"Mommy, the cockroach is looking at me..."

That's what Julia said to me this afternoon as I was helping her get ready for her afternoon nap! There was a roach on the floor, upside down and not moving, thanks to the roach motels we have in various locations. Thankfully we haven't had any in the kitchen yet (here in this region - we HAVE had them in the kitchen when we lived in another region, you may have read that post from late 2006) - they seem to prefer our private living quarters (bedrooms and bathrooms), which is gross enough but at least I'm not finding them by our food. I just thought I'd share that with you - it made me laugh, plus that is not something I'd probably ever have heard had we not moved here!! :)

We had to take a "couple" picture for something else

so I thought I'd post one of them.

In general, we're all doing well. Josh is extra busy right now, but we're exploring ways that I can help him out more when he's in his extra busy time. Thankfully we're all healthy right now, Julia and Mitchell having kicked a bug they caught just after we came back from interior. The fever was a bit scary and since Julia wasn't able to communicate about her sore throat, we didn't catch it until late in the week. We don't know if it was strep or just a sore throat as it was hard to get her to let us look in, but we're thankful for no complications! (I'm also thankful as my "good/fast" digital thermometer's battery died months ago and we couldn't get the cover open to replace the battery but a co-worker figured it out for us and now we're back in business should we need it again!!)

The boys drinking the water from inside a young coconut from a tree on our yard!

I'm doing a lot of home schooling. Mitchell is officially putting together sounds and should be reading simple words by the end of the week. Spencer is doing well in school and looking forward to time off next week - not only for Labor Day, but his teacher has some visa work to do and will be in another Asian country for a week, so they get a whole week off! I'm looking forward to using that time to do more home schooling with them (he's probably looking forward to spending more time playing with his Lego!).

Spencer with his classmates in his one-room school.

Things are looking slower for the mission home next month, and as it looks right now will be the slowest month for me since I started this ministry. The month of August was the busiest month here (billing wise) in over a year! We had guests from the tribe we visited leave this morning to go back interior after a week or so in town. It's been great to see how visiting them in the tribe bonded not only our kids to theirs kids we visited, but my friendship with the mom is also deeper. It's so helpful to visit people on their own turf - helps you understand where they're coming from and helps you appreciate them more. Spencer & Mitchell had Yohan over for a sleepover Saturday night. It was the first time they hosted someone and they had a great time!! It feels empty without them here.


Julia has been developing verbally in leaps and bounds. She makes us LAUGH with the things she says. This morning when I asked her if she was a girl, she said, "No, I'm an octopus." Very casually but matter of fact. For a while everything was "a volcano", and if her video is over and the credits are rolling, she says, "Mommy, it's not working!" She's doing really well with her potty training, only needing a diaper or pull-up at night or nap times. She also LOVES to "read" and will sit for long periods of time with books on her lap, poring over the pictures. I'm looking forward to seeing how this girl develops. I sure hope she turns into a bookworm (like her mommy and her brother Spencer!) because books open your world up SO much.


Wild boar meat - looks a lot more like beef than pork.
Josh brought wild boar home from the market last week so I'm looking forward to cooking that up. I've had it once here and it was SO good. They marinade the boar in coffee for a day or so and then roast it - it tastes like roast beef! I also had another first that day - I got out the Mission Home's meat grinder and ground pork. Since pork is such a touchy thing here with the need for things to be "halal" you can't get it ground like you can get beef. I like to mix ground beef and ground pork for lasagna and other Italian dishes so it's nice to have some here. I also want to try to make some sausage with the ground pork. The only sausage we can get here is SWEET.

Anyway, that's the current state of our family. Sorry, got a little long-winded! Thanks for praying for us, for the encouraging emails and your continued support of us being here!