Pamoja

Our little fam outside the big meeting room

We are BACK!!!  We made it safely to Nigeria, our visas were good, we had a busy but great time at the Pamoja conference, and now we are home!!  The conference overall went well, but there were some things that were hard at the same time.  One of the biggest frustrations for us and our students was that it was not the best set up of French speakers.  They began with translating up front, but quickly switched over to radios where they just sent it over a frequency that they were supposed to get.  But it only worked half of the time and I know that so much was missed because of it.  But on the flip side, the Lord really did some incredible things in the lives of the students and we are excited to hear more about it as we meet with them and talk through things.  We have a meeting with everyone who went on Saturday morning, so we are looking forward to all the stories!!  One of the funniest things during the week though was I got a glimpse into celebrity life.  Everyone wanted to take our picture.  And especially so with the kids.  And the thing that made me laugh the most was it didnt matter one lick who's camera it was, they just wanted a picture with us.  For example, one guy would come up with his camera in hand and ask if he could take a picture with us.  When we said sure he would grab a complete stranger and ask her to take the picture.  After she did, she would hand the camera back to him and say OK, now snap one with me.  With his camera.  They will never see each other again!  But they just want to be in the pictures. :)  Towards the end of the week I wished that I had taken my small camera with me and with each person who took our picture asked if they would take one with ours as well.  Then make a slide show with the hundreds of strangers with me and my kids set to the Brad Paisley song Celebrity.  If only...   I wonder where our faces are plastered on the world wide web!  But in my corner of the web, here we are!  Lots of pictures to document our time!  

Our room at the guest house.  It was very nice complete with AC!  We asked when we got there if we could have a matress to put on the floor for the boys  to sleep on and they said, "Well, the bed is very large..."  I would have had a broken rib or two sleeping with these guys!!

Keenan was more than just a little happy to have a bathtub.  We dont have one at our house.  But then, sadly, there was no stopper for the drain and we could not use it to it's full glory :(

Our incredible friends Kevin and Lindsey sent Christmas presents with a friend who was coming with the Jesus Film  Team from Orlando.  It was so fun to get little treasures and the boys were more than thrilled! :)

Lucy's first princess

A sweet way that we saw the Lord move for our family is that He provided shoes for Elliot.  We were super smart and only brought one pair of old shoes for a two year old and literally when we got off the plane in Nigeria the bottom fell off.  After we got settled and went to the tent for dinner Craig asked someone where we could buy shoes.  We were outside of town in a campus compound with nothing at all close by and no transportation off campus what so ever, so we knew that it would be a stretch.  But the lady we asked said, "My friend just got some to sell!  I will call her!"  Her friend had literally bought shoes the day before on the off chance that she would be able to sell some at the conference.  What are the odds?!  So, Elliot became the very proud owner of grey gellies for the bargin price of 3 dollars.  No glitter or anything, just plastic shoes that click a little as he walks. :)  So thankful for the Lord's provision in the little things!!!!!

The food was alright.  Mostly it was rice or yams with either a hunk of beef or a half of a fish.  They did have cereal throughout the day as well which was a relief at times.  The first night we got there we liked it for the most part.  But then we had the same meal again for dinner.  Then again for breakfast.  Then lunch.  Then dinner.  For the whole week.  By the end Keenan was asking for just oatmeal.  The first morning as we were walking to breakfast Elliot said "I hope there are waffles!"  Instead we had a great plate of ramen noodles and scrambled eggs.  Mmmmm.  Very close to waffles.

Keenan enjoying his cornflakes

The stage

Durring one of the prayer times at one of the meetings

Stephane and Colette in a meeting

Lucy found a little friend

He didnt want her to go anywhere

giggle monster

The Francophone group

Me and Flora

There were lots of times where I would have to just take the kids outside to run around after a couple hours of sitting and coloring or playing with cars.  That's when the photo shoots happen :)

Keenan took this!  He took it and started giggling saying, "She's crawling away!!"

A look of innocence as he was being noisy in the meeting :)

Lucy was taken non stop by people wanting to "snap her picture"  She was so so good the whole week, but at the end she got sick with tummy stuff and had enough.  She just wanted familiar, so this was her new reaction when people snatched her from my arms.

Except Flora.  She adores Flora :)

Stephane paying close attention during one of the break out sessions :)

One afternoon they had "Africa Games" where they had a bunch of games set up all over like a basketball tournament, soccer tournament, sack races, relay races, volleyball, and frizbee.

Sack racing

Lots of laughs on this game

And with all the activities to do, what do the boys do?!  Dirt.

Craig played soccer like the Africans in his bare feet only to discover how tender his feet are.  He lasted 8 minutes before a chunk of skin on his foot peeled back and he had to stop

But not before I got this sweet shot of him stealing the ball!!

His team

Craig and Constant goofing around

My monkey

And then it was New Years Eve!!  The way they celebrate is by going to church.  All night.  We left the campus at 7 and I think the service was scheduled to go until 6 the next morning.  Our kids lasted until 9:30.  Then we trudged on home and went to sleep.  We are party animals, I know.

On the bus heading to the church

Heading into the church.  Soon after this was taken Craig was confronted by someone saying that he was not allowed to take pictures of the church.  So, we snuck some....  Sorry they are out of focus and not super clear.  They were taken while walking or super fast.  We just wanted to document everything!!!

This church was HUGE!!!  It seated 50,000 inside and they set up tons of tents around the outside because they were expecting 200.000 people to come.  The hard part though was it was a huge prosperity gospel church and there was a great emphasis on money and getting more money.  There was even a VIP section that Craig stumbled into by mistake and got very strongly repremanded for.

Keenan with Stephane and Constant

Because the service goes all through the night, families brought mats to put right outside the windows for when the children wanted to sleep.

Elliot with some girl that really wanted her picture taken with him

Most of our group from Cote d'Ivoire.  It was hard to get everyone together at one time!!

Craig translating for one of the seminars

Always dancing and playing durring the breaks

Elliot and Stephane

Lucy and Nadege

On the last night of the conference, people were encouraged to dress in their traditional dress from their countries.  I wish we had asked where everyone was from, but they all looked so beautiful!!  

Then it was the end!  We were up at 4:15 the next morning to get a bus to beat traffic to the airport.  We had a 9:40 direct flight home and we so looking forward to being back.  We waited at the airport, and waited, and waited.  Then around 8:15 ish someone finally went to the check in desk who didnt even work for the airline we were taking.  We went and asked what was going on and he told us simply that the flight was cancelled.  Hmmm.  There was no announcement, no reason given.  They re-routed us through Togo that afternoon and when Craig said that it was not professional of them to say nothing they responded with, "Why?!  Your flight was for this morning.  We are still checking you in in the morning and you will get back today."  Thanks. :)

Me and my girl on the plane home

Just us girls... I look a little bit tired!

snuggled up with Mickey and Pooh.  It looks like we were leaving Walt Disney World and not Nigeria!

Im thankful to be back in the more familiar and especially back in my own bed!  Thank you, Lord for a trip that was safe and fruitful!  Now back to routine!