Hope House kids

working on a craft

Chris un, love his smile

a team telling a Bible story

Walter was picked to play Goliath

A smaller child was picked for the role of David

Hannah on the left and Quinn on the right trying to convince  Gloire to jump rope

Gloire has other ideas!

Henrica gives it her all... definitely an over achiever!

I loved these shots when Mama Natalie (who runs the HH with her husband Pastor Israel) got out there and played a little b ball!

Victoire looks so innocent with his water balloon...

But Joshua looks mischievous with his!

everything you own

now take it out and put it on the front lawn...

a guy did this in rural China...

http://enpundit.com/rural-chinese-families-photographed-with-everything-they-own/

I have more than all these people and I don't even have a house!

crayon monster

Mbina or Bean as we called her although I think her parents named her Stephanie.

At the Hope House, coloring a big quilt.

Joshua (Joe's way) in the background... doesn't seem concerned with the crayon monster.

flip through fast

i love clouds

Sam's boxes

As the Samaritan's Purse Christmas Shoebox is coming soon, I thought I would show a few photos from where you send these boxes!
So Gabon had one person in charge of it all, and that used to be Pastor Jean Marc until he became the Regional Director!

I am not sure what the process is in other countries, but here is how it goes in Gabon...

Last year I believe they receive five containers of gifts.  Those get stored in a warehouse in the capital of Libreville until they can get shipped to other parts of the country.

It was cool to actually see where that check you put in the box goes to.

In Gabon, most things are done with diplomacy and a little flair.  This is no different.  It is not just hand boxes out... oh no!  It is a celebration!  It was never less than a 2/3 hour affair.

So this one started with drinks and cookies...

and of course they have to dance!

I really wonder if this is how they teach patience.

But then the real event starts.  But first the list!  In order to receive a gift your name must be on the list!

Then we give gifts!!  The good part...

Olivia... an intern or the cookie monster!

And then the moment they have been waiting for finally arrives!!

the smiles make the day...

Moving

Photos are really my best writing...

If you have ever been here, you probably wouldn't recognize it now.

Hannah are not the only ones moving... Hannah has also moved her blog... she is the wanderlovestory blog on the right.  Here she is sporting Joseph's sunshades.  Take off the tag, but why?  Just because it blocks my vision?  

A little differently

Many of you might not know the details to our leaving Gabon, but Envision closed their site there.  

We had to sell all our stuff, which was actually quite a bit.  There were a few families before us who did a wonderful job at outfitting the place, and then as people would come they would often leave things.  So in the end we ended up with quite a bit of stuff... for example... over 100 towels and 40 sheet sets!  
We made a listing of the big stuff (couches, refrigerators, etc.), that we sent out to other missionaries and nationals, and had two yard sales to sell the little things.  It was craziness!  Think of black Friday madness in your house!  One guy who Hannah observed to have just picked up a basket of things without looking at them, came back days later complaining that the stuff did not work.  We said we would refund him if he brought the things back, but he really just wanted us to give him a deal on a chain saw that was not actually for sale.
There is a book called "African Friends and Money Matters" by David Maranz which I highly recommend if you ever go to live in Africa.  Unfortunately I actually read the book the last month I was there!  I definitely wished I had read it the first month!  This book describes a lot of the cultural differences between Africa and the Western world.  One of the big differences is how you do yard sales.  Actually to be accurate I'm not sure they actually do yard sales.  But we learned that the way we did it was not the best way to go about it.
But in the end after we had it all sold and understood that we had not gone about it well, we had one person who was thankful because they normally did not get the chance to get stuff, but this time they did.

Let's try a video

Marcus, Scott, and Jeff playing their newly bought djembes (jimbay).

Porcupine, Antelope, Crocodile, Palm worm, and python

Oh to be back in the US!  You know it took less than 30 seconds to upload these two photos!!  Unbelievable!
You can order whatever is on the menu!!  And there are so many choices!!
Culture shock.
But you usually can't order python.

On Wednesday nights we usually had a English Bible study with Alace, Steve, Nesmi, and Andou.  Andou is a Gabonese who married a Malagasy woman (from Madagascar), Nesmi.  She speaks perfect English, and what he didn't understand she would tell him.  My last Wednesday night, I told them I was headed to the states and they asked if I had ever had snake or catfish.  When I replied "no", they insisted that I have some before I leave.  So wouldn't you know, they showed up the day before I left with a sampling of what we think was a python and some spicy catfish.

Not done yet...

Just so you know i am not done yet with this blog.  

I landed on US soil last week and will be trying to figure out the next step in my life.

But i have so many photos and things that i still want to share from my life in Gabon.  I am pretty sure that future blogs will not be in any kind of order, but really as memories occur to me or i scroll back through pictures.

So far i still feel a bit numb, especially since i have hit the ground running since i got back.  I miss Gabon and the people that i became attached to there.  But as one of our interns quoted Dr. Seuss "Don't cry because it is over, but smile because it happened". 

What?! Leanne posted a blog?

I know hard to believe, right?
I personally have been realing at the news of Envision closing in Gabon.  At this point I am numb.  I have gone through a wide range of emotions in the last few weeks and at this point I am exhausted.
We have finally sold all our stuff, not technically our things but things Envision has amassed over the years.  Yard sales are a little different here and a little more stressful.
Well I have my plane ticket home.  I am going to stop by and see Rose, before I head back to the states.
Sorry this is just a boring email.  I feel like there are probably a lot of emotions inside me, but too busy or too exhausted to process through them right now.

Realistic

So i did start off the summer believing that i would blog every friday, but i have since seen the light! I barely have time to go to the bathroom, and in fact the other day i was discussing plans with someone while using the toilet... Too much info? Anyway, i think it is time to be realistic. While teams are here i will not be blogging every friday, lets just come to that understanding. But every now and then i will try.

Olivia

Have I ever told you about Olivia?
Well she was our first intern when Hannah and I came out in Jan 2011, so she holds a special place in our hearts.  She was great and patient with us as we tried to take French and figure out this Envision thing out (we're still working on that!).
She came out again this year and we got to celebrate her birthday with her!

Just so you know for informational purposes... if you are three whities walking down the street, and one of you is blindfolded and another is filming with a video camera, people will stare at you.  Just so you know!

Olivia had to stand up and give a speech... whenever you have a group gathered someone usually stands up and makes a small speech... thank you all for coming, I'm honored, etc. etc.

We had a great time celebrating Olivia's life!