While life back in the US is cooling off and the leaves are falling, here we heat up and the leaves are thriving. The trees and grass are a lush green after the rainy season and the cool weather is gone until March.
Since September, life for us has clipped right along. It is so hard for us to believe that it is already November and we are soon to be celebrating our 1 year anniversary in Cameroon. We will be the first to admit though that thinking of the upcoming holidays makes us miss friends and family in the States. Several special people have sent us short videos and e-cards with lots of fall leaves on them and it has been so great to enjoy the colors of the season, from 5,000 miles away.
August brought us celebrating the National Independence Day for Switzerland with the children. We had a fondue and did a parade for Smokey with our candle “lampions.” You should be able to see a picture of the kids and their Swiss garb.
Then in September our good buddy Hazel welcomed her fiancé here and we got to visit around Yaounde with him. We have also included a picture to show what happened to us after having been here for almost 10 months. Be forewarned that we are pretty crazy in that picture. Also in September, we did an “archaeological dig” for school. The picture shows the kids ready to launch in and each find 3 treasures hidden in their respective dig sites. They had lots of fun with that. The Youth Ministry officially launched also in September and Gilles has been busy meeting lots of folks. They are working hard on building relationships with the high school kids where they work so that after the first of the year they may be able to schedule some outside activities for these youth. We have included a picture of the team as it is for now and each person is bringing so much diversity and insight to this budding ministry.
October brought lots of rain and as a result we had many hours without power. We now have a full array of candles in empty wine bottles ready at a moments notice to move throughout the house. The kids became quite adept at taking a bath by candlelight. Gaby and I spent several evenings doing cross-stitch by candlelight and felt a bit like Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Little House on the Prairie ladies. It was quite fun. This month we did some deep study on Jericho and the kids made the walled city out of Duplos (see photo). It was also a busy month for Lego Creations and we took lots of pics of what the kids created. You can see some of their favorites. Sam turned 5 on the 2nd and we had a small party with some dear neighbor friends. You can see the picture of the 5 of them with their Ninja Turtle coloring pages proudly displayed.
We are all healthy, by the grace of God and doing pretty well. We think of you so often and are grateful to give you a window to the continent of Africa. Keep loving us and praying for us please! We miss you and love you.