Our Yabus Thanksgiving

After only four hours of cooking over charcoal on a 100 degree day, our Thanksgiving meal was complete and ready to serve: bbq chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, homemade dinner rolls, green beans, squash and pumpkin pie for dessert. It was delicious. Only four of us on the team are Americans but our Indian, Scottish, English, Nigerian, and Sudanese teammates enjoyed it too.

I had to include a picture of how Lori rolled out the pie crust and how our table was set.

Isaac and Evan's new friend

Last week a new family joined our team here in Yabus. They are from Nigeria and have come to help teach at the secondary school. The funnest part is that they have two children. Praise is their 3 year old boy who has quickly become like a brother to Isaac and Evan. They play together non stop every day.

Back to Work

I started construction on the bridge again this past week. It has been pretty exciting. God is showing us the generosity of His people through this project. We have 60 people working right now, including 22 women. We are building the towers and collecting stone for construction. Enjoy the photos of our tower going up, collecting sand from a dry river bed, and a Mabaan lady collecting stones for our construction.

Eating out in Yabus town

On Saturday, we braved the river and crossed with the truck to go to town for lunch. It was fun to see friends and enjoy lunch at the "W" Hotel where a group of about 16 other men were eating lunch. We enjoyed bowls of Egyptian beans with fresh bread and cold sodas.

Josh gets a taste of "real" food

We started Joshua on rice cereal this week since he always seems hungry. Today I took some leftover cereal from the fridge and wished I had a microwave to heat it up. Instead I sat it outside in the sun. When I went to check it less than 5 minutes later, it was warm! Who needs a microwave when the hot Sudan sun does the same thing?

Our growing 4 month old

Our Wonderful Yabus Team

It's about time we introduce you to our team. From top to bottom, left to right is: Asule, Claire, Phalice, Canberra, Joshua, Bethany, Tohru, Stuart, Anter, Eli, Evan, and Isaac.

Baby Rahab went to be with Jesus

Oct.20: 2 p.m.
Dear Praying Friends,
Besides what I posted on our blog, we haven't said much about Hope. Mostly because it still feels like a dream but also because we weren't sure if she would survive. The past few days have been a whirlwind and emotional roller coaster for us as we've poured love and attention into baby Hope. But last night, Oct 19 at 10:30 p.m. her little heart stopped beating and she went to be with Jesus.
If you want to hear the whole story, read on...
The baby's name was actually Rahab but we all nicknamed her "Hope". On Friday she came to live with us and we set up a "contract" with the baby's grandmother and uncle saying we would care for baby Hope until she could eat solid food (porridge). When she's ready to go home with them, we'd also ask them to take a class at the clinic in town about how to feed and care for malnourished children. (The reasons we were keeping her are 1.) we can keep her in a clean environment 2) we knew we couldn’t just give a can of formula to them because they would add dirty river water and not wash the bottles/utensils properly and 3.) we have medicines if she gets sick.
Since she arrived on Thursday, she'd been drinking the baby formula well, having wet and poopy diapers, and crying more which I took as a good sign because she was so weak the day she came she couldn't even cry.
Our whole team fell in love with her and the five of us women took turns caring for her. The nights were most difficult since we didn’t get much sleep but we also took turns having her at night.
On Sunday afternoon around 3 p.m. she took a turn for the worse quite suddenly. She started having a hard time breathing. With good advice from Dr. Fader (our Papa) and Dr. Rob in Doro, we started her on an antibiotic to fight whatever infection might be attacking her little body. A few hours later she seemed to be improving and started feeding again - this time through a syringe since she was again too weak to suck.
I went to check on her before heading to bed around 9:30(she was going to stay with Lori and Phalice)and she was eating well. But an hour later Phalice came knocking at my door to say we were losing her. By the time I unwrapped her blankets to feel for a heatbeat/pulse, she was gone. Phalice tried some baby CPR for a few minutes but we realized there was nothing else we could do. We called everyone over and spent the next few hours praying and crying together.
This has been a really rough time. I never thought we'd experience something like this. When we took her in, we knew it would take a miracle for her to survive so we were trying to be prepared for the worse, but we are still so sad. We all grew to love her so much in just a few days.
The relatives came to get her body and will bury her today. We will go for a visitation tomorrow. We've also planned to have a small memorial service of our own as a team to make closure.
This has definitely bonded us as a team and family here, but please do pray for us. We long for the day when God's kingdom will come and put an end to grieving and pain.
So thankful for you,
Bethany and the rest of our family here

Baby Rahab

Oct. 17 2008
When baby Rahab arrived on our compound yesterday morning I thought she would die in my arms. At only two months old and probably weighing less than 4 pounds, she was just a little skeleton. It was a cool day and she was naked, with just a ragged, dirty cloth covering her slight body. So after feeding her two ounces of baby formula from a bottle, we dressed her in some of Joshua’s small clothes, socks, a little hat, and swaddled her in a blanket. She instantly fell asleep since she was warm and had a full tummy for the first time in a long time.
Throughout the rest of the day, we fed her an ounce of formula every hour or so. It turns out that Rahab’s mother was somehow related to Bookie, our househelp, so Bookie offered for them to stay with her, just down the path from our compound. Sadly, the person left to care for the baby is a 12 year old girl named Dama. So around 6 p.m. we sent Dama and baby Rahab with a bottle to Bookie’s house. Later around 10 p.m. Eli took another bottle to help get her through the night. He still wasn’t home an hour later and when he did finally get home he smelled like coffee and campfire. The village people were so happy he came, they insisted he stay for a few cups of strong Arabic coffee.
This morning Dama brought Rahab back and I made up another bottle. Dama said Rahab slept better last night than she ever has. Dama was thankful for that.
I’m learning a whole lot through this situation. There are definitely some frustrating times because of communication problems. The plan we came up with yesterday was that Dama and Rahab would stay with Bookie for a few months until Rahab got her weight back and started eating some solids (porridge/cereal.) But I found out this morning that Dama is too afraid to stay without someone from her own village. (There were two men, and an old woman who came with her to bring the baby.) I bluntly told them that little Rahab would die if they took her back to their village because they already told me that there is no other woman there who can nurse the baby. So the baby will starve.
I’m happy and willing to keep Rahab here with us for a few months until she’s stronger and eating solids and can go back with her relatives. But we’ll have that meeting this afternoon to see if that’s an option they would agree to. I know this is way over my head but I think it will save her life and that is well worth a few stressful months for me. I keep reminding myself that this is not over God’s head and He has a good plan for baby Rahab.

Baby Amana

A week ago I met a precious little 5 month old baby boy on my way home from visiting some friends. The Ganza woman carrying him explained to me that his mother died and she was caring for him but had no milk. I invited her to come back to our compound and I fixed a bottle of baby formula for him. He gulped it right down. Thankfully I had two large cans of formula so I told her if she came every day I'd make milk for Amana. I couldn't send the powder home with her because she'd end up using dirty river water to make the formula and that would almost defeat the purpose!

So for a week Haua (the caregiver) has been bringing baby Amana for milk and he's looking so much better. Even though he's five months old he feels like he weighs less than 10 pounds and is half Joshua's size (Josh is 3 months old.) It is exciting to see the change in him as he gets more nourishment.

When Haua and Amana came today for milk, Haua told me another woman relative of hers just died leaving a 2 month old baby girl. No one else in the village is willing to care for her, so a 12 yr. old girl is taking care of her, but obviously can not feed her the milk that she needs. I told Haua if she could bring the baby girl here I could feed her like I am Amana. Thankfully a plane coming tomorrow is bringing more baby formula!

I'm overwhelmed at the suffering, sickness, and death engulfing the people here. I want to help but I'm not sure how and where to draw the line. How do I help in a culturally appropriate way?

Part of me wants to just take these precious babies and nurse them myself. But that would be like having triplets! I know Amana is going to be fine. But this 2 month old baby girl won't survive without milk of some kind.

Will you please pray for wisdom to know how to help and ask God to preserve the lives of these little babies?

Joshua's 3 months old

We can't believe how fast Joshua is growing. He's got big bright blue eyes, a tuft of dark blonde hair on his head and plenty of chub. It was just a year ago that Eli and I found out God had a big surprise for us - another baby. He's here now and we're enjoying him so much.

More new teammates!

Yesterday three more new teammates joined us in Yabus: Stuart, Canberra, and Asule. Stuart is a young man from Scotland and Canberra and Asule are teachers from Northeast India. It's a joy to have such a diverse team. Today at lunch it was fun to look around the table at the different colors and faces and feel such love for one another. God has given us a precious family here in Yabus and we PRAISE Him for it.

This morning we all headed down to the Yabus river for some fun in the water since it's Saturday - no school, no work.

Little boys paradise

Isaac and Evan are so happy to be back in Sudan. They're usually very busy outside most of the day and collapse in bed at nap and bed time because they're so worn out. Here are a few pictures of some of the things they do.

A new teammate

Meet Lori Hoffmeister from Wisconsin. She arrived last Thursday and her enthusiasm and excitement to be here is encouraging and energizing. The boys already call her "Aunt Lori" and enjoy going on quad bike rides or just going over and hanging out at her house.

Lori will teach at the Basic Education Learning Center and also hopes to do some work with the Ganza tribe - literacy and Bible teaching.

Eli's parents spend 8 days with us in Yabus

Getting our stuff home

Joshua meets Yabus friends

In our first week back we've had many friends come to meet Joshua for the first time. Everyone is very interested to see what a white baby looks like so he gets prodded and poked at, but he is definitely loved.

Happy to be Home in Yabus

Hey Y'all!

Forgive us for not getting word out sooner that we've all arrived safely in Yabus with no problems. Both flights went very smoothly, and Eli's parents were a HUGE help! I truly don't know how I would have done the whole trip without them. They have already experienced many adventures since our arrival in Sudan.

The drive from the airstrip to the boat (to cross the river) was like an amusement park ride as we slid and charged through deep mud. Once we got all our cargo across the river, Eli drove the pickup carrying all our stuff while Papa, Isaac, and Evan rode the quad bike. Mom, Josh, and I walked since it's only a mile and I wanted to greet friends along the way. Everyone has been very eager to meet Joshua for the first time. He's been nicknamed "Yabus' baby." At one point, a large crowd of children came running from their village, cheering and yelling, "Joshua! Joshua!" and then they all huddled around me to see his face.

We've already taken TONS of great pictures and will post those on our blog once Internet arrives in Yabus, hopefully in the next few weeks. We're thankful that all 7 of us have been healthy during these first few days. We've had a little bit of rain, lots of mosquitoes, and about 85-90 degree weather every day, so Josh has had to adjust to the weather a bit since it was at least 20 degrees cooler in Nairobi!

God has given us many special experiences with Mom and Papa here. On Tuesday Papa and Eli went to a funeral of a church leader's grandson. Eli was notified 5 minutes before the service that they wanted him to preach and he gave an encouraging message. We've had a steady flow of visitors coming to meet Mom and Papa and of course to see Joshua. Joshua has done so well being passed around and being prodded at. And he gets so tired out during the day that he's sleeping wonderfully - 7-8 hour chunks at night!

Eli, the boys, and I are overjoyed to be home. Even though it's taken a few days to unpack and get the house back to it's homey self, we are so happy and content to be here. Please pray for us though since saying Goodbye to Eli's parents will be heartwrenching and the work here is overwhelming. Eli's taken on quite a few responsibilities, mainly the role as compound manager which includes a lot of different things. Eli's mom has been such a huge help for me, playing with the boys and holding Joshua, that I'm not sure how I'll manage without her. I mention this just so you can pray for us next week. Mom and Papa fly out of Yabus on Tuesday, Sept 16.

Grandparents have arrived

Last night Eli's parents, Tim and Patti Fader, flew into the Nairobi airport and we spent our first full day together today. It didn't take long for Isaac and Evan to warm up to them and it's so nice having extra arms to hold Joshua and help with the kids. This is going to be a great two weeks!

The Final Countdown

In 6 days we'll get on a plane with Eli's parents and fly to Lokichoggio, Kenya, right on the border of Sudan and Kenya. We'll do some last shopping, spend the night, then fly into Yabus first thing Monday morning. We are so excited we can hardly contain it!
I (Bethany) have started packing. This time we're taking 3 - 100 litre barrels packed with food and supplies (we'll use the barrels to collect rain water), a trunk of baby stuff, and 2 duffels of clothes. It will be interesting getting our things from the airstrip to the compound in Yabus. It's a 3 mile walk or more in sticky mud. Monday will be a big adventure for us! Please pray that we will be able to "go with the flow" no matter what happens.

What not to bring

I was looking through some old photos and had to post this one. Often items get sent as gifts with great intentions but land in the wrong place. A ski-mask in Sudan makes about as much sense as spinach to our four year old, Isaac. "What AM I suppossed to do with this?" After explaining to Abdul, who is a great student, how to put the mask on and explaining why one would wear it, I snapped this photo. We laughed and went our ways. I am not sure what he decided to do with it.

Keepin' Busy

Part of what has been occupying my time while in Kenya has been renovating our office. Our team in Sudan has grown from 7 missionaries in 2004 to over 50 missionaries in 2008. The office, needless to say, needed to be expanded. We converted a bathroom into an office, tore out some walls, put internet and power lines in, and painted. I hope it serves the growing needs of both office staff and missionaries. Here is the freshly removed bathtub from the future office.

Weekend family fun

Yabus' flooding river

This is the time of year in Yabus when the river level rises so high that it even floods the old bridge (which is why it's so important we build the new one). One of our teammates rebuilt the pontoon boat we used for crossing the river last year and it's helping transport children to/from school, help people and their goods get to market, and for any medical needs. Please keep praying for more funds to come in for the bridge project as it is such a GREAT need.

Also visit our bridge blog: http://www.yabusbridge.blogspot.com/.