Africa Mercy update

We love the contact we have with our ship friends (and admittedly still stalk some of them via their blogs) and this year has been so encouraging hearing of the great things that have been going on.

The Africa Mercy crew are finishing up their outreach in Guinea and getting ready to sail to the Canary Islands for maintenance before venturing down the West African Coast further to reach the people of Congo.

I remember so well this time of year; the mixed feelings towards leaving one country and the excitement of going somewhere new, the blessing of time in Tenerife as a break from the intensity of West Africa, securing our cabin for sailing and having lifeboat drills and the joy and hideousness of sailing all mixed together.

Well done friends on completion of another field service, we praise God with you for all that has been done and the lives changed. Enjoy your time in Tenerife and be excited about what will be done in Congo!!

P.S. Apparently flights to Congo come through Addis Ababa so let us know if you want to stop in Ethiopia....PLEASE COME AND SEE US....or if anyone wants to pay for me to fly to Congo I'll be more than happy to come to you, but given that is not too likely you'll have to come to us ;-)

And a special congratulations to Lara, Carys and Michelle for Graduating from Mercy Ships Academy last week- we are proud of you all and are excited to hear what is in store for you...

placenta soap anyone?

Available in my local supermarket. Happy to mail if anyone wants to try...

'that' time of year - the start of the goodbyes

It's nearly the end of the school year, and sadly that brings with it lots of goodbyes. Most mornings after morning tea we hang out with someone to chat a bit longer, that 'someone' often being Deedee and Hudson. Hudson is the cutest 2 year old who loves babies (and cake - and as he is so cute often gets given extra pieces of cake by different people at tea time so I'll have to keep an eye on Lily as she gets bigger!!). He just learned to say Lily in the last couple of weeks and we'll miss him saying hello to Baby Lily every day.

(Hudson and Lily, one more happy than the other - note one has cake and the other doesn't...)

Goodbye Aarseth family, we will miss the lightsaber fights and tea time chats! But we wish you well as you go 'home' and hope you have a wonderful summer catching up with everyone.

mattress shopping

I have borrowed a cot for Lily to use, but it didn't have a mattress, so we ventured out to buy one. Our first outing to the Rainbow Foam Mattress Factory, which was a bizarre, but good experience. And yes, we did come home with a mattress that fits :-)

 First you have to go to the 'showroom' to the left of this picture, choose the foam you want and give your dimensions etc. Then you pop next door where they issue an invoice. And then you go to the cashier to pay.

 Once you have your receipt you go to the factory, hand over your paperwork and then after a little wait the guy that said he was going to make it yells out of the window that he has finished and then delivers it to your car a minute later.

And while all that was happening Lily slept nicely in the sling and no one stared at me, at least no more than usual, so shopping with a baby in tow is not always bad.

International Day to End Obstetric Fistula (from Mercy Ships Press Release)

Conakry Guinea, May 20, 2013 – Around the world, health organizations are recognizing May 23rd as International Day to End Obstetric Fistula.  This year, the date marks not only the 10th anniversary of the UNFPA’s Campaign to End Fistula, but also the 10^th year of Mercy Ships involvement in the effort to reduce maternal and infant mortality (Millenium Development Goal #5) through fistula surgeries and education.

pictures by a random stranger!

I was looking for the date of one of the craft bazaars held in Addis and came across this blog - which has some lovely photos and then suddenly there was a photo of me and my boys!!!

You can check out the pics of the Christmas NGO bazaar here and see the not very flattering one of us!

http://spiderwebsunite.wordpress.com/tag/addis-german-christmas-bazaar/

twin day fun

 Josh and Max

farewell to the graduating class of 2013

This is a little out of date thanks to our internet problems, but we have said farewell to the Grade 12's. The tradition at Bingham is that on their last day they are invited to the teachers tea time and are prayed for individually by the staff. We'll still see them for exams and graduation of course before they head out to study around the world but they are no longer at school every day now which is a mixed blessing for Tommy - not hanging out with them so much, but having more time to focus on taking on the Interim Principal role.

in our back garden

 Some pics from the school field - the closest we have to a back garden!

tracking down lost parcels

A friend of mine had been expecting a couple of parcels containing birthday presents for her daughter which had never turned up, so we headed downtown to try and track it down.

three months on...

Sadly our internet is terrible - although we're grateful it's working at all given the lack of it we've seen lately, so here's an attempt at posting a picture of Lily at three months.

Surviving the First Day

The latest report from Save the Children is 'Surviving the First Day; State of the Worlds Mothers 2013'

Makes for some sombre reading - although there has been some significant progress made in some countries too. Sierra Leone still ranks in the bottom three.