November = HOT – Really?

Yes….it is HOT here!!  We experienced 97 degrees this past week.  A lot of windy days, and it is so very DRY!!  We have seen a lot of amazing clouds, but none of them have produced rain…so puffy and beautiful.

We have even had lighting, which started many fires in the area, and this past Wednesday evening the guys went and fought one fire edging the J-life farm until midnight.  By 4 AM it had started again and the guys fought it on and off all day Thursday.

Hudson had a lump on the side of his neck that wasn’t going away.  We took him to a doctor and after doing blood work, they diagnosed him with glandular fever (mono).  The doctors told us he would be really tired and lethargic – YEAH RIGHT.  He hasn’t missed a beat.  But this past week when we were studying Zulu with Betty, I saw him resting his head on the table and then slowly drifting to sleep.  He keeps up with the older ones living with us, and I honestly don’t know how he does it.  We have enforced a strict bedtime for him, so he can catch up a bit.

We also had a “first” this week.  We found our first rhino beetle.  It was in our kitchen (not sure how it got there) and after taking it outside, we observed him for a while and was amazed at his size.  Rhino beetles are the strongest beetle on the planet, and can lift something 850 times their own weight.

Karabo and Nathi made us a traditional South African meal this past week, which was another “first” for us.  It is called umvubo.  Crumbly pap with cold sour milk poured over it.  The texture was right in line with cottage cheese, but it was definitely a different taste.  Rob couldn’t stomach it, he struggles with anything that looks like cottage cheese and smells a bit off.  Tate, Austin and myself added some sugar to sweeten it a bit, and we finished ours.  Karabo and Nathi loved having something familiar to them, they said it reminded them of home.

Thursday evening Rob, Tate and Austin departed for Cameroon.  The three of them flew 7 hours to Ethiopia and then another 4 hours to Cameroon.  If you remember the last time Rob was there – he got mango worms in his arm, and experienced a crazy ride to the airport, click here if you want a re-cap of his last trip.  They were really looking forward to meeting up with the rest of the outreach team from our church back home.  It will be great to hear about Tate and Austin experiencing a third world country.

Our lives have been full, and the 9 of us have adjusted to living life as a family unit.  We share different responsibilities, and have enjoyed seeing how well a family this size can work together.   We have less than a month left with the 3 trainees and we are going to miss them greatly.  With all of these different ages, we can have a variety of conversations.  It has been good for all of us to look at scripture, study God’s word, talk about it, challenge each other, grasp a deeper understanding of something, question the motives of our own heart, and make sure we are doing what God has called each of us to do.  As we say good-bye and watch them enter into the next phase of their lives – we pray that God used our family to show these trainees love, and in whatever God calls us to do, we can point people to Jesus and His amazing, perfect, beautiful, plan for our lives.