  At the begining of this week we headed to the beach, about a 2 hour drive from here and spent 2 nights there.  It was so enjoyable and relaxing, not to mention the water was so warm.  It was a bit challenging with a newly walking one year old who enjoyed eating sand!  Oh yes, did I forget to mention that we celebrated Ian's 1st birthday during conference.  He is becoming more confident in his walking skills daily and is a lot of fun and a lot of work! 

We continue to rest in our Heavenly Father concerning the political situation of Guinea.  Yesterday on our way home from the beach we had a very enjoyable visit with some coworkers in a nearby village.  Their 2 kids are the same ages as our older 2.  It's fun to see the excitement of visiting friends and sharing joys and struggles together.

I guess this is kind of turning into a bit of a reflection which is appropriate since it's New Years Eve.  I'll try to post some pictures as well.

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Ian's 11 months old

I really cannot believe that 11 months have passed since Ian was born.  I'm including some recent pictures including a PA liscence plate that I saw on a road grader in our village here in Guinea, West Africa. 

A few other notes of interest...A chamelian that Aidan caught.  The day after he got it it shed it's skin.  There's the picture of the small animal.  It's a genet and we could have had 2 for pets, but we passed this time.

 

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