Some things I've forgotten to show you...

This is my little Skuli. Braelyn currently leads the class in English words mastered, but she did have quite a head start. Amor, Abdul and Abdul round out the class and we have fun. So far I've taught them common phrases such as "Hello, how are you? I am fine, thank you. My name is Abdul" etc. We are also going through the alphabet and learning a few words for each letter.So far we've done A-G. One of the biggest challenges (aside from lack of retention) is their inability to say an American R sound. Here, it is rolled so it's practically a D, sort of an L. Funny thing I took for granted when I set out to teach them "car" and "bird".
I also failed to post these pictures of our Celebratory Henna. Siku kuu (Day Special) is the huge celebration at the end of Ramadan that is similar to our Christmas. Everyone gets new clothes, the children go around to all the neighbors to get candy and then at night, everyone heads to town in all their sparkly splendor to eat, mingle, and show off just a bit.
We skipped that scene, but still splurged on henna which the girls LOVE. Even Braelyn got in on the action with it trailing up her arm. Unfortunately, it dries too slow to prevent it smearing on her dress...my skirt...Justin's pants...down the hallway wall...maybe that was a bad idea.
As I set the table later, I realized mine looked surprisingly similar to the dishes my mama bought me before we moved out. It must be a sign. That I like henna designs.
Hunter also received her first official head covering when we were out visiting. She ADORES it. She even wore it with her swim suit to the beach. Quite the mixed signal if you ask me, but I'm sure not going to discourage her whole-hearted embracing of the local culture! It does help that she CAN take it off when she gets hot.
Thanks for your continued prayers and support. Our relationships continue to grow and expand. I trekked into the village Saturday to visit with the henna girls and that was...good. Lots of long silences. Please pray for renewed vigor in language learning. It's hard to make time to study enough when there are no tests or deadlines. Maybe we should make some up. Anyways, thanks for praying!

Mini Monsoon Season

There seems to be another rainy season going on now, judging from my mildew smelling laundry hanging for days on end. It doesn't dampen the fun around here, however! Braelyn figured out how to stick her finger in the hose and spray her sisters. She found it hillarious. I find her wearing Avery's chupis (panties) now absolutley adorable.Of course, I don't always put them on her. 37 trips to the potty a day make it so much easier to "forget". And then she can just run outside to play in the rain, as you see below.
This day was an almost constant deluge of rain. In spite of her face, Braelyn loved it. She was upset that she wasn't getting a turn with a broom.
Jumping in the pool of our driveway was almost as fun as sweeping the water around.
In other swimsuit news, this weekend at the beach Justin was out snorkeling and caught an octopus. He brought it up for us to see and it was so funny. Do you see Hunter's face above? Just as good as the octopus itself!
The funniest thing was it trying to stand up and walk back to the ocean. It would try so hard, get so tall, the spill over upside down, thrashing and rolling it's tentacles around.
After much moaning and arguing, we did let it go instead of bringing it home for a pet. What glorious creatures He created!!!

Long days with lovely daughters

Sorry for the silence...not that I've been that great at blogging lately anyways. Justin has been working on the big island since Tuesday, not to return till this coming Tuesday. I think things are going well...they are building the first BIG machine for de-salinating ocean water for a needy community. They spent DAYS unpacking and unwrapping hundreds of parts sent from Germany. The actual building will take most of the next 2 months until the Grand Opening, so to speak. An engineer will be staying doing most of the work until then. Justin will have to explain better later.

Meanwhile, back on the little island, things are normal. It's getting hotter by the week, though the second rainy season is here which I kind of like. I like the rain, I don't like hanging and re-hanging my laundry 5 times a day. Homeschool hit a bump of frustration, so we've taken it out on the front porch and put away the workbooks for a season. Friday we even wrote on our hands and feet (amazingly enjoyable for the girls) to practice counting by fives.

Unfortunately, less laundry and dishes and cooking do not make up for lack of adult conversation (Thank you dear team-mates for entertaining us so often!) and literally not a minute to myself for so many days on end. I'm even so pooped by bed-time that I fall asleep sometimes before Braelyn-stay-up-late Brown.

Speaking of her, she's actually talking! A month ago, I would have said she was saying some words. Now, it's sentences! Just now, from the potty, she yelled, "Mama, done!" I know, kind of short. The other day, the power had been out since the night before, every battery powered thing we had was dead and I (pointing at the fan) told the girls for the hundredth time, "no movie, no umeme (power)" That night, we were eating with our team mates. The power had returned earlier, but went unnoticed by Braelyn. Until she came in the kitchen, looked up at me, saw the fan going above me and her face lit up like the lights. She pointed, gasped and yelled, "Mama, yuuk(look)! Umeme, yay!" Now THAT is a sentence!

Thank you for those who have been praying for us this week (even not knowing Justin was gone). I am tired..tired of dealing with the fights and whines and childish accidents and willful defiances alone. Thanks for keeping us in mind, and please don't stop! We had a beautiful Sunday School this morning, crying as we lifted our hands and sang to our Lord, so thankful for His presence, His sustanance, His forgiveness. Cry out with us, "I wanna be in the Light, as you are in the Light. I wanna SHINE like the stars in the heavens. Oh, Lord, be my Light and be my Salvation. Cause all I want is to be in the light!"

Update on Sunken Ship

An article yesterday put the death toll at 240 people. The boat is supposed to carry up to 600 people, but 776 is the number officials are claiming boarded, probably not counting children in arms.

I've boarded a ferry before...I have no idea how they can claim any numbers...it's a jaw-dropping free-for-all of humanity running to get a place on board from an opened up for 3 minutes cattle pen.

Our milk man lost a neighbor. Our night guard lost a niece and nephew. Our neighbor boy lost a young cousin or brother, the words and meanings of family are blurry here.

BUT GOD is still in control. HE ordained the boat's cargo to be made up of hundreds of mattresses that float. HE ordained the high winds and current to push hundreds of survivors back onto shore. HE will use this tragedy for His glory, someway, somehow.

Please continue to pray for everyone touched here. Pray that their minds would be turned towards their own mortality...and what waits afterwards. Pray for open hearts and minds to be called to our true Saviour. Pray for opportunities for us to spread the LIGHT. Thanks.

Team Day

Yesterday we had our bi-monthly team meeting followed by an afternoon in paradise (aka, the local beach).Our Devotional was about trusting God with our safety. We know He holds us in His hand, He loves our children more than we do, and we can rest in Him. Keep this lesson in mind...
The beach was spectacular, as usual. Braelyn got me in the water with her, "swimming" her around, and wouldn't stop! Little fish. Can you see the funny yellow thing above the girls in the previous picture? What's that you ask?
Well, that is called a Third Lung, and it's our new best friend. It allows up to 3 people dive up to 80 feet deep for up to 3 hours! Hunter and the big boys in our team family can even join in...and LOVE IT! Of course, Justin takes the bullet and sacrifices his time to take them to explore the amazing world underwater.
All in the name of Marine Biology class of course.
Now back to our lesson on God's sovereignty over our safety. We got a text at 4 this morning asking for prayers for rescue of people on board a sinking boat. We later found out it wasn't just any boat, it was THE boat. A huge cargo ship that was ferrying somewhere between 700 and 1500 people from the big island to us. Our hearts broke as we imagined so many lives lost. We prayed fervently for miracles, for angel-driven boats to pluck people from the water.

Exact details of rescue efforts vary wildly, but we are hearing that many more were saved than we first anticipated. However, hundreds did lose their lives. Many from our own town. The boy across the street said that he had relatives aboard that as of an hour ago were still missing. So please pray for these families. Pray for us as we deal with any hurting people we come into contact with. And praise the Lord with us for those who were rescued, for our own safety thus far, and for a God who IS IN CONTROL!

Grow old along with me...

The best is yet to be. These are the beginning words of a beautiful song I once fancied I'd learn to play on the guitar and sing to Justin at some point. He probably doesn't know that...yet. But grow older we do, and now Justin is 35! We spent the day up at one of the local hotels swimming and scuba diving and relaxing.The girls were soooo good, I actually enjoyed myself while Justin was out exploring the underworld. And with Braelyn's new "stay up till 10 if I nap" routine, it was freeing to just relax and have fun and not worry about a schedule. That evening, our teammates and friends came over for yummy chocolate with mint chocolate icing cake that actually turned out as good as it sounds. Happy Birthday my darling, my dear. I am sooo thankful that God brought us together!

A quick preview

So Justin has been working on figuring out how to get the people here who don't have any access to clean drinking water, easy access to it. We looked into digging wells, pumping it from far distances, and other ideas as well but they all seem to have their problems.

There is a huge need for water in different areas of the island. We decided to start off with those that had the greatest need. A friend of ours here told us about small communities that lived on outlying small islands off the coast of our small island. They are fishing villages with anywhere between 500 and 2000 people living on them. These areas have no electricity so they can not pump water and they can not dig a well as they just hit salt water right away. The people in the picture above and below all live on a small island which is just off of our West coast. Justin has traveled out to visit them several times and to survey the island for how to best get them access to drinking water.

There are 1,000 people who live on this island who have zero drinking water other than what they can collect from the rain or carry in their sail boats. There are hundreds of little children who have never even been off this island and know nothing of the outside world. We are so excited to be able to bring water to them and provide them with something so simple yet so important.

The solution to getting these people access to clean drinking water is the machine pictured above. Using membrane technology, we can pump ocean water through the machine and create clean drinking water from it. It is wonderful technology especially since we have an unlimited source of ocean water to draw from. This picture is just of the machine and the membrane....it will have a shell covering it with a large tank above it for collecting ocean water and a tank below it for keeping the clean drinking water. It runs completely off of solar and wind power making it perfect for outlying areas.

We are excited for the possibilities this machine will bring to remote parts of our islands, the friendships and bonds that come from helping a brother and sister out, the reduction of disease and malnutrition, and other doors that will be open from this project.

The first complete machine should be finished by the end of September and given to a village with the second one a few months behind. I will update you again in about a month when the machine is complete and given.