little by little the bird builds its nest...

That is one of my favorite African sayings. It seems like so much effort for such a small thing (turning your home back into your home), but it's important to get well situated for everyone in the family. It has been a long week, but it's good to be back in Abengourou, Ivory Coast. I have been wanting to write, but just now am able to get online since leaving the States last Sunday evening, and we still don't have it at our house (more on that later). I thought I would give you a rundown on what our past week has looked like.

Sunday
We had a nice last American church day at Lebanon Christian Church, who has been hosting us this past year. It was good to get to say thank you to the church for helping us out so much and say goodbye to the many new friends we have gotten to know this past year. We also enjoyed our last round of Arni's pizza with the Faust family and Schoolers.
In the afternoon, our parents had already loaded most of our bags for us (which we are thankful for, yet strangely suspicious of... :) ) and we loaded up for the airport. Check-in wasn't too bad and a "hey, that is really nice!" to the Indy airport and their family security check-point line. It made getting through security much easier and less hectic. We boarded the airplane for a long flight to Cincinnati, okay it was 30 minutes. We walked down the concourse and straight onto our plane for Paris with no problems.

Monday
The Paris flight was 8 hours long and during the night. Thankfully, there were a lot of empty seats and we got to spread out a bit. Most of the kids slept through much of the flight with only a few outbursts, but they did pretty well. We have decided that the Paris airport is our least favorite airport to date. Still, the kids did pretty well during the 3 1/2 hour layover, spending most of their time coloring and going to the bathroom.
The last flight was good and I will give a shout out to the Air France personal entertainment tv set for each seat. The boys were good to go for all 6 1/2 hours, watching cartoons and playing video games (genius!). The girls took advantage of it too, but did a little more seat swapping. Olivia did really well too.
We arrived in Abidjan, Ivory Coast in the evening and made it through immigration, customs and the parking lot in about 45 minutes without any trouble (or so we thought... more on that later). We got to the Baptist guest house, ate some good Vietnamese food, visited with the Jones family and then crashed into bed. It was hot, but not too bad since it was the evening.

Tuesday
After sleeping in a little bit (8:30 am), Ellie and I went with Damon to a couple stores to get a few necessities then pick up our boss (David Giles, CMF Director of Church Planting) and his wife Linda at the airport. Ellie was just taking it all in with that, "this looks odd" kind of look on her face. Once we started walking through the stores, she started to warm up... especially when she saw some candy in the check-out line.
Damon picked up David and Linda while I went to the airport bank to get some cash. We went back to get everyone else and off to lunch, the grocery store, and then back to Abengourou. Thank you Lord for air conditioning in our truck. I'm sure it won't work next week, but it made a huge difference on the trip home. We got to Abengourou around 8:30 pm. We just settled in a bit, ate, sent the kids to bed, and Steph and I headed towards bed around 1:00 am after sorting our baggage.

Wednesday
We tried to sleep in again, but were awaken at 8:00 am by our doorbell, welcome back to Africa! Stephanie spent all day sorting, I spent much of the day running around town getting supplies, groceries and visiting a few people and friends along the way. It feels really good to be back. The kids played with Isaac, our teammates the Bledsoes, several times throughout the day. The seemed to have a good time. I also worked on trying to get connected online to no avail.
Have I mentioned that it's hot?

Thursday
Our nanny showed up this morning so our kids spent much of the morning getting to know Larissa again. Steph was sorting and doing tons of laundry. I started sorting my stuff and the electronics that we brought back with us. That was when I found out that our bags didn't make it through the airport untouched. Our brand new Canon camcorder was stolen out of the box. Nothing else seems to be missing (even all the cords and battery for the camcorder!), but if that's the worst thing to happen, then we are doing okay. It was really disappointing though. I was looking forward to taking video of the kids and also doing better about posting videos of the ministry. I guess that will have to wait until ??
I also ran around town getting more necessities that we didn't think of yesterday and passed by the clinic to see friends, the workers at the clinic and the new Lab. It is really nice. I was both excited and wowed by it's appearance and usefulness. It is already helping out greatly.

Friday
We are getting closer to getting settled in. The living room looks normal, but the bedrooms still have a ways to go. We started pulling things out of storage. Looked at some of the clothing and asked, "Why did we keep this?" The kids were happy to see some toys they hadn't seen in 14 months. I tried the Internet again, but no luck.
In the afternoon we went to the Jones' house for a pool party with everyone else in the mission. We celebrated David and Kate's birthdays. The pool never felt so good! Afterwards, we all went to my favorite restaurant in town, a Lebanese place. We sat on the roof top with a nice breeze enjoying the meal, company and evening.

Saturday
We tried hard to finish getting things in order. I went out and bought us a new TV. The kids were excited to get in their electronic fix and watch a few movies. I went out again to spend more money.
In the evening, I worked on our dryer and was able to get it working again. Steph and I stayed up late again, but pretty much got the house in order. There is still a lot of laundry, but that too is slowly getting smaller.

Sunday
We went to church in the new church building at the clinic. It was very nice. There is so much more space, they already have more people than they could ever hope to fit in the old church building. It was also good to see a lot of people we had not seen yet. It was a good confirmation that this is where we are to be.

We'll stay in contact. Please feel free to email us and let us know how you are doing, ask questions, or whatever. Thanks for praying for us. Keep it up!

Andy

getting geared up

It's hard to believe that our furlough time has gone by already. We are gearing up to head back to Ivory Coast February 1st. We have enjoyed being back this past year, seeing friends and family while getting to meet some new folks at the same time. I've been thinking about all that has happened over the past year.

Getting involved at the Lebanon Christian Church, who has graciously hosted us this past year, has been both refreshing and fun. The kids have loved going to "church class", especially since it's something they haven't really experienced before this year. For Stephanie and I it has been great to be involved with other adults without having to keep track or worry about the kids. We've been able to develop some good relationships along the way.

I also was excited to get back to my formal education. This past fall I started the Masters Degree in New Testament Studies through Johnson Bible College. It has reminded me that there is a big difference between my personal Bible study and doing class work. I can say I have mostly enjoyed the process (though at times stretching parts of my brain that haven't been stretched in a while!).

We also have traveled around a bit, but not too much (gas prices helped with that some!). Catching up with our partnering churches is always enjoyable. I love sharing about how God is moving and active in Ivory Coast, but it's equally good to hear what God is doing in the life of the church. We are incredibly thankful for our partner churches, they have stepped up in big ways for us. Our monthly financial support raising needs were an increase of $2500/month and over 2/3 of that came from current partners. To say that they encouraged us does not suffice. We feel exceptionally loved!

We are excited too by our new ministry partners from this past year. A small church in Brandywine, West Virgina with big hearts (our kids really enjoyed the visit) and another church in Troy, OH who have some great plans. We look forward to developing the relationships with these two churches! As you might imagine, support raising hasn't always been easy this past year, but God has provided as He always does in His time.

Our one-time Outgoing Budget has done well over the course of this year, again mostly because of the faithfulness of our current ministry partners. Whether it was a VBS over the summer, a special offering for plane tickets or a large gift from the church, you all have been wonderful. We still have about $5,000 left to raise for the up-front expenses of getting reestablished, but fully trust once again that God will provide.

So, thanks for praying for us during this time. Please continue to pray for our family as we make the transition back to Ivory Coast: that the kids would adjust well (little more to it this time), that the last bit of needed funds would come in, and that Mom and Dad would remain sane through it all!

Thanks again. We love you all deeply.

Andy

Gable Travels

While on furlough, we have several items on our missionary to-do list. During the first part of this year we were busy reporting to our partnering churches how the ministry is progressing in Ivory Coast. It is encouraging to us to get reacquainted with friends from various churches and hear their stories as well. Most of all, I love to share about how God is moving in Ivory Coast and how we get to be a part of it. And when people get interested and ask questions, they usually get more than they asked for... I'll take any opportunity I have to speak about our great God's work through our mission team.

We've also been busy raising added support. With the dollar going down and inflation going up, coupled with added responsabilities when returning to the field, our monthly budget has seen a sharp increase. Again, I love it when we have the opportunity to share about the work in Ivory Coast, but it has been a challenge to find new partners during this time. Please continue to pray for good contacts and God-inspired meetings that will help us develop the important relationships with people who will become ministry partners.

We have had some success in raising funds towards our Outgoing Fund to get back to Ivory Coast. I've enjoyed speaking at a Youth Retreat earlier this year and four VBS's during this summer. We want to say a big thank you to the following churches for having us as their missions project for their VBS: New Brunswick Church of Christ, Lebanon Christian Church, Second Church of Christ in Danville, IL and Colfax Christian Church. The offerings from these churches has raised over 25% of our outgoing budget themselves.

Of course we have enjoyed family and friends, trying to send the kids off the their grandparents homes as often as possible. They have experienced most of the VBS's as well and Clay has enjoyed going to camp a couple different times. We are all looking forward to the fall church programs at Lebanon Christian Church. All of us enjoy going to classes and meeting new friends and being fed on God's Word.

Please be praying for our support raising needs. We hope to return to Ivory Coast in January (if all goes well). Thanks for your prayers and support.