Wonderful news from the Mehanna Road........

I haven't been able to post this yet because of so much going on with us. Jeff made it home safely and our jewelry show was good. But the great news is that Jeff said he visited Mo his last day on the Mehanna Road and when he got there Mo was up and getting around, fever gone! He was planning on going back to work. He hadn't been well enough to do this for over two weeks. Jeff and Mark got ahold of some antibiotics once they were finally able to go back into town and took them out to Mo a couple of days before they left but Jeff said that Mo was already feeling better the day after they sat and prayed with him.
What a cool thing, huh?! Who knows what would have happened if Jeff and Mark hadn't visited Mo in Niger at the just right time.
God is very cool!

Update from Niger..................

Jeff has been in Niger since Friday. Today I got an update from Jeff and I wanted to share because it is something that I would like to ask for prayer for.
Jeff told me that he went to visit his friend, we'll call him Mo because I don't know if I am allowed to share his real name. Jeff met Mo on his first trip to Niger and was privileged to help disciple him for several days. Mo had been baptized by our Pastor when our church first started the Africa missions. He is one of the few converted Muslim men that has not wavered in his commitment to Christ.
Jeff said that when he got to Mo's hut that Mo was "....very, very sick with a high fever that has persisted for two full weeks." Usually Jeff is excitedly greeted by Mo at the front door of the hut but this time Mo could not get out of bed. The medical care is so poor along the Mehanna Road that often times people die of simple things that turn into terrible infections. They die of Malaria which is easily treated with the right medicines. It is very sad. I don't know yet what illness Mo is suffering and I suspect that he doesn't know himself.
Jeff said that they prayed and sang over Mo and that it was a very powerful experience, still he doesn't think his friend will live much longer.
Please pray for Mo and for Jeff and Mark (his friend who he went with). I know this trip has been wonderful for him so far but how do you say goodbye to a friend who's suffering when you know it may be the last time you"ll see them on this earth. My heart is breaking for all of them.

Happy Birthday Ben!!!!!!

Today is Ben's 7th or 10th birthday depending on who you ask. According to the Ethiopian government he is 7 and the more we get to know Ben the more we agree with Ethiopia. He is very immature. Very little brother-ish if you ask Aiden. But this is good and he is handling it fine because that makes him the same age as the kids in his class.

He is so laid back that he is willing to be three years younger. That is fantastic. Most people don't start saying they are younger til much later in life. Secretly I am relieved because I didn't really want to be the mom of a 16 year old 7th grader!

So for Ben's 7th birthday party we went to Incredible Pizza last night and took 2 of Ben's friends. They had a lot of fun riding go carts and playing video games and mini golf. We let Ben open one present this morning which was actually a soccer bag full of soccer gear. For lunch Aiden and I went with Ben to the cafeteria and the boys ate McDonald's cheeseburgers. This afternoon I took fruit kabobs to school for him to share with his friends. Ben requested a spaghetti dinner tonight and we will open presents and eat the cake that Ben picked out. Then we will watch a family movie.

Ben with his soccer gear and new sunglasses

Ben with his friends Matthew and Jacob

Ben told me today that he remembers having a birthday with Eyatah, his Ethiopian mom but it was not like the birthdays in America. He has had such a very good day. He is such a very good boy.

Kind of in love..............

Carla and I made these tonight and I'm kind of in love:

License Plate Initial Funky Junk Charms


Click here for Junky Monkie Blog

We are working our butts of for this show we are doing in Plano at the Plano Center. I am nervous and excited both. I hope other people are kind of in love with our creations too!

MOWA, not the brightest bulbs in the tanning bed.....

Some of you can relate to that statement. I would normally worry that they would stalk my blog and find that statement and deny my case but it seems to me that they don't even have time to do their jobs correctly. Which would mean they don't have time to "blog-stalk" like they say they do. And to be honest it's more than likely they don't know what a tanning bed is anyway, so I think it's a safe insult.
For those of you who don't know, MOWA is the Ethiopian agency in charge of processing adoptions. I am not a fan of their work.
Today they have lost my original paperwork. Everyone has copies but we really need originals to get processed. At least they haven't rescheduled us, our case has been left open and when the paperwork is located we will be heard by the judge. This is the same thing that happened with Ben's case. Not the lost paperwork just the case being left open.
I will keep you all posted. Some how, some way they will get our baby home, we just have to continue to be patient. We've had lots of practice at that by now.

Back to Africa............

So my call to go back to Africa hasn't come yet. Still hoping that tomorrow brings that.
Jeff, on the other hand, has decided it is time for him to go back to Niger. He's headed back to the Mehana Road with his friend Mark Kent from our church. The trip started out with several people going, none of them were Jeff. When the timing didn't work out for anyone but Mark, Jeff stepped in.
Jeff can't wait to see his Nigerien friend Lawali who spends most of his time serving on the Mehana Road. Mark told us that when Lawali heard he and Jeff were coming he started yelling and cheering and jumping up and down. Evidently he can't wait either.
It makes me feel so happy to know we have so many friends all over the world that love us like we love them. What an amazing and blessed life we have.

Everybody likes chicken..........

Last week Ben had his school play "E-I-E-I-Oops". He played a Chicken. He really wanted to play a Pig or a Farmer. Those were the extra-funny parts. When I told him I was sorry that he didn't get the part he wanted he said "It's OK. People like chicken, they eat chicken everyday" in his cute little Ethiopian accent. The play was very cute and Ben sang and danced his heart out!Here are some pictures:

Junky Monkie............

My friend Carla and I have been working on our jewelry and getting our website and business up and running. We are doing a show in Plano on March 20 thru 22. It is very exciting. Here is a link to our jewelry line blog: Junky Monkie Originals. Junky Monkie is the name of our line!