Having fun

Last week we had some of the older girls over to our place to do some baking. I had mixed up some sugar cookies, made frosting, and colored some sugar. So, when the girls came over they rolled out cookies and then decorated them. It was a fun afternoon, and we were happy to have a couple of our neighbors come over for the fun. It started out pretty quiet with the girls very seriously decorating their cookies, but as you'll see by the last picture taken at the end of the afternoon they had loosened up and our house was filled with lots of joyful noise! We want to have all the kids over at some point, so you'll probably see their pictures showing up here in the next couple weeks.

Object of Curiosity

I am an object of curiousity here in Nigeria. The kids aren't ashamed to show it, and adults try to hide it, playing cool. They're fascinated with my skin, my freckles and my hair. It's all so different from what they're used to, and to be honest, I'm just as fascinated by them! I love that God's creativity is shown in his colorful people, all of whom bear His image.

When I told them they could touch my hair, they were all for it.

Freckles are fascinating. My paleness has never been appreciated in Cali, here my glow in the dark white skin is cool!

Having my hair plaited (braided); only my hair doesn't cooperate in the same way a Nigerian woman's would.

How does she look as a blonde?!?! I think she looks fabulous, and you can tell she thinks so too from the look on her face!!

Come visit...

So, basically I thought I should start now inviting, or maybe even coercing, you to come visit us when we move to Nigeria. I thought the best way to do this was to show you pictures of cute kids we'd let you visit if you come... so, start saving your pennies now for your trip sometime in the next couple years!!

They're pretty cute, huh?? There's more where these came from. We took these pictures the other day with these kids who were hanging around. Kids all over the world love to have pictures taken of themselves and then see them right away. Digital cameras have changed missions forever, because there's no quicker way to get a kid to be your friend than to take their picture and then show it to them!!

Life is good

One of my favorite things to eat in Nigeria is suya. It's grilled meat with a wonderful combination of spices. We've actually made it before in the States, but it's better here. Last Friday we were finally able to go to our favorite suya place here in Jos. It's located on the international school's compound, and it's the same guy making and selling it that was here seven years ago. When we buy suya we also go to another lady who sells food on the same compound. This woman (also the same from before) fries different things. She fries potatoes, sweet potatoes, plantains and other local foods. She was a big black cauldron filled with oil that sits over an open fire. Fried stuff is always tasty, but I think she makes the best fried stuff!

Here's our first suya lunch. They wrap all the food in newspaper. The suya comes with raw onions, and while I taste onion for the next couple days, I can't resist the onion suya combo!

When we got home from picking up our lunch that first suya day, we decided that a coke would make it a perfect meal. Just across from our compound is a little store that sells sodas (or as Nigerians call them, minerals) in bottles. So, when you buy the soda, you drink it and then bring back your bottle for the bottlers to recycle. We had seen a crate of empty bottles in our house, so we decided to go get another crate of soda for the house. Here in Nigeria when someone comes to your house you always offer them something to drink, so a lot of people keep crates of soda on hand for the visitors that drop by. So we thought we should have a crate soda in the house... within a few days in became apparent that we better not keep soda in the house. Pretty much we have a soda everyday- it's been years since we drank this much soda! But cold soda in a bottle just tastes better!!

Here's our almost empty crate. I think it's been in the house for about ten days... no more soda in the house, we just can't resist it!

Another addition to the house we've made recently has been a mosquito net. When we first arrived we talked about putting one up, but just never got around to it. Finally, one night after Uche had been woken up many times by mosquitos buzzing in his ear, and he had woken me up by jumping up and trying to kill them.... we decided to concede to the mosquitos and put up a net. Now we're sleeping peacefully and the mosquitos have to wait till morning to eat us.

While I appreciate the net's ability to help me avoid malaria, it's a bit hard to make the bed now and crawling out in the middle of the night is quite a feat, but I hear malaria is no fun, so I deal with the wahala*!

*Wahala may be the greatest word I've learned in Nigeria. It means trouble, but it encompasses any kind of problem, frustration or annoyance, as in "dealing with the DMV is a big wahala". We probably use that word every day as do all the Nigerians and the foreigners alike.

God hears us!

Our trip to Lagos was a bit crazy, but we were happy it was successful! On Wednesday morning we got on a plane and flew to the capital. We had planned to travel with some friends to see their ministry projects in a nearby state on Thursday, but for a variety of reasons we cancelled that trip and decided to come back home to Jos.

We were exhausted after running around Abuja and from having to get up at 4:00 am to catch our flight, so we just wanted to be home. We knew there was a shuttle bus to Jos that would leave the station at 1:00, and this company is known for its promptness. It was already 1:15 when we began to make our way to the station. Though we knew we would probably missi the bus, we knew we had to take a chance because our other option would have been to try to catch a later ride with another company whose cars are not air conditioned and are packed full, which would've made for a very long and uncomfortable ride. So, on our way there Uche and I were both praying that God would delay that bus, and we would be able to catch it.

We had been dealing with some major disappointments that day, and my heart was just crying out to God with all the frustrations that we had been experiencing. I prayed that He would delay that bus just so I could know He's listening to our cries and prayers. While theologically, I know He does listen, my heart needed reassuring.

When we got to the bus station Uche ran inside to see if the bus was still there while I waited in the car. He came back a minute later to say it was still there, and we'd be able to travel on it! I was so happy, relieved and comforted that God had answered our prayer so obviously. There had been only one seat left on the bus, but they said they would sell us the seat next to the drive that they usually leave empty. We didn't care if we sat on the roof; all we wanted was to get home that day! We even had time to buy some food and go to the bathroom while they continued to repair a mechanical problem. When we were finally called to load up into the bus, the other passengers were quite frustrated with the delay. We felt sorry that God had made them delay for our sake, but not too sorry!

This is Lagos!

Uche and I traveled last Monday to Lagos, the most populated city in Nigeria. We were grateful that we were able to catch a flight from our town instead of having to travedl tot he capital first. Our flight first went to the city of Kano, where we stayed ont he plane while some people got off and others got on for the final leg to Lagos.
As we were descending into Kano we began to hear an older woman praying, not under her breath or quistly so only close by could hear, but she was alomst shouting as she prayed us down to the ground. As we were starting to take off for the next leg of our journey and we were at the point where we felt ourselves pushed back into our seat, we heard a yell/moan/shout- it was a combination of all those sounds- "ooooohhhhhhhh!!!!" from the old woman. She again began to yell her prayers for God to take us safely to Lagos in Jesus name! We had to laugh, along with others, though we felt sorry for this woman who was obviously terrified of flying. Her yell was something else, and if you want me to demonstrate it for you once we get home, just ask! I wonder how many people would like to yell out at that moment of a flight, but are too embarrased to even try!
Once we arrived in Lagos we were happy to see and stay with Uche's sister. A niece and nephew also live in the house, so it was nice for Uche to catch with these family members.
We had traveled to Lagos to get some papers from the American embassy, and we weren't looking forward to the journey across the traffic filled city. When we arrived at the embassy we were a bit early for our 1:00 appointment, so we decided to drive down to a fast food restaurant that was about a mile away. We were super hot and thirsty because Lagos is hot and humid and there was no have air conditioning in the car we had hired. It was nice to sit in the restaurant and have a coke for a few minutes before heading back out into the madness. We could see that traffice was building up outside, so we left at 12:20 to go back to the embassy. As we were sitting in traffic that wasn't moving at all, Uche and I started to get anxious that we wouldn't make our appoinment on time, and we definitely didn't want to mess with our hard fought embassy appointment. Finally, at 12:35 we decided we would just walk to the embassy and the car would follow and wait for us. We arrived at the embassy about ten minutes before 1:00 and were dircted to the line we were supposed to wait. At 1:20 we saw our hired car and drive go by, so it took an HOUR for him to go about a mile.
We got inside the embassy and waited for our number to be called and around 3:00 we were just waiting for the papers we needed to take with us, when we were informed that there would be a security drill. We would have to evacuate the building with the other embassy personnel. We got quite a kick out of milling around and chatting with the embassy people. Finally, we got the papers we needed, and we began the long journey back to Uche's sister's house.