Hello Family and Friends! June 11,2006

It is blog-writing time again and I’m sitting here with a glass of iced tea and a bowl of peanuts. This has been a wild and crazy week. So much has happened that I don’t even know where to start.

This was a week of much travel. Travel here is exhausting because of bad roads, animals on the roads, and people on foot, bikes, motos, and donkey carts all in the same lane of traffic. Plus, the air conditioner is not working in our truck. Sigh! But through is all, God gave us some wonderful advances this week.

We are trying to get a little girl, Ludivine, who is severely handicapped, to the States for medical treatment. There was someone visiting Ouaga this week from the organization who may fund Ludivine’s treip. So I made a quick and unplanned trip to Ouaga this week to take x-rays and some medical records to Basil who hand carried these documents to the States.

Then on Thursday, I returned to Ouaga to continue to Koudougou with our attorney. The adoption case for Stephane went before the judge in Koudougou on Friday morning. The trip took about 5 hours and the time before the judge was about 10 minutes. I would have been willing to spend 10 times the travel time though just to hear the decision that Stephane is now legally a McAlister! Stephane’s case was difficult and complicated with blocks all along the way. His case has been in process for over 2 years but finally, it is finished. Thank you, Jesus!
In just the past 3 weeks, 3 of our children have been adopted. Jacques (18 months) and Paul (3 ½) are being adopted by French couples and they will both be coming in July to pick up their children.

The construction on the staff house is moving really quickly now. The doors and windows have been installed and the masons are applying the final finish to the concrete block construction. The plumbing and the wiring are all roughed in. The contractor is still saying that it will be finished this week. . . and it will be very close.

Yesterday I told the ladies who work in the newborn baby room that when I move out of my room in the orphanage that we will move them into my big room. They were thrilled, to say the least. There are now 8 babies in a small room just 3 meters wide and 6 meters long. My room is 6 meters by 6 meters so they will have twice as much room as they have now. We need some more cribs because there are 2 or 3 babies in a crib right now. But, we have already found one crib on the container and I think that there are one or two more in there that we have not yet uncovered. We also found a baby swing on the container which Mark put together and this will be available for them in their new room.

The rains have started and everyone is out preparing their fields for planting. We also are going to plant this year. Valentin has found a field for us which about 2 miles from the orphanage. It is a little far but with the bicycles and the truck we will be able to get children and food back and forth to the field. We’re not exactly sure what we will plant this year but most likely it will be either a field of millet and beans or a field of peanuts. A portion of the harvest of our field will be dedicated to the building fund for our new local church.

Four of our children received special awards at school this year for ranking in the top three in their class. Augustin, Marcel, and Ange were all first in their classes of over 100 students. Pierre ranked second in his class of 86 students. Each of the boys received a backpack and some school supplies and we are now waiting for the results of a regional evaluation based on their grade point average. The top three students in the region will be invited to Ouayaghuia for a recognition ceremony where they will each receive a new bicycle.

This week there is a very critical exam for Pierre, Matthieu, and Emanuel. They are finishing 10th grade this year and there is a pass/fail exam which will allow them to continue their education or force them to change school and re-do 10th grade. The exam is this Thursday, the 15th.

Etienne is in his last year of high school and he also must pass a standardized test in order to continue to university or to a specialized school. Etienne’s exam is July 5th. Please pray for these boys and for all the children taking these exams. They are very hard and the children are under a lot of pressure knowing that if they do not pass, they cannot continue their education.
Well, I must close for now. Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Thanks for your prayers. A sister gave me a word of encouragement this morning at church. She said ‘Be strong and courageous because the Lord is in the midst of what we are doing here’. It was a very timely word and encouraged my heart. The Lord does know all things. He sees our hearts and He knows our needs. I find much comfort in this truth.

Blessings to you!
Ruth. . . Mom. . . Grandma