Tessa Caroline Jones Has Arrived!

On May 3rd, 2008 at 12:05 am, Tessa Caroline Jones made her grand entrance into this world in Accra, Ghana, 10 minutes before a huge thunderstorm rolled in and knocked out the power. She weighed 7 lbs 3 oz and was 21 inches long. She has a head full of dark hair, and a sweet and calm disposition (thank you Lord!).

Juli says the labor was the hardest yet and it was a bit worrisome for the last 4 hours as there was some bleeding and the doctor suspected a placental abruption, but after doing several tests she decided that the problem was coming from something else and decided to continue with a natural labor. As it turns out the bleeding was from a hematoma on the baby side of the placenta and the doctor's good judgement call saved us from an unnecessary c-section, so we were pleased.

Tess is absolutely adored, spoiled by, and doted over constantly by her 5 older siblings. Mom and Dad hardly get a minute alone with her but that's okay because without a doubt she will never be lacking in love or attention. Take a peek here if you want to see for yourself how beautiful she is: http://picasaweb.google.com/damonjuli/TessaCaroline

Join us in thanking God for His newest blessing to the Jones family and thank YOU for praying along with us for a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery. Your prayers made all the difference.

A Grand Time in Accra

We arrived in Accra on April 10th to await the arrival of Jones kid #6. While waiting we've had a really good time together as a family, relaxing, enjoying each other and enjoying a lot of the things we don't have in Ivory Coast. For one, the grocery stores are full of things from "home" like Dr Pepper and Mt Dew and Doritos and frozen broccoli, cheddar cheese, hot dogs and macaroni and cheese. We're not necessarily all the healthier for it but we are happier! Ü

We've enjoyed the internet and satellite tv at the guest house where we're staying as well as the managers of the guest house who have been surrogate grandparents to our kids. We've also enjoyed having a little anonimity and noat having to answer the doorbell and the myriad of requests it brings our way daily in Abengourou.

We've been attending Elim International Family church here in Accra and it's been wonderful to sit in padded chairs and worship in air conditioning, not to mention worshipping in English, hearing sermons in English and having Sunday school classes for the kids. Austin and Emily have been able to participate in the youth group with the church and have thoroughly enjoyed it. They love their African friends but being able to be with other N American kids, just like them and to speak English and talk about N American kid things, has been really good for them.

To see some pictures of our fun times, Emily's 13th birthday party, horseback riding, and go cart racing, take a look here http://picasaweb.google.com/damonjuli/Accra.

We're Still Here!

We know we're not the best bloggers in the blogosphere but our silence over the past month wasn't exactly our fault. We were somehow locked out of our blog and had a hard time getting logged in and posting. I think (i sure hope!) that the problem is solved and we can keep posting without a huge hassle everytime.

A quick run down of the past month:

Our crank shaft was resurfaced and put back into our car in Burkina Faso the week before Easter. Therefore, Damon flew to Burkina on Friday the 21st to pick it up. He arrived just in time because Tabitha Hauser had her baby, Anastasia Joy (means Resurrection Joy) on the 22nd. He was glad to be able to celebrate with them and welcome Ana into the world, and he was also able to help take care of Will and Sam so Brian could be with Tab. Damon headed back to Ivory Coast on Easter morning (our third Easter in a row to not be together as a family, but we were able to celebrate together today 2 weeks later) and made it back Monday around noon. The car then immediately went into the shop to have a pulley replaced then a few days later when in for a starter problem. We have it back now but are wondering what will happen next....Ü

On Easter Sunday the kids and i along with our teammates, the Bledsoe's, Buregea's and Elizabeth Sorenson, took a badjan out to the village of Kodjina to celebrate at the regional church convention which had been going on there since the 20th. For the first time, the 16 churches decided to forego a big mission wide annual convention as they have in the past, and instead held 3 regional ones to make it easier and less expensive for people to attend. The verdict is still out on whether or not it was better than the one huge convention but we do know that things went well in Kodjina and we were glad to be able to celebrate Christ's resurrection with our brothers and sisters there.

On the 26th, we were honored to host Dr Suzie Snyder from CMF along with 2 missions pastors and a missions committee chairman from Highland Meadows Christian Church in Irving, TX and Hazeldell Church of Christ in Indianapolis, IN, for a week. They came to Ivory Coast to visit the HIV ministry and see how their churches could be involved in ministering to people with HIV/AIDS in Ivory Coast. We truly enjoyed their visit and their interest in the work. Please pray for them as they see where God is leading them as far as involvement in this ministry.

The Bible storytelling sessions at the car wash continue when possible. Damon has been encouraged by his lessons with Salifou and others who have started attending regularly. He's better placed to tell you all that has been happening there so i'll save that for him for another day. In the mean time please remember to pray for Salifou and others as well as those studying the Bible through the HIV support group, especially in our absence over the next month. Pray that God will continue to reveal Himself to them in many ways.

Speaking of our "absence" the time has come to move to Ghana. Baby is due in about 3 1/2 weeks so our family will be moving to Accra, Ghana for a month to await his or her arrival and then to attend the West African Missionary Retreat on May 10th. Damon is the president of the Association of Christian Church Missionaries in West Africa so his attendance is pretty important. The kids and i will enjoy getting to tag along. Ü While we're in Accra, besides having a baby, we'll continue homeschooling and Damon will have time to work on the mounds of paperwork, e-mails and office things that pile up and stay untended-to while we're here in Abengourou. We'll have e-mail access, Lord willing, so feel free to drop us a note any time! We'd love to hear from you.

What a Trip!

We're back from our trip to Burkina Faso. (Be sure to look at our web album! The link is on the right) We had a good time at the Nazinga game reserve where we met our friends and teammates, the Hauser's. We saw lots of elephants, antelope, baboons and other deer like creatures whose names I've forgotten. We were able to visit a demonstration farm near the capital of Ouagadougou and see some of the animals up close and personal including a waterbuck that tried to run Kate through with his horns from the other side of the fence. Thank goodness for chain link!

On our way from Ouagadougou to Bobodioulasso, the crank shaft in our engine decided to give up the ghost, so Damon and Brian towed it the remaining 238 kms to Bobo. They left the two pregnant women and their 7 children abandoned along side of the road in an unknown village. (okay, so we were at a bus stop but we like to tease them about it). Tabitha and the kids and I made the 4 hour trip by bus and arrived at the guest house, hot, tired, dirty, thirsty and very thankful to finally get horizontal.

While in Bobo we were able to meet some of the missionary friends that Damon made while he was there for Djoula language school last spring. The Schaeffer's, among others treated us to meals and a picnic on some rocks outside of town. It was good to finally get to meet them and spend some time with them.

From Bobo, we rented a car from the mechanic and headed to Banfora where the Hauser's live. They were gracious to not only open their home to us for a few days, but because of the car we ended up staying almost a week! While we were there, we had a lot of good meals and fellowship, a few games of The Settlers and were able to see a little of what their life is like in Burkina. In some ways it's similar to life here in Ivory Coast but in many others, it's vastly different. We were also able to visit a beautiful waterfall outside of their town and climb around on some big old rocks nearby.

The mechanic had told us that he thought the car would be ready to go by Feb22nd, so we hung around until then with our fingers crossed. When people began demonstrating over nation wide price increases, on Feb 19th, we began to get a little concerned since the mechanic wasn't able to work and order the extra parts needed. On Feb 20th, when they were still demonstrating, we began to think of alternate travel plans. Finally on Feb22nd, we boarded the 7 am bus for Bouaké and headed home.

The bus ride was extremely interesting and harrowing and definitely an experience I'm not sure I want to relive 7 months pregnant and with 5 kids in tow. Ü I won't bore you with all of the details but the trip, which usually takes 8 hours by private car, only took 7 on the bus, and that included a border crossing with 65 people and 6 stops including one that lasted almost an hour. Wow.

Friday night, the 22nd, we stayed at the former Baptist boarding school for missionary kids in Bouaké which is now the headquarters for the French peace keeping forces in Ivory Coast in "rebel" territory. We had a wonderful evening with the Ragsdale's, the only missionaries back in the area and then headed back to Abengourou on Saturday morning with our teammate, Henri who met us in Bouaké with the clinic's landrover. It felt wonderful to be back in our own home Saturday evening.

Sunday however, Damon and i the two youngest girls went to Abidjan to pick up our teammates, Bernie and Kelly Bledsoe who had been on furlough for the past year, and a new short term teammate, Elizabeth Sorenson, who is a nurse and will be helping us in the clinic for the next year. We were glad to see them and glad that they are here even though getting back on the road the next day wasn't much fun!

Now we're getting back into the swing of things here with school and the clinic and the Bible storytelling. Today, Damon is in the village of Bettié (3 hour drive) for a meeting with the church leaders. We are also trying to find parts for our car and figure out how to get them to Burkina so that the car can be fixed and Damon can go and pick it up before we need it to get to Ghana to have a baby. Never a dull moment around here! Ü

Speaking of the baby, the third toxoplasmosis screen came back negative so we're going to assume that toxoplasmosis isn't a concern for now. We haven't done a follow up ultrasound to check on the baby's growth but i have finally started gaining some weight and the dr was encouraged by that. We'll do another ultrasound at my next appointment on the 17th. Thanks for your prayers.

We're heading off on a trip to Burkina Faso tomorrow so I wanted to get in a quick, general update before we head off. Our old team mates, Brian and Tabitha Hauser have moved to Banfora, Burkina Faso to begin working with the ethnic Jula people there, so we thought we'd take advantage of their hospitality and overrun them with Joneses. At the present, they are what Grace calls a "short" family since they only have two kids, but #3 is due to make her arrival in early April so they are on their way to keeping up with the Joneses. (Adds a whole new meaning to the phrase doesn't it? Ü)

The construction on the lab has been going really quickly. The structure actually has a roof on it now and is ready for plumbing and electricity and interior work. Unfortunately, we're out of money, so things will come to a stop for awhile. EGPAF (The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation) has said they are interested in helping us finish the project so we are praying that our proposal is approved and the lab can continue. It will really be a huge help to the clinic, and especially to the HIV+ population.

Speaking of the HIV+ population, Damon continues the Chronological Bible Story telling sessions with a few Djoula Muslim members of the People Living With AIDS support group, every two weeks. The group is small but it seems to be going well. Pray that those who attend will continue to be faithful and that their hearts and minds will be opened to see God's plan from the very beginning was to save the world through His Son. The picture attached to this post is a few members of the PLWA support group in front of the new lab construction.

The other CBS group that Damon is leading with Salifou at the car wash is really going well. They meet 2 or 3 times a week and the group has grown. Not only Salifou and the young men that work at the car wash, listen, a few taxi drivers have begun stopping in regularly when they see Damon there on the man under the palm trees, telling the stories from the Bible. They have had several good discussions and Damon always comes home encouraged by their sessions. Pray that God will open their hearts and minds to His truth.

Jones baby #6 appears to be doing okay. Keep Juli's pregnancy in your prayers if you will though. At her last dr's visit, the dr thought the baby was measuring a little small for its age and one of her lab tests came back as possibly positive for toxoplasmosis. (Not a great thing while you're pregnant) The dr believes the test was a false positive so she redid the test. At the end of February when we head to Abidjan to pick up our teammates who have been on furlough, Juli will see the dr again, get the results of the blood test and have another ultrasound to monitor the growth of the baby. Pray that all of the results are fine and that we had nothing to worry about. Ü (Even though we're not worrying....just praying)

We'll let you know how our trip turned out when we get back. Who knows...we may even share a few pictures too! We plan to spend a night at Nazinga animal reserve which is well known for it's elephant population, so there may be a few good ones to share.

Please remember to pray for our Sunday afternoon Bible storytelling with a handful of special folks. They're part of our the clinic's outreach to the HIV community. In fact they lead the support group that was formed a year ago! Since they're Muslim-background we invited them to come hear God's Word in the Djoula language, on cassette. Pray for good attendance tomorrow, as only one of the five people showed up last time! Target prayer time: 9 am CST = 3 pm study time.

The Word is getting out!

I continued my Bible storytelling with Salifou at his car wash on Thursday. We did the stories of Adam & Eve and the Fall. These early stories are important because they help nail down the consequences of sin and our need for God's grace. I showed Salifou (he's Muslim-background from Burkina Faso) that man spoils paradise almost immediately, and that the whole rest of the Bible is the unfolding of God's plan to mend the relationship that we severed by our disobedience. Pretty heavy stuff, but remember we teach these things to our children in Sunday School! Pray for Salifou to grasp these basics as he moves toward the NT's Good News. We meet again Monday at 2:30 in the afternoon shade.