Sunday night in Mbingo

It is Sunday, June 10th at 8:12 pm (2:12 pm for most all of you reading).  I am going to skip the tale of Grace and my trip to Bamenda as it is a blog in itself and I really want Grace to tell you her perspective of our adventure.  So I'll start today with this lovely picture of Grace with her father and Joe.  We are still having the I want to go home pity party and this look has not left her face in three days.  You know that expression "be careful or your face will freeze that way...", I think it may be true!  Although, I think we turned a page on that today when we told her that we were thinking about moving here for two years as permanent missionaries.  (It's not happening though we have talked about it, but we just wanted to mess with her!)  This news made her reconsider her situation and decided that 4 weeks is doable and I actually heard her say to Becky today, "next time we come...".  :)

Last night we ended the evening after our Bamenda trip with a good card game.  Thinking of our good friends, Joanna and Frances Hurd who by the way are having 2 baby  boys any time now!!!!!!, we played Phase 10.  Gracie's friend Becky came over to join us.  We only got half the game done before we got too sleepy to continue and had to finish tonight.  It is good fun, especially when Toby throws his animated expressions in to make it more fun.  "YES!!"  and "WHOO HOO!!!" are his favorites.  He makes me laugh.

This morning after breakfast Brian and I went to church and we decided that we would let the kids skip.  Compared to church at home it is longer, hotter, more crowded, with hard wooden benches, and not really kid friendly.  Though I thoroughly enjoyed it.  The passion and praise for the Lord that the Christians of Africa have is soul moving.  And pastor gave a sermon that I felt was directed to me, which I thought funny how that works when you are on the other side of the world.  God speaks to me here just like he does in JoMo.  
 

 So, I'm sure you are wondering about these pictures...
This is what happens when I leave the boys at home for two hours under Grace's supervision while we go to church...Joe grows boobs!  And it appears he likes it!  Brother, I seriously don't know how she talks the boys into these shenanigans.  None the less, they made me laugh again and  I told Joe he makes a beautiful well endowed woman.

After our return from church to find the drag show, we decided to have lunch then head on another family hike.

You can see on the first picture where we are headed.  We were told it was a good kid friendly hike.  I would agree, looks worse in the picture than it was.  It is easy to forget that you are closer to the sun being on the equator and all, thus causing you to burn more easily so we sunscreened up and then we headed out the front door.  An hour later we reached the top!  The boys have become great hikers and keep me and Gracie moving.  We had never hiked in that direction, so the view from the top was a very nice new perspective on the lay of the land.  It is just amazing how beautiful the landscape is.  You definitely feel close to God when you are out and about here.  And Monica, I'm getting enough cardio in this week to make up for being gone. 

Joe's..."WE MADE IT!"
The green Mt behind Joe is Mt Mbingo which the boys climbed yesterday.
On the right side, mid way up the photo you can barely make out the hospital compound at bottom farthest end of Mt Mbingo.
It was a good hike!

Cow trails through the corn/been/yam/banana fields

After we made it back to the house, it was time to party!  You know how to be THE center of attention at an African birthday party? We do, "White man" dancing!  Yes, B and I started dancing with them (they were all dancing, we wanted to too) and suddenly EVERYONE was watching us, hoopin', hollerin', laughin', pointing, yes everyone had to see.  It's so weird being the freak show!  (Jeremy, no comment.  I know what you are going to say!) The party was for our cook, neighbor,and friend Margaret's grandson.  It was his first birthday.  Rumor has it that it is a REALLY big deal to have a first birthday, since many babies don't make it, and so there was lots of food, music, dancing, and people.  Donna, I gave him one of your blankets as a gift and it was very warmly recieved.  I feel very blessed that we were invited and included in this special day.  Mom, I put these pics of Margaret, her friends and grandson on so that you could see how happy she is.  When I was there, I was thinking that you really should have been there too.  You know, to dance with the "white man"!   Margaret is really a very special person, you don't meet many like her!

To end my story today, here is the live before and after pics of Susan.  Look close...

Both girls are standing a little cock eyed in the before picture, but you get the idea of their heights.  Today, we photoed them again and now Susan is clearly taller than Grace where before she was significantly shorter!  Isn't that amazing!!  GOD IS SO GOOD!  We took her lunch today and like nothing she got out of bed twice to wash her hands, walked by herself, and hardly acted like she had just had major spine surgery.  She is truly brave, strong, and amazing.  I think God has something very special in store for her and her life.  Her recovery is still only beginning so prayers are still needed and I know that there is a whole army of prayer warriors out there with Susan on their list, well done and thanks!

That's it for today, I'm sleepy after all that.  So, till tomorrow (or next time I blog!)
Au revoir, amy lea

PS-Angela, Kelly, KhloDiggidy, Maggie, Wally, fish (can't remember it's name), and chickens-thanks for the pics.  I love the one with Khloe and the chicken!  And thanks for all you are doing to help us out!