Urgent Prayer Request!

Please continue to pray for Maria. Maria is in grade 2, on Sunday she had a headache and a fever, on Monday she was committed to the hospital to the ICU. They did a CT scan today and found that her brain is swollen and is surrounded by fluid. They suspect meningitis but it is impossible to do a LP in her condition. They already think she will have brain damage if she survives this.
We know that God can heal her, please pray without stopping. Add her to your church prayer chain. Get your friends and family to pray for her.

Pray for her family too, her mom is beside herself and is by her side in the I.C.U.

This really looks bad, pray pray pray!!!

So much to be thankful for!

This past weekend three of our students slept over at our house. It was a lot of fun. We introduced them to UNO, they picked it up really quickly and they loved to play! They were quite intrigued by David’s new old school lawn mower, (you know one of those push mowers with the blades) and they took turns using it. It was funny, and we got some of our weeds cut down 🙂

We enjoyed dinner around the table, like a family. It was nice to sit and hear about them each personally. It is so easy to get caught up with 108 kids at school and miss out on each kid’s individual story. One of the girls that came is quiet at school, she takes a really long time to warm up to anyone. We think this weekend was a great step for her, and we had the opportunity to build her trust in us.
We watched The Princess and the Frog, and then it was time to go to sleep. It was fun to lay in bed and listen to them giggle and whisper. I remember those days!

On Sunday we all went off to church. The sermon was fantastic. It was about what is means to be the church. It was so uplifting and challenging at the same time. The preacher challenged us to “first seek the Kingdom of God.” I think we easily let other things get in the way, I think I really needed to hear it! They also baptized two people, it always makes me cry when I witness someone becoming a Christian, it is such a celebration! After church we had a discussion with the girls about the difference between confirmation and baptism. They had some great questions and listened eagerly!

After that we were off to the park to play soccer and frisbee, these kids can run! As I have mentioned before I have been working out each day, so I was able to keep up with them, but we were exhausted when the day was over!

# 36 I am thankful for the overwhelming response to my last post on here. I was comforted by the comments and kind words, the emails and the verses given to me. This week I learned that somehow we are never alone. I have felt so much love this past week, I wish I could give you all a bug hug, and I am not a hugger!
A friend responded with a verse:
“I would have lost heart,unless I had believed.That I would see the goodness in the Lord, in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord;be of good courage;and He will strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord.” Psalm 27:13-14
I feel like a cloud has been lifted and I have had a smile on my face all weekend. Thank you all!

#37 We have a visitor from the US coming in a few weeks. Mark is the leader of our mission team back in Colorado, and he is a missionary himself. He is coming out just to check up on us, and to evaluate how our year has been. And, he has graciously said we can use his second piece of luggage, so we have been buying things on-line to ship to David’s parent’s house we also gave them a ridiculous shopping list. So in a few weeks we will have fudge-rounds, oatmeal cream pies, board games, and even bigger smiles on our faces. So I am thankful for all this fun stuff, but mostly for someone who cares so much about us, and about what we are doing here that he is flying out to check up on us. Let me tell you people, the journey is not am easy one! Thanks Mark!

#38 I also was to specially thank David’s parents for doing all that shopping, and for packing and repacking to make sure that everything fits. It really will be like Christmas morning!

#39 My mom is making a great recovery. Thanks to all who sent messages, and who prayed and who asked about her. You warmed my heart.

#40 Our health. We have had a rough couple of weeks. David is still getting over whooping cough. But, we live in a place that has some of the highest infection rates for HIV and TB. We are blessed to be healthy enough to do what we are doing, and to not fear that our lives will be prematurely ended by diseases. So today, I am thankful for our health.

#41 Three special little girls that brought light into our weekend. I loved having the kids around. When we got up on Sunday morning to three kids in our home, it just felt right. I think we may be having more sleepovers in the future 🙂

#42 Sugar-free Ice cream.

#43 All Nations Church. On Sunday as we were leaving, one of the leaders asked David to be part of a team of guys who will be designing and building a 25ft climbing wall for their youth ministry. This is right up David’s alley. Also they sang a song about joy coming in the morning. It was a good day.

#44 The cello player in church. Our church has a cello in the band. It is so beautiful.

#45 Composition class. So as most of you know, our grade five teacher had to leave the country. He is now in South Africa awaiting word on his visa. In the meantime I am taking over teaching the grade five composition class. Can I just say I loved creative writing when I was in school. I feel like I am about to burst with ideas. Please pray that the kids will catch some of this excitement!

MARCH 23!

How did this happen?? It is the 23rd day of March. Do you know what that means? It means that it is exactly one whole year since we boarded a plane in Denver Colorado and bid farewell to America.

WE HAVE BEEN HERE FOR A WHOLE YEAR  NOW!

Wow!

They year has flown by. Just this morning we were discussing the fact that Namibia really feels like home to us. We never really went through any culture shock. It feels like this has been our home for a longer time than just one year. We do of course miss our family and friends dearly, but I think we are exactly where we are supposed to be.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

What we prayed for.

Tuesdays nights are set aside for a staff prayer meeting. We meet together and then spend some time praying for the school, for individual students, and for other things that we fell may need prayer. The prayer meeting is an important part of what we are doing here. It gives a places for teachers to talk about the difficulties they are facing, and it is an opportunity to share what God is doing in each of our lives.
I would like to share the prayer requests with you, so that you may know specific things to pray for.

First we prayed for Japan, specifically for the church to rise up and show the people of Japan that Christians are generous and compassionate people. We prayed for warmer weather, as so many people are stuck without heat and water in really cold temperatures.

Second we prayed for Selma’s daughter. Selma is a lady who lives in the church building that the school is run out of. Her 15 year old daughter and the daughter’s friend were abducted two weeks ago. The friend was found in a trash can, raped, naked, unconscious, and with a massive head injury. She is in the hospital now, but can not remember anything and is therefore unable to help with the whereabouts of Selma’s daughter.
***I was just told that her daughter was found and it at home safe! I may pass on more details if we hear anything else.

Third we prayed for Mr. Gumbo’s work visa. His current visa expires on Saturday and we have yet to hear from the Ministry of Home Affairs about the renewal application. It would be a very difficult situation if he had to leave.

Fourth we prayed for the land that the school is trying to purchase. The school has been given the funds to build a new building, but is still in need of a piece of property.

Fifth we prayed for the Miller family, they are long time supporters of the school and they sponsor two of the kids in our school. The Millers are a hard-working and friendly family. Yesterday Mrs. Miller helped out in my second grade Art class, and Mr. Miller helped out in David’s discipleship class. We prayed for their safety as they will be traveling to the Northern part of Namibia this week.

Lastly we prayed for a boy who lives in Wisconsin. His name is Joshua, he is a young boy who has no immune system. His birthday is today and he asked that instead of gifts people donate money towards a child at Community Hope School. Pray for his healing!

Church!

We found a church here we really like. It is called All Nations Christian Church, it is a local church run by a German man and his South African wife. The church is attended by people from all over the world. The thing we love about this church is how friendly the congregation is. We tried three other churches before finding this one, and it seems like this is the one we will be staying with. After the service a lady chased us down and invited us to their Bible study group. We are looking forward to getting to know more people in the community, and to making some friends out side of school.

God is good!

A year ago today…

…we were in Colorado Springs being commissioned for the work here in Namibia. I did a post of it back then you can see it here.
It has been a year, a whole year!! So much has happened in the last year. David did a great little e-magazine to outline what we did, he even made a time line. Check that out HERE.

Looking back on that night, with a year passed now, I am even more overwhelmed by the love and support that we have received in the last year. Piked Peak Christian Church has been a pillar for us. In just a few weeks the leader of our missions team will come out to check up on us, the church handles our finances, and just today we received an encouraging email from there.

I guess what I am trying to say is thank you to all the people who are making it possible for us to be here, thank you to all the people who pray for us everyday, thank you to all of you that care so much about us. We could not be here doing any of this without the support system that we have.

Thank you.

A thousand gifts!!

I have come to look forward to Mondays, it has become a day to take time and think of what God has done. We got back from the coast last night. The weekend was a lot of fun. On Friday David and Adam both were sick, so we decided to stay one more night hoping that they would get better. On Saturday they felt better, so we made our own sand boards and headed out to Dune 7.
The climb up the sand dune was exhausting, but the ride down was exhilarating. I screamed like a little girl. We barbecued the biggest steak I have ever seen in my life, we swam in the sea, and I got up early each morning for a jog next to the beach.
On Friday morning I was listening to “It is well with my soul” while sitting on the beach watching the waves roll. It was a peaceful morning. I could feel the arms of our Father wrap around me. I think I needed that, for what was to come. Today I had a dr’s appointment, to further investigate the cause of our infertility. The dr. is a great man and is really optimistic. It was a difficult appointment though. Please keep us in your prayers.
Tomorrow we go back to school, back to the kids. God is good, and He is moving in Namibia!

Today I am thankful for:

#21: Long jogs on the beach!
#22: Humongous steaks,
#23: Modern medicine,
#24: The bead shop. There is a tiny little bead shop in Swakopmund, it sells the most beautiful and interesting beads. We spent some hours there picking out beads, and making necklaces, bracelets and earrings. It was pretty cool!
#25: Marye. She is a God-send to me. I can not express in words what her support and friendship means to me. Today I was in tears thinking about how God knew exactly who and what I would need!
#26: The people from back home in MO, especially those we met while going to school at CCCB. This morning I received a very encouraging email from someone at CCCB. Like I said, God is good and He know what we need and when we need it 🙂

So many gifts.

One of my favorite scenes in Lord of the Rings is when the sun shines on the fallen head of a statue of the King. For a moment the loss and pain of Sam and Frodo are lifted as they watch the King be crowned again.
Sitting here thinking about the gifts that God has given me this week makes me feel like that. Taking a moment to think about our Heavenly Father, is like being warmed by the summer sun on a cold day. We have had an exhausting and challenging week. Posting on here about the infertility that we are struggling with is one of the biggest steps I have taken in a long time. When I put that post up my heart was pounding, and my palms were sweaty. I was scared, but I also felt liberated. Like this darkness that has been shadowing my soul can no longer stick me in a corner and intimidate me by myself. Like one of my friends said, this way I can have more people praying for us.
Anyway, as a reminder Monday is for listing gifts that God has given this week so here goes:

#15 A new church to attend, we think that we may finally have found a place that feels right.
#16 A fantastic public pool, and it costs less than a dollar!!
#17 The long weekend! We are going to Swakopmund with the Wrights and Marye. I cannot even express how much I am looking forward to this long weekend. We plan on going sand boarding, braaing, I plan on jogging on the beach (Hasselhof style), and there will be a boat load of relaxing. We found a missionary guest house that has a pretty good deal!
#18 Birthday cake!
#19 The Gym. One of our closest friends, and a dear supporter, has decided to pay for us to have gym memberships for a while year. How cool is that?
#20 This one may sound weird, but today I am thankful for Abraham and Sarah. I was reading about the long road that they were on before God blessed them with a child. It gave me hope, and reminded me that God always has a plan.

If you are reading this, and you have a blog, join the thanksgiving and list some things that God has given you this week!

Wednesday’s adventure.

You know those days. The days where you should have just stayed in bed. Yesterday was such a grand adventure for us.
I had terrible nightmares all night. Ones where David was dead.
I woke up with a fat swollen eye, thanks to a recurring sty. Adam picked me up for school while David stayed in town to do some business. When I got to school I had forgotten my keys and the internet device. So no getting into the office and no internet. The teachers loved me for that.
While I was teaching my eye started to throb, itch and run. It made the hour seem really long.
So far the day wasn’t going too bad, it was just inconvenient. By three pm, we were heading home and I was exhausted from not sleeping the previous night thanks to dead husband dreams. I decided not to go to my work-out class, but to go to a movie instead. We needed the relaxation time. 
So when we are about ready to leave we hear a loud banging on our front door. It scared the daylights out of me. We have a gate that locks and a barbed wire fence. There is no way anyone could get to our front door. We cautiously looked out the window and saw our neighbor’s, who is also our landlord’s daughter, dog stuck between our gate and door.
There is no way this dog made it into our yard without help. The entire fence is made of barbed wire. There is no hole in the wall, or under the fence. It is still a mystery how it got into our yard. We spent half an hour trying to get a hold of either our landlord, or her daughter. Edda finally answered and said that we could just leave him in our yard until she got home, but to be careful because he likes to get out and run in the street. So we tied a rope onto his leash, and David backed the car out while I held onto him. Then we closed the gate while David went back in and untied the rope so he could run free in our yard. Then David slowly inched the gate open to squeeze out, and the dog pushed him out of the way (almost running his face into the barbed wire) and shot into the street. I jumped and tried to catch him, and David took off after him. It was too late, he was in the street and under a car before we could do anything.
It was a sickening thud.
The lady jumped out of her car, (which is now badly damaged) and started apologizing profusely. The dog was yelping and crying, when David tried to pick him up he tried to bite David. The dog did not seem too badly injured as he jumped up and took off AGAIN! This time he ran straight for out landlord’s house and squeezed under her gate.
Her granddaughter came out, and I has to warn her that the dog was hurt and bleeding all over. (It looked like his hind leg was badly hurt and bleeding).
The little girl said that she would go get her grandmother and disappeared into the house. Cue the rain!  It started to POUR! We waited for 15 minutes for anyone to come out of the house when the landlord’s son drove up, we told him what happened and he told us they have a problem with the dog, and that there was nothing else we could do.
So off we go on our “relaxing date in the middle of a crazy week.” Ha!
When we got in the car I felt like my purse was missing, but thought I probably left it in the house so we left without it.
We made it to the movie in time, halfway through the bulb in their projector burned out. We listened to quite a big part of the movie 😉
When we left at nine, the parking lot was deserted, and it was raining softly. We could tell when we got to our car that something was amiss. The alarm was not responding. We got in and David turned the key.
Nothing.
The car was dead. Super dead. Deader than a doorknob.
We had left the lights on.
We spent about 20 minutes walking around asking the few people who were still at the mall if anyone could give us a jump, but of course no one had jumper cables.
We ended up calling Jodie and Patrick, Patrick came out with his car and jumper cables.
We would be home in no time!
The guys hooked up the cables and David turned the keys and….
Nothing. Nothing but a sickening clicking.
Cue the rain! This time the Heavens opened up with a new kind of fury. It was raining so hard the parking lot was flooding, and lightning was flashing all around us. They tried everything. But our car just would not start.
By this time we are the only people in the parking lot so we were able to push it the wrong way on a one way street. I tried to be the “key turner” while the boys pushed. Then we swapped. I jumped out to help push, so Patrick who knew the trick could be the “key turner.”
I stepped into water up past my ankles, with the flood gates still dumping on us. We pushed and pushed and the car just gave a few weak coughs. This went on for a while. Until we were soaked and shivering. (Patrick then noticed he had an umbrella!!)
At this point it was getting close to 10pm, we thanked Patrick and told him he could go home, nothing was helping!!
We then called Adam, who had been at home looking for a towing company.
Note that we could not just leave the car in the lot, Namibia is not the safest country. We could not afford to buy a new car if this one is stolen or damaged.
Adam informed us that there was no towing company to be found, and that he was on his way. (We later found out that he had been throwing up when we called. The Wrights are still struggling with this bug that is going around).
Adam made it, and we tried to jump our car with his, but again nothing. It was still raining though!
We decided to try and have him tow us home. The boys got the cars hooked up, and then David walked around to me with something wet and limp in his hands. MY PURSE!
I had put it down on the winch when we were trying to contain the dog, and left it there! It stayed on for the ride to the mall, was not taken by anyone even though it sat in the parking lot for several hours, and had enjoyed us pushing it around in the rain. It was sopping wet. How funny is that?!
I am not usually such a scatter brain.
So there we went, hooked up to Adam’s car. It was pretty tense, as we did not have power steering, or power brakes, or any kind of lights. We set off in the dark and rain. Our biggest fear was running into the back of Adam. We stayed under 20km an hour, and there were only a few jerks.
I am pretty impressed by how well Adam and David did.
We finally got home, and after pushing that monster of a car up hill into the drive way we were able to get out of the rain!
But wait!
The rain had flooded our living room!
We stepped into the living room puddle, in our soaking wet clothes.
Hilarious.
When I started squeegeeing the floor I noticed a spider nest on the curtain with eggs in it!
We finally got to bed past 11pm, cold, wet and with the sound of crunching spider eggs in our ears.

I think next time I want to skip my work-out class I will remember what happens to people who skip their work-outs! Today we also learned what it means to say “When it rains, it pours!”

I will update on how the dog is doing when we find out. This morning there was no movement on their side.

It’s Monday again!

Monday means that it is time for a “one thousand gifts” post. Last week I posted six things that I am thankful for, that means I am 994 short of my 1000! 🙂
This morning we woke up to one of the most beautiful sunrises I have ever seen. The sky was awash with fluffy golden clouds, and a bright vivid rainbow framed it all. As we pulled into the school yard is started raining softly. It was a prefect!
We spent time today at school working on the discipline policy. I think I have mentioned before that working with our kids is not all hugs and smiles. Some of our kids come from homes where there is no form of discipline. Some come from homes where there is constant discipline (including beatings). We are working on a policy that will make sure our discipline is tempered by love. It was a great reminder of why we are here, and that we are working towards changing the whole community by bringing hope to the children.

7. The fluffy golden clouds.
8. Hugs from the kids on a Monday morning.
9. Being able to get up at 5:30 for a workout.
10. Internet access at school 🙂
11. Being able to teach Art class.
12.Sweet morning kisses from Mr. Echols.
13. Kids who bring umbrellas to school, and then they give it to the teacher so we can stay outside for playground duty without getting wet!
14. Sharing breakfast with Miss Puper every morning.

What are some gifts that God has given you?