What I've Learned In Cameroon...

• If you walk in the rain, you will get malaria.
• Eating too many mangoes gives you Yellow Fever.
• Pumpkin doesn't actually come in a can.
• You can make spaghetti sauce with actual tomatoes (not from a can).
• Pineapple isn't actually acidic.
• Hazard lights are there on your car so that you can drive as fast as you want.
• If it's not dark outside (yet) you should use the lights INSIDE your car instead of your headlights.
• It's ok to change your tire in the middle of the road. Just put a clump of grass out on the road to let everyone know that you're there.
• A right turn signal can mean a right turn, left turn, or (more likely) a complete stop.
  
• The more oil you add, the better your food tastes.
• The more salt you add, the better your food tastes.
  
• If you are sick, it's because your neighbor probably put a curse on you.
• Toilets are for rich people.
• So is deodorant.
• Women should shave their eyebrows, not their legs.
  
• Ants on your bread? No biggie. Just brush them off.
• You should change your hairstyle at least weekly. (This includes all manner of wigs, extensions, colorings, etc., but NEVER your actual hair!)
• Men should shave their heads.
• ANY time you are sick, you HAVE to go to the hospital. That is the only option.
• Parsley isn't just a dried up leaf in a bottle.
• Papayas taste GOOD!!!!!!!
• Mangoes taste GOOD!!!!!!
• Bananas? Heavenly!!!!!
• All good butter is imported from France.
• You can make the most fantastic spaghetti sauce using FRESH tomatoes... Who knew?
• Having a housekeeper can seriously help you on your way to becoming OCD.
• Babies should never cry. (What??!?!? This seriously impedes naptime, and they all wonder why their kids never sleep...)
• Peanuts in the wine bottles are not alcoholic. They're seriously yummy!
• You get ringworm from being bitten by a small black and red bug.
  

I will miss Cameroon. A big hug and kiss to all our friends (our Family) there. We will remember you forever! Thank you for enriching our lives!

That's how we do!!

Early Christmas Program

It's always strange to celebrate Christmas in Cameroon, as it still feels like July to me. Normally, Josh's school has their annual Christmas choir concert around the day or so before Christmas break. This year, however, the music teacher was mysteriously called back to France before then. So, they moved the concert up a few weeks and we got to go!





The concert started an hour late, and ended an hour and a half later than what I had hoped for(I think it was much later than many people had hoped for--especially the pre-k kids, as many of them just laid down on the ground and fell asleep before the whole thing ended...), but, hey, what can you do? Josh was so happy that he got to be in his concert, and it was fun to watch his enthusiasm! :)

Inside the Box

This is how we think inside the box:




These boxes are super huge! It took 7 of them to pack all our 'worldly goods' into! Whew!

The truck backed into our driveway--but the top hit the wires! So, when it backed into the driveway, Napoleon, our guard, used his nightstick to hold all the wires up! Zap!!



Then, when the truck went out, instead of making Napoleon stand 'en haut', he stood on the ground and used a super long stick to lift the power lines out of the way. I'm just glad no one was seriously injured doing that...but then, it is Africa...



(It's hard to see the guy with the stick, so you have to look really closely...)

Holy Bread, Batman!

I just love the size of these loaves of bread:




I also love the idea of Rotisserie chicken in Cameroon. You cook it in the rotisserie thing, then when someone picks one out to buy, you have to chop it up in little pieces and throw it in the deep fry. When we told her 'no thanks' to the deep fry, she looked at us really strangely. 'Can you do that?' Um, yes, please. Then she tried to spread mayonnaise on it, and we said no, and once again she looked at us like we were from outer space...which is pretty close, I suppose. Ah, the joys of 'fast food' in Cameroon!

All Packed Up

Our house is packed up.





I think Peter shows here how we all feel.

The English Branch Goodbyes

Here are some of our friends from the English branch. We had a special dinner with many of our good friends!

The Ndongo Family (they were the rest of my primary!): Ephraim, Agnes, Alma, Abinidi, and Frank



The Minyem Family: Alain, Hortense, Leila, and Naomi

(Also pictured here are Claire and Jerry--another member of the branch)

The English Branch Presidency:



Dev and me with Frere Zang and Lilian

(They are the ones who bought our van)

We will miss our wonderful Cameroonian friends! We wish them well in their endeavors and hope for the best for them and their families and futures!

African Night

What fun this night was! We planned a fun evening out, dressed up in our African ensembles, eating African Food, and playing tennis, skiing, baseball, and catching fish on the Wii! :)


(Jo, I hope you don't mind that I stole this pic from your blog!!!)



A nice African ride home--just up the street on the back of a truck!! :)

Thank you, Jo, Tim, Mellow and Bruno! We love you!! How we will miss you!!!!!!!!

My Favorites

We enjoyed our very last storytime... It was so sad to say goodbye to that fun time on Friday mornings! Our theme was 'My Favorites', and everyone brought their favorite book to share! We danced to some of our favorite songs, and made pictures of our favorite things, which were then made into paper airplanes to fly about the room! :)










Thank you all for making story time a wonderful and fun success!

Week O' Death

This past week has been busy, busy, busy. Last week was busier, busier, busier. I got to Friday last week, and thought I was going to pass out. Then came Saturday, and I almost did. :) Let me tell you about my week last week, since I haven't put up any posts with writing for quite a long time. (Of course, this really is only for my benefit, since there are only 2 of you who ever read my blog...according to my comments sections...)

We'll start off with Sunday, the 15th of November. We had our primary program that day. Hm. I think if I were ever in charge of doing a Primary Program again, I'd definitely do things differently--like maybe not involve anyone under the age of 6. We have 5 kids in our primary. Three of them are my own children. Two belong to another family (the Ndongo's). We started out the program so well--all of the children seated on their chairs facing everyone. Josh was super excited to do all his parts. By the time the sacrament had been passed, we lost Andrew. He went for a jog outside. Halfway through our program, Claire wandered off (after asking me, loudly, when it would be over and when it was time to go home). Josh took over their parts. (After yelling about how they weren't there and starting to yell their names and COUNT!! "ANDREW! GET BACK IN HERE RIGHT NOW!! ONE... TWO..." Yah. That was conducive to the spirit.) Oh well. We did eventually make it.

Monday (the 16th) I took the kids to 'Monday Club' and we all swam for 2 hours! Woohoo! Then I had to rush home to make dinner as we were having friends over. Hosting always takes it out of me... And I always know that when we have people over for dinner, the kids go to bed LATE. *sigh*

Tuesday (the 17th) I took the kids to playgroup. That's getting to be a pain in the neck, since Claire is really too old for it, so she wanders around asking me when we're going to leave so that she can have a snack and watch a movie. She asks me this every single 5 minutes (or less) for about 2 hours. It's slightly annoying. After playgroup, I ran the kids home, put Peter to bed, then went to parent-teacher conference. I think many parents dread the conference. I had always hoped to have stellar kids where the teacher would praise them to the moon and back. Oh well. We can't have it all, I suppose. Now don't get me wrong. Josh gets plenty of praise. He reads on a third/fourth grade level. He's way ahead in math and science and social studies. His comprehension is fantastic and he always is a great addition to any discussion. The problem (and it's not a little one) is his behavior. I don't know how I ended up with the class bully, but there it is. He HAS improved since last year. He doesn't hit as much. Actually, from what I hear, he doesn't hit at all anymore. That's GOOD. Now, he is a 'Javert'. He knows all the rules, and has no compassion for anyone breaking them. He lays into them. He yells at people if things don't go his way, or if someone says something that makes him feel threatened or upset. This I know, but I don't know how to go about fixing it. Guess I just have to keep showing him the right way to deal with issues....and maybe someday it will sink in? Any ideas?

Wednesday (the 18th) I took the kids to a friends' house to swim. (We also met with a tailor to have authentic Cameroonian outfits made!!) It is always nice to swim. Since we are now in the dry season, it is HOT and ULTRA sunny! I really enjoy swimming with the kids now, especially since Andrew and Claire use their floatie rings and swim all over all by themselves, and Peter LOVES to be in the pool--wish I had a floatie for him! But it's hard to stay in the pool for extended periods, as the heat and glare give ferocious headaches! Oh well. After our dip in the pool,

Thursday (the 19th) I actually took the kids to playgroup. I don't usually go on Thursdays as there aren't always very many moms there, and I get really bored sitting with all the nannies by myself and listening to Claire ask me when it's snack time and can she go home and watch a movie after? But I knew the mom would be there, so I went and it was fun!

Friday (the 20th) I did story time again. I have LOVED doing story time! I will certainly miss it. (I wonder if they have already made story times in the libraries in Finland? I will have to check it out...) We did a Christmas theme! And after the stories (I read 'Gingerbread Cowboy' in my 'Idaho Accent'), we cut out, baked, and decorated gingerbread men! I will eventually get around to posting that recipe... After story time, I picked up Devin from work, and we went over to Josh's class to read a story about Thanksgiving, make a turkey project, and somewhat celebrate Josh's birthday the next day. We then went home so I could prepare some dinner and get ready for our weekly movie night. That's another thing I'll miss and maybe we'll see if we can't continue it in Helsinki. I made some super yummy Chicken Enchiladas...and I need to post the recipe, too.

Saturday, we got up early, Devin and the kids went shopping for some food that we needed, then we had Josh's birthday party. It ended up being a sort of progressive party--we started here. The kids drew on the walls with sidewalk chalk (outside, of course), played on the swings, played 'Don't Eat Pete' using popcorn instead of candy (that was a BIG hit!!), and generally made a mess. Then, we walked them all over to a friends' house to use the pool. I made pizza dough and brought it over, and the kids each rolled out and 'decorated' their own pizza. So, the ate pizza and homemade mac and cheese, then we walked them all back over to our house for cake and present opening time. Then, we took a deep breath, and went to a farewell party that Devin's office had for him. Unfortunately, starting on Friday morning, Peter had a high fever. The kid was a little limp noodle. He barely moved, didn't say a word, and just sat like a little lump. It was SO sad! I put Peter down for a nap, left him in the care of the guard for a few minutes while I drove Devin and the kids over to the farewell party and dropped them off. I came back here and did some projects while Peter slept, then when he woke up, I went to the party for a few minutes until the Health Unit was opened and I could take him in to make sure he had nothing terrible in his system. I'm happy to report it was just a virus, and that he has no malaria or anything like unto that. Whew. By this time, it was time to go home and get ready for bed. Crash.

Sunday, I didn't do ANYTHING, and it was wonderful! (Well, I went to church...but I just played with the kids and did a Thanksgiving lesson.)

And we move on with our week.

This past Monday (the 23rd--which was my baby sister Celeste's birthday and she's 26) I had Pascaline and Meekness back, and I took great advantage of that. I spent 6 hours deep cleaning the bottom floor of the house. Whew. I also picked up my beautiful 'ensemble' from the tailor. I walked home in it, and the guard didn't recognize me! Ha! :)

Tuesday we hosted playgroup at our house. There were lots of kids and lots of nannies. With the few moms that were there, I chatted and we drank tea. Then I did some more rearranging of the house.

Wednesday, I took the kids to the Palais des Congres to ride bikes. Oh MY it was HOT! It was so energy sapping. By the time we finished and got home, and I had a raging headache from the sun. Blah. But, it sure is a helpful thing getting the kids to go to bed early! They've been exhausted lately! It's fantastic!

I should also mention that Devin and I have been burning the midnight oil doing rearranging and sorting. It's so exhilarating throwing out the excess stuff. Too much stuff. Wow. Hopefully, by the time the movers get here Monday morning, it will take them about an hour to pack up all our household goods! Ha! But seriously, it feels SO GOOD to shed the extra weight of all that stuff!

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving, we had oodles of people over! Yea!! We had all 8 of the Elders (young missionaries), the senior couple, and even a couple who are in Cameroon as missionaries for the Mennonite church! We also had our housekeeper and her husband and our nanny here. We even fed our guard and our neighbor's guard! (And we even still had the wonderful leftovers!!!)

It was such a wonderful and joyous occasion. I'm grateful that they could all come and enjoy a day of cooking and playing and eating! Sadly, I didn't get any pictures with everyone together. However, the elders stayed to play some games (they played 'Curses' with the kids) and I got a nice picture of the fun:



They were all laughing hysterically! It is now one of Josh's favorite games! He certainly got a kick out of it!

Since it is Thanksgiving, I want to write a list of things that I personally am grateful for:

• My husband
• My children
• Our Family (parents, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews....)
• A place to live
• The gospel!!! I'm so grateful for the gospel! What peace it brings in troubled times!
• Jesus Christ How thankful I am for His atoning sacrifice for each of us! For His loving care no matter where you live or who you are! For the knowledge that He lives and loves us more than we will ever know!

These, to me, are the most important things in my life. More important than anything else. If everything we have were to be suddenly taken away, and we were left with this list, I would still be happy and content. I know this is true, as it has happened to us a few times! :) Things are things and they come and go, but family and the gospel are eternal.

Joshie's Birthday Weekend

I cannot get over the fact that my little boy is SEVEN YEARS OLD!! I cannot have a son that old. I'm only 12, after all!

However much I am in denial, he really did turn 7, and here are some highlights from his happy day(s)!

On Friday, I went to his classroom at school. I read a book about Thanksgiving,






Then we made some 'turkeys' out of Nilla Wafers, candy corns, Mike & Ike's, marshmallows, and frosting. Incredibly healthy, but the kids LOVED them (for obvious reasons!)




(Josh and his class! How he will miss them!)

Saturday was his actual birthday. We had a progressive party! First, the kids all came here to play a few games and gather. Then they went to our friends' house for a dip in the pool:







While they were all swimming, I made pizza crust dough. When I finished that, I took that and all our toppings over and the kids all made their very own pizzas for lunch!









After the swimming and pizzas, we dragged them all back to our place for cake, presents, and pick-ups!



I think Josh really enjoyed his day, as after his party, we went to another house for another swimming party (it was Devin's farewell party). All in all, I think he made out just fine! :)



Unfortunately, I didn't really participate in that one, as Peter was super sick, and I took him to the Health Unit for a malaria check. I'm happy to report that he does not have malaria. But the poor kid has been a little lump for about 3 days. Sad.