A Day in Ndu

We've had many people ask what a typical day looks like for us here at CBTS. I hope to give you a little picture into our daily lives, and probably a bit more of a weekly perspective.

On a typical day, Dale gets out of bed between 5 and 5:30am. These seem to be some of the best hours for grading papers, even if he has been up until midnight the night before grading papers. I like to sleep in a bit longer, usually 6:30 or maybe even 7:00 on occasion. Dale heads to chapel each morning by 7:25. Monday mornings we usually wait for Martha to come around 8:00 to make french toast or crepes. Sometimes I make a pan of muffins. Most other mornings we have a coffee cake, bread, or baked oatmeal that has been made the day before. After breakfast, either Micah or Josiah has to tie Billy Bob somewhere on campus where he can get some good grass to eat.

We begin our school day usually between 8:30 and 9:00. Often times the boys get a little break mid-morning to run outside for a few minutes. On Mondays and Wednesdays, I am usually still trying to finish up some grading in the morning before our English grammar course meets after lunch. The boys like these days because it means a long break. Most days we get most of our schooling done by lunch time which is always at 12:30. This is because it is a break for all on campus and guarantees us that Dale will be able to be home to eat with us.

As I've already mentioned, on Monday and Wednesday I teach English grammar at 1:25pm. The campus is fairly large and takes about 5-7 minutes to get to the classrooms from our home. While I am away Micah and Josiah spend time reading, and Dale reads with the three little guys. Usually, when I come home from class at 2:30, Isaiah and Jonathan come running to meet me. Dale tries to use the next hour and a half to do a little more grading and class prep. On days that I am not teaching for CBTS, we usually continue school at home a little longer into the afternoon.
From 4-5:00 every weekday afternoon the missionary women walk together. It's good exercise, but more importantly, a nice time for fellowship. We make four laps around the campus and usually anywhere from 2-4 of my littlest boys run out for a hug when we pass the house. This means I might have to jog a bit to catch back up with the women. After our walk, I come in to begin preparing dinner. Martha typically prepares something before she leaves between 2:00 and 3:00. I simply have to warm it up. Some days we still have massive amounts of laundry hanging on the line that we need to move under the covering behind the house or bring inside. Before dinner, one of the boys makes an attempt to untangle Billy Bob from his tree and bring him back home. They prefer to have a little snack in his bowl(he likes carbs best) so that he doesn't try to drag them through the yard while they tie him up.

After dinner we try to enjoy some time together as a family. We play board games, watch a movie, read, make attempts to call family back home. If the power has been out all day, it usually means we need to do some ironing. I am not sure if we have written much in our blog about why we have a laundress and a cook. We happen to be very fortunate to have a washer, but it doesn't do too well with clothes that actually have dirt on them. This means all of the kids clothing, Isaiah's diapers, any clothing we walk to church in, and often anything I wear for walking group must be washed by hand. We also iron EVERYTHING. Yes, even socks. There are flies that lay eggs in the clothing and will burrow into your skin if the clothing is any bit damp when you put it on. You then find yourself with a maggot growing under your skin. Fortunately we have had no experience with these yet, but we do ask our laundress to iron all of our clothing. With seven of us in the family, our laundress works full time washing and ironing. I also usually wash a load of diapers, some towels, and bed sheets on the weekends to try to keep up with everything. I will try to write a separate blog later this week on our cook and food consumption. Maybe I can get a picture of the motorcycle carrying all of our food home from market.
By the time we get the boys into bed, we are usually exhausted. I find that most nights I fall asleep grading papers or trying to read a book. If Dale and I try to watch a movie together, it usually takes about 3-4 nights to get through it. I have a tendency to fall asleep during the most exciting parts of movies...like battle scenes.

Although we have a cook who makes us lots of wonderful things, I find I am spending more and more time baking and preparing a meal myself. I think I am beginning to miss experimenting with recipes myself. We usually make most of our own meals on the weekend or eat leftovers. I've always loved baking (much more than cooking) and have enjoyed breaking out our Nestle Chocolate Chip stash to make some cookies. They seem to be discoloring a bit now and probably need to be eaten up tonight in pancakes. We also bought a few coconuts at market this week. It took a ridiculous amount of time to cut, shred, and sweeten the coconut. Unfortunately, both recipes I tried with coconut didn't turn out well. I think it's the altitude? Yesterday we made our own Wheat Thins.

Dale often tromps out to the forest on the weekends with the boys. They usually come home with sticks of various sizes that are being made into bows, arrows, spears, or swords. A few weekends ago, Dale and some of the boys visited some guys in the dorm. They were a little surprised to learn that the little daggers that they think look so neat are really for more practical purposes...like peeling fruit.

Before we came to Cameroon I was told that if I ever figured out what we did with our day and where all the time went, I would have made an amazing discovery. I can honestly say that I am not really sure where the day goes. Most people assume that since we have a cook and a laundress, we must have lots of free time. I think maybe everything that we do accomplish on our own just takes that much longer. For instance, we don't have a microwave and can't use water straight from the tap, so if I need warm water for a recipe, I have to heat it up on the stove top. I think we also spend a lot of time talking. There are students who frequently stop by. I can't just open the door and say, "Hi, I'll get Dale." That'd be very rude as taking time for greeting is very important here. I am thankful for growing relationships with our househelp. I've found I easily get distracted from what I am doing and get involved in conversation. Everybody has a different story displaying God's grace and faithfulness in their lives, and it is wonderfully encouraging and challenging to hear them.