Rebecca's Wedding

This is the day that the Lord hath made,
let us rejoice and be glad in it!
~ Psalm 118:24 ~
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Rebecca's wedding day dawned bright and clear (a wonderful blessing considering we are entering the rainy season). There was much hustle and bustle in our compound as everyone prepared themselves, and the lovely bride, for the wedding! Here she is...
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Just beautiful...
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Rebecca and her Maid of Honor waited in the car at the church for almost an hour, while choirs sang and guests arrived. No one could see the bride before her grand entrance, but there are no foyers or extra rooms to wait in before the wedding. Most of the church buildings here in Niger consist of one large room - the sanctuary.
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Amy waited in the car with her Mommy in eager anticipation.
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Little Bulus (Paul in Hausa) is one of the pastor's sons. He is wearing an outfit made from the fabric Rebecca chose for the wedding. You'll see lots of people wearing this, including our family. Bulus is a lucky little guy to have found a balloon! It must have fallen from the ceiling of the church, where some were hanging. Bulus is just a few months younger than Anna.
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Preparing the way for the bride! This is one of my favorite parts of the Nigerien wedding ceremonies. The friends of the bride enter the church before she does, spraying perfume everywhere, and sometimes throwing confetti. Solomon refers to the "fragrance" of the Bride and her Bridegroom many times throughout the Song of Solomon. Every time I experience the entrance of the bride, with the fragrance of perfume being dispersed around her, I think of Jesus, the Bridegroom, and His Bride, the Church.
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...and here comes the bride!
(Her flowers were freshly picked from our yard.)
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Everyone was straining to see Rebecca as she entered - no small feat (especially when you only a few feet tall) in a crowd of 400-500 people.
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The whole wedding party, with Rebecca and her groom, Adamou, sitting together in the center. As you can see, Amy didn't last very long! She conked out about 5 minutes into the ceremony. At these wedding ceremonies, the wedding party sits for most of the time - a good idea, really, as the ceremony usually lasts about 3 hours, and temperatures are well above 100 degrees in the church.
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The church was packed out - with up to a dozen people looking in each window, and groups of 20-30 people sitting outside within hearing distance.
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With this ring...
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I, thee wed... (this was in Hausa)
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There was a reception following the ceremony. Here they are - the newlyweds!
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Getting ready to cut the cake (my labor-of-love).
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Here we go!
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Careful now! :)
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It was a wonderful day! We all came home exhausted, but happy, and thankful for the Lord's hand in this marriage. Thank you to everyone who has blessed Rebecca by standing with her in prayer over the last year. She is grateful for your love. We are so excited to see the Lord bless her as she begins this new, exciting season!
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Congratulations, Rebecca & Adamou!
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"The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day."
~ Proverbs 4:18 ~
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We're Ready for a Wedding!

We are all gearing up for a big day tomorrow! My friend, Rebecca, is getting MARRIED!!! (See her story in Grieving with Joy, and Beauty for Ashes.) She has been engaged for about five months now to a very nice young man named Adamou. We are excited for Rebecca, Adamou, and Amy as they begin this new journey of becoming a family tomorrow.
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Rebecca and Amy - sorry, I don't have a picture of Adamou yet. Guess you'll have to wait for wedding pictures tomorrow! :)

So! My job was to make Rebecca's wedding cake. I couldn't make a cake without my little kitchen-helper, Anna! She ate more frosting than anything, but it was fun to have her company - well, I had her company until she realized Mommy wouldn't let her snitch anymore goodies!

Here we are - ready, set, go!
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My first wedding cake. I am no expert, but I had fun!
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The finished product!

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We weren't the only ones to have busy preparations all day. While I worked on my labor-of-love in my kitchen, a half-dozen ladies set up kitchen, Nigerien style, out in my back yard! They made hundreds and hundreds of tiny fried cakes. The cakes were yummy! I got to sample one.
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Frying the tiny cakes...
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Kneading dough, rolling, and cutting it into the small pieces to be fried.

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We all have matching outfits ready to go, fresh from the tailor's. Here in Niger, when there is a big celebration, a certain type of fabric is chosen for the occasion, and anyone who would like to can buy some and have an outfit made. Tomorrow, all four of us will show up for the wedding, along with dozens of Nigerien friends, wearing the fabric Rebecca has chosen for her wedding. Isaiah and Anna are soooo excited about wearing their new outfits! I'm not going to show you our outfits until tomorrow. Since the wedding will probably last at least 3 hours, then the reception will go on for quite some time as well, however, I'll be doing really well if I can post pictures by tomorrow. You'll see them soon, one way or another!
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We are excited to see the Lord blessing Rebecca. She has walked a long, difficult road over the past few years, but she has faithfully continued to trust in Jesus every step of the way.
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Tomorrow, if you think of us, please pray God's richest blessing on Rebecca, Adamou, and Amy!

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Happy Birthday, Dear Anna...

Our Anna turned 2 today! We are so thankful for this bundle of energetic delight!

Here she is! Enjoying a special straw and special juice at her birthday breakfast. She's also enjoying a new dress that came in the mail from her Grammie in Maine and a new headband from her Auntie Bri.

Isaiah has been counting down to Anna's birthday for months! He was so excited that you might have thought it was his special day.

Daddy made animal balloons for everyone!

How did Mommy pull off BBQ chicken-wing pizza for supper?!!

Happy Birthday to you! Homemade brownie cupcakes...

Need I say more?

Happy 2nd Birthday, Anna Delight!
You are a joy to us, and to every person whose life you touch!

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It's Mango Season!

We all must admit that there is one great thing that comes with the hot season - MANGOES! I had never eaten fresh mangoes before coming to Niger, and I must say that they are absolutely amazing! So sweet, juicy, and perfect, especially on a hot day. Our family spent a few days this last week preparing and freezing dozens of mangoes. The mango season is short, just a few weeks long, and we want to have them all throughout the year. We thought you'd enjoy a glimpse into our day. It made for a great family activity. Everyone got involved, everyone had fun, and we all ate way too many mangoes along the way! It was great!

Are we ready?!! Yes, we are. Daddy mans the washing station along with his two little helpers.

Everyone pitched in...

Beautiful mangoes...

Now we're coring the mangoes, cutting out the sweet fruit, then discarding the tough layer of skin and the large seed.

BUT no seed was thrown out before getting a final cleaning by our clean-up crew, Isaiah and Anna.

Mmmm-mmm-good! Oh, wait, that's Campbell's.
Well, this is Mmmm-mmm-good, too!

Working away...

Isaiah takes a turn at cutting out the fruit. He only gets a butterknife, though. I love how serious about his job he is right here!

Here's Mommy! Check out the ghetto dish-towel head tie. The days are not only hot now, they're muggy, too. It was SOOO hot in the kitchen that I couldn't even see because I was so sweating so much. The kitchen towel was a perfect fix for that! I've had some people comment on my apron. It's very special to me, because my mom made it for me before we came to Niger. In gorgeous, colorful display, the design depicts African women and children dancing in celebration as it begins to rain. Quite fitting, I think. We have received rain 3 times since my last blog, and we have danced in celebration every time.

Now I think it's time for a mango smoothie!!!

Oh, just wanted to let you know, we are saving some mangoes in the freezer just for guests who come visit us in Niger!

Come on over - we're ready!

Where Did the Water Go?

The hot season in Niger. It is dreaded by Nigeriens and missionaries alike. I had one friend liken it to childbirth - you forget how bad it is until you go through it again. Jonathan and I occasionally look at each other and say, “Well, we’re really doing it! We are really enduring the heat of Niger."

In the hot season:
• My candles melt on their own. I can shape and form them like soft dough in my hands.
• The water (when we have it) comes out of the tap hot – almost hot enough to burn. I have to be careful when I pour water for the children.
• The kittens' milk curdles within hours.
• The walls of the house are all hot to the touch – they feel like an oven that was turned off several minutes ago.
• When we mop the floor, we don’t wring the water out. One side of the room is dry by the time we reach the other side.
• I don’t worry about spills. They’ll dry within minutes.

As we delve into the heat of the hot season, we are discovering that the this time of year isn’t difficult simply because it’s hot, but because other resources run low as well. We jokingly have “3 Essentials” to living well in Niger. Electricity, water, and internet. I know, I know. They aren’t all essential to living, but they certainly do make things easier to cope with. The one that IS essential to life is water. And lately we’ve been asking ourselves, “Where did the water go?”

Well, there is no specific answer to this question. Not really, but there are some really solid reasons for why it’s been disappearing lately…

1. It’s running about 115 degrees outside during the day, and probably about 100 inside. If we’re lucky, the cooler rooms in the house are probably in the 90s. With AC on, which we only have in our bedrooms, and run at night and naptimes, we get it down to the 80s.
2. It hasn’t rained in over 7 months.
3. Everyone NEEDS water, so when there is water, it's in high demand.
4. Oh, yeah, did I mention that we live in a desert, that it’s 115 degrees out, and that everyone needs water?

It seems that the water supply is now being rationed. We have hardly had running water in the house during the day for several weeks now. It’s been cut at about 7am, and may come back on between 10pm-12am.

This means:
• Late nights and early mornings filling buckets so that we will have essential water throughout the day
• Drinking water comes first. Only if there’s extra do we do dishes, cleaning, etc.
• Bucket baths only. What’s a bucket bath? Using a cup of water, dipping water from a bucket, and pouring it over one’s head. Try this on exceptionally muddy/sandy children. It’s a real riot!
• Giving the dishes a bucket bath. Seriously never realized how much I love having running water for washing dishes!
• No laundry. Oh, yeah, in 115 degree heat. The dirty clothes pile is getting higher and higher. Thankfully, at least one day a week, we’ve had enough running water to wash a few loads. Praise God!
• Limited ability to clean in the house.
• Rationing toilet flushes. I won’t go into details, but I’m sure you can imagine how this affects one’s life!
• No extra water for play. Isaiah and Anna can’t swim in their little pool, because there isn’t enough water to fill it. Somehow, they manage to find a little water to play with here and there (one day, unbeknown to me, it was the filtered (precious!) drinking water, other times, they sneak into the buckets that are allocated for bathing and dishes).

And so we slog through the month of May, knowing that all things must come to an end, even the heat of Nigerien hot season. We all look to the sky, hoping to see rain clouds. We dream of rain, forgetting that the rainy season brings humidity and loads of bugs. But still, we dream of rain! It should be coming in just a few weeks.

The remaining “essentials” from our “3 Essentials” are electricity and internet. While we do have electricity most of the time, we experience a phenomenon that was most definitely foreign (no pun intended!) to me when we lived in the States. It is that of fluctuating electrical current. Yes, we have electricity, but the strength of the current sways back and forth between good and barely functioning. Our fans may be on “high”, but there are many times that I can watch every blade as it lazily makes its way around and round. It’s like the electricity has a rhythm – up and down, up and down, up and down. Very difficult on appliances! We usually don’t notice this problem, but our air conditioners (which we keep in our rooms and run at night and naptimes), have a certain threshold of electricity that they need to pump out the cold air. Therefore, we have electricity, but if the current isn’t high enough, the AC units are pumping out warm, humid air. Sigh… You know it’s bad when the room with the AC on is hotter than the other 100-degree rooms!

Internet, which has been great up to this point, has decided to cop out on us, too! It’s been flashing on and off all day, not on long enough to check email, write email, or post a blog. I’m writing this in faith that it will come back on soon!

On the flip side of things, there is living water that is flowing freely in this desert! The living water that Jesus offers is never rationed! We find ourselves flowing from one event to another – this week, there is a Pastor’s Conference for all Vie Abondante pastors, we are hosting Pastor Ron Childs in our home, and Jonathan is coordinating a Youth Camp event that will be taking place this coming Friday-Sunday. The definition of youth is between the ages of 15-26, and we are expecting from 60-90 youth to be present. The Bible School has 3 weeks remaining before the end of the first semester. Jonathan has absolutely loved teaching these new believers “The Attributes of God”. Last week, we took part in the baptism of 9 of the Bible School students. It was incredible! As each student entered the water, his/her classmates sang and joyfully danced nearby. After the baptism, I turned to Jonathan and said, “THAT made every moment of difficulty worth it all.” Yes, we may be fighting heat, lack of physical comfort, and inconvenience, but, like the tribulation of childbirth, the results are worth it all, and the pain of labor is forgotten.

In eternity, we won’t remember the “3 E’s for Living Well in Niger”. We won’t ever wonder where the water has gone. We’ll be with Jesus, the source, and that is all that matters.

(This was written 10 days ago on May 9th. We had our first rain 3 days later on May 12th.)

Our First Easter in Niger

We shared a beautiful Easter Sunday with the Christian believers in Niger. What a privilege! One of the things that stood out to us most was the simplicity of the celebration - it was a celebration that focused on Jesus alone. The Nigeriens that we celebrated Jesus' Resurrection with all know the meaning of suffering for His name's sake. They have faced persecution, they have forsaken all, and they are thankful for the joy, peace, forgiveness, and abundant life that His death and resurrection made available to them. There was such excitement in the air as everyone gathered in the church to celebrate!

Like many believers, our family had special outfits made for Easter Sunday. Easter is the primary Christian celebration in Niger, with Christmas coming in second. Many people spent weeks preparing for the Easter weekend! There were multiple meetings from Good Friday through Easter Sunday, one of which included a showing of the Jesus Film at the church Saturday evening. Christmas brings the birth of the baby, but Easter celebrates the power of the risen, victorious King! Hallelujah!

Our family sang a special in Hausa, "Yesu ya mutu bisa giciye saboda ni, yanzu ina da yanci!" (Jesus died on the cross for me, and now I am free!) Jonathan and Isaiah wrote this song, and it is now one of Isaiah's favorites.

Here they are...

...two Bowden cutie-bugs enjoy the worship, and each other!

They're becoming the best of friends.

Giggles...



And more giggles...

After the service, everyone gathered for a celebration feast! Everyone had brought a "dish to pass". All the "dishes" were served out onto large trays, then divvied out to groups of people. Here is Anna, ready to dig in. We all sat in a circle around the food (most of which was rice, stew, and yam), and ate with our right hand from our area of the platter. Don't worry, everyone washed their hands before eating!


So hungry! Can we start yet?!!



Anna and Mommy! Anna still amazes the Nigeriens by her incredible appetite and love of all.foods. They've never seen anything like it, and think it is simply wonderful.



Daddy and Isaiah with the pastors and church leaders.



Daddy helps Anna wash up at the pump on the church compound. The motos that you see in the foreground belong to our pastors. They are the primary means of vehicle transportation in Maradi. Most people travel on foot, though.



Walking back together... I love these Daddy-Daughter moments!



The youth in the church wrapped up the day by dancing joyfully after the meal.

What a special day! We'll never forget our first Easter in Niger!