Newflash from Monrovia-Dec. 1, 2008

I recently read this in a Mercy Shipper's blog. Hard to believe we were standing in that same prison almost 11 months ago....

I've been in contact with this person on the Mercy Ship trying to find out if our kids' birth father is still in prison or on the loose. What a crazy place...I can't even imagine the conditions they live in. Below is what a Mercy Ship worker wrote:

Jail-break

On Monday afternoon 202 prisoners broke out of Monrovia's Central Prison, leaving another 600 behind. A jail-break of such proportions is of no surprise to me - I only visited the prison once over a year ago, but thought that security was poor and a coordinated rush by a large number of prisoners would be successful. The guys that are left behind will be grateful for the space provided by those escaping, before it is filled up following the orgy of looting that happens every year around Christmas as desperate men steel things to buy food for their families. Currently, 32 of the 202 escapees have been re-captured. The city is in a high state of alert, with road blocks at frequent intervals and all available Police and UN personnel involved in searching for the escapees. Meanwhile, the Africa Mercy's Prison Ministry team was called upon to deliver emergency food supplies to the prison, as the escapees raided the food stores on their way to freedom, leaving the remaining 600 inmates hungry. Our Prison Ministry delivered 6 sacks of rice to the prison yesterday via the Prison Fellowship.

HOORAY!!!

Here's how the girls reacted when I told them we were all done with leftovers!

Turkey Anyone??

We just got over the holiday feast and have been having leftovers here...many, many leftovers :0

For kicks here is what we've eaten since last Thursday:

Thursday- a 30# turkey plus a 17# ham and all the trimmins'

Friday-left over turkey/ham and trimins'

Sat-turkey noodle soup

Sunday-turkey enchiladas

Monday-turkey alfredo pizza (not as bad as it sounds! Really. Trust me.)

Tuesday-split pea and ham soup (yea! the ham is all gone!!!!)
turkey and wild rice soup
left over turkey noodle soup

Wed-the rest of the left over soups for lunch

Alas...last Saturday I again baked another (yes, really) 30# turkey. See there was this "good deal" last year. A man from Kalona had all these fresh turkeys for sale cheap...and we bought 3 not realizing their extreme size. Unfortunately two froze together creating this 60# block of frozen turkey that I could not lift from our freezer. So there they sat all year. We started thawing them out about 5 days before Thanksgiving. We thought about even using a chisel!
No, they don't fit in our oven. Thankfully I had a roaster and we put a tent of foil around it to bake. It actually works quite well once the guys rinse it and lift that giant thing in there. It bakes about 14 hrs on low...or 5 hours on high. Trust me.

SO....I froze quite a bit of turkey meat. Right now I think we're all ready for a change...and I've run out of turkey recipes. There is this turkey cranberry salad that looks interesting--but I think it might be bycotted.

See Spot Run....

I was reading another mom's blog the other day and she had a picture of Dick and Jane...with her children all probably cozied around her reading it. Her quote was "I was made for this".
Frankly....when I'm reading Dick and Jane with Marie I want to tear my hair out. I don't think I was made for this. (I AM doing this because I think it's the right thing to do now...but it isn't easy!) How can the word Spot...in the very next sentence....be Fluff? or jump? I know she knows the sounds of the letters. I know it isn't on purpose---the connections just aren't all there yet. And she really, really wants to read which is why we still plug through it.
I'm sure it's as frustrating for her as for me. And I REALLY try to hide my frustration....but I think I'm more like my dad than I thought! :) Just kidding dad....I haven't thumped her on the head yet with a pencil! And you were a REAL teacher!

Anyway...just had to get that off my chest today.

Visit with Auntie Melodie....

Lovely Marie....

Auntie Melodie with Josie "Gbanko"

Marie, Isaac (Red) Auntie Melodie and Josie

We are so glad we had the chance to visit with Melodie while she's in the States. In just 2 weeks
she'll be back in Liberia working again. She has known our kids longer than we have which seems really strange. They all love her and you can tell the feeling is mutual.
We had a great dinner at Jenny's house (mother of 13) She fixed us all dinner...we counted 23 kids and 6 adults. Wow! She's amazing.
Afterwards the kids all watched Kung Foo Panda while the adults talked about...guess what! Liberia and kids :)

2 Tired....

How do you know you're too tired to go grocery shopping? When you put on your coat and shoes three times....go to the door....stop and just can't make yourself go out. Poor Caleb was going to come with me and had to walk to the door three times too. I'm sure he wonders about his strange mother who went up and took a nap instead. We're having pancakes for dinner tonight. It just wasn't worth it. Maybe tomorrow.

It's cold and windy out...
Dave's gone on a business trip...
I'm having to keep the fire going (which is like having another baby except I don't get up at night with it!)
Our week seems a little crazy-looking at the calendar anyway-I'm sure it will work out.
We didn't get much done today-just laundry-always laundry on Mondays.


Our highlight is going to dinner at Jenny's tomorrow night. Melodie Sheppard will be there visiting. She was at the kids' orphanage working while they were there. Everyone is excited to see her! She is going back to Liberia soon.

Some fun girl pictures (taken by Olivia)

I love the looks of all three girls. Marie and Josie are having a ball....Chloe can't wait until the ride is over!