My House

People have asked, do you live in a grass or a mud hut? Do you have running water? Do you have electricity? All of these are great questions because they have no idea what Togo is like. So I'd like to show you how my family and I live in Togo. I would love to show you personally and have a cup of coffee or tea with you but a picture will have to do.

This first room is my favorite. It is peaceful and cool, and is full of tropical plants. It has lots of textures and some color. Jesse and I love to sit here in the morning to read and drink our coffee. The boys love the porch too; it is a great place to snuggle up on someones lap! Before that it was completely unusable because the mosquitos are so bad on that side of the house. Now we love it so much that we wish we had done it years ago when we fist moved here. When you come to Togo we will sit out there with our coffee and chat!

When we first arrived in Togo we decided to get some seagrass chairs made. It has been a great investment. I think they make this room, and they are my favorite thing in the room. I love to decorate with local things that have been made here. I have three baskets on the wall, which are normally used to sell things on, and the big bowl on the table is made from a cashew tree. Just recently I asked a gentleman from one of the trainings if he knew of anyone who makes rope and I asked him if he could buy me a few rolls of it in the village. I expected small rolls like a ball of yarn, but to my surprise he brought these massive things! I love them, though, and I think they make a great statement. The mat on the floor is a large muslim prayer mat. I love how colorful it is. These mats are used by everyone in Togo, and I love decorating with them. My favorite part about them is that you can just hose them off when they get dirty because they are plastic.

I hope you enjoyed my front porch and please stop by again, I will be sharing more of the rooms in the house in the near future.

A ball of locally made rope

Baskets from the market

Muslim prayer mat

Sea grass chair from Ghana

A little friend at the market

I was walking through the market one day and I came across a little girl strapped into a chair. The reason why she was strapped in was because she is handicapped. The thing that struck me about little Esther is that she was so happy. The minute you start talking to her she starts smiling at you. Not a small smile; its a huge, contagious kind. I am blessed to know little Esther and her mom.

In Togo and many places in the world people who have handicaps are unfortunately not always looked after the way they should be. When I saw Esther's mom sitting on the ground with her, feeding her and cleaning her, my heart sang. It was and is obvious she loves her daughter, handicap and all. I could not imagine the difficulties she faces here in Togo, but it makes me smile every time I see little Esther sitting in the chair happy as can be, and seeing her mom with a heart full of love for her. I am so blessed to know little Esther and to be able to see that beautiful smile and talk with her.

My Three Boys!

Meet my three boys. Joshua is my oldest, Owen is my middle son and Ian is my youngest. I am blessed beyond measure by these three. I thank God for them and the life that God has given me with them.

A New Training

Jesse (my husband) started a new training with some men and woman from Sokodé today. Sokodé is about an hour South of us. Please pray for the people in the training, but also for the teachers. We are excited about this new group of people, to see what God is going to do with them. Thank you in advance for your prayers.

Fear Can Drive You

Because I live in Togo, I have been asked many times this question: "Aren't you afraid of living in a place like Africa with your children?" And my answer is yes. When I first arrived in Togo with my family I was so scared of going outside because of mosquitoes. When my son would get a mosquito bite I would be so concerned that he would get malaria. I had so many fears, mostly because of the unknown. As our family grows and I bring babies to Togo, more fears arise in me. Malaria, infections, strange illnesses, meningitis, staff infections, snakes, scorpions, and even allowing other people here to hold my baby. 

I will say that with time a lot of these fears go away, but there are some fears that remain and almost haunt me as I continue to live here. Just today I was starting a bath for Ian, our youngest, and looked in the water and saw a small scorpion floating there. Thankfully I had not put him in the water yet. I decided to write this very post because of that situation. As soon as I saw the baby scorpion I immediately started thinking about what could have happened. I also wondered if this were a baby one, where is the mommy or daddy scorpions? How did it get in the bathtub? This fear was consuming, I could not stop thinking about it.

Fear can control you and hold you back in so many different areas. It can cause you to hold your children back also. I don't want to allow fear to run my life. I want to be careful but not fearful. I want to give the Lord free reign in my life and the lives of my children.

For me it is a conscious decision I have to make, to put my fears in His lap, and to follow Him, to trust Him with my life, to constantly give Him the children He entrusted me with, and to trust His plan.

There are so many verses on fear and so many of them come to mind. I love how in Joshua 1:9 God is telling Joshua, "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed." But I often think of and rest in the words that follow, "for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

I am so happy that we have a God that we can give our fears to.