Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Distribution

It has been awhile since I have blogged! When the kids are home I tend to do as little as possible that does not involve them ie emails, blogs…. We had a wonderful break. The kids are now 12, 13, and 15. What a great age! They cook, clean, have great senses of humor, play games well and have heartfelt conversations but still hug their mom and dad. Since the kids left several weeks ago we have had a constant stream of visitors. That really helps me with the empty nest but I am still catching up on the emails and blogs!

This year I have been praying for vision and to thrive where God has placed me. God is answering! I have been given several new opportunities that I am really excited about. I have been approached with helping Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child Shoe Box distributions. At the moment I have boxes of shoe boxes in my garage. My first distribution will be to the kids club I work with. I have been promised more boxes to distribute in local villages working with an orphan program which helps families that have taken orphans into their homes. Please pray with me about this opportunity to share Christ with the unreached children here in Benin. The distributions are evangelistic events with music, drama and a child centered sharing of the gospel. SO EXCITED ABOUT WHAT GOD IS GOING TO DO!! Pictures to come!

Those of you that know me well know that I am a list maker! This week’s lists include; things to do before leaving town on Wednesday, things to accomplish in Cotonou, the capitol… but the most exciting item on my list is to fly to Kenya, have a 12 hour layover in Kenya, Yes, there is a smile because Lord willing Paul and I will spend Saturday with the kids at Rift Valley Academy. I cannot wait; I have missed the kids so much lately! The sad part is that it is only for a day but the kids will be in Benin late March for a month long school break, smile. They love school but nothing replaces family time!

After a day in Kenya, Paul and I will then fly to South Africa for a week of meetings. I have not been to our office in South Africa in over 4 years so I look forward to reconnecting with our fellow TWR staff and meeting the many new faces as well. We are praying that God will bless this time as we continue to pray for vision and guidance in serving Him. So…back to my to do list!

kids club

kids club

Some of you might have seen some of these pictures on facebook though I thought I would share a few more with you.  God is really blessing the Wednesday afternoon Kids Club.  This week we had 70 kids.  How do I know? I took 60 snacks and had to send one of the older kids to buy 10 more.  Some of our older kids had stopped coming due to school conflicts.  The career teachers here have been on strike for over a month teaching only on Monday and Fridays.   They did not receive the pay increase promised them and striking is the cultural way to handle this.  The good news is this has allowed some of our older kids to return to us.  It was so good to have them back, I have really missed them! I have watched these kids grow over the last four years into great leaders.  I was so encourage by their worshipping, helping the younger kids with scripture memory, helping translate the story, and eagerly answering questions about the story of Daniel.  Please pray for these kids!  They are extremely poor, many undernourished, from Muslim and Animist families.  Pray that we have opportunities to reach these families!

We meet under a mango tree.  The picture of the pigs is the mango tree just beside us.  Sometimes I feel like we are in a barnyard with the goats, chickens, dogs, pigs running around us. C’est la vie!

Some of you might have seen some of these pictures on facebook though I thought I would share a few more with you.  God is really blessing the Wednesday afternoon Kids Club.  This week we had 70 kids.  How do I know? I took 60 snacks and had to send one of the older kids to buy 10 more.  Some of our older kids had stopped coming due to school conflicts.  The career teachers here have been on strike for over a month teaching only on Monday and Fridays.   They did not receive the pay increase promised them and striking is the cultural way to handle this.  The good news is this has allowed some of our older kids to return to us.  It was so good to have them back, I have really missed them! I have watched these kids grow over the last four years into great leaders.  I was so encourage by their worshipping, helping the younger kids with scripture memory, helping translate the story, and eagerly answering questions about the story of Daniel.  Please pray for these kids!  They are extremely poor, many undernourished, from Muslim and Animist families.  Pray that we have opportunities to reach these families!

We meet under a mango tree.  The picture of the pigs is the mango tree just beside us.  Sometimes I feel like we are in a barnyard with the goats, chickens, dogs, pigs running around us. C’est la vie!

Can you find the two isles?

After a hot and discouraging week of discovering new mosques, fetishes placed on our road and wonderings if we are really making a difference here God gave us a wonderful gift of worshipping with other believers on Sunday Morning. You can see by the pictures that our little church is “busting at the seams”.  Little by little they are raising money to expand the church, building as they have money.  The problem is that when this expansion is finished it will still be over crowded but that does not stop these believers.  There were 20 adults baptized on Sunday, new Sunday School workers were introduced, a great sermon in French and Barriba was preached, the worship was great and God even gave me the gift of a seat close to a window and a nice breeze blowing through the window in the 90+ degree church. May God be praised!

Many of you know I love to cook; I love being creative in the kitchen.  Perhaps this is part of God’s equipping me for ministry in Benin, especially ministering to the hungry American Peace Corp workers that come to dinner every week.  I thought I would share with you the process of last week’s meal, actually the process began weeks before.  I know this might not be everybody’s “cup of tea” so feel free to happily delete this one.

Last week I made breakfast burritos for Peace Corp  dinner.  Sounds easy! Several weeks ago I received a bag of wheat from Niger since we can only get really fine white flour here.  So I clean the wheat, dry the wheat, take it to a miller to get it ground and then I can make my tortillas.  I buy cheese in bulk in Cotonou because it is cheaper in Cotonou and they will discount it if you buy the 3 kilo block.  Cheese is very limited and VERY expensive here so I only use it now and then.  Then I go to the pork butcher and buy a chunk of pork, bring it home, grind it up and season it for my sausage. I then go to the outdoor market for all the ingredients to make salsa.  Eggs are easily available! Cooking it is easy and eating it is worth it or so those at my table thought so.  I should clarify the “I” is often aided by Marcelline a beninese lady that works for us since I also teach.   You can only imagine the adventure of making hamburgers and friesJ.

What a great 5 ½ weeks this mom had with her kids home from school.  I had such a great time I spent as little time on the computer as possible thinking “I have all of the time I need when they leave.” I am sad to say they flew back to school on Monday night. During the break we were riddled with colds, coughs and fevers. I stayed well until the day the kids left.  Today is the first day I have really done much on the computer.  My thought was to just answer emails but after talking with Joy, my sister, she pleaded for me to blog some of our holiday happenings.  So, if you are ready to have the holidays behind you feel free to move on to the next item on your listJ.  Here are some of the stories of Christmas at the Cox house in Benin…

As many of you know I help with a kids club each week held under a mango tree.  For Christmas we had a lunch and party for the kids. We made a huge pot of rice with vegetables and beef cubes in it.  Every last morsel was eaten.  I also took several coffee cakes which is a huge treat for them since they mainly cook over open fires.  We had a great time.  The best part was a reenactment of the Christmas story some of the kids put together.  It was similar to our nativity scenes with a few details added such as Mary putting a naked white plastic doll up her skirt then Mary falling to the ground, screaming and writhing on the ground with birthing pains for several seconds until she pulls out the baby and everyone cheers.  The finale was when King Herod demanded all of the young boys to be killed. The “soldiers” went throughout all of the kids and pretended to slit all of the boys’ throats.  The kids yelled, clutched their throats and fell onto the ground.  THE END. Everyone clapped, laughed and happily ate their lunch. hmmm, wonder what the M**l*m children thought?

This year we started a new tradition I hope! On Christmas Eve we went through town handing out sandwiches and oranges to the people begging on the streets. Honore, which many of you have met, went with us to share the gospel since he is a master of many languages. Honore shared that is was Christmas a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus and that Jesus wanted to be their friend and savior.  One lady that I often give food to told us that she used to go to a church but when she gave birth to twins she was shunned from the church and her family. It is often believed here that twins are a sign that you have been cursed. She now lives on the street. There were many sad stories as well as laughter and thankfulness. It was such a blessed time for all of us!

This year for advent we used readings by World Vision Canada.  Definitely a highlight of the Christmas season for me!  For Christmas dinner we had a young family over.  Nehemiah’s request was MEAT and lots of it, said like a true 15 year old boy.  The husbands grilled and we added salads, apple crisp and homemade ice cream for dessert.  It was a great day.

When one is not in America, not surrounded by displays in stores or commercials, the temperatures are rising instead of cooling off; when one does not get a day off work one tends to forget that tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Well, at least until one checks face book! Even so I am very thankful!!!

My kids will be flying into Benin on Saturday for more than 5 weeks. They asked if we could have Thanksgiving dinner when they get home so we will do our dinner on November the first. We will have about 18 Americans coming over for dinner. We will not have turkey but Paul did find a can of cranberry sauce in South Africa. It will be as close to traditional as we can make it. I cut up the pumpkin last week so it is cooked and in the freezer ready to make pies! The most important part is that we will be thankful to God for His many blessings He has bestowed on us! Did I mention that I cannot wait to see the kids? Hope everyone has a very blessed and thankful day! Donna

hey mom, i am G.R.E.A.T.so is life! … Love Miriam.  This is the opening of Miriam’s email this morning.  There is a big smile on this mom’s face!  I just feel so blessed right now.  My kids all seem to be doing great!  My husband has seen God’s hand moving in these weeks of meetings. As I reflect on the last two weeks of being “home alone” I see God’s abundant blessings prevailing here in Benin as well.  Do not get me wrong, I miss my family terribly but I know we all are where God has called us to be. I also know what God calls us to He equips us for it. These last two weeks I have had uninterrupted bible study time, worship time, think time, reading time…  I have had time for visits with friends and to have people over.  I am helping organize a conference that starts next week and I have had plenty of time to work on it without getting overwhelmed and more importantly to really pray for it. I have had time to be available to several in need. The phone lines and Skype have worked better than usual to America, South Africa and to Kenya. Thank you all for your many prayers over our family these last several weeks.  There is no doubt that God has answered! 

Please pray for the Spiritual Life Conference this next week.  I am praying that the 55 missionaries attending will be moved and refreshed through God’s word, worship and fellowship.  It will be a busy week for the planning committee for sure but a blessed one as well.  Thanks Again!

It seems like yesterday when my three kids were 4 years old and younger.  We lived in Swaziland and I remember thinking “one afternoon, if I could just have one afternoon to myself.” That season has passed and I can hardly wait for the end of November to come when all three kids are home and our house is loud, messy, and bustling with energy.  I have to admit it has been a great time for Paul and me to have some long evening meals and quiet Saturday mornings. The thing is, he leaves in a couple of days for two weeks of meetings in South Africa.  I am teaching and that helps and some very nice people just sent me The Amazing Race season 17.  You can guess what I will be doing in the late evenings.  I am sure God will bring along some other really amazing events for me to serve Him. 

Before I stop writing I must share about my birthday.  We went up North to visit our friends the Cherry and the Kauffman families.  These are the families that recently lost their son/nephew to Malaria.  I wanted this time to be about them so Paul agreed we would celebrate my birthday when we returned home.  While there I came down with a stomach something and after traveling for hours on a very bad road I did not feel like celebrating anything, for several days.  Paul declared this past Saturday “Princess Donna Day”.  He brought me coffee in bed, made breakfast, painted my toenails, washed dishes, read to me, had a friend make a really  really cute card… then on Sunday we went to lunch with friends and they also planned birthday cake (YUMMY Chocolate) at tea time.  I am very blessed!

Catching the bus to RVA

 

“Nehemiah what is your favorite thing about RVA this term?” This is a question I asked our son while visiting him last week at Rift Valley Academy in Kenya where our kids go to school.  “Mr. Dahlman and World History, he is an awesome teacher!”  This made me smile!  Mr. Dahlman was in my second grade class when I taught at RVA 20 years ago. He was a great kid then and an awesome role model for my son now.  While I was in Kenya Mr. Dahlman (rather funny for me to call him Mr.:)) also led worship for the Sunday morning worship service.  I am so proud of him.  I would like to think I might have played a small role in his journey; even so he is a godly young man investing in my son. I think that is a pretty good 20 year investment!

Many of you know I took all three kids to RVA and then went to the states to spend time with my family and then back to Kenya.  I returned home to Parakou last Wednesday and am slowly getting back into the rhythm of my Benin life.  My dad is doing better than he was two months ago praise the Lord.  We had some wonderful times together.  I especially loved drinking that second cup of coffee over a leisurely breakfast with my mom and dad.  Our time was so blessed with few other demands on us.  While I was there we celebrated my dad’s 80^th birthday.  It was quite the celebration with family and community.  For the first time in four years (I think) my brother, sister and I were together.  I could go on and on about my time in the US but just know that I am very thankful for time spent in the US and those that I was able to see.

Since I flew from Kenya I was able to see the kids on my return to Benin.  They have all settled in well.  Miriam Loves it! Thanks for all of your prayers.  I loved seeing each of them in their environment.  I went to several classes ate lunch with their friends, went to soccer and basketball games, went to chapels, talked with teachers and dorm parents.  We are so blessed that our kids have a school like RVA to go to!

Miriam and Micah at RVA