Chicks (human and fowl) and Piggies!

Houseguest

I wish I would/could blog more often.  When I finally get around to posting an entry, there are so many things I want to cover, yet I fear I will put my readers to sleep if it gets too long!  First, I will explain about these two beautiful young ladies!  Meet Suzanne, our 4 year old house guest for last week.  Suzanne's mother, Mary, became gravely ill a week and a half ago, so while she was being treated in the hospital, she came to live with us for a while.  As you can see, she enjoyed big sister Ruthie most of all, and loved trying on her clothes and insisting they "fit just fine" and that "she can wear them".  One night, they came out in these matching dresses, and I had to snap some pictures.  Too cute!

Thankfully, Mary is better now. Suzanne was able to go home Saturday night.  Her daddy came and picked her up, much to the delight of our little visitor.

"I like Chickens to EAT!" 

So, while little Miss Suzanne was staying with us, we were able to purchase our first set of chickens.  Here are some pictures of the coop going up.  Silly me, I don't have any pictures of the finished product - boy, is it nice.  We call it the "Chicken Palace", because Chicken Coop just doesn't accurately capture the situation.  

Suzanne LOVED our chickens, and she was a big help in domesticating them.  Why we need them to be TAME like our chickens back home, when we are planning on killing many of them, is beyond me.  But, for some reason, we think we just have to be friends with our food.  :-)

Having these chickens has been somewhat like getting free therapy - there is something SO soothing for me to be sitting in the coop, in my white plastic chair, sipping coffee and reading my book while the little guys and gals walk around chirping blissfully and pecking my toes.  I love it.

Little Suzanne obviously did, too.  But one night at supper, when we asked her if she liked the chickens, she answered in her booming, cute and adorable voice, "I LIKE CHICKENS TO EAT!!"

 WE ALL cracked up for several minutes.  It was too funny.  As busy and adorably bossy as she can be, the chickens LOVED the attention she lavished on them each day.  I'm sure they are missing her now, as she went back home two days ago.

I have more chicken pics to upload, but our internet mysteriously slowed down just now, so I guess that's all the pictures I can do right now.

Picking out the chickens was a trip and a half.  Not quite like going to Charla's parent's Back 40 Supply and just buying the little fluff-balls.

Buying our Chicks....Quite the Adventure!

We walked to a town nearby, carrying one of the black Action-Packer boxes that we used as luggage when we flew to Rwanda.  We found the chicken place, and bought 20 out of 1,600 baby chicks the man had in a very small room.  The room was a SEA of chicks!  It looked like the floor was moving!

Next, we bought chick feed.  That was in another room.  It looked like a big hill of sand.  He scooped some of it up, weighed it, and gave it to us in the sack we had thankfully brought with us.

I don't know what's in the feed, but the chicks love it.  In fact, we just ran out again.

This Little Piggy Went to Market....

On the way home, we saw two men strapping a VERY MUCH ALIVE, full grown pig to the back of their bicycle with strips of black car tire material instead of rope.  He was laid sideways behind the bike seat, on top of some random, uneven twigs they placed underneath him to hold him there.  That poor pig was grunting and groaning like crazy.  I'm pretty sure he would have broken his back by the time they reached their destination.  I'm not much of a PETA person, but this scene just might get me to sign up.  I'm hoping they didn't kill the pig before transport because they needed it alive for some reason when they got home.  Maybe it wasn't ready for slaughter yet?  I hope there was a good reason for Mr. Pig to have to go through all of that.  Seeing all the people suffering here definitely puts worrying about a pig into perspective for me, but still.......I can't bear to think of that animal suffering unless there was at least a good reason!

School Days...

I've been to the primary school a few times in the last week, taking pictures of the P-5 students and having them fill out a letter to send to some pen pals in Kerrville, for a sort of cultural/educational exchange experience.  The whole procedure has taken sooooo much longer than we'd hoped, and we are still not finished.  Today I walked to the school, only to be told that the P-5's don't come today until after lunch.  They forgot to tell me when we scheduled the pictures for 8 a.m. Monday morning.

Why aren't they coming til after lunch?  The country is so overpopulated with children, they don't have enough buildings nor teachers to teach the students for a full day.  So, the students alternate coming in the mornings or afternoons in order to be able to fit everyone in.  Each class has about 50 students per classroom, with 3 to 4 students per desk, and one teacher.  When I took their pictures, the students took turns putting on the two or three good looking uniforms.  They all were wearing uniforms, but some were quite ripped and old and torn, with large holes.  They wanted to look their best, so the ones with the newest uni's kindly shared with all the others.  It was a pretty poignant thing to see them changing their clothes back and forth before their pictures.  I hope I remember this after I return to the US and think we need to have a bunch of different brand new school clothes for each child at La Cantera......

If we in America (and I include myself here, so PLEASE don't think I'm judging anyone!) would just cut out purchases by ten percent, and use that money to feed and clothe the poor around the world, I think we could make such a difference.  Such a huge difference.

English Choir

As I was singing this afternoon with my English class (we call it English Choir now), we were discussing the meaning behind an old Young Life song, "He knows my name".  They asked what the line means, "Before even time began, my life was in His hands".  I started to talk about how the Bible says that even before God created the heavens and the earth, even before time officially started, He knew all of us, each one of us, and He loved us all.  That He knew each of us before we even existed!  He knew our names already.  As we were talking about this, I watched Ildephonse and Innocent and Louise and the others all nodding and agreeing and saying, "I see, I see what this means now.  Yes, our Father has known us and loved us even before time began. "   Suddenly, I was overcome by emotion and started crying.  I quickly recovered, but I'm sure they were wondering what my problem was!

I thought, "Yes, God does know ALL of our names, all the names of ALL of us on this globe - all that ever came before us, and all who will come after us.  He has known us ALL before time began.  All of these people here are precious to Him, and yet here they are, living in absolute poverty.  They don't have even their most basic needs met.  Their children suffer and die for lack of food and medical care.  They don't have any clothes besides what they wear on their backs.  They have no shoes.  Many times, they die because they need an operation they just cannot get - something we in America would get easily.  Or they cannot afford the drive to Kigali where someone knows how to do the operation, so they go without.  They would prefer to have an amputation here in our hospital, than to have a limb cured in the Kigali hospital, six hours' drive away - because they cannot afford the drive.

Why is this?  The uncomfortable truth, I believe, is because all of us, children whom God also DEARLY LOVES, are too busy doing our own thing, chasing our designer clothes, living in our big houses and driving our new cars to listen to His voice which tells us to feed His children and to care for them.  I am guilty of all of this.  I am not pointing fingers.  How can I?

Lord, have mercy on me and on all of us for all the years and resources we have squandered, rather than using them carefully in order to bless one of your children, whom you know by Name.

To Everyone reading this blog:  I give you FULL permission to call to my attention all extravagances and luxuries you ever see me purchase or think of purchasing when we return home.  Feel free to call me to account, and to ask me if I *really* need that!  I.Am.Serious.!!!!!  I'm sure I will still buy some luxurious things, but I surely hope I will think good and long and hard before I do so.......and I hope that we will live more fully for our brothers and sisters who have so much less than us, and whom God loves just as much as us.

I will edit this post and upload pictures for these descriptions as soon as I can.

Until next time, God bless!  Thanks for reading!