13 hours until take off!

In less than 13 hours, we'll be heading out the door to board the little plane that will fly us back to our home in Sudan. After almost 2 months away, we're all excited and eager to be back with all our friends. Please pray for safe travels tomorrow, February 1 and please also pray for our family's health. Bethany is just coming down with a flu that's been going around and we're hoping it won't spread through the family. Adjusting back to life in Sudan is hard enough without having to also deal with sickness!

Fun to the very end

We fly back to Sudan on Monday so we're craming as much fun in as possible. On Monday we took the boys to their first movie in a theater. They have a special deal on Mondays called "Monday Madness" and for the price of a regular movie ticket, you also get a soda and hot dog for free. So we took the boys to see the new Chipmunks II movie. Even Joshua sat through the whole thing!

Today we spent the afternoon in the pool.

Isaac did a great job paddling all the way across the pool.

Stan got a ride from school on Friday so he's spending the weekend with us. Tonight we all enjoyed big bowls of ice cream with chocolate cookies.

Joshua sure loves his Uncle Stan. He remembered him right away from Christmas and held his arms up to Stan to hold him.

4 days left

There's a wave of excitement going through our family right now. Since we've been out of Sudan and away from home for almost 2 months, we're all eager to get back. Yesterday we did our big Yabus shopping and filled 2 120-liter barrels with food, school supplies and books for the kids, and other stuff for the next few months in Sudan. Those packed barrels in our living room remind us that we're only going to be here a few more days. What will our next few days look like?
- dinner invitations with friends
- purchasing the last few items on our list
- eating the last few special foods that we'll miss while we're away.

Please pray for us to settle back smoothly into life in Yabus. After almost 2 months away, there will be a thick blanket of dust and many wild creatures living in our house.

Spiritual Life Conference 2010

From January 14-18 we attended SIM Sudan's annual spiritual life conference here in Kenya. We had an amazing speaker come from the States and he really spoke to all of our hearts - lessons about encouraging each other, forgiving and loving one another even when it's toughest, how to handle burn out, and other topics that really apply to our lives. We also really enjoyed a great worship band that came from a church in Tennessee to lead our worship times. It was so refreshing to sing songs in English and with two guitars and drums - so so wonderful!

Our memory/theme verse for the week was 1 Corinthians 15:58 and we reviewed it together every morning. The man with the microphone is Chris Crowder, our Sudan team director.

A team from the States also came to do a children's program for all the kids. Our boys loved it! This day Isaac baked me a loaf of bread and made a homemade flower vase in his class! I think he really enjoyed having a teacher other than his own mother!

This is the group of older kids that were in Isaac's class. Each of these children live in Sudan and their parents are our colleagues. Can you tell how many nationalities are represented in this one picture? Ethiopian, Nigerian, American, and British!

An Interesting Day

Today was a day of firsts. In trying to always be prepared for the unique challenges and difficulties that Sudan offers, we learned how to put in IVs, carry injured or unconcious people, and stitch up wounds. It was a good day.

I remember my first real exposure to blood was in AP Biology when we were required to go to the Kijabe Hospital and observe a surgery. I lasted a literal 2 minutes and sat down for the rest of the surgery in the room next door.

Today went a lot better. The kids enjoyed watching the adults run around, put holes in each other, and sew pigs feet. They even joined in and carried each other around on the stretcher.

More precious time with family

On Friday we drove 4 hours into western Kenya to Tenwek Hospital where Eli's brother Jason and his family are now missionaries. They moved there about a month and a half ago and are settling in nicely. We had several days together eating, playing Settlers of Catan, and watching the cousins play together.

Here is a new family picture of the Fader Five at the Tenwek Dam

Joshua and his newest cousin, Abi

Here we are - 10 Faders : Bethany, Caleb, Abi, Eli, Heather, Jason, Evan, Isaac, and Anna

Spending a wonderful day at Lake Bunyonyi

On Wednesday we drove to Lake Bunyonyi, only 20 minutes from home. We took a beautiful 10 minute boatride to Bushara Island where we spent the day hiking around the island, flying our kites, playing cards, swimming, and having a really fun time. Joshua looked so cute in his life jacket - it kind of squeezed his cheeks together. He was a good sport.

David and Audrey - the happily engaged couple

The boatride to and from the island was Isaac and Evan's favorite part of the day. Can't you tell Stan is thrilled too?

Swimming in the freezing Lake Bunyonyi

Audrey and Isaac did what we call the turtle swim. The boys rode on Audrey and Stan's backs through the water to the floating dock.

Stan kept saying, "OK Evan, you don't have to squeeze my neck so tightly!"

They made it! The floating dock was fun to jump off.

Audrey pushed Evan around on a canoe - what a great workout!

Fun with Aunt Audrey

Audrey and Mom are the puzzle lovers in our family. Audrey had been working on this jigsaw for a few days and one morning Evan decided he wanted to join Aunt Audrey. So he brought one of his own puzzles up to the table so he could work on his puzzle next to her. It was so precious.

Earlier this week, Audrey watched the boys for the whole morning so Eli and I could go up to a nice hotel on the hill. We spent the morning reflecting on this past year and what we've learned. We also discussed and dreamed about this upcoming year. It was a great date and Audrey had fun with the boys. One of the fun activities they did was making their own homemade playdough.