Purpledocmartin

A much better week!

2012-01-26T18:52:00.000Z

This week is going much better than last week! Joshua is back to normal and trying to catch up on his schoolwork!

We managed to get hold of the dentist who saw Josh in the UK last yerar and told us it was tonsil tissue. He remembered Josh and still has his records, so we have been referred to Leighton hospital. Joshua is very excited about the prospect of returning to the UK and has planned what he is going to eat (presumably before the operation!) but of course we have no idea of timescale.

Ben is busy planning a football tournament this weekend in Yagma, it is not going quite as he planned as it turns out tournaments in Burkina are very different from tournaments in the UK and he is finding out the hard way!

What a week

2012-01-23T18:59:00.000Z

First of all Thank you for all your prayers and emails. We have been overwhelmed and amazed at the number of people who have been praying for Joshua and us over the last week.

This time last week we had no idea what was coming!

Joshua woke up Tuesday morning with a sore throat and a bit of a temperature so I sent him back to bed and did school with Luke and Hannah. Ben phoned the SIM doctor as Josh also said his tongue was sore too. He said he could see Josh at 3pm.

Ben went off to Yagma as normal but when he got home I had already noticed Joshua's tongue was swollen and he was struggling to talk. Ben phoned the SIM doctor straight away and took him around to the doctors house. The doctor said he had an infection and sent us to a local clinic where they hooked him up to a drip to get the swelling down, relieve the pain and give the antibiotics.

Ben phoned me from the clinic and said that Josh would need to stay in the clinic that night and could I get a few things together. Apparently he was more upset about missing Luke's birthday than anything else!

The clinic is only a few minutes walk from the house which was fortunate as Ben had the car and I walked down there with Luke and Hannah. Josh was lying on the bed in a private room and watching TV.

Ben then headed off to SIM (also just round the corner) to get some money to pay a kind of deposit for Josh staying there (no NHS here!) and let various folk know what was going on.

I stayed with Joshua each night and then Ben stayed with him during the day so I could do school with the other two.

Joshua continued to have a high temperature, a swollen and sore tongue most of Wednesday and was very quiet and sleepy, but was much better by Thursday afternoon and able to come home on Friday.

While we were in the clinic lots of people popped in from SIM bringing books, comics, ice cream and soup. One of our friends came to see Josh just before the doctor arrived and was able to help me explain in French some of Joshua's medical history.

When we were in the UK after living in France, Joshua noticed that he had a lump on his tongue and he kept on catching it on his teeth. We took him to the doctors who referred him to an Oral specialist who said that it was tonsil tissue and that he could remove it. We explained that we were going to live in Africa and he said they could not do it before we went and that there was no rush. We think (but are not sure) that Joshua has had tonsillitis and as he has tonsil tissue on his tongue that is why his tongue swelled up so much. The doctor at the clinic did want to do a further investigation but we are not keen for him to have any surgery out here so are looking in to having it done in the UK.

Joshua is still tired and his tongue is not quite back to normal but we are grateful for the love and support of friends and family and thankful to God for the strength he has given us in Him.

Please pray for wisdom for the next step.

He's Home

2012-01-20T11:06:00.002Z

Josh is home, proper update later. Thanks for praying.

Please pray

2012-01-18T08:47:00.000Z

Joshua has been in a local clinic since yesterday afternoon, hooked up to a drip with an nasty infection and a swollen tongue.

Two down, three to go!

2012-01-12T22:30:00.000Z

We ended up having quite a quiet weekend as Luke has been poorly. His temperature was all over the place and he has been very lethargic. Monday we all started school and by Monday evening Josh was feeling poorly! He had the same thing as Luke but I hope he will be up to school tomorrow.

We have been having to do school in the living room again, we bought a table when we first arrived and since opening up the school room in June (I think!) we have borrowed various tables to use in the school room. For one reason or another we are back to only one table.

A few months ago a friend of ours having sat on our sofa, decided to give us a gift to buy a better one! But Ben and I in our wisdom (or not) and with our friends permission, decided to put the gift towards a table and some chairs instead! The table and chairs were ordered, made and delivered on December 23rd. Ben had ordered the superior chairs and when we put them with the table they were too wide to fit under it! We pointed this out to the carpenter (why did he not notice this?) and he took the table away to be adjusted! It might be ready Monday!

Meanwhile, sometime between Christmas and New Year, the sofa collapsed! So we ordered a new sofa and chairs to be made. Today they arrived, well the wooden frame did. We need to get someone in to measure up for the cushions and then make them for us once we have bought the material of course (sometimes I really miss IKEA).

It's a small world!

2012-01-07T15:01:00.000Z

Yesterday we received an email from Alan in Bordeaux saying that a friend of his was coming to Burkina and although it was very unlikely that we would bump into each other could we look out for him and his collegue from the UK.

Meanwhile our neighbours who have a small guest house asked us if we could put someone up for a couple of nights in our guest house as they didn't have space. It was a Dutch lady from WEC who we have met before and as I was chatting to her she mentioned that she was going to the airport to meet someone. I couldn't remember where the lady was based in Burkina, so I checked Alan's email to see where his friend was headed. Gaoua.

This morning our neighbour popped around and as we were chatting she mentioned that our loger was from Gaoua! Really? Ben checked and sure enough Alans friend is staying next door! We have just had lunch together with them and discovered many other conections. Sometimes I love being from the UK!

Happy New Year

2012-01-02T17:24:00.000Z

OK so I am a couple of days late, but I hope you do have a happy new year!

We had fun on New Years Eve with various people popping in during the day including a dad to make some Airfix with Ben! We all went round to our friends house in the evening with various other SIM missionaries and their familiesand enjoyed chatting and singing Christmas Carols (!) and Choruses. Ben had to leave around 8pm as he went to Yagma to see the new year in with the church. I couldn't face going all that way with the children and the party at our friends house finished at 10pm. So I was only one awake in the house at midnight watching Cranford!

New Years morning found us in Yagma again with a much smaller congregation than usual and a much shorter service. We went and visited several of Ben's friends after the service just to say happy new year. It is very traditional to go and greet people on New Years Day. Our weekend night guard came to greet us with his wife and daughter in the afternoon.

Looking back over the past year, it's very strange to think that this time last year we were praying about our next step and were starting to think about the possibility of going to Burkina. We have been here ten months now and the Lord has taught us so much. I wonder what this new year holds for us.

Nazinga

2011-12-30T13:41:00.001Z

Wednesday we went to Nazinga. Having collected the children from where ever they were we set off in convoy at midday. Four cars in all with 20 people!

We headed for Po which is about 2 hours south of Ouaga (and about 20km North of Ghana!). Once we got to Po we turned off the black top (tarmacked road) and turned onto a dirt track, the sign said 55km to Nazinga, but it took us another two hours as we could not drive fast because of the state of the road! About half way there we entered the park itself and quite a few of the children climbed on the roof rack of their cars! I was glad that our children didn't ask!

It was a relief to arrive although we had spotted some elephants, antelopes, crocodiles and wild boar on the way. The huts we stayed in were much better than we had expected and were right next to a lake where the animals like to hang out. We had antelope and chips for tea!

The following morning we were up by 6 and the Safari started at 6:30! At which time someone noticed that we had a flat tyre! One wheel change later and we were off. Ben driving our car and the children and I on the roof rack! We followed another car which had a guide in and drove around the park for the next three hours. We saw some antelope and that was about it! When we arrived back about 9:30, the elephants were there already and just about to go for a swim in the lake right next to our huts! Huh?

It was great to watch the elephants in the lake but it was a bit scary as there was nothing between them and us and they walked right past us to get to the lake! One of our families got a bit too close and had a very tense moment when their 6 year old fell over right in front of an elephant. No harm done.

We had something to eat before heading back and saw a few more elephants on the way. Despite not seeing many elephants we really enjoyed our time at Nazinga with our friends and although sitting on the roof rack was fun at the time, we all got scratched by bushes and tree and next time we need to take more padding!!!

Entrance to the park

Sunrise


On the roof rack


Elephants

A lovely Christmas

2011-12-27T14:21:00.000Z

We have had a lovely Christmas, yes it was a bit bizarre being so warm and not freezing!

On Saturday we had our Yagma Christmas! As Christmas day was on a Sunday the pastor decided to have Christmas day on Saturday! So 8:30 Saturday morning we were in Yagma, The children recited verses, sang songs, danced and did a little skit. Then we had some running around games followed by a talk by Ben and then everyone had something to eat and drink. It finished by 12! We had over 150 children and they all seemed to enjoy it.

By 6:30 that evening we were back in Yagma for the adults Christmas. There is no electricity in Yagma so they had gas lamps, candles and torches! They had singing, dancing, skits (in Morré, didn't understand a word!) and a short message. Hannah fell asleep but not before she thought she saw Santa's sleigh! We left at about 9pm and they were just sitting down to eat together!

On Christmas day we were all up by 6:30am. We all opened our lovely presents (thank you!) and then had our usual Christmas breakfast of crusty rolls, beetroot and ham! The IBF (International Bible Fellowship) Christmas service was at 10am and we enjoyed celebrating Christmas in English! We had Christmas dinner with an Irish and an English family and had a lovely time with them chatting and playing silly games. We spent the early part of the evening at our american friends house with more food and games then we returned home to find a burst pipe in our garden! Not the best end to the day!

So boxing day was spent trying to contact the water board and getting the pipe fixed, returning our new table which was not the right size and having Josh's friend Josh around for a sleep over!

Tonight, Hannah and Josh are staying over with their friends and Luke is having a friend around here, I just hope we remember where they all are in the morning!

Tomorrow we are off to a Safari park called Nazinga and staying over night in huts! There are several of us all going together so it should be fun!

Its been great to chat to friends and family on Skype recently,which has made Christmas so much easier for us. Hope you all had a lovely Christmas too.

Ben and Santa

Yagma Childrens Christmas

Luke's Airfix

Joshua's Lego

Hannah's Barbie

Colliers, Gibsons and Griffins

Luke as King Herod

2011-12-20T19:35:00.001Z

Long time no blog

2011-12-20T19:31:00.000Z

It's been a while, what with ICO and then Hannah and I coming down with a tummy bug (the joy of school!), it's been a bit crazy. We had thought that there would not be too much of a build up to Christmas out here, but we were wrong! There have been parties and carolling with ICO and the International Church carol service. It is not nearly as busy as Christmas in the UK, but still.

ICO went really well the children had a great time with their friends making Christmas crafts and of course working! Luke's class did a short play and Luke was Herod. I hope to put the video on my blog later.

We have had several parcels from the UK for Christmas, thank you. Only the things we have ordered haven't come yet. I have explained it to the children and they don't seem to mind. It is going to be soooo different this year, but we are looking froward to it.

We are doing school this week so we can start with a clean sheet in January. Joshua will be carrying on with Northstar as we have all learned a lot form doing it!

Our friend Jon leaves tonight for the UK. He has been here for over a years and we will both miss him. He has been a good friend to all of us and we have had many games of Risk together. It was hard to say goodbye to him and now who will listen to Ben talking about football?

A trip to the zoo

2011-12-07T12:40:00.000Z

Yesterday as part of ICO, we went to a wildlife farm about an hour from Ouaga called 'La Ferme de Wedbila'. It was started by a man born in Canada but who has lived in Burkina since 1954.

The children got to see the animals quite close to, a bit too close sometimes!

We saw monkeys, a chimpanzee, snakes, bush rats, porcupines, polecats, warthogs, water buffalo's, civets, a hyena, jackals, antelopes and an ostrich, among other animals which we couldn't translate from French to English for the children!

Griffin's Gazette

2011-12-02T17:54:00.002Z

Our latest Griffin's Gazette is out today read it here

The last few days

2011-11-30T20:37:00.000Z

We have had some 'fun' here since Monday morning. The local students were protesting on Monday so as our house is on a street just oposite the university and a technical college we had lots of people walking past our house shouting and letting offs firewoks.

This morning they were protesting again and things were worse this time, Ben had to go out and he said they were throwing stones at the police and were burning tires, just down the road outside our frineds house! We kept the gates locked and things had calmed down by about 10am.

We have been continuing as normal with school and Yagma and English Classes. Next week is ICO (you know that home schooling get together type thing!). It will be for two weeks and the kids are really looking forward to it. Josh is doing really welll with Northstar Worldwide and his typing is getting faster each day it seems.He has caught up so much that ICO wont be a problem this time I hope.

Although we escape most of the Christmas hype out here, December is looking like a busy month with parties and a Fair at ISO on Saturday. We even have a Christmas tree (kindly donated by some friends who had two) and Mum send us some Christmas Crackers (surface mail!). Thanks Mum!

Fada

2011-11-22T21:54:00.000Z

We have just been to Fada for the weekend. It was for SIMs Spiritual Life Conference. We left Ouaga on Thursday and were there until Sunday. It was great to get away from the dust and smog of Ouaga for a few days and spend some time with our SIM family! Ben preached on Thursday and Friday but had the rest of the weekend off. The children were well looked after by a team of Canadians who were there to do a kids club.

When we arrived on Thursday we were greeted by a lady who asked us if we recognised her. She looked familiar but I could not place her. It turned out that we knew her from Bordeaux, she attended the church in Blaye and we had met her on several occasions. It was lovely to see her again and get to know her better! She had various messages for us from folk in Bordeaux, but as she was only in Burkina for three weeks and was staying in Mahadaga she did not know if she would see us or not.

The children did a presentation on Sunday morning which Luke narrated (don't you just hate proud parents) it was the sorry of when Jesus healed the paralytic and they all did a great job!

Downloading the Griffin childrens videos

2011-11-12T11:54:00.000Z

Do you remember the videos I made with the children over the holidays, one of the house and one of Ouaga? Several of you contacted me to see if you could download them to show them at your churh or youth group. Well I have added the first one to Vimeo and hope to add the other one soon. I did not just want anyone to be able to download the videos so you will have to sign up for a Vimeo account and add me as a contact before you can download it. Here is the link to my profile on Vimeo. Sorry it's a bit complicated and let me know if you have any problems!

Some photos

2011-11-11T18:48:00.000Z

Luke and his feet!

Our Bonfire

Our favourite Billboard on the way to Yagma

Bonfire night and all the dust

2011-11-11T14:48:00.001Z

We had a fun time on Saturday night at our bonfire. We invited a lot of folk (not necessarily British) and had a hand-out for those who had no idea what we were celebrating. The fire went well; we just didn’t huddle around it as it was hot enough without it. We only let off two fireworks in the end as they were not really fireworks as much as very loud explosions which terrified us and the neighbours! Ben invited some of the Burkinabes who sit outside our gate most afternoons, I think they were a bit bemused by what was going on and they seemed to enjoy it!

Ben is very busy at the moment preparing two talks for SIMs ‘Spiritual Life Conference' next weekend. They have it in Fada this time every year and we are all looking forward to it. The children because they get a few days off school and of course get to see their friends.

Rainy season is well and truly over it has not rained for over a month at least. Now it is still very hot by midday but almost cool in the early morning. The main problem at the moment is the dust, it is everywhere, everything is covered in dust in the house no matter how many times you wipe it down it is dusty ten minutes late. You can smell it in the air and in the evening it makes it look like it is foggy outside. Luke and Hannah have both got coughs and colds and my house help has lost her voice! Apparently it will get worse.

Home safely

2011-10-31T20:06:00.000Z

Ben and William made it safely back to Ouaga Saturday evening. It sounds like they had an interesting and profitable time in Ivory Coast. Sunday morning found us all in Yagma, Ben took the bible study and William preached, William said it was great to see the building full with people as he was here with the building team in January. He has taken lots of film and photos and has promised me some coppies!

Today Willam home schooled the children for an hour or two (his idea not ours!) and Ben and I went out for a coke and to get the children signed up for their after school activities at ISO.

Willam has been staying in the little guest house in our yard as there was no place at the SIM guest house due to the Air France strike. He's moved back over there today and his flight back to Northern Ireland is Wednesday evening (with Air France, so we shall see!).

Christmas has come early to Ouaga this year! We recieved two christmas parcels and some christmas cards last week! Fortunatly I intercepted the parcels before the children read the lables and they are now stashed away! I can't believe that it is November tomorrow and that some people are so organised (you know who you are!)

Ferke, broken glasses and a flat tire!

2011-10-24T21:59:00.002Z

Ben and Willam are now in Ferkessedougou near where I was 18 years ago! Ben would love to visit the village but is too busy. They will be there until Thursday when they move on to Korhogo and then hopefully back to Ouaga on Saturday.

We made it to Yagma and back safely on Sunday, thank you for your prayers.

Hannah has broken her glasses (it's taken her eight months this time) and they are beyond repair, but we live a few doors down from a eye clinic and I was very impressed, they had a good look for some frames which might hold the lenses but the lenses are too small and thick (!) for the frames they had. They did clean and mend her other pair which had lost a nose rest so at least she still has some she can wear.

We went to a friends house this afternoon and stayed for tea, as I was leaving we noticed that I had a flat tire (so grateful that it did not happen in Yagma!). My friend changed the tire for me (thank you!) and tomorrow I need to go into the centre of Ouaga and get the tire mended, could be fun!

2011-10-22T20:04:00.000Z

Ben phoned me briefly last night at about 10pm, he was just about to have his evening meal after preaching about marriage, he said he was asked some hard questions after his message and I'm sure he would appreciate prayers for wisdom in ansewring their questions. He is speaking again tonight and then William is preaching tomorrow followed by some baptisms. They hope to move on to Ferke on Monday.

I went to the home schooling workshop this morning, it was very interesting and inspiring all about missionary children and the challenges they face belonging to two different cultures and how we can help them and how we can integrate Burkina culture into our homeschool program. Lots to think about!

I hope to go to church in Yagma tomorrow. I do not enjoy the drive there, please pray for me!

Destination unknown!

2011-10-21T17:15:00.000Z

They made it last night about 8pm to a village in the north of Ivory Coast, somewheree near the Mali border. They hope to stay there for three days and then move on to somewhere else. Sorry to not be more specific, but I don't know much more!

We have been managing ok. Although science was hard work with Josh this afternoon we had to plan an experiment with kitchen roll and needed three brands!!! Managed to 'borrow' some from some friends yesterday but then I think my house help used some of it this morning! Roll on the weekend.

Tomorrow I am off to a workshop for homeschoolers! A lady who lives out here is doing a masters about homeschooling (I think!) and needs to run a seminare as part of the course. So the children are off to a friends house and I shall be in an air conditioned room all morning, sounds good.

It has been up to 39 degrees C over the last few days and very humid. This is due to last a month and then it will be cool (or so I am told). Ivorians keep telling Ben that they never go any further north than Bobo in Burkina as it is to hot for them any futher north!

Somewhere in Ivory Coast

2011-10-20T20:14:00.000Z

Well Ben left the house at 6am this morning, walked to SIM where he met William Brown and they got a taxi to somewhere in Ouaga, to catch a bus to Bobo. They arrived in Bobo about lunch time, they then got another bus (I think!) to Banfora where they met Pastor Kone (I hope!) and then made it across the border into Ivory Coast. Ben phoned me over an hour ago from somewhere in Ivory Coast and they still hadn't finished their journey! I think he got their quicker when he flew from England!

Where to start?

2011-10-14T19:17:00.001Z

First things first, Luke is now half (!) a yellow belt in Karate! He's been going to lessons at ISO and although he has found it a bit tough, he is now very proud of himself and so are we!

Our friend William is coming out to Ouaga next week and Ben and he are going to Ivory Coast for a few days. Ben has had great fun trying to get his visa sorted, he went to the Ivory Coast embasy last week and was told he had to go and make an appointment online, so he came home and spent over two hours trying to make an appointment. It turned out that you have to pay for the visa first, then you get a code and then you can make an appointment! He had the appointment on Wednesday but he had to go and get a letter of permission from SIM to say it was Ok for him to leave the country, once he had got that he was told to go back today. He popped in this morning at about 9am and was told to come back at 11am! When he finally got his visa. William hopes to get his visa sorted on the border! They will be travelling around a bit in the north of Ivory Coast and both Ben and William will be preaching.

Our car broke down today while Ben was on his way home from Yagma, fortunatly he broke down outside a garage and they were able to mend it. There is a team here at the moment from Canada and they are all mechanics so they are taking a look at the car for us tomorrow!

I have been feeling a bit home sick this week as two of our friends in the UK have just had their first baby and I would love to go and meet him. Congratulations guys! Skype is not the same as being there!

More sickness and some authors we know!

2011-10-10T15:23:00.000Z

Luke is much better now but Ben went down with something on Wednesday, he's still not 100% but is back on his feet. The rest of us have been plodding on and there is not much to report.

But I want to tell you about two authors!

Firstly my friend Tirzah (who I have mentioned before) she has yet another book out, this time 'Puzzles, Quizzes and Other stuff', great if you are a youth leader or Sunday school teacher. She asked me a while ago to write a recommendation for the book, so I am in print too!

Author number two is a guy we met here in Burkina, he is a missionary in a place called Djibo and he writes childrens books. Sophie, one of the main characters in three of his books is actually based on one of our other freinds daughters! Our children have really enjoyed his books and they have a flavour of life in Burkina. We had a meal with him and his family last night and had a lovely evening.