And the World is Saved Yet Again!

*Warning*

**Animals in this story were in fact, actually harmed and some may easily misconstrue our definition of “survival of the fittest”, as animal cruelty. Contents of this story are based on true events (which I may have embellished a little…) that may give your children nightmares, but besides that…..it’s quite entertaining. You have been warned!**

On a night just like any other night the three superhero members of The Living Hope Africa Force relaxed in their secret lair located in the heart of West Africa. Each had had a fulfilling but tiring day of superheroing and were all ready to call it a night and let those who worked 24-7 like Superman, Wonder woman and God, take over for the evening. Little did they know, their evil archenemy MOUSE (The very name which undoubtedly sends chills down the spine of you the reader), planned a secret evil mission ~don don don~.

As Lazar (living under the secret identity of Lisa Dovale…not so secret anymore :S) and her Onyeocha husband Da Broom (aka Derek Dovale) rested peacefully, The HC (aka Abigail Ndukwe) settled herself in her own room.  As she meditated on the days events, she heard a noise coming from a bag resting on her desk.  The rustle of the bag didn’t worry her at first, and when it subsided she went back to her relaxing. 

~Rustle Rustle~

The sound came again, and this time she saw movement from the florescent pink plastic.  Instantly her superhero instincts kicked into gear.  She stood in fighting stance on her bed ready for whatever horrors were about to come her way.  And Oh the horrors that were unleashed!  Out from the bag jumped MOUSE…but at once The HC knew that this was not MOUSE in his ordinary form.  Her superhero knowledge ad skilled once again failed her not.  As MOUSE scurried away to a dark unknown corner of the HC’s room, he left a note which read:

          

“Today your days are numbered.  Prepare to face the wrath an my new evil self: MOUSE-ZILLA!”

Now for those with children, I urge you to cover their eyes at what is coming next.  MOUSE had changed himself into a horrific rat like evil rodent bent on the destruction of the Living Hope Africa Force.  Behold the sight they saw:

 

 

 

To the reader of this story, I apologize for the disgusting, frightful monstrosity your eyes have had to behold today.  I beg you to turn away from your fears and ask God for strength to continue with this story.  I assure you, that like every story with a villain, a hero is always there to save the day.( Examples:  Lex Luther and Superman, Goliath and David, Satan and God!).  And on this day, the mischievous bloodthirsty MOUSE-ZILLA not only had one hero to deal with, but THREE!  Using her echolocation calling gift she called upon the rest of the Living Hope Africa Force.  Although she could deduct that this demon mouse/rat ran into hiding in hopes of luring a three members into one room for their destruction, the HC knew that a greater force was working on the side of the L.H.A. Force.  She knew that today, his days were numbered!!!!

Sooner rather than later, Da Broom burst through the door.  Not knowing what trouble laid in front of him, he had picked up the first weapon he could get his hands on: An oval torpedo (which to normal human eyes, looked very much like a football).  Armed and ready to fight, the HC explained the situation to Da Broom.  Distressed about not knowing the exact whereabouts of MOUSE-ZILLA, the two members decided to call upon the third point of their indestructible three person triangle team, LAZER!  As Da Broom began flipping over furniture in an attempt at located the horrible fiend, the HC ran out to call LAZER!  In seconds the two amazing super women were back and ready for action.  LAZER held in her hand her most useful weapon, the beam of majestic light (which to many looked a lot like a flashlight).  By this time, Da Broom was holding a more familiar weapon, his trusty Whiskanator  which closely resembled a Nigerian broom.  He held the bristled area in his hand so that the heavy handle was the part which packed a heavy punch (he looked a lot like Thor with his mighty hammer!).  At this point, Da Broom had the couch in the HC’s room flipped so that the cushions were touching the ground and the bottom of the couch was in the air.  He tapped on the bottom of the couch with the broom.  A rustling sound was heard.  Once again he tapped on the mouse chewed surface, and again a rustling sound was heard.  MOUSE-ZILLA had been located!

In an attempt to scare him out, Da Broom flipped the couch over fast so that the bottom of the couch hit the ground fast.  Nothing.  Again Da Broom used his superhuman strength to flip the couch upside down and then back down on the ground fast and hard.  Nothing.  This technique didn’t seem to be working.  Da Broom had one more idea.  As the couch rested normally, he stepped on top of it, and jumped hard!  Out ran MOUSE-ZILLA! He scurried under the bed and made LAZER jump, however she only jumped because she was a little sceptical about MOUSE-ZILLA even being in the HC’s room.  Dow on his Da Broom went with LAZER and her flashlight.  They looked under the bed, and to their surprise….nothing!  The sneaky villain had used his superfast skills to escape! 

The team was left scratching their heads.  Was he in the closet?  No.  In the bathroom? No.  They all knew that MOUSE-ZILLA could not have possibly escaped.  There was only one place left to look.  Under the dresser!  Da Broom, using his amazing strength lifted the dresser, LAZER took out her beam of majestic light and shone it under the dresser.  One second went by….two….then on the third second……we realised that nothing was there.  That was the end of our adventure. 

Or was it!!!  As Da Broom rested the dresser back down, he was unconvinced that MOUSE-ZILLA was not there.  As he looked in one of the drawers as a last resort…out jumped MOUSE-ZILLA!  THE CANIVING MONSTER WAS STILL IN THE HC’S ROOM!!!!!!!! MOUSE-ZILLA jumped out and ran towards the bathroom.  The three fighters of all that is good, went running after him.  The bathroom.  MOUSE-ZILLA was trapped!!!!! As he hid in a corner one his mind was only able to think of his own stupidity of even attempting to attack just one member of the force.  As the door shut to the bathroom, Da Broom located, once again, MOUSE-ZILLA’s whereabouts.  They had him now.  On the count of three Da Broom moved the bucket he was hiding behind and MOUSE-ZILLA jumped out!  He ran as fast as his legs could carry him.  He attempted to crawl through little hole by the edge of the door to get out, and he actually succeed, but not before Da Broom smacked his backside hard with the top of the Whiskenator.  Luckily our trusty transport officer (who goes by T.O,) had heard all the commotion and was about to open the bathroom door to see what was going on.  His very presence scared MOUSE-ZILLA back into the bathroom.  It was the forces second chance for success.  MOUSE-ZILLA ran desperately for cover wherever his little legs could take him.  This ended up being behind the ceramic lid of the toilet tank.  The HC, with her super speedy reflexes, pounced and pushed the lid up against MOUSE-ZILLA.  But this wasn’t fully crushing him.  Da Broom made his way over to the lid.  As he moved it, MOUSE-ZILLA jumped up and out and ran out the door, and at the same time the toilet lid fell out of Da Broom’s hands and smashed into a million and one pieces.  MOUSE-ZILLA had slipped through the Forces fingers yet again!

As many of you know, the Force would not be the force without Jesus Christ, the Lord.  He is the creator of their special abilities, the strength to the team and the real hero of the team.  The team decided it was time for divine intervention.  A quick prayer was said and the team dashed out after MOUSE-ZILLA.  MOUSE-ZILLA came face to face with T.O yet again.  He managed to slow MOUSE-ZILLA down by stepping on him three times…….with his bare feet!  This scared MOUSE-ZILLA and in a last attempt to be safe he ran over to the couch.  Da Broom had flipped the couch over on its back so that MOUSE-ZILLA could not get back in to the couch by the bottom.  So this time, MOUSE-ZILLA ran under the back of the couch.  Knowing that this was her only chance to finally put an end to the evil MOUSE-ZILLA, the HC shouts out “IT’S OVER RAT!” and jumps onto the couch.  The battle had ended and the Force had won!  MOUSE-ZILLA had fallen…and when all hope seemed lost….The LIVING HOPE Africa FORCE brought hope where there was none. 

                                              THE END

Stay tuned for the next episode where the FORCE defeats a GIANT SPIDER!

Children’s Laughter is the Best Medicine

We visited the same motherless babies home that Abigail and Lisa went to 2 weeks ago on Tuesday night. There are about 20 kids there and there was one little girl who had been dropped off the night before and was only 1 week old!

We dropped off 5 boxes of toys and clothes for the kids and for the women there that were donated by various people. They were very happy to receive them.

This little guy was very upset when we left.

When we got there the kids just stared at us and some of them waved and said hello. It didn't take long for them to warm up with us and before I knew it I had 3 kids grabbing my legs wanting to play and be picked up. 1 boy was scared to death of Lisa and I and when I reached out my hand to him, he shrieked and hid behind on the ladies who worked there. They tried to show him that I wasn't scary but when they pushed him near me, he turned into a little ball frightened tears.

There were many high fives to be had

Maybe Lisa had some food on her face

There was a pudgy little fellow in one of the cribs and when I got close to him, he stood up and put his hands out, so I picked him up and held him for a while. I went to put him down back in his crib and he started to cry, so I held onto him a little longer. At one point, there was a girl who very carefully walked 2 steps over to me and grabbed onto my hands. The lady she walked from told me that those were her very first steps!

Mr Pudgy

The 2 oldest girls kept running into the room, hitting me, and then running out in hopes that I would chase them. After a few times of this, I went running after them as they clumsily ran away down the hall laughing. This happened a few times and more kids wanted to get in on the game. One little boy kept running up to me and clutching on to my legs so I couldn't move. I tickled him and he flung his head back and let out the most adorable laugh that I've heard in a long time. When I stopped tickling him, he got up and ran over to me so I could do it again. Abigail got some video of all this so we can show you guys when we get home.

The little guy with the adorable laugh.

Time flew by while we were playing with the kids and before we knew it we had to put the kids down and pull them off of our legs and say goodbye. We gave all of the kids hugs and high fives and thanked the ladies who worked there for letting us come and see the kids and the boy who was scared of Lisa and I, willingly shook my hand as we left and he didn't cry! The kids stood at the door waving at us as we pulled away in our vehicle. Most of them were smiling as they waved but a few of them did not look happy that we were leaving and one of them was crying.

Mr Pudgy going for a stroll

I didn’t want to leave…

*** A Note From Lisa***
In Nigeria, it’s not very common for children to be adopted, so when a child’s mother dies or the parents are unable to care for the baby, the motherless babies home will take him or her in until the age of two. Then the child will go back to either the father, or extended family. Carrying on family name and heritage is very important to the culture here, even if it means the family has to struggle to take on an extra child. There’s something to be said for this deep commitment to family, but at the same time, it breaks my heart to see these motherless babies homes scraping by to care for more children than there is room for. The homes are funded almost entirely by donations and run by amazing women who make no profit and commit all their time and love to these children. I guess it’s good that the option to adopt the children is not there because I know I would be spending the rest of my time figuring out how many children Derek and I could bring home! … One day!

Photo Update – Small Small

We found this guy in the window sill of our room when we got home one day, So we caught him and tossed him back out side where he belongs.

Abigail’s cousins spent the day with us one Saturday and we took them to a nearby field to play some soccer… I mean football. :-)
I saw this little guy peering around the corner, so I grabbed the camera.

Lisa and Abigail went and visited another motherless babies home. We’ll be stopping by for another visit before we come home.

This little cutie sat with Lisa and I for a good 1/2 hour and we could not get her to smile, but as soon as we brought the camera out…

Thanks for all of your prayers!

A Broken Church Building and a Mexican Beach

  

We were in Lagos last weekend to visit some of Abigail’s family and to go to a church that Paul was preaching at on that day.  The church we went to was half demolished because the government is widening the highway and needs 65 feet of land on either side of the highway the whole length of the road to do so.  Half of the church building is on some of that land and the people who own the church have been slowly dismantling it before the bulldozers come in so they can keep some of the building supplies.  A lot of the churches we have been to here have a slogan for every year, it’s really cool and I think it’s something Living Hope should adopt as well.

After church we headed for our very first African beach!  The beach was beautiful.  It felt like we stepped out of Africa into Mexico.  Paul ordered lunch and 30 minutes later a big plate showed up with a whole BBQ’d fish and some fries.  They didn’t have any utensils so we all dug into the fish and chips with our hands.  The food was excellent and fish reminded me of being at my parents house and having some delicious BBQ’d salmon that my dad prepared.

Abigail and Lisa are both at the secondary school this week teaching biology together and I’m waiting for some software to come in to the library so I can start networking all the computers together.  I hope the software gets here soon so I can get it all set up before we come home.

Oh and I almost forgot… We found a rat in Abigail’s room 2 nights ago and we managed to “get rid of it.”  It’s a funny story and it’s best when Abigail tells it, so I’ll leave it up to her.

Miss you all!

Lisa’s Cure for Home Sickness… Updated!

…is getting creative and drawing pictures of our friends on paper and putting them up on the wall in our room.

Here’s a closer look… Photo updated Aug 17.

(Click for the full size image)

All the drawings do is make us miss you guys even more.

Video Update!

Hi everyone!

We recorded a video last week and Abigail edited it adding in some photos and some other video we have taken on the trip thus far.

We miss you all!