Dear Friends and Family,

 Our 19th Wedding Anniversary, September 6th.    We woke up early to be ready to leave by 6:00 am.  The day started with all the student missionaries meeting us at our house to leave to go have a day on the town in Moundou.  We all had several things on a list to get. for there is not much here, and we are lucky to go to Moundou once a month.  Bibles for the school and a pump for a well was a couple of the important things on my list.  But mainly we were going because it was our 19th wedding anniversary and not much else to do in Bere.  We were happy to share our day with everyone which we thought would just make it more fun.   On the way to Moundou we were almost an hour away and the truck slid out of control with the slippery mud beneath us.  Jamie is a great driver and knew what to do to keep us from flipping over.  He let it go the way it needed to but in return we ended up on the side of the road in knee deep of water.  Jamie tried to continue to drive it threw but we were stuck.  He put the van in reverse and went a few feet but we were stuck now either which way.  Everyone got out of the van, rolled up their pants and got into position to push.  They tried from the front and then from the back, but still the van was not getting out but only deeper. The whole time Jamie kept the van running but we could hear that we were loosing it and then it was gone.   All of a sudden we realize we are going to be in trouble with the rain as we could see a black wall coming our way.  Several Chadians started to come and asses the situation. There was many different languages.  I felt like we were in confusion at the tower of Babel.  We were all feeling like we needed more help and everyone got together and formed a circle in the middle of the road and prayed for our Father in heaven to help us.  We had Danae the new doctor and her two children with us and one is only 2 1/2 months old.  Finally some big branches were found to help lift the van and some big stones to put under the van wheels.  With many people helping but now everyone is in the rain, they were able to get all four tires jacked up.  Jamie tried and tried to get the van to start.  And there it goes the "scalded dog," which is the name Jamie gave the van, was back in business and he was able to drive out of the ditch.  Everyone clipped and very excited but now we had to come to an agreement of how much to pay all the men that helped us get out of our trouble.  They wanted a lot but we settled after a counter offer.  They seemed to be happy and Jamie just said it was a lot cheaper then AAA.  We go just a little further and now we are in Kelo but the van now sounds like it needs a tune up.  We got to the post office there to see if there are any packages, Jamie looks down and sees that we now have a flat tire.  The spare is flat too.  So Jamie, Tony and Simeon, a guy from the hospital, roll the two tires into the market as the rest of us wait for their return.  Everything went smooth with the repair but now the car is still running funny.  Jamie takes it to one place to get a new part.  Then we go to another place were he knows a guy that he has worked with a lot in the past when he was repairing all three cars for the hospital when we first arrived in Bere.  The man was very kind and drops everything that he was working on to help us out.  The get inside the engine and realize what part they need and he sends someone to get it.  Then they discover that there is water in the oil and so it too needs to be changed.  Again, he sends someone to get the oil and filter. Jamie looks at me and says, "well the car needed a tune up before James comes back to town."  James Appel will probably be taking the van with him to Moundou which is where James will be living and working in his new surgery clinic.  After another hour we get back on the road toward Moundou.  It is getting late and we are realizing that there is not going to be much time for shopping.  As we go along the van is still not running at top speed.  At the late hour of 3:45 pm we get to Moundou. We are all starving and stop at Jame's surgery clinic first to drop off more of their personal items for their house then we go just down the road to a little restaurant that we get egg sandwiches and banana shakes.  While we are eating one of the Arab men that we know spot us and stop and says hi.  He is the man that made all of the desks for the school last year.  After filling our stomachs we are starting to feel a little less grouchy but Jamie is worried about the van.  The decision is made that we will just have to stay over night at the surgery clinic. The very nice Arab man says that he will take one person to his house to sleep with him and he will meet us back at the clinic and give us a mosquito net.      When we get to the clinic we start to see what we have to work with to sleep there.  We all use the new mattresses for the clinic and find a few sheets and mosquito nets around.  The only thing is that there just was not enough for me and Jamie so we went without.  The Arab man came by and not only brought us a net for Brichelle, Danae and her kids but also a huge watermelon and cookies.  Everyone goes to bed at an early hour of 8:00 pm except for Cory, Tony and one of the 20 year old volunteers, Linden.  We could hear them stay up and talk and talk until we finally said that was enough.  I doze off for a little while and wake up just sweating profusely and the noise of the mosquitoes buzzing in my ears keep me awake.  I am covering myself with a sheet all the way over my head but the buzzing is too much.  I use my phone as a flashlight and turn it on under the sheets and I see a mosquito inside with me.  I move the sheet and let him free and catch some fresh air.  I am fighting like this over and over with the mosquitoes and now it is almost midnight. My fingers are now covered with mosquito bites and I have one on my face too and it swells my cheek.  I wake Jamie but realize he is not sleeping either.  I look over with my light and see that he found a mosquito net but it is ripped in shreds and he has it hanging from a pipe that he jammed between other things in the room and there the mosquito net hangs over his head only.  Oh, honey this is terrible, I tell him.  I just can not do it any more I feel like I am going crazy.  We have to do something.  We get up and look in a couple boxes for another mosquito net.  After some time and some prayers that I prayed in my mind, yeah! We found one!  We take the mattresses outside on the back porch with the boys and set up the net and the two mattresses put together.  Ahhh now we can get some sleep.  It is a lot cooler and I don't hear one mosquito.  I am so excited.  Before I can completely fall asleep I lay there thinking about my anniversary.  By now it is 1:00 am and I just lay there looking up threw the trees at the half lit sky thinking about the day and can't help but laugh.  Crazy day!  I close my eyes and my exhaustion covers me and just let myself begin to doze.  I am suddenly woke up out of my half sleep state by lightening and a big gust of wind that will not stop.  Moments later comes the rain and I just shake my head and think of course it is going to rain now that I am outside.  I try to allow the rain to lullaby me back to sleep.    The morning came way too soon but we had a lot to clean up and Jamie still needed to fix the van and we all had things to buy before making our way back to Bere.  The morning went smoothly and the van got fixed by the time everything was cleaned up and we were finally on our way for some "shopping".  But now we have concerns with a couple of patients at the hospital that need Danae's immediate attention.  Olen is trying to keep an eye on the two women and is keeping her informed on their progress but time is ticking and she needs to be back.  With this in mind we all scatter to do different things to get as much done as possible in such a short amount of time.  But in Chad everything takes forever no matter how fast you try to move.  We all are very tired and ready to just be home.  We make it back by almost 4 pm and Danae jumps out of the car to go change before we can even get the gate open.  Duty calls and she is over there with Olen until 8 pm.  What a trip!  I must say that we did not get to do much celebrating for our anniversary this year.  But Olen and Danae are such good friends that they didn't want to leave it like that.  The next evening they were able to sneak a cake into our house to encourage celebrating anyways.  And these are the pictures we got.  The little flying animal at the bottom is a mosquito, Danae is so creative!  Happy Anniversary!