The week's news

Okay. Okay. I know it's been over a week since my last post. It's so silly. Last week I was waiting for something exciting to happen to write about. (Namely, my nephew's birth, which didn't come.) On Saturday we attended a wedding (at least, part of one) that I could have written about, but the Internet went down earlier this week for four days, so I didn't get a chance to write about it while it was fresh in my mind! Then Monday I got locked out for two hours, which was actually something exciting and worth writing about, but...the net was down. And then Tuesday my nephew was finally born (11 days late), but... the net was down.

And now, what is there that's exciting to tell you? I'll give you some snapshots from the ten days I missed:

Wedding: A doctor here got married on Saturday out at the Chapel of Faith on the University of Jos permanent site. We arrived 1-1/2 hours late (intentionally) and still sat through over an hour of the service. There were five groomsmen and I think seven bridesmaids, but we couldn't see them because in Nigerian tradition, the bridal party sits in the front row (including the bride and groom). The sermon was from Matthew 7, about their marriage's having a firm foundation. The best part was when the preacher (whom I couldn't understand 75% of the time because of distortion from the sound system) said that on average, women speak 5000 words a day, while men only speak 1200! We left right after the ceremony. (I was reluctant to go because I wanted food!!)

Locked out: It was actually pretty amusing for the most part. I got home around 4:30 on Monday, which was a little earlier than I'd expected. We've got two locks on our door, and we usually only lock one. But both had been locked. (I found out later it was because a friend had been in our house fixing up our cooking cas for the oven. And he didn't know we only use the one lock.) I figured David would be home reasonably soon, so I settled myself down on the porch (hard, cold cement) to wait. And wait. (I could have sat on either of the two chairs on our porch, but both were covered with goat droppings, so...) I had a book, fortunately (Hogfather, by Terry Prachett). Zoë heard me out on the porch and went absolutely bonkers. At first she stood at the front door and just meowed pitifully. Then she jumped up onto the sink by the front door (something she'd never done before) and climbed into our louvered window, knocking over the dish drain in the process. She climbed in between the screen and the bars on our window! By this time, a bunch of neighbourhood boys had heard her meowing and had come to see the show. I kept reading while the boys meowed at the cat and chatted, eating mangoes on my porch. After a little while, a little girl came along and asked if she could plait my hair. *shrug* Why not? So she joined our little group and started braiding my hair. David got home at 6:00, finally, but I laughed when he told me he didn't have the key! He'd given his copy to the man who'd fixed our cooking gas, and the friend hadn't returned it yet... Well, David tried to call our friend, but the number wouldn't go through. So he went next-door to see if someone else had his number. We finally got a hold of our friend, who arrived on motorcycle at 6:20 to let us into the house. Phew! He demonstrated that the stove and oven now worked. (Thanks!) But we were just glad to be home, especially because we were due at my mom's for dinner at 6:30! What an adventure. Poor Zoë was quite relieved to have us home to feed her!!

New Nephew: On Tuesday morning, my sister-in-law Lori gave birth to my nephew Ian in Eau Claire, Wisconsin! He was 7lbs, 5oz and 20" long. I'm sure he's just adorable, but I haven't seen any pictures yet. Both mama and baby are doing well. (This is their second. They have a son, Rowan, who's 2-and-a-bit.) I'm so excited to have another nephew! This makes four!

I think that's all the news from here. Today's Daddy's birthday. :) And this weekend we're welcoming a college friend, Sharon, on her second trip to Nigeria for her work. I'm excited to see her again and am looking forward to going hiking and/or swimming.

That's all for now, folks!