Please God, not Africa!

Today, Nate borrowed our friend's back-hoe to do a little work here at our house. It belongs to our friend, Stan, and looked a little like this one here: After using it, Nate decided to take it back to Stan's and give our two smallest boys a little ride. While they were on the road, heading over to Stan's, a fire started in the back hoe. And it went from looking like the above photo to this: And this: And this: (The above photo is where my babies were sitting with their daddy!) Nate, obviously, had time to get the kids and himself out, then he called the fire department who came and put out the fire. Because we live in a small village, I heard the air-raid siren that signals all the volunteer fire fighters to come to the hall. My sister and I heard the siren and I said to her that I wondered who that was for. Never did it occur to me that it was my husband and boys who were the ones. This is a miracle. And even more so because Stan, our very ...

I am beginning to feel, at times, a touch overwhelmed by this whole thing. Just being honest... I feel as though scotch tape (not the dollar store kind, the good stuff) is what is holding my brain together. The other day, I was sorting clothes: And packing boxes that I picked up from the grocery store: (if you can't decipher what this mess is, it's is a pile of empty boxes in our school room) There's just a lot to do right now. Sorting, packing, selling, buying, tossing.... And that's okay. I try not to stress about it. Really. But here's what my helpful children were doing in the backyard: What makes boys decide to dig a hole? And not just any hole, a big hole. You can't tell from this pic, but it's BIG! I found out however, it is not a hole. "It's a bunker, Mom! To play war!!" Oh goodness. I think I'll go crawl in it.

This is my seriously pathetic attempt at telling you something in a mysterious and cryptic manner. I'm not good at this (I think you'll agree...) It's bad. See if you can figure out what we're trying to tell you... I showed the kids how the above photo looked and they decided to try their own method of getting a message across to you. (don't you love how Teddy and Jack have their part in the "seven" ~ very helpful.) Much clearer: Yup. 75%! And I promise never to attempt cryptic or mysterious again. Scouts honour.

We are planning on sending a nice monthly update by email to those who are interested. Other than the blog, this will be a good way to keep people current with what's happening while we're in Togo. If you would like to be on this email list, just email me a quick note to let me know and I'll add you! In case you don't have it, our email is westonsintogo@gmail.com Thanks!

The kids and I decided to recount the miracles that have happened since we started this adventure in mid-January and turns out we had counted wrong. (Hip, hip, hooray for homeschoolers!!) Anyhow, turns out we have had 32 miracles, NOT just 28. AND...we are currently at 73% of our monthly support. That's right...SEVENTY THREE! There's still a lot going on here...but hardly any time to blog about it. Pics of my house in mid-packing/disaster zone, and pics of the paper snake to come!!

Yesterday was one of those days that we will never forget. It was amazing. We had been invited to share our plans to go to Togo at The Sanctuary church here in London. So we did. On Sunday morning, we went to the Sanctuary church and enjoyed a morning of worship and great teaching from Pastor Jamie. In the middle of the service, Nate and I got up and spoke about Togo, the hospital project etc. After Pastor Jamie spoke, he surprised us by taking up a love offering. Then he had Nate, Ethan and I (the rest of the kids were in children's program) come to the front and all the people gathered around us to pray. It was awesome. The Sanctuary is a small church with a huge heart. They were so generous with their love, support and money. It is so hard to put it all into words other than: We were blown away! I can't explain what an encouragement it was to have been there and experience that kind of love from a group of people that are mostly strangers to us. It is such a testimony...