Does God Care About Water Filters?

When these 7 individuals were selected by their community to make water filters, there was much enthusiasm.  The time and energy consuming process, however, is seeming to damper their spirits and fewer come each meeting to sift and wash the needed snad.  They may be asking, "Does God care about water filters?"  God cares for each of these families and their needs.  Please pray that He will show them his love today as they make an attempt to finish the first filter for Mama Aisha and her family!

May God bring the community together as they work to bring pure water to their families!

Daddy Watkin showing the young people how to use the drill to make holes for the filter's diffuser lid. May God increase their capacity to continue this project into the future so the whole community can benefit!

[Note:  Thanks for praying about this!  God answered our prayers!  See follow-up post "God does care about water filters"]

No Way to Pay!

Mariama cries, and I run to her.  She’s hungry, I feed her with joy.  She moves her arm and legs involuntarily waking herself up and I watch her with delight.  She doesn’t have to do anything except to be mine.  My little girl is everything I need her to be because I expect nothing from her except to remain with me and let me take care of her.  What a simple way for God to show me how he wants his little girl, Christy, to be.  Just his, totally dependent on him.  I can’t do anything to earn or deserve or pay back his care for me.  I am as helpless as Mariama is to say to my Father “Here, let me repay you for all the joy I receive through  my family!  Let me give back to you the equivalent of the sense of purpose I feel in my work!  This abundant life you’ve given and the security of salvation in Christ Jesus…I’m working on a suitable appreciation gift.” 

Thank you, Mariama for this lesson you’re teaching me, and thank you God, for loving me so lavishly knowing I can NEVER repay what you’ve done for me.  

Pre-Baby Dinner!

Wow!  We had an amazing Lebanese dinner tonight with Mom (who I sneakily caught taking food before we had prayed), Dad, and our friends the Detweilers!   It was so special.

Probably one of our last meals out without a baby for a good long while!

What Was the name of that Stick?

Elisha was told by God to throw a stick into the water to make it sweet.  We made water filters!

The Wordless Book in Action!

"We love, because God first loved us" Mommy Christy sang out as the children learned one of the many childhood Scriptures songs my (Christy) mother taught me.   We had just learned the meaning of the colors in the "Wordless Book" that Mommy and Daddy Christy brought with them from Harderwyk CRC in Holland.  At the end, mommy gave an application that I'm not even sure the children understood the extent of.  Jesus loved us, the green page at the end is all about growing with Jesus, which is growing in love.  Mommy Christy loved the children by spending time with them all afternoon, teaching them a song, and handing out crayons and sweets they had brought for them.  She was loving because the message of the "Wordless Book" is part of the fabric of her being: "Jesus has loved me, now let me love them."
So thankful to have Mommy and Daddy Christy loving our community with us and putting actions to the Book, the letter of love God has given us! 
PLEASE keep praying for us as we have a meeting for solar cookers this week, and a meeting for water filters as well!  Zach continues to get stronger but still needs your prayers, and our baby is getting stronger too, as her kicks indicate.  Thank you for joining us on this incredible journey...may all of our lives bring a message that is as clear as the Wordless Book:  "We love, because God first loved us."   

Mom and Dad Watkin

Today feels a little more "normal."  Mom and Dad have been catching up with being the time zone, etc, and now we can really put them to work!  After devotions and breakfast, Dad went to the market with Amos to buy tin for catching water off our roof (they will make a rain gutter), and Mom went to the market with Victoria, our precious house help.  I can't wait to hear their stories!

After picking up Mom and Dad Yoder in Abuja, Zach was feeling very strong and healthy, but the buzz of activity has caught up to him, so he's trying to rest while everyone is out.

I, Christy, am at the office, filling our water bottles, greeting our colleagues, and catching up on small items of work.  Today is 39 weeks of pregnancy completed, so we are also all waiting for a baby!  Don't really know what to make of that, but I guess some adventures are just lived.  Having a baby must be one of them since one can only prepare so much for a new person joining your family...permanently.

Mom and Dad are back in Africa after 32 years...they are enjoying the bougainvillea that grow all over Jos! 

We went to church on Sunday...2 hours late.  For their first Sunday, the service was just the right length.  No breaking tradition here, the Watkins (and Yoders) were still some of the last to round up the after church fellowship.