Eli's Ganza trip

This morning Eli, 3 colleagues, and 3 Sudanese friends set out with our donkey packed for a four day trek into the bush. There is a tribe south of us called the Ganza and Eli wants to learn more about them, where their villages are, and some of their needs. This could be a potential focus for us in the future.

What our boys do for fun

Bethany's Namesake

One of my dearest friends in Yabus is a lady named Hakima. She is one of the first friends I made when I arrived in Sudan two years ago. She owns a nice tea and coffee shop in town and I used to go visit her to practice my Arabic.

Over the years our friendship has grown very close. On July 10th, she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Her son Mohammed came to tell me the good news and told me they were waiting for me to visit before giving the baby her name. I thought they wanted me to name her so I'd picked a name - Hadiya - which means "gift" in Arabic.

When I got to her house and started admiring the perfect little baby girl, Hakima instantly started calling her baby, "Bethany Sagair" which means "Little Bethany". I was more honored than words can express.

When I came home that day and was telling Eli about my visit, I remembered the meaning of my name: House of God. I have been praying that Hakima's family would embrace the one TRUE GOD and my prayer is that their home truly will be a house of God one day.

Isaac turned FIVE!

On Monday I turned 5. My mom made pepperoni pizza and a chocolate cake. While I was taking my nap, my mom blew up balloons and decorated the dining hall with streamers and a race car sign that said, "Happy Birthday".

At dinner time, our whole team ate pizza and then my dad lit five candles on my cake and everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to me. My favorite part of the whole day was getting my present. It was a new Mater truck. Evan and my mom picked it out at the store in Nairobi. We've been having lots of fun playing with it.

So now I'm five and the oldest kid on the compound. I think it's cool being 5.

Joshua is ONE!

For someone so young, Joshua is well loved and has more friends than any of us. Whenever I'm in the market, the shopkeepers call out greetings to him. As a product of Yabus, he's been named "Yabus" and people give him gifts and want to hold him or shake his hand.

Yesterday he turned one year old and he had quite a turn out at his "small"birthday party. I baked two cakes and made several gallons of Koolaid and we invited all our little neighbor friends. After cake and Koolaid, we taught a few fun games like "duck, duck, goose" and red hot pepper.

walking with Daniel

I'm amazed that our little baby has grown up. He's now taking steps on his own and wants to walk everywhere. We're so thankful he's been healthy during this first year of his life.

Chewing on his own goat leg!

Bridge Update

Today was a special day as we finished putting the wood decking across our bridge here in Yabus. It has been a dream for so long and to finally get to see people cross has been great. To watch people cross for the first time has been entertaining too. From the timid woman who preferred scooting to the crowd of children who thought it best to run, it has been a great day to people watch. Check out more pictures on our bridge blog: http://www.yabusbridge.blogspot.com/

Bethany's 28th!

It's amazing how birthdays can be special no matter where you are with just a little creativity. Even though both Joshua and I weren't feeling very well, it ended up being a really nice day. Eli took the day off from working on the bridge and the first thing he did was send me away for some time alone and he stayed with the boys. One of our teammates is out of town so I went and sat on her porch with my Bible and journal. It was very refreshing.

Later in the afternoon we packed a snack picnic with lemonade and a few treats and the whole family got on the quad bike and ventured to one of our new family getaway spots. It's a nice place with lots of trees and big rocks to climb on. We chose one that had a tree at the top that provided some nice shade and we had a lovely picnic.

When we got home, the ladies on the team had prepared a special meal, and we had a lovely birthday dinner, complete with cake! Eli surprised me further by giving a speech!!! It meant so much to me that he showed his love and honor for me in front of our team and family - by far it was the best birthday gift!

Our growing boy

Lately my heart has been so full of thanks for my children. God has given me such a deep feeling of contentment during this past week. I've felt like there's truly no where else I'd rather be and nothing I'd rather be doing with my life. Some of the highlights have been:
1. Getting henna (herbal dye) on the bottoms of my feet and on my fingernails by my dear friend, Hakima.
2. Watching Joshua take his first steps alone yesterday.
3. Planting a vegetable garden and planting flowers all over the compound now that the rains are finally here!
4. Doing preschool with my boys
5. Visiting Eli at the bridge and constantly being amazed at the incredible man God gave me.

Here are a few pictures of Joshua:

Aunt Canberra is one of Joshua's favorite people. I'm so thankful for all the special "aunts" and "uncles" our children have since we're so far away from the rest of our family.

The great thing about life in Sudan for little boys: DIRT! And when it rains...there's MUD!

It's been fun to get involved with the bridge work - as a family. Some afternoons the boys and I walk down to the river to check on Eli and see how the bridge is coming along. In this picture, Josh was ready to drive us all home.

And here he is: almost one year old and he knows he's cute and he knows he's big.

Back to the good Sudan life

We've been back in Yabus for two weeks now. It's already been quite eventful but this is the land we love - where our hearts really belong, so we try to take it all in stride.

On June 6th we celebrated Eli's 28th birthday with a big pan of monkey bread - his request.

More vacation pictures

Josh didn't eat as much sand as I thought he would!

Emily and Bethany enjoyed every minute together

Evan's super smile

Is he a big boy or what? (I'm talking about Joshua, not Eli.)

These days if I can't find Isaac, I just need to look up in the trees. He's in that stage where he's always gotta be climbing something.

Beach Vacation

Four perfect days on the Kenyan coast. We stayed at a lovely all-inclusive hotel, ate a lot of food, and spent most of our time in the water. The weather was great and we so enjoyed being there with our friends the Greenes. Here are a few highlights:

Bethany and Josh enjoyed the pool together

a paddleboat excursion

Isaac learned lots of new tricks in the water

Guy time at the beach


Too much fun - all tired out!

An incredible, unexpected gift

Last week we had the joy of sharing a few hours with Jason, Heather, and Caleb Fader. Jason and Caleb are Eli's brothers and Heather is our wonderful sister-in-law. It worked out that Jason and Heather arranged a 23-hour layover in Nairobi on their way to Ethiopia to meet their new daughter they will adopt in the next few months. When Caleb, who lives in Uganda, heard of this plan, he hopped on a bus and drove to Kenya in time to spend that night with us. It was an amazing time.

Jason and Heather flew in at 7 pm so we stayed up most of the night until 4 in the morning, talking, catching up, and laughing a lot. We also had a mini-Christmas since they brought at least one full suitcase of things for us that we needed/requested from the States.

We never could have dreamed we'd get to see these family members but God gave us this incredible gift and we sure enjoyed every minute we spent together!

Greetings from Nairobi

We sure are thankful to have a nice break. We arrived in Kenya on Thursday afternoon and our first stop was a burger joint where we made quite a scene gobbling down burgers and french fries. I think we must have looked like we hadn't eaten in a few days.
Today we got back from a wonderful weekend at Rift Valley Academy where we spent a few days revisiting our alma mater (on our ten year anniversary from graduation) and enjoying a few days with my little brother Stan who is in the tenth grade. One of the highlights was watching Stan play rugby - it brought back memories of watching Eli play while we were in high school.
Tomorrow we have a delightful surprise: we get to see our sister and brother in law, Jason and Heather Fader, and possibly even Caleb Fader. Jason and Heather are on their way to Ethiopia to meet their new little girl that they're hoping to adopt in a few months. They planned a long layover so we could spend the day together. Caleb, who is working in Uganda with the Peace Corps, is planning on joining us if he can get a bus here tomorrow.
The following day we fly to the coast for four days at SunNSand Beach Resort with our friends Phil and Emily Greene and their two children. Could it get much more fun than this? I don't think so!!!

It's all about the bridge

The first cable stretches across the Yabus River - April 24, 2009
Securing the cable

Lots of good teamwork

These two crazy guys test out the first two cables

Two cables across the river! Praise the Lord!

During this past month we've been absorbed with the bridge work. With only 9 days left before Phil and his family fly out of Yabus, the guys are pushing hard, spending most daylight hours at the river. Consequently, the bridge is coming along beautifully, thanks to a great team of workers and Thomas Simon, Stephen Adamu, and Phil Greene, three of our SIM teammates.

Over the weekend they secured two of the four cables. As of today, the third is in place. I can't express how exciting it is to hang out at the bridge site taking pictures and finally get a good idea of what this bridge will look like. Hopefully these pictures will give you an idea too.

KEEP PRAYING!

part of life

Bethany and I have a ritual. We figure out about how much time we will spend in Sudan for our next rotation (usually about 3 months) and then we go to the store in Nairobi. We buy things that we'll need during those three months and then we bring them home. A large fight then ensues. Since we are limited to 30 Kg per person, we have to weigh each item going with us. Are Q-tips or shampoo more important? Too much of one item and not enough of the other and you might have a problem. Is Bethany's umbrella or my soccer cleats more important? Well, you get the picture. It is usually a pretty good fight.

Now as hard as we try to pack well, sometimes we don't pack enough of an item. While sometimes we run out of something benign like chocolate drink mix, this time it is serious. I ran out of deodarant. We have 2 weeks until we leave Sudan and I am working long, hard, hot days on the bridge. Bethany has some extra deodarant but can I go down to the bridge smelling like flowers??? Certainly not. That is, until she forces me to sleep in another room.

Progress at Unity Bridge

Phil and Eli continue to work hard. The best news of the week was that they finally chipped and hammered and burned enough of the huge stubborn rock to put the deadman anchor in on one side. So the work is moving quickly now. Today they poured concrete into the second anchor. They're such a great team. Even though they work long hours in the hot scorching Sudan sun, they manage to stay positive and keep smiles on their faces. (Written by a very proud wife.)

Bridge work forges ahead

Eli and Phil have been working hard these past three weeks. We have had multiple draw backs and road blocks but we remind ourselves that this is God's bridge and its construction is on his timetable not ours. Please pray that a large crew of 25 will show up for work tomorrow and that PHil and Eli will take care of themselves as they work long hours in the 100 degree heat everyday.

A sweet season of my life

I still can’t believe Emily Greene, one of my best friends ever, lives in Yabus with me right now. We’ve been close friends since high school in Kenya and no matter where we live or what’s going on in our lives, we've shared it with each other.

The best part of her being here is that she can see and experience my life in Sudan for herself. And nowwe’re living our lives side by side. Four days a week we do preschool together for all the kids (see picture above.) This morning Emily and I sat in the shade and sung in harmony like we always used to do, while our kids played.
As many of you can guess, living in such a hot and rural part of Africa is not easy. Yet Emily and her family have adjusted beautifully and smoothly. They’ve been here almost 2 weeks. Phil and Eli go to work on the bridge every morning and Emily and I hold down the fort back home with our kids. I’ve been so encouraged by the sacrifice Phil and Emily have made to come spend two months in Yabus with us to help finish the Unity Bridge. But Phil isn’t the only one in ministry here. Emily has encouraged and blessed me immensely since she’s been here. She has observed my roles here and affirms that God is using me in special ways too. That is a huge comfort.
I have had many lonely times since coming to Yabus, but am currently soaking up this precious time with Emily.

Pool parties at our house!

Baptism in Belatuma

On Sunday the Uduk church in Belatuma, a village an hour drive from Yabus, baptized 217 Christians!!! What an exciting time to watch so many people commit to follow and obey Christ with their lives.

Here the people are lining up for their turn to be baptized. There were 24 church leaders baptizing at the same time.

Evan's 3rd birthday

Tuesday was Evan's birthday. He had such a fun day. At breakfast we sang to him and he opened a small gift. At lunch we stuck a candle in his rice and sang again. Throughout the day friends dropped by to give him candy or some type of gift. After supper we ate chocolate cake and he opened a few gifts from our team and family. Evan is such a big kid now. I can't believe how much he's grown up!