Celebrating Easter

[Massah takes communion and Georgie decorates his Easter backpack]

The past few weeks have been an exciting time for our Child Development Program (CDP). We were working our way to the Easter story, so two weeks ago the children learned about The Last Supper. To make the story come alive for the kids, we took communion--sharing bread and juice together. For most of the children, this was their first time to have communion. This past week, we read the Easter story from the Bible, and then used Resurrection Eggs and the story, “Benjamin’s Box” to make the Easter story more personal to the kids. We also had plenty of great crafts--scratch off crosses to represent our sins being washed away, and some children enjoyed decorating 'He Lives!' Easter backpacks that were donated. We reflected on Jesus’ death and sacrifice, but then it was time to celebrate! The highlight of our CDP time was celebrating the resurrection with the children through music. We danced, clapped, sang, beat drums, and made as much noise as possible. We wanted the children to know that we have reason to celebrate Easter, and everyday, because Jesus is alive!

As for me, I celebrated by Easter by enjoying a serious Sunday morning downpour. I snuggled under my blanket and enjoyed time with my Bible, journal and Easter playlist. We went to church at PCC (where a majority of our Liberian staff attends)--this was my first time to church since I've been back in Liberia. Although I enjoyed it, I was alittle disappointed that we didn't sing any "Easter songs". After church, we loaded up the truck to go and visit the newest Kollie baby. His name is Daniel Moses, he's so cute and tiny! Then we came home, packed up everything, and headed to the Chapman's for the start of our staycation! I spent most of my time in the kitchen preparing our Easter dinner. I LOVE being in a kitchen here--it makes me feel normal! Our special Easter meal was garlic chicken, scalloped potatoes, veggies, bread, fresh watermelon and papaya and an AWESOME sour cream lemon cake (that I might just share the recipe with you) for dessert. We had a great time sitting around the table sharing Easter memories and devouring the delicious food! Then we moved into the air-conditioning to watch Home Alone. And I ended my night with a hot shower (my first since February 19th), and it felt awesome! It was a really great day!

I hope that you were able to take time to reflect on Christ's death and resurrection and that you were able to truly celebrate that He is alive--He's living, moving and working all around us! I also hope that you don't only celebrate at Easter, but that you're able to reflect on His sacrifice and life every day. Happy Easter!

Edina

Wow...it has been a month since I last posted a blog. Sorry-o! Things have been very busy around here! We had a team here for two weeks, then it was Easter, and now we're enjoying a week of staycation! It's only Tuesday, but I am totally loving this much needed rest! There has been so much going on, and so many great things to blog about, but I have just been lazy or not wanting to sit in front of my computer. But, I'm hoping to catch you up on all of my adventures from the past month. First up: our trip to Buchanan/Edina at the end of March.

We LOVE camping in Buchanan. The beaches are beautiful, it's a great campsite and there's nobody around. More on Buchanan in the next post.

We had been hearing about Edina--an early settlement (1832) that is only accessible by canoe or a horribly long and impassable road --and so we decided to check it out...by canoe! We went to the end of the dusty road where there's basically a canoe port--canoes lining up to carry people and goods across the river between Buchanan and Edina. We were trying to figure out the system and waited patiently once we figured out there was some form of a line going on. There was one larger canoe that we thought we could all fit in, but it was loading a motorbike up to go across the river. The canoe driver said he would get a bigger canoe on the other side and bring it back for us. Oh, and when I say canoe, I mean a hollowed out coconut tree trunk.

[The front of the canoe and the back. Yes, you must wear a hard hat while operating]

He came back with another canoe and two younger, much more able bodied paddlers. We loaded up into the larger canoe plus three of us got inside a much smaller canoe. I was in the small canoe--which held me, Josh, a small boy and the canoe paddler--and it wasn't much wider than my hips andwe were about 6 inches higher than the water. It was AWESOME!

It took about 20 minutes to be paddled across the river, with a few stops to empty water out, but if you don't think about the situation, it's a beautiful ride! We were the stupid ones who decided to start this adventure in the heat of the day, and once we reached Edina we all reapplied sunscreen. I haven't sweated that much in a LONG time!

[The beach in Edina and the main road from where the canoe dropped us off]

Edina was beautiful! It was kind of fun disembarking on unknown land, and we really felt like explorers...not sure where to go and had no idea what to expect. And that lasted about 5 minutes, until a man was passing through and wanted to be our tour guide and wanted us to meet his auntie. We obliged and went to meet his auntie--a super cute, super old lady with coke bottle glasses, who hugged and kissed us all. Then he escorted us to the beach and then back to a few landmarks.

[President Cheeseman's home and the Baptist church, which was founded in 1868. The papie told us the benches and chandelier came from America.]

Us girls wandered off towards a steeple that we could see in the distance, and that's when a very drunk old papie wanted to be our tour guide. He showed us former President Cheeseman's old house, along with the Baptist church. We asked him how many people lived in Edina and his answer was, "five people go to the Baptist church and six people go to the Methodist church." (Once we got home and did more research on Edina, we learned that more than 15,000 people live there) After about 20 minutes or so of his tour and of extreme sweating, we decided we should head back to the canoe. We were paddled back across the river, paid our drivers and set off for our campsite in Buchanan. We ended up paying the canoes 100 LD per person, or less than $1.50US as a charter (they waited for us on the other side), and it was a fun little adventure.

25 Kids in 25 Days!

Today I made a discovery. There are only 25 more children in our core orphanages that need sponsors. There are also only 25 more days until Easter. So, I had a great [crazy] idea--let's get 25 kids sponsored in 25 days.

Last week was letter-writing week here in Liberia. You would not believe how excited the kids were when they got the name of their sponsor, and realized that whatever they put on their piece of paper would make its way to Mr. & Mrs. So-And-So in just a few short weeks! However, there were 25 children who could only address their letter as "Dear Sponsor." A few kids checked the list over and over again, making sure that their friend's name really wasn't there. After seeing the disappointment on their faces, and having no way to immediately fix it, I decided that this is how I can help.

For $35 a month, you can change the life of a child here in Liberia! Your support will go directly to the needs of your sponsored child and his or her orphanage--daily food, routine healthcare, an education, after-school programs. Most importantly, that child will have the opportunity to learn about God and His life-changing love!

Please consider sponsoring a child during these next 25 days. Easter is a time to celebrate Christ's sacrifice and resurrection, and I cannot think of a better way to celebrate than to bring His love and hope to orphans in Liberia.

Click here to choose your sponsorship preferences...and to change a life!

Hope for Patricia

It is always exciting and rewarding to see children’s lives drastically improve. Patricia is a child that was once malnourished, uneducated and living in horrible conditions. She has always been sweet and caring, but she has had more responsibilities than any young child should ever be subjected to. Instead of going to school, Patricia spent her days preparing all of the meals and washing the clothes for her orphanage of more than twenty children. Every week when I saw Patricia, I would always ask her what she was cooking that day. I spent alot of time in the kitchen with her--peeling eggplant or cutting greens-- and that is where my heart broke for Patricia.

Due to a series of events, Patricia was relocated to the MacDella Cooper Foundation Academy--a boarding school outside of Monrovia. I went to visit her in her new home for the first time recently, and could not get over how healthy and happy she was! We spent many precious moments together, but the moment that meant the most to me was when I knelt down and asked Patricia what she was cooking that day. She looked at me and said, “Nothing.” I acted surprised and questioned her, “Nothing? You are not cooking today?” She smiled. I proceeded to tell her that I could no longer ask her what she was cooking, because she did not have to cook anymore. I asked if she could go to school and play with her friends and she joyfully said yes. Patricia is now living a life that a nine year old in Liberia deserves--she goes to school, cleans her room and jumps rope with her friends. Patricia is happy, healthy and now she smiles because she has hope.

Rejoice In the Lord!

[I was able to get 6 of the 9 to pose for a picture]

This past Tuesday was a national holiday in Liberia (Happy Birthday J.J. Roberts!). Although we could have taken the day off, some of us decided to make it a jam-packed day of long car rides and kiddos! We set off for the MacDella Cooper Foundation Academy (MCFA) in Charlesville. After more than a year of planning and talking about getting some of our kids moved to the school, I was able to visit the school for the first time. I wanted to see the place, but more importantly, I wanted to see the 9 kids who moved there! What a great reunion! The 9 kids used to live at the same orphanage as Koiboi, and were moved to one of our core homes after the fire. They moved out to MCFA after I left Liberia in July, so we haven't seen each other in 7+ months!

There were plenty of smiles, laughs, big hugs, jumping into arms and "Auntie Ashley, for longs". All of the kids looked SO happy and SO healthy! We toured the school and had lunch, but after lunch, we went into the dining hall and spent time with all of the children, who were drawing and coloring. It was SO much fun! I had the chance to sit down with each of the 9 kids and write them special little notes in their artist pads and then read them their note. We drew Spidermen, cows, bubble letters and wrote letters to Auntie Elena.

And then there was my conversation with Patricia. Patricia is 8 years old and used to do all of the cooking at the old orphanage (yes, this place really was horrible). I would always ask her what she was cooking that day. I used to sit with Patricia and talk as we sliced eggplant or peeled pumpkin. But on Tuesday, I said "Patricia, I can't ask you what you're cooking anymore because someone is cooking for you." She looked up at me and gave a huge smile. I said, "Patricia, now you can go to school and learn and play with your friends." Patricia gave another huge smile and grabbed my hand.

Before we left, I gave the kids stickers and showed them photos of their friends from their old orphanage. They were giggling and waving at the photos on my camera. Then we took some photos for me to show their friends who were moved to 3 orphanages around Monrovia--talk about virtual pen pals! We talked about how great their new home was. When I asked, the kids all told me that their favorite thing about their new home was "learning" or "going to school."

The stickers I gave them said 'Rejoice in the Lord' and as we were piling into the truck to leave, the 9 kids were singing "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice." It was a beautiful picture of rejoicing...and rejoicing always. As we 4-wheeled it down the sandy road, I couldn't help but rejoice in such a huge answer to my longstanding prayers! And then I began to think about God's faithfulness--it took a long time to get those kids out of a horrible situation, but God never left them and never forgot about them. He is holding them in the palm of His hand. He has plans for those children--plans to prosper them and not to harm them, plans for a hope and a future.

Worthless

Thinking about Worthlessnes this week.

Get your Lent Guide here.

Jumping for Joy!

Us girls had some fun jumping for joy on Tuesday.....

Can we say awesome lighting, beautiful smiles and super fun photos!?!