Friday, May 1, 2009

May 1

May 1 is a holiday in Nigeria: Workers' Day. I guess that's kind of like Labor Day in the U.S. This year it made for a 3-day-weekend, but that is not always the case since they actually take May 1 off--unless it falls on a weekend, then they will honor it on a Friday or a Monday.

The ground is really starting to green-up around here. The picture of Lily was taken today in the same place where I photographed the boys on April 1.



This morning I went out shopping with a couple of friends. While they were looking for shoes, I went to the bulk food market. Wish I had had my camera along--it's certainly nothing like Costco or Sam's. My main purchases were a 50 kg (110 pound) bag of flour; 50 kg (110 pound) bag of sugar; and a 25 kg (55 pound) bag of milk powder. Yes, it's possible to buy in much smaller quantities, but I actually save a lot of money and time by doing it this way. I especially save a lot of money on the milk powder. I use these three ingredients every day so it's really nice just to have them on hand.

After our separate shopping excursions, I met up with my friends for a Coke at the only restaurant in Jos that serves ice. It was really nice just to sit and chat.

Later in the afternoon, I took the kids to Bezer Home because I had to put a cloth covering on a photo album for a customer who needed it for a program tonight. Normally the women in our sewing program do all the work, but we had had a last minute change so I just had to do it.

I decided to brighten up Fatima's day so I pulled the car up directly under her bedroom window in Bezer Home. The master copy of our latest CD is in the car stereo. I opened all the car doors and blasted the music for her. When I went inside to see what she thought of it, she was thrilled. The music is new to the Bezer Home kids so they all came outside to listen.

There were a few people working on various projects upstairs, and they all enjoyed the music as well. In fact, the man who was servicing our sewing machines asked where he could buy a copy.

When I went downstairs to see what Fatima thought of the "concert," she was just lying there totally engrossed in the music. As I was talking to her, a song came on that has a powerful part spoken by four HIV+ women. This was her third time hearing the song, but she didn't want to miss one word of what was said. She asked when she's going to get her own copy. I told her, "When you get up and dance!"

Let me finish a story from last week. Last Friday when I went to get Fatima to go for our walk, she was completely ensconced in her blanket with her face to the wall and complaining of stomach pain. So...we haven't had our walk yet.

After I got home, the women on our compound got together to discuss two chapters from Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver. Our discussion focussed around having a teachable heart and experiencing God's extravagant love. This is such an excellent book. Weaver really digs deep to bring out some great spiritual truths. It's also been great to intentionally spend some time with my neighbors and gain from their insights.

I heard some great news today: the Canadian woman who was kidnapped in Nigeria on April 17 has been released! This is really an answer to prayer. For more info, you can Google this topic.

The kids and I watched the movie WALL*E tonight. Lily and I zonked out midway through--not because it was boring--sleep was just more of a priority.

I'm hosting a community garage sale tomorrow morning at Bezer Home. There are about 10 families who will be selling various items before they go on furlough. It should be a wild, crazy morning so I better get to bed!

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