Thanks to the couple who’s house we are staying in Norah has all kinds of new toys.  One in particular that Norah loves, is this little pink cup.  She picked it up and instinctively drank from it holding it by the handle. 

I can’t give her too much water or she’ll dump it all, but just a little and she drinks it.  the only thing is i could sit there all day and hand her water as she takes a drink and then throws the cup on the floor to hear it bang.  This doesn’t last very long.  :) 

We have been here in North Africa for 4 weeks with 3 weeks left. Our purpose here is to host 9 interns as they teach English, make contacts and learn what it is like to be on the mission field.  I was scared to death to do this, mainly because it was an area that we were not very familiar with.  We haven’t been here except to visit.  So how are we going to host this group of interns when we are learning about this place as well.

The Lord then showed me that He was in control.  We were not planning on being here, but He worked it out this way.  I didn’t think i would enjoy this but the Lord has really used this in my life.  He has given me such a love for the people here and who gets the opportunity to visit their future mission field for this long of a time? 

We are very blessed, our life seems to be crazy.  I feel like it is such a whirlwind sometimes.  But I just can’t complain.  We have some of the neatest experiences, things I once dreamed of doing we are now doing.  It is amazing what the Lord allows us to do.

In May Norah and I made a trip up to New England and Ohio.  Norah just loved seeing all of her cousins, it didn’t matter if they paid attention to her or not, as long as they were in the same room as she was she was thrilled.  Here are a couple of my favorite photos of our visits. 

ok, so she has two teeth now, and she is eight months, i wanted to put this out with a picture, and all of you super organized moms who get all your pictures off the camera the same day are probably thinking, how ridiculous!  ( I just know there aren’t that many of you) 

Norah now has her first tooth.  Actually it was just into her seventh month.  I have to admit I was releaved to be the first to find it.  So if anyone else did see it or feel it, thanks for not telling me. 

 ok, so she looks like she belongs in a trailer park, it is just that hot here. 

Norah must just be the sweetest one in the house; She has mosquito bites head to toe.  (Literally)  We thought maybe it could be chicken pox.  This would be nice to get out of the way.  But pretty sure they aren’t. 

They seemed to go from a few bites to “oh my goodness, do you take care of your child?” amount of bites.   We have shut the windows got bug spray, and now a mosquito net has seemed to do the trick.  I am praying the old ones clear and we can keep her from getting many more.  She does look pretty rough, but doesn’t seem to be bothered in the least. 

I guess this is what comes with the African work,  I can only imagine what it is like anything below the Sahara. 

I haven’t written any thing for months now, due to different reasons.  My computer stopped working and then we started traveling. 

Not planning to come to North Africa this summer I informed Norah’s grandparents they would be seeing her while Tyler was in North Africa.  Our plans changed, now I am in North Africa with Norah, so we got to visit our families a little earlier, because you can’t break that kind of promise. 

When Norah first flew she was so little she hardly noticed the flight, she slept most of the time.  She is now completely aware of everything.  So our first flight was probably my worst flight ever.  She got hungry, and with all that waiting to board waiting for everyone else to board.  By the time i could actually feed her she was frantic.  And all the nice people on the plain felt bad for her so they ALL decided to help me out and tell me what to do, over and over.  Even the nice single man in front of me suggested “maybe she’s hungry, you should try feeding her”.  What i told him i said with a smile on my face, so that counts for something right?  I just shared with him that i had tried that and i was not an idiot.  Nothing too mean.  Even the flight attendants would just not leave me alone.  It was just bad. 

Well, she seemed to get better and better from that point on.  She deffinately had a period of screaming on the first five flights, of our traveling, but nothing for the last four.  So Nine flights and three train rides later, we are here and doing well.  North Africa is beautiful, and I look forward to getting some more posts published in the next few weeks. 

At least that is what we are trying to get Norah to realize.  The physical purpose of a parent is to raise their child to become more and more independent, and it starts early.  I’m discovering this is the hard part of parenting.  

We are trying to get Norah to sleep through the night.  It hasn’t been so bad, the first night we decided to try to just let her cry.  The thought of leaving her in a dark room crying is a little disheartening.  (before i had my own child, it seemed so easy)  She cried for a while and calmed down, and a few minutes later started up again.  So since it had been 4 hrs i fed her and she fell asleep, I felt better, but worse all at the same time.  I failed!  Later on she woke up again and we let her cry it out.  The next morning she was happy.  So no psychological damage.  

So every night this past week we’ve been wondering what is going to happen.  Some nights she has up a fight and others she’s slept.   One night i sang to her and she fell right to sleep.  She’s even started rolling herself over, so last night she had to cry that out a while and then she sang herself to sleep. I checked on her and she slept the entire night on her back. (first time, huge step, yes i know i’m a horrible mother)   It’s been interesting.  But I know this is the right thing.  She needs to learn how to sleep independently.  One of the first steps of many to come.  

I was just reminded recently how much the Lord cares for me, and little things like my poor spanish.  He just put a couple in our house, now I was very leery to say the least about someone living here.  But through some struggling the Lord changed my attitude and It has been one of the best things that has happened.  She is helping my spanish like I couldn’t believe, Not that it’s much better, just being corrected constantly.  And speaking spanish 24/7 isn’t so bad. God knows what’s best usually what we would least expect

This is quite a story, i will try to get to the point.  A baby girl was born here in Peru, when they opened up her mom for a C-section, they found Cancer, so bad, that her mom couldn’t take care of her.  As it was she already had 3 other children.  The mom eventually passed away leaving all four children behind.  The father works full time, and is traveling for work, so he cannot take care of them.  The oldest three are in the children’s home here in Peru.  The little girl Belu, has been passed back and forth by her grandmother who has official custody.  Belu is now 21 months and has been welcomed into the home of our Pastor and his wife.  They love her with all of their heart and would love to adopt her.  She even calls our Pastor “Papa”.  They have been taking complete care of her, but last week the grandmother decided to take her back.  She lives hours from here, and works full time as well as has several small children of her own.  When Belu comes to stay with the Montenegros, she is sick and has to be put on medicine.  So this woman cannot give Belu the attention and care that she needs, like the Montenegros have given her.  They don’t know when or if they will see her again.  

As Laura told me this story my heart broke for her.  They have had Belu for months loving her like their very own, and then one day she was taken from their home.  Laura told me she couldn’t go into the room where Belu stayed, it was too hard.

Pray that the Lord would work all of this out for His glory and that if it is his will, he would change the mind of this grandmother.  Break her pride and help her to see Belu would be so much better off with this family.  Please pray.  

Just recently Norah has been so doing so well, I have to say I am almost bored at times.  Which being a missionary wife this should not be.  I go back and forth between, I’m doing the right thing by taking care of my family and home, and I should be more involved in ministry of some kind.  It is a constant battle in my mind.  

Recently the Lord has opened up doors for me to minister in some way to different people, not anything major, just little areas mainly friendships.  I cannot begin to explain how fulfilling this has been.  Another thing is I have always felt that I could not be close with someone who spoke another language.  Yes I debated whether i should write that or not.  I guess I was never willing to admit that could be the issue.  It could also be that being in transition makes it a little hard to get close to people.  Almost like why bother, we’re leaving anyway.  I was completely wrong in both areas.  

I have always liked Peru, but the Lord has given me more of a love for this place, and for the people here.  I am mostly thankful for the friends he has given me while we have been here.  Those I have learned from whether it be language, ministry, or simply patience.  (with me, for example)   I can’t really say I am ministering, it is more like I am being ministered to.