Sofa Saga.....

You would think that purchasing a sofa was an easy thing wouldnt you but not here....

First of all you have to design your own, then find a fabric you think would look good, then find a carpenter and upholsterer and then wait weeks......Then the day comes when you have parted with lots of cash and you get to see what it looks like and whether your design was right....Unfortunately there is a problem if the carpenter doesnt get the measurements you gave and makes something completely different and something that won't even fit through the door !!!

This was my experience today....my friend was waiting for the sofa to be delivered while I was at the hospital with Aminci, I got a call to say that the sofa would not fit through the door and it would have to be left out over night until it could be taken back in the morning. My friend remarked that it seemed rather large and deep and she didn't think i would be able to sit in it and still reach the floor!!! how right she was.

I got home after an extremely emotional day to see something that resembled two thrones...and a sofa outside. As its not rained for months it would seem safe to assume it would be ok outside as its so heavy but dont make assumptions...


I woke up this morning and pulled the curtains to see to my horror that dogs had attacked it overnight and had badly damaged it !!! I promptly burst into tears i already didnt know whether I had any come back with the maker and now i had a badly damaged sofa....
After a few cups of tea .....Erin and I prayed that somehow God would intervene and help us as we were weak and didn't have a clue what to say. The lady came this morning and miraculously could see that the design was crazy and ridiculously out of proportion for me and agreed to take it back and make me another one !! I just have to pay for the dog damage and wait a few more weeks to get it........ Praise the Lord an honest business man a rare find here.


As you can see from the photo I am not amused !!!! ahhhhhhh Nigeria.

A Crazy Couple of Days....

What a crazy few days, summing up how unpredictable life is here in Nigeria, life is never dull and hardly ever goes according to plan. This last couple of days have had moments of excitement and joy followed by sadness and tiredness.

On Tuesday Aminci a friend of mine went into labour and i was involved with driving her to hospital inorder for her to have a cesarean ( something she was very scared of as no one in her family has ever had an operation before. ) A few hours later she had a baby boy, who was premature and was rushed into an incubator. Ive never seen an incubator quite like this one, little more than a glass box with tubes...the baby was tiny and was struggling to breath. Aminci was confined to bed and the baby was in another part of the hospital so she couldnt see it . Erin and I went to see the new baby and left thinking all was well. The next morning after Hausa class i got a text to say that the baby had died :( barely a day old. Lack of oxygen and limited facilities didnt help , my poor friend didn't even get to hold or feed her baby.

People here cope with death very differently,showing little emotion and the baby was buried that day in their garden. Maybe we see death so much more here life is never taken for granted and seen as the Lord's will

Baby " Miracle "

My Nigerian Manager and his wife, Reverand Haruna and 'Mommy', took care of Friday, their nephew, for seven years. Just recently Friday died from a sudden sickness at age 12, which devastated Rev. and Mommy. However, God was so good. The day before Friday passed, Mommy was at work at the community health clinic, where she stays for a few nights at a time, since it is outside of Jos. Someone brought in a newborn baby with her umbilical cord still attached. The baby had been abandoned and covered with sand. She was discovered because a dog was biting on her umbilical cord and she began to cry. The mother of the baby, of course, was nowhere to be found. The police interviewed different women in the neighborhood and decided that Mommy was the best candidate to look after the baby while they tried to find her mother. Mommy was caring for her when she received the news that Friday had died. So Mommy bundled her up and took her home with her.
In the midst of the intense grief, God provided a miracle baby to bring joy, comfort and purpose to their lives. I went to their home the day we received the sad news about Friday. When I saw the baby and heard her story I said to Mommy "You must name her Miracle, for indeed she is." She agreed and that is her name. :)
Two months have passed and Miracle continues to bring happiness and God's love into their home. They see how the Lord was so good to them and His timing was just incredible, giving Miracle to them the day before Friday passed. Rev and Mommy have been wanting to have another baby (have 2 older children), but it has not been possible. They are working on formally adopting her.
This picture was taken on Sunday, Miracle's 2 month birthday. She was dedicated at church, which is why she has some eye makeup on - something the Nigerians put on baby girls for special occasions.

Welcome to my new blog.....

Reconciliation of our boys.
As a ministry a few months ago we started to re- evaluate what we were doing and who we were serving , as we had grown rapidly over the last few years.


We discovered that many of the children have some family and we also looked into those who had been delivered from Occultic practices for several years to see whether they could be reconciled back into their communities. We realise it is far better in this culture if a child grows up with its family as the family and extended family unit is very strong here. As a part of this process we sent home for Christmas about 100 of our boys, and the staff visited them to assess their situations .


Many families stated that they had seen such changes in their children , their behaviour and their abilities had greatly improved and they were pleased to have them back. Of course for some we discovered they need to be with us. We want to exist as a ministry to help those children who have no one to help them and to train and disciple them so they can function well in their society. Some of the older ones we realise need to learn a trade alongside their education , so they can start to be independent when they leave school, and so we have sent some to a Technical Boarding school and they will come back to us or family in the holidays. As a ministry we are committed to help with school fees as long as we can so the children's education does not stop but this as ever is reliant on money being brought in by God.


So this week has been an amazing time for all of us in the ministryas we have been travelling around taking some of our boys back to their families. On Tuesday we took 10 to boarding school as you can see from the picture this was quite an undertaking as they have to go with lots of stuff.... they were excited and nervous at the same time and we were all quite emotional as we left them. We pray they will settle well and make good friends and that God protects them.

Then on Wednesday and Thursday we drove around several villages reconciling boys back to family members. We caused quite a stir turning up in small communities with two jeeps a car and a minibus loaded with mattresses etc..but we took all the boys in the area going home to see where each other lived and we greeted the families and prayed with them as we left their children with them. Mothers were crying, along with us Aunties as we gave back boys ...it was awesome to see the reason why the ministry exists happening before your very own eyes...boys whose lives had been turned around by God and who could now go home....We hope many more will follow in these first ones footsteps.

Here is a picture of Ayuba and Solomon re united with their Dad. He was so happy to see his boys back after being with us for 5 years after their mother died. He has built new rooms for them and has got farm land ready for them to be able to grow food.

This is Bala ( in yellow) with his Mum and two sisters and younger brother re- united in the village. He was greeted by his family who are excited to have him home, after being a changed boy delivered from Occultic behaviour and he can now be a real help to his Mum and older Brother. I was sad to see him leave as I have grown very close to him over my time here but know it is best for him.
As we leave these precious children in school or in their communities we have to Trust that God will look after them and that he knows the plans for their future. They were his children before they were ever ours and he knows them all by name......please pray for them as they adjust to new lifestyles.