This week we travelled back to Banta to complete some updates for our sponsorship program. I was recently telling a friend that every trip to Banta is unique unto itself. And this one was not without its own "uniqueness." We left for Freetown at about 8:00 in the morning. The first breakdown happened at the first police checkpoint(this is less than an hour into the trip). The alternator was not working correctly and so our battery was completely dead. They tried to charge the battery using a generator but after an hour of charging, it was still dead. So at about 11:00 we boarded a Public Transport vehicle which was to take us to Freetown! These vehicles are basically the frame of the vehicle with benches welded into them, not the most comfortable way to travel over bumpy, dirt roads. It's actually a miracle that these vehicles work at all. We had to stop numerous times with this vehicle too, the springs which are attached to the wheel came unattached(these are the shocks), the gas tube was blocked, the engine was over-heating, just to name a few! Let me tell you, I learned a lot about vehicles and how to "gerry-rig" them!!

So we finally made it back to the outside of Freetown at about 6:00. At this point the driver informed us that he actually wasn't going all the way into Freetown. So we boarded another vehicle that was supposed to take us all the way into town. But because of traffic this vehicle also said that he wasn't going to take us all the way to the destination. We ended up walking to the junction where a COTN vehicle was waiting for us! What a relief to finally reach! At about 8:00 we made it back to our house, tired and completely covered in red dust. But you know God's grace is amazing, here we are in this situation where we really should be frustrated and ready to just leave the country, but He gave me the extra patience and flexibility I needed to make it through the day. There have been many times this year when I have felt that I have reached the end of what I can handle, and God takes us a little bit further, but His grace is sufficient.

Also, I didn't mention, but we were also bringing back a child who we are taking into our home. So along with all these problems, we were dragging this poor child along with us! However, it was good initiation into the organization(we are always having car trouble)! She was exhausted and hungry by the time we arrived in Marjay Town.

Well, last week I celebrated my 24th birthday! Its odd when one of those milestones passes in a place where you feel that you've lost all sense of time! It's hard to believe that another whole year has passed!

To celebrate the day I took seven of the home children out for ice cream! Here are some of the pictures!

It's precious moments like this that make it all worth it...

I have told you about Brima Nyandemoh. He is the little boy that we kind of adopted from Banta during our time there in October. We also had him come visit for Christmas. If I had a bag big enough I would really try to smuggle this one home with me.

Background:

When we were in Banta in March, we were spending sometime in the village one day and Brima was with me. He was making the sign with his hands where he put his pointer finger and his pinky finger up, so I was teaching him the sign for love and I asked someone to translate what the word for love was in Mende.

The Real Story:

Brima had been very made at Sarah and I for not taking him back with us for the Easter holiday, so when we went to Banta last week he wouldn't even look at us, let alone greet us. Eventually, Mama Angie made him come sit with me, but he just sat on my lap as stiff as a board. After some time he forgot that he was mad and he wrapped my arms around him and began playing with my hands. As he was doing this he made my fingers make sign for love. It was one of those silent moments that I will carry with me forever, where the language and cultural barriers that stand between us were broken down and he knew that I loved him and I knew that he loved me. A few minutes later as I was taking a picture of him, he stuck his hand up to make the sign again.

The love of a mother must be so great if I can feel this way about this child who I have only known for a small time.

This last week we hosted the International President of COTN, along with his wife and son. It was a fast week completely packed with meetings, programs, tours, etc. You Americans like to pack your schedules full of things to do. I'm just kidding I know I do the same thing.

During this visit we travelled to Banta for two days. While there the school was having there annual sports day. The sports day is like a glorified field day, but they get really excited for it and everyone turns out to watch it. They divided the school into four teams which they call houses. There's Blue House-Dominican Republic, Red House- Malawi, Green House- Sierra Leone, and Yellow House-Uganda, each team representing a country that Cotn is involved in. Sarah was in Green House and I was in Blue House.

Some of the races are the typical 1,500 meter, or the 200 meter race, but they also have races where they balance things on their heads, and for the little ones they have a race where they carry a baby on their back in they typical way that the mothers carry their babies.

The end results were Yellow House coming in first, Blue House second(yeah!! they normally lose), Red House third and Green House last(sorry Sarah!). It was a beautiful day and the kids all had a great time!